Proof of the Ghost Spider Slayer

Once Liu Xuan started farming, he completely lost track of time.

It was only when the sky began to brighten and the outline of the town gradually became clear that he realized he had somehow farmed for an entire night.

Dread Nether Spider: Please, just act like a human being! I’ve been struck by lightning all night, for fuck’s sake.

You might as well just let me die…

After dawn broke, Liu Xuan discovered that Mistveil Town was still shrouded in fog.

However, as the sun rose, the fog gradually began to thin.

He immediately grew alert.

When he had arrived in town during the day yesterday, the monsters here had all been Diseased Treants. It was only after night fell and the fog appeared that these spiders began spawning.

Based on normal logic, including the boss, the Dread Nether Spider, these spiders should only appear at night, accompanied by the fog.

Could it be that they would disappear once the fog completely dissipated?

Liu Xuan thought that was very likely.

He glanced at his attributes. He had farmed quite enough for one night. Perhaps he should let the boss off this time.

Well, let it go reincarnate.

So, when the boss’s health dropped below 30% and it fled, Liu Xuan quickly finished off all the smaller monsters.

When the boss returned, its health was just above 30%—only a little over a hundred thousand HP. It simply couldn’t withstand Liu Xuan’s damage, and its health bar was soon emptied as it collapsed before him.

Unfortunately, no matter how carefully Liu Xuan tried to control things, he still couldn’t kill it with Thunder Aura in the end.

The boss’s Heaven’s Net skill had an enormous area of effect, practically covering the entire town.

Everyone within its range was slowed by 60%.

In other words, Liu Xuan was constantly affected by the boss’s control skill. There was no way for him to avoid applying damage-over-time effects to the boss.

Including the lightning strikes, there were four different sources of damage. Which one got the killing blow was purely a matter of luck.

They were all passive effects, so there was nothing he could do about it.

Still, the massive amount of experience he gained from killing the boss allowed Liu Xuan to level up once again.

Name: Liu Xuan

Faction: Human Empire (Blue Star Huaxia)

Class: Pacifist

Level: 24

Strength: 71

Agility: 359

Intelligence: 4257

Free Attribute Points: +111

Armor: 200

Magic Resistance: 100

Health: 545,714/545,714

Experience: 4,238/30,500

Skills: Giant’s Blood, Plague Source, Corpse Explosion, ... Thunder Aura, Return in Kind, Ominous Spread

The attributes that had increased the most were, naturally, Intelligence and Health.

In just one night, his Intelligence had increased by more than 2,000 points, while his health had risen by 200,000.

Even without considering how much the damage from Fear, Poison, Corpse Explosion, and the other effects had increased as a result, one look at Liu Xuan’s current recovery speed was enough to show just how terrifying the gains from this night had been.

Out of combat, he recovered 54,000 health every five seconds!

In combat, he recovered 27,000 health every five seconds!

Unless the enemy had some means of preventing healing, Liu Xuan couldn’t even imagine how he could die.

Just standing there, his recovery speed was no different from soaking in a healing spring.

Furthermore, including the Diseased Treants and Sentinel Spiders he had farmed earlier, he had leveled up a total of three times this night. He still hadn’t had the time to assign the 111 free attribute points he had received.

Oh, right. He still had a passive skill to draw.

But when he saw the enormous treasure chest dropped by the Dread Nether Spider before him, Liu Xuan rubbed his hands together.

Why not open the chest first today?

If something good came out, he would be happy. If not, he could treat it as preparation for drawing the passive skill later.

What a pity there was no option to play music in this battlefield. Otherwise, every time he opened a treasure chest or drew a passive skill, he would have to play a “battle song.”

Liu Xuan placed his hand on the treasure chest, took a breath, and then suddenly lifted the lid. A flash of golden light instantly dazzled him.

One hundred gold coins!

“So that’s… hmm, 7.7 Zhang Mengs.”

Not bad, not bad.

Liu Xuan did the math in his head and happily collected the coins.

The next thing that caught his eye was a pair of gloves.

Silk-Spraying Gauntlets

Quality: Epic

Level Requirement: 25

Agility: +30

Intelligence: +25

Health: +300

Armor: +50

Effect: Grants an active skill, Web: Sprays a web at an enemy, preventing the target from moving for three seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute.

As an Epic item, its attributes were naturally quite good—far better than much of the equipment Liu Xuan was currently wearing.

As for the active skill it granted, it was exactly the same as the skill possessed by the Sentinel Spider, but Liu Xuan couldn’t use it.

That didn’t matter. The attributes alone were enough.

After putting on the gauntlets, Liu Xuan continued looking inside the chest.

There was another piece of equipment inside: a pair of boots.

Mistveil Boots

Quality: Epic

Level Requirement: 25

Agility: +33

Health: +200

Armor: +40

Effect: While moving, creates a cloud of dense fog behind you that blocks enemies’ vision. The fog has no effect on you.

“This thing might actually come in handy in certain situations,” Liu Xuan thought.

For example, if he didn’t want certain monsters to reach him too quickly, he could use the fog to kite them, buying himself at least a second or two.

Of course, there was no guarantee he would ever encounter such a situation.

It was similar to those strange items in some games. Whether an item was useful depended on whether you encountered the right situation—and whether you could remember to use the item when you did.

Liu Xuan had once obtained a pair of shoes like that in a game. Their only effect was making the character model look slightly taller. They added no attributes whatsoever.

Under normal circumstances, they were completely useless.

But skilled players could use them to exploit bugs, allowing them to jump onto terrain that was normally impossible to reach.

…

After putting on the boots as well, Liu Xuan looked at the last few items in the chest.

One familiar-looking, golden page caught his attention.

Proof of the Ghost Spider Slayer: Offer this to an altar somewhere to prove your combat achievements. You may receive some extraordinary rewards.

Liu Xuan was somewhat surprised. This was exactly the same as the Salamander Slayer’s Proof he had obtained previously, except that “Salamander” had been replaced with “Ghost Spider.”

However, he still had no idea where the so-called altar was.

The village chief had previously said that this item was related to a military corps specializing in hunting monsters. However, information about it could only possibly be found in the library of a large city to the north.

There was no point hoping for anything from Orenburg. Liu Xuan had searched all over the city before and hadn’t seen more than a few buildings that were still intact.

The entire city was filled with traces left by raging fires. Even if there had been a library there, it had most likely already been reduced to ashes.

He just didn’t know whether the cities farther north had managed to preserve those records.

After putting away the proof, Liu Xuan discovered another sheet of paper beneath it. This one was made of much plainer material and was covered in densely written text.

He picked it up and saw that its name was The Last Letter of the Mayor of Mistveil Town.

After reading it from beginning to end, Liu Xuan realized that it seemed to be a clue for a side quest.

Every night, a thick fog descends on Mistveil Town, accompanied by countless spider monsters.

But the locals have a special way of defending themselves.

In a nearby mine, there are monsters whose bodies yield a kind of stone known as Radiant Sunstone.

As long as the stone is ground into powder and mixed into lamp oil, lighting it will drive away the fog.

With the mist gone, the spiders can no longer harass the town.

That is how the black lampposts surrounding Mistveil Town came to be. According to the letter, if they can be relit, this place could become a safe zone.

There’s no need to hurry, though. Once the others arrive, we can take our time and deal with it.

Put away the letter. Beneath the chest, there’s one final item.