Chen Tian watched the players surrounding him, all around levels thirty-four and thirty-five, with a diverse range of professions.
Chen Tian remained unfazed. The advantage of players in Guild mode was simple: numbers.
Party mode had player limits, but Guild mode allowed all guild members to team up.
Chen Tian noticed the names above their heads, all adorned with the fiery embellishment of "Huoyan," and a cold glint appeared in his eyes.
The young player from Huoyan, named Yanmo, spoke calmly, "Kid, last chance. Hand it over!"
"Why should I hand it over? This is something I obtained."
Chen Tian smirked, his demeanor suddenly sharpening like a newly unsheathed sword.
"Attack! Make him drop it!"
The young player from Huoyan was enraged. With a single command, over a dozen guild players revealed their imposing auras.
Chen Tian looked at the surrounding players, not taking them seriously at all. His stats had now reached 4000.
He was no longer a match for ordinary players in their thirties. The strongest among them was the leader, a young man with stats nearing 3700, while the others were just over 3200.
Chen Tian paid these ants no mind.
Dual blades appeared, and his footsteps instantly became like a gentle breeze. His figure seemed to flicker.
In an instant, a storm of blades erupted from Chen Tian's center, shooting outwards.
Players from the Huoyan guild, if not careful, would be struck by the blades, their armor values rapidly depleting.
"Damn, this guy's speed is insane! He has priority targeting!"
"Magus, what are you waiting for? Use your skills!"
Amidst the panicked crowd, Huoyan-Yanmo calmly instructed.
Instantly, three witch players in the group, wielding wooden staffs, plunged them into the ground.
A massive, dark-colored magic circle appeared on the ground, forming an eight-pointed star. Black energy seeped from its edges.
The dark energy surged upwards, forming a black protective barrier.
Chen Tian's figure gradually became clear within the crowd.
Chen Tian was not surprised. Magus were a branch of the Mage profession, specializing in buffs and debuffs.
Chen Tian noticed his speed had dropped to 2900. This single move had reduced his stats by nearly half.
Magus skills could stack. Since three of them had cast simultaneously, Chen Tian's stats had plummeted so severely.
However, Magus had a weakness: they couldn't move while casting their magic circles. If they changed spells or buffs, the effect would disappear.
But the most terrifying aspect of Magus was their array of buffs, enhancing allies and weakening enemies.
While they lacked direct combat ability, they were the core of any team, and most teams had one or two Magus.
The Mage profession was divided into five branches: Archmage, Magus, Healer, Grand Sorcerer, and Fire Mage.
Magus had no combat skills among these professions; players relied solely on their combat techniques.
The combined speed-lowering buff from the three Magus had cut Chen Tian's speed in half.
It could be said that these three Magus were not particularly strong. The effectiveness of a Magus's buff scaled with level and mastery.
The fact that three Magus could only halve his speed meant they were quite weak.
But Chen Tian wasn't afraid, because why? Because "The more you fight, the stronger you get" was active. What did it matter if his stats were lowered?
The longer he fought, the faster his stats would increase. What was the point of the reduction?
"Kill!"
With a command, a figure appeared before Chen Tian. With his speed reduced, Chen Tian had lost the initiative.
The figure directly in front of him possessed fists that emanated terrifying air currents, charging straight for Chen Tian's face.
Chen Tian slowly raised his dual blades. The fists and his Twin Dragon Blades collided. Chen Tian was pushed back several steps.
Fist Master skill: Whirlwind Fist, which had a knockback effect.
"Gunslinger assault, Fist Master knockback, Mage's Firestorm, Frostbite."
Huoyan-Yanmo calmly directed. Players in Guild mode had excellent team coordination, and a commander led the entire team's rhythm.
Under the command of Huoyan-Yanmo, Chen Tian had to contend with the Fist Master's punches and close-combat skills while constantly guarding against the Gunslinger's attacks.
Fist Master's punches rained down like a tempest.
Skill: Fist Rain.
Chen Tian responded by slashing out dozens of blade waves with his dual blades.
Skill: Blade Dance.
Amidst the clash of fists and blades, a figure appeared to Chen Tian's left. A long spear materialized in Chen Tian's sight.
With extreme speed and a terrifying spear glow, it instantly reached Chen Tian's waist.
The spearhead struck Chen Tian directly, causing his body to convulse. This interruption broke his momentum, and the Fist Rain from the front bypassed Chen Tian's blade waves, surging towards him.
Simultaneously, above and below Chen Tian, blue and red five-pointed magic circles appeared, radiating scorching and freezing energies.
The Fist Master and Gunslinger instantly created distance. Chen Tian gazed at the two most powerful attacks appearing above and below him.
