This assassin is upright

Chapter 444 The Bell Ringer of the Abyss

"Hey Lao Zhu, can you tell us more about the third job advancement?"

After Yu Zhun left, the group of top experts held a banquet to celebrate Zhu Xiuming's successful attainment of the third stage of transformation. At the banquet, a drunken Tang Yulong chuckled and put his arm around Zhu Xiuming's shoulder.

"You said the third-stage trial is very difficult, how difficult is it?"

"You bastard." Zhu Xiuming shook his head, both amused and exasperated, and pushed the other man away with a look of disgust, smelling the strong smell of alcohol on him.

"The difficulty of the third-stage trial varies from person to person."

"For those with weaker paths, changing jobs is naturally not very difficult; for those with stronger paths, changing jobs will be more difficult."

"The difference between this trial and the previous job change trial is that the difficulty of the third job change trial will be rated with stars when choosing a job."

"This is something that has never happened before with job changes."

“I’ve heard about that too.” Ji Ruoxu nodded slightly. “It’s said that the one-star difficulty of the third-tier trial is equivalent to a normal clear of a Lv90 dungeon.”

"Two-star difficulty is equivalent to a perfect clear of a regular Lv90 dungeon."

"Three-star difficulty is equivalent to a perfect clear of a relatively difficult Lv90 dungeon."

"Four-star difficulty, that surpasses even a perfect clear of a Lv90 dungeon." At this point, Ji Ruoxu looked at Zhu Xiuming, "Old Zhu, what's your job advancement difficulty rating?"

"Hehe." Zhu Xiuming's face showed a hint of pride he hadn't shown before. "My job advancement paths are [God - Absolute Ruler] and [Demon - Undead Cataclysm Envoy], the former being a four-star difficulty."

"As for the latter..." Zhu Xiuming grinned, "Five stars."

"Five stars?!" Everyone couldn't help but widen their eyes.

The four-star difficulty is already higher than the perfect clear of all the Lv90 dungeons they have ever cleared before.

What will be the difficulty level of five stars after four stars?
"It's really difficult."

Zhu Xiuming's face showed a hint of regret. "During the trial, all my previous summoned units were disabled. I could only start from scratch, killing units in the trial to obtain new summoned units and use them."

"And my final opponent is a super boss comparable to a third-stage deity."

Hearing this, everyone clearly understood the difficulty of this battle.

It's important to know that Zhu Xiuming in the dungeon hasn't reached the third job advancement yet; he's only close to it. His final opponent, however, is a third-stage Divine Transformation cultivator!

"If I hadn't used the summoned unit battle formation obtained from the Demonic Descent Battle Formation, I definitely wouldn't have been able to defeat the final boss." Zhu Xiuming smiled. "But fortunately, my final battle went relatively smoothly."

"A million summoned units wiped out the enemy completely."

Millions of summoned units…

Upon hearing this, everyone was startled.

No wonder it's rated five-star difficulty. Zhu Xiuming's path of magic is destined for limitless achievements.

"Senior Zhu, are there any higher levels than five stars?" Yu Zhu, who hadn't spoken up before, suddenly asked.

"Above the five stars?" Zhu Xiuming pondered for a moment.

"For almost all third-tier powerhouses, five stars is the limit of difficulty in changing jobs, but I have also heard a rumor."

"Above five stars, there is an even higher level of difficulty: six stars."

“However, that’s just a rumor.” Zhu Xiuming shook his head and smiled. “I don’t know if the rumor is true or false.”

"However, one thing is certain."

"If five stars are already this difficult, how hard must it be to reach six stars?"
-
"It's actually a six-star difficulty." Looking at the difficulty of his Demonic Class Change, Yu Zhun's lips twitched violently.

He had naturally inquired about the general situation of the third-stage trial.

In his previous estimation, he was sure he would be facing the highest difficulty level of five stars, but he never expected it to be the legendary six stars.

He took a deep breath and his gaze fell on the detailed introduction of the profession.

[Demon - The Abyss Bell Ringer (Difficulty: ☆☆☆☆☆☆): Legend has it that deep within the Void Realm lies an unknown death knell, tolling for every destroyed world, silently watching over the birth and death of countless worlds. Now, it will welcome its own master.]

