Second-tier Black Iron Guard

After school, Lin Yuan returned home alone.

Sitting on the bed, Lin Yuan took out the Summon Shield Guard skill book and crushed it to learn it.

【Summon Shield Guard】: Consumes 50 Mana to summon 1 Tier 1 Shield Guard of the same level as the user to assist in battle; cooldown is 30 minutes after death.

The bloodlines of Summoned Beasts are divided into ten tiers: Tier 1 Common, Tier 2 Head, Tier 3 Elite, Tier 4 Commander, Fifth-Tier Battle General, Sixth Rank Lord, Seventh-Rank Monarch, Eighth-Order Emperor, Tier 9 Sovereign, Tenth-Order Holy Spirit.

It is worth mentioning that this tier classification for Summoned Beasts also applies to the monsters inside Dungeons.

Consuming 50 Mana, Lin Yuan activated the Summon skill.

With the Summon Synergy talent, Lin Yuan completed the summoning instantly.

A humanoid creature about 1.7 meters tall, wearing wooden armor, appeared in front of Lin Yuan.

【Shield Guard】 (Tier 1) Evolvable

【Level】: 1

【Health Points】: 500

【Mana Points】: 200

【Attack Power】: 100

【Defense】: 50

【Strength】: 50

【Agility】: 50

【Stamina】: 25

【Intelligence】: 20

【Talent】: None

【Skills】: Block (D-Grade), Slash (D-Grade)

"Huh, these stats." Lin Yuan was somewhat surprised by the Shield Guard's stats.

The Strength attribute reached 50 points, which could rival a Level 5 Professional who had poured all their points into Strength.

Didn't people always say Summoned Beast stats were trash? These stats could instantly kill countless Professionals if taken out.

Sensing Lin Yuan's confusion, the system provided an explanation.

【The host's Summoned Beasts are the top tier within their respective ranks.】

Now Lin Yuan understood; no wonder the Shield Guard's stats were so high.

What interested Lin Yuan most about the Shield Guard wasn't its stats, but the SSS-grade talent it had just awakened.

【Detected that the Summoner possesses a Summoned Beast. The Summoner of the Apocalypse ability activates. Shield Guard has awakened the SSS-grade talent, Martial Arts Heavenly King.】

【Martial Arts Heavenly King】 (SSS-grade)

Talent Effect 1: You can learn any combat-type skill, and skill proficiency increases by 1000%.

Talent Effect 2: When your skill proficiency reaches the maximum level, there is a probability of increasing the skill's grade, with a cap of SSS-grade.

Talent Effect 3: Combat skill damage is increased by 1000%.

...

Power is its synonym.

With this talent, the Shield Guard instantly transformed into a berserker, making soloing Dungeons an easy task.

The Summoner of the Apocalypse ability activated, and the SSS-grade talent Martial Arts Heavenly King was also bestowed upon Lin Yuan.

The first effect of Martial Arts Heavenly King activated, and countless combat memories were poured into Lin Yuan's mind.

Prompt sounds for learning skills rang continuously in his ears.

At this moment, ten years of training received a terrifying boost.

【You have learned the passive skill Shield Mastery.】

【You have learned the passive skill Sword Mastery.】

【You have learned the passive skill Archery Mastery.】

【You have learned the passive skill Unarmed Combat Mastery.】

【You have learned the passive skill Club Mastery.】

【You have learned the passive skill Hammer Mastery.】

【You have learned the passive skill Blade Mastery.】

【Five weapon types have reached mastery, passive skill Weapon Master activated.】

After a while, Lin Yuan came to his senses and began to check the newly learned passive skills.

【Sword Mastery】 (Passive)

Skill Description: Attacks ignore 20% of the target's defense.

【Weapon Master】 (Passive)

Skill Description: You can switch weapons during combat; switching weapons has no delay and grants immunity to disarming.

"Holy crap!!!"

Lin Yuan was completely stunned.

The rarity of passive skills was well-known.

Not only did Lin Yuan learn them, but he also obtained 7 at once.

Mastery-level passive skills had effects comparable to S-grade talents.

In other words, Lin Yuan had suddenly obtained 7 S-grade talents.

