Everywhere was covered with rubble, scattered in pieces, with faint carvings of Draconic script. In the distant dark ages, dark elves were slaves of the dragons, and the script they used for sacrifices was also Draconic, a symbol of nobility and sanctity in their eyes.

Their history and culture were bestowed upon them by the dragons. Even after a thousand years, they remained vassals of the dragons, never daring to defy the will of the dragons.

Near the altar were piled-up skeletal remains of various creatures, including human skulls.

Nie Yan could imagine a dark elf chieftain from a small tribe performing sacrificial rites with various creatures. After the Age of Coexistence, the rule of dragons was overthrown, and dark elves were hunted and driven out by humans, high elves, and giants, vanishing from the continent. Many large tribes migrated to the remote depths of the earth, yet traces of the dark elves' presence remained in many places on the continent.

Nie Yan walked to the altar. Dozens of stone fragments flew up from the ground, suspended in the air, each permeated with dark energy, with clear inscriptions of text.

With his understanding of Draconic, Nie Yan vaguely deciphered some of the words, such as "God of Destruction," "Elect of the Distant Darkness," and "Sinful Dimensional Space," but it was difficult to connect these pieces of information.

What did these dozens of floating stones represent?

‘System: You have discovered an altar left behind by the dark elves from the Dark Ages, still imbued with dark magic. You have lightly touched this dark magic, which originates from another dimension. It is a powerful force.’

‘System: The dark elves were vassals of the dragons. What did these lowly creatures do here?’

Suddenly, Nie Yan noticed that the dark magic of these dozens of stones was gradually converging towards the center of the altar, and a dark portal slowly opened.

Nie Yan was only a few steps away from this dark portal. Seeing it open, he cautiously took a step back. He didn't know where this dark portal led, or if it was dangerous. It was all unknown.

He couldn't risk it!

Faith was filled with too many unknown maps and dangers. For the sake of the Chapter of Courage and the Chapter of Freedom, Nie Yan decided to give up.

Just as Nie Yan was about to leave, a powerful force of attraction pulled at him. He was shocked and tried to retreat, but his strength was too small compared to this force.

The dark portal was like a black demon beast, swallowing Nie Yan whole.

Nie Yan's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

After Nie Yan entered the portal, the stones floating around the altar slowly dimmed, lost their support, and fell from the sky.

"Did Nie Yan-dage go offline?" Sun asked Tang Yao, puzzled, because he saw Nie Yan's name dim.

"I don't know either." Tang Yao was perplexed. He sent a message to Nie Yan, but it indicated that the person was not within the current map. Could Nie Yan have been transported to another map?

"What happened to Nie Yan?" Yao Yao asked worriedly.

"He'll handle it if something comes up. Let's continue," Tang Yao said, having an almost obsessive trust in Nie Yan.

The Greenland Empire was an independent map. Players could whisper to people within the local map, but not to players from other maps, such as the Saturn Empire or the Giant Tribes. Unless Nie Yan had already left Greenland, but how could that be possible? The map of the Greenland Empire stretched for millions of miles, boundless and vast. This was only the heartland of Greenland. Running from here at the fastest speed would take at least five days, unless one used a teleport. And the only teleport in all of Greenland that connected to the royal city of Saturn was in Carol City.

Despite their confusion about what had happened to Nie Yan, they could only suppress their doubts for now and focus on grinding monsters to reduce their sin value. After reaching level 18, Tang Yao's magic damage against the Scaled Frogs was higher, so they could now handle the elites. They began searching for elite creatures according to the coordinates provided by Nie Yan.

He didn't know how much time had passed before Nie Yan regained consciousness. He was lying on the ground, the cold rain beating against his face, as piercing as a blade.

Nie Yan quickly got up from the ground and checked his backpack. The Chapter of Courage and the Chapter of Freedom were still there, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

System: You have discovered Doro's Phantasmal Realm.

Seeing the system notification, Nie Yan understood that this was a quest map.

This was a vast wilderness, the sky gloomy, the cold wind howling, and the rain pouring down.

Nie Yan looked around and saw that this was a closed-off area, and he couldn't use Return Scrolls.

Some knights riding black skeletal warhorses were wandering in the wilderness. They wore black metal armor and carried metal spears more than three yards long, but they had no heads.

Nie Yan entered stealth mode and slowly approached one of the knights.

Headless Knight (Undead): Level 30, HP 1200/1200.

System: Quest Progress 1: Kill 20 Headless Knights.

He didn't know what the consequences of dying in this quest map would be. These Headless Knights wouldn't be easy to deal with. With Nie Yan's strength, it was too difficult to kill monsters of such a high level.

He couldn't withstand the Headless Knight's attacks, let alone control them. Using Undead Sacrifice rashly would be foolish.

Nie Yan searched for Headless Knights on the official website, but found that there was no information about them. He could only give up and figure it out himself.

