Chapter 25: Hidden Profession

“By the way, I should mention that I, too, have a hidden class,” Li Ren said in a low voice, though it was unclear to whom he was explaining.

“Summon! Skeleton Guards!”

Before Li Ren, a pile of bones began to materialize, slowly assembling themselves into a full formation of one hundred upright skeleton guards.

The minds of those following behind him, including Falling Moon, were struggling to keep up. To have a hundred skeletons appear at once was nothing short of terrifying, especially as their levels were all marked with the mysterious symbol indicating their power was far beyond their own. For them, anything more than ten levels above their own displayed as such, but Li Ren had hidden all of his attributes, leaving them completely in the dark. Judging by the skeletons before them, Li Ren’s own level could not be far from theirs, which meant...

He gave them no time to be astonished. “Time for you to buff them up!” he called out.

Only then did Falling Moon and the others snap out of their shock. Thankfully, buffs didn’t have to be applied one at a time—except for the rarest kinds, most could be cast on the whole group.

Soon, all one hundred skeleton guards shimmered with light, brimming with countless beneficial buffs.

Li Ren glanced at his minions, a touch of sorrow in his eyes as he realized that his own attributes were now almost identical to theirs. Aside from the set of level-thirty gear he wore, which granted him about a ten percent stat boost and considerable armor, he was truly not much different from his own summons. One ring’s side effect had reduced him to the level of his own minions.

Still, it wasn’t without its advantages. With the buffs, the combat power of his skeletons was instantly boosted by around thirty percent. When he was a skeleton himself, he lacked the benefit of equipment. Now, even in middling gear around level thirty, his defensive stats were higher than what he’d once achieved with fifteen hundred points in constitution. After all, constitution only added defense, while equipment often boasted game-breaking damage reduction.

Even the unremarkable armor he wore had a property reducing physical damage taken by ten percent—an absurdly powerful effect. With his current set of shield-warrior gear, his defense was nearly on par with the fifty-level skeleton he used to be. He couldn’t help but feel a naked envy for the power player equipment provided.

Players’ only real weaknesses were uneven stats and low HP, but formation could offset the former, and priests could heal the latter—making their effective health practically limitless compared to his own.

Otherwise, why would all the bosses inevitably fall one by one to the players? Had there ever truly been an unbeatable boss? Although, to be fair, one might be about to appear.

Thus began a seemingly unequal battle: one hundred skeleton guards and their master, facing an endless horde of Woma monsters.

At first, Falling Moon’s group of mages tried to assist by casting single-target spells, but quickly discovered that their attacks, which normally dealt over seven hundred damage, now barely did two or three hundred at most. The effectiveness had been cut by more than half!

“Use area spells that inflict slow!” Falling Moon quickly adapted, noticing the changing tide of battle. Against these lesser monsters, Li Ren and his skeleton army could just about withstand the onslaught, but their health was dropping quickly. Once the mages switched to blizzard-like spells that slowed the monsters, Li Ren’s burden was greatly eased.

Crescent Slash! At the vanguard, Li Ren unleashed his unique skill, sweeping arcs of light lashing out from his blade, felling swathes of monsters in a single blow. The density of enemies here was overwhelming, but Li Ren found the slaughter exhilarating.

With the cover of his hidden class, he boldly began using blood essence conversion. The blood essences in his pack were consumed without hesitation, flooding him with experience and stat gains—a most satisfying sight.

Soul count: 4,833 + 1.

Li Ren didn’t even glance at this stat, dismissing the ‘+1’ entirely. Under his command, the skeleton guard army clashed with the native Woma monsters in a battle of epic scale. Though each skeleton only retained thirty percent of their former boss-level power, the potent buffs from Falling Moon’s party made them more than a match for these similarly leveled monsters.

Weapons flashed and clashed across the battlefield, but for Cangyue and the other melee classes, the experience was frustrating. Li Ren had considered not bringing them along, but explaining would have been too much trouble. Now, all they could do was cheer from the sidelines or act as record keepers.

Regardless, the sight of Li Ren leading from the front was enough to make one’s blood boil—he fought alone against a tide of monsters in a zone twenty levels above them, two whole tiers beyond their own.

As the monsters fell one by one, brilliant flashes of white light erupted from the rear—unmistakable signs of players leveling up.

Amidst the women’s gasps and admiration, the experience kept flooding in.

Even with twenty people sharing the experience, the level gap was so immense, and Li Ren’s clear speed was so fast, that the density of monsters here created an unprecedented spectacle.

Normally, the system strictly regulated such cross-level farming. If two players with vastly different levels teamed up, experience would be divided so that neither gained much, though it was still a little faster than lowbies going solo.

Li Ren’s case was different. As a monster himself, killing other monsters yielded no experience. His only source was the blood essence he extracted from their corpses, which also restored his health.

With over a hundred minions simultaneously farming for him, and with him converting essence alongside the twenty players leeching experience, they had found a loophole in the system—a single monster providing double the experience.

For Li Ren, level-fifty monsters barely made a dent in the vast experience he required. The gains were slow, but steady—better than nothing.

By the time the horde was cleared, Falling Moon and the rest had each gained about a level. The way they now looked at Li Ren was entirely different—some with awe, some in shock, and some with a greedy glimmer in their eyes, predatory as wolves eyeing a prize. Li Ren felt a chill run down his back.

Fortunately, the presence of players in the party meant the monsters dropped a fair amount of loot, mostly around level fifty. They could only look at it longingly, with no hope of actually equipping it.

Li Ren simply handed it all to Falling Moon. “Take these back; once you’ve established your guild, stash them in the vault. It’ll help show your strength. But as for what happened today—keep it to yourselves.”

Only then did Falling Moon understand why this mysterious figure was so insistent on secrecy. He was simply too monstrous; she felt that even without their help, he could have cleared the entire zone by himself. Though it seemed they’d needed plenty of priestly healing, one should never underestimate a woman’s intuition.

The sheer number of monsters along the way was staggering, and even Li Ren, with his blinding speed and efficiency, found the journey a bit drawn out.

Following the map, they chose the shortest path and pressed directly toward the Woma Chieftain’s lair.

Such a glut of monsters was likely the system’s way of rewarding or testing the first team to make it this far. If they couldn’t handle these mobs, they had no business facing the chieftain. But if they managed to clear them all, the experience and loot would be reward enough, even if they failed the ultimate challenge.

All these benefits, of course, went straight to Li Ren and his all-female squad—they left nothing behind.

As Li Ren fought his way through the final turns toward the Woma Chieftain’s domain, a wave of powerful, malevolent energy surged from nearby.

His heart leapt—fortune was smiling on them today. He pressed forward with renewed vigor.

“Keep my buffs up at all times! If I’m not mistaken, the Woma High Priest is just ahead. If we’re lucky and it drops something good, we’ll be set!” Li Ren’s face lit up with excitement. Falling Moon and the others, hearing this, straightened with anticipation. Everyone knew that challenging the Woma Chieftain would be tough, but the High Priest was another matter—still a boss, but far less formidable.

Sure enough, as the last monsters fell, the Woma High Priest appeared before them.

This creature wielded two massive scimitars, its hulking frame covered in dark skin inscribed with mysterious patterns, its face a grotesque blend of bull and horse, twisted in a fearsome snarl.

An overwhelming aura radiated from the High Priest, rolling over Falling Moon’s party in a palpable wave.

Several of the weaker women turned pale from the pressure.

Li Ren merely sneered at the display. How dare this creature flaunt its aura before him? If he were to remove the Ring of Deception, his own presence would be far more terrifying than anything this monster could muster.