This one was a backup. Lu Yun was mainly drawn to the Soul Inventory, a talent of which there were only three in total. Each soul started with a single Soul Inventory, and another could only be unlocked later in the soul's talent tree, earliest at level 40. Most players, even at max level, had just two Soul Inventories.
What was the Soul Inventory for? It allowed a soul to carry items from the host character after death. Normally, when a host died or rebirthed, all items were destroyed. Only items placed in the Soul Inventory could be taken along to the soul's next incarnation.
With only one slot, most players chose the most valuable item; some sold off all possessions to take cash. Yes, even cash took up one inventory slot—but no matter how much, it counted as only one.
Lu Yun stared at the talent, his indecision flaring up again. He resolutely pressed the random button.
Fourth time, fifth, sixth… after half an hour of randomizing, Lu Yun still hadn't received divine guidance. Though he eliminated eight options, six more popped back in.
Frustrated, he closed his eyes and decided to click 99 times blindly, leaving fate to choose.
Click, click, click. When he opened his eyes: "What? Did it crash?"
The screen was filled with swirling lights. Lu Yun stopped clicking. Seconds later, the lights converged, and a single talent appeared on the screen:
★ Seed of Darkness
Lu Yun was stunned. He was certain this talent hadn't existed during the beta test. It wasn't among the previous 300+ talents. But he knew the game contained hidden content: secret classes, hidden quests, skills, NPCs, and more.
But… there was no description for this skill. Lu Yun clicked it, hoping a tooltip would appear.
"Soul Talent Selected"
The system displayed this line and then the screen shifted.
What? Lu Yun froze. In the next moment, the interface returned to the soul talent selection screen, with 30+ talents still waiting for him.
What was happening? A bug?
Lu Yun stared at the screen for a while, then sighed. Probably a bug—he'd report it later if he felt like it.
Surprisingly, the indecision that had plagued him eased. He decisively chose Divine Traveler and checked his soul character:
Character Name: Immortal in the Next Life
Element Allocation: Dark 6, Fire 2, Earth 2
Soul Talent: Divine Traveler
Entering the game, he started as a level 1 soul in the Soul World. The first task was simple: clear out residual souls.
"Lucky little one, many of your kind are there, though they are less fortunate. Go help them." the quest NPC whispered ominously.
Lu Yun accepted the task. Completion had multiple tiers: reporting without killing gave 0 experience and no rewards, and subsequent tasks would disappear. Hidden NPC favorability would also drop, usually preventing further quests.
Killing 100 enemies would yield slightly more experience, but not much. Forums had calculated that killing 8–20 was most efficient. Too many, and it was better to take on another quest; too few would affect follow-up quests.
Soul leveling wasn't the main focus of the game. Lu Yun, familiar with tasks, quickly reached level 10. At level 10, a soul could rebirth or continue leveling in the Soul World as long as it wasn't boring.
After level 10, players could add soul friends and communicate in the Soul World channel. Only in the Soul World could friends be added. Some beta players had already shouted in the world channel; others actively added Lu Yun. Names included "End of Life,""5000CC HP,""I'll Beat You Up,""Just Eats,""Wolf Head Wolf Brain," and more.
Lu Yun chatted casually with a few, especially "Wolf Head Wolf Brain." He expected the player would inhabit a Shadow Direwolf, but the person was a beta player inhabiting a skeleton. The guild had used the name purely as a memento.
After adding over 20 soul friends and some small talk, Lu Yun went to the Rebirth Grounds. The area had three zones corresponding to the factions. Lu Yun approached the Beast faction zone, where four light gates represented the four unlocked Beast races in version 1.0: Shadow Direwolf, Armored Bison, Silver-Tusk Boar, and Highland Tiger.
He floated through the Shadow Direwolf gate, triggering the possession interface. A character name input box appeared. Lu Yun typed: Blood March. Then he confirmed possession. The screen began to flow with animation.
A black forest appeared, accompanied by narration:
"This is the Misty Forest, home of the Shadow Direwolves. Located northwest in the Beast Alliance, the Shadow Direwolves are an ancient race and one of the twelve pillar tribes of the alliance, responsible for resisting humans. Now you are born, and your journey begins. May the Wolf God be with you."
"Awooo~~~" Level 1 Blood March howled at the sky.
To maintain control over the host, the soul's level must exceed the host's. Lu Yun's level 10 soul could possess a level 10 Shadow Direwolf, but most players wouldn't choose this.
In the game, only by leveling a possessed character from 1 to max could one obtain a racial soul skill. Soul skills, like the Soul Inventory, belonged to the soul and could be taken when a host died or was abandoned. During beta, Lu Yun often saw players who were humans releasing Beast or Undead soul skills. Some wolves even displayed human soul skills, proudly showing past achievements.
In version 1.0: each Beast or Undead race had five soul skills; humans, without race subdivisions, had ten.
All skills had a minimum level of 10; rare ones reached level 11.
Shadow Direwolf's five soul skills:
Wolf Guard (Lv.1, Passive): Reduces chance of being hit from behind by 1%, critical hit rate reduced by 1%. Each level increases both by 0.5%. Level 10: 5.5%. Passive skills level up automatically when online; combat skills gain extra experience when triggered. Without skill books, a normal passive takes ~3 months to max; combat skills take longer.
Rabid Bite (Lv.1): 10% chance to inflict Rabies Virus (lasts up to 3 hours, triggers randomly, deals 100% physical damage once per outbreak, curable). Each level increases probability by 5% and damage by 100%; levels 4, 7, 10 add extra outbreaks. Level 10: 100% chance, 1000% damage, 4 outbreaks.