Ancient Civilization Ruins

Chapter 18: Ancient Civilization Ruins (Please Collect, Please Follow~)

Mu Yuan clicked to view the Undead Bone Emperor's panel.

After a night of cultivation, the Undead Bone Emperor had also risen one level, now at Zero Order Level 4.

"Regular units take about a full day to go from Level 3 to Level 4, and the Undead Bone was only just LV3 yesterday at noon."

"Its leveling speed was already fast, and now it's even faster."

"Sure enough, after evolving to Rare One Star, the Undead Bone's leveling speed has seen a significant boost."

The increase was only in speed; the Soul Sand consumed couldn't be saved in the slightest.

But this was still something many players—no, many Whale Players—dreamed of.

At this point, the Undead Bone could easily shoot and kill a Great Goblin from two hundred meters away.

Mu Yuan looked at the Goblin Camp on the map, pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"Not a good idea."

"Right now, the Undead Bone, leading some Skeleton Soldiers and Little Skeletons, does have the ability to capture this camp."

"However, why not wait a bit longer, evolve more Skeleton Soldiers, and then crush the Goblin Camp with absolute superiority?"

Of course, the Goblin Camp was too close to the territory, a troublesome threat that should be eliminated as soon as possible if the capability existed.

Mu Yuan hadn't forgotten the grudge from last night when the goblins raided his weak territory.

The goblins had already earned their death.

For the Undead Bone to continue evolving, it needed a full 25 units of Evolution Points.

In the short term, the Undead Bone wouldn't gain a new form, so Mu Yuan shifted his focus to evolving more Skeleton Soldiers.

Little Skeletons were mid-to-low among one-star units, quite lackluster, but Skeleton Soldiers were top-tier among three-star units.

They were fearless, and they were highly versatile.

Mu Yuan's own Skeletons even had the Cleave skill, making it no problem for them to solo units of the same star rating one or two levels higher.

"Today is the third day in the game. Under the Undead Bone's guidance, Bone Two has finally grasped some insight into Cleave... It might be able to master this skill by the end of the day."

"Thus, the territory gains another minor general."

Mu Yuan silently counted the Evolution Points.

Early in the morning, the Evolution Points had accumulated to over two units, so he smoothly evolved two more Skeleton Soldiers. Following convention, he named them 'Bone Four' and 'Bone Five'.

The Skeleton Soldier squad was gradually growing.

But the bad news was that Mu Yuan's 'bug exploit' plan had failed.

He tried taking away the rusty Chopping Knife from a Little Skeleton, and sure enough, the knife wasn't optimized during evolution, but the cost was that more Evolution Points were consumed.

Trade-offs.

It could be exploited when necessary, but doing it constantly would be more loss than gain.

The new day, Mu Yuan continued leading the team on expeditions.

He left Bone Two and Bone Four to guard the city, took the Undead Bone and the other two, along with a few Little Skeletons, and ventured into the wilderness, continuing to slaughter wildly alongside the Undead Bone.

However, he avoided the Goblin Camp on the North Side and instead headed south, exploring the pitch-black South Side and East Side, building up resources for the campaign against the Goblin Camp.

Inside the dense Giant Forest, Mu Yuan, flanked by two Skeleton Soldiers on left and right, advanced cautiously and slowly.

Further out, a few Little Skeletons served as both a show of force and bait.

Crack~!

A Little Skeleton stepped on the ground, snapping a Dry Branch with a crisp sound.

The noise immediately drew the attention of nearby beasts. The bushes rustled, and within moments, several Gray Wolves burst from the underbrush, only to be surrounded by the more numerous and more terrifying Little Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers.

Gray Wolves: "Σ(дlll)"

They passed peacefully.

Sweeping up the dropped Soul Sand like a whirlwind, Mu Yuan quickly relocated. This routine was becoming second nature to him.

He glanced between the map and his character's field of view, constantly switching between interfaces.

Suddenly, The Undead Bone, scouting at the front, raised its right hand in a clenched fist.

"Situation? Might be a strong enemy?"

Mu Yuan didn't know what was happening, but he trusted the Undead Bone's judgment. He immediately ordered the other Skeletons into a silent state.

He himself slowly moved forward.

There was no other choice; the other Skeletons lacked self-awareness, swaggering as they walked, utterly incapable of stepping lightly over Dry Branches and fallen leaves.

Deathbone could.

Mu Yuan... could too.

When he used the computer to control the game character, even though there were only a few limited control keys—up, down, left, right, attack, jump, crouch—he discovered that as his consciousness fluctuated, the game character would also make corresponding movements.

