Chapter 52: Rune Hound: Advanced Profession

Ancheng is neither big nor small.

By evening, Fang Shi had finished handing out flyers and found the Trial Tower.

It was a black tower standing on the earth.

Only ten meters high and two meters wide, yet it had nine stories, looking utterly bizarre.

Even a short halfling was about as tall as the first story.

Add to that the wide-open gate, its interior deep and lightless, revealing nothing.

The first glance most people had was fear, making them dare not enter.

Fang Shi didn't care at all; before his rebirth, he had been there countless times.

Every trick and detail inside was crystal clear to him.

"Huh? This thing is still here. Now I can confirm this mark was truly not left by a powerful figure of later ages."

Fang Shi approached the gate, touching a palm print upon it, and sighed.

The palm print lay three centimeters from the gate; the tower body was dark black, hard to spot without close inspection.

The imprint was only a few centimeters deep, slender and long, very small, like a woman's palm.

It was as if someone had left a palm print on wet cement.

Yet in reality, there was a world of difference.

No one knew what material the Trial Tower's body was forged from; it was incredibly hard.

Even attacks from legendary experts could not leave a single scratch upon it.

From this, one could glimpse what kind of mighty power had left the palm print below.

Highly likely, it was a deity.

Probably only such a being transcending the mortal world

could leave a palm print on the Trial Tower, which possessed the power of creation.

Thus, people had once tried to study whether any lingering law power remained upon it.

Unfortunately, in the end, they found nothing.

"I should just enter the tower honestly. Why think so much? Without reaching legendary, I can't even touch the threshold of law power."

A mustard seed contains Mount Sumeru.

After Fang Shi stepped through the two-meter-high gate, he entered a vast world.

The interior of the Trial Tower was not so narrow.

Inside the tower, walls on the left and right stretched to the ends of heaven and earth.

In the middle lay a hundred-meter-wide avenue.

This was the first floor of the Trial Tower: the Endless Labyrinth.

A very considerate labyrinth that did not restrict flight.

Yet even if you flew upward ten thousand meters, you would not see the end of the walls.

It was like a pillar holding up the sky, connecting the entire world.

Most importantly, the Endless Labyrinth lived up to its name; it truly was endless.

Whether it was a single labyrinth was hard to say, because even if someone walked along a single wall.

They would not reach the end of the labyrinth.

But it didn't matter; clearing this floor of the trial did not require traversing the labyrinth.

As long as one stayed inside for a day, it counted as a clear.

When time ran out, one would naturally be teleported out.

The score for clearing was based on the farthest distance traveled.

As for how "far" in the labyrinth was defined,

it depended on the level of monsters surrounding your location in the labyrinth.

The higher the monster level, the farther you had walked.

Moreover, monsters did not have to be fought.

Whether you could pass through a monster's territory depended on your own ability.

If you could kill them by force, that was naturally best.

If you couldn't kill by force, whether you sneaked and hid, or besieged and controlled,

as long as you could pass, the Trial Tower would count it as your score.

It also did not restrict teaming up with multiple people.

Although the clearing evaluation would carry a team penalty, sometimes teaming up allowed one to go farther.

The rewards from going farther were enough to offset the loss from the penalty.

If Fang Shi's own strength had not reached a certain bottleneck,

and if no one could reach level 5 in the short term,

Fang Shi would have wanted to form a team to clear the trial together.

Like some mages and priests to buff him and provide support.

His strength would at least double.

"No team is fine; my current strength long ago rivaled that of a typical first-tier."

"I am stronger than other level 5 professionals by an unknown amount."

"I recall the final clearing score is also affected by one's personal level."

"The lower the level, the deeper the labyrinth, and the higher the clear score."

"My strength surpasses my personal level — that's a massive bonus."

Bang!

Fang Shi stomped his foot and leapt forward.

He quickly arrived at the first crossroads.

In the center of the crossroads, a humanoid creature gripping a spear was pacing about.

Its entire body was covered in thick armor plating.

But at the joints between the plates, bundles of fibrous tendons were exposed — like skin missing, muscles laid bare.

Or one could say the armor plates were this humanoid creature's skin.

As it moved, muscle fibers could be seen contracting in waves.

A Mystic Seal was carved into the top of this humanoid creature's head.

Its eyes were as nimble as a human's, flickering with the light of intelligence.

This was a Construct — a living golem creature.

It is said they were born from an arcane experiment, war-slaves of mages.

As for why they existed within the Trial Tower, Fang Shi did not know.

The creatures inside the Trial Tower were bizarre and varied — later on, you could even run into dragons, titans, and the like.

