[Congratulations! You have gained 370,000 experience points. Player level has increased to 74!]
[Alchemist class level has increased to 151!]
[Trickster class level has increased to 81!]
[Lust class level has increased to 45! New class skill available.]
[Transgression class level has increased to 40! New class skill available.]
[Harbinger of Death class skill level has increased to 15! New class skill available.]
[Congratulations! You have awakened a new class—All-Devourer!]
[Class talent: Continuously devour monsters to absorb their abilities and enhance your attributes. The higher the level of the devoured target, the greater the attribute boost, with no upper limit.]
A series of notifications exploded in John's mind. Aside from the class level increases, what caught his attention the most was the new class, All-Devourer.
Unlike Trickster or Transgression, which provided John with considerable combat power or versatile utility, All-Devourer's abilities far exceeded John's expectations!
John had long envied Qing's talent, which allowed for unlimited attribute growth. Given enough time, Qing could widen the gap significantly with other players. The advent of All-Devourer perfectly addressed this shortcoming for John!
In truth, with multiple class awakenings, John's strength could no longer be assessed by typical player standards. While John's abilities were well-rounded, they were also somewhat mediocre without any particular standout specialization.
In close combat, he was not as formidable as Qing. In large-scale damage, he couldn't compare to Lily. His mobility lagged behind Exiled Immortal, and his ranged attacks were not as effective as Helena's.
However, All-Devourer presented new possibilities for John. Given enough time, John could turn his attributes into monstrous levels, eliminating any weaknesses.
With this in mind, John felt a surge of joy and turned to Deception.
"What... What's with that look, John? Calm down, what are you planning?"
"Deception, how does [Gluttony] rank in strength among the Seven Apostles? Is he one of the stronger ones?"
"Him? He wishes! That fat slob only has combat strength comparable to Betrayal when he's full, far inferior to me. Sure, his abilities are impressive, but his methods are limited. Even if he turns himself into a mountain of flesh, what's the point? Of course, if you had his ability, that would be a different story."
"Let's hope so... Anyway, Qing, you should stay and rest for the next few days. Delay your matches at the arena for now. Your injuries haven't fully healed. Forcing yourself to compete might cause a relapse of your old wounds."
Unusually, Qing did not argue with Helena this time, seemingly still mired in the disappointment of the loss against War. She tacitly accepted Helena's suggestion.
"As for you, Exiled Immortal, my idea is for you to leave Spartonia and head to Atlantis. Inform John of the situation here and check on how he's doing. Since you're traveling alone, you'll be much faster."
Exiled Immortal hesitated, "If I leave and those two Divine Emissaries come back, won't that be dangerous?"
"I trust her to keep her promise. Listen, rest up today and leave early tomorrow. Get to Atlantis as soon as possible and find John to explain the situation."
"...I understand. No need to wait until tomorrow, I can leave shortly. Big sister, you and Qing be careful."
"Don't worry about us, just be safe on the road."
In fact, if it weren't for Qing needing to push the main quest forward, Helena would have considered letting Qing go along as well, leaving her alone to face the Divine Emissaries. Their goal was only to take the Godslayer Bow, so there was no need for everyone to stay.
As planned, Exiled Immortal left Spartonia that afternoon, using a teleportation scroll to return to Talcavano. Following a player-made map from the forums, he traveled southeast toward Atlantis.
However, since Exiled Immortal manipulated wind fields as part of his talent, his energy was limited. He couldn't travel nonstop day and night, so it took him five days of intermittent travel to reach the Silent Sea.
Near the inland sea, many players had already gathered. Some hesitated, struggling to overcome their fear of the deep sea, torn between their curiosity about the lost kingdom beneath the waves and the dangers lurking in the ocean. Others set up tents on the nearby beach, selling Waterproof Pearls they had collected early on.
Exiled Immortal bought one, spending two million silver coins, which made him wince in pain.
After all, Exiled Immortal had been rapidly advancing the main storyline with John's group, and apart from dungeon rewards, he had no other sources of silver coins. Moreover, Exiled Immortal was a money-guzzler, with his backpack filled with over a hundred swords that he couldn't bear to part with.
In fact, if he were willing to put his Legendary-quality Sword of the Hero up for auction, he could easily get tens of millions, even up to a billion silver coins. Unfortunately, Exiled Immortal had a collector's obsession, preferring to keep items he didn't even use.
This left him with less than six million silver coins in savings, and purchasing the small Waterproof Pearl cost him nearly a third of his savings.
Exiled Immortal had considered simply robbing someone, but doing so would violate the unwritten rules among players, so he had no choice but to buy the pearl.
With the Waterproof Pearl in his mouth, Exiled Immortal took a deep breath and slowly walked into the Silent Sea. Following the fastest route outlined in the guide, he dove deeper.
Fortunately, on his way to Atlantis, Exiled Immortal encountered no real danger. The only monsters he saw were a few non-aggressive sea turtles that passed by him indifferently. Thus, he safely reached the undersea gem, Atlantis.