At the central teleportation array of Valorian, one of the three major main cities, the blue magical light faded slowly, and Kalis's figure gradually solidified.
"Truly magnificent."
He couldn't help but exclaim. The main city fully followed the Western fantasy architectural style.
The square where the teleportation array was located was paved with slate-gray boulders, spanning an area equivalent to three football fields.
Surrounding it stood thirty marble statues, all past devotees of Thor, the Storm Lord, their expressions dignified and lifelike.
In the distance, the streets were twenty meters wide, enough for eight carriages to pass side by side.
The stone-paved roads were clean and tidy, flanked by stone buildings with pointed arches. Magical lanterns placed on the windowsills emitted a soft, warm glow.
At this moment, there were very few players in the main city. It had only been two and a half hours since the server launched, and most players were stuck at the Level 7-8 leveling bottleneck.
Those who could reach the Level 10 requirement for class advancement were either the luckiest players who had drawn high-quality equipment or core members focused on by guilds.
"Out of the way! Don't block the path!"
An impatient shout interrupted Kalis's observation. Immediately afterward, a brute force struck, shoving him hard aside.
Kalis's temper was not exactly mild, and he instinctively prepared to lash out. But when he turned around, he saw a team of NPC patrol guards clad in silver armor and wielding gilded spears, Valorian's city guard.
[City Guard Captain Torvald] (Legendary Lord)
Level: 150
HP: 5,600,000/5,600,000
(Target level is too high to display additional data)
[Elite City Guard Soldier]
Level: 120
HP: 750,000/750,000
(Target level is too high to display additional data)
Kalis: "..."
Could NPCs in this game actually take the initiative to push players?
It completely overturned his understanding! But staring at the cold glow of the city guard captain's spear, he wisely suppressed his anger.
Offending the main city's NPC army would result in consequences ranging from being thrown into a dungeon to being directly killed, losing levels and equipment, which was totally not worth it.
"You win this round," Kalis muttered to himself. His vengeful nature could only be temporarily restrained in the face of absolute power disparity. "First, let's get the class advancement done."
He opened the city map and jogged along the marker for "Class Advancement."
Valorian was extremely large. After running for a full seven minutes, a towering temple finally came into view.
The temple was built of white marble, with a gilded spire at the top. Above the main entrance hung a plaque carved with storm patterns, inscribed with four ancient Asgardian characters:
"Temple of Storms." On either side of the hundred steps leading to the door stood four knights in golden armor, exuding an imposing aura.
"Halt! The Temple of Storms is a sacred place; impure beings are forbidden to approach!"
As soon as Kalis stepped onto the first step, two guard knights holding large shields and lances stepped forward, crossing their shields to block his path. Their voices were cold, and their eyes were filled with hostility.
"Damn it!" Kalis suddenly realized it was the [Eternal Hatred Curse]!
This curse from Augustus the Gilded Lion King not only made him the primary target of all monsters but also explicitly stated that he "cannot enter any temples of the gods" and "cannot inherit any divine-aligned classes."
Earlier, he had thought the restriction on war-related contributions was irrelevant, but he had forgotten that all class advancement mentors were in temples!
The importance of class advancement was self-evident: it increased attribute growth rates and unlocked class-exclusive skills.
If he remained an "Apprentice Mage," his mana and spell attack growth would be 30% lower than that of an official Mage.
Not to mention learning core skills like [Fireball], [Meteor Shower], and [Magic Shield], he couldn't possibly rely solely on [Magic Missile] and [Thunder Chain] for the rest of his life, could he?
"Leave immediately, or we will kill you without mercy!" The guard knights' voices turned even colder. They placed their hands on the hilts of their swords, clearly having lost their patience.
Kalis glanced at the knights' status panels, his heart sinking:
[High-Rank Temple Knight Morrigan] (Legendary Lord)
Level: 185
HP: 7,800,000/7,800,000
(Target level is too high to display additional data)
There were eight such Legendary Lord NPCs guarding the temple entrance! Charging in would be equivalent to suicide.
"Fine, screw this class advancement!" Kalis gritted his teeth and turned to leave. What was so great about the temple's basic classes? Maybe he could trigger a hidden class that was far stronger than ordinary Mages!
Walking down the main city streets in a gloomy mood, Kalis gradually discovered more effects of the curse: all NPCs related to "war" harbored intense hostility toward him.
The city guards would deliberately avoid him but shoot him hostile glances; the steward of the War Hall directly turned him away; even the blacksmith at the weapon shop gave him the cold shoulder.
