The mont the notification finished ringing out, a brilliant white login light engulfed John’s consciousness.
[Entering the world of CREED...]
[Ga Loading Complete. Congratulations! You have logged into Starter Village No. 616!]
John’s consciousness gradually awakened.
The scene before his eyes had already changed completely.
Beneath his feet was cold stone flooring, engraved with a six-pointed star pattern resembling a summoning formation.
John stood up, but before he could even marvel at the experience, he heard the middle-aged man in priestly robes beside him muttering under his breath.
"For an entire month, exactly six people have arrived every day. Why is there a seventh person today?"
The middle-aged man frowned, looking John up and down as he stood inside the formation.
He glanced at the registration ledger in his hands before finally shaking his head.
"You. Report to the Armory and collect your new clothes and weapon."
However, John paid no attention to him at all.
Unable to contain himself any longer, he eagerly opened his personal status panel.
[Outlander]
[Level]: 1
[Rank]: None
[EXP]: 0/20,000
[HP]: 100
[MP]: 100
*[Constitution]: 10 (Affects Max HP)
*[Spirit]: 10 (Affects Max MP)
*[Agility]: 5
*[Strength]: 5
*[Intelligence]: 10
*[Physical Defense]: 10
*[Magic Defense]: 10
[Class]: None
[Skills]: None
[Talent]: Heart of the Fire God (SSS-rank)
[Soulbound Talent]: None
[Free Attribute Points]: 30,000
[Note]: Attributes marked with "*" can be increased using attribute points.
...
"Thirty thousand!"
John’s gaze locked firmly onto the last entry on his panel.
No one understood better than he did just how important these 30,000 free attribute points were.
Leveling up in CREED was far more difficult than in ordinary gas.
Advancing from Level 1 to Level 2 required 20,000 EXP. Going from Level 2 to Level 3 required 30,000 EXP.
Advancing from Level 9 to Level 10 alone required an astonishing 100,000 EXP.
Added together, this ant that any player who wanted to reach Level 10 would need a full 540,000 EXP!
And attribute points could only be gained by leveling up.
Before reaching Level 10 and triggering one’s class awakening, the number of attribute points provided with each level-up was pitifully small.
Yet now, the system had directly granted him 30,000 points!
What was even more terrifying was that, because he had awakened the system, John was no longer restricted by ordinary attribute allocation limits.
In other words, theoretically, as long as he continued killing monsters and using their corpses to exchange for attribute points, then even if he remained stuck at Level 1 forever, he could still pile his combat power up to the level of mid- or even late-ga players.
The corners of John’s mouth curved upward.
His gaze then landed on his talent.
[Heart of the Fire God]
[Rank]: SSS-rank
[Effects]:
Grants 100% immunity to the fire elent.
Grants a 100-fold enhancent to fire-type spells.
Reduces MP consumption by 50%.
Reduces the cooldown of all fire-type skills by 50%.
...
After reading the full talent description, John had only one evaluation in his heart.
This was a true divine skill for mages!
It directly redefined what the mage class was capable of.
If only he had possessed such a talent in his previous life—
"Hey!"
The middle-aged man’s voice suddenly grew much louder beside him.
"Are you deaf? The Armory is about to close. If you want to collect your clothes and weapon, hurry up and get moving!"
John snapped out of his thoughts and nodded indifferently.
"All right. Got it."
He strode out of the hall.
The instant he pushed open the doors, Starter Village unfolded before his eyes like a magnificent painting.
Although it was called a village, its actual layout resembled an ancient castle far more than an ordinary settlent.
The main road through the castle was paved with gravel, while all kinds of shops lined both sides of the street.
There was a blacksmith’s forge, general stores, and every other functional building a player could need.
Looking farther beyond the castle walls, John saw a deep blue moat circling the entire settlent.
Past the moat stretched lush green wilderness.
In the distance, the vague outlines of forests and mountain ranges could faintly be seen.
