Although Nie Yan’s understanding of the game had surpassed that of all current players, this wasn’t something achieved overnight. Nie Yan needed to collect top-tier equipment piece by piece, gradually strengthening himself, to slowly widen the gap between himself and ordinary players.
Therefore, he was determined to obtain several Order Scrolls at all costs!
Nie Yan advanced through the vast expanse of Hems, where this open area was a safe zone protected by a barrier. Monster-spawning areas were still far ahead.
Nie Yan could only rely on his sense of direction and vague coordinates from memory to find the correct path. After passing through a thick barrier, a giant figure appeared on the distant horizon, wandering across the expansive Hems wasteland.
It was a Bone Kodo!
Hems was home to some monsters—fallen Kodod warriors whose souls had attached themselves to their bones, becoming Bone Kodod that roamed endlessly.
There were more than 300 Bone Kodod in all of Hems, and when one died, it would take a whole day to respawn.
Since Bone Kodod respawned slowly and dropped excellent loot, they became highly coveted. Occasionally, a Bone Kodo mount might even drop. After the official announcement of the whereabouts of the Freedom Scroll, countless teams and guilds flooded into the Hems wasteland, causing a sudden increase in players and making it difficult to find an available Bone Kodo. Consequently, conflicts over Bone Kodod were common.
Nie Yan stealthily approached the Bone Kodo and cast a Detect spell on it.
Bone Kodo: Level 23 leader, HP 1600/1600.
It was a leader-type monster, and Bone Kodod moved extremely fast. With Nie Yan’s current strength, provoking it would be unwise. Nie Yan’s Necrotic Rite had a certain chance of successfully commanding the Bone Kodo, but if the Necrotic Rite failed once, it would draw the Bone Kodo’s aggro. Given the Bone Kodo’s speed, Nie Yan would have no chance to escape.
To command the Bone Kodo, he needed to think of another way. At the very least, he should first find a tank.
It seemed that heading eastward, there were some lower-level undead monsters that could be used to his advantage.
Nie Yan slowly retreated until he was out of the Bone Kodo’s sight, then canceled stealth and ran off into the distance.
About three minutes later, some relatively low-level undead creatures came into Nie Yan’s view—skeleton warriors wielding broken battle axes and wooden shields, aimlessly wandering around.
Skeleton Warrior: Level 15, HP 800/800.
With Nie Yan’s current attack power, even though stunning had no effect on skeleton warriors, he could still handle them easily.
Nie Yan entered stealth and approached one skeleton warrior, delivering a backstab.
-128 floated above the skeleton warrior’s head as a damage value.
With the +7 Blood Oath Dagger and +2 Assassin’s Discipline, Nie Yan’s attack power had significantly increased. Even though he was several levels lower than the skeleton warrior, he easily pierced its defense.
After being attacked, the skeleton warrior swung its battle axe at Nie Yan.
Nie Yan sidestepped and counterattacked, then struck again with a forward stab.
-109, -112…
Nie Yan quickly reduced the skeleton warrior’s health to just over sixty points before swiftly retreating.
Necrotic Rite!
System: Necrotic Rite failed.
Nie Yan quickly retreated.
Necrotic Rite!
System: Necrotic Rite failed.
The third attempt also failed. Nie Yan swung his weapon at the skeleton warrior and killed it.
These skeleton warriors gave 700 experience points, which was quite substantial. Nie Yan found a place to sit down, ate bread to restore his health, and waited until his health was fully replenished before seeking the next target.
Repeating this process continuously, finally when facing the third skeleton warrior and casting Necrotic Rite, a crisp system prompt finally sounded.
Success! Nie Yan’s heart stirred as he looked at the skeleton warrior, whose bones turned deep black and whose health increased. He could now control its movements!
System: Please name your summoned creature.
Nie Yan thought for a moment and casually named it Skeleton Warrior No. 1.
With the first skeleton warrior, things became easier. Nie Yan had Skeleton Warrior No. 1 take the front line while he leisurely cast Necrotic Rite from behind. If the Necrotic Rite failed, he would send Skeleton Warrior No. 1 to eliminate the skeleton warrior and then search for the next target.
Continuing this way, Nie Yan successfully summoned four skeleton warriors. He led them to hunt some monsters before heading toward the Bone Kodo’s location.
From a distance, he saw the towering Bone Kodo. Compared to it, these skeleton warriors were pitifully small.
Thinking for a moment, Nie Yan controlled one skeleton warrior to approach the Bone Kodo, serving essentially as bait.
The Bone Kodo noticed the skeleton warrior approaching and let out a roaring growl, pawing the ground and exhaling a hot breath.
The low-intelligence skeleton warrior, under Nie Yan’s control, didn’t know fear and gradually approached the Bone Kodo.
Nie Yan entered stealth and slowly circled behind the Bone Kodo.
