Blood Trail Valley was expected to host at least only Ordinary Monsters, but there were cases where Adventurers suspected the possibility of Extraordinary Monsters lurking in the deeper areas of the valley.
Monsters in the Badlands were ranked from Ordinary to the very peak, which was called the Apocalyptic rank.
Ordinary, Extraordinary, Epic, Alpha, Tyrant, Apocalyptic.
This was the ranking system the Premiers introduced after creating the BSP. Before that, they only heard announcements of monsters they killed, and were only notified by a strange voice in their ears whenever they underwent advancement in their stats.
But thanks to the Premiers and their combined knowledge of technology and magical professions, they had managed to build the BSP, which held almost every piece of information about an Entrant.
However, this was only considered a five percent achievement of their overall plans, and doing more seemed nearly impossible.
Finding out how the Badlands came into existence?
Discovering who created it?
Understanding why dead Entrants could never have their bodies returned to the World for their families?
There were many more questions like these, and they were exactly what several Research Institutes had been working on. If Roman was asked whether his mother had been making any real significant progress with her group, he would certainly shake his head.
Before fully making his way into the valley, Roman finally decided that it was time to choose a Profession. Without one, his arsenal would be incomplete for the task ahead, because he would need the Skills that came with it.
Skills were considered one of the most important assets an Entrant could have. Just like Talents, they were magical and supernatural weapons, which could sometimes reduce the need for Talent Skill usage in certain situations.
Talent Skills were widely regarded as the most powerful, however, there were cases where highly evolved Skills could outclass a Talent Skill, and sometimes a Talent Skill wasn't purely an offensive asset for certain Entrants.
And offensiveness was the most crucial factor in the game.
[Profession: All. (Please select a specific profession. You can switch to other professions at will).]
[Profession: Entrant 45611100 has yet to select a Profession.]
Roman checked both the system and the BSP, and figured that his chosen Profession would only appear on the BSP once he selected it through the system.
Quickly, he clicked on the select option and a wide variety of Professions appeared before him.
[Assassin], [Tank], [Berserker], [Alchemist], [Mage], [Builder], [Thief], [Swordsman], [Healer], [Chef], [Seer], [Priest], [Archer], [Spearman], [Artist], [Farmer], [Mercenary], [Ranger], [Streamer], [Blogger], [Reporter], [Lord], [Innkeeper], [...
There were more than he could count, because sure, there were quite a lot of Professions in the Badlands. However, there were a few significant ones he couldn't find on the list.
"Necromancer? Summoner? Beast Tamer? Why can't I find them here?"
Everyone knew that these Professions were among the strongest in the Badlands, and it would always be a major achievement for an Entrant to be one of them. The fact that Roman couldn't find them left him confused.
[Your Talent, Soulmancy, possesses the Anomaly Profession, Soulmancer, which is similar to those Professions. Having those Professions alongside it would cause a clash, and there are high chances of triggering a core phenomenon.]
[Conclusion: Host, you cannot have those three Professions.]
"Damn it..." Roman muttered.
He wouldn't dare to be ungrateful, but he had to let that out, because he knew what he knew. Those three Professions would have given him an edge that nothing else could match.
"Ah, whatever. It's not as if this wouldn't be enough to earn something for myself," he concluded, and then went straight to making a decision on his first Profession.
He knew he would need an offensive Profession, because the mission was all about killing monsters in the valley, right?
His attention was first drawn to the [Mage] Profession, which was widely known as the most common offensive Profession in the Badlands. Out of the over forty-five million people in the Badlands, about fifteen million were Mages.
It held the highest Profession population ratio by far, to the point that Mages were not highly valued unless they were of a considerably high rank or possessed special Mage Skills.
He also considered the Assassin Profession, but figured it wouldn't be necessary right now. If the situation ever called for it, he could simply switch.
That was the beautiful thing about the Legendary Blessing. However, Roman wouldn't pretend it was normal to be able to use every Profession, because while it had never been recorded that any Entrant had done it before, he still knew that something like this was beyond insane.