For example, flicking the Little Skeleton on the forehead.

For example, quietly parting the bushes, holding his breath, and inching forward bit by bit.

Before long, Mu Yuan arrived beside Deathbone and, following its pointing direction, peered through the gaps in the leaves.

His eyes went wide.

"This is..."

A tower over ten meters tall, steeped in the vicissitudes of history, half-hidden among the dense forest in the distance.

There was a huge hole at the top of the tower, and the outer stone walls were covered in moss and vines. Even so, Mu Yuan could still faintly make out the exquisite carvings on the tower's exterior and the gems adorning it—gems that, though dimmed, still seemed extraordinary.

"This is an ancient building."

"But deep in the wilderness, why would there be a structure so full of the marks of civilization?"

After being baptized by the forums and the Player Association, Mu Yuan was no longer a complete newbie.

The Eternal Continent did indeed have nations and civilizations. However, civilization lay in the continent's heartland, while the place where they, as newbie lords, were born was outside civilization—a barbaric wilderness rarely trodden by humans, teeming with monsters.

But precisely because the newbie lords were in the wilderness, the surrounding areas were undeveloped and full of treasures.

On the other hand, many Old Players who stayed in the heart of human civilization would, after a month of hard grinding, barely scrape together any Soul Sand or Remnant Souls.

Newbie lords were in a dangerous position, and the trials were hard to pass.

But from another angle, if more and more newcomers could gain a foothold and build up their territories, that meant human civilization had pushed one step further into the boundless wilderness, gaining more strategic depth.

In such a remote, uninhabited wilderness, the existence of a tower full of historical charm was quite astonishing.

Of course, the ruined village where new players initially spawned didn't count as a trace of civilization.

That was the 'initial stronghold' every new player had.

The wooden structures built by the goblins to the north, full of primitive flavor, didn't count as civilization either.

"There's a rumor that the Eternal Continent once had a very brilliant ancient civilization, but it was later destroyed by a great calamity. After that, players were chosen by the World Great Will and descended to the Eternal World to rebuild civilization."

"Of course, that's just a legend. Whether it's true or not is debatable."

Seeing a civilized structure deep in the wilderness, Mu Yuan naturally had the urge to go and investigate.

Maybe he could find a precious treasure.

Some Old Players had also summarized: the stranger and more unusual the place, the more likely it was to contain high-level treasures.

But at the same time, such places often held great danger.

Therefore, Mu Yuan had no impulse to approach.

He looked at Deathbone.

Deathbone clicked and whispered to him.

Soon, Mu Yuan spotted the target Deathbone was pointing at—a monster that looked like a statue, entirely gray-black, with a ferocious face and a pair of bat-like wings folded behind its back.

It seemed like just an Inanimate Object, but according to Deathbone's judgment, they were alive and quite troublesome.

If there weren't a dozen or so Skeleton Warriors throwing bone spears at the same time, it didn't recommend attacking.

Be cautious.jpg!

Mu Yuan's expression was also grave.

At this distance, he couldn't get any information about the distant statue monsters, but Mu Yuan, who had already paid to purchase intelligence materials like 'Common Monster Encyclopedia' and 'Monster Compendium', recognized the monsters at a glance.

The legendary rare-grade monster: Gargoyle!

And there was far more than one.

"One, two, three... at least eight Gargoyles."

"Their grade is rare, and their level might even be Professional Grade. Can't provoke them, absolutely can't provoke them."

"Why would such strong monsters exist near a newbie's territory? This doesn't make sense!"

"Time to scram, time to scram!"

Mu Yuan followed his inner choice and retreated quickly.

He coveted the Ruined Tower protected by the Gargoyles, but he was even more aware of how terrifying Gargoyles were. Logically, there shouldn't be such strong monsters near a normal newbie's territory.

The Eternal World was, after all, not a real game; all sorts of accidents happened.

Sometimes even veteran players would die for no reason.

Players who encountered such accidents could only chalk it up to bad luck.

The Gargoyles seemed to be in a deep sleep, but Mu Yuan had no intention of testing them. He left decisively.

On his map, he marked this area with a red "X". He'd settle this score another day.

"Compared to these terrifyingly powerful Gargoyles, goblins and Great Goblins are definitely sheep-level monsters."

"Indeed, the waters of the Eternal Continent run deep. Let's go deal with the Goblin Camp we can actually handle."

Deathbone nodded in profound agreement.

Thanks to 'He Who Speaks Differently' for the tip~