Chapter 5 : Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Second-Rank Blackiron Guard
After school, Lin Yuan returned home alone.
Sitting on the bed, he took out the Summon Shield Guard skill book, crushed it, and learned it.
【Summon Shield Guard】: Consumes 50 Mana to summon 1 First-Rank Shield Guard of the same level as yourself to assist in battle. After death, the cooldown is 30 minutes.
The bloodlines of Summoned Beasts were divided into ten ranks.
First Rank Ordinary, Second Rank Leader, Third Rank Elite, Fourth Rank Commander, Fifth Rank War General, Sixth Rank Lord, Seventh Rank Monarch, Eighth Rank Emperor, Ninth Rank Dominator, and Tenth Rank Holy Spirit.
It was worth noting that the same ranking system for Summoned Beasts also applied to the monsters inside dungeons.
With every rank of bloodline difference, the gap in strength was nothing short of heaven and earth.
All living beings except humans could advance their bloodline rank.
Humans could not.
But the appearance of class-holders had made up for humanity’s shortcoming.
Although humans could not raise their bloodline rank, they could undergo class advancement.
If someone could reach the Fifth Advancement, or even the Sixth Advancement, their strength would absolutely be no weaker than a Monarch or Emperor of the same level.
After spending 50 points of Mana, Lin Yuan activated his summoning skill.
With the talent Summoning Coordination, Lin Yuan completed the summon in an instant.
A humanoid creature about 1.7 meters tall, clad in wooden armor, appeared before him.
【Shield Guard】(First Rank) Evolvable
【Level】: 1
【HP】: 500
【Mana】: 200
【Attack】: 100
【Defense】: 50
【Strength】: 50
【Agility】: 50
【Stamina】: 25
【Intelligence】: 20
【Talent】: None
【Skills】: Block (D-Rank), Cleave (D-Rank)
“Hm? These attributes...” Lin Yuan was a little surprised by the Shield Guard’s stats.
Its Strength had reached 50 points. That was already comparable to a Level 5 class-holder going all in on Strength.
Did people not always say Summoned Beasts had terrible stats? With attributes like these, it had no idea how many class-holders it could crush outright.
Sensing Lin Yuan’s confusion, the system offered an explanation.
【All of the Host’s Summoned Beasts are the absolute peak among those of the same rank】
Now Lin Yuan understood.
No wonder the Shield Guard’s attributes were so absurdly high.
What interested Lin Yuan most about the Shield Guard was not its stats, but the newly awakened SSS-Rank talent.
【Detected that the Summoner possesses a Summoned Beast. Summoner of the End is activated. The Shield Guard has awakened the SSS-Rank talent Martial Heavenly King】
【Martial Heavenly King】(SSS-Rank)
Talent Effect 1: You may learn any combat-type skill. Skill proficiency increases by 1000%.
Talent Effect 2: When your skills reach maximum proficiency, they have a chance to rise by one rank, up to SSS-Rank.
Talent Effect 3: The damage of combat skills increases by 1000%.
...
Powerful was the only word for it.
With this talent, the Shield Guard was transformed in an instant into a berserk warrior. Solo-clearing a dungeon would be effortless.
As Summoner of the End took effect, the SSS-Rank talent Martial Heavenly King was also bestowed upon Lin Yuan.
The first effect of Martial Heavenly King activated. Countless memories of combat were poured into Lin Yuan’s mind.
A steady stream of notifications for learned skills rang out in his ears.
At that moment, the ten years of training he had endured were given a terrifying enhancement.
【You have learned the passive skill Shield Mastery】
【You have learned the passive skill Sword Mastery】
【You have learned the passive skill Bow Mastery】
【You have learned the passive skill Unarmed Mastery】
【You have learned the passive skill Staff Mastery】
【You have learned the passive skill Hammer Mastery】
【You have learned the passive skill Blade Mastery】
【Five weapon masteries have been achieved. The passive skill Weapon Master is activated】
A long while later, Lin Yuan finally came back to himself and began checking the new passive skills he had learned.
【Sword Mastery】(Passive)
Skill Description: Your attacks ignore 20% of the target’s Defense.
【Weapon Master】(Passive)
Skill Description: You may switch weapons during combat with no delay, and you are immune to disarm.
“What the hell?!”
Lin Yuan was completely numb with shock.
Everyone knew just how rare passive skills were.
Not only had Lin Yuan learned them, he had gained seven of them in one go.
A mastery-grade passive skill was comparable in effect to an S-Rank talent.
