Chapter 1 Nie Yan

Nie Yan lurked in the distance, watching the Ice Wraith wander past. He pounced, the dagger in his hand gleaming.

Just as his dagger was about to strike the Ice Wraith, it suddenly vanished.

Nie Yan missed his attack, a jolt of surprise running through him. The Ice Wraith suddenly appeared to his right, its originally hollow eyes now filled with ferocity and bloodlust.

*Hiss*, the Ice Wraith spat out a mouthful of icy air, a chilling wave washing over Nie Yan.

The rapidly decreasing temperature threatened to freeze everything.

Quick as lightning, Nie Yan somersaulted, leaping several yards away.

The Ice Wraith vanished again, reappearing behind Nie Yan, a torrent of frost surging towards him.

The Ice Wraith’s fighting style was different from the monsters Nie Yan had encountered before. It floated erratically, its dodges and attacks extremely fast. Furthermore, ghost-type monsters had a very strong passive attribute: they were immune to control skills.

This fellow was more troublesome than he’d imagined. Nie Yan didn’t dare to be careless.

While constantly dodging, Nie Yan also constantly adjusted his combat techniques, making his movements faster, barely keeping up with the Ice Wraith's pace.

Dodging an Ice Wraith’s pounce, Nie Yan suddenly noticed the Ice Wraith had its back to him. His heart sank, and he lunged towards the Ice Wraith’s back.

Nie Yan suddenly burst out with extreme speed, faster than any time before. The power of his whole body gathered at his knee. A knee strike slammed into the Ice Wraith's back.

With a muffled thud, the Ice Wraith staggered forward a few steps.

Nie Yan wasn’t about to pass up such a good opportunity. He suddenly darted forward several yards, an elbow strike slamming heavily into the Ice Wraith's back. His body twisted, and the Zennarde’s Sword in his hand viciously pierced the Ice Wraith's back with a Spine Break.

The Zennarde’s Sword went in hilt-deep. Nie Yan gripped the sword tightly and pulled sharply, slashing.

The Ice Wraith let out a shrill scream.

As Nie Yan prepared to continue his attack, the Ice Wraith suddenly disappeared, and his attack missed.

Nie Yan glanced at the system prompt. He had just completed a three-hit combo, dealing over 50,000 damage. So it seemed the Ice Wraith wasn't invincible after all.

Nie Yan had just stabilized himself when he felt a gust of cold wind coming from behind. He quickly activated Gale Step.

A wave of cold air swept past, covering the surrounding ground with a thick layer of frost. Many Emerald Gold Orchid grasses were instantly frozen into ice sculptures. Fortunately, Nie Yan dodged quickly, or he would have become an ice pillar himself.

It was a good thing there were plenty of Emerald Gold Orchid grasses here, otherwise Nie Yan would have been heartbroken.

Two figures exchanged blows at an extremely fast speed on the grass. Nie Yan gradually integrated various fighting techniques into the game's skills and was surprised to discover their astonishing similarity and compatibility. His attack speed couldn’t match the Ice Wraith, so he could only rely on strange and unpredictable moves to gain the upper hand.

This was a prolonged chase. Unlike the monotonous running and slashing with skills in the past, Nie Yan's movements were very flexible, free from the constraints of any skills, thus giving him more variability.

This kind of freedom made Nie Yan feel exhilarated during combat.

After this high-intensity battle, Nie Yan could feel his fighting skills were also constantly improving.

The Ice Wraith pounced fiercely at Nie Yan, but under Nie Yan's continuous attrition, its health decreased more and more. Finally, it had less than 5% left.

The Ice Wraith screamed shrilly, its whole body emitting a torrent of cold air.

As soon as he came into contact with these icy gases, Nie Yan's body was immediately covered with a thick layer of frost, his speed greatly reduced, and every movement became very difficult. He quickly drank a bottle of Master-level Anti-Cold Potion. A warm current spread from his lower abdomen to every limb and meridian, and his body immediately became nimble again.

Seeing signs of the Ice Wraith going berserk, Nie Yan rushed up, kicking the Ice Wraith in the abdomen, then delivering a Throat Wipe. The flames of Zennarde's Sword swept across the Ice Wraith's throat.

The Ice Wraith screamed sharply, the nails on its hands suddenly growing several centimeters long, becoming extremely sharp, its attack instantly strengthened countless times, and its movement speed was also much faster than before.

The Ice Wraith pounced on Nie Yan almost frantically. It became difficult for Nie Yan to dodge, and he was almost hit several times.

Seeing the Ice Wraith's sharp claws swing down, about to kill him, Nie Yan used Shadow Dance and dodged away.

Level 16 Shadow Dance! Nie Yan disappeared.

The Ice Wraith showed a dazed expression. It couldn’t perceive Nie Yan’s presence at all. Nie Yan seemed to have disappeared into thin air. It could sense ordinary skills, such as Gale Step, Vanish, etc., but its perception ability was completely ineffective in the face of Level 16 Shadow Dance.

Extreme Intimidation!

Nie Yan was already behind the Ice Wraith. An Extreme Intimidation caused the Ice Wraith to fall into a state of stagnation.

