The Stone Carved Forest

QingZhu and I walked hand in hand, intimately leaning against each other as we gradually entered a bald mountain area. Except for the green stones, there was nothing there.

In the center of the mountain area, there was a depressed flat ground, where various strange stone blocks and stone-carved animals were haphazardly erected. This is the Stone Carved Forest.

Stone Carved Forest was originally a quarry. The stones mined were used not only for construction, but also for carving various animals. However, ten years ago, a huge cave appeared at the bottom of Stone Carved Forest during mining, and powerful energy leaked out from it from time to time.

Before long, stone monsters began to appear in Stone Carved Forest. The closer one got to the cave, the more powerful the monsters became. Many experts had entered the cave to explore, but unfortunately, none of them returned.

Dongfang Xing's map specifically described the cave as the Lava Demon Cave, which possessed immense energy and must have treasures inside. Unfortunately, Dongfang Xing's ability was not enough to penetrate the bottom and observe the situation inside.

The periphery of Stone Carved Forest is inhabited by level 30 stone monsters and bronze men, which are also the lowest-level monsters in the area.

QingZhu and I applied various status boosts, and I also cast my "Shield Defense" and "Knight's Prayer" spells before marching towards the stone monsters and bronze men.

The vision of the tall stone monsters and bronze men was relatively broad. Upon seeing us, they charged towards us. Fortunately, the monsters were not densely packed. Otherwise, if five or six stone monsters charged at us at the same time, with their huge bodies and hard shells, it would have been quite daunting.

Watching the two bronze men and one stone monster charging towards us, I cast "Insight".

Stone monster: Level 30, HP: 2000. These stones were of good quality, and were gradually evolved into hard stone monsters under the influence of the energy leaking out of the Lava Demon Cave.

Skills: Stone Hardening – active skill, increases defense by 30%. Meteor Attack – active skill, summons a huge stone block to attack the enemy.

Bronze man: Level 30, HP: 2500. These metals were of good quality, and were gradually evolved into powerful bronze men under the influence of the energy leaking out of the Lava Demon Cave.

Skills: Three-Hammer Strike – active skill, uses the hammer in hand to rapidly attack the opponent three times, with a stun or knockdown effect.

"Kill!"

Since the monsters rushed over so eagerly to deliver themselves to me, I naturally couldn't disappoint their expectations. I spun the Skull Blade in my hand and began to slaughter them.

Now I finally understand the power of the priest, why the system has set up this profession. With QingZhu, my priest, I have no worries at all. I don't even need to drink blood. I just swing my Bone Blade and reap the lives of Stone Golems and Bronze Men, gaining experience for both of us.

The leveling principle is that simple. Watching the experience soar as we kill monsters beyond our level, I can't help but want to shout.

When it comes to attack, QingZhu's "Powerful Spell" not only increases my attack, but the two of us also get a 10% team attack bonus. With just three to four strokes, I can easily take down any enemy in front of me, whether it's a Stone Golem with high defense or a Bronze Man with a long life.

If I manage to land a critical hit, I can solve the problem in just two hits. And when facing slow-moving Stone Golems and Bronze Men, my critical hit rate is at least 4 out of 10.

I wonder if I will grow up to be a knight with only critical hits and no ordinary attacks. I secretly doubt it, but I'll work towards that goal.

Attack is my weakness, that's beyond doubt. Defense is my specialty.

When facing high-attack Bronze Men, a series of skills like "Bronze Men's Three-Hammer Strike" only do about 200 damage, not including the Bronze Men's MISS, and ordinary attacks are rubbish, not even worth mentioning.

Depressed, I underestimated my own strength. Although I don't have skills that attack all targets, my single-target attack is high, and the refresh rate of Stone Golems and Bronze Men is a bit slow, unable to keep up with my attack. I should have gone to Tianxing Valley with QingZhu to kill groups of Poisonous Bees.

Following behind me, QingZhu watches the knight's heroic battle and can't believe that the knight in Stone City, in her impression, has such strong power.

Her big brother, the powerful warrior AoShi XiangLong, is already very powerful, but he has a twisted defense that doesn't count stones. His speed in killing monsters of the same level is much slower than Stone's, and he even kills monsters that are higher level than him.

But all of this is not the main point. QingZhu doesn't care about how powerful the knight Stone is or how fast her experience is increasing.

