The cold wind howled and wailed, and sharp shrieks occasionally pierced the darkness. Under Nie Yan’s control, five Rumm Spiders advanced into the dark, attacking other Rumm Spiders at will, causing a commotion across the wilderness.
A swarm of Rumm Spiders surrounded them. Under Nie Yan’s command, the five Rumm Spiders began to retreat, drawing a massive following in their wake. The crowd was dense and spectacular.
Seeing more and more Rumm Spiders appear in the distance, Nie Yan dropped a high-level scroll and began chanting obscure incantations, gathering magical elements around him.
Humans receive a significant intelligence bonus, and combined with the intelligence-boosting equipment Nie Yan wore, his intelligence reached an astonishing 122, making him extremely rare among thieves.
His superior intelligence enabled Nie Yan to successfully use most scrolls and magical items.
The Rumm Spiders in the distance drew closer, and within a radius of dozens of yards, hundreds of Rumm Spiders gathered.
At that moment, Nie Yan’s chanting came to an abrupt end, completing the spell. Red clouds churned in the sky, and torrents of scorching flame rained down like a storm.
In an instant, a 20×20 yard area was engulfed in raging flames, resembling a living hell. The Rumm Spiders screamed in agony as damage numbers floated skyward. After several dozen seconds, the ground was cleared, and all the Rumm Spiders lay dead.
Nie Yan checked his experience bar, which had surged to 73%, and he had just reached level 40!
After a while, the flames gradually died down, leaving only corpses and scattered equipment. Of the five Rumm Spiders Nie Yan commanded, two had perished. He ordered the remaining Rumm Spiders with low health to be eliminated, then began collecting the equipment.
He picked up three gold pieces alone, along with a large amount of miscellaneous items. He kept the valuable ones and discarded the worthless to avoid inventory congestion.
Among the Rumm Spiders, one item caught his attention.
It was a tiny skull, about the size of a palm, jet-black in color, embedded with a blue gemstone, its eye sockets burning with flickering green flames—a rather unique design.
Soul Summoning Skull: Medium item, requires intelligence 500.
Item Description: Necromancers can use this item as a medium to summon undead creatures and bind souls, including the damaged skeletal mammoth.
Nie Yan wasn’t sure what the Soul Summoning Skull was used for—it was a necromancer item, seemingly a special item, and he couldn’t tell how much it was worth. After a moment’s thought, he shrugged it off and tossed it directly into his backpack.
Other than the Soul Summoning Skull, there was nothing else of note. The Rumm Spiders near Nie Yan were gradually dissolved and vanished into thin air—their corpses had been purified.
Nie Yan continued to lure and kill monsters as time passed.
By the time he logged off, Nie Yan had reached level 43. During this time, the Golden Earth Dragon had also reached level 39, just shy of 40. The Golden Earth Dragon had learned a new skill—Flame Surround—where it was engulfed in flames, dealing fire damage to all creatures within a 5-yard radius.
As time passed, more and more players obtained pets, though most were of low level and poor growth. Nie Yan’s Golden Earth Dragon was undoubtedly among the elite of all pets.
If it continued growing at this rate, Nie Yan himself couldn’t even imagine how powerful the Golden Earth Dragon would become.
Over two consecutive days, after exhausting all his scrolls, Nie Yan used the Golden Earth Dragon to kill monsters and level up. He leveled up relatively quickly, reaching level 47, and obtained many valuable drops.
Nie Yan checked the leaderboard. The highest-ranked player, Tang Yao, had reached level 53, and Xue Kuang Dao was also level 53, though his experience was slightly behind. This underground world was ultimately unfamiliar territory for Nie Yan. If he returned to the surface, Nie Yan’s leveling speed would surely increase severalfold.
After killing thousands of Rumm Spiders, Nie Yan hadn’t obtained anything similar to the Soul Summoning Skull, confirming in his mind that this item was no common trinket—low-drop-rate items were often more valuable.
Nie Yan recalled the Golden Earth Dragon, then glanced toward the distance. He wondered what lay at the center of this spider canyon. He had been here for two days without managing to explore it.
Nie Yan activated the skill from the Ring of the Crawler and moved along the rock wall toward the interior. Occasionally encountering spider nests hanging from the wall, he quickly detoured far away.
After crossing a narrow valley, vague structures appeared in the darkness ahead, with a few dim lights barely visible in the night.
