Chapter 404
As the system notifications ended, Meng Zhihan promptly returned to the game from the character creation screen.
She finally changed her class successfully!
Her breathing quickened with excitement as she felt the powerful new strength coursing through her body.
Such feeling is quite profound because Elven Kingdom has an exceptional sense of realism and immersion, making your in-game character's promotion feel more pronounced and impactful.
Although Meng Zhihan hadn't yet tested the abilities she gained after her promotion, she could already feel the palpable instinct to shapeshift that came with the elevation of her lifeforce.
—Addictive.
This sensation is truly addictive!
Meng Zhihan believed that even without all the various quests available within the game, many players would still grind tirelessly just to experience this exhilarating feeling of growing stronger.
The sense of accomplishment from gaining more power and the heightened awareness of one's strength that comes with it are incredibly intoxicating!
I must have gotten a huge boost in my combat power by now, right?
Meng Zhihan thought excitedly before opening the system interface and checking the server-wide combat power leaderboard.
Sure enough, she saw her name at the top section.
"Whoa... My combat power rating has increased fivefold in one go? That's insane!"
On the leaderboard, Meng Zhihan noticed that her combat power rating had exceeded the 30,000 mark, ranking her 11th on the entire server.
Looking at the names above her, she noticed that the top ten on the combat list were also silver-ranked players like herself.
This was evident because their usernames were displayed in silver text with a subtly shimmering metallic glow, which stood out quite prominently on the leaderboard like VIP members amidst the rows of typical black-hued usernames.
So far at this moment, there were only 27 usernames with silver text on the leaderboard, but they occupied the top 27 spots, which meant that these 27 users had already been promoted to silver-rank.
Moreover, this number was bound to increase further.
I recall that someone recently did a head count and found that there were only about 90 people across the entire server who had earned a slot for Jobclass Advancement,
Meng Zhihan thought.
Privileges!
In a way, they can be considered the select few privileged players in the game!
And let's be real, despite everyone clamoring for more game balance and fairness, when such privilege befalls someone, they would most likely feel... absolutely fantastic about getting it!
Meng Zhihan could clearly sense that the crowd of onlookers in the temple, who had previously been merely curiously watching her, now looked at her rather differently now that she had obviously changed her jobclass.
Even without looking too closely, she could easily see the myriad of emotions in their eyes.
Envy, longing, jealousy, curiosity...
She felt incredibly satisfied!
Her mood radiated with joy as she struggled to keep her lips from curving into a grin.
Focusing her attention elsewhere, Meng Zhihan turned to her newly gained skills for a distraction.
As expected, after successfully changing her jobclass, she had gained a new skill—
[ Shapeshift : Pterodactyl Mode ]
This was an advanced version of [Transformation Magic], and far more powerful than the original transformation spell.
Although [Transformation Magic] allows one to change into different creatures, has its own set of limitations.
In particular, the highest form you can transform into is limited to only creatures with Iron-rank strength, and each transformation usually lasts only up to 20 minutes at maximum, after which you must rest for nearly half a day to recuperate.
Moreover, the transformation spell can only copy 70% of the overall strength of the creature you're transforming into.
In contrast, the [Shapeshift] skill, though limited to transforming into only one type of creature, offers a more powerful and longer-lasting duration with greater growth potential.
[Shapeshift]: Allows the user to transform into a fixed type of creature but, in return, enables the user to copy 90% of the creature's strength (excluding magical abilities).
The skill's duration lasts for an hour with a two-hour cooldown, but the effectiveness of the shapeshifting skill can also increase as the player levels up.
As a side note, the range of creatures a druid can shapeshift into differs from one druid to another, and for Meng Zhihan, the creature the system has assigned her to is a Pterodactyl.
This prehistoric aerial creature is a subspecies of the dragon archetype beasts, with strength potential ranging from lower to upper Silver-rank.
In other words, the skill Meng Zhihan acquired can be used all the way up to upper Silver-rank!
I can shapeshift into a Pterodactyl?
This skill is amazing!
Meng Zhihan was thrilled.
In Seigües, magical beasts linked to dragons are extremely powerful creatures, and this form also has the added advantage of being able to fly!
