Phantom Town

"Phew~"

Ling Qing let out a long breath and slowly finished his exercise. The moment he opened his eyes, he knew he had succeeded.

Sure enough.

"Character has completed the relevant training. Your understanding of [Five Animal Frolics] has deepened further (5/5)."

At the same time, an energy like the morning sun and spring breeze surged from the Heart of Nature, coursing through his entire body in an instant.

Wherever the energy passed, his body felt as though he had taken a sauna. A sense of relief washed over him, leaving him completely relaxed.

"Character has learned skill—Five Animal Frolics (Basic)."

"Based on skill—Five Animal Frolics, character's Agility +1, Constitution +1, raised to 10 points."

"Because your Strength, Intelligence, Perception, and other attributes have already reached or exceeded the enhancement range of Five Animal Frolics, your Strength and other attributes have not increased."

"Finally, it worked."

Although he had already sensed it, he still felt a trace of excitement when he saw the message appear before his eyes.

Feeling the energy continuously surging within him, Ling Qing had the illusion that he could take on ten people by himself.

Of course, an illusion was only an illusion. An attribute score of 10 was the average for a normal human.

In other words, Ling Qing had merely raised his lower limit to the level of an ordinary person.

Name: Ling Qing

Class: Druid Lv1

Natural Force: 45/45

HP: 100%

Personal Attributes:

Strength: 10; Agility: 10; Constitution: 10; Intelligence: 11; Perception: 14; Charisma: 10

Class Experience: 300

Status: Healthy

General Skill:

[Five Animal Frolics]

Level: Basic

By imitating the movements of five animals—the tiger, deer, bear, ape, and bird—it strengthens the body and improves health.

Class Skills:

[Heart of Nature], [Wild Empathy], [Elemental Perception] (Expand details↓)

Spellbook: Book of Nature (Expand details↓)

Compared to before, the information had not changed much. Aside from the newly added attributes and the level of Five Animal Frolics, only his increased Natural Force cap and experience had changed.

Ling Qing took a look. To raise Five Animal Frolics to Advanced, he would not only need 600 experience points, but also needed to learn the Wild Shape transformation of at least one of the animal forms.

To gain a Wild Shape transformation, he needed to raise his level to Lv2.

Moreover, without the assistance of the Path of the Wild spellbook, Ling Qing would have to practice diligently before he could transform freely into each creature.

Yet over the past half month, Ling Qing had exhausted every method he could think of and only accumulated 300 experience points.

Leveling up to Lv2 required 1,000 general experience points, so he was nowhere near having enough.

He had originally planned to upgrade his skill first, so he could gain more attribute points while he was still low-level. He had not expected upgrading the skill to come with additional requirements.

Now, Ling Qing had to find a way to increase the speed at which he gained experience. The few flowers and plants he grew in his rented room could not possibly meet his needs.

However, it was impossible to grow plants on a large scale in this bustling, crowded city.

Previously, he had been uncertain whether this energy was real. At the same time, he had wanted to prevent suddenly gaining extraordinary power from causing him to lose his usual composure.

That was why he had maintained his original lifestyle and made no major changes.

But now, he could clearly confirm that it was real, and his earlier caution had hindered the growth of his strength.

"It's time to make a choice."

Ling Qing pondered for a while, quietly weighing things in his heart.

Just as he made up his mind and was about to get up and return to prepare, a message appeared before him.

"Dungeon activation detected. Does the character choose to enter?"

"A dungeon? This Druid inheritance doesn't even come with storage space, yet it has dungeons?"

Ling Qing froze when he saw the message.

It had been half a month since he obtained the Acorn and became a Druid.

Other than sensing the power of Natural Force and gaining some inherited knowledge, only the interface that organized his personal attributes had made him feel as if he had received some sort of system cheat.

Not to mention exchanging items out of thin air—he even had to make his own spellbook.

It did not even have the storage space common to game-like cheats. If he wanted one, he would have to learn the method, gather the materials himself, and make it on his own.

Now that a dungeon had suddenly appeared, he found it rather novel.

This was far more advanced than storage space.

Following the prompt, Ling Qing opened the dungeon's information.

"Phantom Town (5:59)

Challenge Difficulty: 1–2"

"??? What's going on? That's all?"

The sparse information left Ling Qing utterly bewildered. At the same time, the constantly ticking countdown reminded him that this was a time-limited dungeon.

Once the time ran out, he would presumably lose the right to choose whether to enter it.

Ling Qing calmed himself and sat down with his back against a large tree.

As he sensed the peaceful, leisurely state of the surrounding plants, the urgency in his heart gradually faded.

There were still more than five minutes left, enough time for him to think it through.

Though he needed experience points right now, and this dungeon would surely fulfill that need, there was no need to rush into it.

Since it could detect a dungeon opening now, there would likely be other opportunities in the future.

But encountering one now was also an opportunity.

"Challenge Difficulty: 1–2?"

He did not know how this challenge difficulty was calculated. If it meant that a party of one-to-five-level characters was needed to clear it—

Then, if he entered this dungeon alone, there would still be considerable danger.

Although Ling Qing's personal combat ability was only comparable to that of an ordinary person, with his own abilities and the spells stored in his spellbook, he could still fight ten or even a hundred ordinary people.

Of course, that was only if his enemies were ordinary people.

But judging from the dungeon's name, Phantom Town—

The word "phantom" referred to ghosts and monsters that dwelled deep in the mountains and forests.

There was no way it could be ordinary.

Still...

"With the spellbook's reserves, I should be able to ensure my own safety no matter what. Forget clearing it alone—

At the very least, I can keep myself safe."

Ling Qing touched the spellbook hanging at his waist, shrunken down to only half the size of his palm, and felt his heart settle.

After a week of effort, he had finally filled the spellbook.

"Even if I really can't beat it, I can just withdraw. At worst, I can hide until the dungeon ends.

The challenge difficulty isn't high either. There shouldn't be an unavoidable death scenario, right?"

Having made up his mind, Ling Qing looked at the two minutes still remaining on the countdown and checked his condition once more.

Although he had not eaten breakfast, he had just raised his attributes. He had also recovered his energy and stamina through communicating with the surrounding plants.

Most importantly, he always carried his spellbook with him. Although he did not have a suitable weapon yet, it was too late to find one now.

Ling Qing stood up and reached for a branch as thick as his arm above his head. As Natural Force circulated, the branch smoothly detached itself from the tree.

This would have to do for now. With the boost from Shillelagh, it should still be somewhat useful.

With everything ready, Ling Qing took a deep breath, focused his attention on the dungeon, and willed it to activate.