Some time later, a beep finally entered my ears.

System Notice: Your friend “Wind Fantasy” is online!

Lin Yixin crawled out of the tent beside me with a look of anger on her face.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked.

When Lin Yixin glanced at me, she suddenly smiled as if her mood had taken a turn for the better. “Lu Chen, why don’t we both skip dinner tonight so I can treat you to supper at 9?”

“Huh?”

I stared at her. “You’re plotting something, aren’t you?”

“I would never.” Lin Yixin smiled sweetly. “It’s just a normal supper. Have you never treated someone to a meal before?”

“Of course I have!” I chuckled. “A long time ago, I had to treat Du Thirteen everyday. It felt almost like he was my mistress or something…”

“Geez, how disgusting! You’re really hardcore alright!” Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me.

I spread my arms and smiled. “Come on, it’s time we got back to leveling!”

“Mn.”

As we ventured deeper into the Ghost Valley, the Rotten Corpses were slowly replaced by a new kind of undead creature, the Zombie! Of course, I wasn’t talking about the jumpy, uniformed zombies of the Qin Dynasty. These Zombies were slow-moving undead who hadn’t rotten away and transformed into skeletons. In fact, their muscles were relatively intact. However, their flesh was withered and tattered like torn cotton, and from time to time they would let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Zombie LV-45

As I thought, their level is incredibly high!

Swoosh!

Lin Yixin was already charging toward the Zombie like a silver bolt. Moonlight was shining from her beautiful eyes—it was Moon Gaze!

Thud!

She accurately pierced the Zombie’s throat before dragging the dagger horizontally, cutting through flesh and critically wounding the monster a second time. Then, she switched to her sword, activated Killer Wind Swordplay and attacked in a frenzy. The Level 45 Zombie was dead before it managed to get in a third hit.

Pop!

A Big Magic Stone appeared where the Zombie disappeared, and Lin Yixin asked while picking it up, “Why aren’t you fighting?”

I replied, “Did you have a grudge with this Zombie or something? That seems a bit excessive.”

“Hmph, I’m just annoyed right now!”

“I see…”

We continued forward, but the Zombies’ level didn’t exceed Level 46. It was within acceptable limits considering that Lin Yixin and I were both pros with great skill and strength, and we had top-tier pets. Although the mobs’ skills’ attack power was increased to 140% because we were in a party, we were actually leveling much faster than we would have grinding alone.

Five hours later, I was Level 38 and Lin Yixin was Level 40. We had killed enough monsters to complete our quest a long time ago.

I was absorbing a Zombie’s undead soul spark when Lin Yixin patted my shoulder from the back and said, “Come on, it’s time to head back and turn in our quest!”

“Okay!”

We walked side by side as the Dark Wasp flew around my shoulders and the Fire Blade trailed behind Lin Yixin’s cape. Her Fire Blade had reached Level 34, and it had incredibly high Attack, Defense and HP. No wonder Lin Yixin had picked it.

My Dark Wasp was even more crazy. At Level 36, its stats were—

Level: 36

Attack: 405

Defense: 282

HP: 1204

Agility: 585

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that my pet’s Attack and Defense stats had completely exceeded my own. In fact, I began to suspect Lin Yixin was keeping me around because of my pet, not me. I asked her this question, and the answer was saddening, as I expected. The Dark Wasp really was the reason she kept me around!

When we arrived at the valley entrance, the NPC soldier’s expression turned respectful when we initiated a dialogue with him. He said sternly, “You’ve proven your strength, young and powerful adventurers. Please, accept my meager gift!”

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Cleanse the Ghost Valley]. You have gained 8500 EXP, 150 Reputation and the quest reward: “Phantasmal Magic Stone” x1!

My experience increased, but I didn’t level up. At Level 38, my leveling speed was much slower than before. It would only get harder from now on.

I opened my bag and took out a magic stone with a dark glow. It was none other than the Phantasmal Magic Stone of legends, and it had a quality of 100. I smiled at Lin Yixin and said, “1 gold get!”

Lin Yixin grumbled cutely. “I didn’t get anything…”

“Your luck is shit…”

“Like yours is any better.”

While we were speaking to each other, the NPC soldier grew serious again and said, “Young, honorable, powerful adventurers of the distant lands, I’m afraid I have to be the bearer of some grave news. A terrible group of undead has occupied an area deep inside Ghost Valley, and they keep launching attack after attack at us. They must be planning to break out of Ghost Valley and attack the human towns beneath the mountains. For the sake of these innocent villagers, I beg you to accept my request.”

Lin Yixin nodded. “Tell us~”

The soldier continued, “Please enter Ghost Valley immediately and kill 500 Blood Skeletons and Cyan Skeletons each. But be careful, these powerful undead creatures are brutal and cruel, and they will not allow any living creature to keep their breath. Be on your guard at all times!”

Ding~!

System Notice: Do you accept the quest [Spreading Blood]? (Quest Rank: C-)

Lin Yixin and I exchanged a smile with each other. A C Rank quest? This is wonderful! With a bit of luck, we might be rewarded with Steel-grade equipment, or maybe even Dark Steel–grade! Considering how hot the equipment market was at Floating Ice City right now—a Bronze-grade item could sell for as much as 100 gold—a Level 40 Dark Steel–grade item could probably sell for 500 gold or 50000 RMB at the lowest!

We clicked “Yes” at the same time and accepted the C Rank quest!

Lin Yixin poked me in the ribs with the hilt of the sword before smiling. “I have a feeling that this quest is going to make the both of us rich. Really. Forget Dark Steel, we may even get Silver-grade equipment from this!”

