This was quite unexpected. He had not thought he would reach level 8 at a time like this. Looking around, there was nothing dangerous nearby. Should he spend his skill point first?
He acted as soon as he decided. He immediately had the Skeleton Warriors and Clay Golem form a protective circle, and with a thought, the Book of the Dead appeared in his hand. He opened it slightly. Sigh, which skill should he choose? For a moment, he hesitated. After all, he was now in World of Warcraft mode. He did not know whether the skeleton tactics would still hold up, and Fangs was currently his only presentable skill. The Skeleton Warriors could not exactly show themselves in broad daylight either. What should he do?
The skills in the book that he had not invested in were Bone Shield (summons three rotating bone shields to absorb melee damage for you), Corpse Explosion (selects a monster corpse and makes it explode, damaging nearby enemies), Amplify Damage (curses a group of enemies, increasing the physical damage they receive), and Lesser Blindness (curses a group of monsters, reducing their vision range). As for the other skills, he had put one point into Fangs, one into Skeleton Mastery, two into Raise Skeleton, one into Clay Golem, and one into Venomous Dagger. All of them could still be upgraded.
How about Bone Shield? When traveling around, he kept running into unexpected situations. Take those Murlocs just now—their wooden spears had nearly cost him his life. Yeah, that settled it. After convincing himself, he immediately tapped the gray bone icon in the skill book. A flash of black light passed over it, and it lit up. The casting incantation instantly imprinted itself in his mind. Looking at his personal information again, it had changed. There was now an additional skill—Bone Shield: Summons three rotating bone shields to absorb melee damage for you. Duration: 10 minutes. Mana Cost: 20 points.
He softly recited the incantation, and three white bones rose into the air, each about the size of a rib. They circled his body, spinning without pause. "Damn, this is fucking cool. A must-have for home and travel!" Li Shaolin felt unbelievably stylish and could not help feeling pleased with himself. Having just leveled up, both his mana and stamina had been fully restored. He felt refreshed from head to toe; the fear from last night and the exhaustion from fleeing that morning had vanished completely. There was no way he could sit still. He immediately called his underlings to continue onward. The two Skeleton Warriors, whose bones had been broken in several places after their bloody battle, had also been restored to perfect condition by his level-up, their bones gleaming white. There was even less need to mention the Clay Golem. Though it had been placed in the rear to block arrows, it had been absorbing the power of the earth to recover all along and had not suffered the slightest injury. Thus, their footsteps resumed.
After showing off for a while, Li Shaolin began to feel dizzy. The three white bones kept spinning before his eyes, irritating him terribly. "Damn it, this thing doesn't seem very practical! Can't it turn transparent?" As if confirming his words, that deep voice sounded again: Do you require the bone shields to become transparent? Please confirm.
Having heard that voice several times already, Li Shaolin was naturally no longer surprised by its appearance. He nodded calmly. The rotating bone shields immediately spun faster and faster. After circling several times, they completely vanished from sight! Good heavens, it was that magical? Though he could no longer see them, he could still sense that the three bone shields were there.
"Hey, mighty hero, could you help me unlock some storage space?" Li Shaolin immediately asked shamelessly. But after that one sentence, no more voice sounded. No matter how he questioned it, there was no response at all.
After killing more than a dozen lone Murlocs, a winding path appeared ahead of him. It twisted and turned into the woods, and in the distance, a tall building seemed to stand there.
Looking at the two Skeleton Warriors, whose bones had broken in several places again, he took out the Book of the Dead and put them away. He had no idea what material the Book of the Dead was made from or what it contained inside, but the Skeleton Warriors could slowly recover from their injuries after being placed within it. It was truly miraculous.
He had the golem follow behind him, straightened his rumpled clothes, and stepped onto the path.
As the saying went, a mountain might look close but take a horse to death to reach! Though it seemed nearby, he walked for two whole hours and it was already noon. Beneath the blazing sun, Li Shaolin wiped the sweat from his forehead and felt hungry again!
At last, a tall tower appeared before him. Its body was built from massive granite blocks reinforced with Elwynn Ancient Trees. Nearly a hundred meters tall, it surpassed even those towering Elwynn Ancient Trees. A layer of mist wrapped around the entire structure, lending it an unfathomable air of mystery, while broad, heavy steps extended downward all the way to the ground. Several large words were carved into the plaque above the entrance: Azshara's Tower!
"What is this place?" Li Shaolin had no impression of the building at all. Curious, he stepped onto the stairs.