Martial Arts Heavenly King, how terrifying.

Lin Yuan rubbed his hands, looking at the Shield Guard standing straight with burning eyes.

"Evolve for me."

【Consuming 100 evolution points, Shield Guard (Tier 1) begins to evolve.】

Blood-red light suddenly appeared around them, enveloping the Shield Guard.

A moment later, a humanoid creature about 1.8 meters tall, wearing rusted armor, reappeared.

【Black Iron Guard (Unnamed)】 (Tier 2)

【Level】: 1

【Race】: Darkkin

【Health Points】: 1000

【Mana Points】: 400

【Attack Power】: 200

【Defense】: 100

【Strength】: 100

【Agility】: 100

【Stamina】: 50

【Intelligence】: 40

【Talent】: Martial Arts Heavenly King (SSS)

【Skills】: Shield Bash (C), Block (D), Slash (D-Grade)

The Shield Guard was promoted to Tier 2; not only did its stats double, but it also gained an additional C-grade skill.

This was no mere Summoned Beast; people would believe it if you called it a BOSS.

Level 1 Professionals generally had a little over 100 Health Points and a dozen or so points of Attack Power; tanks might be slightly stronger, reaching around 200.

A single basic attack from the Black Iron Guard could instantly kill 99% of Level 1 Professionals.

"If it's this strong at Tier 2, wouldn't it be even more formidable at Tier 3?"

He still had 400 evolution points left, so he decided to use them all.

【Evolution to Tier 3 requires 500 evolution points; insufficient evolution points to evolve.】

"It needs 500 points to evolve. How do I obtain these evolution points?" Lin Yuan asked the system.

【Clearing Dungeons and killing BOSSes can both grant evolution points; higher difficulty Dungeons yield more evolution points.】

【The same Dungeon will only grant rewards once (excluding Novice difficulty).】

"Understood." A look of realization flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes.

The same Dungeon only granting rewards once was clearly encouraging him to challenge higher difficulties.

Dungeons naturally had difficulty levels, ranging from low to high: Novice, Normal, Hard, Adventure, Warrior, Nightmare...

It was said there were more beyond that, but so far, no higher-difficulty Dungeons had appeared on Blue Star.

Besides difficulty, Dungeons were also divided into many types: 5-person party Dungeons, 25-person regional Dungeons, and unlimited-person Rift Dungeons.

Among them, 5-person party Dungeons were the most numerous, while 25-person regional ones were very rare.

Clearing a Novice difficulty 5-person Dungeon would yield 50 evolution points, and each subsequent difficulty would double that.

In other words, clearing a 5-person party Dungeon on Nightmare difficulty would yield 1600 points.

For 25-person regional ones, it would be multiplied by 10, meaning 16000 points.

Of course, Lin Yuan had just awakened, so 25-person raids were still too far off for him.

Lin Yuan estimated in his heart: "Clearing Novice difficulty will grant 50 evolution points, and killing the BOSS should grant quite a bit more; by then, I should be able to evolve the Black Iron Guard to Tier 3."

"A Tier 3 Summoned Beast should be able to clear Nightmare difficulty, right?"

"If that fails, I'll just go in myself."

Lin Yuan was no flower in a greenhouse; that row of passive skills in his skill bar wasn't just for show.

In a 1v1 situation, the Black Iron Guard might not necessarily be Lin Yuan's opponent.

The Black Iron Guard stood straight, like an unsheathed sharp sword; Lin Yuan felt a sense of murderous intent from the Black Iron Shield Guard.

Moreover, after rising to Tier 2, the Black Iron Guard's race changed to Darkkin.

Darkkin; a magnificent figure with wings on its back and holding a magic sword suddenly flashed through Lin Yuan's mind.

"I'll call you A Li."

Lin Yuan looked the Black Iron Guard up and down, imagining A Li holding a magic sword and slaughtering in all directions with his ultimate.

"I believe that one day, you will become a Darkkin Sovereign."

A Li had been standing quietly in place, but upon hearing this, a crimson light flashed in the eyes beneath his mask.

Darkkin Sovereign; he was one by nature.