The Despicable Player

The towering Dungeon Guardian began to advance. With a steady, muffled thud, it stepped toward Xiao Yang. The tunnel was far too narrow, both in distance and in width.

This Dungeon Guardian was nothing like an ordinary skeleton, a Skeleton Warrior, or even the Skeleton Warrior on the first floor of the Skeleton Dungeon. In every way, it was on another level.

It was only a skeleton that had climbed back to its feet. Its condition was clearly at rock bottom. Yet the moment it began to walk, the moment it came toward you, it somehow exuded an oppressive force that left you struggling to breathe!

Xiao Yang drew a deep breath in the narrow corridor, in this dangerous situation.

But so what? I'll defeat you!

The thought leaped into Xiao Yang's mind, and just like that, he broke free of the suffocating pressure.

He yanked the Unstable Life Essence Concoction from his waist and hurled it at the Dungeon Guardian. A tremendous explosion rang out, and the shock wave filled the corridor with pink mist—a cloying haze carrying an indescribable stench.

Yes, it was a very difficult smell to describe. It was like a corpse, like Life Essence in extreme abundance. Once these highly compressed essences were released all at once, they took on this state.

A cloying stench like that of a corpse. Fortunately, at least in terms of its effect, this extreme abundance and high degree of compression hadn't turned the Life Essence into some kind of deadly poison.

Amid the blast, the abundant pink mist gave Xiao Yang two rounds of recovery checks.

As the Wind of Life blew, a large amount of health was restored!

As the Wind of Life blew, a large amount of health was restored!

Within the Life Field, a small amount of health was being restored!

Two massive recovery checks, and a constant trickle of small health checks!

For Xiao Yang, a living person, the cloying pink mist brought recovery and healing. But for the Dungeon Guardian, which belonged to the undead, this Life Essence mist was the deadliest poison.

The already-slow Dungeon Guardian grew even slower. Each step it took now came with a creaking sound, and its whole body was stained a shade of peach pink.

But it didn't stop. It wasn't enough. One Unstable Life Essence Concoction couldn't completely bring down this powerful enemy, weakened though it was.

Fortunately, Xiao Yang had prepared plenty.

One Unstable Life Essence Concoction after another went flying.

It was a despicable tactic, with no glory in it at all. But Xiao Yang didn't mind being despicable. He was a player, and players didn't care about honor or fairness. Ambushes, specialized items, calling in reinforcements, using the terrain—whatever it took to defeat a powerful enemy was fair game.

Step by step, the weakened Dungeon Guardian still failed to reach Xiao Yang. It never managed to swing even a single attack at him. In that pathetic state, surrounded by the spreading pink mist, it crashed to the ground not far from Xiao Yang.

It all turned out to be much easier than Xiao Yang had imagined. Or perhaps he'd simply been too ruthless, too dishonorable.

All right, time to reap the rewards. But Xiao Yang wasn't feeling so composed anymore. In the short time that had passed, he felt as if the cloying pink mist had seeped into his very being. The panel didn't say that the Unstable Life Essence Concoction harmed normal creatures.

Still, he felt like this stuff was practically some kind of poisonous gas once it reached a high enough concentration.

Daring not to stay there a moment longer, he remembered to loot the body. He reached out and grabbed at the Dungeon Guardian's remains, sprawled pitifully in the corridor. A flash of purple light appeared in his hand. Without time to examine it, Xiao Yang stuffed all the loot into his Personal Backpack, then ran straight for the end of the corridor.

Just then, as Xiao Yang sprinted toward the corridor's end, a small figure suddenly darted out of his shadow. Its little hand scooped up something from among the Dungeon Guardian's remains, and a flash of purple light appeared in its grasp. It tucked the prize against its chest.

At the same time, an ear-piercing sizzling sound came from the little creature. A Life Field of this concentration was deadly to all undead beings. Fortunately, unlike the unlucky Dungeon Guardian, the little creature didn't have to endure it head-on. It vanished into the shadows again in an instant.

Huangzhu Village.

This was a small town nestled at the edge of the mountains. At that moment, strange noises came from a two-story house that had stood quiet for a long time, with a bamboo grove behind it.

Clutching his nose, Xiao Yang stumbled out of the basement and collapsed on the floor, utterly hopeless. From head to toe, his entire body was tinged pink. He'd been thoroughly steeped in it.

He silently made up his mind: if he could help it, he'd use the Unstable Life Essence Concoction less in the future. It did no Physical Damage, but the mental damage was something else.

He lifted his head. Xiao Yang had returned to his own home once more, beneath the yellowed ceiling.

Over the past month, while sleeping on the hard, cold floor with a long, hard, cold stone brick for a pillow, Xiao Yang had thought countless times about returning home and eating a steaming bowl of noodles. But now that he was really back, he inexplicably felt a little uneasy.

He hurriedly raised his head and looked behind him. The basement door stood open, revealing the deep, cold corridor, and the patch of pink at its far end, created when he casually tossed those dangerous items.

The past month hadn't been a dream. He was back at his old home, but the Skeleton Dungeon was still quietly there, its entrance connected to his basement.

All right, all right. Now he could relax. Xiao Yang nodded, then promptly toppled over onto the floor, completely motionless.

All in all, Xiao Yang had learned his lesson! He absolutely couldn't trust the God Game's panel descriptions too easily!

Although the God Game hadn't actually hidden anything. Xiao Yang's current state wasn't poisoning; he'd simply been over-healed. Or, to put it in more understandable terms, he'd received such intense, excessive healing that his body couldn't tolerate it.

His eyes were rolling back in his head. If the Dungeon Guardian had fallen even a little later, Xiao Yang would have been the one to collapse in the corridor from healing sickness.

This state wasn't harmful in essence. It might even have benefits. But if Xiao Yang had to give it a rating, he'd have some choice words for the God Game!

Trait gained: Life Infusion.

Life Infusion: Life Recovery +1.

Of course, that wasn't the only trait Xiao Yang gained. What had happened when he reached the Myriad Worlds Trading Area happened all over again.

Dungeon Delver activated...