He slowly planted his feet on the ground.
Instantly, countless hailstones and icy rain fell from above, like massive ice blocks. Molten lava erupted from the ground below, gushing forth like a flamethrower.
The combination of ice and fire, attacking from above and below, presented a peculiar spectacle.
At the same time, Huoyan-Yanmo calmly stated, "That guy should be dead by now. Go check if he dropped anything. Hopefully, it's something good."
When the magic circles dissipated, everyone was stunned. Chen Tian's figure was no longer at the center of the magic circles.
"Ah!"
A scream echoed. A member of the guild was instantly impaled by a spear forged from starlight, his figure dissolving into starlight and vanishing.
The sound of death rang out. Players had to respawn at the resurrection point.
Simultaneously, a blue orb of light dropped onto the ground. It was the opponent's item, of blue quality.
Chen Tian extended his palm and picked it up, immediately storing it in his backpack.
He would deal with these rewards after he finished off the remaining enemies!
"Impossible! How could you escape the lethal range of the magic circle? Your speed should have been reduced by at least half."
"Indeed, with normal speed, it would have been impossible. But I'm afraid I've learned a skill."
Chen Tian's words struck Huoyan-Yanmo like a bolt of lightning. Learning a skill explained how he escaped the magic circle's attack.
"No, look at his profession display!"
Someone exclaimed, and everyone clicked on Chen Tian's interface information.
At this moment, their faces were frozen in masks of astonishment and shock. Huoyan-Yanmo was equally dumbfounded.
"Dual profession! Impossible! He's only level thirty, hasn't even undergone the breakthrough, how can he have two professions!"
"And not support professions, but a spear-based profession, Spear Fighter."
"How did this guy manage it? I recall dual professions can only be awakened at level seventy!"
"I... I don't know!"
"No wonder he instantly killed them with that last move. It must have triggered the armor-piercing effect."
"Heavens! What kind of skill is this? His attributes are continuously rising! He's about to break 5000!"
The entire Huoyan guild was in awe, looking at Chen Tian as if he were a colossal boss.
Fear began to creep into their minds. Was this even human? Was this even a player?
How could such a monstrous character exist? A level thirty with dual professions, and his stats constantly increasing. How could they possibly fight him?
In the game "Chronicle of Ages," players could choose a second profession only after reaching level seventy. Typically, dual professions were configured as one offense and one defense. But this "De'En Ailier" was only level thirty. Why did he have dual professions?
Furthermore, his display clearly showed a Swift Assassin. Two combat-oriented professions appearing on a single level thirty player.
"No, I'm reporting this! I'm reporting it to the officials!"
"Yes, yes! Everyone, let's go report him after we leave here. This is cheating!"
They exchanged glances, the most reasonable explanation being that "De'En Ailier" was cheating. Otherwise, a level thirty with dual professions was simply impossible.
"What are you afraid of? So what if he has dual professions? We have numbers. Listen to my commands, and we can wear him down and kill him."
"Magus, buff allies. Fist Master, apply stun. Gunslinger, assault. Mage, prepare for combined attack."
"Kill!"
Huoyan-Yanmo reasonably configured their formation. Three Fist Masters appeared in front of Chen Tian, to his left and right, with six fists sweeping in from different directions.
Chen Tian's lips curved into a faint smile. He lightly spun the starlight spear in his hand, creating a dazzling flourish. The three Fist Masters instantly dissolved into starlight.
Fist Masters had various effects on their punches, but they had a drawback: short reach. Their fists had to connect to inflict their effects; otherwise, they were useless.
Chen Tian had switched to the Spear Fighter profession. As the saying goes, "A longer weapon provides an advantage." The opponents couldn't even touch Chen Tian before being instantly killed by his fearsome stat-driven power.
Furthermore, the armor-piercing bonus of the Spear Fighter profession was easily triggered, resulting in instant kills.
Not to mention skill mastery. The skill Chen Tian had used just now was a Spear Fighter skill.
Attack and Defense Skill: Spear's Cold Light Shadow.
Spear's Cold Light Shadow created a dazzling spear flourish through high-speed movements. Within the area of the flourish, attacks were blocked, and within that second, the spearhead instantly pierced through the opponent's body, then spun again. This lasted only a second.
After dispatching the three Fist Masters, the white orbs of light were collected. Several cold glints appeared around Chen Tian.
Gunslinger, a branch of spear-based professions. They sacrificed special effect bonuses for the ability to land unavoidable attacks.
Spear Fighters focused on speed, similar to Swift Assassins. However, their unavoidable attacks allowed them to attack with impunity.
