Chapter 25: Boundary Advancement

Wu Shaochen looked at the statues, each representing the fall of a different war god. As he approached the Whirlpool Gate, a system prompt sounded:

“Ding, would you like to challenge the War God Realm? Each player can challenge it once per day.”

“What’s the point of challenging the War God Realm?” Wu Shaochen asked.

Soon, an explanation about the War God Realm appeared before him: “Inside the War God Realm, a random war god projection corresponding to your current realm will appear. Once a player defeats the projection, the challenge is considered successful. Afterward, your realm will increase, which will enhance your natural talent and potential. Each advancement in realm grants a large number of attribute points and a corresponding War God Medal. If the player performs exceptionally well and gains the war god spirit’s approval, they may also randomly learn a skill related to that war god!”

“Oh, so this is the place to advance my realm,” Wu Shaochen understood. He had previously thought the system would trigger his talent abilities by defeating BOSSes at or above his current level, but now he realized it was about realms.

“But what does increasing talent potential mean? Can talents level up?” Wu Shaochen wondered. He decided to find out by fighting.

Now that he had already defeated the Black Iron and Bronze-level BOSSes, he couldn’t trigger his talent abilities anymore. So he decided to advance two realms. The first person to challenge and advance their realm would probably get a reward too.

With that in mind, Wu Shaochen immediately selected “Yes.”

Soon, the Whirlpool Gate opened, and Wu Shaochen stepped inside, only to find himself in an enclosed space. The surroundings were barren.

At that moment, a shadowy figure appeared not far ahead, resembling a middle-aged man. Unfortunately, the figure was unclear, so Wu Shaochen used his Insight skill:

[War God Projection] Black Iron Level
Level: 11
Health: 80,000
Physical Attack: 400
Physical Defense: 150
Magic Defense: 80
Speed: 60

Skill 1: Green Light Slash: Slashes forward, dealing 150% damage to all targets in its path. Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Skill 2: Block: Blocks the next incoming attack. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Is this it? Wu Shaochen thought. It wasn’t much stronger than the Wild Boar King, and it had one fewer skill.

But then again, the War God Realm could only be challenged solo. If it had BOSS-level skills like the Wild Boar King, no one would be able to challenge it. For most players at this stage, it was nearly impossible to solo the War God projection. It was likely that players would need higher levels and better equipment to succeed.

For Wu Shaochen, though, this enemy was not a challenge. To save time, he activated Extreme Speed and tanked two of the projection’s attacks while applying three layers of poison. Then, he leisurely walked away, comparing his speed (with 45 for the projection) to that of a snail.

With his 66 defense and 1,750 health, Wu Shaochen easily endured the projection’s two attacks without losing half his health. After disengaging from combat, he regenerated 17 health per second, easily restoring his health. As for the skills, they were harmless. A medium red potion would take care of the damage, and the second skill, Block, could be ignored. The 5-second cooldown might be annoying for others, but it didn’t bother him.

With three layers of poison dealing 69 damage per second, defeating the projection would only take about twenty minutes.

As expected, after around twenty minutes, the projection fell. The challenge was complete. Wu Shaochen wondered if the War God spirit would acknowledge him. However, he was immediately teleported out. There was no sign of the War God spirit’s approval. He wasn’t sure if his realm was too low to trigger its attention or if his rather unremarkable strategy had caused it to dismiss him.

Upon returning to the War God Temple, a system prompt immediately followed:

“Ding, congratulations on completing the challenge! Your realm has advanced to Black Iron Level. You’ve gained +10 to all attributes, 10 free attribute points, and the Black Iron War God Medal. As the first player to reach Black Iron Level, the system rewards you with +10 free attribute points.”

“Huh, no server-wide announcement?” Wu Shaochen mused. This was better. He didn’t want to be on the news; he was already becoming the enemy of everyone.

“Advancing your realm really boosts your attributes. +10 to all attributes is like having an extra 60 points, and then the 10 free attribute points make it 70 points! And this is just the lowest-level realm. As you advance further, the attributes will only get higher.”

It looked like, in addition to equipment, realms were also key to separating players’ strengths.

Wu Shaochen took a look at the War God Medal. It had simple but powerful attributes: +10% to all attributes. Nice, he liked it.

Looking at his 50 unused attribute points, Wu Shaochen pondered how to distribute them. With his Immortal Body talent, he didn’t need to invest in Vitality. Strength also wasn’t necessary. Intelligence was even less important. The attributes that mattered to him were Agility, Root, and Spirit. With the increase in magic monsters, his magic defense was too low, so Root was a priority. Agility was his main stat, and it was already high enough, so he could slow down its investment. Spirit would help with magic points, which would become a concern as his skills grew.

After considering, he decided to invest 20 points in Agility and 30 points in Root. At this stage, his Agility was already high, so he could focus on boosting his defense for now.

With his realm increased, his stats updated, and the medal equipped, Wu Shaochen’s strength skyrocketed once again.

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Name: Chen Feng
Realm: Black Iron Level
Level: 11
Health: 1,910
Mana: 280
Physical Attack: 157
Magical Attack: 32
Physical Defense: 111
Magical Defense: 70
Movement Speed: 142
Attack Speed: 30%
Critical Rate: 10%
Experience: 2060/30000

Strength: 40
Intelligence: 16
Vitality: 68
Root: 60
Spirit: 16
Agility: 118

This was no longer the stats of a level 11 character! Wu Shaochen had explored most of the city and hadn’t encountered any NPCs that could trigger missions. But he wasn’t concerned—this game was all about monster hunting, and besides the newbie village, there were few quests in the main city.

It was time to go hunt monsters. He hadn’t improved his talent in a while. After checking the map, he pinpointed a location just outside the south gate where a group of level 16 Goblins resided. There were also monsters between level 17-20 in the nearby area.

After confirming the location, Wu Shaochen sprinted toward it. With a movement speed of 142, he reached the Goblin area in just a few minutes. Looking at the small and ugly Goblins, he immediately cast Insight:

[Goblins]
Level: 16
Health: 18,000
Physical Attack: 320
Physical Defense: 130
Magical Defense: 60
Speed: 45

Skill: Heavy Strike: Swings a wolf tooth club, dealing 155% physical damage.

Honestly, the growth rate of monsters in this game was terrifying. These Goblins had better stats than the Wild Boar King, although they only had one skill instead of three. But the fact that regular monsters had these kinds of stats was unsettling.

However, for Wu Shaochen, this was no problem. Activating Extreme Speed, his movement speed exceeded 200, and his attack speed hit 80%. He quickly applied three layers of poison and took a couple of hits before retreating. He poisoned three Goblins at once, using the opportunity to group grind. With 111 defense, the Goblins could only deal about 209 damage per hit, and their skill barely dealt any damage. Even with three of them attacking him, it was manageable. Occasionally, he had to use a potion.