Level 10, Evolve Again!

Suddenly, the text on the system panel became garbled, twisting and flashing wildly before disappearing completely.

"?"

Pipi Axe looked at his boss's dazed expression and tentatively waved a bone hand in front of Su Li's eyes.

Pipi Finger was even more direct, climbing onto Su Li's shoulders with his five fingers, trying to wake up his disconnected master.

After a long while…

"Hoo—" Su Li's Soulfire flickered violently.

He looked around blankly.

"What did I just see?" Su Li instinctively tried to recall the scene from that moment.

However, a sharp pain immediately shot through the depths of his soul.

The pain wasn't physical, but a collapse on a cognitive level.

His memory felt like it had been forcibly erased by an eraser, leaving only a blurry, distorted patch of color.

The only impression was red, an endless expanse of red constantly clashing, devouring, and tearing at another, even more frenzied red.

That war, which transcended dimensions, had nearly shattered his soul on the spot with just a glimpse of its aftermath.

"Hiss…" Su Li clutched his head, the color of his Soulfire turning increasingly scarlet from the pain.

"Forget it, I won't think about it." A moment later, Su Li decisively gave up.

"This game actually has a memory-clearing function? What kind of black technology is this? Is it to prevent players from reaching zero SAN Value?"

Since he couldn't remember, it meant he wasn't qualified to know yet.

He turned around and looked at the place he had just climbed up from.

The large hole Pipi Dragon had smashed, and the abyss below, had now vanished. The original Corruption Pool had returned, as if everything that had happened was just his hallucination.

[Congratulations! Successfully explored… Congratulations on leveling up! Lv9 → Lv10 (0/24800)]

[Gained Free Attribute Points: 3, Current Free Attribute Points: 6]

Su Li stared at the system prompt, stunned.

"What exactly happened down there? How did I level up?"

Before he could ponder further, an even more prominent golden prompt box popped up, occupying his entire field of vision.

[Detected player has reached Lv10, Race: Revered Corrupted Skeleton Soldier]

[Retrieving evolution paths…]

[Retrieval complete. As the first Skeleton player on the server to reach Lv10, you have triggered a special evolution branch.]

"I can evolve!" Su Li's Spirit surged, and the headache from before vanished without a trace.

This was the second major evolution! It was bound to be a qualitative leap!

[Option One: Revered Corrupted Lich Knight]

[Description: Death is not the end, corruption is also rebirth. You have broken the boundaries between Warrior and Caster, perfectly fusing the power of the body with the magic of the soul.]

[Attribute Bonus: Strength +10, Spirit +15, Faith +15]

[Passive Trait: Corruption Bed upgraded. Magic in the left hand, combat skills in the right. When spellcasting and melee attacks are alternated, damage is mutually amplified by 15%.]

[Disguise: As a Lich, you have mastered the basic Arcana of reshaping Flesh and Blood. Compared to a Skeleton, your appearance will be slightly more human-like.]

[Special Unlock: Retinue Knight (0/2). Your contracted Undead will gain the qualification to evolve alongside you.]

[Option Two: Heavy Skeleton Knight]

[Description: A defense-specialized iron fortress. There is nothing a Shield can't block. If there is, then use two.]

[Attribute Bonus: Strength +10, Physique +30]

[Passive Trait: Ultimate Guard: When equipping greatshield-type weapons, Block Value increases by 50%. Tank: HP cap increases by 30%, and there is a chance to forcibly retain 1 HP when taking fatal damage.]

[Special Unlock: Retinue Knight (0/2).]

[Option Three: Revered Corrupted Skeleton Swordsman]

[Description: A swordsman pursuing ultimate speed. All martial arts are broken by speed.]

[Attribute Bonus: Strength +10, Agility +20, Spirit +5, Physique +5]

Su Li's gaze swept across the three options, then locked firmly onto Option One.

"Slightly more human-like!" This perfectly matched the upgrade path he had planned for himself!

"And Lich Knight sounds incredibly cool. Staff in the left hand, greatsword in the right. That's the romance of a man!"

"But I need to play it safe before evolving!" Su Li skillfully beckoned Pipi Finger.

Su Li lay down contentedly. "I feel like I'm getting more and more skilled at burying myself…"

As the soil covered his vision, Su Li entered the evolution loading phase.

"Ten minutes left. Might as well browse the forums while I'm free."

