21: Chapter 21 The Underdog's Rise to Power

Su Chen returned to his rented apartment. He didn't immediately set off for the villa, but instead first inventoried the 10 high-value skill scrolls gifted by the mayor, quickly digesting these official resources.

The scrolls covered all-around tactics, including a [Flame Storm Scroll] for large-area clearing, a [Frozen Imprisonment Scroll] for strong crowd control, an [Armor-Piercing Slash Scroll] for single-target burst, and a [Holy Shield Scroll] for defense.

They perfectly filled his tactical gaps. Among them, one scroll emitting spatial fluctuations caught his eye.

[Item: Random Teleportation Scroll]

[Quality: Gold Grade (Special)]

[Effect: After use, randomly teleport to any safe area within a 100-kilometer radius. Cooldown: 12 hours. Untradeable.]

"Random teleportation, 100-kilometer radius." Su Chen put the scroll away. "This is the ultimate life-saving charm for the current stage. If I encounter a crisis I can't handle, I can just teleport away. It's foolproof."

After finishing the inventory, Su Chen went to take a shower. Just as he took off his clothes, he discovered a black sword-shaped mark on the inside of his right arm. In the center of the mark was a faint red light, exuding a cold aura.

He brought up the system panel to check the information on the mark.

[Special Mark: Gaze of the Dragon-Slaying Sword Saint]

[Origin: Goblin Sword Saint · Mujaro]

[BOSS Profile: Mujaro, the Seventh General under the Demon God of the Shadow Realm, Goblin race. With the attributes of a weak race, he slaughtered an adult legendary dragon and achieved godhood in one battle. His strength is suspected to have stepped into the Ninth-Turn level.]

[Effect: Being locked onto by Mujaro will attract his low-level subordinates to come and assassinate you.]

Su Chen looked at the mark, his expression calm.

Being targeted by a Ninth-Turn cross-dimensional BOSS was indeed chilling, but he quickly analyzed the pros and cons: "Blue Star has the three human giants guarding the Otherworld exits. A Ninth-Turn legendary BOSS cannot descend in their true form; at most, they can only send some low-level lackeys."

The corners of his mouth curled up; instead, he felt it was an opportunity: "Perfect. These assassins coming over will just happen to be practice for me, and I can trigger the Hand of Heaven Stealing to steal skills. It kills two birds with one stone, so there's no need to worry excessively."

After showering, Su Chen opened his phone and browsed the Yunlan forum, instantly getting swiped by related trending searches.

The homepage was full of reports about him:

"Yunlan's legendary-grade Assassin Su Chen, S-grade talent + legendary class, solo-clears a Gold-grade dungeon in 18 minutes"

"Su Chen laid low before awakening, turns out to be a hidden peerless genius"

"Revealing Su Chen, rushed to Lv20 in one day, breaking the leveling record for professionals."

Marketing accounts even dug up his daily life before awakening, reporting it with added embellishments.

For a time, Su Chen completely dominated the screens in Yunlan.

He swiped casually and saw higher-level global news.

"Ji Canglan of the East Sea Ji family, awakened SS-grade talent Fire Virtue Spirit Body, changed class to Epic-grade Fire Mage, talent crushes peers"

"US genius Joshua, awakened SS-grade talent Rapid Regeneration, class Berserker, soloed a Lv30 Gold BOSS"

"A counterattacking genius appeared in the Sakura Country, F-grade trash talent, yet achieved an SSS-grade dungeon rating, suspected of hidden special abilities."

Su Chen's eyes narrowed, and he understood in his heart: "It seems this is a golden age where geniuses appear frequently; monsters are emerging everywhere, and the competition is indeed fierce."

But he didn't have the slightest panic, his mindset remained steady. With an SSS-grade talent and a Mythical-grade class, he was confident he could crush all opponents.

Early the next morning, Su Chen put on his full set of Gold-grade heavy armor, carried his cross greatsword, and took a taxi to the Assassin Guild.

He had already reached Lv20 and it was time to accept his First-Turn quest.

Arriving at the entrance of the Assassin Guild, just as he was about to enter, he was stopped by a tall, long-legged female assassin wearing black leather armor.

The girl crossed her arms and looked him up and down, her tone filled with confusion: "Hey, you've come to the wrong place, right? This is the Assassin Guild, not the Knight Guild."

Su Chen frowned: "I haven't come to the wrong place. I'm here to accept the Assassin First-Turn quest."

"Assassin?" The girl scoffed and pointed at the heavy armor on his body and the greatsword in his hand. "Have you ever seen an assassin who wears heavy armor and uses a greatsword? You're clearly a Knight. Hurry up and go to the Knight Guild in the south of the city; don't cause trouble here."

Professionals passing by also looked over one after another, whispering and discussing.

"Hahaha, this guy wearing heavy armor to the Assassin Guild, maybe his brain isn't working right?"

"Assassins are all light leather armor and daggers. This set of heavy armor on him is clearly the standard equipment for a Knight."

"He probably got the guild wrong, no wonder the receptionist stopped him."

Su Chen felt extremely helpless inside; he didn't want to be like this either.

From the Goblin King in the novice trial to the Thunder Lightning Dharma King in Thunderclap Canyon, the top-tier equipment that dropped was all heavy armor; there wasn't even a single piece of leather armor.

This resulted in him clearly being an Assassin, but he ended up wearing the style of a Knight, completely out of place with traditional Assassins.

"I am indeed an Assassin, a Legendary-grade Shadow Hunter, Lv20, here to accept the First-Turn quest." Su Chen explained patiently and took out his professional certificate.

The long-legged girl took the professional certificate half-believingly, checked it carefully, and confirmed that it indeed read "Shadow Hunter (Legendary Grade)" and "Assassin Class." Her face instantly became awkward: "I... I'm sorry, I misread it. I didn't expect you to be an Assassin. I'm truly sorry."

She quickly stepped aside to clear the path, her tone respectful: "Big shot, please come in. The First-Turn quest needs to be registered at the guild hall. I'll take you there right now."

Su Chen put away his professional certificate, nodded, and followed the girl into the Assassin Guild.

Inside the hall, many assassins saw his attire and revealed expressions of surprise. Whispers rose one after another, but no one dared to mock him anymore—a Legendary-grade professional, no matter how alternative their style, is worthy of awe.

Walking to the guild hall reception desk, Su Chen said to the receptionist: "I am Su Chen, a Lv20 Legendary-grade Shadow Hunter, here to accept the Assassin First-Turn quest."

The receptionist verified the information, immediately took out the quest scroll, and handed it to Su Chen: "Big shot Su Chen, this is your First-Turn quest scroll. Quest requirements: Go to the Black Wind Ridge in the western suburbs, kill 10 Lv25 Black Wind Wolves, and retrieve 10 Black Wind Wolf fangs to complete the quest and promote to a First-Turn Assassin."

Su Chen took the scroll, opened it to check, and after confirming the quest content, nodded faintly: "Understood."

He did not linger and turned to leave the Assassin Guild. Since he had already broken through everyone's prejudices and accepted the First-Turn quest, the next step was to complete the quest and officially step into the First-Turn stage.

"After the First-Turn, my attributes will skyrocket, and my skills can be upgraded too." Su Chen muttered to himself, gripping the cross greatsword in his hand, "Even if I am a heavy-armor Assassin, I will carry this alternative style to the end."