Book 5: Chapter 28: The Eve of Battle

“If Qin Lun survives, he should be able to change his class successfully!” Hill said calmly to Hansen.

“If we survive, we will have basically met the skill requirements as well. We could directly search for hunting targets for our Career Quest in Shattered Starry Sky!” Hansen shook his head faintly. “He’s only half a step ahead of us, and given the risks he took… he deserves it!”

“Hmm!” Hill’s eyes flickered as he nodded slowly.

The Jungle Hunter class that Qin Lun was about to change to, although it had ranged attacks, high survivability, and summoning abilities, was not considered a powerful class at this stage in terms of the class itself. Qin Lun’s current combat ability actually relied on his own Combat Model and several powerful support skills.

After receiving Qin Lun’s reminder earlier, Hill and Hansen had readjusted their career paths and chosen combat classes more suitable for themselves. As long as they survived in this world, they would basically meet the requirements for their newly chosen classes.

Hill’s originally planned combat class was a Water Mage. Water Mage was a versatile class with attacks, defenses, and healing skills. However, one branch of Water Mage was a powerful control and damage class: the Frost Mage, which was also the career path the Shepherd initially wanted to strengthen.

The Frost Mage was undoubtedly a powerful class. But after Qin Lun’s reminder, Hill gave up this class choice. Firstly, his personality didn’t suit such a flashy turret class; another reason was that Frost Mage skills had too narrow a selection, making it hard to obtain suitable frost-based skills.

So afterwards, Hill commissioned the Mercenary Guild to collect information on some classes he had in mind, and finally chose a career path he really liked – Chaos Priest. Chaos Priest also had several branches: Dark, Curse, and Prayer. The class Hill confirmed now was Prayer Pastor.

In the early stages, the Prayer Pastor focused more on team buffs and enemy debuffs, with poor damage output and high Mana Value requirements because most prayers were group spells with high mana consumption. If Hill didn’t have a Soul-Sucking Bracelet, this career path would be very difficult.

However, once the Prayer Pastor advanced, this class would become increasingly fearsome. The Prayer Pastor’s final class had two branches: those following the support path would eventually become Prophets of Holy Word, whose words could make things happen, mainly controlling blessings and prophecy abilities; those following the combat path would eventually become Angels of Death, controlling curses and soul abilities.

As for Hansen, his initially chosen class was Berserker, a powerful combat class even in the early stages. Strength was primary, Constitution secondary, and he could also serve as the team’s secondary tank. However, also after Qin Lun’s reminder, The Disciple abandoned the Berserker path and switched to the Viking Warrior, which suited his temperament better.

The Viking Warrior was a powerful combat class capable of mastering all weapon combat techniques. In the mid-stage, they would become Einherjar. The final class also had two types: one was the Black Knight Emperor, and the other was the Viking God of War – Odin.

To become the Black Knight Emperor, Hansen’s primary Undead Bloodline of the Ancient Demonic Ape wasn’t enough; he also needed the Soul Fire of the Undead Bloodline. As for the god-level class with the specific title Odin… he needed to fuse a deity core, commonly known as a divine spark.

What Hansen currently lacked for changing to Viking Warrior wasn’t skills, but techniques. To change to Viking Warrior, he had to achieve at least one weapon specialization, two proficiencies, and three masteries. The gap wasn’t small.

Hansen came from a mercenary background and had the strongest combat ability among the Serial Killers, familiar with various weapons and killing techniques. For someone of his talent, merely changing to a Berserker was indeed a waste. Although the Viking Warrior had extremely high requirements and even more outrageous advancement demands, if he could successfully change classes, purely in terms of combat class, the Viking Warrior was stronger than both the Jungle Hunter and the Prayer Pastor.

…

“Cora, have you confirmed the completion of your Mystery of Crystal Lake?” Sas turned and asked his wife.

“Why are you asking this? Didn’t Hill have everyone confirm it directly after we came to the camp?” Cora looked strangely at her husband who seemed to be making conversation.

The team’s Guidance Mission, “Mystery of Crystal Lake,” was stuck at 70% progress. They hadn’t inquired further about the whereabouts of John and his wife’s three children. There was no additional reward for reaching 100% Mission Completion Rate, but Hill and Qin Lun speculated that the three children themselves should be connected to a new Side Plot, which made more sense.

If it weren’t for the hostile team chasing them, following the trail of those three children would be the task line Shattered Starry Sky had arranged for their team. After all, given their strength, competing in a Mid-Magic World against a mature team that consisted of at least Professional Apostles seemed somewhat unfair.

As for finding the three children, it wasn’t difficult. Hansen’s arranged Plot Identity was a distant relative of John and his wife. Using this as a breakthrough to ask Master Hollke to contact other transmission points wouldn’t be very hard, especially since the Inner World had the Magic Web, making long-distance communication convenient.

