Tracy clung tightly to John, her face pressed against his back as they soared through the skies. The exhilaration of flying freely, with the vast expanse of the world beneath them, began to ease the burden that had been weighing on her heart.
She wanted to shout out in joy, but when she opened her mouth, the fierce wind rushed in, making it impossible to make a sound.
Avis had long been left far behind, his massive form now out of sight.
Only then did John begin to slow down.
Flying with the sword consumed magical energy, and after over half an hour of soaring at full speed, he had used up half of his magic reserves.
With over 350,000 magic points, John could only sustain full-speed flight for about an hour. But that was more than sufficient for now.
Tracy’s face was flushed with excitement as she exclaimed, “Old man, this feels amazing!”
As she gazed at the vast landscape around her and reached up as if she could touch the clouds, the heaviness in her heart was completely lifted.
John nodded in agreement. It was no wonder that humans had always yearned for the sky- this feeling of flying freely was truly intoxicating.
“Where’s Avis?” he wondered aloud, looking back. There was no sign of Avis.
As his usual speed. He should have caught up by now.
Boom!
Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed from the distance, followed by an angry dragon’s bellow. It was Avis.
“Tracy, hold on tight,” John cautioned. They were deep within the Eternal Forest now, and he was worried about Sini and Avis’s safety.
A streak of sword light flashed across the sky as John’s speed increased once more.
Boom! Boom!
The air ahead was filled with explosions, and flames burst through the clouds. It was a group of fifth-tier flame gryphons, attacking Avis.
“Orcs!” John was surprised to see that the gryphons were being ridden by orcs.
They also of the fifth tier.
Although Avis was powerful, he was only at the early stages of the fourth tier. Surrounded by so many flame gryphons, he was quickly overwhelmed and forced to flee in desperation. “Master, help!” Avis cried out, having spotted John and urgently calling for assistance.
John raised his hand, unleashing a surge of magical energy. Fire Meteor Shower and Lightning Chain were cast simultaneously.
Boom! Boom!
Lightning crackled, and several flame gryphons, along with their orc riders, were instantly annihilated.
As John’s power, he can handle five-tier monster easily.
“There’s a powerful enemy here!” roared one of the orc leaders, his gaze locking onto the newly arrived John.
This orc leader was a fifth-tier epic boss.
That a formidable force even among the orcs.
John quickly regrouped with Avis, pulling Tracy onto Avis’s back. With the Sword of Divinity and Demons in hand, he activated the skill, Infinite Sword Array.
Whoosh!
The sword energy hummed, and a fierce wind howled as multiple sword beams shot out, enveloping the surrounding flame gryphons and orcs.
The Sword Immortal skills, with their added magical damage, combined with John’s immense strength and spirit attributes, delivered devastating critical hits. The flame gryphons and orcs were obliterated in an instant.
[Killed Level 210 Flame Gryphon, gained1010 experience points.]
[Killed Level 220 Orc, gained 1210 experience points.]
[Plunder talent activated, attack speed+1.]
[Plunder talent activated, spirit +1.]
…
The notifications flashed continuously as the area was swiftly cleared of enemies, leaving only two epic-grade flame gryphons and one epic-grade orc leader.
The orc leader, now filled with terror, glared at John and roared, “Who are you to dare trespass into Orc territory?”
John had no interest in wasting words. With a swift movement of his longsword, a sword beam shot forth, piercing the sky and heading straight for the orc leader.
It was the Sword Immortal’s single-target long-range attack skill, Flying Sword Strike.
“No…” The orc leader screamed in terror, but his cry was cut short as the sword beam pierced through his body, causing a massive damage number to appear above his head.
– 364894
John’s critical hit dealt over three hundred thousand damage.
Instantly killing the already weakened orc leader.
[Killed Level 250 Epic Orc Leader, gained 20,520 experience points.]
[Plunder talent activated, magic critical +1, spirit +100, skill points +10.]
With the orc leader dispatched, John turned his attention to the two remaining epic-grade flame gryphons. They too were fifth-tier epic bosses.
A surge of powerful magical energy flowed through John.
Blaze Explosion, Spatial Rift Slash, and Lightning Chain were unleashed in rapid succession.
The two mighty fifth-tier epic bosses were powerless against the onslaught and were swiftly
obliterated.
[Killed Level 240 Epic Flame Gryphon, gained 18,520 experience points.]
[Plunder talent activated, spirit +100, constitution +50.]
…
With the notifications confirming the elimination of all nearby threats, Avis let out a sigh of
relief.
Had John not arrived in time, both he and Sini would have been in grave danger.
Avis landed, and the group began to collect the items dropped by the orcs and flame gryphons. Among the loot were five-tier elite equipment and three pieces of five-tier legendary gear.
Although John and his companions had no immediate use for them, they stored the items for later.
Additionally, they collected skill stones, equipment enhancement stones, and socket gems. “How did you end up getting targeted by these gryphons?” John asked curiously after
finishing the cleanup.
Sini pointed behind her and explained, “There’s an Orc city over there. Avis and I got curious and lowered our altitude to take a closer look. We didn’t expect them to have flying flame
gryphons.”
“An Orc city?” John’s interest was piqued. The presence of an Orc stronghold in this area hinted at something significant.
Besides, he still needed to hunt two more four-star epic bosses to complete his three job advancements—this could be the perfect opportunity to hunt those Orcs.
