Chapter Fifty: The Appraisal Scroll

Beep... Beep... The faint sound accompanied by a vibration made Zhao Nan look up in surprise, assuming a listening posture. He and Finina were still in the area of the strange seed monsters, but now dusk had fallen.

It was the system’s voice, as mechanical and emotionless as ever.

“Ding! The number of players with pets has reached the requirement. The pet system is now officially activated. For ways to obtain pets, please refer to the system mail.”

Clearly, only players could hear this announcement. At this moment, what Zhao Nan had long suspected was finally confirmed—Finina was indeed a humanoid pet. Their party status had now changed to that of master and servant.

Within the bracelet’s interface, there was now an additional pet panel, displaying Finina’s portrait. This also represented the pet space, where non-battle pets could be kept on standby.

Zhao Nan had vaguely guessed this day would come long ago. He had no intention of telling Finina about it; muttering softly to himself, he deleted the mail completely. His expression barely changed as he turned to look at the sunset, sighing, “It’s about time we head back.”

His main skill, “Thorny Vines,” had already reached mastery. The time had come for Zhao Nan to challenge the level 10 standard dungeon.

...

In Dongyuan City, apart from the headline-grabbing assassination of the “Blood Shadow” guildmaster, another topic had been the talk of the town these past days—the opening of the level 10 standard dungeon.

The dungeon’s location was formerly the city’s largest cinema. Now it had been transformed into a towering marvel of exotic fantasy architecture, a tower dozens of meters high. Yet the true dungeon lay underground—a labyrinthine maze.

Players needed to find the room where the boss was hiding to complete the dungeon’s first stage. The second stage, naturally, was to defeat the boss.

Even the first stage alone was perilous. Within the maze, besides the boss’s room, there were many chambers containing all sorts of strange things—some treasures, some traps. Opportunities were far fewer than risks. At the dungeon entrance, a massive stone tablet stood with a humane warning:

“Danger lies within. Proceed with caution.”

The level 10 dungeon would open automatically once local players reached level 15, though entry was allowed at level 10.

Already, many bold players—some relying on numbers—had gone in and out several times, only to carry out a few corpses as well. The intelligence released by these pioneers revealed that the labyrinth had five levels. Thus far, they’d cleared the first and were exploring the second.

The standard dungeon was open to the public, but the monsters inside were all at least level 15. Though they did not swarm, each one was as tough as an elite monster. Yet someone had found a treasure room on the first floor, and rumor had it the rewards were tremendous, boosting their power greatly. So, many onlookers gathered, and many adventurers burned with curiosity to try their luck.

“Hey friend, want to team up?” Zhao Nan looked at the young man before him, who nervously sent a team invitation. This was already the third time someone had approached him. Not wanting his name to be known through team formation, Zhao Nan politely declined.

He kept his head down, his brows relaxing quietly like sheathed swords. He and Finina, like most dungeon-goers, were unremarkable in appearance.

It was said that the four guilds of Dongyuan City had already organized groups to explore the dungeon, and word from returning survivors was that all four guilds had made it to the second level, though casualties were unknown.

Such was the advantage of a guild. Ordinary teams could hold at most six people, but a guild could use legion mode, with a beginner guild allowing up to thirty members.

Legion mode also came with a shared guild channel for easier command. In terms of power, coordination, cooperation, and sheer numbers, ordinary six-person teams cobbled together into makeshift alliances were simply inferior.

Here on the first level of the maze, a perfectly square passage stretched out ahead, with many branching paths. Now and then, the sounds of fierce battle echoed through the corridors, the crazed atmosphere palpable.

The entrance to the second level was open, but monsters on the first level would still respawn at set intervals, so latecomers would have to fight their way through all the same.

Zhao Nan noticed a curious mark at several intersections—a guild emblem, boldly painted on the walls, bearing the phrase “End of the World.” He didn’t know whose idea this was, nor their purpose, but “End of the World” was certainly doing a great favor to all who came after. Perhaps, in the future, this would win the guild more goodwill from players.

Gao Mingyang was too straightforward to have come up with such an idea, but whether it was Xu Fei, Gao Xiang, or Xu Feng, Zhao Nan couldn’t tell.

Finina, seeing Zhao Nan staring in a daze at the emblem on the wall, realized he was lost in thought again and idly observed their surroundings.