Even angels, demons, and devils existed.

Whoosh!

Fang Shi couldn't be bothered to communicate with the Construct and went at it with a sword straightaway.

The Construct at the first crossroads was far too weak — still in its nascent state.

Its creature level was below 1, and Fang Shi lopped its head off directly.

Before dying, it was still in a charging posture.

Its brain hadn't even had time to react.

Although Constructs counted as intelligent beings, because of the Trial Tower —

Upon seeing a living person, it would only slash wildly, completely unable to communicate.

Before rebirth, there had even been mages who, in order to figure out the Trial Tower's secrets —

Specifically cast mind-targeting spells, only to gain nothing at all.

The spells had no problem controlling the minds of creatures inside the tower, but anything touching on the Trial Tower itself was completely blank.

As if erased by someone.

Therefore Fang Shi wouldn't bother with such futile efforts either.

His mind was set only on clearing the dungeon — efficiency above all.

As for how to proceed next —

It's a labyrinth, after all, an endless one, so naturally he just walked at random.

Wherever he ended up was wherever he ended up.

Besides, the labyrinth was alive — every time you entered, it was different.

There wasn't even any point in memorizing the map.

On top of that, the monster level at every crossroads was completely random.

It wasn't always the case that things got stronger the further you went — getting weaker was also possible.

The unlucky ones fought for an entire day —

And might not even encounter a monster of their own level before being teleported out of the Endless Labyrinth.

The monster at the second crossroads was a Rune Hound.

Its appearance was like a large hairless dog — pale, sticky skin covered in strange, abstract tattoos.

Most importantly, this fellow didn't even have a head.

Only a long neck extended out from the center of its back.

At the end of the neck was an absurdly large stomach stuffed full of sharp teeth.

The stomach was also filled with filth and acid, ready to spray out at any moment.

At the sight of such a twisted, deformed monster, Fang Shi felt nauseated.

He didn't know if it was natural-born or some mage's masterpiece.

If it was a mage's handiwork, one could only say that mage was mentally unwell.

To actually create such a freakish creature.

Moreover, the Rune Hound was no pushover — creature level 3, 37 hit points, 20 extraordinary strength, 14 dexterity, 17 constitution, and 4 natural armor.

It also possessed the feats Combat Reflexes I, Lightning Reflexes I, and Tracking I.

Such an attribute panel made the Rune Hound a standout even among level-3 creatures.

When Fang Shi was level 3 and ran into a Rune Hound, he wasn't necessarily guaranteed to win.

The equivalent of 22 points of strength — an instant crushing force.

It wasn't like an earth elemental, strong in power but actually clumsy and bulky.

The Rune Hound's running speed was at least 40 meters per second.

Encountering it, escape was hard.

Don't think that just because the Rune Hound has no eyes it can't track people.

With its scent and blindsight, it could be said to have a full 360 degrees with no blind spots.

To the Rune Hound's senses, so-called ambushes and stealth were a joke.

"These aberrant creatures all have overpowered stats, and they all look disgusting."

"Fortunately, such terrifying monsters usually don't appear in the spatial rifts outside."

"Otherwise, humanity would be in trouble."

Fang Shi pondered for a moment, then charged at the Rune Hound.

If he were still level 3, he would turn and flee upon facing such a creature.

Even if he barely managed to win, he would surely be severely wounded.

Now at level 5, having gained a host of powerful talents, why fear it?

The Rune Hound had sensed Fang Shi's arrival long ago; had it not been for the Trial Tower's restrictions,

this naturally vicious beast would have struck immediately.

Seeing Fang Shi take the initiative, the Rune Hound kicked off with all four legs without hesitation, charging head-on.

In its dictionary, the word "fear" simply did not exist.

It had already killed creatures even a tier weaker than itself.

Let alone a level 5 human.

Yes, the Rune Hound looked down on humans, specifically physical-class humans.

In its life experience, such humans represented nothing but fragility and trash.

The Rune Hound had lost count of how many such humans it had killed.

Once it got close to an opponent, that opponent had no chance of survival.

When still three meters away from Fang Shi, the Rune Hound's snake-like neck suddenly snapped forward.

Instantly bridging the distance between them, its tooth-filled maw gaped wide, lunging to bite Fang Shi.

This was not the gnawing of those ancient, decrepit zombies Fang Shi had faced when he first changed classes.

It was a tear with 22 Strength, carrying immense kinetic force.

Sharp teeth like daggers, covered in foul-smelling slime.

These were what Fang Shi saw.

But this also meant he had reacted.

