Translated by: LittleShanks
Proofread by: Flowerbridgetoo, Bigredcomrade
Chapter 26 – Locked Chest
“Why can’t I do it?” Nie Yan chuckled as he sent Tang Yao a trade request. Right after, he placed the Fire Chaser set and a single Return Scroll inside the trade window.
“Y-you’re giving all of this to me?” Tang Yao blankly stared. He never thought the property bonuses of the Fire Chaser set were so high.
“I got these from Dian Cang when they dropped from his corpse. He dropped a staff as well, but it’s not suited for you. Anyway, take this Fire Chaser set with you. As for the return scroll… don’t use it, I want you to stay here with me for a bit,” Nie Yan replied. He and Tang Yao were brothers who had known each other since childhood. Compared to their friendship, this Fire Chaser set simply didn’t amount to much.
“Mhmm… alright. I guess I can’t refuse.” A hint of anticipation flashed through Tang Yao’s eyes.
After donning the Fire Chaser set, Tang Yao’s appearance immediately improved significantly. If he were to go out now, there’s no doubt he would attract many women.
“How high is your magic damage now?” Nie Yan asked.
“Fifty.” This amount was something unthinkable to him in the past.
“Not bad. It’s high enough for you to be able to run some of the harder dungeons and quests. Though, your current weapon is still a bit lacking. When you return to town, you should find yourself a better one,” Nie Yan suggested. Tang Yao all of a sudden receiving this Fire Chaser set for free was tantamount to helping him reach the Heavens with a single step. The path he would need to walk in the future had become a lot shorter.
Tang Yao kept gazing at the current equipment on his body, seemingly unable to stop himself from admiring it.
“Let’s stay here to level for a bit. Besides, there’s a silver treasure chest up ahead, so I want you to tag along and help me retrieve it. I’ll make the party.” With how high Tang Yao’s damage was now, killing Rock Spiders in this cave would be a piece of cake.
There was a treasure chest just waiting to be opened. If he didn’t retrieve whatever was inside today, then he wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly at night.
“Silver chest!? Where is it?” Tang Yao began burning with excitement. Up until now, he had only ever managed to find and open a single chest. Not to mention, it was only an common white one. Let alone opening one, he had never even seen a silver treasure chest before.
“Let’s clear out those Rock Spiders at that intersection first,” Nie Yan replied. With Tang Yao’s assistance, there would be a lot less pressure on him when dealing with two Rock Spiders. Even three Rock Spiders might not be an issue.
When they arrived at the intersection, Nie Yan took out his crossbow and loaded it. Then he took aim, and fired as three bolts shot out of the crossbow consecutively.
「Pa! Pa! Pa!」He ended up aggroing two Rock Spiders—the one that was hit and its companion in tow. Nie Yan positioned himself in the front while Tang Yao brandished his staff and released an Arcane Fireball and Arcane Blaze from the rear. Every spell would deal over thirty or so damage, and occasionally two fifties would even appear from a critical attack.
“They’re two levels above me, yet I’m able to deal this kind of damage…?” Tang Yao dazedly exclaimed. He had been shocked from his own damage.
By the time Nie Yan’s health fell to around fifty percent, the two spiders collapsed on the ground, having been taken down by the combined efforts of their attacks.
Afterwards, Nie Yan sat down to recover his health while Tang Yao took out some Spring Water to replenish his mana.
“What’s your experience at?” Nie Yan asked, and stood up after his health was recovered to full.
“Level 3, 56%. How about you?” Tang Yao replied. He had played for over a week to get to this level.
“Level 3, 9%.” Leveling in Conviction was extremely difficult. Every level required an insane amount of experience to level up. Considering his playtime, his leveling speed was already fast enough to frighten someone. Two days hadn’t even passed and he was already Level 3. If word were to go out, it would definitely frighten many people.
While they were still chatting, Nie Yan used his crossbow to lure out another two spiders, and soon, the entire area was completely cleared of monsters.
Nie Yan bent down to pick up an item that had dropped from the last Rock Spider. It was a Charge skill book for Warriors. Hmm… The market price for a Charge skill book should be around twenty something coppers right now.
Indeed, the drop rate in a Level 5 area is much higher compared to the low level ones.
“What did it drop?”
“A Charge skill book.”
Tang Yao waved his hands and said, “You can take all the dropped items. I’m already pretty satisfied with this Fire Chaser set. Besides, I won’t need to find any new equipment until I reach Level 5.”
For Nie Yan, a single skill book wasn’t of much value either. In the end, he didn’t try to argue with Tang Yao and threw the Charge skill book into his knapsack.
The two of them had to share experience while leveling together, but because of Tang Yao’s high damage, their clear speed was significantly higher. Therefore the experience they gained became quicker, which made up for that fact that it was shared.
With all the spiders cleared out, Nie Yan walked over to the area where he first noticed the silver chest.
As he walked up, he discovered many strange engravings and patterns etched into the top of the chest. The designs were extremely elaborate. In addition, a lock had been placed on this chest and kept it firmly sealed.
“Darn, I haven’t learnt Lockpicking yet.” Lockpicking was a skill that could only be learned after reaching Level 5. Not to mention, it was an extremely expensive skill book as well. And since this was a Level 5 map, a locked chest appearing wasn’t something that would cause others to feel that it was all that unexpected.
