Frost Mound was your standard Night Creature encampment with mists of death, disgusting stench and hordes of puppeteered skeletons dumping fresh bodies into the blood pools. Everyone was about as chilling and terrifying as you could imagine.

I frowned a little at the familiar sight. If my trainer, the Undead Swordsman Suren, wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have returned to this god-forsaken place.

I entered Frost Mound and found my trainer standing tall atop a withered hill while holding a bloody sword.

“You’ve returned, young skeleton.” My trainer greeted me first.

I walked up to him and said, “Trainer, I would like to request a class promotion!”

“Alright, you have the necessary strength anyway. Perform a quest for me, and I’ll grant you the opportunity to promote your class!”

Ding~!

System Notice: Do you accept the third class promotion quest [The Heart to Protect]? (Quest Difficulty: A)

……

Huh? What’s this?

Surprised, I clicked “Accept” and saw—

Ding~!

System Notice: You have accepted the third-promotion quest, [The Heart to Protect]!

Description: Head to the town next to Frost Mound and seek out Young Girl Xinran. She seems to be thinking about something.

……

What? Is that it? All I have to do is to seek out the loli I haven’t met in a long time, Xinran? I almost couldn’t believe that this was my third-promotion quest, an A-rank quest no less! What a joke!

Once I was done packing my stuff, I began traveling to Xinran’s town. I had been to her town before, so it took me less than ten minutes to reach it. The forest town was as peaceful as usual. I could see a couple of women returning to the town with basketfuls of gathers above their heads, and hunters carrying longbows and game like hyenas or rabbits on their shoulders.

Holding the Ghost Ice Soul in one hand, I covered my face with the Bloody Purgatory Cloak and strode into the town fearlessly. I searched for Xinran up and down until finally, I saw her doing something at the corner of a small building.

Time passed very quickly in the game. Two years had passed since I last saw Xinran, and she had turned from a 15-year-old loli into a beautiful 17-year-old girl. Despite only wearing a simple robe, her face was pretty, her neck was pale, and her skin was flawless. It was clear that the girl was born pretty.

Standing next to a wooden dummy, Xinran swung a round, wooden staff and muttered to herself, “Oh great God of Light, please bless me with your sacred light—Recovery!”

Swhoosh!

Faint light fell from the sky and landed around Xinran. She had actually mastered a basic Priest skill!

I walked up to her and called out to her softly, “Xinran?”

She turned around slowly until she saw who I was. Pleasantly surprised, she exclaimed, “Is that you, big brother?”

“Mn.” I put away my sword and gave her a smile. “How have you been doing, Xinran?”

“I’m doing pretty good!” Xinran walked up to me happily and grabbed my wrist. “I knew you would come back, big brother! You promised me you would take me to the Holy Temple in Floating Ice City to receive the blessing of the holy light and become a great priest of the Silver Moon Alliance when I’m all grown up, right?”

“Yes, I did. Are you ready?”

“Yes, I’m ready. Let’s go!”

“Alright!”

Now that I had met Xinran, my quest updated itself and displayed a new line of text: “Protect Xinran until she reaches Floating Ice City and becomes a priest. She must survive, or this quest is considered a failure!”

Hmph hmph, even if this wasn’t a quest, I wouldn’t allow any harm to come to her. After all, who could bear to harm such a cute and kind-hearted girl like her?

With Xinran by my side, we walked out of the town together and headed straight for Floating Ice City. Considering Xinran’s walking speed, we would arrive in an hour at most!

“Big brother, are the teachers in the Priest Academy of the fierce sort?” Xinran asked while holding my hand.

I ordered the Dark Wasp to clear the path while shaking my own head. “Of course not, the lech—I mean, the lecturers of the Priest Academy are all models for others to follow. They are smart, responsible, and respectful to everyone, regardless of status. They also don’t charge you an exorbitant fee for books, delay classes, or inflict corporal punishment to students. They are the trailblazers of the education industry!”

The longing and hopefulness in Xinran’s eyes increased as I calmly described to her everything about the Priest Academy. Of course, I knew jack shit about the actual place, I was just describing my experience back when I was in Suzhou University of Science and Technology. For example, I told Xinran that there was an adventurer’s inn next to the Priest Academy called “Green Tea Inn". I also told her that there was a mysterious, sacred temple next to the Priest Academy called “Xuehai Karaoke Box” where bards gathered together to sing all the songs on the continent.

Xinran’s smile grew wider and wider as she listened intently to my lies.

Fifty or so thorny minutes later, we finally arrived at Floating Ice City. The grand, tier 2 city looked like an immovable giant even on the world map. Countless wars had failed to bring down its mighty walls even to this day.

Xinran followed me closely as we entered the city together. She stared at her surroundings with both curiosity and fear: clearly, she had never seen such a huge city in her life before, and she was feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

Xinran was beautiful, so there were some players who couldn’t help but sneak glances at her. Thankfully, I looked powerful enough to dissuade any fools from attempting to court her.

The Holy Temple was surrounded by high-level well-armored guards. To be honest, I was a tad intimidated by their presence as we entered the place. If these NPCs realized that I was an undead, I was sure that they would do everything in their power to remove my existence from these grounds.

