Infinite Professions from a Pearl Collector
Chapter 35 - 33: Class Change, Thousand-Faced Thief Saint

Chapter 35: Chapter 33: Class Change, Thousand-Faced Thief Saint

The situation grew increasingly dire.

The wording of the battle reports from the north grew increasingly euphemistic, the attempts to gloss over the truth more and more obvious. But while the reports could lie, the relentlessly southward-creeping battlefront could not.

Great Zhao was being beaten back at every turn.

The price of rice in the Capital City had quietly risen by fifty percent. Some astute merchants had already begun selling off their assets, preparing to flee.

This oppressive sense of a coming storm gave Chen Ye a sense of urgency as well.

He lay low.

Aside from the occasional foray to rob the rich and aid the poor, or to punish bullies and protect the innocent, he spent most of his time on his Cultivation.

That abandoned section of the city wall became his personal training ground.

Finally, late one night, Chen Ye flicked his wrist. Three Flying Sabers shot out in a triangular pattern, sinking into the trunk of a large tree over a hundred paces away.

All three Flying Sabers were embedded in the trunk to the very same depth, without the slightest difference.

The panel flickered and then changed.

[Name: Chen Ye]

[Profession: Nightwalker (Level 5)]

[Talent: Shadow’s Son]

[Skills: Skillful Hand Level 10, Fast Blade Level 10, Roof Walking Level 10, Stealth Level 5, Throwing Level 5]

[Profession: Nightwalker has been raised to Level 5 (Max Level) and meets the conditions for advancement. Do you wish to change Profession?]

’It’s finally here!’

Without a moment’s hesitation, Chen Ye chose ’Yes’.

In an instant, three brand-new Profession options appeared before him.

[Option 1: Mechanical Master]

[Description: All things are but pieces, and the world is your chessboard. Gears, mortise and tenon joints, Runes, and Arrays are but playthings at your fingertips. You are the master of all ingenious creations.]

[Professional Talent: Mechanical Insight—Your Heart Spirit can resonate with any mechanical creation, allowing you to instantly understand its design, function, and critical weaknesses. You can dismantle, repurpose, and even reverse-engineer enemy mechanisms and traps to control them yourself.]

[Option 2: Netherwalker]

[Description: Traverse the depths of the Nine Nether, with the dead and Ancient Corpses as your companions. You are the conqueror of tombs, the lone traveler through death’s forbidden grounds.]

[Professional Talent: Yin-Yang Ghost Eye—You are born with a pair of eyes that can see into both yin and yang. They can pierce through falsehoods, Illusion Techniques, and disguises, and can directly perceive the Feng Shui Dragon Veins within tombs, the cores of mechanical arrays, and the lingering resentment and Evil Qi attached to ancient artifacts.]

[Option 3: Thousand-Faced Thief Saint]

[Description: Your face is your greatest weapon. Your Identity is that of all living beings. A faceless god walking among mortals, a protean shadow moving unseen through the world.]

[Professional Talent: Soul-Stealing Shadow—You can steal and mimic the Identity of any target you come into contact with, including their appearance, voice, posture, habits, and even their unique aura. During the simulation, you are them, and they are you—imperceptible to celestial divination, indistinguishable to gods and ghosts.]

Once again, there were three completely different professional paths.

First was Mechanical Master. ’Just reading the description of its Talent, "Mechanical Insight," is enough to make my imagination run wild.’

’A heavily guarded Mechanical Treasure Vault, a deadly Trap Crossbow Array... but I’d only need a single glance to find the mechanism’s flaw... In a world filled with ancient ruins, this would be a Divine Skill, no question. Unfortunately, this isn’t that kind of world. At least, I have yet to discover any Mechanical Treasure Vaults.’

Next was Netherwalker. Much like Mechanical Master, it was an impressive-sounding Profession, but a very niche one.

But these were chaotic times; there was no time to slowly build up power.

So, that left only one option: Thousand-Faced Thief Saint!

In fact, this Profession had appeared once before, under the name Thousand-Faced Guest.

But Chen Ye’s strength had been much weaker back then. Furthermore, the Talent of the Thousand-Faced Guest was nowhere near as powerful as this new version. That was why he hadn’t chosen it, opting for Nightwalker instead.

Now, Chen Ye’s stealth abilities were maxed out, and his weakness in ranged combat had been addressed. What he lacked were more versatile tactics.

As it happened, the Talents and abilities of the Thousand-Faced Thief Saint were a perfect fit for what he needed.

Therefore, with almost no hesitation, Chen Ye selected Thousand-Faced Thief Saint.

In an instant, as a massive amount of information flooded his mind, the Professional Panel underwent a dramatic change.

[Name: Chen Ye]

[Profession: Thousand-Faced Thief Saint (Level 1)]

[Talent: Soul-Stealing Shadow—You can steal and mimic the Identity of any target you come into contact with, including their appearance, voice, posture, habits, and even their unique aura. During the simulation, you are them, and they are you—imperceptible to celestial divination, indistinguishable to gods and ghosts.]

[Skills: Skillful Hand Level 10, Fast Blade Level 10, Wall-Climbing Level 10, Stealth Level 5, Throwing Level 10.]

[New Skills Unlocked: Bone Shifting (Level 1), Sound Mimicry (Level 1)]

[Bone Shifting]: Allows for minor changes to one’s own skeletal structure, adjusting height and body shape.

[Sound Mimicry]: Allows for imitation of heard sounds, including human voices and the calls of birds and beasts.

Chen Ye was lost in thought.

From the information that had flooded his mind, Chen Ye came to understand a great deal.

First, the Soul-Stealing Shadow Talent was indeed incredibly powerful. It allowed him to copy a target’s various physical details through contact and observation. The more ordinary the target, the less time it took to copy them, and the more lifelike the result.

Second, the class change had unexpectedly come with two new Skills that complemented the Talent perfectly, making the combination truly formidable.

Chen Ye walked over to a puddle and gazed at his reflection in the Moonlight. Then, with a mere thought, something incredible happened.

His facial muscles began to shift and reform on their own. His cheekbones rose slightly, the bridge of his nose grew more prominent, and his jawline hardened.

In just a few breaths, the face reflected in the puddle was that of Young Monarch Fang Tao, a perfect and indistinguishable likeness.

’Interesting!’

Next, Chen Ye experimented with a few other faces. He found that some he could imitate perfectly, while others were less convincing.

It was directly related to how familiar he was with the person.

Finally, as a joke, Chen Ye tried imitating Little Lingdang from the Colorful Character Sect. He wanted to see what the limits of his Talent were and if he could only imitate men.

A moment later, Chen Ye stared, somewhat dazed, at the reflection of the fair-skinned young woman in the puddle.

’This Talent, combined with the Skills, is truly overpowered. Even the height is a perfect match.’

But a moment later, Chen Ye shuddered and quickly changed back.

’Beautiful women are certainly easy on the eyes, but that’s only when you’re looking at someone else.’

’The thought of actually becoming a woman myself is enough to give me goosebumps.’

Regardless, after advancing to Thousand-Faced Thief Saint, Chen Ye felt much more at ease.

No matter what the coming chaotic times might bring, at least he now had the means to protect himself and secure his place in the world.

Moreover, Chen Ye deduced that as the situation worsened, the fragile balance in the Capital City would soon shatter. It was possible that the city would descend into chaos long before the Grassland cavalry ever arrived.

And events proved his predictions correct. As one piece of bad news arrived after another, Emperor Yang Zhao’s mental fortitude began to crumble, step by step.