Chapter 1071: Chapter 89: Red Flame Peak, Advanced by Surpassing Boundaries

System prompt: Defeated [Fiery Soul], gaining 698 Experience Points.

...

Not bad! Xiao Jie praised inwardly, the Experience Points were really quite generous, worthy of a high-level map. Most of these Fire Element Spirits were over 40 levels, and some even included monsters over 50 levels, making the experience farming incredibly satisfying. In the blink of an eye, his experience bar surged significantly.

Even better, upon the death of these spirits, they burst forth with some rare materials glowing with a red light.

[Flame Crystal Core], [Flame Essence], [Undying Elemental Fire], [Magma Heart Fragment]...

Xiao Jie didn’t discriminate, and with a wave of his Dragon Claw, a suction force collected all the materials that had dropped to the ground—all of them into his bag. Even if he couldn’t use them himself, he could give them to Su Zhiqing for Alchemy and Talisman Making, or trade them with other players, which was excellent.

At this time, from below the ruins of a fortress, an agile figure leapt into the air, landing lightly on a massive volcanic rock. It was An Ran, in lynx transformation. She seemed to be enveloped in a faint layer of Protective Spirit Light, which Xiao Jie had conveniently bestowed upon her earlier.

"I’ve leveled up!" An Ran exclaimed excitedly, a golden light of level-up flashing over her body.

She was already over Level 9, close to breaking through, and now, having shared some of Xiao Jie’s monster-farming experience, even though the proportion was low, she finally managed to reach Level 10.

Unfortunately, this game had very strict rules on experience distribution when high-level players helped low-level players farm monsters. If the low-level players contributed nearly nothing in battle (output, healing, control, etc.), they would basically gain little to no Experience Points. Otherwise, Xiao Jie could have quickly leveled up his companions by farming high-level monsters with them.

For now, they would have to become self-reliant.

"So, what professions were unlocked?" Xiao Jie, returning to human form, landed back on the ground and asked.

"Ancient Qi Refiner, Shaman, and... huh? Demon Master!" An Ran exclaimed in surprise, looking at the profession list.

Xiao Jie was a bit surprised too: "Unlocking the Demon Master profession at Level 10? That’s somewhat strange." You see, according to the game experience summarized by many players, the Demon Master was an advanced profession acquired during a second career change, usually requiring a combination of [Beast Tamer + Wizard] or [Beast Tamer + Shaman], and reaching a certain level to unlock.

"I didn’t expect to advance directly at Level 10? What’s the principle behind this? Could the game’s past experience have been wrong?" An Ran expressed her surprise.

Xiao Jie pondered carefully, analyzing quickly in his mind.

He soon thought of a plausible explanation. "No, the past experience is likely correct. Profession unlocks are determined based on the player’s actual gameplay process and behavior patterns. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

An Ran, before reaching Level 10, because of your ’two lives as a person’ memory and my assistance, had already mastered typical Demon Master skills like ’lynx transformation,’ so the system naturally determined that you had the potential and inclination to become a Demon Master, thus listing it as an option at the first career advancement at Level 10."

"Previously, players needed prerequisite professions because only by first becoming a Beast Tamer or Wizard/Shaman could they learn those prerequisite skills. With those prerequisite skills, the system would then open up the Demon Master option upon subsequent advancement. It’s a ’cause before effect’ logic.

But now, for you, the ’effect’ (skills) appeared first, so the ’cause’ (profession) naturally adapted ahead of time."

"This is powerful!" Xiao Jie’s eyes flickered with excitement. "And it’s not just you; probably other friends who have revived also have this opportunity! As long as they manage to unlock the high-level skills they mastered in their previous life ahead of time, they might get the chance to advance directly to a high-level profession at Level 10! Even if they can’t become immortal in the future due to talent or opportunity limitations, simply the enormous advantage brought by this advanced and powerful profession is enough to make them among the strongest players in the game."