With talents stacked, a reaction speed equivalent to 24 Agility and 23 Perception were no mere decoration.

Fang Shi easily dodged the Rune Hound's attack.

He swung his sword backhand, aiming for its neck.

"Slash attack activated."

"Target takes critical damage."

"You dealt 33 damage to the target."

The Rune Hound's neck snapped cleanly in half.

Yet even so, it still did not die.

The maw lying on the ground continued to gape wide, spewing a clump of filthy, foul-smelling slime toward Fang Shi.

Fang Shi dodged with ease; a healthy Rune Hound could not harm him, let alone one on the brink of death.

"Pierce attack activated."

"Target takes critical damage."

"You dealt 33 damage to the target."

"Target dead."

"Extracting target's soul energy. You gain 15 Experience Points and 1.5 Survival Points."

"Detected that the player has reached level 5."

"You have obtained partial information on the advanced class Gale Sword Saint."

Watching the data stream scroll across his status panel,

Fang Shi sneered; a monster this strong yielding only that much experience was worse than killing Fire-Winged Birds.

Keep in mind, with talents stacked, the Rune Hound's reaction speed was equivalent to 18 Agility.

High attack, high agility, and decent constitution; for an ordinary level 3 physical class user, it was simply unsolvable.

Magic classes had ways to deal with it, but they needed to secure sufficient casting time.

Otherwise, the very first round of attacks could declare death.

Do not think that because Fang Shi ended the fight within two moves, it felt in no way dangerous.

In reality, life-and-death struggles are just like this; they never drag on with flashy moves for ages.

Deciding victory or defeat requires only one strike hitting a vital point.

"Gale Sword Saint, what class is this? It seems related to the Wind Element."

When a player reaches the level before advancement, they gain information on an advanced class with every battle victory.

The specific information obtained depends largely on the two sides of the battle.

According to research by Legendary Mages, this is likely similar to extracting soul energy.

A very domineering plunder ability.

Furthermore, once the information prompt appears three times, it proves the player has met the requirements for the advanced class.

Upon advancing to level 6, one can choose to upgrade into these advanced classes.

Of course, the system will not generously tell you what characteristics and advantages these classes possess.

One can only guess on their own, or wait until many people change classes and let big data sort it out.

Unfortunately, Fang Shi had never once imagined he would be reborn.

Aside from common professions, his knowledge of rare ones was extremely limited.

Fang Shi's original plan was to master Longsword Weapon Focus I, Longsword Weapon Specialization I, and Longsword Deadly Strike I within the Trial Tower.

Then advance to the class of Sword Saint—unprefixed Sword Saint.

Such a pure Sword Saint, though lacking any elemental powers, still possessed pure sword qi.

In fact, his mastery of sword weapons could surpass even a master who specialized solely in longswords.

But that was only in theory; people are alive, while the system is dead.

No profession is inherently strong or weak; some might even be better off not advancing at all.

Relying solely on abilities granted by class leveling does indeed mostly amount to the above evaluations.

But specializations can be learned, can be independently comprehended.

Aside from a few unique specializations, most can be mastered with enough time—or sufficient insight.

I'm a Gale Sword Saint who learned all the specializations of the advanced class Sword Saint—is that wrong?

Thus, with supernatural powers at his side and extraordinary mastery of sword weapons.

His strength naturally surged upward, far beyond what a mere Sword Saint could match.

Fang Shi obtained the notes of a Foundation Establishment disciple from the Heavenly Sword Sect.

They recorded many experiences in sword training.

It was easy to comprehend specializations related to swords from them.

Though he didn't know the limits, this gave Fang Shi far more options.

"Forget it—I'll take it one step at a time."

"The most basic goal: comprehend Longsword Weapon Focus I, Longsword Weapon Specialization I, and Longsword Deadly Strike I."

"Collect more sword professions with supernatural powers."

"Then see if I can obtain a longsword with an elemental property, and switch to the corresponding elemental Sword Saint."

"Right now, the most important task is to get through the labyrinth—hope no insane monsters show up soon."

Only those with shallow insight think rank is everything.

The multiverse is so vast—what kind of monsters don't exist?

The weak defeating the strong, the small overcoming the great—given a large enough base.

Hundreds, even thousands of such cases appearing is perfectly normal.

Who knows, somewhere in a corner, there might even be a Time Dragonline Kobold Sorcerer.

Next came the third crossroad.

But when Fang Shi approached the crossroad, he was utterly stunned.

What the hell is this thing?

PS: Thank you to Dukou Dukou Dukou for the monthly vote.