Purgatory Execution!

The flames on Zennarde's Sword in Nie Yan's hand blazed brightly. He slashed across the Ice Wraith’s back with his sword. The red flaming sword split the Ice Wraith in two from the back.

Purgatory Execution successful!

The Ice Wraith’s health reached its bottom, it let out a shrill scream, released streams of cold air from its body, and its body slowly dissipated, disappearing into the air.

*Phew*, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief, finally killing this troublesome fellow.

Recovering his stamina on the spot, Nie Yan looked into the distance. Emerald Gold Orchid grass was everywhere here, stretching far into the distance, swaying in the wind. Although Nie Yan and the Ice Wraith had destroyed a lot of Emerald Gold Orchid grasses during the battle just now, there were definitely enough Emerald Gold Orchid grasses left.

Even if he collected them here for ten days, he might not be able to collect all the Emerald Gold Orchid grasses here.

Nie Yan bent down and began to collect them, and system prompts sounded one after another.

System: You have obtained an Emerald Gold Orchid grass.

System: You have obtained an Emerald Gold Orchid grass.

......

System prompts sounded rhythmically. The number of Emerald Gold Orchid grasses accumulated in Nie Yan’s bag increased.

After collecting six stacks, Nie Yan began to use these Emerald Gold Orchid grasses to make Advanced Instant Recovery Potions. The Alchemy Master skill allows players to make certain specific potions without a recipe, such as Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Master-level Instant Recovery Potions, as well as some types of Poison Resistance Potions, Poison Potions, etc.

Nie Yan took out an Emerald Gold Orchid grass. After simple processing, he began the crafting process.

Bottle after bottle of Advanced Instant Recovery Potions were born under his hands. Each successful Advanced Instant Recovery Potion gave him 3 skill proficiency points. After successfully crafting a stack of Advanced Instant Recovery Potions, he put them in a corner of his bag and continued to work hard.

Nie Yan repeated the simple and tedious crafting process. Since the Alchemy Master skill required relatively few skill proficiency points to level up, the speed of improvement was still quite fast.

While Nie Yan was focusing on practicing his Alchemy Master skill proficiency, Chu Chenghao and others had gathered at the entrance of the Carroll City Central Auction House. They planned to team up with Xu Yan and others to level up and practice together first, and then enter dungeons together after they had practiced together.

Including Chu Chenghao, there were a total of thirteen people. Two people had gone to purchase consumables and would be over in a while.

"Xu Yan and the others will be here in a while."

"I heard from Xu Yan that he just applied for Chu Ge to join the Ni Ren Tribe (Amazing People Tribe). I estimate there will be a reply in two days."

Just as they were chatting, seven or eight people walked over from afar.

"It's Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao and the others!"

"It seems Bai Jun didn't come."

Seeing Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao and the others looked hostile, they all became alert. They stood behind Chu Chenghao, facing Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao and the others.

Zhao Shiyu’s gaze swept over Chen Mo and the others, revealing a resentful expression, "I came here to ask you to go back. We were wrong before. Since the team was formed, although we have had some conflicts, the cooperation has been quite pleasant. Do we really have to go our separate ways?"

"Chu Chenghao, I admit that I was too impulsive before and my tone was a bit harsh. I apologize to you. Come back with us. What future do you have following Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu and those scraps? With their level and equipment, can they lead a team well?" Even when Fu Guangtao was apologizing, he was still a bit arrogant.

"Whether the team was happy before, anyone with eyes can see clearly. Zhao Shiyu, you don't need to pretend to be pitiful. We already know exactly what kind of people you are. There's no point in saying more. In the future, you can take your own path, and we'll take our own narrow road." Chu Chenghao didn't show any signs of yielding.

"Damn." Fu Guangtao opened his mouth, wanting to scold Chu Chenghao, but after thinking about it, he suppressed his anger. "You can come back and we can discuss it again. At worst, we won't go to the Spider Cave and continue to stay in the Mysterious Cave. After a while, our equipment will be upgraded, and then we can go to the Spider Cave."

Chu Chenghao was obviously unmoved, and the other team members didn’t show any signs of wanting to go back.

"It's useless no matter how much you say. Go back, we don't care." A team member next to him said disdainfully. They had already seen the true colors of Fu Guangtao and the others.

"This is what you said. I kindly asked you to come back, but you refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. In the future, when you go to dungeons, I, Fu Guangtao, will definitely see you once and kill you once, until you don't dare to leave the city. I mean what I say." Fu Guangtao revealed a fierce expression. His backing still had a bit of strength.

"Then it depends on whether you have the ability. We'll be with you to the end." Chu Chenghao said with a cold look in his eyes. He wouldn't be easily intimidated.

"Do you think Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu and those scraps can protect you?" Fu Guangtao sneered.

"We'll see if you have the ability to kill us until we don't dare to leave the city." Just then, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu and the others walked over.

Hearing this voice, Fu Guangtao turned his head, wanting to say some harsh words, but his gaze fell on the equipment of Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu and the others, and he fell into a daze.