Chapter 544 [Master Duelist] and [Scale Shifter]

The main reason Xia Nan was attending the Lunar Tide Banquet—or rather, the reason he had traveled thousands of miles from Rivervale Town to the Southern Archipelagos—was that he had discovered crucial information about the Morton Family in the experimental logs of the Druid who had attempted to alter his biological form through an ascension ritual.

The Druid himself had never explicitly mentioned the existence of the [Dream Weaving Corridor] key.

He had merely left a few vague recollections in his logs about a descendant of the Morton Family he had once adventured with. After retiring, this man had traveled to the Southern Archipelagos, bringing along something the Druid described as a "silver-white metallic object of no discernible use."

It was a trivial, aimless clue, yet it was enough to spur Xia Nan, who had already obtained the [Dream Weaving Corridor], into taking concrete action.

Because of it, he had set out alone from the inland hinterland of Rivervale Town, trekking across mountains and rivers to reach the coast.

The journey had been fraught with twists and turns, but fortunately, it had gone smoothly overall.

He eventually arrived at Barracuda Bay in one piece months ahead of the Lunar Tide Banquet, and through various channels, he uncovered the existence of that Lyle Morton, along with "Algae Scale" Dodd, the pirate whose attack had caused his death.

To be honest, even the moment he descended the gangway and set foot on the solid ground of Stodd Island—the "Isle of a Thousand Piles"—Xia Nan remained uncertain about whether he would actually find the [Dream Weaving Corridor] key at the upcoming Lunar Tide Banquet.

Until now.

When the distant fluorescent blue beam from the island's center connected sky and earth, the ring on his right ring finger—the terminal of the [Dream Weaving Corridor]—vibrated violently.

All the effort, fantasies, and hopes Xia Nan had poured into these past hundred-plus days culminated in this moment—a conclusion that, while not yet fully realized, was bright and full of promise.

The key to the [Dream Weaving Corridor] almost certainly existed.

And barring any surprises, the treasure he had traveled thousands of miles to find was right here on the same island.

It was less than five kilometers away in a straight line.

At the top speed Xia Nan could unleash when fully executing [Fang Hunt], rushing from his current spot on the shore to the source of the beam would take barely any longer than an ordinary person running three hundred meters.

However, no matter how his emotions surged, and no matter how intensely he yearned for the [Dream Weaving Corridor] key...

Xia Nan couldn't move so much as a single finger at this moment.

The translucent dome of light that spilled out from the glowing blue beam in the sky, enveloping all of Stodd Island along with part of the surrounding sea, seemed to possess some peculiar power.

As the Deep-Sea Resonance Stone in his hand flickered with light, Xia Nan felt as if he had completely lost control of his body.

His mind remained active and clear, but his limbs and torso were encased in a glowing blue light of the exact same shade as the dome above, rendering him completely immobile.

Drawn by some invisible attraction, Xia Nan's light-encased body began to rise silently like a magnet, even though he hadn't exerted the slightest bit of force.

He lifted out of the sea and hovered motionless about three meters above the water.

Xia Nan could not turn his neck to observe the changes in his surroundings.

However, precisely because he had just left the shore to chase the Shark Beast, he was perfectly positioned at this moment to catch a relatively sweeping view of everything unfolding on Stodd Island.

The descending curtain of light had split the inside and outside of the island into two separate worlds.

Outside the dome, everything remained completely normal—a thoroughly ordinary, leisurely afternoon on the sea without the slightest peculiarity.

Inside the dome, however, it was as if a pause button had been pressed on everything.

The ocean waves seemed to have broken free from gravity, frozen at the exact moment before they crashed down; he could even see the tiny bubbles in the seafoam suspended mid-burst.

A few unlucky seagulls had happened to be split by the descending dome. The ones that ended up outside the curtain of light didn't notice at first; they flapped their wings a few times before realizing what was happening and shrieking away in a flurry;

while the ones trapped inside were frozen in mid-air, locked in their exact flying postures.

On the shore, the Raging Tide Warband and the Windforged Adventurer Squad, who had been locked in a standoff, were similarly frozen in place.

But unlike the waves and seagulls, just like Xia Nan, a few adventurers from both sides—including the Halfling Alton, Captain Tieg of the Raging Tide Warband, and Zephyr of the Windforged—had their bodies encased in a layer of glowing blue light as they rose and hung suspended in mid-air.

A brief observation revealed a pattern.

