Chapter 3: Death Knight, I Am the Lord of the Undead!
Outside the town at moonset.
As far as the eye could see, the city lay in ruins—smoke billowing, devastation everywhere, like a hell on earth.
Strange, mutated creatures roamed the wreckage without restraint, casting predatory glances at passing players.
Dark clouds churned overhead, lightning flashing and thunder roaring.
The scent of death hung thick in the air.
Cutting through the ruins, Lu Ming arrived at the level 1-5 wild zone: Shadow Forest.
Within the vast forest, many level 1-3 players who had accepted the quest "Who Stole the Ring" were grouped in threes and fives, hunting the forest monsters: Jungle Spiders.
As novices, each dealing barely 3 or 4 points of damage, even attacking the spiders in groups wasn’t easy.
Lu Ming skirted past them toward the far edge of Shadow Forest.
Only when no other players were in sight did he come to a halt.
A low, guttural roar sounded.
Before him appeared a giant spider as large as a fully grown bull, covered in thick black fur.
Lu Ming cast a scouting spell.
[Jungle Spider] (Physical Type · Common Monster)
Level: 1
Physical Attack: 4
Armor: 1
Magic Resistance: 0
Speed: 1
Health: 50
Skill: Venom (F Rank)
Description: A spider corrupted by dark forces, extremely aggressive. Beware—its venom can corrode your flesh at any moment...
A hiss—
Thick green acid dripped from its gaping maw, rapidly corroding the ground beneath and rising in wisps of blue smoke.
Usually, novice players entering the Abyss for the first time would need three to seven days to adapt to such terrifying foes.
But Lu Ming, having died once before, felt no fear.
Drawing his sword, expressionless, he stepped forward.
With a deft sidestep, he narrowly avoided the spider’s long-range venom spray and closed in, sword flashing as he struck.
Slash!
Green blood splattered.
A blood-red damage number flashed above the spider’s head—
-5!
Before summoning a Death Warrior with his "Soul Slash" talent, Lu Ming endured some discomfort.
He was prepared—after all, as a Formation Trickster, he was a support class, not relying on heavy damage.
The spider shook its head and counterattacked.
It lunged forward with its gaping jaws.
Lu Ming retreated, dodging the bite, and struck again.
-5!
Slash!
Slash!
-5!
-5!
Despite five years of experience in physical agility and combat from his past life, Lu Ming still had to exert considerable effort to slay the jungle spider.
A mournful howl echoed as the spider collapsed, twitching twice before going still.
[Ding~] You have killed a level 1 Jungle Spider. Experience +1.
Suddenly, a silver glow shimmered over the spider’s corpse.
At the same time, a prompt appeared before Lu Ming.
[Ding~] Would you like to refine the Jungle Spider?
Delighted, Lu Ming immediately chose to refine.
The next moment, the spider’s body evaporated into a swirl of starlight, drifting into Lu Ming’s hand and vanishing.
[Ding~] You have gained 1 Soul Power!
Simultaneously, a summoning panel materialized before him.
It displayed: Current consumption: 1 Soul Power to summon a level 1 Death Warrior.
Lu Ming clicked summon.
In an instant—
Rumble!
A three-meter-high vortex of shadows tore open the space before him, materializing into a figure.
A dark warrior clad in heavy metal black armor, wielding an iron sword, stepped from the swirling portal.
Beneath his fully enclosed helm, his eyes glowed with an eerie blue light.
His entire being exuded the aura of a death-bringer from hell.
Under his gaze, Lu Ming felt as if he were staring death itself in the face.
The Death Warrior’s presence was suffocatingly powerful.
Then, to Lu Ming’s surprise, the Death Warrior knelt on one knee, showing absolute obedience to his master.
[Death Warrior] (Level 1)
Master: Nether
Level: 1 (synchronized with master)
Strength: 3
Agility: 1
Spirit: 1
Constitution: 1
Endurance: 1
Physical Attack: 3
Armor: 1
Magic Resistance: 1
Speed: 1
Mana: 20
Health: 60
Skills: None
Because it was only a level 1 minion, mass-produced and low-tier, its stats seemed unimpressive.
Yet, as numbers and quality increased, Lu Ming’s Death Legion, empowered by his ten-star Formation Trickster talents, would become invincible and unstoppable!
Most importantly: having summoned the first Death Warrior meant Lu Ming’s dawn was near.
“Let’s test the strength of this ten-star talent!”
[War Stomp]—
With a flash!
Lu Ming planted his longsword into the ground, and a red aura radiated outward from his feet.