In other words, Lin Yuan had instantly obtained seven S-Rank talents.
Martial Heavenly King was truly terrifying.
Rubbing his hands together, Lin Yuan fixed a burning gaze on the Shield Guard standing ramrod straight before him.
“Evolve it.”
【100 Evolution Points consumed. Shield Guard (First Rank) is beginning evolution】
A blood-red radiance suddenly appeared around it and wrapped the Shield Guard inside.
A moment later, a humanoid creature around 1.8 meters tall reappeared, now clad in rust-stained armor.
【Blackiron Guard (Unnamed)】(Second Rank)
【Level】: 1
【Race】: Darkborn
【HP】: 1000
【Mana】: 400
【Attack】: 200
【Defense】: 100
【Strength】: 100
【Agility】: 100
【Stamina】: 50
【Intelligence】: 40
【Talent】: Martial Heavenly King (SSS-Rank)
【Skills】: Shield Bash (C-Rank), Block (D-Rank), Cleave (D-Rank)
After the Shield Guard advanced to the Second Rank, not only had its attributes doubled, it had also gained a C-Rank skill.
How was this a Summoned Beast?
Anyone would believe it was a Boss.
Most Level 1 class-holders had just over a hundred HP and a bit more than ten Attack. Tanks were somewhat stronger, but even they only had around two hundred at best.
A single normal attack from the Blackiron Guard could instantly kill 99% of all Level 1 class-holders.
“If a Second-Rank bloodline is already this strong, won’t the Third Rank be even more outrageous?”
He still had 400 Evolution Points left, so he decided to use them all at once.
【500 Evolution Points are required to evolve to the Third Rank. Insufficient Evolution Points. Evolution cannot proceed】
“If it takes 500 points to evolve, then how do I get more Evolution Points?” Lin Yuan asked the system.
【Clearing dungeons and killing Bosses both grant Evolution Points. The higher the dungeon difficulty, the more Evolution Points obtained】
【The same dungeon only grants a reward once (except Beginner difficulty)】
“I understand.”
A look of realization flashed through Lin Yuan’s eyes.
If the same dungeon only gave a reward once, then this was clearly encouraging him to challenge higher difficulties.
Naturally, dungeons were also divided by difficulty, from low to high:
Beginner, Normal, Hard, Adventure, Warrior, Nightmare...
It was said there were even higher levels beyond that, but up to now, Blue Star had never seen dungeons of greater difficulty.
Aside from difficulty, dungeons also came in many different types.
There were 5-man party dungeons, 25-man regional dungeons, super-large dungeons for 100 or more people, and open dungeons with no limit on numbers.
Among them, 5-man party dungeons were the most common, while 25-man regional dungeons were extremely rare.
Clearing a 5-man Beginner difficulty dungeon granted 50 Evolution Points, and the reward doubled with each higher difficulty.
In other words, clearing a 5-man Nightmare difficulty dungeon would yield 1600 Evolution Points.
For a 25-man regional dungeon, the reward would be multiplied by ten, which meant 16000 points.
Of course, Lin Yuan had only just awakened, so a 25-man large-scale dungeon was still far beyond him.
After making a rough estimate in his heart, Lin Yuan said,
“Clearing Beginner difficulty gives 50 Evolution Points, and killing the Boss should give quite a few more. By then, it ought to be enough to evolve the Blackiron Guard to the Third Rank.”
“A Third-Rank Summoned Beast should be enough to clear Nightmare difficulty, right?”
“And if not, I’ll go in myself.”
Lin Yuan was no flower raised in a greenhouse. The row of passive skills in his skill bar was not for decoration.
In a one-on-one fight, the Blackiron Guard might not even be Lin Yuan’s match.
The Blackiron Guard stood as straight as a drawn sword. Lin Yuan could sense a grim killing aura from it.
And after advancing to the Second Rank, the Blackiron Guard’s race had changed to Darkborn.
Darkborn...
A towering figure with wings on its back and a demonic sword in hand suddenly flashed through Lin Yuan’s mind.
“I’ll call you Ali.”
Lin Yuan sized up the Blackiron Guard a few more times, imagining the scene of Ali brandishing a demonic sword, unleashing utter annihilation, and slaughtering all before him.
“I believe that one day, you will become a Darkborn Dominator.”
Ali had been standing there silently all along.
But when he heard those words, a crimson gleam flashed through the eyes beneath his mask.
Darkborn Dominator.
He already was.