Chapter 107 Gnome Ring

In such a narrow place, Nie Yan couldn't possibly summon the Golden Earth Dragon. If he did, its enormous body might collapse the wooden structure of the house.

Nie Yan scanned his skills. Activating some of them would be no problem to take down an elite in a short time, but he feared they would call for help. If these two Spiderkin summoned others, Nie Yan would be surrounded.

He had to kill both Spiderkin quickly!

Nie Yan's gaze fell on the Holy Mercenary. An idea struck him.

He returned to the second floor, opened the Holy Mercenary list, and selected a Level 5 mercenary, the Holy Knight Kressy. Kressy had about 3,600 health and strong stats. The hiring price was 300 gold coins per hour, with fractions of an hour counted as a full hour.

A tall Holy Knight appeared before Nie Yan. He was a head taller, muscular, and clad in silver-white metal armor, wielding a silver-white greatsword.

"Honorable Demon Hunter, I am at your service. What would you have me do?" Kressy said respectfully. Their mission was to serve Demon Hunters, whom they held in absolute reverence.

Nie Yan gained a new character panel: Kressy's. He could control Kressy to do anything. Kressy's combat power was undeniable. Looking at Kressy's skills, there were over twenty buffing spells and a dozen basic attack skills, including Holy Strike, Holy Punishment, Purification, and more.

Nie Yan controlled Kressy to cast five buffing spells on himself, increasing his strength by about 20%.

Nie Yan entered stealth, climbed the stairs to the third floor, and hid carefully in a corner.

The two Spiderkin guards patrolled, never spotting Nie Yan in the shadows.

After a while, he controlled Kressy to climb the stairs. Kressy leapt onto the floorboards, exposing himself to the Spiderkin's view.

Enemy attack!

The two Spiderkin spotted Kressy and immediately charged.

Kressy roared and swung his greatsword, using Holy Strike! The sword fell with immense force.

Seeing the two Spiderkin drawn to Kressy, Nie Yan moved, casting powerful buffing skills on himself.

Storm Assault!

Shadow Slaughter!

Calamity!

Nie Yan instantly maxed out his stats, approaching the Spiderkin Iluvich like a gust of wind, striking him from behind.

The flames on the Zennarde's Sword flared as it plunged into Iluvich's head. A Backstab, a Gouge, and a Hecatombus, sending blood gushing.

-928, -939, -923...

High damage numbers floated above Iluvich's head, along with Bleed and Poison damage, its health plummeting rapidly. Even the nearby Spiderkin Isriel suffered, taking 30% of the Shadow Slaughter damage.

Nie Yan's nerves were stretched to the limit. He couldn't let them cry for help!

The attacked Spiderkin Iluvich tried to move, but Nie Yan used Ultra Stun, freezing him in place.

Kressy also kept attacking Iluvich, using Holy Strike and other basic attacks, wiping out nearly half its health.

Nie Yan's Zennarde's Sword kept slashing. An Explosion sent Iluvich staggering back, followed by a chilling flash of flame across its throat, a Throatcut dealing over 2,000 damage. Iluvich collapsed.

Seeing Iluvich fall, the Spiderkin Isriel suddenly shrieked.

But as it cried out, Kressy swung, knocking it back. It staggered, and Nie Yan pounced, using Stun, the Zennarde's Sword hitting its forehead. The sound stopped abruptly as it became stunned.

Nie Yan's Shadow Slaughter and Kressy's attacks nearly depleted Isriel's health. Nie Yan kept slashing at its back, and Kressy cast several Purifications, his attacks dealing a respectable thousand damage.

Isriel awoke from the stun, staggered, and fell.

Nie Yan picked up the items dropped by the two Spiderkin: two Chaotic Evil equipment pieces. He couldn't use them, so he'd have to sell them.

Nie Yan looked out the window. The fighting hadn't attracted other Spiderkin.

*Hopefully, the Darkgold Treasure Chest has something useful,* Nie Yan thought, walking to the chest, squatting down, and opening it.

Time passed, about half a minute. The chest clicked open.

Nie Yan reached in and pulled out two items.

Gnome Ring (Darkgold): Special Item.

Stats: Stealth +20. Skill: Transform Gnome. Shrinks the body to one-third size, granting greater stealth and making the user undetectable. Duration: 1 hour. Cooldown: 1 natural day.

Usable by: None.

Gnome Ring! Nie Yan raised an eyebrow, seeing it was a special item. Special items often had unique uses. This Gnome Ring's skill was amazing: shrinking the body.

This could be very useful in certain situations. One-third size would be about to mid-thigh. It could be imagined how useful it would be to hide in unexpected places.

Also, casting Transform Gnome increased stealth and made the user undetectable.

A great item for survival! Nie Yan decided. He'd study its other uses later. He put the ring in his bag as a backup item.

Besides the Gnome Ring, Nie Yan found another item: a hand bone.

Cursed Spiderkin Hand Bone: Fate Item.

Description: Grants a 16-point stat dice roll. A roll of 1-8 results in a curse. A roll of 9-16 grants a blessing.

If unused, the item disappears in 20 seconds.

Another Fate Item!

Fate Items were common in Chaotic Evil areas. Necromancers had a skill to influence dice rolls, so many took risks with Fate Items, for high rewards and dangers.

Nie Yan dreaded Fate Items.

Gambling with luck could easily ruin you.

A middling number on the stat dice was okay, with moderate rewards and penalties. But a low roll like 1 or 2 was extremely dangerous.

If he had a Necromancer's skill to increase his chances, he might try it. But with a 50% chance, it was best avoided. Even Necromancers often had to reroll their characters after gambling with Fate Items.

The cursed bone hand pulsed with a strange rhythm, as if summoning something.

Nie Yan was about to give up when the light orb floated up and danced around the cursed bone hand.

Nie Yan recalled something he'd heard in his past life: only souls could influence the unknowable fate dice. Necromancers were closest to spirits, so they could change the dice roll. Looking at the light orb, Nie Yan wondered if Bennett's spirit could change anything.

As the cursed bone hand was about to disappear, Nie Yan chose to use it. Time froze. Everything stood still. A giant white sixteen-sided die appeared before him, covered in numbers that seemed stained with blood, both alluring and eerie.

Bennett's spirit floated freely, unaffected by the time stop.

Nie Yan's heart stirred. It seemed the rumor about spirits increasing the chances of winning the dice roll wasn't groundless.

The white die spun rapidly, dazzling the eye. The numbers changed quickly, blurring together.

Time passed. Nie Yan stared at the die, taking a deep breath. He couldn't deny his nervousness.

Nie Yan thought of something and cried out, *Eye of Truth!*

A divine light flashed in his eyes, locking onto the spinning die. The numbers were still chaotic, but he caught glimpses. The die seemed to slow slightly.

So the die wasn't uncontrollable. Players could increase their odds in various ways.

Trusting his intuition, Nie Yan reached out and touched the die.

"Stop!" Nie Yan yelled, and the die halted.

Nie Yan focused on the number.

15! An astonishing number!

It was 15! Nie Yan's heart pounded with excitement. The die vanished.

System: You have received a Fate Reward. Health +20%.

A terrifying increase!

Nie Yan checked his health. It was over 3,000, making him a health-tank Thief! Too bad he was wearing leather armor. With plate, this much health would be invincible at his level.

Time resumed. Everything returned to normal. Nie Yan's excitement lingered. This was a huge win: 500 health. How many levels would it take to gain that much?