Chapter 1 Opening the Chest

Nie Yan took the silver key, walked to the silver treasure chest, and began to unlock it.

System: Treasure chest opening, completion rate 20%...50%...

With a click, the lock opened.

He glanced at the silver key. It had 23 uses remaining, having consumed one. Not bad. He tossed the key into his bag, reached into the silver treasure chest, and felt around the bottom, finding something. It was round. A ring! Nie Yan's heart skipped a beat. He pulled the item out of the silver treasure chest.

It was a greyish-white ring, made of some unknown material, with a white gem inlaid in the center. A spider was perched on the gem. Although the spider was small, it was carved with lifelike detail, as if it were real.

Weaver's Ring: Unidentified.

"It's the Weaver's Ring!" Nie Yan exclaimed.

The Weaver's Ring only dropped in spider-type monster areas. It was a Bronze-grade item, but one that could be used until level sixty. It had a unique attribute that allowed the wearer to shoot a tough spider silk, attaching to objects at a length of three yards. It was an excellent treasure for scaling walls, climbing trees, and jumping off cliffs.

"What Weaver's Ring?" Tang Yao asked, puzzled.

Nie Yan smiled slightly and said, "Judging by the craftsmanship, it should be a Silver-grade item."

Although the attributes hadn't been identified, Nie Yan knew the properties of these top-tier items as soon as he saw their names.

"So it's a Silver-grade item. No wonder you were so excited," Tang Yao said, understanding.

In Nie Yan's opinion, this Weaver's Ring was even more valuable than the Meteor skill. With this Weaver's Ring, his mind was even more open, and many perfect plans could be implemented. He thought, if only he could get the Feather Fall Gem from the Treant King, that would be perfect.

"A friend asked me to go farm the Treant Forest tomorrow. They have space. Do you want to go?"

"Sure, but will they accept me?" Tang Yao asked, a little worried. They had wanted to join a party for a dungeon before, but no one wanted them.

"Don't worry, I'm here. Besides, you have fifty magic damage now. They can't find an arcane mage with such high magic damage anywhere. Be confident. You're my brother, Nie Yan," Nie Yan said, patting Tang Yao on the shoulder with a smile.

"Got it. What other arcane mage tricks are there? Tell me, I'll go back and practice more. I refuse to believe it," Tang Yao said, feeling spirited after hearing Nie Yan's words.

"I've told you everything about the skills. The key is whether you're proficient. As long as you're proficient, react a little faster, and don't make any major mistakes in your stat distribution, there won't be any problems. Find people to PK during the day and practice your skills. When you reach level five, I'll find people to form a party to go to the Secret Cave and get you a set of Arcane's Outlaw gear to make you feel amazing," Nie Yan said. With him around, it would be difficult for Tang Yao not to become an expert.

"Really? Then I have to work hard," Tang Yao said, feeling full of energy. He used to think that no matter how hard he practiced, he would never catch up with the top echelon on the level rankings. But now, after hearing what Nie Yan said, he felt that the future was bright.

Nie Yan sent a voice message to Yao Yao.

"What's the matter?" Yao Yao asked. In fact, she wasn't angry anymore, but she still pretended to be angry when she chatted with Nie Yan.

"Do you have any spots open for farming the Treant Forest tomorrow?" Nie Yan asked with an apologetic smile.

"There are two spots left."

"A friend of mine wants to join. Will you accept him?"

"What level is your friend? He's not just trying to leech experience, is he? If he's just trying to leech experience, I'll have to ask our big sister. What class is he?" Yao Yao asked with a pout.

"Arcane mage."

"How much magic damage?"

"Fifty, fifty-two after correction."

"That's so high!" Yao Yao said, startled. She was a holy words priest, and she only had thirty-seven magic damage so far. That was already considered high among her level. She didn't expect Nie Yan's friend to be even higher. "I'll ask Sister Yu Lan. She should agree."

An arcane mage with such high magic damage must have cleared many dungeons with a party. People like that might not even be willing to come even if you begged them. Now that he was offering himself up, there was no way Sister Yu Lan would disagree.

"Ask quickly. I'm waiting for your reply."

After a while, Yao Yao said to Nie Yan, "I've already asked Sister Yu Lan. Sister Yu Lan agreed. Let your friend come tomorrow too."

"Okay, sure," Nie Yan nodded and hung up the voice call.

"Hello? Hello?" Yao Yao still wanted to ask why Nie Yan's friend was willing to join their party. In their opinion, they couldn't find an expert like that. Nie Yan had already hung up, and she only heard a busy tone in the voice call. She stomped her feet angrily, "Just because you're an expert, you think you're all that. I'm so angry."

"How is it? Are they willing to take me?" Tang Yao asked anxiously, rubbing his hands.

Tang Yao used to be a casual player who occasionally went to normal dungeons with teammates. He had never joined a fixed party. Those fixed parties that could clear level three dungeons were very well-known, and they often had fixed teammates. Ordinary people couldn't get in at all. If those teams recruited people with too low of a skill level, they would only drag the team down, so they were very strict and careful when recruiting. But as long as you joined their team and became one of them, they would call on you whenever they needed people for dungeons in the future.

Seeing Nie Yan hang up the voice call, Tang Yao had an expectant expression on his face.

For someone who couldn't get into an elite party, Nie Yan could understand how eager Tang Yao was feeling at this moment. He was about the same when he first joined a party.

"We can just go together tomorrow. Don't worry. Based on your stats, you can go to any party. Arcane mages don't need too much skill."

"That's great!" Tang Yao said excitedly. Tomorrow would be his first time in the Treant Forest, a dream come true. "Are there any requirements for going to the dungeon?"

"There aren't any requirements for arcane mages in dungeons. You just need to be careful to control your aggro. Treants have low fire resistance. You might even get first place in damage output tomorrow," Nie Yan said with a smile. Tang Yao was taking it too seriously. Thinking back to when he first went to a dungeon, he wasn't much better.

"Did you bring any Magic Cypher Texts?"

"I brought five."

"Use Meteor for me to see in a bit," Nie Yan said.

"How do I use it?" Tang Yao asked. There were only one or two rock spiders around. It would be too wasteful to use the Meteor skill.

"I'll lure some monsters over. Get ready," Nie Yan said, running towards the depths of the cave.

"Alright," Tang Yao said, taking out a Magic Cypher Text. He was also very excited. He wanted to know how effective his arcane mage skills were.

Nie Yan kept running inside, hacking at a rock spider whenever he encountered one. He didn't bother fighting them and just ran away. After being attacked, the rock spiders chased after Nie Yan, their numbers increasing. They crowded forward in the cave, slowing down their movement speed.

Nie Yan nimbly dodged back and forth, like a train, with a large group of rock spiders following behind him, as many as twenty or more.

Tang Yao tidied up his backpack and heard some movement from the depths of the cave. He looked over there. More than twenty rock spiders came surging over like a flood, as if to swallow everything.

"Oh my god, how did you lure so many over here?" Tang Yao exclaimed, running backwards.

The construction worker snail sits and waits for ticket increases...