Whilst feeling excited, Meng Zhihan couldn't wait anymore to test her newly gained power.
She quickly spent 200 contribution points to access the virtual training ground and opted for the room that simulated the Elven Forest environment.
The players usually used this virtual space for PvP battles and testing various spells and skills since constantly messing around in the actual forest could potentially annoy the local NPCs and even lose favorability with them.
Meng Zhihan's heart raced as she entered her designated room.
She the quickly activated the shapeshifting skill, as her body briefly glowed before transforming into a huge Pterodactyl with a wingspan of over six to seven meters!
The immediate sensation she felt upon transforming was rather peculiar; all at once, her vision and perception changed, giving Meng Zhihan an experience unlike any she ever had before.
With cautious determination, she attempted to flap her wings for the very first time and awkwardly lifted her unfamiliar body into the sky.
Initially, her movements was unsteady, and she tumbled a few times. However, with persistence, she gradually mastered the art of flying and soon began to glide confidently around the training room.
The novelty of such experience was incredibly wonderful.
"Haha, I can actually fly!"
Meng Zhihan felt ecstatic.
As a child, she once dreamt of sprouting wings and flying, but she never imagined it would actually come true here in this game.
After blissfully flying around for a while, Meng Zhihan began to explore the Pterodactyl's other abilities.
She concentrated for a moment and then suddenly opened her mouth, releasing a burst of frost ray.
The ray then hit a section of the forest within the virtual training room, instantly turning the area into a frozen space with the trees becoming ice sculptures!
"So powerful! This skill must be at least at the fourth tier!"
Meng Zhihan was delighted.
A fourth-tier skill corresponds to a fourth-circle spell, which is typically accessible only at the lower Silver-rank.
Of course, this frost ray isn't a magical spell per se, but rather the Pterodactyl's innate dragon breath, though it has its own magical effects.
After getting familiar with her new abilities in the training room, Meng Zhihan decided to return to the real world.
Now, she felt even more assured in her strength.
If she were to engage in a PK battle, she is confident that with her current abilities, she could single-handedly challenge a squad of fully armed level 40 players with her shapeshifter skills, even without any equipment.
That's right— even without any equipment at all.
At this point, Meng Zhihan realized that the biggest advantage of being an Archdruid specializing in the Feral Path is the reduced dependence on one's equipment after changing their form.
This truly is a jobclass for the common player!
It's really perfect for someone like her, whose blacksmithing skills aren't fully maxed out yet!
Not only that, but with her current strength vastly improved, hunting magical beasts would become much easier, and the rate at which she earns contribution points would likely increase significantly as well.
And who knows, she might even start earning money several times faster too!
"Now that I've advanced to Silver-rank, I probably won't have to worry about contribution points anymore. It feels like I've reached the peak of my gaming career at this point."
Meng Zhihan thought happily.
Whilst imagining the wonderful gaming life that lies ahead of her, Meng Zhihan opened the exchange store.
She was still eyeing those flashy outfits from the introductory cutscene.
It was clear that this new update had put a lot of effort into the appearance of these new gears and even though Meng Zhihan had chosen the Feral Path, she still wanted to get a cool looking outfit for herself!
And just like she expected, several new items have already been added to the exchange store.
Moreover, they were also lower Epic purple-class gear for Silver-ranks!
The appearance of each of these pieces of equipment is clearly much better than that of the older items, and perhaps even the golden legendary gears for the lower levels might not look just as good.
At a glance, Meng Zhihan was immediately captivated by the flashy and stunning new set of druid gear being sold in the store.
However, when she looked at the contribution points needed to buy these items...
"...Ten thousand, t-twenty thousand..."
"The cheapest piece costs 100,000 CP!? And the most expensive robe is 200,000 CP? So that means...T-To collect all six pieces, it would take over 700,000 contribution points?!"
"And this...T-This amount is only for epic purple-class gear? Are you sure these items are not a legendary golden equipment? Why don't they just rob us blind?!"
To say that she was stunned would be an understatement.
At that moment, Meng Zhihan felt her future might be destined for poverty once more.
"I...I don't want to grind anymore."
— 404 —
[ I DON'T WANT TO GRIND ANYMORE ]
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