After we entered the main hall, we saw eight high-level priests standing in a row inside the temple. At the center of them was an archbishop whose level was completely invisible to me. The way he watched me with those deep, impenetrable eyes made me feel as if he had seen through my disguise completely.

“My lord, my sister would like to become a priest!” I walked up to him and declared fearlessly.

The archbishop turned his gaze toward Xinran for a moment before speaking in an unsteady voice. “Child, you have a pure heart, but your soul is hidden too deep. If you truly wish to become a Priest of the Light, you may visit this temple again in three days. I shall arrange a trial for you then!”

Xinran was so afraid that she didn’t even dare look the archbishop in the eye. Her head bowed, she said, “Yes, elder. I’ll return in three days.”

The archbishop nodded and motioned for us to leave.

I couldn’t stop myself from glaring at him for a moment. How dare a mere NPC act like he is worth a million dollars? Once I gather a full set of divine equipment, the first person I’m going to chop like radish is you, old man! My poor Xinran...

It wasn’t until we stepped out of the Holy Temple and went far, far away that Xinran finally let out a sigh of relief. She patted her pubescent chest and said, “Big brother, that elder was absolutely terrifying. I thought you said the teachers of the priest academy weren’t fierce?”

I shook my head. “They aren’t. This archbishop may look kind-hearted on the outside, but he’s really a monster on the in… oh, oops. Excuse me, I mean the other way around.”

“Really?”

“Really!”

I smiled at Xinran and said, “Come, I’ll escort you home. There are too many bad guys in Frost Forest!”

“Okay. Thanks, big brother~~”

Another hour later, I safely delivered Xinran back to her town. She smiled at me and asked, “Where do you live, big brother?”

“I live at Frost Mound. It’s a temporary camp!”

“Oh, I see. Will you accompany me to my trial in three days too?”

“Of course I will!”

“Okay, it’s a promise!”

“It’s a promise.”

The system dinged again after that, and my quest “Promise” was updated in my quest list.

I must admit that I had no idea what was going on with this SSS+ Rank quest at this point. Oh well, better focus on the present. Now that my third-promotion quest is complete, it is time to return to Frost Mound and learn some new skills!

I ran all the way back to Frost Mound and turned in my quest to Undead Swordsman Suren!

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the third promotion quest [The Heart to Protect]. You have gained the title “Silver Swordsman” and your level is increased by 1!

Swhoosh!

The moment I leveled up, the system dinged the entire Floating Ice City.

Ding~!

System Announcement: Player “Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand” has completed the quest and successfully promoted, becoming Floating Ice City’s second Silver-rank player. Obtained the title “Silver Swordsman”, and as the second third-promotion player, obtained reward: Level +1, and reward item: “Burning Dagger”!

……

Huh? Burning Dagger? It’s from the same set as these Burning War Boots Lin Yixin got, isn’t it?

I opened my bag in a hurry and found a glowing dagger inside. It was Silver-grade, and its level requirement was high!

Burning Dagger (Silver-grade)

Attack: 90~145

Strength: +24

Agility: +20

Passive: Increases user’s Attack by 2%

Level Requirement: 60

……

I couldn’t help but laugh. This dagger didn’t shame its grade alright, not only was it powerful enough to rival other long-bladed weapons such as swords and spears, it even boosted its wielder’s attack power by 2%. This equipment was practically made for Assassins. However, the only person I knew who could utilize this dagger was Lin Yixin.

Lin Yixin’s trump card was Moon Gaze and Extreme Break, and the prerequisite to that combo was a dagger. The stronger the dagger, the stronger these skills, so it was obvious Lin Yixin would want to have a powerful dagger.

I snapped a screenshot of the Burning Dagger and sent it to Lin Yixin. Although she wasn’t online yet, there was no harm in sending her a message: “I'll go to sleep at 4, so please don’t contact me until noon, thanks…”

Now that that was done, it was time to learn some skills!

I spoke with Suren, and a dialogue box appeared before my eyes.

Enhanced Bones: Increases Defense by 100.

Immortality: When HP reaches zero, 1% chance to revive at full HP.

Undead Aura: Gives all surrounding undead creatures +7% Attack, +15% recovery speed, +5% movement and attack speed, and +1% resistance to all forms of magic.

……

I was pleasantly surprised. Level 60 skills are no joke, it seems. This is amazing!

Enhanced Bones was a passive skill that increased my Defense. It was the key to becoming a walking fortress in the future. Undead Aura was even better, however. It passively buffed the stats of all undead creatures around me. If I planned to grind levels with Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue in the future, my presence alone would bump up their stats! It would be like having a bard with Encourage and a tactician with Forge at once!

Of course, the strongest skill of them all was the second skill on the list, Immortality. A 1% chance to revive on the spot with full health? If this isn’t an RNGesus skill, I don’t know what is!

At Level 1, Immortality had a 1% chance of proccing and reviving me at full health, so at Rank 10 the chance would probably grow to 10%. Although it still wasn’t exactly a high chance, the possibility was definitely there. It was all up to luck, and, well… do I even need to say how lucky I am?