Chapter 67: The Holy Enchanter

“Hmm?”

This time was different from the previous two. As soon as the hook entered the water, Kong Zhe immediately sensed an intense surge of magical energy, even stronger than the one emitted by the treasure fish just moments ago.

Could it be a golden item this time?

His eyes lit up, not daring to hesitate or care about the fluctuations. He raised the rod at once, for the surge would vanish in an instant if delayed.

Seeing the lively red-scaled fish wriggling before him, Kong Zhe could not contain his excitement. He had indeed caught another treasure fish, and this one was noticeably bigger than the last.

Feeling the surging magic within, a wide grin broke across his face. There could be no mistake—inside this fish had to be a golden item, for he could already see a faint golden glow emanating from its body, clearly reflecting from its belly.

He glanced around, confirming once more that no one was nearby. With eager anticipation, he grabbed the red fish and quickly slit open its belly.

Ding! Congratulations on obtaining a treasure fish. Inside its stomach is a mysterious sub-profession scroll.

“Sub-profession...”

Kong Zhe stared at the glittering golden scroll in his hand, waves of astonishment washing over him. Was there actually a golden-ranked sub-profession?

His confusion was understandable; in his previous life, the highest he’d ever heard of for sub-professions was purple rank.

Common sub-professions were green—such as Adventurer, Craftsman, Socialite, Botanist, and so on. More advanced ones like Rune Master, Alchemist, and Angler were blue. The rarest were a handful of purple sub-professions. But gold? Never.

Without further delay, Kong Zhe carefully unfurled the parchment.

Ding! Sub-profession scroll detected—Holy Enchanter. Confirm to learn?

“Holy Enchanter?”

He paused in surprise. Enchanter he knew—a highly advanced purple profession. But the prefix “Holy”—what did that mean?

Kong Zhe had never heard of such a prefix. Perhaps it was the reason this profession was golden-ranked.

But to discover what made it distinct from ordinary Enchanters, he would have to learn it first to access the description.

Each Awakened could only acquire one sub-profession, irrevocable once chosen. But that was no issue for Kong Zhe, for this was already the highest rank possible; choosing it could not be wrong.

Confirm to learn!

With a tap on the confirmation button, the parchment dissolved into motes of golden light and surged into his body.

Instantly, his mind filled with knowledge of enchantment arts, and his status panel underwent a significant change.

Below his main profession system—Arcane Trickster—an additional section appeared.

Holy Enchanter.

Current rank: Apprentice.

Proficiency: 0/200.

...

Two hundred points of proficiency?

Kong Zhe immediately noticed this detail. Sub-profession ranks were Apprentice, Low, Intermediate, High, Master, Grandmaster, Legendary. Only when proficiency for the current rank was full could one advance to the next.

He remembered clearly: in his previous life, every sub-profession required only one hundred points at Apprentice rank. Why did this profession demand twice as much from the start? And what would it require later? Proficiency needed grew exponentially at higher ranks.

Could this sub-profession, like his main profession Arcane Trickster, follow the hellish leveling model?

Kong Zhe hurriedly read through the Holy Enchanter description from beginning to end.

A moment later, his eyelid twitched involuntarily.

Damn, he’d guessed right!

For Holy Enchanter, every rank required double the proficiency of ordinary professions. He understood exactly what that meant. Unlike his main profession, which demanded copious experience, sub-profession proficiency also equated to an immense drain of gold coins.

Every point of proficiency required vast amounts of gold to purchase magical beast materials.

In the early stages, it was just an extra hundred points, but in later stages, when proficiency needed reached tens of millions, it represented an astronomical sum. Kong Zhe seriously doubted, no matter how capable he was, if he could ever amass such wealth. Even if he did, pouring all that gold in would surely bankrupt him!

But in exchange for this difficulty was the profession's immense power. An ordinary Enchanter could enchant a single item three times at most. A Holy Enchanter's enchantments increased with rank: starting at two times as an Apprentice, but at the highest rank, it could enchant a single item fifteen times.

That was five times more than ordinary professions!

What did that mean? Every enchantment was an extra attribute for the item. Even divine artifacts typically had eight attributes at most (four base, four extra). With sufficient materials, a top-tier Holy Enchanter could make a single artifact rival three of someone else’s.