At the entrance, he looked at the enormous stone doors and hesitated. He had no idea what was inside this tower, whether it would be good or bad.
"Creak, creak, creak." As though no one had visited it for a thousand years, the stone doors slowly opened amid swirling dust.
A sweet female voice came from within. "Greetings, traveler. Archmage Seokretus invites you to visit him at the top of the tower!"
What the hell? He heard a voice but did not see anyone for a long time. Just as he was wondering about it, something tugged at his pants. Looking down, he jumped in fright. A tiny female gnome was looking up at him.
"This... is a gnome? She's so cute?" The little gnome had huge, sparkling eyes and wore a tiny outfit. She was unbelievably adorable.
"Ahem, um, you said Archmage Seokretus wants to see me? He is...?" Li Shaolin quickly asked.
"I am the Archmage's servant. You'll know once you follow me upstairs. Of course, your servant may come along as well." The little gnome nodded and beckoned him inside.
"My servant? You mean him?" Li Shaolin pointed at the golem, finding it somewhat amusing, but he still said, "No need. Let him stay outside." With that, he followed the little gnome into the tower.
Spiral staircases wound upward in circles. Quite a few little gnomes bustled about inside the tower, both male and female, some carrying stacks of books while others held various materials. Wooden passageways also branched off from the spiraling stone stairs, connecting every floor to the others.
As he slowly climbed the stairs, Li Shaolin was secretly astonished. They had actually built such a perfect tower using only stone and wood. It was incredible!
After roughly a few minutes, they reached the top of the tower. At that moment, an aged voice rang out. "Fargodeep Mine Owner, welcome!"
"Someone already knows I own the mine? Don't tell me they're here to beg me for money!" Li Shaolin was startled and immediately thought of that. He looked up to find the round tower top filled with bookshelves, with a huge alchemy experiment table in the center. Yet the most eye-catching object was a sky-blue Crystal Ball, which emitted a faint glow that illuminated the surroundings.
A white-haired old man in a sky-blue mage robe was smiling at him.
"Um, Archmage, you wanted to see me?" Li Shaolin asked awkwardly. He felt that the old man's gaze was extremely sharp, as though every one of his secrets, great and small, had been seen through at a glance.
"You needn't be nervous. Come, sit down. Let me introduce myself. I am Archmage Seokreitus, the master of this Mage Tower. Of course, the people of Elwynn Forest prefer to call me the Watcher." The old mage smiled and asked, "Do you know why?" Without waiting for Li Shaolin to answer, he pointed at the blue Crystal Ball beside him. "Because of it!"
Li Shaolin was somewhat confused. He glanced at the Crystal Ball, only to see Seokreitus walk over, take out a Silver Necklace, and gently insert its pendant into a lion statue on the table. Instantly, blue light blazed forth!
After turning cloudy for a moment, the Crystal Ball revealed an image! It was Fargodeep Mine!
The old man recited a short incantation, and the scene slowly began to move. Like a giant eye looking down from the sky, it took in every sight below. Even the Forest Wolves wandering around and the occasional adventurers were all visible.
Good heavens, this was basically a satellite spy camera. Li Shaolin was secretly shocked. This thing was far too high-tech.
Removing the necklace, the old man turned around and said slowly, "This is why I am called the Watcher. Naturally, my purpose is to monitor dangerous things. A few days ago, I discovered that a large number of Ghouls had suddenly flooded out of Fargodeep Mine. After the mages studied the images, we unanimously concluded that it was likely an Army of the Dead summoned by a Death Knight. Later, we received word from Goldshire that someone had acquired ownership of the mine. Therefore, we believed that the knight was connected to you!"
"That's impossible!" Li Shaolin jumped to his feet in agitation. What kind of joke was this? That Death Knight had killed so many Kobolds and, in the process, taken out quite a few adventurers as well. If that crime were pinned on him, he would probably have enough lives to die several times over. The revenge of those adventurers' families alone would be more than enough for him to handle.
"Don't panic. Afterward, we followed you and learned more about you. We discovered that you entered the home of the Skinner Sisters. Of course, hehe, they seem to prefer the sound of human skin being beaten." The old man said this with a teasing tone.
Beat your sister's human skin. Trying to scare me? You dirty old man, maybe you've got something going on with those sisters too! Li Shaolin cursed inwardly, but he did not dare show it.
"Who would have thought that when I checked again this morning, you would already be outside our tower? It was quite unexpected. So I had my servant invite you in for a chat. I just happened to want to ask you for a favor!" the old man continued.
Before you continue