Chapter 17

The black and white shadows crisscrossed in the air, bursting into bright sparks.

"Whoosh!"

Luo De quickly retreated, the pure white blade trembling incessantly. The immense impact from the sword shook his upper body, causing a slight pain.

Just as in Luo De's memory, the level 15 gargoyles were indeed tough to deal with, especially when there were two of them. The only advantage was that these creatures had a bit of combat intelligence, which, although not a good thing in normal circumstances, now made their movements less threatening. In particular, the gargoyle that had taken a direct hit from the Blade of Fracture immediately screamed and retreated whenever it saw Luo De's sword glowing white. The other gargoyle, though not hit, also hesitated, giving Luo De a chance to catch his breath.

But this was only temporary.

Holding the Star Trace, Luo De gritted his teeth as he looked at the two gargoyles floating in the sky. Although the gargoyles were wary of his Blade of Fracture and dared not attack aggressively, Luo De was also certain they wouldn't let him off easily. While the current stalemate could still hold, it wouldn't last long. When he reached level 8, Luo De had already maxed out the proficiency of the Moon Shadow Sword Technique to 4/4. Although the soul power consumption of the Blade of Fracture had decreased after the level up, frequent use would still be problematic. Moreover, this wasn't the final battle, and Luo De needed to reserve some strength to deal with potential emergencies. After all, he was the only one among the three with combat capabilities, and if he exhausted all his strength here, it would be very troublesome.

However, the two gargoyles didn't just stare at Luo De. Instead, they repeatedly dove, extending their sharp claws to attack him, and immediately retreated if they sensed any counterattack. This kind of hit-and-run battle was very demanding on physical strength, but for the two magic-powered constructs, it wasn't much of an obstacle.

But for Luo De, it was a different story.

Sweat slowly appeared on Luo De's forehead, and his body had gradually become fatigued from the repeated defenses. However, Luo De couldn't retreat. He knew that with his current abilities, it was almost impossible to take on two gargoyles at once. So he had to rely on Lijie, as there wasn't much danger in the church that needed special attention. But...

Did I forget to remind them to be cautious of the protective arrays?

But after a moment's thought, Luo De shrugged and refocused his attention on the gargoyles.

After all, no one would die.

"Ah!!"

Accompanied by a "piercing" scream, Mace fell to the ground, convulsing uncontrollably.

"I'm dying! Help! Help!"

"It's just an electric shock! You're not dead, Mr. Mace."

Lijie, who was rummaging through the old, dust-covered table filled with time-eroded, unrecognizable items, casually cast a healing spell to ease Mace's pain without even turning her head, then continued her search.

While ordinary mages would cast many protective spells in their rooms to protect their secrets, this church had long been "neglected," and the protective arrays had weakened by about 70-80% over time, posing no significant threat.

As a half-angel, Lijie's resistance to magic wasn't weak, so these weakened protective arrays had little effect on her. The traps that would normally burst into flames and lightning when triggered only flickered with weak magical light and then disappeared. It was the unfortunate Mr. Mace who gave these traps a bit of confidence, as he, being an ordinary person, had no resistance, and his reactions made the protective arrays somewhat threatening.

"This, this place is truly detestable..."

Mace brushed off the dust, slowly getting up, muttering to himself while secretly observing the surroundings.

In the dimly lit church, only the holy light Lijie cast floated quietly beside her, illuminating the originally dark world. However, these scenes made Mace shudder with fear. In the light, he could clearly see the dark, strange arrays and the eerie white bones on the floor. These were enough to make Mace's legs tremble, not to mention the bloodstains on the walls, which almost made him run away the moment he entered. If not for Lijie's calm demeanor, which made him lose face, and the consideration of the more immediate dangers outside, the fat merchant would have fled long ago.

But now, he had to tough it out and search for the "control center" with Lijie, which he didn't even know what it looked like.

How can I find that strange thing in this messy place?

Mace brushed off the dust, muttering to himself, but seeing Lijie's serious expression, he didn't say much more and continued to search.

At this moment, Luo De was also not at ease.

"———!"

The gargoyle screeched and pounced, and Luo De's body turned slightly, narrowly avoiding the attack. However, this time, the gargoyle didn't immediately retreat as it had before. Instead, it turned and swung its thick tail!

Oh no!

Hearing the wind from behind, Luo De's heart sank. He quickly turned, and his long sword immediately blocked in front of him.