“Then, what are we going to do?” Tang Yao asked. This was the first time he had ever come across a silver chest, and it was going to end with this kind of outcome?
“Leave it for now. Let’s try to get to Level 5 as quickly as possible. Who knows? By that time, that chest might still be here,” Nie Yan helplessly replied.
Just as Nie Yan and Tang Yao were prepared to leave and continue training, a nearby boulder suddenly trembled.
“W-what’s that?” Tang Yao asked, after being suddenly startled.
This boulder was quite large, roughly twice the size of an ordinary Rock Spider, while the surface of it was hard and coarse. When it had lain there motionlessly, it had been no different than any other boulder strewn across this area.
Abruptly, eight legs extended out of this ‘boulder” and it stood itself up. Gradually, it opened its eight eyes which revealed a mossy green glow.「Scritch! Scritch!」It let out a shrill cry. The boulder was actually a Rock Spider!
“It’s a Leader-class Rock Spider!” Nie Yan’s heart tightened. His next action was to immediately enter Stealth. He gradually approached the Rock Spider and positioned himself behind its back.
Head Rock Spider: Level 5
Leader-class Monster
Health: 180/180
The spider’s eyes swept over the area before finally stopping at Tang Yao’s position.
Seeing this, Tang Yao immediately began to retreat. The several pairs of eyes that reflected his image off of it, combined with the spider’s sinister appearance, made it seem especially terrifying.
“What are we going to do!? This is a Level 5 Leader-class Rock Spider!” Tang Yao nervously exclaimed. The strongest mob he’d ever encountered was merely Level 3 Leader-class. Not to mention, this was only his first time entering a Level 5 area, yet he unexpectedly ended up coming across this Rock Spider…
“Kill it! Blast it with magic!” Nie Yan answered back. It was far more dangerous to try and run instead of fighting it. They would definitely die while trying to escape. Then, there was also the possibility of aggroing other spiders while on the run. As for the Return Scroll, it required twenty seconds to activate and would cancel upon being hit, so that method was out of the question as well. Under these circumstances, they were better off fighting it.
Would the two of them even be able to kill a Level 5 Leader-class monster? Tang Yao was skeptical and hesitant.
“Get some distance away from it, at least twenty meters. Find a narrow tunnel and burrow yourself into it. Don’t run too far in, otherwise you’ll aggro other spiders over!” Nie Yan warned. Tang Yao was still a novice; having him accomplish such a dangerous task was still a bit difficult.
In this situation, Nie Yan was perfectly safe and could escape at any time. As for Tang Yao however, he was incapable of guaranteeing his life.
Thus, they could only resign themselves to fate.
「Scritch! Scritch!」The Rock Spider furiously cried out as it charged for Tang Yao.
“Oh… for f*cks sake!” Tang Yao hurriedly turned his back and ran. While he was running, he followed Nie Yan’s words and fired an Arcane Fireball at it.
「Bang!」The fireball exploded when it landed on the spider’s body and dealt eighteen damage as the value floated above its head.
Its defenses were absurd! In reality, fire magic dealt bonus damage to Rock Spiders yet the damage was still so low!
However, this was to be expected. It was a Leader-class monster after all, so the damage was still alright. There’s my chance! Nie Yan’s eyes lit up as he struck the back of this Rock Spider with a Smothering Strike.
The spider trembled and stopped in place.
It’s only going to be stunned for three seconds!
Normally, Smothering Strike would daze an enemy in its place for six seconds, but this Rock Spider was a Leader-class monster! It had a certain resistance against crowd control effects. Thus, Nie Yan’s control skills were only half as effective against it. Regardless, these three seconds were still enough!
“Hit it! Don’t just stand there and watch!” Nie Yan shouted.
Hearing Nie Yan’s shout, Tang Yao immediately cast Arcane Blaze.「Boom!」The fiery blaze exploded on the spider’s body.
When the spider awakened from its dazed state, Nie Yan took the initiative and struck out with Assassinate, his dagger fiercely piercing into the spider’s abdomen. Upon penetrating its fleshy underbody, he followed through with Lacerate and slashed outward.
Nie Yan slashed open a gaping hole on the spider’s abdomen where a thick green liquid oozed and bubbled forth.
When it was awakened, it still aggroed onto Tang Yao and continued its pursuit.
Seeing this, Tang Yao rapidly retreated into a narrow passage.「Bam!」The spider’s immense body rammed into the two sides of the passageway, causing the surrounding walls to tremble. Several rocks began to collapse from the ceiling and came crashing down to the ground.
「Scritch! Scritch!」The spider couldn’t squeeze itself inside the passageway. It furiously cried out as it tried to force its way in.
“Come and see how this elder will take care of you!” After realizing the spider couldn’t come in, Tang Yao suddenly became much more courageous than before. He brandished his staff and fired off an Arcane Missile and then followed it with an Arcane Fireball. “Dammit! Arcane Missile is only dealing half as much damage as an Arcane Fireball.”
The cooldown for Arcane Missile was very short because it was a regular spell. The casting time was quite short as well, and required only a one second to cast. While Arcane Fireball had a ten second cooldown and required a three second to cast. So it was impossible for him to continuously cast Arcane Fireball.
At the same moment, the Rock Spider unceasingly continued ramming itself into the entrance of the passageway, causing the walls on either side to shake. Soon, cracks emerged and the ceiling of the passageway gradually began showing signs of collapse.
