After returning to Thornbush City, Dugu Lengcang said his farewells and left through the Teleportation Circle.
Huang Yi then headed for the Warrior Hall as he was now Level 35 and could learn a new skill! Every new ability for a Rare Class Holder could bring a significant improvement to their strength. If Huang Yi hadn’t learned the Disarm Skill at Level 25, he couldn’t imagine how he would have fought Man Lie.
"Grandpa Luo’an, I’ve come to learn a skill again!" declared Huang Yi as he promptly made his way to the fifth floor of the hall, entering Luo’an’s small library.
"Eh? Instakill, is that you?" Luo’an adjusted his crystal glasses, looking at Huang Yi, "Didn’t you just learn a skill a while back? Why do you want to learn another so soon? You Rare Class Holders are supposed to learn a new skill every 10 levels, and your next one isn’t due until after Level 35!"
"I’m already Level 35!" shrugged Huang Yi, his leveling speed truly incredulous.
"Eh? So fast!" Luo’an was slightly incredulous. He then verified Huang Yi’s hidden level in his unique way, and seeing that he truly was Level 35, his face showed a look of surprise, "Your leveling speed is too fast! I can’t understand the young people these days. Well, since that’s the case, let’s go. I’ll take you to learn the skill!" Luo’an said, rising from his seat and shakily walking ahead.
Huang Yi wasn’t surprised that Luo’an could see his hidden level; some NPCs had special abilities. He immediately followed and helped the unsteady Luo’an walk forward.
...
This time, Huang Yi was learning the Level 35 skill, which was considered a high-level skill; the difficulty of learning it had increased. He was teleported to a place called "Pantheon’s Secret Realm, Sea of Corpses."
Dark clouds enveloped the sky, and a sense of oppression loomed. Ahead was a square by the side of which were three blood-red characters: "Sea of Corpses." In the middle of the square, a warrior, drenched in blood and surrounded by countless corpses, valiantly swung his great sword fighting off hordes of dense monsters. He used a variety of skills with each battle, and with each conflict, a group of lesser monsters would fall, blood flowing like rivers, mountains of bones forming, the fighting utterly fierce.
But the warrior was at the end of his tether. After slaying a wave of monsters, he leaned on his great sword, kneeling on one knee, his body starting to calm and tranquil, as if an old monk was about to enter nirvana. At that moment, another wave of lesser monsters charged from afar...
Upon seeing this scene, Huang Yi almost instantly understood the trial of this Mystic Realm, which was to protect the warrior in the middle and slay the attacking lesser monsters.
Huang Yi ran to the stele beside the square and read the messages left by previous players. According to those pioneers’ messages, there was no trick to this challenge; it was purely a test of strength. A total of 20 waves of lesser monsters would appear, with each wave doubling in quantity. There were two fundamental methods to pass the level: one was to slay all the invading lesser monsters, and the other was to heal the warrior in the middle, preventing his death at the claws of the monsters.
Naturally, Huang Yi chose the first option and quickly rushed into the square, firmly guarding the warrior.
Soon, the first lesser monster charged at him; it was Level 35. Huang Yi swung his brand-new Level 40 Purple Martial Split Hammer down, and with his advanced gear for his level, combined with his powerful Rare Class and aggressive attack style, his damage far exceeded what was standard for his level, instakilling the lesser monster with a single blow.
One hammer strike at a time, Huang Yi quickly dispatched the first wave of lesser monsters.
He turned back to look at the warrior behind him, the peaceful aura on him growing even stronger.
Soon, the second wave of lesser monsters arrived, doubling the number of the previous wave. Huang Yi took a bit more time but cleared them all as well...
In this fashion, wave after wave of lesser monsters continuously assaulted him, each wave doubling in number, becoming more and more numerous until they were densely packed, with layers upon layers of corpses on the ground. Huang Yi fought amidst this sea of corpses. His Split Hammer had a shockwave effect, generating a 5-meter radius shockwave upon hitting an enemy, inflicting 10% damage to all lesser monsters within the area, practically a very small area-of-effect attack. And since these lesser monsters clustered close together, Huang Yi was clearing them incredibly quickly with just his normal attacks.
"Judgment!" Finally, when the number of monsters exceeded what Huang Yi could handle, he activated this wide-ranging attack skill. His body spun rapidly, his weapon whirling around him, generating whirlwinds and stirring up green plagues of poison mist, covering an incredibly vast area of two hundred meters.
All the lesser monsters within 200 meters were afflicted with the Plague negative effect, suffering from damage amounting to 10% of Huang Yi’s attack power every second for 10 seconds. This meant that each lesser monster would receive a strike equal to one of Huang Yi’s attacks. So as soon as he used this skill, it effectively instakilled all lesser monsters within 200 meters.
The Plague rune, while powerful, was not so because of its damage—after all, it was only 10% per second for 10 seconds, equivalent to one of Huang Yi’s attacks, and it could only trigger once as the monsters developed antibodies to it thereafter. Its true strength lay in its range, which encompassed 200 meters—something only Holy Domain Skills could achieve. At his current level, this was unimaginable for other players.