9: Leaving the city
After leaving the residential complex where his uncle's family lived, Song Ming casually rented a hotel room.
Before heading to the outskirts of Yunhai City, he still needed to make some preparations.
He opened the trading platform.
Of the two pieces of equipment dropped by the BOSS, one was exclusive to warriors.
Song Ming couldn't wear it, so he had already listed it on the trading website.
The asking price was 600,000.
This was the estimated price given by the platform, and Song Ming had no objections.
Blue-grade equipment with special effects like this was very popular in the market, with prices often ranging between 500,000 and 600,000.
The platform's trading price was reasonable.
In just a short while, the platform indicated that it had been sold.
Soon, a dedicated delivery person came to pick up the item.
Song Ming's account also now had an additional 600,000.
With this money, he began browsing the trading website for skill books suitable for him.
Currently, he possessed the Demon Flame Aura and Petrification Aura skills.
Damage and control were not lacking.
However, he still needed a defensive skill.
Otherwise, Song Ming always felt a bit uneasy.
The wilderness outside the city always held many potential dangers, unlike the novice dungeons within the city.
He had to be prepared.
Aura Masters were not an unpopular auxiliary Profession, so there were many skill books for this Profession on the trading website.
However, most of them were healing-type skill books.
After a long search, Song Ming finally found a defensive skill that suited his preferences.
Barrier Aura: Applies a shield to your selected target, consumes 20 Mana, cooldown 1 minute!
Shield amount depends on the Professional's skill Rank and Mental Energy attribute.
If one only looked at the skill description, this Barrier Aura skill was undoubtedly the most common trash skill.
The cooldown was also as long as one minute.
Auxiliary skills often had this drawback.
Those extremely powerful skills would not appear on such trading websites, or they would be instantly bought as soon as they appeared.
Song Ming wouldn't even get a chance.
But he didn't care much.
Because of his unique Divine-Grade talent, even the most useless skills would become powerful in his hands.
So, these kinds of small, trashy skills were actually the most suitable for Song Ming.
These skills were easy to acquire and inexpensive.
One could say they were very suitable for him.
In addition to this Barrier Aura skill, Song Ming also acquired an Appraisal Technique, a must-have skill that any Professional could learn.
It could be used to check the Rank of other Professionals.
It was also a very practical skill.
Because these two skill books were available locally, Song Ming didn't have to wait too long.
Approximately an hour later, someone delivered the two skill books.
After Song Ming learned them, he immediately allocated all the skill points he had accumulated during this period to Barrier Aura.
Consumed 4150 skill points.
Barrier Aura (Yellow Rank One Star) → Defense Aura (Profound Rank Nine Star).
Defense Aura (Profound Rank Nine Star): Applies a 50,000 white shield to the selected target, can be stacked infinitely, consumes 20 Mana, cooldown 7.5 seconds.
Then Song Ming briefly checked some leveling spots in the outskirts of Yunhai City.
He finally decided on his destination.
It was a Contaminated Land located sixty kilometers outside Yunhai City.
This was a place where most of the creatures within had mutated into evil demons due to being infected by Abyssal Qi.
This Contaminated Land was rated as the lowest, Level One, by the Great Xia official authorities.
Most of the evil demons within it did not exceed Level 15.
It was a very suitable place for him to level up.
Moreover, entering the Contaminated Land and killing evil demons could earn him Merit.
Merit in the Great Xia Country was no less valuable than money.
It could be exchanged for items of corresponding value in the official Hall of Merit.
Therefore, many Professionals in Yunhai City would go to this place to hunt evil demons.
They could both level up by grinding monsters and earn Merit.
It was very suitable for him.
Song Ming left the hotel and arrived at the North City Gate.
The large bulletin board above was scrolling with various mission information.
The Alchemist Guild is endlessly collecting Azure Yuan Grass, priced at 100 per portion. Those interested, please proceed to the Guild's location.
Endlessly collecting Materials from Corrupted Corpse Demons, prices ranging from 100 to 1000 per portion.
Team up to clear the Level 20 Demon City Dungeon, Nightmare difficulty. Professionals of Advanced Rank and above are welcome!
Song Ming had no great interest in tasks like collecting Materials, as it would be a waste of his time.
However, when he saw the mission to clear the Demon City, he immediately became interested.
The Demon City Dungeon was located deep within the Contaminated Land.
It was the existence of this dungeon that caused the surrounding area to be infected by Abyssal Qi, forming the current Contaminated Land.
Song Ming wanted to go to this dungeon right now.
Unfortunately, his current Rank was only Level 6.
The Demon City Dungeon could only be entered by Professionals between Level 10 and Level 20.
So, he still needed to kill a few more evil demons to level up.
Upon reaching the city gate, Song Ming handed his exit permit to the city guard.
The guard glanced at it and said with some surprise, "A Level 6 auxiliary Professional? Just you alone?"
One should know that the lowest-Ranked monsters in the wilderness were Level 10.
With a four-Rank difference, it would be extremely dangerous for him.
Moreover, he was an auxiliary Professional.
If he didn't have a team, leaving the city was basically a death wish.
Song Ming nodded.
The exit permit was genuine, so the city guard naturally didn't deliberately hold him back.
"It's very dangerous outside the city. Low-Rank Professionals like you must pay attention to safety."
"As someone with experience, I still have to advise you."
"As an auxiliary, it's best to find a powerful team to take you along."
"Never try to be strong alone, otherwise, you might very well lose your life!"
Seeing that Song Ming was a student, the city guard couldn't help but give a few more warnings.
"Thank you for the reminder!"
Song Ming politely thanked him and then walked out of the city.
Before long, he arrived at the outermost reaches of the Contaminated Land.
What greeted his eyes was a barren wasteland.
The previously clear sky suddenly darkened a few shades.
The air was filled with a bloody, decaying smell.
Not far away, the roars of unknown creatures echoed, giving an extremely oppressive feeling.
According to the official rating, the level of contamination here was the weakest, Level One.
Therefore, it also attracted many Professionals to level up and grind monsters here.
Song Ming walked to a tall stone monument standing nearby.
It displayed everyone's Merit points in ascending order.
It was the Merit Monument.
Song Ming stepped forward and communicated with the monument using his Mental Energy, and a Demon Hunter Medal floated out from within.
Once bound, this medal could automatically record the number of evil demons Song Ming killed and calculate his Merit, which would then appear on the leaderboard.
It also contained a map of the Contaminated Land.
Song Ming glanced at the leaderboard.
Jiang Rong: Merit 130 points.
Fan Wen: Merit 66 points.
Li Kai: Merit 52 points.
...
Below was a small line of text: Merit points can be exchanged for various items and equipment in the Hall of Merit.
Note: Completing the hidden dungeon of Demon City and completely closing the Abyss Gate here will reward 1000 Merit points!
This mission is permanently valid!