Chương 24: Grind, Grind, Grind

The manager left the rest to the waitress at the door and led Ryan's group inside, up to a luxurious suite on the club's sixth floor. The Violet Club had seven floors. By membership tier, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Violet-Gold members could take their leisure on floors one through six respectively. The seventh floor was off-limits to all—unless invited by someone from the club.

"Look over the menu and order whatever you'd like. I'll step out and be right back." Leaving Rosalind and the others in the lavish sixth-floor room, Ryan followed the manager to a purple chamber on the seventh floor, faintly scented with flowers.

"Miss Violet, I've brought Mr. Gunn."

"Mm. You may go." A screen flickered to life on the wall, and a woman veiled in pale purple appeared on it—none other than Violet. The manager withdrew, leaving only Ryan, leaning back on the sofa, regarding Violet on the screen.

"Does my appearance really warrant that look of surprise?" Violet teased.

"I'm just curious."

"About what?"

"Your reach." Ryan frowned.

"This club is far more mysterious than I imagined."

"But we're friends, aren't we?"

"You're right. We're friends."

"So there's no need to worry. I own this club. If you have needs, we can help you a great deal."

"Then I'll thank you in advance."

"As is only right. Still, let me remind you—even if I've hidden your identity this time, there are no walls that don't let the wind through. With Nameless Slayer's methods, you'd best stay cautious." Ryan's gaze sank, and he nodded slowly. It seemed this Slaughter the World business needed settling soon. … It was late by the time he got back to the studio. Ryan showered, lay back in bed, and logged in again. Violet's words kept circling in his mind.

Nameless Slayer couldn't pin down his real-world identity in the short term, but given time, it would surface—and then, true to his style, the man would choose to pull the problem out by the roots and kill him outright. What Ryan could do was raise his hard strength as much as possible before the crisis came, so he couldn't be ambushed. And the fastest way to grow stronger, for him, came down to one word: grind.

Through Attribute Plunder, he could keep drawing attribute points off monsters; keep at it long enough, and one day his panel would reach a truly terrifying level. He'd already achieved attribute sync, so any rise in his in-game stats meant a rise in his real-world strength too. More and more players were hitting Level 10 and leaving the starter villages, but with the Ambidexterity talent in hand, Ryan was in no rush.

He'd already secured the talent he most wanted in the early game; now he need only do his quests in good order and go with the flow. With his rich experience from his last life, he wasn't the least worried about being left behind by the top-tier players—because in his eyes, whenever he chose to, he could leave those so-called top-tier players far in his dust. Under cover of night, he came to the shore of Gentle Breeze Lake. A bright moon hung overhead, its light mirrored shimmering on the rippling water.

The monster that spawned here was the Stoneshell Turtle—one of the few early-game creatures with a Spirit attribute. He'd chosen this spot partly to raise his base stats, partly to plunder Spirit and speed up his Bronze Fire Seed refining. Heaven's Descent was still in its infancy, its functions not yet fully open.

In time, the currency-exchange system would launch, the time ratio would shift to twice the real world's, and Virtual Sync would gradually open—and then a wave of powerful players would surge forth, ushering Heaven's Descent into a flourishing, transcendent age. For now, everyone was still feeling their way through the early days—and at this moment, Ryan, sitting on a fortune of last-life experience, was nothing short of a bug.

Add the System's mighty support, and he could leave ordinary players in the dust with ease. Through the night, he killed Stoneshell Turtles without pause, his stats climbing slowly. System: [Ding! Plunder successful! Spirit +1!] System: [Ding! Plunder successful! Constitution +1!] System: [Ding! Plunder successful! You obtained the skill "Turtle Shell"!] [Turtle Shell: Active skill. On cast, Defense +100% for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.] A 100% defense boost—short-lived, but a fine life-saving skill.

A whole sleepless night of mad grinding pushed his stats up another notch. [Name: Big Gunn] Level: 10 HP: 3, 500/3, 500 | Stamina: 2, 300/2, 300 Attack: 330 (+70) | Defense: 330 (+70) With 3, 500 HP and attack and defense both around 400, set among the crowd he was an outright humanoid Boss. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. As the sky brightened, Ryan packed up and turned back toward Sunward Town.

The night's fighting had dropped no shortage of gear off the turtles—all of which he mailed to Violet, and his bank balance rose by another two million. But a night of high-intensity combat had left him a little weary.

"Young man, you're not looking too well." Victor Fane, rosy-faced and smiling, watched him. With the elixir taken, his illness had wholly vanished; he looked decades younger than before, his once-withered gray hair now full of vivid luster.

"A bit of rest and I'll be fine."

"Youth really is a fine thing." A flicker of envy crossed Fane's face.

"An old bag of bones like me—ten thousand years lived—doesn't have your kind of drive anymore. You've helped me no end these past days, and you suit my taste, so… you're in luck, lad!" He smiled mysteriously, and the cane in his hand suddenly flared with light, slowly transforming into a massive iron hammer wreathed in thunder. BOOM! A violent ripple of energy erupted from the thunder hammer, a bolt of lightning piercing Ryan's brow in an instant.

A sharp, splitting pain shot through his mind, and paired with the exhaustion of a night's battle, it dropped him into a faint. System: [Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the Power of Inheritance and successfully advanced into the hidden class "Mystic Spirit Disciple"!] Mystic Spirit Disciple System: [Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the Power of Inheritance and successfully advanced into the hidden class "Mystic Spirit Disciple"! HP +500, Stamina +500, base attributes +50, Luck +5, Charm +5!] System: [Ding! Congratulations, you have mastered the Mystic Spirit Forging Art!] A gentle light enveloped Ryan, and under its aid the unconscious youth slowly came to.

