Chapter 26: The Locked Box

“How can’t you?” Nie Yan smiled and applied for a trade with Tang Yao, placing the Fire Chaser set and a Return Scroll on the trading interface.

“All this for me?” Tang Yao was taken aback; he hadn’t expected the Fire Chaser set to have such high stats.

“I looted it from someone called Dian Cang, along with a staff, but you wouldn’t be able to use that. Take this Fire Chaser set for yourself. As for the Return Scroll, keep it for now.” Nie Yan said. Tang Yao and he had been close friends since childhood; compared to that bond, these few items from the Fire Chaser set were nothing.

“In that case, I won’t be too modest then.” A flicker of emotion passed through Tang Yao’s eyes.

After changing into the bright red Fire Chaser set, Tang Yao’s appearance improved significantly. If he went outside now, he would definitely attract quite a few girls.

“How much magic damage are you dealing now?” Nie Yan asked.

“Fifty.” Tang Yao replied. Such magic damage was something he hadn’t even dared to dream of before.

“Not bad. With this kind of magic damage, you’re more than capable of participating in some high-difficulty dungeon quests. The staff is a bit lacking though; we’ll go buy a better one later.” Nie Yan said. Tang Yao receiving the Fire Chaser set for free was like leaping straight to the top, skipping many steps along the way.

Tang Yao kept looking at his new set of equipment over and over again, clearly loving it.

“Let’s level here for a while. There’s a Silver Chest ahead; let’s go get it. I’ll group with you.” Nie Yan continued. With Tang Yao’s high magic damage, the two of them would be more than sufficient to team up and farm monsters here.

There was another Silver Chest over there, and if they didn’t retrieve its contents, Nie Yan wouldn’t even be able to sleep peacefully.

“A Silver Chest? Where?” Tang Yao became excited. So far, he had only opened one chest, and it was just an ordinary one. He hadn’t even seen what a Silver Chest looked like yet.

“First, let’s clear out those Rock Spiders at the entrance.” Nie Yan said. With Tang Yao’s support, dealing with two Rock Spiders would be effortless, and even handling three shouldn’t be a problem.

Nie Yan loaded his crossbow, adjusted his aim, and began firing arrows.

Drawing two Rock Spiders over, Nie Yan took the front line while Tang Yao waved his staff, launching Arcane Fireballs and Arcane Flames. Each spell dealt over thirty points of damage, occasionally even landing critical hits of over fifty points.

“Dealing this much damage while grinding two levels above?” Tang Yao was stunned, amazed by his own magic damage.

Nie Yan’s health dropped to around 50%, but the two Rock Spiders were quickly defeated through their coordinated attacks.

Nie Yan sat down to restore his health while Tang Yao started drinking mana potions.

“What’s your experience now?” Nie Yan stood up once his health was fully restored.

“Level 3 at 56%. How about you?” Tang Yao replied. He had spent over a week to reach this point.

“Level 3 at 9%.” Nie Yan said. Leveling up in Faith was extremely difficult, with each level requiring a massive amount of experience. Nie Yan’s leveling speed was already terrifying—reaching level 3 in less than three days. If he told others, they would surely be shocked.

As they spoke, Nie Yan used his crossbow again to draw two more Rock Spiders, which they quickly eliminated.

Nie Yan bent down to pick up the loot from the Rock Spiders, which was a Warrior’s Charge Skill Book. On the market, a Charge Skill Book was worth about twenty copper coins.

The drop rate on the level 5 map was indeed significantly higher than on lower maps.

“What did you get?”

“A Warrior’s Charge Skill Book.”

Tang Yao waved his hand and said, “You can keep whatever drops. I’m already satisfied with this equipment. I won’t need any more gear until I reach level 5.”

A skill book wasn’t worth much, so Nie Yan didn’t bother arguing and simply placed the Charge Skill Book into his backpack.

Leveling together, although experience was split, with Tang Yao’s high magic damage, their monster-killing speed increased, making their leveling rate even faster.

After clearing out the Rock Spiders, Nie Yan walked toward where he had previously spotted the Silver Chest.

This Silver Chest was adorned with strange patterns, designed with extreme intricacy, and locked tightly with a latch.

“Ugh, I didn’t learn the Lock Picking skill.” Nie Yan said. Lock Picking could only be learned at level 5 and was an expensive skill. Since this was a level 5 map, encountering a locked chest wasn’t particularly surprising.