'If it turns out that I can evolve every Skill under every Profession, I'll lose my mind!' Roman exclaimed inwardly.
After several moments of hesitation, he finally settled on [Mage], since it appeared to be the best choice at that point.
As a Mage, he could expect anything.
[Profession Selected Successfully!]
[Profession: Mage.]
[You have acquired the F Rank Skill: Fireball! — The ability to conjure and launch a concentrated ball of fire at a target. Deals 50 to 100% life damage to monsters of the Ordinary Rank. Effective against single targets at close to mid range.]
[You have acquired the F Rank Skill: Rock Bash! — The ability to summon a dense mass of earth and drive it into a target with blunt force. Deals 50 to 100% life damage to monsters of the Ordinary Rank.]
[You have acquired the F Rank Skill: Ice Shot! — The ability to fire a sharp projectile of condensed ice at a target. Deals 50 to 100% damage to monsters of the Ordinary Rank.]
[You have acquired the F Rank Skill: Anti Balance! — The ability to disrupt the physical balance of a target within close range by using a controlled burst of pressurised air, sending the target into a heavy fall. Deals 50 to 100% damage to monsters of the Ordinary Rank.]
The good thing was that Mages could use all types of elements, which was why some of them were also referred to as Elementalists.
However, some Mages could also acquire Skills involving Lightning and Light, and those were the types that were most feared and respected.
As for Roman, well, this was only the beginning. After reviewing all the Skill descriptions, he felt that he was not short of tools for his very first hunting mission.
And so he continued walking, going further and further until the atmosphere began to shift. It was that feeling one gets when something in the air quietly announces that yes, this is monster territory.
Roman moved carefully, glancing around and watching every shadow and corner with his eyes fully alert, making sure he wouldn't get caught off guard.
He kept going like that until he reached a spot where a seemingly giant tower of dry, packed earth rose from the ground before him.
[Location: The Shredding Ground. Home of the Blade Ant Colony.]
[Chances of Survival: 57%.]
For the very first time, his survival chances were above average, and Roman couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face.
Finding Blade Ants at this point was no surprise. As one of the most common Ordinary Monsters, they appeared frequently across hunting zones throughout the Badlands.
Now the real question was whether Roman could actually kill one.
He moved closer to the dry tower, which stood noticeably taller than him. Before he could close the distance completely, one of the ants had already noticed him and came charging forward.
He stared at the black ant, roughly the size of an adult human's arm, and flinched slightly.
It had widely visible razor-sharp blades on both mandibles, and smaller but noticeable blades lining the sides of all six legs.
It was exactly the same as the image of a Blade Ant he had studied back at the academy, and Roman wasn't only amazed, he was genuinely excited to be facing his very first monster.
Seeing that the Blade Ant had no intention other than to attack, Roman quickly activated [Fireball], and a fist-sized ball of fire immediately materialised on his right palm.
He launched it straight at the charging ant, and a sharp crack of fire meeting exoskeleton split the air.
The Blade Ant burned, thrashed once, and went still.
[You have killed a Levelless Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +10 EXP gained.]
[No drop delivered.]
[Talent Skill Triggered!]
[Do you wish to collect the Soul of the Soldier Blade Ant?]
"Huh?"
Roman was briefly confused by the last notification, but then quickly remembered that his Soulmancy Talent allowed him to claim the souls of monsters he killed.
"Yes."
The moment he accepted, another notification followed immediately.
[Soul Collection Activated!]
[You have successfully collected a Levelless Ordinary Monster Soul, Soldier Blade Ant.]
[Soul Slot: 1/3. (Reach Level 10 to expand Soul Slot.)]
Roman stared at the notifications for a moment, because it was genuinely the first time he had ever collected a soul. He understood that he would have known all about it already if he had checked the Special Talent stats the system had revealed earlier.
"Not a problem. I'll do that later," he said with a calm tone.
Then he turned back to face the Shredding Ground.
"Now, let's take down the entire colony."