Chapter 349 – Soul Pendant
Nie Yan relied on his experience to navigate the village. He quickly found the general store and stepped inside.
He was greeted by an old goblin shopkeeper in a black gown, who stood about half as tall as the average person. His skin was green and wrinkly. His back was so badly hunched even taking a single step was physically taxing.
Nie Yan was surprised this old goblin’s faction alignment was neutral.
Neutral NPCs also appeared in many high-level towns in the Viridian Empire. They sold a variety of goods and even gave out quests every once in a blue moon. And when war broke out between both factions, they would stand on the sidelines.
Goblin Garnes (Elite): Level 60
The old goblin glanced at Nie Yan, a fathomless light flashing in his eyes.
Nie Yan felt like his every secret was completely exposed. He clutched the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his pocket. This old goblin wasn’t simple. He felt a slight tremble from Bennett’s Journal in his bag, whereupon a gray ball of light rose up from the pages and hovered beside him.
“Dear Customer, how may I help you?” asked Goblin Garnes.
A shop window appeared in front of Nie Yan’s eyes and displayed a variety of goods which included potions, spring water, and bread. He stuffed one of his bags to the brim with consumables, then turned his attention to an item that caught his eye from the start, a blue potion with a strange open-mouthed bottle design. The liquid inside was turbid with chunks of mystery matter floating above its surface.
Nie Yan inspected the potion.
Soul Potion: Unknown Effect
Price: 600 gold
Noticing Nie Yan’s eyes on the potion, Goblin Garnes said, “This is a Soul Potion. Rumours say it allows you to peer into the deepest memories of a deceased soul. It’s sold in many potion shops.”
Nie Yan met eyes with Goblin Garnes whose gaze seemed to pierce his soul.
Nie Yan pondered for a moment before buying a Soul Potion. It was worth the price if it could help him progress in Empress Finas’ quest.
“Objects with souls contain powerful magical power. Necromancers often use them to create sinister magical tools. Youngster, make sure no Necromancer catches sight of that journal of yours,” Goblin Garnes advised.
“Thank you, wise sir,” Nie Yan said respectfully. He reached out and held the ball of light in his palm.
Nie Yan bid Goblin Garnes farewell. He browsed around the other shops in Valitin to see if there were any special items for sale. The goods sold here couldn’t be found on the surface, after all.
Nie Yan found a few other items that caught his eye after browsing through six shops and numerous player-owned stalls.
Soul Pendant (3)
Requirements: 300 Strength
Properties: Adds 50 extra slots of inventory space (consumables only), Night Vision +2, Dark Awareness +3.
Nie Yan bought the Soul Pendant from a Level 45 player. It appeared such trinkets were widespread in the Underworld and could be crafted by Dark Shamans. Since players frequently lost their way in the Underworld, often going days without finding a town to resupply at, the need for inventory space was a lot greater than on the surface. This led to players from the Evil Faction having larger bags and an additional pendant that further increased inventory space.
This Soul Pendant was quite useful. It would free up a lot of inventory space for equipment.
When Nie Yan stepped into a scroll shop, he found Junior Death Wave Scrolls for sale at 2 gold a piece. They required 100 Intelligence to use and dealt 1,000 damage to all living creatures in a 20 meter radius. Naturally, they were ineffective against machine and dark-type creatures.
Fortunately, Nie Yan’s Intelligence had long since surpassed 100 points. These Death Wave Scrolls were of little use in the Underworld because the vast majority of creatures here were of the dark attribute. Despite being sold so cheaply, no one ever bought them. However, if he could bring them back to the surface, they would definitely be useful for levelling, maybe even more so than some high-level scrolls. He planned to stock up on them before returning to the surface.
Nie Yan couldn’t help but lament after learning that bags in the Underworld were much larger than on the surface. If he had known this earlier, he would’ve long since gotten someone to get him some.
Life’s a Drama came to mind. However, Nie Yan didn’t dare to directly contact him. He could only deliver a message by proxy.
“I’m here! What do you need?” Life’s a Drama said while still panting for breath. He had rushed over in a great hurry.
Nie Yan asked Life’s a Drama to head over to Necropolis City and buy him five 50-slot bags. With them, he would have a lot more inventory space. He was a little apprehensive when handing over the gold because he would have zero recourse if Life’s a Drama just took the money and ran. However, Life’s a Drama didn’t betray his trust and returned with the bags shortly after.