In the plaza below, NPC rchants ca and went, mingling with large numbers of players. From ti to ti, players could be seen stopping an NPC and asking for directions.
John fell into a montary daze.
For a second, he almost thought he had returned to his previous life.
Everything felt far too familiar.
He walked down the steps and casually opened the map.
During the Starter Village stage, the map was publicly shared among all players.
Every region explored by any player would automatically be synchronized and revealed to all other players.
When John saw that the majority of the map was still covered in gray fog, he breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected, one month was only enough for these players to explore less than twenty percent of the entire region.
The design of Starter Village in this ga was extrely strange.
In his previous life, John had spent several months fully uncovering the true layout of Starter Village.
He had discovered that the map’s boundaries were surrounded by endless towering mountains, each one completely impossible to cross.
Starter Village was effectively an isolated world of its own.
The only passage in and out of this world was the teleportation formation inside the village.
However, in order to use the teleportation formation, a player had to reach Level 10.
Apart from that, there was absolutely no other way to leave Starter Village.
John opened his status panel once more.
In his previous life, his class had also been mage. Logically speaking, he should prioritize adding points to Intelligence.
However, things were completely different in this life.
Now that he possessed the system and could acquire limitless attribute points, there was no chance he would ever restrict himself to a single class again.
With a wave of his hand, John allocated all 30,000 attribute points without hesitation.
[10,000 Free Attribute Points consud. Your Constitution has increased to 10,010!]
[10,000 Free Attribute Points consud. Your Strength has increased to 10,005!]
[10,000 Free Attribute Points consud. Your Intelligence has increased to 10,010!]
...
[Outlander]
[Level]: 1
[Rank]: None
[EXP]: 0/20,000
[HP]: 100,010
[MP]: 100
[Constitution]: 10,010
[Spirit]: 10
[Agility]: 5
[Strength]: 10,005
[Intelligence]: 10,010
[Physical Defense]: 10
[Magic Defense]: 10
[Class]: None
[Skills]: None
[Talent]: Heart of the Fire God (SSS-rank)
[Soulbound Talent]: None
[Free Attribute Points]: 0
...
After allocating his points, John’s stats had directly exploded to an absurd degree.
At this mont, he was already invincible within Starter Village.
Without the slightest hesitation, John followed the route from his mories of his previous life and arrived at the Armory with practiced ease.
...
The person responsible for guarding the Armory was the only blacksmith in Starter Village.
The blacksmith was bald, and his arms were thicker than an ordinary person’s thighs.
When John arrived to report in, the man was in the middle of hamring a weapon into shape.
Behind him, ten small sword blanks were lined up, waiting to be forged.
Hearing John’s arrival, the blacksmith did not even raise his head. He casually pointed toward the storeroom behind him.
"Go in and pick sothing comfortable to use. Clothes and shoes are on the racks. Once you’ve collected everything, register it in the ledger.
"If you want to accept a quest, choose one yourself from the wooden board outside the door."
It was obvious that the blacksmith had already repeated these words countless tis.
However, after hearing him, John did not imdiately move.
Instead, his gaze settled on the sword blanks behind the man.
"Sir, you still have so many sword blanks left. Looks like you’ll have to work overti tonight, won’t you?"
Hearing this, the blacksmith’s movents paused for an instant.
He raised his head and glanced at John before continuing to hamr away.
"Whose fault do you think that is? You adventurers appear in huge batches every single day.
"Now the Lord has given a strict order that every single one of you must be provided with a weapon. Otherwise, who would willingly stay here working overti just to make all this stuff for you?
"And that brat Marcus! He’s been apprenticing under for so long, yet he still can’t help with a single thing. He might as well get lost and go back to farming!"
John imdiately understood what was going on.
Just as in his previous life, this bald blacksmith still had the sa sharp tongue and soft heart.
Although he was cursing and complaining aloud, in truth, he had chosen to work overti alone while sending his apprentice back to rest.