However, NPCs unrelated to war were completely different: merchants at the market immediately put on obsequious smiles when they saw the gold coins he pulled out, nodding and bowing like vendors in the real world; pharmacists patiently answered his questions and even took the initiative to recommend the most cost-effective consumables. The realism was extremely high.
Kalis wandered around the main city for twenty minutes, purchasing a batch of supplies:
30 [Mid-Grade Health Potions] (Instantly restores 550 HP, 60-second cooldown),
20 [High-Grade Health Potions] (Instantly restores 1100 HP, 60-second cooldown) for daily use; the [Potion of Holy Radiance] was too precious and not available in stores, so he specially kept 28 bottles as a trump card for emergencies.
As for mana potions, he didn't need any at all. The [Spiritual Spring] effect of the [Godslayer Robe] restored 60 MP per second, and with his 24 Spirit attribute, the recovery speed was sufficient to support continuous casting.
He also bought a set of Level 30 Rare cloth armor from the system store to replace his starter gear, slightly increasing his defense; he also purchased a stack of [Return Scrolls] for unexpected needs.
Finally, he went to the main city warehouse and stored unused Mythic and Legendary items such as the [Gilded Lion King Battle Boots] and [Divine Grace Tome], leaving only the [Godslayer Robe] and [Star-Patterned Staff] to avoid running out of backpack space.
"First, go out of the city to level up. Maybe I can trigger the conditions for a hidden class." Kalis thought to himself. "Once there are more players in the main city, I'll list the extra equipment on the auction house to exchange for some gold coins for circulation."
Leaving through Valorian's East Gate, Kalis stepped into the wilderness outside the city.
At this point, his attributes had become even more powerful after updating his equipment and leveling up:
[Name]: Kalis
[Class]: Apprentice Mage
[Level]: 35
[Talent]: Ultimate Amplification [Transcendental Mythic]
[HP]: 5689/5689
[MP]: 412/412
[Spell Attack Power]: 207 (Star-Patterned Staff +42 + Base 165)
[Physical Defense]: 75 (Basic Cloth Armor +7 + Godslayer Robe +58)
[Spell Defense]: 128 (Godslayer Robe +115 + Basic Cloth Armor +13)
[Strength]: 35
[Intelligence]: 132 (All attribute points invested)
[Constitution]: 54
[Spirit]: 48
[Agility]: 42
[Potential Points]: 0
Judging solely by the panel, his attributes were not particularly outstanding. But with the 10,000x damage amplification from the [Ultimate Amplification] talent, his actual combat power was terrifying!
Not far outside the city gate was the spawning point of Level 13 monsters, [Iron-Horned Minotaur].
These monsters had thick skin and high defense, with HP as high as 3200 points, equivalent to a full-Constitution Knight of the same level. They were a popular choice for novice players to level up.
Kalis raised his hand and cast [Magic Missile]. A pale blue projectile shot out, accurately hitting an Iron-Horned Minotaur.
-2,386,412!
The terrifying damage instantly emptied the minotaur's HP bar, and its massive body crashed to the ground. Kalis curled his lips.
The level gap was too large, and this little experience didn't even fill 1% of his experience bar, completely failing to achieve the leveling effect.
He opened the map and headed toward a farther area. Within 15 kilometers of Valorian's surroundings, the highest-level monsters were only Level 18, which clearly couldn't meet the leveling needs of a Level 35 player.
Kalis raced forward, casually killing many blocking monsters along the way.
He cast [Thunder Chain] whenever it was off cooldown to clear groups of monsters, but his experience bar still didn't show any obvious progress.
After running for a full two hours, covering more than 30 kilometers, Kalis finally reached the high-level monster area marked on the map: [Shadow Marsh].
The air here was filled with a rotten stench. Bubbles floated in the black swamp mire, and dark green vines wrapped around dead trees in the distance. Occasionally, faint green eyes flickered in the darkness, exuding a dangerous aura.
He opened the level leaderboard and glanced at it: he was still firmly in first place at Level 35. The second place was a player named "Thorne," who had reached Level 29.
There was still a considerable gap between him and Kalis. Players from third place onward were mostly between Levels 18-20, completely not in the same league as him.
"Thorne... I seem to have seen this name before."
Kalis flipped through the system announcements and sure enough, found a relevant record.
Half an hour ago, Thorne had killed the Mythic Boss [Shadow Serpent Queen], gaining a large amount of experience and equipment, and his level had soared instantly to become second on the leaderboard.
"It seems I'm not the only expert in this game."
A spark of competitiveness ignited in Kalis's eyes. "But they're still far from surpassing me."