Novel Boss
Chapter 55: Skull Staff, Kean Will Chop You Up and Feed You to the Dogs
Although the Substitute Puppet only had half of his strength, it could use all of his skills, making it the best possible assistant.
Jeremy didn't hesitate and began the process of binding the puppet.
He closed his eyes and extended his mental energy towards the Substitute Puppet in his hand.
In an instant, the rune on the Substitute Puppet's forehead erupted with a blinding blue light, completely enveloping Jeremy.
He could feel a strange connection forming between himself and the Substitute Puppet.
Before long, the blue light gradually faded away, leaving the space clear once more.
In its place, there now stood two identical Jeremys. The only difference was that one of them was completely naked, devoid of any clothing, and his eyes were vacant, lacking any spark of life or intelligence.
Jeremy took a moment to scrutinize his doppelganger closely.
He had to admit, the Substitute Puppet was astonishingly similar to him. There was virtually no difference, even their height and size matched perfectly, down to the smallest detail.
With a single thought, Jeremy activated his will.
Instantly, the Substitute Puppet's eyes lit up with a vivid blue glow.
It moved its body slightly. Feeling it out, and then Jeremy rubbed his chin, saying, "Feels almost the same as my original body, just a bit weaker in strength and mental power."
Jeremy tested a few skills. Though they could be used, their effectiveness was significantly reduced.
He also tried to let the Substitute Puppet think independently but found it impossible.
The puppet had to be controlled by his own consciousness.
"Unable to think independently is fine." Jeremy nodded. This avoids the danger of the clone replacing the real one. Otherwise, he wouldn't dare to use such self-aware puppets.
After dressing the Substitute Puppet, Jeremy stored it back in his inventory space. He then picked up all the equipment and items dropped by the Ghoul High Priest and other ghouls.
The Ghoul High Priest had dropped two pieces of equipment, one item, and two 6th-tier energy crystals.
Jeremy examined their attributes.
[Equipment]: Skull Staff
[Type]: Weapon[Grade]: Diamond
[Quality]: Orange (Rare)
[Attributes]: +450 Mental Attribute, +10% Skill Attack, -10% Skill Cooldown
[Skill 1]: Corpse Summon (Active)
[Description]: Summon a lord-level undead creature to fight for you for 10 minutes. Cooldown: 6 hours.
[Skill 2]: Wraith (Active)
[Description]: Temporarily turn into a ghost, becoming immune to physical and magical attacks but taking double mental damage. Duration: 3 seconds. Cooldown: 48 hours.
…
[Equipment]: Soul Necklace
[Type]: Accessory
[Grade]: Diamond
[Quality]: Purple (Rare)
[Attributes]: +300 Mental Attribute, -5% Skill Cooldown
[Skill]: Soul Guard (Passive)
[Description]: Grants a mental shield that blocks enemy attacks and prevents enemy detection.
The shield lasts until broken. Cooldown: 24 hours.
…
[Item]: Skill Book "Soul Roar"
[Tier]: High
[Quality]: Purple (Rare)
[Description]: Grants the high-tier skill "Soul Roar" upon use.
…
"Well, not bad for a hidden BOSS!" Jeremy exclaimed as he reviewed the descriptions of the three pieces of equipment.
Both pieces of equipment were diamond-level and top-tier for magic users. In terms of both skills and attributes, they were the best among all his gear. Especially the "Specter" skill of the Skeleton Staff, which could turn the player into a ghostly state, making them immune to both physical and magical attacks from enemies. This skill could be a lifesaver in critical moments.
"The Soul Necklace" was a rare accessory-type equipment. Although its skill "Soul Guard" wasn't very effective for a player like Jeremy, who possessed immense mental power, its advantage lay in its persistent presence as long as it was not broken.
On the other hand, "Soul Roar" was evidently a mental-type skill, which was exactly what Jeremy needs at the moment. Despite having immense mental power, he lacked any mental attack skills. "Soul Roar" perfectly compensated for this shortcoming.
Despite his formidable mental power, he lacked any mental attack skills, and "Soul Roar" filled this gap perfectly.
After using the skill book, the skill description for "Soul Roar" appeared in front of Jeremy.
[Skill]: Soul Roar
[Level]: lv1
[Tier]: High
[Type]: Mental Attack
[Description]: Deals 150% mental damage to surrounding targets. Targets with weaker mental power than the player will be stunned for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 1 hour.
To Jeremy's surprise, "Soul Roar" was also a crowd control skill.
Mental skills were already rare, and mental control skills were even rarer. This discovery made him feel like he had struck gold.