The original armor-piercing effect was removed and replaced with unavoidable attacks. But against four Gunslingers, whose spear attacks rained down like a tempest, Chen Tian didn't need to dodge.
The Gunslinger's effect stated attacks couldn't be dodged, but it didn't say they couldn't be resisted.
Chen Tian's spear danced, his hands constantly switching the spear's position. The spear formed an 'S' shape in Chen Tian's hands, a massive 'S' appearing in front of him.
Instantly, the 'S'-shaped imprint began to move on its own, rotating around Chen Tian. At the same time, Chen Tian moved his hands apart, separating the spear.
The spear moved like a nimble stream of air, continuously alternating between the left and right sides of the 'S' imprint.
As Chen Tian's hands separated, the 'S'-shaped imprint expanded, covering an area of over ten li.
The most powerful skill of a level thirty Spear Fighter: Spear God's Burst Kill!
Instantly, a massive explosion and shockwave erupted from the 'S'-shaped imprint. Countless spear shadows shattered.
This move was designed with bonus damage. Coupled with Chen Tian's current strength and skill mastery, his stats reached 4550. The Gunslinger players were instantly reduced to half health.
The armor-piercing effect allowed Chen Tian to ignore their defense and deal damage directly to their health.
At the same time, Chen Tian gripped his spear tightly. With a 'crack,' the starlight spear in his hands snapped into two sections.
A spearhead slowly appeared at the tail end. Two short spears appeared in Chen Tian's hands.
"Impossible! A third profession, Split Spear Master."
"This guy is definitely cheating! I'm reporting him!"
"I've never heard of a player with three professions! Especially not at level thirty."
"This guy is absolutely cheating! We have to report him!"
The Huoyan guild players exchanged looks of disbelief and anger as they stared at the player named "De'En Ailier."
Three professions! This was undeniably cheating. After all, the maximum in "Chronicle of Ages" was dual professions. Moreover, each additional profession required vast amounts of time and resources to cultivate. How had this level thirty player managed it?
Split Spear Master was a branch of spear professions. Their combat ability came from splitting their spear into two and controlling them telekinetically.
Players could control their spears with their minds, but this profession lacked specific skills, relying only on learned skills. Furthermore, their Strength attribute was replaced by Psionic power.
Chen Tian had just thought of this branch profession and needed to learn some skills. Since this profession had no specific skills, it used learned skills.
Chen Tian needed opponents to help him learn the skills of this profession, otherwise, it would remain dormant.
As Chen Tian's thoughts willed it, the two short spears slowly left his hands, rotating in circles on his left and right.
For the first skill he needed to learn, Chen Tian already had an idea.
With high-speed rotation, flames enveloped the spears. Numerous air currents and whirlwinds converged. Suddenly, a small fire tornado appeared. The twin spears spun, and the tornado grew, amplified by Chen Tian's recently acquired fire element mastery.
The tornado surged forward, a colossal fiery vortex sweeping everything in its path towards the Huoyan guild players.
Deep within the Fiery Forest, a colossal fiery figure slowly rose. Its pair of red eyes gazed into the void, murmuring, "The aura of my son... but this power is not inferior to my son's. Something has happened to my son."
Then, its body transformed into a pillar of fire and shot out towards Chen Tian's battlefield.
"Ding! Congratulations to player for learning Split Spear Master skill: Fire Spear Tornado."
Chen Tian nodded with satisfaction at the voice in his mind. Furthermore, Split Spear Master relied on psionic power to control skills and spears. The stronger Chen Tian's psionic power, the greater the potency, but more powerful skills consumed more psionic power.
Psionic power in the game referred to a player's mental energy. Players could manifest imagined moves through their psionic power to form spears, but creating moves was related to the Luck stat.
It wasn't something that could be created at will. Sometimes, even with maximum luck, it wouldn't trigger. Creating skills relied entirely on one's own luck value.
Some "lucky dogs" could trigger them continuously, while others, "unlucky ones," might never trigger them.
Chen Tian, however, was blessed with extreme luck. Quests triggered easily, dungeons were entered effortlessly, and a simple action could create skills and earn rewards. It could only be said that Chen Tian was incredibly lucky.
It was likely that no player in "Chronicle of Ages" was as lucky as Chen Tian.
He had triggered a reward for the Dragon race profession by completing a dungeon, and selling a weapon had triggered an SSS-class quest. These were not things ordinary players could achieve.
It could only be said that Chen Tian was a lucky dog. When the tornado dissipated, countless white and blue orbs of light appeared on the ground, with three purple orbs among them.
Only three Huoyan guild players remained, all at critically low health.