But before he could decide, Avis spoke up. “Master, those Orcs aren’t simple. I sensed the aura
of a seven-star powerhouse.”
“A seven-star?” John frowned. Orcs weren’t particularly powerful, with most capping their strength at around five stars. It seemed unlikely that a seven-star being was among them.
It meant that powerful aura wasn’t coming from an Orc.
John considered this for a moment and decided to postpone exploring the Orc stronghold.
Although he had grown much stronger, he still wasn’t a match for a seven-star powerhouse. The last time he faced one-a seven-star angel during the monster tide-he was nearly pushed to the brink. If not for The Tree of Life’s intervention, things might have ended very
differently.
Instead, John chose to stay in the surrounding area to hunt for four-star epic bosses.
Here is the middle of Eternal Forest, all around are four and five-tier monster. It must have
four-epic boss.
The group wandered through the dense forest, encountering powerful creatures like berserk tree monsters and venomous tree monsters.
Both around level 100, classified as four-star beasts.
Before long, John came across two four-star epic bosses: venomous tree monster leaders.
They were easily dispatched, allowing John to complete his three job advancements. [You have completed your job advancement tasks, successfully advancing to a four-star Wrath of the Gods Mage, a four-star Specter Assassin, and a four-star Sword Immortal.] [Your level has increased: Constitution +1, Strength +5, Spirit +5, Agility +3, Free Attribute Points +20, Skill Points +2.]
After advancing, John also gained a level, with slight increases in his four core attributes.
Now that he was a four-star in all three professions, he received 20 free attribute points with
each level-up.
John evenly distributed these points across his four main attributes.
Next on the agenda was upgrading his skill levels.
With his recent advancements, he could now raise his skills to level 10 in the intermediate tier.
Upon reaching the seven-star rank, he could then push those skills into the advanced tier. However, with the Blessing of the Archmage talent, John’s skill levels gained an additional +1, allowing his skills to break through to the advanced tier even at the four-star level.
Upgrading intermediate skills required 100 skill points per level.
Fortunately, with the skill points he had amassed, along with the more than seven thousand
skill stones in his possession, he had more than enough to push his abilities to their limits.
John used his skill points to upgrade his skills in a frenzy.
[You have received the Blessing of the Archmage. Your intermediate skill Blaze Explosion
(Level 10) has increased by +1, surpassing the upper limit and advancing to the advanced skill
*Inferno Dance* (Level 1).]
[Inferno Dance: Level 1, Advanced Magic. Inflicts Spirit\*450% fire damage to the target, with multiple consecutive attacks. Consumes 500 mana, with a 15-second cooldown.]
[You have received the Blessing of the Archmage. Your intermediate skill Fire Meteor Shower
(Level 10) has increased by +1, surpassing the upper limit and advancing to the advanced skill
Hellfire (Level 1).]
[Hellfire: Level 1, Advanced Magic. Inflicts Spirit\*330% fire damage to all enemies within the area, causing additional burn damage over time. Consumes 1000 mana, with a 30-second cooldown.]
[You have received the Blessing of the Archmage. Your intermediate skill *Iron Armor* (Level
10) has increased by +1, surpassing the upper limit and advancing to the advanced skill Diamond Armor.] [Diamond Armor: Level 1, Advanced Magic. Earth elements form a diamond armor around the
body, absorbing damage equal to Spirit\*450% and providing an additional 100 points of physical defense and 100 points of magical defense. Consumes 1000 mana, with a 10-minute
cooldown.]
…
[You have received the Blessing of the Archmage. Your intermediate skill Sword Control (Level 10) has increased by +1, surpassing the upper limit and advancing to the
advanced skill Sword Control.]
[Sword Control: Level 1, Advanced Skill. Increases Sword Immortal skill damage by 31% and
unlocks the skill Sword Control.]
[Sword Mastery: A skill associated with Sword Control. Cannot be upgraded. Allows the user
to control a longsword remotely, dealing physical damage with normal attacks. Damage is amplified by *Sword Control*. The current maximum number of swords is one, with a control range of 100 meters. Consumes 500 mana per second.]
With these notifications flashing, John’s skills all advanced to the first level of the advanced tier, including his Water Mist Clone, which now carried 12% of John’s base attributes. The most surprising development was the Sword Control skill, which, upon advancing to the advanced tier, granted John a new ability.
Sword Control. This skill enabled him to control his sword remotely, attacking enemies from
a distance.
This was another technique straight out of the legends of sword immortals.
Sword Control acted like a normal attack, but it was enhanced by Sword Control, increasing its
attack power by 31%.
With his Dual Mastery talent and 100% physical critical rate, Sword Control could inflict
terrifying damage of up to 130,000 points.
The only drawback was the mana cost-500 points per second, comparable to casting a high-
level spell.
But Sword Control had its strengths; it was continuous, flexible, and could slay enemies from
the shadows.
“John, have you reached the four-star level?” Sini asked curiously, noticing that John had been standing still for a while.
John smiled slightly and activated Sword Control.
Buzz!
The Sword of Divinity and Demons suddenly broke free from John’s hand, whistling through
the air toward a nearby berserk tree monster.
Slash!
134,450
A terrifying damage number appeared, and the berserk tree monster was instantly slain. Even more astonishing, the longsword spun in the air, then flew back into John’s hand.