Absolute Destiny Game.

Chapter 573 Crimson Flame Peak, Advancing Beyond One's Level
The summit of Crimson Flame Peak was not the sharp peak one might imagine, but rather a vast, circular basin, like an ancient, dormant volcano. Its steep, jagged edges bore the dark red, glassy texture of something scorched by fire for countless years. The basin was not empty; it was filled with scorching lava pools, jagged volcanic rocks, and strange clusters of crystals that seemed to have been formed from flames. The air was thick with the pungent smell of sulfur and burning minerals, and the heat distorted the view, making everything appear hazy and intensely hot.

The moment the two landed, the scorching rocks beneath their feet almost burned them, causing Anping to jump up. Almost simultaneously, the fire-type spirits around them, which had been either floating in the lava or dormant on the rocks, suddenly boiled over as if they had been thrown into boiling oil!
These elemental creatures, composed of pure fire elemental energy, are inherently hostile to all foreign energies. Fire spirits are mostly explosive and irritable, so there is no room for compromise or peaceful coexistence. They hissed and roared, immediately attacking from all directions.

Despite the surging tide of fire-type spirits, Xiao Jie remained completely calm. He focused his mind, attempting to mobilize the power of the five elements in the world.

"Drive the Five Elements with your will—The Great Flood!"

With a wave of his hand, the massive water flow that was expected to sweep away these elemental creatures did not appear; only a tiny ripple appeared in the air before quickly subsiding.

"Ah, that's it!" Xiao Jie instantly understood. This Crimson Flame Mountain was the most yang and yang place in the world, with raging flames and the power of fire reaching its peak. The power of water, which was supposed to counter it, was naturally suppressed to almost nothing, so weak that it was difficult to sense. Even immortals had to follow basic principles when casting spells. While manipulating the five elements with one's will was wonderful, the prerequisite was that there must actually be available power of the five elements in the surrounding environment to be manipulated.

In that brief moment of hesitation, the various fire spirits, fire nightmares, and fire walkers had already closed in, relentlessly unleashing a barrage of violent fire spells upon them! Huge fireballs, a barrage of rockets, ferocious roaring fire dragons, explosive flame bombs... the sky was filled with scorching red trails, completely engulfing the area where the two stood, as if to instantly vaporize them.

Xiao Jie remained calm. The power of the five elements manifests in countless ways, mutually generating and restraining each other, waxing and waning; naturally, there are ways to deal with this. Since water is weak, then earth will overcome it!

"Driven by the Five Elements - Guardian of the Rock Wall!"

He paused, channeling immense immortal power into the earth. Instantly, the surrounding ground trembled violently, and thick, hard rock walls, shimmering with earthy yellow spiritual light, rose up with a roar, quickly closing in like a sturdy circular fortress, firmly protecting the two of them and blocking all the fire attacks coming from all directions.

Boom! Bang! Bang!
Violent explosions rang out continuously from the outer walls of the fortress, shaking the entire stone fortress violently. Scrap stones and dust fell from its surface, and the fortress flickered with an eerie light, as if it were about to collapse at any moment. The intense heat even penetrated the stone walls, making the air inside scalding hot.

When the third and most intense concentrated attack ended, the seemingly solid rock fortress was already covered with spiderweb-like cracks and looked like it was about to collapse.

boom!
The fortress finally succumbed to the pressure and shattered in a violent explosion, sending debris flying everywhere!

However, at the very moment the fortress crumbled, a clear and melodious dragon roar resounded through the sky! A forty-meter-long dragon, pure white as jade and with scales shimmering with cold light, soared into the sky—it was the white dragon that Xiao Jie had transformed into!

"Ice Breath!"

The white dragon opened its mouth, and an extremely cold stream of frost spewed out like a bursting dam or a death sigh from the far north, sweeping in a fan shape across the swarming fire-type monsters below! This primal icy power from the true dragon clashed violently with the surrounding scorching environment, producing a hissing sound, and white icy mist instantly spread out.

Those fire-type monsters at the forefront were the first to be hit. The flames on their bodies dimmed instantly, and thick layers of ice even formed on their bodies. Their movements became extremely slow, and a large amount of white steam rose from their bodies, as if a charcoal fire had been doused with a bucket of ice water and extinguished and solidified.