QingZhu is happy that she can level up easily with Knight Stone. While killing monsters and chatting with each other, Knight Stone protects her from harm whenever a monster attacks. This makes her very happy.

"Ding dong, Stone City. QingZhu has increased your Five Elements Protection, increasing your resistance to five elements by 20."

"Ding dong, Stone City. QingZhu has increased your Five Elements Divine Power, adding 20 damage of five elements to your attack."

What kind of skill is this? When did QingZhu learn it? I turn my head back to QingZhu in confusion.

"Stone, I'm level 20 now. I learned two skills from the Five Elements Priest: 'Five Elements Protection' and 'Five Elements Divine Power'. Would you like to try them out and see how they work?"

Knowing I would turn back, QingZhu's face was already covered with a smile. As I turned back, she playfully winked at me and made an OK gesture.

QingZhu is a hidden profession Five Elements Priest, and she automatically learned the Five Elements skills. I envy her. This has saved her a lot of gold coins.

Looking at the Five Elements effects, increasing resistance by 20 and adding damage of five elements by 20 is too little. It doesn't seem to be of much help to me. Is it a trash skill?

Let's give it a try.

"Oh my god! QingZhu, your skills are too powerful. What other skills have you learned?"

I just complained that QingZhu's skills were trash, but after trying it out with a bronze man, my attack increased by more than 100, and the damage caused by the bronze man's 'Three Strikes of the Bronze Man' was reduced by almost 100. Not to mention ordinary attacks.

With my current status, even without QingZhu healing me, I can walk horizontally among the stone monsters and bronze men with my skill 'Knight's Prayer'.

"There is another skill, Five Elements Divine Eyes, which allows you to check the five-element attributes of monsters."

QingZhu was very proud and kept trying out her skills.

It's no wonder she's a hidden profession. QingZhu's skills are too powerful. I look forward to her growth and seeing how Prince Ming of the Five Elements Holy Mage talks about opening the divine road.

Speaking of hidden professions, I'm also a hidden profession. The Lord of Tianlong City, Meng Long, personally transformed me into a Royal Knight. Except for some attribute bonuses from the job change, there are no other effects or skills.

Do I also need to reach a certain level for the effects to be shown? I'm looking forward to it!

"Ding dong, congratulations Stone City, your pet Dark Undying Golden Eagle King has leveled up to 15, with an increase of 100 in health, 100 in magic, 80 in attack, and 80 in defense."

"Ding dong, congratulations Stone City, your pet has reached level 15, and has learned the skills 'Big Storm' and 'Dark Absorption'."

My Dark Undying Golden Eagle King and QingZhu's Three-winged Dark Bat King followed us in defeating monsters beyond our level, and the experience gained quickly rose. After over four hours, my Dark Undying Golden Eagle King leveled up to 15.

"QingZhu, my little golden one is now level 15, what about yours?"

"Mine is level 18, but it's hard to level up now."

QingZhu blushed and answered quietly, feeling a bit embarrassed that our pets had the same name.

My Dark Undying Golden Eagle King is truly a level 9 pet. Its growth attributes are outstanding and far superior to that of the Dark Phoenix.

The growth attributes of the Dark Phoenix increase health and magic by 80 points, and attack and defense by 60 points every level. This is not even in the same league as my Dark Undying Golden Eagle King.

However, the Dark Phoenix was my first pet and it was so beautiful. I was really attached to it, so no matter what, I would still want to level up the Dark Phoenix.

Let's take a look at Dark Undying Golden Eagle King's current attributes:

Dark Undying Golden Eagle King: a level 9 advanced dark pet with dark, wind, and thunder attributes, and a direct blood relative of the mythical beast King of Kunpeng.

Level 15, health 2000, magic 2000, attack 1500, defense 1500.

Talent: Resurrection. Once a day, it can be resurrected with full attributes. For the first three minutes after resurrection, all attributes are increased by 30%.

Skills:

Big Storm: An active attack skill with a range of five meters in front of the body. The wings unleash a huge wind energy that attacks the enemy, with an additional 150 wind attribute attack.

Big Peng Spreads Its Wings: A passive skill that increases flying speed by 1 for every five levels gained. When the pet's health is below 30%, flying speed is increased by 50%.

Dark Absorption: A primary passive skill that absorbs 20% of dark attributes.

After level 40, it can be ridden.