Chen Tian willed it, and cracks appeared on his twin spears. The twin spears then exploded, unleashing a rain of small starlight spears.
They shot towards the remaining three players. Huoyan-Yanmo couldn't believe he had lost before even making a move.
He was the strongest player in the team, yet he was reduced to critical health before he could even act. Even resisting now was too late.
If he had known this player named "De'En Ailier" was so monstrous, a cheater, he wouldn't have provoked him.
The endless rain of spears, like passing starlight, instantly turned the figures of the three players into starlight.
Meanwhile, Chen Tian looked at the orbs on the ground. There was even a golden orb.
Chen Tian slowly cleaned up the battlefield. As Chen Tian was about to leave, a stream of ice-blue flame appeared before him.
Instantly, the ice-blue flame formed an 'O' shape, enclosing Chen Tian in the center.
A terrifying cold power emanated from it. Chen Tian felt as if his entire body had fallen into a ten-thousand-year-old ice cave. This flame was not hot, but cold.
Chen Tian looked at his surroundings, puzzled. Who had made a move?
"My son's origin is with you. Accompany him to the underworld!"
A solemn voice echoed, and Chen Tian felt an urge to submit.
The azure flame dissipated, and a figure appeared before Chen Tian. The massive fiery figure slowly compressed into the form of a young man.
Chen Tian looked at the figure and felt a sense of familiarity. Right, elves, Fire Element Elves.
"You killed my son. Go join him in death!"
The Flame Monarch said nothing more and instantly extended his palm. Azure flames formed a fireball and shot towards Chen Tian.
Chen Tian saw the opponent's move, and the terrifying fireball made him feel a sense of impending death.
"Night Shura!"
Chen Tian had no choice but to switch his profession to Night Shura. Instantly, the fireball struck Chen Tian, but his health did not decrease at all.
However, his armor shattered. One of the Night Shura's skills allowed it to sacrifice armor to negate lethal damage.
Chen Tian felt a pang of heartache. He only had a few sets of armor, and he had instantly lost one. The passive skill of Night Shura was a life-saving skill, so Chen Tian generally didn't wear armor when fighting.
Because the higher the armor's durability and defense, the more damage it could mitigate.
Chen Tian extended a finger and pointed at the opponent.
Instantly, his status panel appeared.
Flame Monarch Huoyun Tian
Level: Fifty-five
Race: Fire Element Elf
Identity: One of the Monarchs of the Fire Elf Tribe
Health: 160031/160031
Constitution: 60000
Element: 23300
Strength: 10000
Speed: 7800
Skill Mastery: 32323
Armor: 3000
Traits: Elementalization, Fire Element Mastery, Fire Element Fusion.
Abilities: Special Flame Ice Heart Flame.
Skills: Fireball, Flame Inferno, Fire Light One Line, Fire Monarch Descent, Fire God Incarnation.
Chen Tian looked at the panel. Good heavens, a level fifty-five boss, and a Monarch-class at that. He wanted to run.
But could he escape?
Chen Tian felt his scalp tingle. How could he possibly fight this?
Moreover, the identity section stated that the opponent was one of the Fire Element Monarchs, meaning the Fire Element Elf he had killed earlier was his offspring.
The opponent was clearly here for revenge. Chen Tian felt helpless. With these stats, even if he activated "The more you fight, the stronger you get" and amplified his power to the extreme, he wouldn't be able to defeat this opponent.
The opponent's stats and setup were too monstrous.
Especially the "Elementalization" trait. Only elemental attacks could deal damage. Currently, Chen Tian's elemental attacks could only be used by the Arc Bowmen.
But Arc Bowmen weren't meant for frontal combat!
What to do? Urgent help needed!
Just as the Fire Monarch was about to make another move to defeat Chen Tian, a stream of water shot across the sky towards Huoyun Tian.
Huoyun Tian roared in anger, "Shuili, how dare you!"
"Hahaha! What is there to dare? Water and fire have always been incompatible. I'll just make you uncomfortable. Today, I'm protecting this little guy!"
Chen Tian's expression darkened upon hearing this. How powerful were the NPC settings in "Chronicle of Ages"?
They could protect players, and even NPCs had their own consciousness and judgment to fight.
They were just like real people.
Chen Tian watched as the water stream collided with Huoyun Tian's fireball, and the water instantly froze in the ice-blue flame.
However, the fireball also dissipated. A figure appeared beside Chen Tian.
Chen Tian hadn't even registered when the opponent had arrived.
But thinking about it, if they knew each other, their levels should be similar, and their stats would be roughly the same. It would be strange if Chen Tian could sense them.