Beyond that, an ordinary Enchanter could only imbue beast materials onto equipment; a Holy Enchanter could enchant not just materials, but also equipment—and even souls.

This meant a Holy Enchanter could create a spirit within an item out of thin air!

Ordinary item spirits only formed when someone used and cherished a piece of equipment for years, attuning their heart to it, and even then, the odds were minuscule.

In battle, item spirits could attack independently, their thoughts aligned with their owners. Like Kong Zhe’s two cards before, equipment with spirits far outclassed their peers in combat.

Moreover, spirits were utterly loyal; once formed, they would never betray. Even if their owner died, they would follow.

Was this sub-profession powerful? Without question, it was immensely strong, rivaling even his Arcane Trickster profession.

Though the leveling difficulty made Kong Zhe’s heart ache, there was no doubt its advantages far outweighed its drawbacks.

Taking a deep breath, Kong Zhe calmed his excited heart.

Though he’d gained a sub-profession, he presently had neither good equipment nor sufficient materials to try it. Every enchantment consumed a vast amount of magic, and he had little to spare. After three rounds of fishing, most of his magic was nearly depleted, and what remained had to be reserved for more fishing.

Speaking of which, he’d just obtained a piece of advanced material! He’d worried that he couldn’t use it and would have to sell it, but now he was immediately granted a sub-profession. Was this fate?

Kong Zhe smiled faintly, waved his hand, and began his fourth round of fishing.

This time, he wasn't in a hurry. The magic left was only enough for one more attempt, so he decided to wait longer. If only he could sense another intense surge like before. He waited patiently, resisting the urge to act when two promising peaks appeared.

However, after a while, Kong Zhe frowned. Perhaps the golden scroll had exhausted his luck, for after nearly forty minutes, he never sensed another surge above purple rank.

As his magic neared exhaustion, Kong Zhe could only smile wryly and reluctantly raised the rod on a decent peak.

“Oh?”

He looked curiously at the strange, large fish on the hook. This time, he hadn’t caught a treasure fish, but a fighting fish meant as pet food.

The earth-yellow fish had sharp teeth protruding from its mouth, and its scales and fins glinted coldly like blades. It thrashed violently on the line; only Kong Zhe’s high strength attribute let him restrain it. An ordinary person would have been dragged into the lake by now.

Seeing it struggle more fiercely, Kong Zhe’s gaze hardened. He gripped it firmly and gave a harsh swing. With a loud whistling sound, the fish’s eyes rolled, and it fainted.

Only then did Kong Zhe have time to check its attributes.

Large Chaybass Fish: Feeding this to a pet causes it to transform into a high-damage battle beast for fifteen minutes.

Kong Zhe couldn’t help but chuckle. He didn’t know how powerful this battle beast would be, but with such a high-grade prefix, it couldn’t be weak.

Fighting fish were classified as small, medium, large, and giant. The bigger, the stronger the effect. The highest grade, giant fighting fish, could even grant a permanent transformation to a pet.

Kong Zhe had no pet in his previous life, but he’d seen others' pets transform. A kitten-like pet, after eating a medium fighting fish, instantly turned into a heavily armored crab monster, its size multiplying several times. Those powerful pincers could snap leather armor with ease, and its shell was incredibly tough; even a squad of Awakened attacking together couldn't break its defense. And that was just the effect of a medium fighting fish—this large one would be even more impressive.

“Woof woof…”

At that moment, the puppy's cries rang out. Kong Zhe turned instinctively. In the distance, the puppy was running toward him, drooling, clearly drawn by the pet fish in his hand.

When it reached Kong Zhe, its eyes burned with desire as it stared at the large fish, much like a lustful fiend at the sight of a naked beauty. If Kong Zhe weren't there, it would have already pounced and devoured it.

The puppy hurriedly lay down, wagging its tail vigorously, making a show of obedience, begging for a reward. Yet its gaze never left the fish, and drool kept dripping from its mouth.

Kong Zhe found it amusing. But such a precious item couldn’t be fed casually. This was a trump card capable of turning a battle around; how could he let it go so easily?

Ignoring the puppy’s plaintive gaze, Kong Zhe stowed the fish in his inventory.

“Don’t worry, if you behave, it’ll be yours someday!”

Seeing the dispirited puppy lying on the ground, Kong Zhe comforted it with a gentle promise.