Actually, the remaining time they had now was just for finding those three children. Once they found the children, they would naturally get additional stay time for unlocking the Side Plot. Unfortunately, after they entered the Sanctuary Camp, this task line came to an end. Even if the three children were in the southern hills, they wouldn’t choose the dangerous Sanctuary Camp.

“Cora, after this Quest World ends, what if we… stay?” Sas looked at his wife busy in the tent and spoke evasively.

“Stay? You mean really join this team?” Cora stopped tidying and turned to look at her husband in surprise. “Didn’t you say before that you wanted to join Lord Holl’s team?”

“Although Lord Holl’s team is the main force of the Esmira people, we newcomers can’t join the main team, only the lowest branch teams!” Sas smiled wryly and shook his head. “And we have to give a portion of our Quest World earnings to the main team each time…”

“So now you’re not willing? Then all the preparations we made before were for nothing?” Cora was somewhat troubled. They had spent a lot of effort recently to join Holl’s Esmira team. Changing their minds now would mean all that effort was wasted.

“Although this team’s strength is relatively weak, Leader Hill’s loot distribution is fair, and you also said they aren’t ordinary Apostles. Why not try to stay?” Sas said seriously. “Let’s forget about the favors we gave before. I just want to find a more suitable team! Cora, you’ve always been smarter than me. What do you think?”

“Before, I thought this team was good, but now… I don’t know!” Cora frowned tightly.

“Why do you say that?” Sas was startled and pressed urgently.

“Sas, don’t you think it’s a bit strange that Hill and the others chose the Sanctuary Camp?” Cora frowned deeply. “Logically, in a Mid-Magic World like this, with our team’s strength, we should have joined The Spire instead. There are more quest choices there, competition is smaller, and it suits our positioning better!”

“Well… didn’t Leader Hill explain it to us?” Sas asked doubtfully.

“Hmm, I believed his explanation before too… but ever since we arrived here, even hunting the lowest level jungle creatures has been difficult, let alone sniping the old members of the Sanctuary Camp.” Cora said with a bitter smile. “As for those who are also newcomers, they all seem to be Professional Apostles too. Our strength is at the bottom…”

“But we couldn’t have predicted this situation before coming here!” Sas shook his head. “Back at Crystal Lake, Hill and the others didn’t attack us, which already showed team spirit. I don’t really believe they would plot against us after entering the Inner World!”

“Just because we couldn’t predict it doesn’t mean those three couldn’t have thought of it!” Cora said anxiously. “I just can’t see any specific problem, especially since we already received a Dark Gold shield material. If we could kill the Hill Giant as planned and complete the Main Quest, even if Leader Hill didn’t share the equipment materials from the Hill Giant with us, it wouldn’t be that hard to accept.”

“You must be overthinking it!” Sas laughed heartily.

“I hope so!” Cora sighed, a lingering worry still filling her heart.

…

At the same time, Casey also returned from outside. Seeing Qin Lun in the tent, he happily pulled him up from the ground.

“What’s wrong, Casey?” Qin Lun sat up with a helpless expression.

“I added ‘something’ to the Savage Rhinos in the beast pen.” Casey’s face flushed red as he suppressed his excitement, leaning close to Qin Lun’s ear and whispering.

“All the Savage Rhinos?” Qin Lun widened his eyes, opening his mouth in surprise. “You’re really brave! If the camp’s old members notice, Master Vima will definitely punish you!”

“Hehe, I don’t know which Savage Rhino I’ll be facing tomorrow, so this is the safest way!” Casey waved his hand dismissively, grinning mischievously. “But I didn’t use much medicine. They probably won’t notice. You still have to help me tomorrow!”

“How do you want me to help you?” Qin Lun asked with a faint smile.

“Aunt Vima said you have a High Rank summon. When I’m dealing with the Savage Rhino tomorrow, summon it nearby so the rhino will be affected.” Casey watched Qin Lun carefully as he spoke.

“That won’t work. The camp members watching will notice!” Qin Lun shook his hand, smiling as he refused.

“But tomorrow is the only chance to sneak out of the camp!” Casey put on a pitiful face, looking miserable. “Once Aunt Vima returns from outside, I won’t have any chance to go out and play! Please help me, Lord Qin Lun!”

“Alright, we’ll see tomorrow!” Qin Lun’s eyes flickered. He bent his finger and gave Casey a sharp flick on the forehead. “Now get some rest early!”

“Ouch, that hurts!” Casey clutched his head, crying out in pain. Then he turned his head and said playfully, “Oh, by the way, Qin Lun, when I entered the tent, I saw an Elf beauty outside glancing over here from time to time. Hehe…”

“Haha, is that because our little Casey has manly charm!” Qin Lun blinked and said with a laugh.

“Cut it out, you know that’s not what I meant! Hurry up and confess honestly, what have you been up to while I was away…”

Intermittent sounds of their play fighting came from the tent, carrying far into the quiet night.