"Death knell..." Looking at this brief yet information-rich introduction, Yu Zhun felt as if a heavy hammer had struck his heart, and his head was buzzing.

A sudden realization gradually welled up in my mind.

From server 23993, which initially targeted Blue Star, to server 67238, which continuously targeted the world of Udyr for over twenty years, and finally the recently destroyed Fifth God Zone.

The destruction of these three worlds was directly related to him; no player had ever achieved such a feat before the third job advancement.

He had heard the real death knell three times.

It wasn't he who tolled the death knell that brought death to people, but the death knell of the world. And this power, unknowingly, took root in his very being, eventually sprouting branches with the destruction of the Fifth Divine District.

The death knell that resides deep within the void is the path to his future.

Without any hesitation, Yu Zhun chose the legendary six-star job advancement path.

A line of text quickly appeared in front of Yu Zhun.

[Trial Completion Conditions: Choose a world and toll a death knell once]

Immediately, the surrounding chaos receded, and the boundless deep space appeared before Yu Zhun's eyes. It was a place he had seen before, a place that only those at the third level of cultivation could reach. He learned the name of this place from the Crimson Demon Lord.

“The Realm of Nothingness.” Yu Zhun looked at the countless worlds that seemed to exist like endless stars, their pupils slightly contracting.

He wants to choose one of these countless worlds and then destroy it?

So, was the world he destroyed real or fake?
However, the trial did not give Yu Zhun enough time to think about the problem. A huge countdown appeared in front of Yu Zhun.

The countdown timer, ticking once per second, showed only 98 seconds remaining.

He must make a choice before the countdown reaches zero.

Normally, this timeframe would be enough for a level 90 player like Yu Zhun to easily kill dozens of people, but now, Yu Zhun has to decide which world is about to perish in less than 100 seconds.

Gritting his teeth, Yu Zhun stared intently at the different worlds, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.

After careful observation, he quickly discovered that this star-like world actually had some differences.

Some worlds are small and bright, full of vitality, like newly born infants; others are bright and larger, like growing teenagers; still others are so bright that they are dazzling, like stars, perhaps due to some kind of opportunity, that they have grown and developed.

There were also some stars that, though large, were dim. Yu Zhun carefully sensed them and could even faintly detect a hint of twilight within them.

This world has reached its end, and if no miracle occurs, it will likely just naturally head towards destruction.

And this kind of world should be the most suitable for him.

"Since you were destined for destruction even without my arrival, let me send you on your way." Yu Zhun spoke each word clearly, then chose the nearest twilight world. A flash of light, and the countless stars vanished.

Yu Zhun felt his consciousness rapidly projecting towards that world, eventually landing in it.

When he opened his eyes again, he had become a different person, lying in a completely unfamiliar room.

“My power…” Yu Zhun clenched his fist slightly, and his eyes became strange.

The original power system of the [Divine Revelation World] has no trace left here. In this brand new body, Yu Zhun did not sense any other power. It is just a young body that is slightly weaker than a normal person.

However, this weakness is not due to the young people themselves, but because in this world that is coming to an end, the power of living beings is generally weaker.

In addition, Yu Zhun also felt a new power hidden within his body, which was the condensation and manifestation of his path.

As the "Abyss Bell Ringer," Yu Zhun gains a deeper connection with the Void Bell with each kill he makes.

When this connection reaches a certain level, Yu Zhun will be able to make the death knell ring once through his own unseen connection with the Void Death Knell, thus accelerating the destruction of the world he has chosen.

Of course, this kind of destruction is not absolute, but rather a mysterious force similar to fate. If the world that Yu Zhun chose has a powerful enough entity to counteract this influence, the destruction will naturally be reversed.

The strength of this influence depends on Yu Zhun's own abilities.

Of course, to obtain this complete power, Yu Zhun first needs to successfully change his class to [Abyss Bell Ringer].

His job change condition is to cause enough kills to make the death knell ring once, thus completing one ring of the death knell.

"Slaughter...?"

Yu Zhun slowly sat up from the bed and looked out the window.

Amidst the swirling yellow sand, a dilapidated tower has broken into several pieces, many of which have been submerged in the sand. However, the parts exposed outside the sand still reveal the tower's highly technological structure.

That was a civilization that was once even more brilliant than the Earth.

