Chapter 1 The End

The Gold Land Dragon and Nie Yan quickly cleaned up. Soon, a large number of corpses littered the ground, rapidly evaporating and purifying, disappearing without a trace.

He checked the Holy Spirit Heart's task; the number of purified corpses had reached 56.

As long as he kept going with the Holy Spirit Heart, he could unlock the seal on the Zennarde Sword. This Zennarde Sword was definitely the best weapon he had seen in both his lives, better than any divine equipment displayed online. If it could be fully unlocked, its attributes would be astonishing.

The Tyrant Abak set and the unsealed Zennarde Sword would be Nie Yan's ultimate equipment!

Nie Yan had the Gold Land Dragon tank in front while he cast Undead Sacrifice from behind, summoning one Bloodthirsty Boar after another, two ordinary boars, two boar leaders, and one elite boar, a sizable lineup. These boars weren't much for attack, but they were tough and durable, perfect as meat shields.

Nie Yan kept attracting monsters, group after group, then let his summoned creatures deal with them. If one or two of his boars died, he'd summon replacements.

Fina's Life Bead had a +100% dark magic effect, greatly boosting Undead Sacrifice. His success rate casting it was now much higher than before.

Nie Yan, leading five giant Bloodthirsty Boars and the formidable Gold Land Dragon, slaughtered his way through, leaving a trail of corpses.

*Ding!* A system notification rang. Nie Yan checked his level; he had reached Level 37.

He checked the Carol City level榜 (bǎng - list). Tang Yao and Blood狂刀 (Kuángdāo - Berserker Blade) topped the榜, Tang Yao at Level 53 and Blood狂刀 (Kuángdāo - Berserker Blade) at Level 52, their experience points nearly identical, a close race. The Alliance of Mages and Sacred Guardians also had many people on the list.

Carol City was too chaotic, with constant wars. The players of the Niu Ren Tribe had too little time to level, allowing others to catch up. But the Niu Ren Tribe's position on the level list was still unshakeable, with six in the top ten and twenty-seven in the top fifty.

With players at such high levels, Nie Yan's level was relatively shabby.

He needed to level up quickly, then find a nearby village or town to gather information, figuring out where he was in the Underworld and the closest Underworld city.

As Nie Yan was grinding, several points of light appeared in the distance, at the end of the plain. It was the firelight of exploding magic, players from the Evil alignment!

*I should scout them out first. It'll be troublesome if they sneak up on me,* Nie Yan thought. He entered stealth and moved towards the source of the light, leaving the Gold Land Dragon and five Bloodthirsty Boars to continue grinding.

Nie Yan's figure gradually dissolved into the darkness, like an elf hidden within the shadows.

Reaching a position about ten yards from the group, Nie Yan peered over. Several figures came into view, their appearances completely different from the people on the surface. Their skin was pale, without a trace of color, giving a lifeless impression. Golden hair cascaded down, their bodies seemingly in a state of nothingness, just faint shadows.

Their appearance clearly marked them as undead!

"Looks like I've arrived in the Undead Empire," Nie Yan thought. The Undead Empire had the simplest class system of all nations, including Undead Witches, Undead Warriors, Undead Knights, Cursespeakers, Undead Mages, and Undead Thieves.

Among these seven classes, Undead Mages were the mainstay of the Undead Empire. They could summon various undead creatures and magical beasts, and they could also deal damage like a mage. A powerful Undead Mage was a terrifying combatant.

Of the other classes, Undead Witches specialized in healing black magic, able to heal undead players, equivalent to human priests. Cursespeakers were known as the most terrifying class, specializing in curses and spell attacks.

As for the other classes—Undead Warriors, Undead Knights, and Undead Thieves—they were similar to their counterparts in the human world. Undead Warriors were similar to Shield Warriors, focused on defense, while Undead Knights were more skilled in attack.

As for Undead Thieves, they were renowned.

Among all thieves, two races stood out: Undead Thieves and Elven Thieves. Undead Thieves excelled at control and possessed the Undead Will talent, which made them partially immune to mind control magic. Although the talent's effect was brief, it was very useful in player-versus-player combat. Elven Thieves excelled at stealth. Both talents were excellent for thieves.

So, in the eyes of players, Elven Thieves and Undead Thieves had the best talents, making it easier to produce strong players. Humans were slightly inferior. The Human Wisdom talent made them better at disarming traps and using magical devices.