Nie Yan’s trust in Life’s a Drama increased. When the opportunity presented itself, he could have Life’s a Drama run small errands for him.
Even though Life’s a Drama was puzzled why Nie Yan didn’t just go and buy the bags himself, he didn’t pry.
Nie Yan chatted with Life’s a Drama for a bit. When he saw the three hours were almost up, he bid Life’s a Drama farewell and followed the stream of players out of the village.
Nie Yan melted in the darkness and headed north.
Nie Yan released his hand to find the ball of light had disappeared. He searched around and and saw it hovering around him.
It had become a lot more active after meeting Goblin Garnes.
“I should go levelling,” Nie Yan mused. At this moment, a mysterious voice rang in his head. The ball of light was constantly urging him north, as if it was trying to guide him somewhere.
Nie Yan followed the ball of light as it led him farther and farther north. It would never stray too far away for him, waiting for him to catch up if he lagged too far behind.
Quest Progress: Under the guidance of Bennett’s Soul, the brave adventurer searches for traces of Empress Finas.
Nie Yan sank into deep thought after seeing this notification. Empress Finas wouldn’t be weak. It probably wasn’t suitable for him to track her down at his current level. However, there was no harm in taking a look. If he encountered danger, he could just teleport away with an Unknown Transfer Scroll. He had brought a full stack of them with him on this trip to the Underworld.
Nie Yan passed through the vast wilderness and arrived at a mountain range, where he wandered aimlessly about for a long time, having lost all sense of direction.
You have discovered Spider Gorge.
Nie Yan looked up ahead and spotted giant spiders roaming around. One of them was crawling in his direction.
Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight.
Rum Spider: Level 60
Health: 2,000/2,000
Spider-type monsters had relatively low health. However, their paralyzing venom was extremely frightening, so many players tended to avoid them if possible. They were some of the most difficult monsters to deal with.
Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold, then fired his crossbow at one of the Rum Spiders.
「Put! Put! Put!」Five bolts struck the Rum Spider in quick succession, whereupon it immediately aggroed onto Nie Yan.
Lil’ Gold intercepted the Rum Spider and blasted it with Dragon Breath.
−823
Nie Yan stood safely behind Lil’ Gold and repeatedly used Undead Rite on the Rum Spider.
Undead Rite has failed!
Undead Rite has failed!
…
The Rum Spider spat out a glob of venom at Lil’ Gold. It sizzled and let out smoke, but it failed to corrode his golden scales.
Thanks to Lil Gold’s strong poison resistance, the Rum Spider’s venom only dealt 321 damage.
Before long, the Rum Spider collapsed dead on the ground.
Nie Yan continued hunting Rum Spiders. He finally succeeded in taking control of one of them with Undead Rite after killing over several dozen. He quickly started expanding his army of spiders.
His levelling speed immediately skyrocketed.
Level 60 mobs surely gave generous experience.
About an hour later, a crisp jingle rang out. Nie Yan had finally reached Level 40. He put all his stat points into Dexterity, then allocated his mastery points into Adept Hands, Dual Wielding, and Dagger Mastery. His health also rose to just over 2,500.
Ever since obtaining the Chapter of Peace and Chapter of Compassion, Nie Yan received a noticeable increase in the amount of health he gained every level.
Lil’ Gold led Nie Yan’s squad of Rum Spiders deeper into Spider Gorge, sweeping away everything in their path.
Nie Yan arrived at the top of a raised rock formation after killing 200 odd Rum Spiders. He looked down at the valley below and saw a dense crowd of Rum Spiders. It was as if a hairy carpet covered the ground.
At times like this, Nie Yan wished he had Tang Yao around. A nicely placed area-of-effect spell was just what he needed, preferably fire magic since it dealt bonus damage to spider-type monsters.
Nie Yan looked around. There were cliff walls all around him. Ordinary players would be forced to clear away these Rum Spiders to get past. However, he could just use the Crawler Ring.
Nie Yan thought for a moment. It wasn’t every day he encountered such a good grinding spot. It would be a waste to leave just like this.
Nie Yan rummaged through his inventory and took out two Advanced Scrolls and five Intermediate Scrolls. I should stock up on more Advanced Scrolls with area-of-effect magic next time.