At this moment, beneath the Church of Asceticism.
In a well-decorated room, Keen West was wearing a monocle, intently poring over the information he had gathered in recent days.
The king's assassination had already left him overwhelmed, and the supernatural events that had occurred in the past few days were far more numerous than those of the past decade combined. Workers in the dock area had been dying mysteriously, and some even claimed to have seen active undead near the docks, which was simply inconceivable.
Furthermore, in the slum area, an unknown small gang was wiped out overnight, leaving behind a bloody mess and traces of a cult ritual.
Connecting this to the previous sacrifices and the king's assassination, Keen West vaguely sensed a terrible malice.
His intuition told him that all of this must be related to the Curse God Cult and the Life Alchemy Society.
Although the king's assassination was most likely the work of the madmen from the Life Alchemy Society, the Curse God Cult was even more formidable.
Unbeknownst to anyone, the tendrils of the Curse God Cult had already penetrated every corner of Daklan. Who could have imagined that even Elvis Bart, a lecturer at Vik University, would be one of them?
Keen could even be sure that they had people in the upper echelons of the kingdom, as there were too many suspicious points in the king's assassination.
Besides this, Keen was also extremely worried about one other thing.
In the past few days, some unkillable abnormals had appeared throughout Blystone. Their behavior was strange; they would mysteriously disappear at times, and when they walked, it was as if the floor was on fire, always hopping. After Death, they would soon revive nearby.
These characteristics perfectly matched Eran's prophecy. These people might be the Chosen Ones from the prophecy, but what if these Chosen Ones also joined the Curse God Cult? The thought sent a shiver down Keen's spine... Meanwhile, in the Alchemy Laboratory.
Zhou Ning was researching the creation of a new profession.
In the game, players had to travel north to find an old NPC named Kyle for certification, who would assess whether the new profession skills were up to standard.
In reality, it was not so troublesome; he could directly see the skill progress and the option to create a new profession on the game panel, saving him the trouble of running to the north. However, this option had always been grayed out.
When he opened the control panel again, to the right of 'Profession,' the 'Create New Profession' button had lit up. After clicking it, a prompt appeared on the panel:
[6 Profession Specialties (click to view), detection completed. Current quantity is 7.]
[2 Core Buff Skills (click to view), detection completed, current quantity is 2.]
[10 Active Skills (click to view), detection completed, current quantity is 10.]
[Detection passed. Do you want to create a new profession? Yes/No.]
Zhou Ning took a deep breath. In his previous life, he had never created a new profession and had no idea of the process, feeling inexplicably nervous.
"Yes."
A prompt popped up on the panel:
[Please enter the name of the new profession.]
Zhou Ning was already prepared: "Wandering Gunner!"
[The new profession name is Wandering Gunner. Are you sure?]
"Sure!"
[Please select the primary attribute.]
"Agility."
There was nothing to hesitate about. In "Apocalypse," Agility determined movement speed, attack speed, Evasion ability, and additionally increased ranged attack power. Each was extremely important for a Wandering Gunner.
[Selection successful. Your Mana value has been replaced by Focus. The initial Focus value is equal to Agility multiplied by 3. Most of your skills require Focus to cast, and Stamina consumption is correspondingly reduced.]
[New profession created. You have gained the milestone [Profession Mentor]. The profession badge has been sent to your inventory. Do you wish to change profession? Yes/No?]
Needless to say, he had to choose yes!
[Profession change successful! You have gained the new profession [Wandering Gunner Lv1]. Agility +3 (Extraordinary Physique +0.35), Stamina +1, Spirit +1. You have gained 2 free attribute points. Due to your first primary profession change, you are additionally rewarded with 1 golden skill point.]
[Your primary profession has changed. Your Stamina bonus has increased. Now 1 Stamina = 12 Health, 1 Stamina = 15 Stamina value.]
In an instant, Zhou Ning felt as if his body was undergoing a tremendous change, and a new power flowed through every part of him.
At the same time, the panel was flooded with a series of messages.
[Your primary attribute has been set to Agility.]
[You have a new energy bar: Focus, whose initial value is related to your primary attribute Agility.]
[You have gained a new talent: Ultra-Long Vision (Blue)]
[You have gained a new specialty: [Quick Draw]]
[You have gained a new specialty: [Fancy Gunplay]]
Zhou Ning immediately felt a sense of rebirth. He could feel his body filled with the agility of a leopard, and his senses had also significantly improved.