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

The group chat was quiet. That chatty spider and the slime were probably busy leveling up, so they weren't making any noise.

He casually refreshed "Latest," and a sensational post caught his eye.

[Most Unlucky Player: Shocking! Everyone, please don't die! The death penalty is too severe! A lesson learned in blood and tears!]

Su Li's eyebrows shot up, and he clicked on it.

OP: "Brothers, I'm screwed. I might be the first player in the server to truly die.

I'm telling you from personal experience, don't! Don't! Don't court death!

The death penalty in this game isn't as simple as losing levels or equipment; it's a full account deletion and restart!

What's more, you have to face a 30-day real-time death penalty period, during which you can't create a new character or log into the game!

In other words, I have to serve a month in jail before I can play again!"

Second Floor: "Holy crap? Is that true? Account deletion plus a month-long ban? That's too hardcore!"

OP: "Absolutely true! I'm trying to contact Eternal Technology's customer service right now, but it turns out this crappy company doesn't even have a customer service phone number on their official website! Nowhere to complain!"

Fourth Floor: "Can you tell us how you died, OP? This game's realism is so high, I barely dare to mess around."

OP: "That's a long story..."

Sixth Floor: "Then make it short. We don't want you to just pad your word count!"

OP: "Alright, well, out of curiosity, I climbed up to the village septic tank. Then my foot slipped..."

Seventh Floor: "..."

Eighth Floor: "A wolf, and a smelly death at that."

Ninth Floor: "Rest in peace, OP. Next life, remember to stay away from cesspools when you reincarnate."

Su Li stared at the post, his mouth twitching uncontrollably. "The players this generation are truly full of talent."

He silently closed the rather... fragrant post, but his vigilance was raised to the highest level.

The severity of the penalty was practically enough to make people quit, but it was precisely because of this that the game captivated him so much.

"Looks like I need to be more cautious from now on. Absolutely no reckless plays."

Just then, the system prompt sounded, [Evolution countdown ended.]

"Buzz—" The light enveloping him gradually dissipated...

However, before he could check his changes.

"Sizzle—Sizzle—" The entire world suddenly trembled violently.

Then, the entire Corrupted Cave, and even the entire Aiseland Continent, seemed to have been put on pause.

"What's going on?!" Su Li found he couldn't move. He turned to look at Pipi Axe and the others, only to see them frozen like statues.

Immediately after, a line of announcements appeared before Su Li.

[System Announcement: To provide a better gaming experience, the server will undergo a scheduled maintenance shutdown.]

[Estimated Maintenance Time: 48 hours in Blue Star time.]

[Maintenance Content Preview: Novice area restrictions lifted, world map opened, small-scale co-op test function enabled, 200 internal testing slots added, evolution models for some races optimized.]

[Countdown: 3...2...1...]

"Damn it! A 48-hour update? Is your server made of potatoes?!" Su Li only had time to complain in his mind.

The next second, his vision went black, and his consciousness was forcibly withdrawn.

Real world, 7:00 AM.

Su Li took off his helmet and sat up in bed.

"Hoo—" There was no fatigue from staying up late; instead, he felt an indescribable sense of refreshment.

It felt like he had just finished a full-body massage, with every cell in his body cheering.

Today was a rare day off. His younger sister, Su Lin Yue, who was still in her third year of high school, was probably still sleeping in. He didn't need to get up early to cook.

"Can't log in for 48 hours. What should I do for these two days?"

Su Li picked up his recently purchased "Huami" phone and skillfully started scrolling through Douyin.

[Breaking News: In Ameriken, a netizen calling himself "Old A" posted a video claiming he saw a "Slime" grow tentacles...]

"Slime?" Su Li's heart skipped a beat for no reason.

Before he could take a closer look, the page directly displayed "Content violation, deleted."

"..." Su Li frowned and continued scrolling down.

[Hot Topic: Recently, young people in many parts of the world have been exhibiting strange phenomena of mental confusion and slurred speech. Experts say: This is an extreme manifestation of 'early-onset dementia,' urging young people to stay up less, play games less, and ensure adequate sleep...]

The comment section was full of teasing: "The expert is right, so I choose to stay up all night cultivating."

Su Li naturally scoffed at the expert's advice to sleep early.

"Creak—" The sound of a door opening came from his sister Su Lin Yue's room.

"Huh? Yueyue, you're up so early? As expected of the pillar of our Su family." Su Li quickly got out of bed and walked out of his room.