This was the sixth time they’d seen such a mark. Zhao Nan seemed to have his own route through the maze—some places bore the emblem, others did not. At the previous mark, he’d told her they were halfway through the first level.

“Hey, there seems to be a room up ahead,” Finina pointed down the corridor.

The wall, once smooth and flawless, now featured a door—a striking green door set into the blue-black stone.

Zhao Nan’s heart skipped a beat. In this maze, once a room was opened for the first time, its original location would shift and reappear randomly. Most rooms were light blue, with a fifty-fifty chance of treasure or trap. These green rooms, however, were more likely to contain treasure than danger.

He was familiar with the maze’s paths, but as a latecomer, he rarely encountered such rooms. He hadn’t planned to seek them out, preferring to head straight for the boss.

But this time, luck was on his side.

Zhao Nan’s brows rose, sharp and straight as flying knives, as he strode forward. Since he’d found it, he wouldn’t let the opportunity slip by—the dungeon’s treasures were far superior to the random gear dropped outside.

Finina was even more curious than Zhao Nan. Perhaps because it was her first time encountering such a room, her long lashes trembled with excitement, her eyes wide and unblinking. Playfully, she darted ahead of Zhao Nan, pressing her hands against the door.

Stone Skin Armor.

Zhao Nan tapped her lightly on the back.

A pale yellow glow flashed, and the door creaked open, a sliver of dazzling white light streaming from the gap.

Zhao Nan touched his nose. Such light meant safety—and that treasure awaited within. His luck, it seemed, was improving.

“What a big chest.”

The room was bright as day, about sixty square meters in size, with a single chest half as tall as a person at its center. The edges were inlaid with pale gold filigree, and the chest was unlocked, free to be opened.

“What do you think is inside?” Finina, having long since learned to modulate her emotions, pulled Zhao Nan over, her laughter betraying a hint of excitement.

The joy of opening a treasure chest lay in the mystery—you never knew what might be inside, but the hope of treasure seized your mind and filled you with irresistible curiosity.

Zhao Nan was no exception; his own curiosity piqued. Finina left the chest for him to open, standing aside, round eyes focused and eager.

He leaned his staff against the ground, then reached out, running his fingers along the edge of the chest.

Suddenly, the floor behind him turned to mud.

A surprised “Huh?” sounded at that moment. Zhao Nan spun around, his eyes instantly sharp, swinging his staff horizontally as he turned. The Sighing Scepter seemed to strike something, and then swept through with a suffocating heaviness.

Mud covered most of the room, and from it emerged a long drag mark. Clumps of earth floated in the air, the irregular smears large enough to cover a person’s body. In fact, someone was now gradually materializing from thin air.

The blow had landed hard. The figure revealed a dazed expression, a gleaming dagger half-buried in the mud.

A rogue.

“You... you’re the one wanted by ‘Blood Shadow’!?”

Shock gave way to delight as the man leapt up, cackling maniacally, “Guys, get him! There’s a bounty on his head!”

A shield swordsman, a berserker, a rogue, a mage, a priest, and an archer—this was the most balanced six-person team Zhao Nan had seen so far.

The six blocked the door, sneering coldly, their predatory eyes unpleasantly intense.

Rumble.

The silence of the place meant that any disturbance quickly drew their attention—a wall of ice had suddenly blocked the entrance completely.

“A master-level Ice Crystal Wall!”

The mage’s cry was followed by a much louder scream.

Heavenly Sword Saint, Star Combo, Eighteen Strikes!

Finina’s figure flashed overhead, her longsword slicing a trail of crimson numbers; the rogue collapsed in the mud, his blood turning the sludge bright red.

A one-hit kill—!

The terrifying realization made the remaining five suck in a breath, just as the massive head of a dragon appeared.

Boom—!

...

Zhao Nan tidied his slightly disheveled sleeves and, curious, picked up a pale yellow scroll inlaid with gold from a mage’s corpse.

It was a support skill scroll, usable by any class.

“Appraisal: Identifies any item up to five levels below the player; learnable at level 15.”

Zhao Nan pursed his lips. This was far more valuable than the ten level-one strengthening stones he’d just found in the chest.

Noisy voices echoed from the hallways, excitement carrying in their shouts, sweeping away Zhao Nan’s good mood.

Though the six-man teams couldn’t share a channel, telepathy and mail worked perfectly well outside of fantasy dungeons, with coverage as reliable as any global network.