In addition to these three items, Jeremy also obtained two 6th-tier energy crystals. Each crystal could increase a player's random attribute by 200 points, but their primary use was for opening chests and upgrading skill levels.
Jeremy then reviewed his other loot.
Including what he had previously collected from the Death Plains, he had a total of 5 pieces of equipment, 12 material items, 63 3rd-tier energy crystals, 24 4th-tier energy crystals, and 5 5th-tier energy crystals.
The five pieces of equipment were all silver and gold-tier items, mostly white and blue in quality, with mediocre attributes. Jeremy glanced at them and then tossed them into his storage space.
The 12 items consisted of 7 extraordinary materials, 3 healing potions, and 2 enhancement potions—nothing particularly exceptional.
Jeremy packed these items into his storage space, keeping only the two enhancement potions.
After using them, he gained 50 agility points and 50 mental attribute points.
Jeremy used all the 3rd-tier energy crystals to increase his attributes.
After absorbing them, he gained a total of 630 random attribute points, averaging over 100 points per attribute.
Including the 210 free attribute points he had previously accumulated, he now had 360 free attribute points.
Jeremy checked his stats and noticed his agility and stamina were somewhat lacking, so he distributed the points evenly between these two attributes.
After equipping himself, he took another look at his current attribute panel.
[Name]: Jeremy
[Level]: lv30
[Class]: Blasphemer
[Title]: Pioneer, World's First Kill
[Ability]: The Eye of Omniscience (SSS)
[Attributes]: Strength 2401, Mental Power 4745, Stamina 1519, Agility 1543
[Skills]: The Lawless lv2, Seven Sins - Wrath lv1, Seven Sins - Gluttony lv1, Sword of Judgment lv1, Plague Curse lv1, Soul Roar lv1, Disaster Blade lv5, Sin Fire lv1, Shadow Step lv10, Gale Slash lv10, Ice Arrow Rain lv10, Pioneer (Title), Critical Strike (Title), Blood of the Tyrant (Equipment), Wings of the Sky (Equipment), Bone Sorrow (Equipment), Corpse Summon (Equipment), Wraith (Equipment), Soul Guard (Equipment) ...
...
Seeing his mental attribute being twice as high as his strength, Jeremy couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and helplessness.If he learned a few more mage skills, he could easily masquerade as a mage, and no one would suspect a thing.
Jeremy used all the energy crystals above 4th-tier, except for one 6th-tier crystal he kept in reserve, to upgrade his skill levels.
[Ding! You used a 4th-tier energy crystal, "Sin Fire" skill level has increased to level 2!]
[Ding! You used a 5th-tier energy crystal, "Disaster Blade" skill level has increased to level 8!]
[Ding! You used a 6th-tier energy crystal, "The Lawless" skill level has increased to level 6!]
...
As Jeremy continued to use one energy crystal after another, his skill levels began to soar at an astonishing pace.
By the time he had exhausted his entire supply of energy crystals, Jeremy's "Unstoppable" skill had reached level 8, while his "Sin Fire," "Calamity Blade," "Soul Roar," and "Judgment Sword" skills had all ascended to the impressive level of 10.
Each of these skills now boasted significantly enhanced effects, and Jeremy's overall power had more than doubled as a result.
Indeed, upgrading skills proved to be the most efficient and rapid method for a player to enhance their strength.
Unfortunately, energy crystals were extremely rare. Sometimes, it took five or six monsters to drop just one crystal. Without the assistance of The Eye of Omniscience, Jeremy couldn't imagine how long it would have taken him to max out his skills.
The other players' situation was even worse.Jeremy had seen the prices in the world marketplace: a rare-quality gold-tier item sold for only one 4th-tier energy crystal, and even then, there were nobuyers. This scarcity highlighted just how precious energy crystals were.
After organizing his loot, Jeremy scanned the battlefield to ensure he hadn't missed any items and then left the ghoul tribe.
Time was of the essence, and Jeremy planned to kill the dungeon BOSS and then return for his second class change.
Completing the second class change would not only grant him new class skills but also break the level cap on his existing skills, allowing further improvement. His strength would undergo another significant leap.
As for how to deal with the Class Change Goddess, Janna, Jeremy already had some plans.
"Jeremy, over here!" Emma was the first to notice him emerging from the tribe and waved.
Claire and the other two, who were busy fighting monsters, also turned to look at Jeremy, their expressions complicated. Claire, in particular, looked worried.
"What's with those faces?" Jeremy asked as he approached, puzzled.
"Seriously, you're asking us?" Ritchie exclaimed excitedly. "Did you see the world chat? Kean called you out there. He said if you dare to compete with him for the top spot in the event, he'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs!!"