What made CREED different from other gas was the extraordinarily lifelike nature of its NPCs.
A player’s conversations with NPCs could trigger entirely different storylines.
So lucky players could even unlock special hidden rewards or hidden dungeons.
Staring at the blacksmith’s broad back, John suddenly spoke.
"Sir, you can’t keep handling everything alone like this. Is there anything I can do to help? Just tell ."
The blacksmith’s movents ca to a complete stop.
He lifted his head and looked at John, faint surprise appearing in his eyes.
Clearly, he had not expected John to say sothing like that.
A mont later, the blacksmith suddenly laughed.
"You’re a pretty sensible brat. I do happen to have a task that needs doing, though I doubt you’ll actually be able to help with it."
Here it ca!
John imdiately followed up.
"What is it?"
The blacksmith wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"On the eastern side of the castle, there is a massive Catacombs complex.
"A great many remains of the castle guard were buried there.
"According to legend, a massive battle took place in our castle a hundred years ago, and countless people died.
"Later, when the dead were buried, many of the guards’ weapons were buried along with them.
"If you could bring a batch of those weapons back for , it would certainly save a great deal of trouble..."
At this point, he suddenly paused and looked at John.
John knew perfectly well that the blacksmith had not finished speaking.
"But?"
Sure enough, the blacksmith’s expression beca sowhat complicated.
"However, there are rumors that strange things happen there every night.
"The dead coming back to life, footsteps echoing from the tombs in the middle of the night, and all that other nonsense.
"Eventually, the Lord ordered the entire place sealed off, and since then, no one has dared go there.
"But for adventurers like you, who can revive endlessly, perhaps it might be worth giving it a try?"
This was precisely the sentence John had been waiting for.
He imdiately responded, "Of course. Leave sothing like that to !"
The blacksmith felt around inside his clothes for a mont before taking out an ancient-looking key.
"When the Lord ordered the entrance to the tombs sealed, I was the one who forged the tomb gate.
"Here is the key. You can use it to open that gate."
The mont John accepted the key, a system notification rang out beside his ear.
[You have accepted Hidden Quest: Clear the Catacombs Dungeon!]
[Catacombs]
[Difficulty]: Unknown
[Quest Objective]: Enter the Catacombs, clear the dungeon, and obtain the quest item "Burial Equipnt" ×10!
[Quest Reward]: Unknown
[Introduction]: The Catacombs are inhabited by a group of loyal departed souls who continue to guard their final territory.
...
"Quest acquired."
John closed the quest panel and imdiately prepared to head toward the Catacombs.
"Wait!"
However, the blacksmith suddenly called out to him.
"Kid, I’ll give you one more thing."
John turned around and looked at him.
The blacksmith opened a large iron chest nearby and rummaged through it for a while.
Finally, from the very bottom of the chest, he took out a longsword wrapped in layer after layer of coarse cloth.
The blacksmith handed it to John and said solemnly, "I brought this sword back from the graveyard when I sealed the Catacombs all those years ago.
"After returning, I tried to lt it down and forge it into a new sword blank, but I could never figure out the correct thod.
"It’s of no real use to anymore, so you can have it."
John’s heart stirred.
He imdiately used Appraisal on the weapon.
Appraisal was a basic skill possessed by every player.
[Soulrender]
[Rank]: A-rank
[Condition]: Incomplete
[Attributes]: Attack 15
[Traits]: Physical Penetration 10% (Incomplete), Attack Speed 20% (Incomplete)
...
Although the traits of this sword were currently incomplete, the bonuses it provided John were still extrely considerable.
Forget everything else. The 10% Physical Penetration alone would allow John to deal at least 1,000 points of true damage!
It was utterly ridiculous!
John was extrely satisfied with this longsword.
At this mont, the blacksmith picked up his hamr once more and resud forging. With an impatient tone, he snapped, "Now that you’ve taken your things, get lost already. Stop disturbing my work!"
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