However, these fire-type spirits were fierce by nature. Even after suffering heavy injuries, they refused to give up and struggled to continue spewing flames to attack the white dragon in the air. But these scattered flame attacks were mostly neutralized by the water elemental energy contained within the protective dark clouds that naturally gathered around the white dragon. Those that could actually touch the dragon's scales were already at their last gasp.

Xiao Jie was slightly surprised, not expecting that the passive talent of [Clouds Rise from the Dragon] would have such an unexpected defensive effect at this moment.

The dark clouds conjured by supernatural powers were not affected by the weak water element in the surrounding area, which was quite convenient.

He gave these monsters no more chances. His enormous dragon body gracefully and majestically spiraled upwards into the air, letting out another earth-shattering dragon roar! Lightning suddenly burst forth from the dark clouds that had gathered in the surrounding sky as he transformed into a dragon, and electric snakes danced wildly!

"fall!"

Guided by his will, bolts of blazing lightning, as thick as buckets, struck the monsters below with pinpoint accuracy, like swords of divine punishment!
System notification: You have gained 675 experience points by defeating the Flame Walker.

System notification: Killing [Fire Nightmare] grants 720 experience points.

System notification: You have defeated the [Fiery Spirit] and gained 698 experience points.

……

"Not bad!" Xiao Jie thought to himself, impressed by the generous experience points. It was indeed a high-level map. Most of the fire-type monsters were around level 40, with some even reaching level 50. Grinding experience was incredibly fast, and in the blink of an eye, his experience bar had surged significantly.

Even more remarkably, after these spirits died, they dropped rare materials that shimmered with red light.

[Flame Crystal Core], [Essence of Blazing Flames], [Unquenchable Elemental Fire], [Fragment of the Lava Heart]...

Xiao Jie didn't distinguish between good and bad; with a swipe of his dragon claw, a suction force was generated, gathering all the materials that had fallen to the ground into his pocket. Even if he didn't need these things himself, they would be excellent for Su Zhiqing's alchemy and talisman-making, or for trading with other players.

At that moment, a nimble figure leaped into the air from where the fortress ruins had been, landing lightly on a huge volcanic rock. It was An Ran, who had transformed into a lynx. She seemed to be shrouded in a faint protective aura, clearly a blessing that Xiao Jie had casually bestowed upon her earlier.

"I leveled up!" An Ran exclaimed excitedly, a golden light flashing around her as she leveled up. She was already over level nine and on the verge of a breakthrough. Now, after sharing some of Xiao Jie's monster-hunting experience, although the percentage was very low, she finally managed to level up to level ten.

Unfortunately, this game is very strict about experience distribution for high-level players carrying low-level players. If low-level players contribute almost nothing in combat (damage, healing, control, etc.), they basically won't get any experience points. Otherwise, Xiao Jie could have led his group of friends to quickly level up by killing high-level monsters.

Now we can only let them fend for themselves.

"So, what available classes have you unlocked?" Xiao Jie asked as he transformed back into human form and landed on the ground.

“Ancient Qi Refiners, Shamans, and…wait, sorcerers!” An Ran exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the class list.

Xiao Jie was also somewhat surprised: "You unlocked the Sorcerer class at level 10? That's a bit strange." You see, according to the game experience summarized by many players in the past, the Sorcerer is an advanced class that requires a second job advancement. It usually requires a combination of prerequisite classes such as [Beastmaster + Wizard] or [Beastmaster + Shaman], and reaching a certain level to unlock it.

"I didn't expect that I could advance directly at level 10? What's the principle behind this? Could it be that the experience summarized by players in the past was all wrong?" An Ran asked in surprise.

Xiao Jie pondered carefully, his mind racing with analysis.

He quickly came up with a reasonable explanation. "No, past experience is probably correct. Job unlocking is determined based on the player's actual gameplay and behavior patterns."

"Anran, before reaching level 10, thanks to your memories of 'two lifetimes' and my help, you mastered typical sorcerer skills like 'Lynx Transformation.' The system naturally determined that you possessed the potential and inclination to become a sorcerer, and therefore, at level 10, the first hurdle for your job advancement, it directly included it as an option."

"In the past, players had to have a prerequisite class because they could only learn those prerequisite skills by becoming a Beastmaster or Wizard/Shaman. With those prerequisite skills, the system would unlock the Sorcerer option when advancing to higher levels. This is a 'cause first, effect later' logic."

Now, the 'effect' (skill) has appeared first, so the 'cause' (profession) has naturally adapted ahead of time.

