Chapter 18: The Special Operations Unit: Shadow Killer!

"Ding — you have obtained 45 Skill Books."

"Ding — you have obtained 65 pieces of equipment."

"Ding — you have obtained +500 Gold."

"Ding — you have completed the hidden boss's first kill. Free Attribute Points +10."

"Ding — you have obtained a Quest Scroll +1."

"Ding — you have obtained a Mysterious Key +1."

Lin Tianhao grinned. These rewards — they were absolutely incredible.

The fox spirit's previous form had been a Bard, so it was carrying quite a few valuable items.

He gave the fox spirit's equipment and Skill Books a quick scan. Were there any he could actually learn? It seemed... there actually were.

Just not many.

Out of a full forty-five Skill Books, Lin Tianhao picked through them carefully and found three suited to his class. The first increased Attack Power — better than nothing, but only barely.

The second increased Movement Speed.

That one was genuinely useful to him.

His current weak point was his Movement Speed.

Sprint: 1-Star.

Effect: Upon activation, your Movement Speed increases by 0.5 for 10 seconds.

Cooldown: 5 minutes.

Cost: 10 MP.

Proficiency: 0/100.

For a skill like this, proficiency increased by one point each time it was used.

A flat 0.5 Movement Speed boost felt a bit underwhelming to Lin Tianhao — especially since it was a fixed increase rather than a percentage-based one.

In other words, learning this skill wouldn't help much, and it would only split his attention during combat.

Sometimes, more skills wasn't better. Too many skills meant hesitation when it came time to use them — or worse, getting stuck trying to decide.

He recalled an old PC game where a single character could learn over a hundred skills, and players couldn't even figure out how to configure them properly, let alone know which skill was best for which situation.

So Lin Tianhao held onto the skill without learning it immediately.

As for the third skill suited to him:

Invincible Golden Body: 1-Star.

Effect: You enter an invincible state for 0.5 seconds.

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Cost: 100 MP.

Proficiency: 0/10.

This was undeniably a godlike skill. Don't let the mere 0.5 seconds of invincibility fool you — that duration would surely increase as proficiency grew.

The only problem was the cost of one hundred MP, which gave Lin Tianhao a headache.

His total MP right now was only fifty.

In other words, even if he learned the skill, he couldn't use it at all.

He'd just be staring at it helplessly!

It was that absurd!

Should he dump his Free Attribute Points into MP?

Honestly, Lin Tianhao was reluctant. Putting them into Movement Speed felt more reasonable — spending them on MP felt oddly mismatched.

In the early game, MP was a constant pain point for many players, especially Mages. Mages relied heavily on skills, so they naturally had high demands for Spell Power and MP. But Mages had plenty of equipment that boosted both. Archers, on the other hand... their gear mainly boosted Attack Power, Movement Speed, Attack Speed, Crit Rate, and Lifesteal.

MP-boosting equipment for Archers was extremely rare.

He had just earned 10 Free Attribute Points from killing the fox spirit, and Lin Tianhao didn't immediately dump them into Attack Speed.

His current Attack Speed of 3.63 was sufficient for now.

His weak point right now was Movement Speed!

And also... he needed MP!

Even if he couldn't use Invincible Golden Body yet, he could at least start grinding its proficiency.

But without enough MP, he couldn't even do that.

What a headache!

Still, after only a brief moment of hesitation, Lin Tianhao put all his Attribute Points into MP.

Attack Speed and Movement Speed could be improved later, but MP was indispensable — not just for Invincible Golden Body, but for any future skills that consumed MP as well.

He spent all ten Free Attribute Points on MP, bringing his total to one hundred.

Without hesitation, Lin Tianhao immediately activated Invincible Golden Body, gaining one point of proficiency.

At the same time, his gaze shifted to the assassin player standing not far away.

At that moment, Shadow Killer stepped forward.

"Allow me to introduce myself — I'm Shadow Killer, from the Dragon Nation's Special Operations Division."

