Absolute Death Game

After Xiao Buli left, he asked Gu Shaobang and the others about their leveling progress over the past few days.

Although Xiao Buli was quite busy during these days, Gu Shaobang and the rest had certainly improved their strength. After much hesitation, Li Shuren chose the Mechanism Master profession, which is triggered after reaching max level in carpentry. Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire

Its abilities involve constructing mechanisms; they are not very useful on the front line but excel at restraining enemies and creating various wartime tools.

Normally, leveling up this profession would be difficult because it straddles between life skills and combat. Leveling up skills requires a large amount of materials, which would be unaffordable for solo players. However, with the support of Xiao Buli, the wealthy patron, this naturally wasn't an issue.

Over the past two days, Li Shuren spent a large number of materials to level his carpentry skills to LV10, which triggered the profession change to Mechanism Master. He also upgraded his Mechanical Techniques to LV3 and could already manufacture crossbows, light catapults, and other weapons.

But Xiao Buli found Li Shuren's choice a bit odd, "Why did you choose the profession of Mechanism Master?"

Li Shuren explained, "Of course, it's to prepare for future advanced professions. Based on my understanding, advanced professions in this game are divided into composite advanced professions and extension advanced professions.

Extension advanced professions are the new professions that stem from mastering one profession to its extreme, like the berserker, which is an extension of the Axeman, or like the Immortal Skill Master you mentioned, which is an extension of the Taoist profession."

"The other type, composite advanced professions, is a combination of the abilities from two different professions. For instance, the Cursed Swordsman combines the abilities of a Taoist and a Swordsman, possessing both professions' capabilities. As long as you choose the right secondary profession, you should be able to trigger other hidden professions.

Since we now have the opportunity to learn Taoist Heart and become Taoists, I deduce that a Taoist plus a Mechanism Master could trigger a hidden profession similar to the Cursed Swordsman. I'm just not sure what it's called yet, but the abilities should naturally involve something like mechanized puppets."

After listening, Xiao Buli was slightly surprised, "A Taoist plus a Mechanism Master? Can such a combination really work?" Even though he asked this, he did think Li Shuren's speculation seemed quite reasonable.

Li Shuren shook his head, "I'm not completely certain, but it's always worth a try, and there's no harm in trying. Besides, with higher proficiency in Mechanical Techniques, I could even attempt to learn from those blueprints you brought in."

Xiao Buli thought to himself, "Then have you figured out any other combinations?"

Li Shuren nodded and said, "Based on my research and experience with game mechanics, a Taoist plus an archer could potentially result in a composite profession similar to a Rune Shooter or a Magic Archer, whose abilities naturally consist of infusing spells into arrows and shooting them at enemies."

"A Taoist plus a thief or assassin could likely give rise to a profession akin to a ninja."

"I have yet to come up with others, but since the Cursed Swordsman requires a specific NPC for the profession change, these composite professions should also need special NPCs and sects to switch, I suppose."

Inwardly, Xiao Buli nodded, finding Li Shuren's ideas quite similar to the deductions he had made previously.

(But with that being said, doesn't that make Han Wenhuan and Xiao Ge's choices a bit underwhelming? Even if they grasp Taoist Heart, they won't be able to trigger hidden professions. If they can't advance to a higher level, relying only on LV1 Taoist Heart will only allow them to learn some low-tier, level one spells.)

However, Xiao Buli quickly reconsidered, thinking that even if they could only learn first-level spells, it wouldn't matter much. In general, it was still very useful, as they could employ some basic Taoist Arts to heal, enhance defense, and buff; these low-level Taoist Arts should not be underestimated in their ability to boost strength.

Then Li Shuren added, "As for Mr. Bang's current abilities, I still cannot determine if they can be combined with Taoist Arts due to my limited information on this game."

Xiao Buli hesitated for a moment, then turned back to look at the three who were concentrating on their computers. All this time, although he hadn't insisted on specific professional abilities for them, overall, he still hoped that the five of them could complement each other.

"Hey everyone, stop for a moment, I have something to discuss with you."

The others stopped what they were doing. Xiao Ge asked, "What's up, boss?"

Xiao Buli said, "We've been playing this game for a few days now, and you should all have a good understanding of the game's class system, right? So does everyone have a profession they want to choose? Share your thoughts so I can plan our next phase of the mission."

Han Wenhuan said, "I have to be a military general, this profession suits my taste so much."

Xiao Buli frowned slightly, "But once you advance to a military general, you won't be able to switch to another magic system profession."

Han Wenhuan scratched his head, "I don't really care about spells and such, it's fine as long as you guys know them. I want to lead troops in battle, so I'll choose the military general. After all, a general's Aura Skill can affect the whole army, and besides, a general's abilities are not bad in real life either, just not as flashy, that's all."

