"Ughah————!!" An evil god cultist let out a sharp cry, charging forward with a spear. However, he had only gone halfway when a whistling warhammer swept across, sending him flying like a golf ball.
"The third search party... finally dealt with." Duanmu Huai exhaled, retracting his warhammer. Since then, they had been continuously pursued by evil god cultists, and this was already the third group. He had to admit, these evil god cultists were indeed annoying, but they also brought a good amount of experience.
"Excuse me, what exactly are we doing here?" Following behind Duanmu Huai, Alisa asked uneasily. After that, this black knight had come to these ruined relics...
"You'll know when the time comes." After eliminating another small squad of evil god cultists, Duanmu Huai finally saw the information he needed.
[Level up to Level 10, unlock specialization branches]
[Specialization branch selection — Super Soldier, Tech-Priest, Psyker]
It's here! Seeing this, Duanmu Huai's eyes widened in excitement. This was what he wanted!
The Inquisitor class had three specialization branches, each corresponding to different abilities. Super Soldier, needless to say, primarily enhanced melee attack and defense, belonging to the MT (Main Tank) and damage dealer type.
Tech-Priests were somewhat unique. They could create technological products for combat, such as drones and automated turrets, which seemed very high-tech. But at the same time, they also possessed protective and healing abilities. Strictly speaking, Tech-Priests were more like a combination of a tech-based summoner and a healer, and they were the fastest path to becoming a one-man army in the early stages.
The only drawback was that manufacturing a mechanical army required resources.
Finally, there was the Psyker. It could be considered a mage-like class, capable of damage, healing, and even melee combat, appearing very versatile. In fact, its power was quite strong, but... Psykers also had their weaknesses.
That was the Warp crisis.
According to the setting of Star Sea Online, this world had a unique dimension called the Warp. It was a mysterious dimensional world where the soul projections of all things resided. It was like a shadow of the real world; anything that existed in the world would leave its projection imprint in the Warp.
Psykers drew energy from the Warp to cast various spells, but... there was a problem. In the Warp, countless demons lurked. When Psykers drew power to cast spells, their soul projections would appear as brightly burning flames in the eyes of the demons in the Warp.
And those demons would rush toward the Psyker's soul projection like moths to a flame. Therefore, if Psykers used magic for too long, it would cause a Warp incursion crisis. At that time, not only would various strange problems appear, but even high-level demons might directly come over and enthusiastically invite you to become one of them—basically, at that point, most Psykers had no right to refuse.
Anyway, even if they refused, they couldn't escape.
Because of this, players also hated teaming up with Psykers, especially the rookies. Many people simply read the Psyker's description, thought it was cool and fun, and chose this class. Then, when teaming up, they would completely screw over their teammates.
Imagine, when you were doing a five-man dungeon boss, you suddenly got a notification that the Psyker in your team had overheated their psychic powers, causing a Warp anomaly. Then, a bunch of debuffs like poison, slow, and armor reduction would instantly fall on your team. At that moment, you would probably even want to die.
Not to mention, if luck was bad, the Psyker would be corrupted by demons and turn into a terrifying enemy, and then... victory and defeat were common in war, hero, please start over.
So, in the early stages, teaming up with Psykers in dungeons was a very frustrating thing.
They had to ensure their damage output was sufficient while also making sure not to overheat, to avoid a Warp crisis. Otherwise, they would be labeled as team cancer, severely reprimanded, or even directly kicked out. Because of this, Psykers were initially very unpopular. Players even joked that finally, there was a game where mages weren't grandfathers but grandsons.
Psykers were considered by many to be the most difficult class, and no one wanted to play them. As for those who had ruined their accounts... there was nothing they could do but spend money to delete their characters and start over.
After all, Star Sea Online's setting dictated that only players who completed the main storyline were eligible to create alt accounts and obtain heirloom items. Otherwise, they had to pay to delete and restart their account... Damn it, what a money-grubbing game.
However, not long after, someone discovered the true way to play Psykers. At that time, most players were shocked to realize that their grandfathers were still their grandfathers... And those who had spent money to delete their accounts and start over cried and wailed, filled with regret.
The one who discovered this playstyle back then was Duanmu Huai himself. In fact, he, too, had been beating his chest in frustration at the time. If only he had known about this playstyle earlier, he wouldn't have been so miserable...
To be honest, from that time on, Duanmu Huai always had a thought: if everything could be redone, and combined with his discoveries and strategies, could he create a character even stronger than before?
Of course, there was no medicine for regret in the world... But wasn't that exactly what he had now?
"Choose Psyker." Duanmu Huai made the decisive choice.
[Player gains Psyker specialization... Please choose core skill]
[Aether Walker] [Celestial Walker] [Soul Walker]
"Soul Walker."
[...Player gains Soul Walker core]
[Player gains special skill... Soul Resonance]
[Inquisitor Power Armor changed to Warp Mode]
In the next moment, the heavy black armor on Duanmu Huai's body emitted a deep purple glow, gradually shifting in form. While the overall color scheme remained black, the edges turned golden. Meanwhile, the previously bulky equipment box on his back transformed into a luxurious and exquisite golden halo.
Seeing this transformation, Alisa widened her eyes in surprise, staring at the black knight beside her in astonishment. At the same time, Duanmu Huai opened his character status panel again.
[Little Hammer Smashes Your Head]
[Class: Inquisitor (LV10)] [Soul Walker Specialization] [Warp Heat - 50% Consumption]
[Strength: 12] [Melee +6] [Space Marine Combat Training LV5] [Material Displacement] [Attack Weakness]
[Agility: 4] [Ranged +0] [Sicarus Enhancement LV1]
[Constitution: 6] [Resistance +2] [Crusader Siege Doctrine LV2]
[Intelligence: 7] [Willpower +2] [Combat Psyker Training LV2] [Soul Resonance (Special Skill)]
[Perception: 8] [Awareness +4] [Adeptus Arbites Assault Tactics LV3]
[Charisma: 1 (Locked)] [Communication -3] [Intimidation LV2]
Many players didn't choose Soul Walker when playing Psykers because Warp Armor's special effect was too minimal—Warp Armor only reduced Warp heat consumption by 50%. It lacked the teleportation ability of Aether Armor and the defensive enhancements of Celestial Armor.
To most players, this made it an unappealing armor mode.
However, the real power lay in the core skill... Duanmu Huai reached out and clicked on [Soul Resonance]. Soon, the system description appeared.
[Soul Resonance: You can feel the long history, the power of souls, the mighty power from the peak of the world, and all of this will be at your disposal.]
A short sentence. No detailed ability description. In fact, it had been the same before transmigration. Back then, all players, including Duanmu Huai, were utterly confused by the [Soul Resonance] skill, having no clue what it actually did.
Other skills at least had a brief explanation, helping players figure out whether it was a support, attack, or defensive skill. Only [Soul Resonance] remained completely inscrutable. Players even tried casting it on NPCs, bosses, and items, but it had no effect at all.
At first, many thought it was a bug. Some even reported it on the forums, saying Star Sea Online's developers hadn't noticed. But the official response was: "The function is working normally, there are no bugs"—meaning [Soul Resonance] did have an effect... it just hadn't been discovered yet.
In truth, not only was this skill effective—it was extremely powerful. And its true strength... lay hidden within the ruins!
Duanmu Huai retracted his gaze, looking toward the dilapidated ruins ahead. His expression turned serious.
Next came the main event.
(End of this chapter)