Luo De's reaction was not slow, but the gargoyle's attack was also swift. Just as he turned, he felt a massive impact through the sword, which not only bent the white blade in his hand but also sent him flying, rolling several times on the ground before stopping.

"Whoosh!"

Luo De got up, feeling dizzy and his blood boiling, with half of his body numb, almost dropping his sword. He instinctively wanted to shake his head to clear his mind, but a faint sound from behind made him immediately tense up.

"Hisss..."

Accompanied by this almost imperceptible sound, a cold aura emerged from behind Luo De. Without thinking, he rolled on the ground, barely avoiding the attack. When he looked up, he saw three wraiths slowly approaching him.

The gargoyle's attack, though it didn't harm Luo De, had sent him flying from the church entrance to the edge of the barrier. The wraiths, unable to approach the church due to the barrier, had been hovering around, waiting for an opportunity.

And now, the opportunity had come.

Luo De, of course, didn't intend to let the wraiths have their way. Facing the approaching enemies, he gritted his teeth and abandoned the idea of conserving his strength. A white light suddenly burst from his sword, shooting forward.

A bright, white blade of light shot out from Luo De's sword, spinning and dispersing, striking one of the wraiths and tearing through its defenses. Without hesitation, Luo De lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air in a perfect arc, piercing the core of the wraith. As the unfortunate wraith screamed and turned to dust, Luo De had already passed through its body and returned to the area protected by the barrier.

What should I do next?

As Luo De pondered this, a system message appeared before his eyes, making him pause.

[Experience Points 4000/1800, Level Up, Talent Tree Unlocked, Level 8]

I've already reached level 10? But before entering the Fog Ruins, I was only level 8?

Luo De was momentarily stunned, then recalled that he had indeed seen a system message indicating enough experience for a level up, but he had ignored it due to the gargoyle's sudden attack. Now, it seemed that the experience from the wraiths he had killed along the way was enough for another level up. This wasn't surprising, given that this was a five-person dungeon, and almost all the monster experience was gained by Luo De alone. Additionally, his lower level meant that killing higher-level monsters provided bonus experience, making it normal to reach level 10—though the existence of experience points in a real-world setting was somewhat strange.

But now wasn't the time to worry about such trivial matters. Luo De quickly opened his attributes and made a choice, knowing that this might be his only chance to gain an advantage.

[Experience Points 4000/1800, Level Up, Talent Tree Unlocked, Level 8]

[Experience Points 2200/2000, Level Up, Talent Tree Unlocked, Skill Point 1, Level 9]

[Experience Points 200/2500, Talent Tree Unlocked, Skill Point 2, Level 10]

[Do you want to unlock the talent system?]

"Unlock!"

Without hesitation, Luo De quickly responded, and almost instantly, three different talent tree diagrams appeared before his eyes.

In the Dragon Soul Continent, each class had three talent choices after reaching level 10. Players could choose one as their main focus or select attributes and skills from other talents as auxiliary. These talent attributes were obtained through skill points, which made the initial choices somewhat confusing. Each level-up granted only one skill point, and not only did the talent trees require points, but skills like sword techniques and magic also needed skill points to improve. This limited the number of skill points players could allocate in the early stages. However, once players entered the mid-level stage, they could obtain additional skill points through "Awakening Scrolls" and completing high-difficulty tasks to enhance their skills.

Luo De's Summoner Swordsman had three different talent paths: "Summoning Master," "Soul Messenger," and "Hell Lord."

"Summoning Master" increased the number of spirits the player could summon with each level-up. "Soul Messenger" focused on enhancing the power of the summoned spirits. "Hell Lord" had a special ability that allowed the player to convert non-human creatures into summoned spirits after killing them, though the converted spirits would be limited to the undead attribute.

Each talent had its strengths and weaknesses. "Summoning Master" relied on quantity, "Soul Messenger" on quality, but considering the rarity of magical creatures and the high cost of soul cores, "Hell Lord" was also a good choice.

If it were a regular player, they would likely hesitate, unwilling to give up any of the talents. However, for Luo De, this wasn't a problem. He had been playing the Summoner Swordsman for seven years, and his insights and techniques were considered classic and widely followed by many players. In the game, nearly two-thirds of the players who chose the Summoner Swordsman followed Luo De's techniques. Therefore, the choice that many new players found difficult was already decided for Luo De the moment he saw the talent trees.