Previously, William Carter had worried that he might be expecting too much from this game, only to be sorely disappointed once he got in.

But now, it seemed that this game had far exceeded his imagination!

After the initial shock, William Carter couldn’t help but look forward even more to the official game content to come.

He looked at the four entrances to the time-space illusion in front of him.

Each one displayed the following information.

[Assassin Trial: Regicide]

[Scholar Trial: Establishing a Cause for the People]

[Warrior Trial: A General’s Triumph]

[Ranger Trial: Acting on Heaven’s Behalf]

There was also a prominent reminder.

[Upon clearing a trial, you will gain the right to choose the corresponding identity. Once selected, it cannot be changed. Your identity will affect your future combat abilities and subsequent development, so please choose carefully! It is recommended to clear all four trials before making your final decision!]

William Carter fell into deep thought.

“So, this game has classes too? Assassin, scholar, warrior, ranger—does clearing the corresponding trial grant you the corresponding class?

“The content of each trial must be different.

“Hmm... then I’ll start with the assassin.”

William Carter considered for a moment. Since this game claimed to be high-difficulty, these four trials definitely wouldn’t be easy to clear.

Scholar sounded like a literary class, which didn’t suit William Carter’s tastes, and he didn’t know the first thing about it.

As for warrior and ranger, they seemed like pure combat classes, which might be even more difficult.

So William Carter decided to try the assassin trial first, and then attempt the warrior and ranger trials afterward.

Anyway, according to the prompt, the recommendation was to clear all the trials before making a final class decision.

William Carter stepped toward the illusion entrance, and his figure disappeared.

Chapter 4: Regicide

After passing through the illusion entrance, William Carter found himself in an ancient palace with a chilling atmosphere.

Looking up, he saw that the palace had a height difference of nearly a hundred meters, with three stone stairways winding upward, leading to the grand hall at the top.

On both sides stood tall, imposing guards in red armor, their eyes cold and sharp, clad in heavy armor and bristling with weapons, as if each one was a battle-hardened elite who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

However, at this moment, the illusion’s time and space were clearly frozen, not yet in motion.

In front of William Carter, three cards appeared, each with a different design and color, and each bearing a description.

[Gui · Composed (White): Your emotions are calm, allowing you to face danger with greater composure.]

[Gui · Mastery of Swordsmanship (Blue): Your swordsmanship is correspondingly improved.]

[Ren · Overbearing Presence (White): You emit an aura full of oppression, making it easier to instill fear in your enemies.]

Below was an additional note.

[Skill levels (from highest to lowest): Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui]

[Skill rarity: White—Common, Blue—Excellent, Gold—Legendary]

William Carter carefully examined the three cards, reading through their skills.

“So, the official website’s description was spot on—this game really does have some roguelike elements.

“Looks like I’ll gain different skills in this trial illusion, and my choices will determine my path in the game.

“Is this similar to talent selection in roguelike games? I’d better think this through.”

So-called roguelike games are characterized by strong randomness, and every death means starting over—no reloading saves.

Many roguelike games randomly draw skills for players to choose from. After selecting skills, players must adjust their strategies, builds, and playstyles accordingly. This is the greatest fun of roguelike games.

At this moment, William Carter was facing such a choice.

Skills definitely vary in quality, and choosing different skills could lead to vastly different outcomes—otherwise, there’d be no point in choosing at all.

William Carter began to analyze seriously.

“The strength of a skill is clearly determined by both its level and rarity. The higher the level and the rarer it is, the stronger the skill.

“So the first option can basically be ruled out. I should choose between the other two.

“The goal of this instance is regicide, so I’m actually an assassin. Mastery of swordsmanship should be very important—if I slip up at a critical moment, the outcome could be drastically different.

“This ‘Overbearing Presence’... is a higher-level skill, and it seems pretty good too.

“After all, there will definitely be guards around the emperor. If they all swarm me, even with swordsmanship, I might not be able to take on so many at once.

“But the effect of Overbearing Presence is to make enemies more easily frightened, so it might be easier to break through the guards and successfully assassinate the emperor...

“One is rarer, the other is higher level. It’s a tough choice.

“Oh well, I’ll just pick one for now and see how difficult this instance actually is.”

William Carter thought for a moment, then lightly tapped the [Overbearing Presence] skill card. The card immediately turned into particles of light that gathered into his body, while the other two cards disappeared.

At that moment, William Carter felt a very special sensation, as if he possessed a unique aura!

With every gesture, a kingly and domineering presence emerged.

William Carter even felt that if he ran into a few street thugs right now, he wouldn’t even need to fight—just a shout would be enough to scare them off!