Lin Tianhao was inwardly stunned. Shadow Killer!!

This was a legendary Divine Grade assassin from his previous life!

That's right — he was an assassin with a Divine Grade talent. Beyond his exceptional talent, Shadow Killer came from a special department within the Dragon Nation's Special Operations Division and had been through countless battles, large and small.

His combat techniques were extraordinarily refined. Backed by his Divine Grade talent, he had risen to become one of the strongest assassins in the game.

He had actually had a real shot at becoming the single strongest assassin — but unfortunately, the hidden class he obtained was only Saint Grade, which capped his ceiling. Had his hidden class also been Divine Grade, the combination of dual Divine Grade hidden classes and his skill would have made him the undisputed top assassin without question.

"What do you want?" Lin Tianhao asked calmly.

Shadow Killer spoke with great seriousness. "Snow Emperor, our Special Operations Division wants to form a Special Operations Unit inside the game, and we'd like to invite you to join."

Lin Tianhao knew about this Special Operations Unit. In his previous life, when the Great Calamity arrived, the Dragon Nation's Special Operations Unit had become the backbone of the resistance against the Alaite Star System.

It was precisely because of this unit's existence that Lin Tianhao and most other mid-to-high-tier players had been able to live in relative stability.

"I'll need some time to think about it."

Lin Tianhao didn't refuse outright. He had high regard for this Special Operations Unit.

But if he were to join, he would have to be part of the leadership — or even the top leader!

Otherwise, he had no intention of joining at all.

"You're not going to ask about the benefits?" Shadow Killer assumed Lin Tianhao was declining, so he couldn't help but press further.

Lin Tianhao smiled and shook his head. "No need. I still have some things to take care of."

"Besides, now isn't the right time for me to negotiate terms with you."

He hadn't shown enough of his capabilities yet. Perhaps he'd earned some attention — but to truly hold real authority within the Special Operations Division, that was still far from enough.

"Fair enough. What I can tell you is that the Special Operations Unit's benefits are far better than what any club or guild can offer."

"Noted."

Lin Tianhao waved his hand to signal he understood.

Shadow Killer turned to leave — but Lin Tianhao called out to stop him.

"Hold on."

Shadow Killer turned back in surprise. "What? Changed your mind?"

Lin Tianhao shook his head. "Earlier, when you tried to steal the boss, I get it — field bosses are fair game for anyone. But then you tried to kill me afterward. That was your fault."

Shadow Killer's eyes narrowed. "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing much — just sending you back to the village, free of charge!"

Whoosh!

Lin Tianhao loosed an arrow.

Shadow Killer instinctively raised his hand to retaliate, but when he saw the arrow flying toward him, he ultimately lowered his dagger and let Lin Tianhao's two shots take him down.

Before he died, he said, "We're even now, right?"

Lin Tianhao gave no definitive answer. After killing Shadow Killer, he took out the Quest Scroll he had obtained from the fox spirit.

This new Quest Scroll was quite intriguing.

"In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor's son became a drought demon after his death. He fought for the Yellow Emperor against Chi You, but was sealed beneath the novice village by Chi You."

"Quest Objective: Release the sealed son of the Yellow Emperor."

"Quest Penalty: All fire-attribute damage you receive in the future will be doubled."

"Quest Reward: Unknown."

This quest was the exact opposite of the Quest Scroll he had obtained from killing the Nine-Headed Serpent.

One aimed to destroy the novice village — its purpose being to prevent the drought demon from escaping.

This Quest Scroll, on the other hand, was about releasing the drought demon.

And on top of that, Lin Tianhao had spotted a loophole.

The Quest Scroll dropped by the Nine-Headed Serpent didn't explicitly require him to seal the drought demon or reinforce the seal.

Its objective was to kill the novice village NPCs and destroy the Resurrection Altar.

This quest's objective was to release the drought demon — and the two objectives didn't conflict.

In other words, Lin Tianhao could potentially complete both quests at the same time.