An Ran nodded repeatedly, "That makes sense, so which profession should I choose?" An Ran asked Xiao Jie, with a look of "you’re the professional, I’ll listen to you."

Xiao Jie rubbed his chin, feeling a bit uncertain this time. After all, he himself advanced to Beast Tamer at Level 10, and only at Level 20 did he progress to Ancient Qi Refiner, and at Level 30, he integrated to become a Demon Refiner.

He had never encountered a situation where a high-level profession choice appeared at Level 10.

"Well... I don’t think you need to switch to Ancient Qi Refiner immediately," Xiao Jie analyzed, "Your most urgent need now is monster farming and level-ups, quickly enhancing your basic level and strength. And the Ancient Qi Refiner profession, although it directly pertains to the path of becoming immortal, doesn’t provide much in terms of direct combat skills and support early on—"

More than not much, without Master Hongchen to teach skills this time, An Ran probably couldn’t even perform the most basic ’Qi Healing Skill,’ only relying on the Legendary Traits provided by Qi Refining Skill level-ups and awaiting professional quest reward skills that she did not know when would be triggered.

"In contrast, you can start on the Demon Master route. That way, you can immediately gain the basic skills of the Demon Master, facilitating monster farming and resource accumulation. At around Level 20, when your fundamentals are solid, consider dual-classing with Ancient Qi Refiner. Of course, if you’re worried about any unexpected developments, like advancement to Demon Master affecting the unlocking of Demon Refiner later, you can choose another route: advance to Ancient Qi Refiner at Level 10, endure the early weakness, and try to switch directly to ’Demon Refiner’ at Level 20—however, according to past experience, the prerequisite profession for Demon Refiner is [Ancient Qi Refiner + Beast Tamer]. If you don’t have the Beast Tamer prerequisite, whether you can unlock Demon Refiner directly, I’m honestly not sure."

Although facing an unprecedented situation, the basic game principles are common. Xiao Jie quickly sorted out two possible routes in his mind.

"Simply put, two routes:

Choose Demon Master at Level 10 → dual profession or job transfer to Ancient Qi Refiner at Level 20 → target Demon Refiner at Level 30. Theoretically, Demon Master is an advanced version of Beast Tamer, supposed to meet the prerequisite for Demon Refiner.

Choose Ancient Qi Refiner at Level 10 → have a small chance of directly unlocking Demon Refiner at Level 20 (if the system recognizes your ’lynx transformation’ skill as equivalent to Beast Tamer ability), if not, you can probably dual-class as Demon Master then → transition to Demon Refiner at Level 30.

Both routes should eventually achieve the goal, just differ slightly in the experience and risk."

An Ran listened carefully and made a decision almost without hesitation: "I choose Demon Master!" After all, in her previous life, she took the Demon Master path, more familiar and comfortable with this profession system. And besides, according to Xiao Jie, the Ancient Qi Refiner was too weak in the early stages. To farm monsters and level up more conveniently, enhancing strength as soon as possible, she had to choose Demon Master.

After choosing a profession, An Ran seemed to exude an indescribable wild and nimble aura. She glanced around the scorching basin and asked, puzzled: "By the way, weren’t you here to visualize the Golden Crow? Where’s the Golden Crow? Why haven’t you seen even a feather?"

Xiao Jie looked up at the sky, explaining: "According to the data provided by Miao Fa Yuanjun, these Golden Crows only come out to move from their lava nests at noon, when the Yang energy between heaven and earth is at its peak, to absorb True Sun Fire and Earth Fire Essence. It should be soon now."

Time passed slowly as they waited. The heatwaves in the basin were still scorching, and the cleared Fire Element Spirits seemed unlikely to respawn anytime soon. Xiao Jie and An Ran found a large boulder casting some bit of shade for respite. An Ran excitedly familiarized herself with the core skills of the Demon Master, attempting more refined control of the lynx transformation and replicating some Transformation skills she mastered in her past life.