"Well? My gift to you—not bad, is it?" Thunder hammer in hand, Fane smiled at the recovering Ryan.

"The Mystic Spirit Gate is an ancient sect of the continent of Heaven's Descent. Its disciples master all manner of supreme Mystic Spirit arts, and it chooses its people with brutal rigor—a super-sect where geniuses gather like clouds. And you, now, have successfully joined the Mystic Spirit Gate as a Mystic Spirit Disciple." Ryan had caught wind of this ancient super-sect in his last life.

It was both mysterious and extraordinarily powerful—though when the great upheaval came, it had chosen to stand apart and stay out of the melee, so his memory held little of it. But the Mystic Spirit Medicine King was a second-generation disciple of the Gate, his divine alchemy raising his name to dizzying heights in the Heaven Mystic Empire; even the Heaven Mystic Sovereign had to yield him three measures of courtesy. That alone showed just how mighty the Medicine King's reach was.

The Heaven Mystic Empire lay in the southeast of the Nine Provinces Domain on the continent of Heaven's Descent—one of the Nine Provinces' Ten Great Empires, with three tier-one main cities, twelve tier-two main cities, and over a hundred tier-three main cities under it: a nation of formidable power. And Sunward Town, where Ryan stood, was a subordinate township of Dragon Blood City—one of those hundred-plus tier-three main cities.

"You've taken my inheritance and learned the Mystic Spirit Forging Art. Later, when you venture into the empire and meet my junior brother, give him the letter of introduction I gave you, and you can receive the inheritance of the Mystic Spirit Alchemy Art." Fane stroked his beard and smiled.

"This is the Mystic Spirit Token—it will make matters far easier for you within the empire." He drew from his robe a token glowing azure, engraved with the words Mystic Spirit, the characters dazzling as the light shifted across them. [Mystic Spirit Token: A mark of Mystic Spirit Disciple status, granting honored standing within the empire. Charm +10, 50% discount at imperial shops.] Good stuff! Ryan stowed the token, excitement flickering in his eyes.

With this, plus his Reputation now past twenty thousand, opening a shop directly in a tier-three main city shouldn't be a problem—saving him a great deal of quest time. By his earlier plans, opening his own shop in a tier-three main city required at least Level 20; with the Mystic Spirit Token, he needn't wait that long at all.

"Won't you call me Teacher, little one?"

"Teacher."

"Hahaha! Who'd have thought—I, Victor Fane, taking a disciple! Those old codgers would be stunned to hear it!" Fane laughed heartily and clapped Ryan's shoulder.

"Remember—our Mystic Spirit Gate may be few in number, but we're not to be trifled with. If you ever meet trouble, use the Mystic Spirit Token's comm function; it will automatically contact the nearest Gate member to help you. So out in the world… never be afraid!" Ryan nodded.

"One more thing—cultivate diligently. As a Mystic Spirit Gate disciple, you need solid, hardcore skill, so don't you dare let the Mystic Spirit Forging Art I've passed you go to waste!" Ryan nodded his agreement. As if he would—this was one of his key channels for making money down the road; he'd never let it lapse.

[Mystic Spirit Forging Art: An inherited art of the Mystic Spirit Gate, possessing the power to wrest the workings of heaven and earth; items forged with it can be developed and utilized to a far greater degree.] This skill rivaled the Medicine King's Mystic Spirit Alchemy Art. He hadn't tested it yet, but he could already foresee that weapons and gear made with the Mystic Spirit Forging Art would have explosive stats.

"All right—I've spent ten thousand years in this godforsaken place; it's high time I went out and stretched my legs. The mountains are high and the rivers long—we'll meet again!" Swish! With that, Fane stowed his thunder hammer, his form blurring and dissolving into the world.

"Quest complete—and at last I don't have to stay here any longer." Ryan sighed in reflection. In this time, the top-tier players had reached Level 10, entered the tier-three main cities, completed their first class change, and seen their stats rise considerably. Big Gunn: Push hard, everyone—once you're Level 10, I'll see you in Dragon Blood City! He left the message in the group chat and went to Sunward Town's central plaza, where the teleport array was now active.

Every player at Level 10 could use it to teleport to a tier-three main city of their choosing—within the Heaven Mystic Empire's bounds, that is. Worth noting: teleporting to the tier-three city your starter village belonged to was free, but traveling to any other cost game currency scaled to the distance. System: [Ding! Travel to "Dragon Blood City"?] Yes! System: [Ding! Teleport selected! Countdown: ten… nine… eight…] As the countdown ended, Ryan's vision blurred; a fierce gale wrapped him, and after a dizzying spin, he found himself standing in a city built mainly of gold-red architecture. System: [Ding! Teleport successful! You have arrived at "Dragon Blood City"!] He looked around. A faint air of majesty wreathed the antique gold-red buildings, striking the heart. Fragments of memory reassembled themselves, and Ryan's eyes grew unexpectedly damp. In his last life, his fate had begun to be rewritten in Dragon Blood City.

He hadn't expected to arrive here so early this time. Emotion welled in him—the familiar buildings, the familiar air—only that the Dragon Blood City he'd last seen ravaged and ruined still stood tall and unbroken.

"I may live a second life—but the Dragon God's Essence Blood will still be mine." His gaze sank, an unprecedented resolve flashing in his eyes, his hands clenching tight. He could hardly wait.