A hidden shop—a rare, chance encounter.
Its appearance is fleeting, vanishing after only an hour.
It was a huge opportunity.
Su Chen had only stumbled upon one once before by pure luck. Considering more than ten minutes had already passed, this newly discovered hidden shop probably didn’t have any good items left.
’It’s not far. I can go take a look,’ he thought. ’I have nothing better to do anyway.’
Besides, the hazy fluctuations of its Runes acted like a signal tower, not only attracting local demonic creatures but also drawing in any friend or foe wandering the area.
Even if he couldn’t pick out any good items with Runes, he could at least find some enemies to kill.
"One more important thing," Captain Hong added. "We captured one of them alive. According to his confession, their gang leader, Sawyer, is ranked 36th on the Trial Tower leaderboard and is a regular in the arena’s deathmatches. This might give you a simple point of reference for his strength."
According to the information provided by the benevolent priest, the Trial Tower rankings were settled once a week, with corresponding leaderboard rewards.
However, the rankings allowed for ties, so the number of people in the top 250 who received a life-saving effigy was far greater than that.
A rank of 36th wasn’t particularly impressive.
"You have to be careful of the Demon Warlock class. Half of the darkness in Oran City might be their doing. You absolutely can’t let your guard down."
Captain Hong hesitated for a moment, but still offered a nagging admonishment before they parted ways.
"Understood."
Su Chen gave a slight nod, then he and Yan Ruoruo parted ways with Investigation Squad 12.
He followed the map in his hand, heading toward a set of unnamed hills.
While in flight, he glanced at the intel on Oran City that they had handed him. The opening passage almost made Su Chen do a double take; the visiting priest was actually planning to ally with Dongfu City to purge the evil forces from Oran City.
So he was a collaborator, then.
According to the document, the ruling powers were no longer the Lizard-men of conspiracy theories, but rather demons wearing human skin, their humanity extinguished.
The priest had a change of heart after seeing the state of Dongfu City. Upon realizing that the Demons described in his doctrine were widespread among the powerful consortiums of the upper class, he naturally began to entertain ideas of a... physical reformation.
Now that the War of the Twin Cities had broken out, the Priests were still lobbying the major powers of Oran City not to resort to war.
"Do you think it’s real or fake? It could just be a smokescreen to lure people into a trap," Su Chen said.
In fiction, religious organizations flying a holy banner are rarely ever the good guys.
Did the arrival of the apocalypse really strengthen their resolve to save the world?
Shouldn’t they be calmly accepting the final judgment?
Ruoruo glanced at the document and mused, "It’s hard to say. But the Security Committee most likely won’t get involved in Oran City’s affairs."
That much made sense.
Defensive projects within their own city were in full swing. As long as they cultivated their own internal strength, no demons or ghouls from the outside would be a threat.
To put it bluntly, if the report was true, letting those demons in human skin wreak havoc on Oran City would be a rather satisfying outcome.
If the other side was just staging an elaborate show, coordinating from within to lure a troop of elites into Oran City for a slaughter, then they’d be completely screwed.
This firsthand intelligence also detailed information on a few Four-Star classes, laying bare the class traits and two major Authorities of the Demon Warlock.
Judging from their Authorities, ’Advance’ and ’Compensation,’ it was easy to link them to the turmoil and darkness plaguing Oran City.
The different branches and schools of the class were also related to the Great Demon Monarch with whom a Warlock made their pact.
Furthermore, due to the subjective preferences of the Great Demons and their vastly different pacts, there could be a huge gap in power between practitioners of the very same school.
The report mentioned the Four-Star Great Druid and the Great Priest of Life and Death.
These two classes were Wood Element Apostles of nature, serving as Superior versions of the Life Warlock. They were also further advancements of the Transformation School and the Life Master path.
The Wood Element also had a Five-Star hidden variant class that spanned the Summoning, Transformation, and Life Streams: the ’Desert Beast Master.’
One of its major traits was ’Symbiosis,’ which allowed the user to establish a Life Link with a powerful Wild Beast. This link mutually enhanced their Life Energy, and they would share not only their life force and senses but could even merge into a single form.
If one was grievously injured, the other could share the pain and a portion of the damage, or even transfer the harm away entirely. A truly vicious ability.
"A fusion transformation... merging with a summon. That’s pretty cool," Su Chen chuckled.
This was his first time encountering information on the Authorities of a Five-Star class.
To be honest, it didn’t particularly impress him.
His personal cheat was his family’s Jade Pendant, which absorbed Elemental Energy to strengthen his body. The advantages of class Authorities were merely built upon sacrifice and an affinity for All Elements.
There were surely rare places where one could obtain High-Star hidden classes.
Not to mention, the other side had the Trial Tower.
The list of Five-Star classes also included the Light Element’s ’Radiant Lord’ and ’Holy Light Judge.’
The dark irony was that the individuals who held these classes didn’t belong to the Sect, but rather to a super-organization that ruled Oran City.
The large and influential Sect, on the other hand, seemed rather pathetic, with its top fighters only possessing Three-Star classes.
’How could anyone overthrow the ruling powers of Oran City with vermin like that?’
"And that’s everything."
After all, the Authorities of Five-Star classes weren’t a dime a dozen. It seemed they could still only be mastered by an extremely small number of Oran City’s top experts.
"It seems this War of the Twin Cities is crucial. It involves a world quest for advancing one’s Star Level, so that small handful of people will definitely get involved," Su Chen asserted.

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