One SSS Affix per Level: My Novice Club Can Slay Gods!

[-13,032!]

[-13,032!]

[-13,032!]

Large numbers of corpses collapsed within the flames.

[You have killed Shadow Guard Corpse ×64!]

[You have obtained 5,760 EXP!]

[You have obtained 192 Silver Coins!]

[You have obtained Corrupted Armor ×21!]

[You have obtained Giantwood Town Guard Badge ×14!]

[Current EXP: 5,850/6,500.]

At the same time, a quest notification appeared before Zoey.

[Crimsonfeather Trial target kill progress: 50/50!]

[Basic trial objective complete!]

[Defeat the final target to complete your Class Change!]

Zoey looked at the completed quest progress and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally killed enough."

She had fired at least several hundred arrows along the way.

Had the objective still not been completed, she would have started suspecting that the system was deliberately targeting physical Classes.

The three stepped over the charred corpses covering the ground and continued toward the giant tree.

Before long, they completely left the coffin field behind.

Only after standing directly beneath the tree could they truly appreciate how enormous it was.

Its thick trunk resembled a city wall with no visible end.

Every crack in its bark was wide enough for an adult to walk into sideways.

The quest marker on the map was positioned inside the giant tree.

"The entrance should be nearby."

The three began searching around the trunk.

After circling it for two or three minutes, Zoey noticed something unusual behind a curtain of withered vines.

"There’s something here."

John pushed the vines aside.

What lay behind them was not tree bark, but a wooden door almost identical in color to the giant tree.

There was no handle.

Only the imprint of a withered leaf.

John pressed his hand against it.

Click.

The leaf imprint lit up with a faint green glow.

The wooden door opened inward on its own, revealing a spiral staircase leading underground.

[You have discovered the special area: Giant Tree Roots!]

[Your current quest target is located deep within this area.]

The three entered.

The wooden door slowly closed behind them.

The staircase extended continuously downward.

Faint streams of green light flowed through the wooden walls surrounding them.

The deeper they went, the dimmer the green light became.

In its place appeared a constantly flickering black energy.

Several minutes later—

The staircase finally reached its end.

An extremely vast underground chamber appeared before the three of them.

Countless thick roots hung from the vaulted ceiling, intertwining throughout the surrounding space.

At the center of the chamber stood a gray-white altar.

Suspended directly above it was a sphere of black energy more than ten meters in diameter.

Its surface churned continuously.

Sometimes contracting.

Sometimes expanding.

Countless struggling human silhouettes seemed to be imprisoned inside it.

Strands of gray-white energy emerged from the surrounding roots and were continuously devoured by the black sphere.

Six black-robed mages stood around the altar.

They held both hands aloft while endlessly chanting obscure incantations.

[Shadow Mage]

[Level: Lv.20.]

[Rank: Elite Monster.]

[HP: 7,600/7,600.]

[Spell Power: 920.]

[Physical Defense: 380.]

[Magic Defense: 610.]

[Skills: Shadow Bolt, Soul Extraction, Shadow Substitute.]

[Description: Shadows projected into the Land of Fading Silhouettes by mages in the real world. They have been ordered to collect the souls lost within this place, continuously providing energy for an unknown ritual.]

"Projections of mages from the real world?"

Zoey looked toward the black sphere above the altar.

"So someone outside has been controlling this place the entire time?"

John did not answer.

One of the Shadow Mages had already stopped chanting and slowly turned its head.

Its featureless face pointed toward the three of them.

"Intruders..."

"Offer your souls..."

The remaining five Shadow Mages turned around simultaneously.

Six black staffs pointed toward the group.

John glanced at his status panel.

[Current time spent inside: 30 minutes.]

[Silhouette Erosion: All core attributes reduced by 30%.]

Nearly one-third of their available time had already passed.

There was no benefit in dragging things out.

Besides, Zoey had already completed the objective of killing fifty monsters.

All they needed to do now was find the final target and complete her Class Change Trial.

"Finish this quickly."

John raised Irene’s Fire Crystal Staff.

[Binding Chains!]

Boom!

The entire underground chamber shook violently.

Countless dark-red chains burst from the ground around the altar, instantly covering a vast area.

The six Shadow Mages did not even have an opportunity to scatter before they were all entangled by the chains.

[Double Bind activated!]

[Chains of Silence activated!]

[Targets have been inflicted with Imprisonment and Silence!]

The shadow spells they had just begun gathering immediately collapsed.

Zoey had only just placed an arrow on her bowstring.

Nonoa had only just raised her staff.

John’s Fire Serpent had already been unleashed.

Boom!

The first Fire Serpent swept past the left side of the altar.

[-11,601!]

[-11,601!]

Three Shadow Mages were instantly consumed by flames.

[You have killed Lv.20 Shadow Mage ×3!]

A second Fire Serpent followed immediately behind it.

Boom!

[-11,601!]

[-11,601!]

[-11,601!]

The remaining three Shadow Mages collapsed simultaneously.

Less than two seconds had passed between the appearance of Binding Chains and the end of the battle.

Zoey slowly lowered her longbow.

"I didn’t even fire my arrow."

Nonoa silently lowered her staff as well.

"I didn’t use my skill either."

John looked toward the altar.

"Save your mana."

Nonoa nodded seriously.

"That makes sense."

Zoey turned and stared at her.

"You actually believe him?"

System notifications rang continuously in John’s ears.

[Total kills this battle: Lv.20 Shadow Mage ×6!]

[You have obtained a total of 960 EXP, 30 Silver Coins, Shadow Crystal ×6, and Black Priest Robe ×2!]

[You have obtained Skill Page Fragment: Shadow Substitute ×1!]

[Ding! Your level has increased to Lv.20!]

[Current EXP: 310/7,000.]

[You have obtained 5 Free Attribute Points!]

John did not hesitate.

He invested all five points into Strength.

[Strength +5!]

[Voidwalker Class Trait activated!]

[Constitution, Agility, and Wisdom have each increased by 5 points!]

[Your level has reached Lv.20!]

[S-Rank Pet Egg "Thorn Sprite Egg" now meets the hatching requirements!]

The pet egg could finally be hatched.

However, this was clearly not the time to study his pet.

What truly caught John’s attention was the next system notification.

[Unique God-Rank Talent "Supreme Evolution" activated!]

[Critical level milestone detected!]

[The quality of this Evolution has been increased!]

[You have obtained the God-Rank Affix: Reality Merge!]

John’s movements instantly stopped.

It was not SSS-Rank.

It was God-Rank.

[Reality Merge]

[Quality: God-Rank.]

[Type: Weapon-Exclusive Affix.]

[Effect: After using this weapon to land the final blow on a Boss-tier target, you will receive one "Reality Extraction. CD 24 Hours"]

[Reality Extraction: Randomly selects one of the player’s currently owned in-game abilities and synchronizes it with the real world.]

[Extraction Pool: Base attributes, equipment, Talents, skills, and special abilities.]

[Note: Abilities synchronized with the real world will undergo adaptive conversion according to the laws of reality.]

John stared at the Affix description, his pupils contracting sharply.

He could bring his in-game abilities into reality?

Attributes.

Equipment.

Skills.

Even Talents.

In other words, as long as he embedded [Reality Merge] into a weapon and personally killed a Boss with it, he would randomly obtain one of his abilities in the real world.

While everyone else was still fighting over levels and equipment inside the game—

He could already obtain superpowers ahead of them.

If his Strength attribute was extracted, his physical body in reality would become stronger immediately.

If [Void Shift] was extracted, he would be able to teleport in the real world.

And if he extracted [Supreme Evolution]...

John’s breathing stopped for an instant.