“What should we do then?” Tang Yao asked. Was this the end of his first encounter with a Silver Chest?

“We’ll just have to give it up for now. Let’s hurry and reach level 5; maybe this chest will still be here.” Nie Yan said helplessly.

Just as Nie Yan and Tang Yao were preparing to leave and continue leveling up, the nearby “stone” suddenly moved slightly.

“What is that?” Tang Yao asked in surprise.

This “stone” was twice the size of an ordinary Rock Spider, covered with a hard, rocky exterior. When it was motionless, it looked exactly like a stone.

The “stone” extended eight legs, stood up, opened its emerald-green eyes, and let out a screeching hiss—it was a Rock Spider!

“It’s the Rock Spider Leader!” Nie Yan’s heart tightened. He immediately entered stealth mode and crept behind the Rock Spider Leader.

Rock Spider Leader: 180/180.

The Rock Spider’s compound eyes rotated slightly and fixed their gaze on Tang Yao.

Tang Yao quickly backed away. The Rock Spider’s eyes reflected countless images of him, making its terrifying face even more horrifying.

“What do we do? This is a level 5 boss!” Tang Yao said nervously. The strongest monster he had ever seen was only a level 3 boss. This was his first time entering a level 5 map, and he had unexpectedly encountered a boss.

“Kill it! Blast it with magic!” Nie Yan said. Running away would be more dangerous—they would definitely be chased down by the Rock Spider Leader and might even attract other Rock Spiders. As for using a Return Scroll, it required twenty seconds to cast, and if interrupted, it would become useless. It was better to attack decisively.

Could the two of them really defeat a level 5 boss? Tang Yao was doubtful.

“Keep your distance—at least twenty yards. Run into the narrowest cave and don’t go too far, or you might attract other Rock Spiders!” Nie Yan instructed. Tang Yao was still a novice, and asking him to perform such a dangerous task was quite difficult.

Nie Yan was absolutely safe—he could escape anytime—but he couldn’t guarantee Tang Yao’s safety.

They could only leave it to fate now.

Letting out a shriek, the Rock Spider Leader charged toward Tang Yao.

“Oh my god!” Tang Yao quickly ran backward, but while running, he still followed Nie Yan’s instructions and cast an Arcane Fireball.

Boom! The fireball exploded on the Rock Spider Leader, dealing 18 points of damage, which floated above its head.

Fire magic had a bonus effect against the Rock Spider Leader!

That’s good damage—there’s a chance! Nie Yan’s eyes lit up as he launched a Bash from behind the Rock Spider Leader.

The Rock Spider Leader shuddered and stopped in place.

Stunned for 3 seconds!

Although the Bash normally caused a 6-second stun, as a boss, the Rock Spider Leader had some resistance to stun effects. Nie Yan’s Bash only achieved half the effect, but that was already enough.

“Attack! Don’t waste time!” Nie Yan shouted.

Upon hearing Nie Yan’s command, Tang Yao quickly cast an Arcane Flame, which exploded on the Rock Spider Leader’s body.

The Rock Spider Leader regained consciousness, but Nie Yan immediately performed a Backstab, plunging his weapon into the Rock Spider Leader’s abdomen, followed by a Rend.

A gash tore open on the Rock Spider Leader’s abdomen, and green, viscous liquid poured out.

After regaining consciousness, the Rock Spider Leader continued charging toward Tang Yao.

Tang Yao quickly retreated into a narrow passage. With a loud crash, the Rock Spider Leader’s massive body slammed into both sides of the cave walls, causing the walls to tremble violently. Several pieces of debris fell from the ceiling.

The Rock Spider Leader couldn’t squeeze through the passage and was stuck at the entrance, screeching wildly.

“Now let’s see how the big guy deals with you!” Seeing that the Rock Spider couldn’t get through, Tang Yao gained confidence. Swinging his staff, he launched one Arcane Missile and Arcane Fireball after another. “Damn, the damage from Arcane Missiles is less than half of Arcane Fireballs.”

Arcane Missiles had a very short cooldown time and were a standard spell with a casting time of only one second. In contrast, Arcane Fireballs required around ten seconds of cooldown and three seconds of casting time, making them impossible to cast continuously.

The Rock Spider Leader kept ramming the walls, causing the stone walls to tremble continuously, developing cracks and gradually collapsing.