The adventurers chosen by the glowing blue light were the ones with the finest equipment and the most condensed auras in their respective squads.

Xia Nan didn't know exactly why this was happening, but he already had his suspicions.

He disliked the feeling of being controlled and unable to move, and he felt an inexplicable threat from the curtain of light blanketing the entire island.

He also tried to break free and regain control of his body.

However, the light encasing his body at this moment wasn't the type of control spell he had resisted in the past that could trigger the passive effect of his [Gaze into the Abyss] Feat.

Xia Nan hadn't even sensed a distinct process of "spellcasting—attribute check."

It was as if the mere descent of the curtain of light had isolated all of Stodd Island, along with the living creatures on it, within another frozen dimension of space and time.

"Hum—"

The Deep-Sea Resonance Stone gripped tightly in his hand vibrated violently, its light growing increasingly blinding.

Unlike the other adventurers present, Xia Nan, who was currently holding a resonance stone, found his sharp Perception seemingly fusing and connecting with the light bursting from it at this moment.

In a flash, he sensed individual points of light scattered all across the island.

The sensation was fleeting.

He didn't even have time to count them carefully, yet as the thought flashed through his mind, he instinctually realized:

—there were exactly one hundred of them in total.

What did this mean?

Was it one hundred specially refined Deep-Sea Resonance Stones, or one hundred adventurers who had been chosen to float in mid-air just like him?

Or—was it both?

Xia Nan had no time to ponder it further.

As the curtain of light enveloping the island gradually stabilized and the glowing blue light encasing his body grew brighter, his spirit seemed to be affected by something as well.

His consciousness steadily sank.

In his daze, Xia Nan suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

This hazy sensation of having his mind guided away from reality, as if falling into a dream...

Wasn't it the exact same feeling he experienced when activating the [Dream Weaving Corridor] to enter a simulation?

Could it be—

His consciousness sank into the deepest depths.

Like a rising tide, darkness swallowed the final sliver of light in his vision.

Meanwhile, at the center of Stodd Island.

The majestic beam of light shooting into the sky generated a fierce updraft. Swirling with dust and grass clippings, the airflow formed a tangible shockwave that continuously surged in all directions.

Standing almost right against the beam of light.

—

The loose cloak originally covering "Algae Scale" Dodd was set ablaze by the scorching winds radiating from the beam, reduced to smoldering scraps of cloth that were completely blown away.

This allowed the face and physique that the cloak had kept hidden to be revealed.

As a dragonborn, his bloodline was noticeably thin.

He completely lacked the fierce, "lizardman"-like appearance one typically associated with dragonborn.

Although translucent fleshy scales could be seen on various parts of his body like the backs of his hands, neck, and cheeks, both his facial features and overall physical structure still retained obvious human characteristics.

Only the long, scaled tail behind him looked somewhat incongruous.

At this moment, however, the most eye-catching thing was not "Algae Scale" Dodd himself.

It was the strange necklace currently hanging around his neck, levitating and radiating a blinding light.

The chain itself was nothing special—clearly just strung together temporarily for the sake of convenience.

The true core of the item was the pendant at its end—a silver-white Metallic Silver Ring.

The ring itself had a warm, soft texture that made its specific metallic composition hard to identify. Though its surface bore no decorative engravings and appeared extremely plain, its minimalist design and special material that set it apart from ordinary metals imbued it with an indescribable, sleek aura of mystery.

Its diameter sat at a rather awkward middle ground.

It was far too loose to be a ring, yet far too tight to serve as a bracelet.

For this exact reason, "Algae Scale" Dodd had commissioned a craftsman to tailor a chain specifically for it, allowing him to string it up and wear it as a necklace.

Speaking of which, when he first laid eyes on this silver ring many years ago, he hadn't thought much of it.

He had treated it merely as a collectible of ambiguous value and no practical utility.

But the man named Lyle Morton, who purportedly hailed from an inland noble family, had behaved in a way that commanded attention right before his death; he seemed to view this silver ring as an item of extreme importance.

Dodd had thus paid it some mind, neither casually tossing this seemingly useless item into a corner nor handing it out as a reward to a meritorious subordinate.

Instead, he spent some time finding ways to research it.

And it was because of this that he discovered the silver ring's special traits.

First, the earliest thing he discovered, which was also the easiest to demonstrate its peculiarity, was...

...the silver ring's sheer hardness.