Amplified tenfold by [Comprehensive Enhancement], a massive formation with a radius of 500 yards instantly enveloped the entire Shadow Forest, bathing the ground in blood-red hues.
To avoid drawing too much attention, Lu Ming quickly adjusted the skill’s visual effect range to normal.
The 500-yard super aura shrank back to 50 yards visually, though its effect still covered the full 500 yards.
Even so, the brief flash of the skill’s effect caught the attention of players leveling in the forest.
“What was that flicker on the ground just now?”
“Damn! Who just cast a forbidden spell?”
Meanwhile, Lu Ming commanded the Death Warrior: “Go kill monsters.”
The Death Warrior gripped his iron sword and charged at a nearby level 1 Jungle Spider.
Slash!
His first strike landed hard.
-38!
The tenfold amplified War Stomp granted allies an attack bonus of (Formation Trickster’s 100% Attack + 30).
Combined with Lu Ming’s 6 attack points, the Death Warrior received an additional 36 points, pushing his attack power from 3 to 39!
This single blow cut away over half the Jungle Spider’s health, which had only 1 armor point.
Before the spider could even react, the Death Warrior struck again.
-38!
Where Lu Ming had taken a considerable time to slowly whittle down the spider, the Death Warrior felled it in just two blows!
This power rivaled that of a fully armored level 5 player.
The kill reward was credited to Lu Ming as the master.
[Ding~] You have killed a level 1 Jungle Spider. Experience +1!
Lu Ming repeated the process, refining the corpse and using the gained Soul Power to summon a second Death Warrior.
Under his command, the two Death Warriors hunted automatically.
Almost all the outskirts of Shadow Forest were populated by level 1 Jungle Spiders.
With War Stomp’s boost, the Death Warriors dispatched them with two sword strikes each.
Thus, the Death Warriors harvested kills while Lu Ming refined souls.
[Ding~] You have killed a level 1 Jungle Spider. Experience +1!
[Ding~] Refinement successful. Soul Power +1!
[Ding~] You have killed a level 1 Jungle Spider. Experience +1!
[Ding~] Refinement successful. Soul Power +1!
[Ding~] You have summoned a level 1 Death Warrior!
[Ding~] You have summoned a level 1 Death Warrior!
Before long, Lu Ming had summoned ten Death Warriors, reaching the maximum number for level 1.
Meanwhile, he had killed ten Jungle Spiders and obtained the quest ring; the current quest was marked as completed.
But Lu Ming did not rush to turn it in.
In the Abyss, most ordinary quests have tiered rewards, usually divided into ten levels.
For instance, this quest’s first tier required killing 10 Jungle Spiders.
The second tier, 30 kills; the third, 50 kills, and so on.
The higher the tier, the richer the rewards.
Each player can only complete each Abyss quest once in their lifetime, so naturally, those with means strive for higher tiers.
Thus, under Lu Ming’s command, the ten Death Warriors advanced in a fan-shaped formation within the War Stomp’s domain, their overwhelming attack power cutting through all opposition like a scourge.
Throughout, Lu Ming did not need to lift a finger—he simply reaped the rewards.
Though the summoning cap was reached, Lu Ming continued refining souls to save up for unlocking more summon slots as he leveled up.
The only drawback was his mana depletion.
With only 20 mana points, he could not sustain War Stomp’s continuous 1 point per second drain.
So, every time his mana was depleted, Lu Ming rested, waiting for his 1 point of spirit to restore 0.1 mana per second, gradually refilling before resuming the hunt.
Unfortunately, unless one was wealthy enough to buy vast amounts of copper, silver, or even gold coins from the marketplace anytime, this was the only way for average players to survive early on.
After all, the 1-level mana/health potions cost three copper coins each—not something everyone could afford.
When Lu Ming reached 30 kills, a pleasant chime sounded.
[Ding~] Congratulations on completing the second tier of the "Who Stole the Ring" quest. Rewards increased: Experience +100, Copper Coins +10, small chance to receive a white-grade equipment!
[Ding~] Continue killing Jungle Spiders to reach 50 kills and unlock the third tier reward!
Under the Death Warriors’ relentless hunt, Lu Ming soon reached 50 and then 70 Jungle Spider kills, achieving the fourth tier.
Rewards upgraded to 250 experience, 30 copper coins, and a high chance of obtaining a white-grade equipment.
At the same time—
A golden light showered down from above Lu Ming’s head.
[Ding~] Congratulations on reaching level 2! All five attributes +1, Mana +10, Health +20, and 3 free attribute points. Next level requires 250 experience!