The glowing orb beside Nie Yan seemed to sense something and began vibrating intensely.
System: You have discovered the Karas Spiderman Tribe.
This was likely related to a quest. Nie Yan climbed forward, only to encounter a stream several yards wide that cut through the rock wall. The water surged with a strong, foul stench—this river was highly toxic! He equipped the Jump Ring’s skill and leapt from one rock wall to the other, landing like a lizard clinging to the surface.
Nie Yan descended from the wall and entered stealth mode, heading toward the distant village.
After observing, he realized the terrain was enclosed—three sides were blocked by rock walls, and the front was separated by the river. The village in the distance was completely isolated.
Unless one possessed special items like the Jump Ring or the Levitation Ring, reaching the opposite bank was impossible.
Nie Yan moved stealthily through the wilderness. A spiderman appeared nearby. He stealthily approached and cast a reconnaissance spell.
Spiderman: Level 60, HP 3000/3000.
There were no other spidermen nearby. Nie Yan stealthily circled behind the spiderman.
The spiderman was hunting insects when Nie Yan suddenly attacked, driving his Zennarde Sword into the spiderman’s head from behind.
The spiderman panicked and tried to escape.
But if it escaped, Nie Yan wouldn’t stand a chance. He struck with his sword, using a Backstab and then Dissect. The spiderman hadn’t even reacted before collapsing to the ground, dead.
Nie Yan activated his Disguise ability, transforming his appearance into that of a spiderman, then headed toward the distant village.
Along the way, Nie Yan encountered many spidermen—some hunting, others crafting various tools.
“Dahud…” they made strange sounds, seemingly speaking, but Nie Yan couldn’t understand.
Nie Yan didn’t know the spiderman language—it was a very rare language.
The game’s language system was intricate, divided into various linguistic families encompassing thousands of languages.
For example, in the Undead Empire, there were five or six different undead languages, each with slight variations. Players in the Undead Empire communicated using Undead language, and if Nie Yan hadn’t learned the Vania Undead dialect, he wouldn’t understand them. Once he learned Undead, the system would automatically translate. When Nie Yan switched to Undead language, his speech would naturally become Undead. Players needed to study other races’ languages in libraries, especially enemy faction languages, which cost tens of thousands of gold coins.
This meant ordinary evil-aligned and good-aligned players couldn’t normally communicate, adding mystery to enemy factions.
Nie Yan couldn’t understand anything without knowing the spiderman language. He remained silent, knowing that speaking would expose him.
The glowing orb still hovered around Nie Yan. Elite spidermen were already nearby, and he feared being discovered. He gripped his random teleportation scroll tightly, ready to escape at any sign of danger.
The spidermen passed by Nie Yan, and he suddenly realized they couldn’t see the glowing orb.
The faint glow fluttered like an elf, dancing around Nie Yan.
It must be Bennett’s spirit. Nie Yan wondered if this orb contained some of Bennett’s memories. Could the Soul Elixir reveal some clues?
He decided to wait until he exited before investigating.
Nie Yan entered the spiderman village. Some spidermen were conversing in hushed tones. These grotesque creatures looked terrifying in the darkness.
It felt like entering a ghost village.
Nie Yan remained silent. Some spidermen saw him and spoke in incomprehensible jargon. He couldn’t understand and could only remain silent.
Weaving through the muddy central path of the village, brushing past spidermen, Nie Yan noticed a relatively grand building ahead—a three-story structure with a staircase leading to the second floor.
Though somewhat aged, this was the most prominent building Nie Yan had seen so far.
Seeing this building, Nie Yan was certain it contained important information.
After thinking for a moment, he entered cautiously, searching the area and climbing the stairs to the second floor. Finding nothing there, he proceeded up the wooden staircase to the third floor. There, he spotted two armored spidermen. In a nearby corner stood a rare, dark-gold treasure chest made of unknown material, inscribed with mysterious runes and patterns.
The two spidermen seemed to sense something and looked around, scanning the stairway but seeing nothing, then resumed their normal stance.
Nie Yan cast reconnaissance on both spidermen.
Spiderman Ilvich: Level 60 Elite, HP 12000.
Spiderman Israil: Level 60 Elite, HP 11700.
They were both elites. Nie Yan frowned. Taking down two elites simultaneously was quite challenging for him. Moreover, he couldn’t make too much noise—if other spidermen were drawn in, it would become a serious problem.
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