Talent didn't determine strength. To become a true expert, one had to fully develop their talent; otherwise, even the best talent was useless.

Nie Yan looked ahead. In the six-person team, there was a Witch, an Undead Mage, two Cursespeakers, an Undead Warrior, and an Undead Thief. The Undead Mage had summoned a Skeleton Warrior, which was about the size of an average person, wearing tattered iron armor, a somewhat rusty iron helmet, and wielding a broken iron axe.

Seven units in total.

Nie Yan assessed that these people were around Level 45, considered strong players.

This was Nie Yan's first encounter with players from an opposing faction.

*I wonder what their skills are like.* In his past life, Nie Yan had been to the Underworld, but he went to the Demonkin Tribe, not the Undead Empire.

The Demonkin Tribe and the Undead Empire were two different nations, but they were allied, like Greenland and Saturn.

The group was chatting about something. Nie Yan moved closer and heard them speaking Vanbrian Undead, a major language in the Undead Empire with a high rate of adoption.

Fortunately, he had learned some Undead speech; otherwise, it would be difficult to survive alone in the Underworld.

They talked about many things; Nie Yan only caught snippets.

"Zei Liu, what's your dark vision at?" the Undead Mage asked, conjuring a ball of black fire in his hand. The fireball streaked through the darkness and landed on a Bloodthirsty Boar with a *boom*.

"Sixteen yards, still too little, it's inconvenient to move around," the thief called Zei Liu said.

"I knew I should have spent thirty gold to buy that item with +12 dark vision," the Undead Mage said with regret. Opportunities missed were often lost forever.

*Dark vision +12 for only thirty gold?* Nie Yan thought in amazement. An item with dark vision +12 would cost at least two or three thousand gold on the surface!

All six of them, plus the Skeleton Warrior, had black names.

Players from opposing factions displayed each other as black names, allowing them to be attacked freely. Killing opponents not only avoided red-name penalties but also granted honor kill rewards.

The more honor kills one obtained, the higher the military rank they could achieve in the human world. Military ranks, from low to high, were Sergeant Major, Squad Leader, Centurion, Chiliarch, Myriarch, Warlord, and High Warlord.

Players with military ranks could enjoy certain benefits in cities, including purchasing honor sets at lower prices. The equipment available depended on the military rank. Reaching the rank of Warlord even allowed one to purchase an intermediate sub-legendary set, and honor sets often came with pure player-versus-player attributes. If one's military rank reached High Warlord, they could even buy a legendary set of their level. The prices were generally very low.

Besides honor sets, advancing to High Warlord also provided an opportunity to run for parliament in the Greenland Empire. As a member of parliament, one could enter the council and participate in politics. Their power could be described as absolute. If he could become a member of parliament, Nie Yan would have at least a dozen ways to destroy guilds below Level 7.

Military rank was naturally as high as possible, but becoming a High Warlord was no easy feat. It wasn't just about killing people; one had to complete some SSS-level tasks entrusted by the council. In his past life, there were a few Warlords, and one High Warlord was rumored to exist, but no one knew who it was; it was just a rumor. Warlords and High Warlords were generally those who had killed countless enemies in opposing factions. These people were often hunted and besieged by the opposing factions. Only those who could survive under such difficult conditions were true experts!

Nie Yan couldn't help but wonder what rank he could achieve if he stayed in the Underworld for a while, until he unlocked the Zennarde Sword.

Trying for a military rank was not a bad idea. Maybe he could actually become a Warlord or High Warlord.

Nie Yan focused his gaze on the six players ahead. When members of opposing factions encountered each other in the wild, they would generally kill their opponents by any means necessary.

Players didn't harbor any personal grudges; their different factions destined them to be enemies. If these six players had discovered Nie Yan first, they would definitely have sniped him.

With that thought, Nie Yan issued commands to the Gold Land Dragon and Bloodthirsty Boars, ordering them to surround the group from all directions.

"Zei Liu, go lure some monsters," the Undead Mage in black robes said.

"Mm." The Undead Thief in light gray leather armor entered stealth and disappeared from Nie Yan's sight.

Nie Yan looked around, still unable to pinpoint the thief's location. His dark perception was too low, and his field of vision was too small. He could only see a small area about ten yards around him; anything beyond that was darkness.

In this dark environment, a thief was a terrifying class. Unless your dark perception reached a certain level, you wouldn't even know a thief was nearby.