Despite a surface that looked warm and soft, without the slightest hint of toughness...

...its level of hardness was higher than any metal Dodd had seen so far.

To that end, he had even used a Fine enchanted scimitar—a blade renowned for its durability that he had previously plundered from a fellow pirate—as a comparison for a strength test.

The final result was that the scimitar shattered completely and became ruined, while the silver ring itself remained completely unscathed.

Second was the peculiarity of the silver ring's material.

The metal used to forge the silver ring was like some special material that didn't belong to this world.

Despite possessing an absurd hardness that even precision-processed enchanted gear couldn't match, it was completely isolated from magic particles in the air, incapable of producing any reaction.

Up to this point, although he had noticed the silver ring's peculiarity, the great pirate "Algae Scale" Dodd—who had roamed the Southern Archipelagos for years and possessed countless spoils of equally unclear function and origin—at best treated it as just another inconspicuous piece among the collection he had amassed over the years.

That was until he made an unexpected discovery during a test ritual.

Although this plain-looking silver ring could not react with any form of magic particles, it was perhaps precisely because of this trait, along with some other special attribute he couldn't perceive...

...that if the silver ring was used as a ritual medium, the role it could play would far surpass any material he had ever seen in this world.

Especially when it was used in illusory Secret Realm rituals, it could grant the ritual's effects an exaggerated, Epic-grade enhancement.

This made Dodd ecstatic.

Because at that time, he was standing at a crucial juncture in his life.

It was like the starting point of a branching path, where a choice to just take one step forward could alter the trajectory of his future life.

Like the vast majority of bottom-tier adventurers in this world, before Dodd carved out his reputation as "Algae Scale" on the sea, he was just an utterly ordinary person with no background and no sight of the road ahead.

Fortunately, Dodd's luck was pretty good, and he had sufficiently excellent talent.

Relying on a few combat techniques obtained through various channels and practiced to the "Mastery" tier, he successfully took up the [Warrior] class, the most common in this world, and became a true Class Holder.

After that came rapid progress.

Exceptional talent, above-average leadership skills, surprisingly reasonable combat technique combinations, and strong practical combat power—although he went through countless twists and turns, he eventually forged a reputation in the Southern Archipelagos, earning the title of "Algae Scale".

By the time Dodd seized the Metallic Silver Ring from Morton, his Class Level had already reached Level 9; one more step would be Level 10, and then, the "Transcendent" Tier.

He was unlike Xia Nan, who possessed an Attribute Panel, was able to select his desired class path in advance, and had a clear road of progression ahead.

When adventurers on the Aifala Continent reached their Class Level cap, how could they possibly have so many options to choose from?

Many times, the combat technique choices that supported them to their limit were completely unsystematic; how could they even speak of transitioning to an Advanced Class?

Thanks to the wealth and connections "Algae Scale" Dodd had accumulated over the years, he had already learned of two paths to the "Transcendent" Tier at that time.

Both used the [Warrior] class as a foundation.

The first was a conventional, mediocre choice.

—[Master Duelist].

A Warrior-type Advanced Class that discarded heavy armor, focused on lethality, and mastered all kinds of weapons.

"Prediction," "One-on-One," "Weak-Point Strikes," and "One-Hit Kills" were the related concepts of this class.

Its advantage was that it perfectly fit Dodd's combat style over the years and matched the combat technique system he had built.

If he took this class, he wouldn't even need much time to adapt, and would soon be able to unleash its powerful strength as a Transcendent class.

But on the other hand, it had to be admitted that...

...upon reaching the "Transcendent" tier, there was already a clear distinction in quality between classes.

The combat power bonuses that high-level Transcendent classes could provide far exceeded those of ordinary classes.

And [Master Duelist]—

Although it wouldn't fall to the absolute bottom among Transcendent classes, it could only be considered average.

It wouldn't fall too far behind, but it wasn't particularly outstanding either.

Of course, for a Class Holder with ordinary origins like "Algae Scale" Dodd, being able to advance to Transcendent was already something he wouldn't have dared to think about in the past.

How could he possibly disdain it?

But perhaps because of the ambitions hidden deep in his heart, or a trace of unrealistic fantasy about his own future...

...even after completely obtaining the advancement method for the [Master Duelist] class, Dodd did not stop there.

Instead, he spent a massive amount of connections and gold coins to find the advancement method for another Transcendent class:

[Scale Shifter]

...