Xiao Buli nodded, "Alright, if that's what you want, I won't say anything more. So, Xiao Ge, what about you? Are you still planning to advance to Sword Control Master?"

Xiao Ge shook his head unexpectedly, "Forget it, being a Sword Control Master is too much trouble. I don't even know Swordsmanship yet. I've recently discovered a Hidden Profession—Weapon Master. This profession is really to my liking. If possible, I'm planning to advance to this profession."

The Weapon Master profession is also considered a kind of composite Advanced Profession. The advancement requirements for this profession are quite peculiar, requiring proficiency in five types of weapons to reach LV5 or higher and skills in five different types of weaponry to reach LV10. This is much more difficult than the usual Swordsman and Martial Artist requirements.

However, the abilities of the Weapon Master are quite impressive. A Weapon Master is proficient with all kinds of weapons. When learning various weapon skills, the proficiency required is reduced by 50%, and they can use all the weapon skills, whether it's spears, axes, swords, daggers, or even bows and hidden weapons. They can learn anything, making it a profession with extremely high adaptability.

Additionally, this profession can quickly switch weapons to deal with different situations. Because they can learn so many types of weaponry, Weapon Masters typically have countless skills, which makes operating this profession extremely complex. Ordinary people simply can't handle it well, but if mastered, it is incredibly powerful.

Among the NPCs' Fighters is a saying, "Ten Weapon Masters, nine are mediocre, and one is a freak," emphasizing the uniqueness of this profession.

But for Xiao Ge, a player with a hand speed over 400 and prone to twitches, this was not a problem at all.

Xiao Buli nodded in agreement with Xiao Ge's choice, "Then let's go with that. What about you, Mr. Bang? How's your study of witchcraft coming along?"

Gu Shaobang shook his head, "Still at LV2, but my medical skills have already reached LV10. I've also mastered LV2 Alchemy. Now I can make some basic elixirs for replenishing blood and physical strength. However, buying materials costs money. Do you have any Gold Coins to spare for me?"

Xiao Buli thought this guy is planning to take the logistics route? He nodded, "There's plenty of Gold Coins, but how will you fight monsters without learning combat skills? Surely you can't always rely on Flame Spirit Wave, can you?"

Gu Shaobang replied, "That won't be necessary. When I created my account, I already had LV1 Basic Swordsmanship and LV1 Liuhe Swordsmanship. These past days, I've been using these two sets of Swordsmanship to level up, and now my Liuhe Swordsmanship has already reached LV5."

That Liuhe Swordsmanship was actually something Gu Shaobang had been forced to learn by his Family Head. In the game, it was just a very basic skill, slightly better than Basic Swordsmanship, but not by much.

Although Gu Shaobang's proficiency could not be considered as mastering the skill, it was passable, and still somewhat useful against the Minor Monsters of the Newbie Village.

Xiao Buli asked after hearing this, "Do you plan to follow the same route as me and become a Cursed Swordsman?"

"Well, I haven't decided yet. Besides, plans never change as fast as situations do. We'll just have to take it one step at a time."

Xiao Buli sighed, feeling somewhat helpless about Gu Shaobang's indecisive character. But his words were not without reason, so they would indeed have to take it one step at a time.

He handed out several Mystic Hollow Palace Teleportation Talismans to the four of them, reminding them to teleport away immediately if they encountered any danger tomorrow, and then everyone dispersed.

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived. As the time for the monster's attack on the village drew nearer, the atmosphere in the village grew tense. Both the militiamen from Thousand Pines Town and Black Stone Village gathered on the ramparts.

The two groups were clearly divided, with Black Stone Village and the Awesome Empire's people defending the eastern wall, while the militiamen from Thousand Pines Town and Solo Players took up positions on the western wall. Xiao Buli and the other two didn't show themselves, as they didn't want to get targeted.

Chen Chuan looked grimly towards the western wall, "Boss, those Solo Players haven't left. I hope this won't be an issue."

Zhang Haojie glanced over in that direction, also feeling somewhat uncertain. He asked Lei Ba for his opinion.

Lei Ba said, "The refugees from Thousand Pines Town are here to fight for us, so the more of them, the better, as they're on the same side as Thousand Pines Town."

"Didn't they accept a quest from you?"

Lei Ba shook his head, "No, they didn't."

Zhang Haojie nodded, not saying anything further, but he still felt something was off. Solo Players were like flies; they scatter the moment danger arises and swarm when there's profit. Why would they bother with something that had no benefit? Could there be something more to Thousand Pines Town?

He somewhat regretted not having properly investigated the situation on Thousand Pines Town's side.

Finally, in the distance, a dark mass of bandits appeared on a hillside.

Though only about four or five hundred strong, they looked quite formidable, more numerous than what you'd see in a domestic historical TV drama's depiction of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, I invite you to vote at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)