Especially his vision, he could now clearly see the patterns on the herbs on the shelves, the tiny bubbles floating in the Alchemy test tubes, and even the dripping grease on the distant whale oil lamp tubes. It was absolutely amazing.
He had the eyes of an eagle and the speed of a leopard. If he also had the ears of a wolf and the strength of a bear, Zhou Ning felt he could even play Marshal Bravestarr himself.
Finally, success! Zhou Ning clenched his fists and chose to view the game panel.
——————
Name: Zhou Ning / Wayne Strowell
Race: Human
Template: Elite NPC [Internal Beta Countdown: 40 Days 22 Hours 19 Minutes]
Level: 14
Experience: 53200
Profession: Wandering Gunner Lv1 [1/30]
Sub-profession: Linguist Lv3 [3/10] / Alchemy Apprentice Lv10 [10/10]
Natural Force Affinity: 0
Arcane Affinity: 0
Talents: Tony Stark (Purple), Gunfight Art: Lethal Tempo (Blue), Athletic Genius (Blue), Ultra-Long Vision (Blue), Old Grandpa (Purple)
Personal Attributes: Strength 24, Agility 32, Stamina 20, Will 25, Spirit 41, Charm 100
Health: 240 / 240
Stamina: 300 / 300
Willpower: 25 / 25
Focus: 96
Free Points: 2
Golden Skill Points: 1
Life Skills: Alchemy (Intermediate), Mysticism (Intermediate), Precision Mechanical Manufacturing (Expert), Gambling (Intermediate), Puppet Alchemy (Beginner), Devil Fruit Manufacturing Technique.
General Skills: Evasion (Beginner), English Mastery (Expert), Esperanto Mastery (Expert), Pickpocketing (Intermediate), Basic Shooting (Beginner), Flirting Mastery (Expert)
Profession Skills: Ripple Breathing Technique (Beginner), Mozambique Drill (Beginner), C.A.R Shooting Method (Beginner), Ripple Shot (Beginner), Rapid Pursuit (Intermediate), Conqueror's Haki (Intermediate), Armament Haki (Beginner), Observation Haki (Beginner), Evasion Shot (Beginner), Fatal Straight Shot (Beginner). God Avoidance (Beginner).
(new!) Ripple Swordsmanship (Beginner), Aerial Shot (Beginner), Fatal Backshot (Beginner)
Personal Specialties: Dexterous Hands, Extensive Knowledge and Strong Memory, Extreme Calm, Basic Endurance (Intermediate), Firearms Knowledge, Extraordinary Physique (Elite), Extraordinary Charm (Elite), Forest Elf (Elite)
(new!) Quick Draw: Rapid drawing technique seems to come from your instinct, drawing speed increased by 25%.
Fancy Gunplay: This is the goal of all Wandering Gunners. Skill aesthetics +50%, skill attack power +3%, Agility an additional +2.
Clan Training: None
Influence: 200
Legendary Rating: 4
Combat Power Rating: 2142
[Description: You already have a complete professional system, and your strength has improved, but it is still far from comparable to your looks.]
Zhou Ning:... He had already learned to ignore the game panel's sarcastic comments.
After changing professions, his Combat Power Rating increased by a full 1/3 compared to before the change, but Zhou Ning felt that the true improvement might be far more than 1/3. He should now be able to defeat two of his yesterday's self.
Not only were there differences in attributes and skills, but the appearance of the Focus bar also greatly improved his sustained combat ability.
He still had 53,000 experience points left, and there was no need to save them given the current situation, so he directly invested them into his primary profession, leveling up 2 times in a row.
[[Wandering Gunner] leveled up to Lv2. Agility +3 (Extraordinary Physique specialty additionally increases by 0.35), Stamina +1, Spirit +1. You gained 2 free attribute points.] X2.
After the Wandering Gunner's level reached Lv3, he gained 4 more free attribute points. Zhou Ning simply invested all of them into Agility, which now stood at a high of 43 points, greatly increasing his firearm attack power, attack speed, and movement speed.
It could be said that although he was still no match for BOSS-level figures like Leandro and Keen West, who were full of elite specialties and had special inheritances, he was already on the right path.
As long as he made good use of the simulator and the players, surpassing them was only a matter of time.