6 Chapter 4 Soul Resonance_1

"Aaaaah——————!!"

An Evil God Cultist let out a piercing scream, charging forward with his spear. However, he was only halfway there when a Heavy Hammer flew in with a whoosh, sending him flying like a golf ball.

"The third scouting team... Finally taken care of."

Retracting his War Hammer, Duanmu Huai let out a sigh. They had been under constant attack by the followers of the Evil God, and this was already the third group. It must be said, even though these Evil God Cultists were annoying, the experience they brought was quite extensive.

"May I ask, what are we here to do?"

Trailing behind Duanmu Huai, Elisa nervously asked. After all, Sir Black Knight had brought her to these forsaken ruins...

"You'll know when the time comes."

After eliminating yet another squad of Evil God Cultists, Duanmu Huai finally found the information he was seeking.

[Level up to 10, unlocking specialty branches]

[Select Specialty Branch—Super Warrior, Technological Priest, Psychic]

Here it is!

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai's eyes widened in excitement. This was what he had been waiting for!

The three specialty branches of the Judge profession each correspond to different abilities. The Super Warrior needs no introduction, primarily enhancing melee attack and defense capabilities, belonging to the Knight plus DPS class.

The Technological Priest is a bit special. They can create their own technological artifacts to fight, similar to drones and automatic turrets, which looks very high-tech. However, they also possess shielding and healing capabilities. You could say that the Technological Priest sees themselves more as a hybrid of a summoning and healing class in the realm of science, which is why it's the fastest to appear career specialization route that makes up an army.

The only drawback is that producing a Mechanical Legion consumes resources.

Finally, we have the Psychic.

It can be considered a class similar to a magician. It offers damage output, healing, and melee capabilities, appearing very comprehensive. The actual power is indeed powerful, but… the Psychic has its own weakness.

That is the Subspace Crisis.

According to Star Ocean Online's setup, this world possesses a unique dimensional space, known as the Subspace. It's a mysterious dimension where the shadow projections of all entities coexist. It's like the shadow of the real world. Everything in existence leaves an imprint of its existence in the Subspace. Psychics perform various spells by drawing power from the Subspace, but … there's a problem with that.

The Subspace is infested with countless demons. When Psychics draw power to cast spells, their soul projections in the eyes of the demons in the Subspace appear as blazing flames. Those demons, like moths drawn to a flame, swarm toward the Psychics' soul projections.

So, if Psychics use magic for too long, it causes a risk of Subspace Erosion. This can result in all sorts of strange issues and even the possibility of higher-ranking demons directly inviting you to join them — most Psychics do not have the power to refuse at this point.

Denying them wouldn't make a difference anyway.

For this reason, players loathe teaming up with Psychics, especially the novices. Many simply chose this profession after reading the introduction, thinking it's cool and fun. Then, they end up screwing over their teammates.

Imagine that you are fighting a dungeon boss with a five-person team, and suddenly the game alerts you that the Psychic in your team has overheated, causing Subspace anomalies. Then a bunch of debuffs like poison, slow, and armor break suddenly appear over your team, you would probably wish you were dead.

Not to mention, if you're out of luck, the Psychic may be corrupted by demons, turning into a terrifying enemy. Then… Victory or loss is a common occurrence in the army, please try again.

Hence, during the initial stages, Psychics teaming up to clear dungeons is an extremely frustrating process. They have to ensure both their damage output and maintaining a non-overheating status to avoid the Subspace Crisis, or else they would be condemned as a team's tumor and may be directly expelled.

Therefore, in the beginning, Psychics were not very popular, and players even mocked that finally, there was a game where Mages were not grandfathers but grandchildren.

Because of this, many players saw Psychic as the most difficult profession, and no one wanted to play. As for those who ruined their accounts… there was no alternative but to delete characters and start all over again, at a cost.

After all, the setting in Star Ocean Online was that only those who completed the main storyline were qualified to open a second account and obtain heirlooms, either that or pay to delete the account and start over… Damn, this broken game really is all about money.

However, shortly thereafter, someone figured out the proper way to play Psychic. By then, most players were shocked to discover that your grandfather is still your grandfather… those who deleted their accounts and started over howled in their regret.

The one who figured this out was Duanmu Huai. In fact, at that time, he too was filled with regret. If he had known about this way to play earlier, he wouldn't have to suffer now….

Honestly, ever since then, Duanmu Huai always had a thought. If he could relive everything, pair his own findings with tactics, could he create a character stronger than the ones in the game…?

Of course, there are no potions for regret in this world... but isn't this one right here?

"Choose Psychic."

Duanmu Huai made the decision decisively.

[Player Acquires Psychic Specialization......Please Choose Core Skill]

[Ethereal Walker][Sky Walker][Soul Walker]

"Soul Walker."

[...Player Acquires Soul Walker Core]

[Player Acquires Special Skill.....Soul Resonance]

[Power Armor Replaced with Subspace Mode]

The next moment, the heavy black armor on Duanmu Huai emanated a purple radiance and gradually changed its form. Although the overall color tone remained black, the edges turned golden. At the same time, the previously bulky equipment box on his back transformed into a gorgeously intricate golden halo.

Seeing this, Elisa, standing beside him, also widened her eyes in surprise, staring at the Black Knight next to her in amazement.

At the same time, Duanmu Huai reopened his character status panel.

[Hitting your head with a small hammer]

[Profession: Judge (LV10)][Soul Walker Specialization][Subspace Heat - Consumption 50%]

[Strength: 12][Close Combat+6][Galactic Warrior Combat Training LV5][Matter Displacement][Attack Weak Points]

[Agility: 4][Shooting+0][Sicaran Enhancement LV1]

[Physical Attribute: 6][Resistance+2][Religious Army Siege Rules LV2]

[Intelligence: 7][Will +2][Combat Psychic Training LV2][Soul Resonance (Special Skill)]

[Perception: 8][Detection +4][Legal Department Assault Tactics LV3]

[Charm: 1 (Locked)][Communication -3][Intimidation LV2]

Many players did not choose to become a Soul Walker when playing as Psychics, mainly because the special effect of the Subspace Armor was too low-key. It could reduce the consumption of subspace heat by 50%, but besides that, it did not possess the teleportation ability of the Etheric Armor, nor the defensive strength of the Sky Armor. For many players, it was not exactly a desirable armor mode.

However, the most powerful part is still the core skill...

Duanmu Huai extended his hand to tap on [Soul Resonance]. Shortly after, a system description popped up.

[Soul Resonance: You can feel the power of ancient history, the power of souls, and the great force from the apex of the world, all of which will be at your disposal.]

A brief phrase with no further ability description.

In fact, before the cross-over, everyone, Duanmu Huai included, was utterly befuddled by the [Soul Resonance] skill. At least other skills had simple descriptions, letting players know whether they were support, offensive, or defensive, or something else, but only [Soul Resonance] was utterly inscrutable.

Players had tried to use this skill on various other things, like NPCs, bosses, items, but to no avail.

At first, players thought this was a game bug, or that Star Ocean Online's officials hadn't noticed, and they reported it on the forum. But the officials from Star Ocean Online replied with "The function is normal, there are no bugs"——which meant that the [Soul Resonance] skill did indeed have an effect, and the players had just not discovered what it was.

In fact, not only was this skill effective, but it was also incredibly powerful.

And its true power was hidden within the ruins!

Duanmu Huai retracted his gaze, looking at the dilapidated ruins before him, his expression growing serious.

The real critical part comes next!