When he was nearly in position, Nie Yan ordered the skeleton warrior to charge at the Bone Kodo.
With a thud, the skeleton warrior’s battle axe struck the Bone Kodo, dealing 32 damage.
The Bone Kodo roared and exhaled a scorching breath, its horned head impaling the skeleton warrior and sending it flying. -356 floated above the skeleton warrior’s head as a massive damage value.
Nie Yan was shocked. The Bone Kodo’s attack was terrifying; a single skeleton warrior could barely withstand three hits!
Nie Yan approached the Bone Kodo and cast Necrotic Rite. A strange energy struck the Bone Kodo, causing it to pause momentarily. However, it quickly charged again, sending the skeleton warrior flying.
System: Necrotic Rite failed.
Seeing the failure, Nie Yan didn’t dare to linger and quickly used Haste to escape. Before the Bone Kodo killed the skeleton warrior, he left its line of sight.
The skeleton warrior was killed by the Bone Kodo’s attack.
After a while, the Necrotic Rite skill cooled down, and Nie Yan continued repeating the process.
After three skeleton warriors were killed, Nie Yan still couldn’t successfully command the Bone Kodo. With no choice, he had to continue commanding more skeleton warriors, gathering four again before returning.
As long as he kept at least one skeleton warrior alive, commanding others wouldn’t be too difficult. However, this process was very time-consuming. After countless failures, another day had passed.
Logging out, Nie Yan removed his helmet.
Tang Yao had been called by his father to do some manual labor. Several close friends from school had gone to other cities. Indeed, Ningjiang was a terrible place to live—its environment was poor, and the public security was chaotic. Those with some money had moved to other areas to live.
Nie Yan stayed home alone, exercising, reading, and living comfortably. Occasionally, he would recall his parents’ faces and look forward to the upcoming senior year of high school.
Until evening, Nie Yan re-entered the game and continued commanding skeletons.
After more than an hour, he finally gathered four skeleton warriors again and headed toward the Bone Kodo. Successfully commanding a Bone Kodo was extremely important to Nie Yan.
“Nie Yan, how are you doing? Have you finished yet?” Tang Yao messaged Nie Yan.
“Not yet. I ran into some trouble.”
“Oh, send me a message when you come back. Guess what I dropped?” Tang Yao chuckled excitedly.
“What is it?” Nie Yan asked.
“An Arcane Sprite…”
“How many levels?” Nie Yan couldn’t help but be impressed. Tang Yao actually managed to drop this item—his luck was truly extraordinary. In the early stages, there weren’t many items that impressed Nie Yan—only things like the Order Scroll, Weaver’s Ring, Featherfall Gem, or items of that level. As for the Arcane Sprite, it was an elite item for arcane mages, and not just any elite item!
The Arcane Sprite’s physical form was merely a crystal medium, which only dropped from arcane-type monsters. Its drop rate was extremely low. After obtaining the crystal, arcane mages could cast spells to summon an Arcane Sprite to accompany them. This summoned sprite was equivalent to a summoned creature, with HP comparable to the player’s own, slightly higher defense, no attack power, and it was consumable—if it died, it would disappear forever. However, its effect was significant, greatly increasing the arcane mage’s magic recovery speed, reducing skill cooldown and spellcasting time. The higher the level of the Arcane Sprite, the more valuable it became.
The Arcane Sprite was like a mobile magic ammunition depot for arcane mages. In later stages, it became one of the must-have items for top-tier arcane mages. Having an Arcane Sprite by one’s side was a matter of prestige. Since Arcane Sprites disappeared permanently upon death, they were even more precious to arcane mages.
“Level 1. You know what an Arcane Sprite is?” Tang Yao was surprised.
“There was an introduction in the library,” Nie Yan replied.
“Well, I guess I should go to the library too.”
“Be careful not to let it die. Once it reaches level 3, it becomes valuable. At level 5, it’s unbeatable,” Nie Yan said. The higher the level of the Arcane Sprite, the stronger the arcane mage’s magical boost. However, since Arcane Sprites could die, very few players could bring them to level 3 or above, let alone level 5. Nie Yan had only encountered one player with a level 5 Arcane Sprite. At that time, Nie Yan was already a level 165 master thief, and the person was a level 135 grand mage. They had a little conflict, and Nie Yan was nearly beaten like a stray dog. At that time, he had underestimated the power of a level 5 Arcane Sprite. An arcane mage with a level 5 Arcane Sprite was like a machine gun, continuously casting spells as if they had unlimited mana—it was truly terrifying.
“Be careful not to get killed. When I finish what I’m doing, I’ll help you level up your Arcane Sprite,” Nie Yan said. If they had a level 2 Arcane Sprite, their leveling speed would be incredible.
“Okay, hurry up!” Tang Yao, after hearing Nie Yan’s words, became impatient with anticipation.
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