"That would be amazing!" A glint of excitement flashed in Xiao Jie's eyes. "And it's not just you; all the other friends who have been resurrected and reincarnated will probably have the same opportunity! As long as they can find a way to unlock the high-level skills they mastered in their previous life in advance, they may have the chance to directly advance to a high-level profession at level 10 in this life! In this way, even if they can't become immortals in the future due to limitations in aptitude or opportunities, the huge advantage brought by this advanced and powerful profession alone will be enough to make them one of the strongest players in this game."

An Ran nodded repeatedly after hearing this. "That makes sense. So, which career should I choose?" An Ran asked Xiao Jie, with an expression that said, "You're the professional, I'll listen to you."

Xiao Jie stroked his chin, genuinely unsure this time. After all, he himself had initially become a Beast Tamer at level 10, advanced to Ancient Qi Refiner at level 20, and finally fused into the Demon Refiner class at level 30.

I've never encountered a situation where I'm faced with a high-level career choice at level 10.

"Hmm... I don't think you need to switch to the Ancient Qi Cultivator class right away," Xiao Jie analyzed. "Your most pressing need right now is to level up by fighting monsters and quickly increase your base level and strength. While the Ancient Qi Cultivator class leads directly to immortality, it doesn't offer much in terms of skills and support for direct combat in the early stages—"

Not only are there few, but since no True Immortal Hongchen taught her any skills this time, An Ran probably doesn't even have the most basic 'Qi Healing Technique'. She can only rely on the legendary trait provided by the Qi Refining Technique level to make a living, and wait for the profession quest reward skill that may be triggered at any time.

"In comparison, you can start with the Sorcerer route. This way, you can immediately acquire the basic Sorcerer skills, making it easier to level up and accumulate resources. Once you reach around level 20 and have a solid foundation, you can consider becoming an Ancient Qi Refiner as well. Of course, if you're worried about unforeseen circumstances, such as switching to Sorcerer early affecting the unlocking of the Alchemist, you can choose another path: advance to Ancient Qi Refiner at level 10, endure the early weaknesses, and try to directly switch to Alchemist at level 20. However, based on past experience, the prerequisite for Alchemist is [Ancient Qi Refiner + Beastmaster]. If you don't have the Beastmaster prerequisite, I'm not sure if you can directly unlock Alchemist."

Although they were facing an unprecedented situation, the basic principles of the game remained the same. Xiao Jie quickly outlined two possible paths in his mind.

Simply put, there are two routes:

Level 10: Choose Sorcerer → Level 20: Part-time or change to Ancient Qi Refiner → Level 30: Go for Demon Refiner. Theoretically, Sorcerer is an advanced class of Beastmaster and should be able to replace Beastmaster in fulfilling the prerequisites for Demon Refiner.

At level 10, choose Ancient Qi Refiner → At level 20, there's a small chance you'll directly unlock Demon Refiner (if the system recognizes your 'Lynx Transformation' skill as equivalent to Beast Tamer ability). If not, you should also be able to work part-time as a Demon Sorcerer at that time → Switch to Demon Refiner at level 30.

Both routes should ultimately achieve the goal, but the experiences and risks involved will differ slightly.

An Ran listened attentively and made her decision almost without hesitation: "I choose the sorcerer!" After all, she had followed the sorcerer path in her previous life, so she was more familiar with and at ease with this class system. Moreover, judging from Xiao Jie's words, the ancient Qi cultivators were really too weak in the early stages, and in order to make it easier to fight monsters and level up, and improve her strength as soon as possible, she had to choose the sorcerer.

After choosing her profession, An Ran seemed to possess an indescribable aura of wildness and agility. She glanced around at the scorching basin and asked in confusion, "By the way, weren't you here to meditate on the Golden Crow? Where is it? I haven't seen a single feather."

Xiao Jie looked up at the sky and explained, "According to the information provided by the Myriad Laws Primordial Sovereign, these golden crows only emerge from their lava nests at noon, when the yang energy of heaven and earth is at its peak, to absorb the essence of the sun's true fire and the earth's fire. It should be... soon."

Time passed slowly as they waited. The heat in the basin remained scorching, and the fire-type monsters that had been cleared out didn't seem to be respawning anytime soon. Xiao Jie and An Ran found a large, shady spot with rocks that offered some shelter from the heat to rest. An Ran excitedly familiarized herself with the core skills of a sorcerer, trying to control the lynx transformation more precisely, and replicating some of the transformation skills she had mastered in her previous life.

(End of this chapter)