Gradually, Nie Yan approached to about three yards from a rock spider leader. The spider leader shifted slightly and turned its gaze toward Nie Yan’s hiding place.
Nie Yan’s body was completely immersed in darkness, and the shadows provided him with excellent cover.
However, the spider leader’s gaze seemed capable of piercing through the darkness.
Nie Yan’s heart tightened with tension. Holding his breath, he pressed tightly against the rock wall.
The spider leader’s compound eyes rotated slightly, locking onto Nie Yan’s hiding spot. A figure gradually became clear, and it emitted a screeching sound before lunging toward Nie Yan.
“Damn it, I’ve been spotted,” Nie Yan’s heart sank as he activated an acceleration scroll, sprinting toward the direction of the pool at his fastest speed.
The other two rock spider leaders also moved, closing in from different directions.
They blocked Nie Yan’s path, with one rock spider leader charging sideways toward him.
Nie Yan bent his knees into a bow shape and leaped upward powerfully.
Nie Yan’s load was still light, allowing him to jump forward three yards with a half-yard height, swiftly clearing the spider leader’s attack range.
Boom! The spider leader crashed into the rock wall, causing it to crack and sending stones tumbling down.
The other two spider leaders simultaneously lunged at Nie Yan from two different directions.
Nie Yan, quick-eyed and fast-moving, rolled between the two spider leaders, dodging them. With a loud thud, the two spider leaders collided with each other. The tremendous impact sent both sprawling backward, limbs flailing.
The three bulky spider leaders nearly blocked off every escape route.
Nie Yan squeezed sideways through the narrow gap between the three spider leaders, sprinting forward for about five yards before accelerating further toward the pool.
One of the faster spider leaders reached Nie Yan’s position.
Nie Yan dodged with a jump and dove headfirst into the water with a loud splash.
The three spider leaders hesitated at the water’s edge but finally dared not enter.
That was close. Nie Yan dove deeper into the water and activated the skill from the water-repelling pearl.
Underwater, the light was dim and visibility was extremely poor. The currents made swimming difficult, occasionally pushing his body backward involuntarily.
Nie Yan steadied himself, observed his surroundings, identified the direction, and swam forward.
There shouldn’t be any monsters here, he thought. After swimming for about ten minutes, he noticed a beam of light coming from ahead.
“There must be a treasure chest nearby!” Nie Yan thought, diving deeper into the lake’s bottom and swimming into the darkness. In his previous life, every inch of this place had been searched thoroughly, leaving no corner untouched. Someone had once discovered a chest here.
It was pitch-black, so Nie Yan could only rely on his sense of touch. His feet touched the lakebed, and protruding rocks scraped against him, causing slight pain.
He continued feeling around the lakebed’s rocks.
His hands reached a patch of fine, soft sand. Something seemed to be underneath. He began to dig through the sand layer by layer. Suddenly, a golden glow appeared, causing his eyes to constrict sharply from the brightness.
“Struck gold! It’s a golden treasure chest!”
The golden chest gleamed in the darkness, its surface covered with intricate carvings. Though slightly worn, this did not detract from its appearance—in fact, it added a sense of ancient history.
A symbol caught Nie Yan’s eye on the chest: a finely crafted warg totem. The warg image, about the size of a fist, was carved with such precision that even individual hairs were visible.
Every piece of equipment and every item in Atlantis carried a deep historical legacy. Sculptures, paintings, totems, handicrafts, and weapon styles from each era bore unique characteristics of their time, making the history of any period verifiable.
After ten years of exposure to these elements, Nie Yan had developed a detailed understanding of these totems and paintings.
The warg totem symbolized a group of pirates active in the Hinzee Sea during the Co-Rule Era (873–1235). They had long plagued the Republic Kingdom until the Senate decided to dispatch their elite navy to eliminate them. A joint naval force composed of giants, humans, elves, and orcs forced the pirates to flee in disarray, eventually leading to their defeat. However, rumors persisted that before the outbreak of war, the pirates had already relocated their treasures to secret locations across various continents. According to Republic Kingdom law, any lost treasure found belonged to the treasure hunter. Thus, countless treasure-hunting teams embarked on adventures, and indeed, many pirate treasures were later discovered, though many remained lost across the continent of Atlantis.
A golden treasure chest left behind from the Co-Rule Era—its mere historical significance was enough to spark endless imagination.
In his previous life, he had only heard that a chest had been found nearby. Initially, he thought it was just an ordinary treasure chest, unaware that it was actually a golden chest from the Co-Rule Era. It was likely that whoever had found it had deliberately concealed its true level.
Nie Yan opened the chest and reached inside. His hand grasped a dagger, and his heart pounded with excitement.
He pulled the dagger out of the chest and checked its attributes.
Assassin’s Lesson (Dagger): Unidentified.
Its properties were unknown, but despite the passage of time, the blade still gleamed with a sharp, icy luster. Its design differed slightly from that of a standard dagger. The hilt was adorned with various colored gemstones, exuding extravagance. It featured a streamlined shape with a blood groove, its tip slightly curved upward into a hook shape, capable of easily tearing through flesh.
“Assassin’s Lesson?” Nie Yan searched his memory but could not recall ever seeing this dagger, nor could he guess its properties. Judging solely from its design and construction, this dagger was at least a golden-tier item.
Nie Yan understood well what a golden-tier piece of equipment meant at a low level—it meant limitless potential.
Filled with anticipation, Nie Yan stowed away the Assassin’s Lesson. Even if he failed to obtain the Courage Scroll, this trip had already been worthwhile.
According to the Mainframe’s usual patterns, a high-quality chest would not usually appear near another high-quality chest. Such clustering was practically nonexistent. He swam upward toward the beam of light, which grew increasingly bright. With a splash, he broke the water’s surface and found himself in a small pool.
Looking around, he saw a beautiful valley. Clear springs flowed down the valley’s grooves, trees flourished, and lush green grass covered the ground like a carpet, dotted with various wildflowers that released a delicate fragrance throughout the valley.
Surrounded by steep cliffs, it must have been a secluded valley, its walls covered with branches of various colors.
Nie Yan walked deeper into the forest. Dense leaves blocked the sunlight from above, but rays still filtered through the greenery, so the forest wasn’t dark at all. Streams of green light floated between the trees, creating a mysterious yet warm sensation.
As he moved between them, it felt as though he had entered a magical world.
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