“Dark Steel? Silver?” I shot her a look. “Are you sure you’re not dreaming? You’re only Level 40 right now. If you wear that in Floating Ice City, I guarantee you that an entire regiment will be following you all day and night to kill you and loot your corpse the second you step out of safezone! Hmph hmph, in my opinion we’d be lucky to get a Bronze-grade item even…”

Lin Yixin shot me a look herself and smiled. “You don’t have any ambition whatsoever…”[1]

The two of us returned to the Ghost Valley and killed many Rotten Corpses and Zombies along the way. Although a lot of new mobs had respawned while we were gone, I intentionally avoided them because we were on another quest right now. It would be a complete waste of time to kill these mobs when they contributed nothing to our quest.

Lin Yixin agreed with me. We traveled side by side without a word.

…...

It didn’t take long to reach the inner area of Ghost Valley. The environment grew darker, and the ground looked like it was covered by a layer of bloody soil. It clung to our boots, and the way it made a wet, sticky noise every time we stepped on it made us feel like we were stepping on real flesh. It was an uncomfortable experience to say the least. Still, Lin Yixin was far more disturbed than I was. I was a Night Creature, and I was used to the terrors hiding in Night Creatures’ domain.

“Beauty Yi, wait…” I suddenly came to a halt.

“Hmm?”

“There’s a monster!”

“Where?”

“To your right!”

Lin Yixin looked right according to my instruction and let out an exclamation of surprise. “It can conceal? Show yourself!”

She swung her sword angrily at a nearby bush, and a blood-red skeleton appeared to both of us. It was completely naked, and it was dragging a rusted, bronze-colored sword behind it. Blood-red light shone from its eye sockets, and it charged Lin Yixin after letting out a bloodcurdling scream.

Blood Skeleton LV-47

Tsk tsk, a 9-level gap? Even I would have some trouble if I had to solo a Level 47 mob alone.

I stared at the Blood Skeleton and said, “Yiyi, he’s staring at you like you’re a piece of meat.”

Lin Yixin giggled. “It’s okay. He stared at you first, didn’t he?”

“Fuck, how dare you stare at me like a piece of meat! Die, you rat!”

I charged toward the Blood Skeleton and hit it with Pardon immediately. The Dark Wasp and the Fire Blade also rushed in to aid me. The Blood Skeleton’s HP quickly dropped like a rock, and out of the three of us the Dark Wasp did the most damage. Its Flurry skill was especially powerful, occasionally proccing the 3-hit combo, dealing over 1000 damage at Rank 3. Its insane burst was a source of great envy in Lin Yixin, and she swore to get a Flurry skill book for her Fire Blade when she returned to Floating Ice City.

My experience went up a lot after taking down my first Blood Skeleton!

I had to say that this Blood Skeleton had insanely high HP. It was rare for a Level 47 monster to boast over 5000 HP. If someone were to use it as a meatshield, it would definitely play the role of a classic main tank considering its high HP and Defense.

More and more Blood Skeletons fell to our blades as we continued forward. The process of leveling was always invigorating, and for this journey in particular there were two things that I enjoyed the most. The first one was my experience bar filling up at a tremendous rate, and the second one was Lin Yixin’s chest bouncing up and down as she slaughtered the mobs with ease.

Half an hour later, Lin Yixin wiped the sweat on her face and smiled. “How many gold do you currently have, Lu Chen?”

“51. Why?”

“I can sell you something good for only the price of 10 gold. Do you want it?”

The way she smiled gave me a bad feeling, but in the end I was able to suppress my impulse. “What is it?”

“Here!”

Lin Yixin opened her hand and revealed a purple crystal. The item’s stats flew into the air and transformed into golden characters—

Creature Holding Stone: Can be used to hold a Level 1 Phantasmal Creature. Disappears after use.

I couldn’t look away from the crystal. “Fuck, what’s this for?”

Lin Yixin smiled. “Stupid~~ Isn’t it obvious? This Creature Holding Stone allows you to hold a Level 1 pet without using up your pet slot. You can then sell it to someone else. This way, you can earn the same cash as tamers do without having to be one!”

I didn’t hesitate in the slightest. “I’ll buy one for 10 gold!”

“Okay!”

After the trade was complete, I asked, “Where did you get something like this, Yiyi?”

“It’s a privilege unique to the Light Wanderer class. Once a week, I can sacrifice 100 Reputation to obtain two Creature Holding Stones from my trainer. I would never sell this if I wasn’t tight on cash lately.”

“Mn, that’s great!”

We continued to farm mobs after the chitchat. This time, we encountered a new type of undead creature that was covered in cyan rocks from head to toe. It was clearly the Cyan Skeleton!

Both the Cyan Skeletons and the Blood Skeletons spawned only in the inner area of the Ghost Valley. Cyan Skeletons were the protectors of this area, and their Defense was extraordinarily high. However, their Attack and Agility were only so-so.

While we were in the middle of a battle, Lin Yixin suddenly froze and stopped moving. An unusual gleam shining in her eyes, she slowly pointed a finger at a nearby monster and muttered, “Lu Chen… look… what… what is that?”

I shot a glance down the direction she was pointing and froze up myself. It was a freshly-spawned Cyan Skeleton, and if that was all I wouldn’t be as surprised as I was. The key was the line of text floating above its head.

Cyan Skeleton LV-1

1. Author’s Note: This novel is NOT the same as “Conquering The World”, so please don’t assume that Silver items are trash equipment. In fact, there are many things in this novel that are very different from “Conquering The World” such as equipment stats, prices, player count and so on. This is the only time I’m going to say this, and I hope it won’t impair your reading experience.