Now, it has reached its peak and is declining to a certain extent.

In the yellow sand, dozens of tiny black dots moved slowly like ants, heading towards the ruins of the dilapidated tower.

Having lost his former Lv90 physical abilities, Yu Zhun exerted a great deal of effort before he could see that the black spots were people just like him.

They are digging through the ruins of the tower and then taking away some parts that seem to be recyclable.

After obtaining the parts, some of them headed straight for Yu Zhun's location.

Yu Zhun's heart skipped a beat.

He looked away, quickly scanned his very simple room, and finally found a dagger on the bedside table.

He drew the dagger, and the dark blue of the blade made him squint.

A fairly sharp dagger, probably made from some material he didn't know, and this was the only thing of value that the body's former owner had.

After concealing the dagger at his lower back and covering it with his rough coat, Yu Zhun pushed open the door and walked out of the room.

"Yu Zhun, why are you out here?"

A voice came from not far from Yu Zhun.

Yu Zhun paused, turned around abruptly, and only after seeing the other person's normal expression did he realize that this body originally had the same name as himself.

"Just came out for some fresh air," Yu Zhun replied calmly, while subtly glancing at the other person out of the corner of his eye.

He was a man who looked somewhat old, with many wrinkles etched on his face by years of wind and sand, but his eyes clearly did not look like someone who had experienced many hardships; he was at most thirty years old.

Besides the fact that the other person looked older than their actual age, what attracted Yu Zhun's attention even more were their hands.

It was a prosthetic body with a very simple design, but with some exquisite details inside. Its five fingers, gleaming with a cold metallic light, were nimbly working in coordination with the other hand to weave the fur of a very long beast.

At his feet was a stack of woven animal hair cloth.

"You shouldn't have come out at this time." The man's gaze shifted from Yu Zhun back to the work in his hands, unaware of Yu Zhun's somewhat unrestrained scrutiny. "Judging by the time, the excavation team will be here soon."

“A person with a complete body like yours is easily targeted by those who spend their days on the edge of a knife. After all, flesh and blood organs are much more valuable than prosthetics, although issues like matching need to be considered.”

"Excavation team?" Yu Zhun didn't pay attention to the other party's words, raised an eyebrow, and instantly thought of those people who excavated the remains of the tower.

This must be the excavation team my neighbor was talking about.

"Would I be in danger if they found out?" Yu Zhun's tone was more cautious and tentative.

"It's hard to say." The neighbor shook his head. "Some excavation teams are quite law-abiding. They are not only willing to trade the old-world junk they dig up to us at fair prices, but they are also quite polite to us, the settlements outside the city."

“But some excavation teams aren’t so law-abiding. They not only cheat and cheat in their transactions, but they’ll do anything.” The neighbor paused for a moment, “Have you forgotten? Il had one of his eyes gouged out just because he glanced at one of the excavation team members.”

"A perfectly healthy eye can fetch enough money on the black market organ market to buy fifty pounds of uncontaminated jerky."

Upon hearing what the other person said, Yu Zhun immediately became interested.

His neighbor seemed to be a talkative person, and as a newcomer, he liked people like that the most.

"Our settlement has quite a few people, right?" Yu Zhun said casually. "The excavation team only has a few people. Why don't we gather together, wipe them out, and take their goods?"

Upon hearing Yu Zhun's question, the neighbor paused slightly.

His gaze toward Yu Zhun held a strange glint. "Haven't seen you for a day, and you've started spouting nonsense?"

"The excavation team, are they people we can handle?"

"The vast majority of them have specially modified cybernetic bodies, through which they have gained terrifying power and abilities."

"Some even obtained inferior gene drugs made from polluted beasts from the black market, turning themselves into bio-engineered humans who could go insane at any time."

"There are also some who are rumored to have powerful forces in the city backing them up, enabling them to obtain genuine gene-editing drugs and thus achieve the evolution of life."

At this point, the neighbor shook his head.

"Regardless of the type, those guys who can survive fighting against polluted beasts in the wild are all outright desperados."

"Gather together and take them out?"

"We are no match for them at all!"

As he spoke, the neighbor sighed.

"Now, you can't leave."

Four figures were slowly making their way through the sandstorm.

(End of this chapter)