He raised the "Divine Dragon Staff" and unleashed a massive fireball at Jin Peng.
"Whoosh!"
The fireball descended from the sky with the speed of a shooting star.
Jin Peng, unfazed, flapped his wings.
He activated "Rapid Strike," dodging the fireball.
In the blink of an eye, Jin Peng was upon Fang Xian, raising his claws and slashing down.
"Die!"
Fang Xian sneered, his wings flailing forward.
The "Feather Shield" skill was activated, completely blocking Jin Peng's claws.
"Clang!"
Jin Peng's eyes narrowed slightly as he created space.
"Your wings are surprisingly strong; I didn't expect that."
"You didn't expect much."
Fang Xian slightly bent his wings, then suddenly spread them, charging straight at Jin Peng.
"Whoosh!"
Jin Peng's eyes widened; he never expected Fang Xian to be faster than him.
Since he couldn't dodge with speed, he could only use "Mist Dispersion" to evade.
His entire body suddenly transformed into a strange cloud of black mist, allowing Fang Xian to pass right through him.
Fang Xian passed through the mist, turned around, and saw Jin Peng slowly revert to its original form.
"Interesting, quite impressive."
Jin Peng stared at Fang Xian with a serious expression, no longer daring to underestimate his opponent.
"I didn't expect a mere human to be so strong. In that case, I, the King, will show you my true abilities."
"Roar!"
Jin Peng roared to the sky, his bones cracking and his body beginning to bulge and expand.
His golden wings suddenly spread wide, blotting out the sun.
His scales gradually enlarged, shimmering with a mysterious light.
"Boy, prepare to tremble, for my true form will tear you to shreds..."
"Boom!"
A two-meter-wide bolt of lightning crashed down, striking the golden roc in its transformation.
"Boy, you—"
"Boom!"
The lightning bolt had barely struck when it took down 60% of the golden roc's HP.
A massive fireball followed immediately, slamming into the golden roc.
The impact nearly killed it.
"You—you have no martial ethics!"
"Boom!"
Another massive fireball instantly reduced the golden roc to dust.
[Experience +136 million * 5]
Fang Xian rolled his eyes at the dead golden roc. This wasn't a proper one-on-one fight; who would wait for it to transform?
That would be pure idiocy.
[Special Dungeon, Monster Dungeon Cleared]
[Clearance Time: 00:08:21]
[Rating: SSS]
[All Members Reward: 158 Million Experience Points]
Fang Xian waved his hand, and all the items dropped by the Golden Roc flew towards him.
[Golden Roc Claw: Rare material, can be used to craft weapons.]
[Golden Roc Feather: Rare material, can be used to craft equipment.]
A complete "Golden Roc Set," all "Saint-grade equipment."
Fang Xian didn't care for any of these items, only a piece of paper emitting a black light caught his eye.
He picked it up and saw that it was the skill book that the Azure Dragon had mentioned could only be found in the "Secret Realm."
—A skill book.
He clicked to view:
[Skill Book: Mist Dispersion: Transforms the body into a mist, dodging attacks for 10 seconds. Consumes 800 mana points, cooldown time 3 minutes.
Occupies two skill slots.]
Fang Xian remembered this skill vividly; it was a decent evasion skill.
But what did the last sentence, "occupies two skill slots," mean?
He didn't see any skill slot options available.
"Qinglong, what does the last sentence of this 'skill book' mean?"
Qinglong took the skill book, examined it, and began to explain.
"Husband, it's like this: after reaching level 100, everyone gains one skill slot for every 20 levels gained."
"By consuming the corresponding number of skill slots, you can learn the skill book you want to master."
"Black quality skill books generally occupy more than two skill slots, while gold quality ones occupy about five."
"But skill slots are only unlocked after reaching the 'Secret Realm'."
Fang Xian nodded, gaining a better understanding of skill books.
He looked thoughtfully at the "Mist Dispersion" in his hand and suddenly asked a question.
"If there are many identical 'skill books,' can they be combined to create a higher-level 'skill book'?"
"Yes, it's possible."
Qinglong crossed his arms and answered seriously.
"Identical 'skill books' of blue quality or higher can be fused together to advance into a higher-level 'skill book.'"
"Advancing from blue quality to black quality requires hundreds or even thousands of identical 'skill books.'"
"Advancing from black quality to gold quality requires tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands."
"However, most people wouldn't choose to do that. First, the drop rate for 'skill books' is already low, and the drop rate for high-quality 'skill books' is even lower.
Second, to obtain tens of thousands of identical 'skill books,' one would have to kill tens of thousands of people of the same species, which is equivalent to wiping out that race, incurring the wrath of powerful forces and leading to their attack.
Finally, the advanced skill is only stronger than the original skill. If the skill's initial potential is low, the advanced skill won't become much stronger."
Fang Xian's lips curled up upon hearing this.
Others might not be able to slaughter tens of thousands of their own kind, but he could.
His "system inventory" still contained 19,000 "Ascension Scrolls" returned by the "God-Level Multiplier System."
That meant he could kill the "Golden Roc" 19,000 times; he couldn't believe he couldn't synthesize a "Gold-Quality Skill Book."
If that didn't work, he could still use the returns from Suzaku and Yukino.
Then, by contracting with a few more people to increase the multiplier, the returns would be even greater, making the synthesis of several "Gold-Quality Skill Books" no problem.
Thinking of this, he suddenly came to a terrifying conclusion.
That is, since the entire "Four Sacred Beasts" clan had been slaughtered, leaving only the Azure Dragon, Suzaku, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise, was there a powerful force that wanted the "Four Sacred Beasts'" skills?
But according to the Azure Dragon and Suzaku, their "Four Sacred Beasts'" skills were already of gold quality.
Then why did they need to kill so many of the "Four Sacred Beasts"?
Could there be even higher-level skills hidden above the gold quality level?
Fang Xian shook his head helplessly. When he and Yukino defeated the White Tiger and Black Tortoise, their skills were directly awarded to the players who cleared the level; they didn't drop any "skill books."
He'd put those things aside for now, figuring he could find an opportunity to learn more once he reached the "Secret Realm."
His immediate priority was to grind the "Monster Dungeon" as much as possible, reach level 210 quickly, and collect as many "Black Quality Skills" as possible.
Once he upgraded his "Black Quality Skills" to Gold Quality, the people in the "Secret Realm" would be absolutely astonished.
No sooner said than done, he set a small goal: grind it—
20,000 times.