Chapter 62: The Guidance of a Thousand Souls! The Reason to Be King!

[Thousand Souls' Guidance]
[Type: Passive Skill]
[Tier: Tier 1]
[Department: Necromancy]
[Cost: None]
[Cooldown: None]
[Effect: As the Scourge Monarch, your subjects are the fundamental source of your power.]
[Grants you bonuses to Health Points, Mana Points, Attack Power, Defense, Magic Resistance, and the four basic attributes. The bonus is equal to 10% of each of the aforementioned attributes possessed by all undead creatures under your command.]
[As long as there are other undead creatures under your command, any fatal damage you suffer will be borne by those undead creatures instead.]
[When the Scourge Monarch is present, the summoning duration of all undead creatures of the "Scourge" faction will be unlimited!]
[Remark: This is the very reason to be a king.]

Lin Yi finally understood why Lin You only had level 1 yet possessed such explosive basic attributes.
It was because all the undead creatures he had previously summoned provided basic attribute bonuses to Lin You!
Moreover, the three effects of Thousand Souls' Guidance were simply too overpowered.
Aside from the attribute boosts, as long as other summoned minions existed, they would shoulder incoming damage for Lin You.
Conversely, Lin You's own existence could infinitely extend the active duration of those skeleton soldiers and the Scourge Legion!
It was practically invincible!

Looking at Lin You's attributes, Lin Yi was extremely satisfied.
Fortunately, he had chosen to evolve this skill.
The boost it provided to the entire Necromancy branch was immense beyond measure!

However, it was somewhat embarrassing to admit.
Lin Yi realized that even if he stripped away the attribute bonuses from [Thousand Souls' Guidance], his own health pool and attack power still seemed lower than Level 1 Lin You's.
Was this the gap between humans and creatures of the Abyss world?
The starting lines were not even in the same dimension.

Still, Lin You came out at the Lord tier, meaning her status rank was on par with regular dungeon bosses.
Ever since the Cataclysm Era, humanity on the Blue Star had never ceased its research on monsters.
Among the metrics used to measure a monster's strength, level was not the only factor.
There was also the status rank.
The most ordinary low-level mobs had no status rank; lacking rank, their strength was naturally capped at a very low level.
The stronger individuals among monster packs in leveling zones possessed the Elite rank.
This was also the initial status rank.
Above the Elite rank was the Lord rank, and most dungeon and field bosses belonged to this tier.
Above the Lord rank was the Overlord rank.
Bosses possessing this type of status rank were basically mutated bosses.

Above the Overlord rank, one officially entered the evaluation criteria of the Abyss world.
[Abyss Warlord], also known as the King tier.
Previously, the mutated Death Knight Rivenfall whom Lin Yi encountered had his status rank elevated by half a tier in a short period due to the enhancement of Abyssal aura.
He ascended from the Overlord rank to the Quasi-King tier.
Meanwhile, within the dungeon of the Fading City of Ferecain, the status rank of the Shadow Demon Spider Lin Yi encountered was genuinely and solidly at the King tier.
The King tier itself had further gradations.
The gap in strength between the Quasi-King tier, the King tier, and the Peak King tier was still very substantial.

Above the King tier was the [Abyss Archdemon], abbreviated as the [Emperor tier].
Previously, when Qi Guoguang was assigning Lin Yi's code name, he considered the possibility that Lin Yi was an Abyss creature of the [Emperor tier] status rank.
Above the Emperor tier was the [Abyss Overlord Sovereign], abbreviated as the [Sovereign tier] or [Imperial tier].
Thus far, the [Imperial tier] Abyss entities officially recorded by Blue Star humanity could be counted on less than two hands.
Furthermore, if any Abyss existence of the [Imperial tier] truly descended upon the Blue Star, they would possess the power to destroy an entire nation.
Such knowledge was no secret; it was even written directly into the cultural textbooks for high school students nationwide.
Even Lin Yi understood it completely.

Since Lin You would gain more skills upon future advancements, he would have to bring her along when leveling up.
From now on, she should also be an important component of his overall strength, and Lin Yi could not afford to neglect her.

At this point, the rewards Lin Yi had just received as the provincial top scorer had mostly been spent.
Yet he was also extremely satisfied; this wave of enhancement to his strength could only be described as terrifying!

Lin Yi checked the time; it was now close to half-past twelve.
Li Yuanjing had long since arranged a lavish lunch for Lin Yi in this luxury apartment reserved for him.
After finishing lunch, Lin Yi took a short nap.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already past two o'clock. Lin Yi washed his face and tidied himself up.
Then he took out the scroll Li Yuanjing had given him and crushed it.

The next moment, Lin Yi found himself teleported into a certain underground teleportation hall in Tianhai.
Li Yuanjing was already waiting for him here.
"You're here?"
"It's almost time, let's set off."

...

Daxia, Imperial Capital.
This was the heart of the entire Daxia.
It was also Daxia's only super-grade base city.
It was the most prosperous manifestation of the Blue Star human civilization!

A gigantic skyscraper piercing the clouds stood right at the central ring of the Imperial Capital Base City.
Daxia currently had three top-tier organizations and institutions.
First, the Daxia Professional Alliance!
It was primarily responsible for managing all freelance Professionals and their guilds throughout Daxia.
It possessed the largest population scale!
The most complex management hierarchy!
And the most extensive influence!

Second, the Daxia Professional Allied Forces!
In any era, for a nation to stand, it required an official military force of Professionals bearing official titles.
In the Cataclysm Era, the strength of this army was the ultimate manifestation of the nation's military might!
Therefore, only by becoming a member of the Professional Allied Forces was one qualified to come into contact with high-grade equipment!

Finally, the Daxia Ministry of Education!
From the high schools in base cities nationwide that nurtured newly awakened Professionals to the various top-tier universities and academies that supplied talent to the Professional Alliance and Allied Forces,
all fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education.
Concerning the future of Daxia's young Professionals, the resources held by the Daxia Ministry of Education were not much less than those of the Professional Alliance, second only to the Professional Allied Forces.

This skyscraper piercing the clouds was the headquarters of Daxia's third major top-tier institution, the Ministry of Education!

At this moment, beneath the Ministry of Education, underground.
A flash of teleportation light illuminated the area.
Lin Yi and Li Yuanjing appeared.
The physical geographic span from Tianhai to the Imperial Capital was nearly ten thousand kilometers; traveling by underground shuttle train would take at least ten-odd days.
This was the drawback after the Abyss descended and the map of the Blue Star expanded.
However, since the two of them had arrived via the inter-provincial super teleportation array, it took merely ten-odd minutes.

Following Lin Yi's arrival, he also noticed that several hundred people were already standing within this underground space.
Using [Omniscient Eye], Lin Yi could tell that, much like himself, these young-looking individuals were the cream of the crop in terms of both level and class.
At the very least, they possessed rare-tier classes, making him an anomaly among this crowd.

There were 34 provinces nationwide, and only the top ten of each province were qualified to participate in this fifth round of testing.
Including himself, these people should be the top three hundred in the country.

The moment Lin Yi arrived, a broadcasting voice echoed through the loudspeakers of this underground space.
"Dongjiang Province candidate presentation—"
"Candidate Lin Yi, first four rounds total score: 8000!"
"First four rounds score ranking: First place!"

As the broadcast announcement finished, Lin Yi instantly felt hundreds of gazes converge upon him!
In an instant, he became the focal point of the entire venue.