If his own attributes were insufficient, he could only look for the monster's weaknesses.

After thinking for a moment, Nie Yan probed the Headless Knight. He ran to a spot about seventy yards away from the Headless Knight and, using the same method he used against the Lion Scorpion, shot arrows into the ground to see if it would attract the Headless Knight's attention and determine its field of vision.

Observing the Headless Knight's movements, Nie Yan discovered that the Headless Knight's movements were very clumsy, especially when turning around, which was very slow.

Swish, swish, swish. Three arrows were shot into the ground about thirty yards in front of the Headless Knight. The Headless Knight suddenly moved and spurred its bone horse forward for more than twenty yards, the strong impact creating a whirlwind.

This guy's instantaneous burst speed reached at least 120!

He didn't expect that the Headless Knight, which seemed clumsy, would have such a fast impact speed once it detected an enemy!

Nie Yan was startled and activated Hasty Retreat, retreating far away.

The Headless Knight's perception range was about thirty-five yards, and its impact speed was 120. Direct confrontation was impossible for Nie Yan's level!

Nie Yan looked at the Headless Knight in the distance, feeling frustrated. The faster the knight's impact speed, the higher the bonus to its attack attributes. The Headless Knight's level was so much higher than his. If it discovered him, it might kill him in one hit!

The Headless Knight didn't find an enemy and stood still, slowly driving the horse beneath it. As undead, their joints were very stiff, so their movements were difficult and slow when turning.

Looking at the Headless Knight's clumsy movements, Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. He circled behind the Headless Knight and used the same method to probe it from behind.

He shot arrows, exploring the Headless Knight's detection range from behind. After more than ten minutes of testing, he finally determined that the Headless Knight's detection range from behind was very small, only about three or four yards. And even if the Headless Knight detected movement behind it, it would take at least half a minute to turn its horse around.

Nie Yan smiled slightly. This would be much easier to deal with. He raised the crossbow in his hand and shot at the Headless Knight.

Thud, thud, thud. Three arrows struck the Headless Knight, and the damage values -26, -29, -31 floated above its head.

The Headless Knight, discovering that it was being attacked from behind, spurred its horse to turn around.

Nie Yan naturally wouldn't stay in place. He ran around the Headless Knight, continuously shooting it in the back.

No matter how the Headless Knight drove its horse, it couldn't face Nie Yan. It spun around in place and couldn't find Nie Yan's location. With its low intelligence, it didn't know how to respond.

Thud, thud, thud. The arrows never stopped. The continuous damage output caused the Headless Knight's HP to decrease rapidly. After about three minutes, the Headless Knight fell to the ground.

System: Quest Progress 1: Killed Headless Knight 1/20.

Perfect! Nie Yan walked over and picked up the items dropped by the Headless Knight. There were two silver coins and a damaged blueprint covered in various diagrams.

Headless Knight Doro's Cavalry Crossbow (Blueprint): Quantity 1/10, Requires Advanced Blacksmith.

Headless Knight Doro's Cavalry Crossbow: Sub-Legendary Item. Requires Strength 800.

Item Stats: Attack 307-327, 30% Piercing Damage, 30% chance of 3x Critical Hit Damage, deals 100 Fire Damage, Fivefold Shot.

Weight: 56 lbs.

User Restriction: Thief, Knight, Warrior.

He didn't expect it to be a sub-legendary item. The stats were indeed amazing, leaving Nie Yan in awe. However, the weight of 56 pounds and the requirement of 800 strength were daunting. He estimated that he would need to reach at least level 60 or 70 to wield it.

Could he make this sub-legendary cavalry crossbow by collecting 10 damaged blueprints?

Nie Yan looked at the materials needed to make the cavalry crossbow: 10 Superior Magic Camphor Wood, 3 Superior Fire Mother Crystals, 3 Magic Black Vein Gold, 3 Magic Rune Stones, and 1 Essence of Fire Spirit.

Seeing these materials, Nie Yan was speechless. Superior Magic Camphor Wood and Superior Fire Mother Crystals were slightly easier to find, but they were expensive and rare materials. As for Magic Black Vein Gold and Magic Rune Stones, anything imbued with magic was extremely rare. As for the Essence of Fire Spirit, it was legendary. Nie Yan had never seen it in his previous life.

Even if he found the materials and made the Headless Knight Doro's Cavalry Crossbow, Nie Yan wouldn't be able to equip it for now. He could only give up for now, but he could collect the blueprints and find a way to make the cavalry crossbow later.

I slept through the morning and couldn't get up, and fatigue made Snail's typing speed drop straight down. I finally finished writing a chapter. Asking for recommendations, subscriptions, and monthly tickets. Everyone is still very supportive, the monthly ticket list and reward list are climbing fiercely, and the position of the recommendation list is also not bad. Thank you for your support.