Chapter 17

Because of his experience during the beta test with the Warrior Challenge task, Fang Yi knew he could not be the opponent's match. However, the condition for completing the task was simply to hold out for one minute—so from the start, he wisely chose a defensive stance.

Even so, Fang Yi felt increasingly strained. Hop's speed was not particularly fast, but the dagger in his hand seemed to have no weight or inertia, always managing to avoid his defenses and strike at his vital points from bizarre angles.

Just now, even though his curved sword had deflected the dagger, it reappeared at his side in an instant, leaving a long wound. If he hadn't dodged quickly enough, it would have become a bloody hole. His skills were clearly a level higher than those of the green bandit, Lance, whom he had killed earlier.

As the duration of their battle increased, the onlookers, who had initially been indifferent, became increasingly surprised and began to count down loudly, "Eleven! Ten! Nine!..."

When Fang Yi managed to hold out for one minute without falling, the people outside the arena began to cheer and shout.

"One minute, one minute!" "This should count, right? It's already over!"

But Fang Yi didn't think so. His stubborn nature made him unwilling to be knocked down so easily. Seeing his health points dwindling, Fang Yi steeled himself. The Dark Night's Blessing, which he had been holding defensively in front of his chest, suddenly turned to offense, each strike aimed at Hop's face, employing a blood-for-blood tactic. Just before his health points dropped to 1, he managed to reduce Hop's health points by 19.

"Not bad, young man, I haven't seen an adventurer with your skills in a long time~" Hop sheathed his dual daggers and said to Fang Yi with a smile, "Come with me to claim your reward."

Fang Yi took a few deep breaths and felt a surge of joy at Hop's words. During the beta test, he had not met the highest requirement of one minute and had directly gone to the guild hall to collect the brooch and skill book. Was there an additional reward in this situation?

During the beta test, players focused mainly on exploration and accumulation. Many were very curious about the basic profession tasks available to each class and wanted to see what rewards the highest difficulty level offered.

At the time, the spellcasting class tasks had a high chance of testing memory, as casting spells in "Miracle" required incantations. NPCs would give many complex incantations, and the more the player remembered and the less time they took, the better the reward. Many spellcasters completed the highest difficulty, with some gaining +2 initiative and others +3 spell damage. However, physical classes were more challenging, with all tasks being combat-based.

One warrior, to see what rewards the task could offer, kept leveling up his character until he reached level 30 and became a Sword Saint before returning to the challenge. This attracted a large crowd of onlookers, but when the highest difficulty NPC appeared, everyone was stunned. It was none other than the white-haired, dual-dagger-wielding hero, Trist Darden!

He said that holding out for 30 seconds would count as passing, but the result was obvious. The warrior only lasted 10 seconds in front of the dark elf before being eliminated.

Of course, the Sword Saint accepted his defeat with grace. Trist Darden's attributes and level advantages were all nullified by the system, and he relied purely on combat skills to defeat his opponent. This was a small joke by the system, showing players that there were no loopholes in the world of "Miracle" (considering Trist Darden's protagonist template, the dark elf's class levels in the game were 15 levels of Drow Warrior, 1 level of Barbarian, 13 levels of Ranger, 20 levels of Mielikki Ranger, and 5 levels of Legendary, making him one of the top-tier characters in terms of strength).

The surrounding rogue players were buzzing with excitement, but Fang Yi never took off his cloak's hood, so no one could see who this high-level task completer from Farview Town was.

Fang Yi followed Hop up the stairs to the second floor of the Rogue Guild building. Perhaps due to the weather, the dark and damp hallway had a musty smell. Fang Yi looked at the wooden floor, which was almost indistinguishable between black and red, and thought, "Does the Rogue Guild have to be so dark? Look at the paladin and warrior halls; I wonder who has such taste..."

Of course, Hop had no idea what Fang Yi was thinking. He quickly led Fang Yi to a room and began rummaging through the cabinets. Finally, he found Fang Yi's reward in a corner, scratched his head, and sat down in a chair. "Fang, since you completed the highest difficulty challenge, you can choose from these three skill books. Take a look."

As soon as Hop finished speaking, a selection panel appeared in front of Fang Yi with three clear options: Backstab, Ambush, and Mental Agility.

Three to choose from? The highest difficulty is indeed special. Fang Yi didn't hesitate and immediately chose Ambush.

Mental Agility was a god-like skill for future high-level challenges, but it wasn't needed now. Through the previous battle, Fang Yi had already decided to focus on an assassin-style combat approach. Both Backstab and Ambush were skills he wanted to develop, but compared to Backstab, Ambush, with its control effect, was what he needed most at the moment—these key combat skills would eventually require skill books to learn, and although they weren't as rare as high-level skills, Fang Yi remembered that the average price of the Ambush skill book during the beta test was over 1,000 gold, saving him a lot of money!

System notification: Congratulations on completing the Rogue Profession Task - Assassin's Resolve, with a completion rate of 90%. You have gained 25 + 3 experience points, and your reputation in the Astorian Guild has increased by 1.

System notification: You have obtained the skill book: Ambush.

System notification: You have obtained the Rogue Brooch and the Astorian Guild Emblem.

Rogue Brooch (Fine Brooch)

Special Equipment

Weight: 1

+2 Weapon Damage

"I am a Rogue"

Finally, it's in hand. Fang Yi clapped his hands and learned Ambush, then looked at the dagger-shaped brooch in front of him—successfully completing the highest difficulty challenge indeed came with attribute boosts. During the beta test, his warrior had fallen short by over ten seconds of holding out for one minute, and the reward was a +4 armor Warrior Brooch, which was far less practical than the Rogue Brooch in front of him.

Note: Backstab: When the rogue is behind the target and out of the target's line of sight, the damage dealt to the target is increased by 10%.

Each level increases Backstab damage by 3%, and it can crit.

Required weapon: Any one-handed weapon of medium size or smaller.

After a rogue becomes an assassin, focusing more on assassination and ambush, the Backstab skill effect changes to: dealing 2x normal damage, which can crit.

Special: In the game, physical classes do not have a crit rate attribute; whether an attack crits depends entirely on the force and angle of the attack.

Ambush: When the rogue attacks an unprepared target, they can more accurately strike the target's weak points, dealing additional damage (4% additional damage per level) and causing the target to become stunned. The duration of the stun depends on the character's strength, the effectiveness of the attack, and the target's constitution.

Mental Agility: Level 1 effect is +10 mental resistance, with the highest level providing +35 resistance.