Nightmare Difficulty, Primordial Tree Realm!

Only the last area of the secret realm remained uncleared.

Jiang Chuan continued exploring deeper. When he reached the heart of the forest, the clearing ahead suddenly opened up.

A massive ancient tree stood in the center of the clearing, three or four times larger than every surrounding tree.

Its trunk was covered in moss and vines.

Its canopy blotted out the sky.

A huge, aged face emerged from the ancient tree's trunk. Its eyes were like two red lanterns as it stared at Jiang Chuan, letting out a deep roar that made the ground tremble faintly.

[Thousand-Year Tree Spirit (Leader): LV5, HP 5000, Attack 120, Defense 60]

The final boss of Normal difficulty.

For an ordinary person, this boss would require a full team of well-equipped Level 5 class users to defeat.

But for him, it only meant firing a few more arrows.

Five thousand HP.

With his damage output, he only needed seven arrows.

Jiang Chuan drew his longbow and shot an arrow into the Thousand-Year Tree Spirit's trunk.

-748!!

The Thousand-Year Tree Spirit's health bar instantly dropped by a huge chunk.

It let out an enraged roar as countless vines burst from the ground and lashed toward Jiang Chuan like snakes.

Jiang Chuan took two steps back and fired another arrow.

-755!!

Then another.

-761!!

Three arrows in a row.

The Thousand-Year Tree Spirit had lost nearly half its health!

Though the vines were numerous, they were too slow to keep up with his agile steps.

Jiang Chuan stepped back twice, easily evading every attack. Then he pulled an arrow from the quiver at his waist, nocked it, and drew the bow into a full moon.

Whoosh!!

The arrow tore through the air with a piercing whistle and precisely lodged itself in the giant mouth on the Thousand-Year Tree Spirit's face.

Critical hit!

-1412!!

A massive critical damage number floated above the Thousand-Year Tree Spirit's head.

Jiang Chuan followed up with another arrow, completely emptying its health bar. That aged face froze abruptly, and then the entire enormous trunk exploded with a deafening crash!

Countless wood chips and leaves swirled through the forest like a green blizzard.

[Thousand-Year Tree Spirit (Leader · LV5) killed. Experience +500!]

[Tree God Secret Realm (Normal Difficulty) cleared successfully. Experience +2000!]

[Congratulations, you have reached LV4!]

Level 4.

His highest Strength attribute was nearly 500 points already!

Jiang Chuan caught his breath, put away his longbow, and walked over to the Thousand-Year Tree Spirit's corpse.

First clear of the secret realm.

The boss had also dropped a few pieces of worthless white-grade equipment.

After casually disassembling them, Jiang Chuan rubbed his palms together. What good stuff could I extract from a leader-class corpse?

He pressed both hands against the shattered trunk.

He silently invoked Disassembly.

Golden light flared brilliantly.

The entire clearing was immediately illuminated.

A wave of heat surged from the trunk and flowed through Jiang Chuan's hands into his body. A notification then rang out in his mind.

[Extraction successful! Talent acquired—Precise Shooting (E-rank). Absorb immediately?]

A talent?

Jiang Chuan's eyes widened.

Universal Extraction could even extract talents? That was a little ridiculous!

He immediately chose yes.

Emerald-green light shone from his palm. Something was pulled from the wreckage and merged into his body.

[Talent absorbed successfully: Precise Shooting (E-rank)]

[Precise Shooting: Passive. When using ranged weapons, Accuracy +15%, Critical Hit Rate +5%]

Universal Extraction—Rule-grade.

Intermediate Disassembly—F-rank.

Precise Shooting—E-rank.

The three talents rested quietly on his status panel.

The corners of Jiang Chuan's mouth slowly curled upward.

An E-rank talent.

It was not high-ranking.

But for him right now, it was exactly what he needed.

As a disassembler, he had no skills and could only rely on basic attacks for damage. That 15% Accuracy and 5% Critical Hit Rate might not look like much, but on him, they meant a solid increase in damage.

And this was only the beginning.

Since he could extract talents from bosses—

Could he extract D-rank, C-rank, B-rank, or even A-rank and S-rank talents from stronger bosses!?

This Tree God Secret Realm was merely the lowest-level secret realm. Its boss could only be this strong at most.

But the Source Realm had countless secret realms ten or even a hundred times more advanced than the Tree God Secret Realm.

And besides.

He could open an even higher-level Nightmare Secret Realm right now!

White light flashed.

Jiang Chuan was teleported out of the secret realm.

He stood before the stone archway and narrowed his eyes as he adjusted to the light outside.

The surroundings were as bustling as ever.

Someone noticed him.

They were several of the teams that had tried to recruit him earlier.

Jiang Chuan had already cleared the dungeon once, yet they had not even gathered enough people. Their leveling efficiency could not compare to his at all.

However, seeing him leave the dungeon so quickly—

They assumed he had failed to clear it.

And given up.

A burst of mockery immediately followed.

"Yo, isn't this that big-shot solo player? You looked down on our teams, so how come you got kicked out so fast?"

"Heh, so what if your equipment is a little better? Don't you still need teammates to clear it?"

"I think he did pretty well. At least he knew better than to overestimate himself and didn't die in there!"

"Hahaha!"

Jiang Chuan swept his gaze over their faces. They were all old-timers in their twenties, awakened for years yet still scraping by in a first-tier secret realm. No wonder they were so full of resentment.

Taking them seriously would only waste his time.

Jiang Chuan walked to the side, where stalls run by life-class users lined the area.

They sold everything.

He bought a spicy roast chicken to replenish his stamina.

Then he bought another four barrels of iron arrows.

Arrows were consumables.

Archers had always been considered an elite profession in the age of cold weapons.

One reason for that—

Was because—

Ordinary families could not even afford the cost of arrows.

The market price of one iron arrow was twenty yuan. Clearing the Tree God Secret Realm on Normal difficulty once had directly cost him his parents' monthly income.

Of course, he had some money now.

There was no need to be stingy over such a small expense.

While resting.

Jiang Chuan opened his status panel for a look:

[Jiang Chuan]

[Level: LV4]

[HP: 1004620]

[Mana: 1004000]

[Constitution: 462]

[Intelligence: 400]

[Strength: 472]

[Agility: 400]

[Talents: Universal Extraction, Intermediate Disassembly, Precise Shooting]

With 472 points in Strength, plus the bonus from the Black Iron Bow in his hand, his attack stat had already surpassed a thousand!

"If I still can't clear Nightmare difficulty like this, then no one can."

Jiang Chuan muttered to himself.

He pulled out the Nightmare Contract from his backpack. The black-glowing parchment looked somewhat eerie beneath the sunlight.

"Use."

With a thought from Jiang Chuan.

The Nightmare Contract vanished from his hand, transforming into a streak of black light that entered the stone archway.

The stone archway trembled faintly at first.

Then—

The entire archway began shaking violently.

Dense cracks appeared across the vine-covered stone walls. Dark-red light seeped from those cracks, looking exceptionally sinister.

The surrounding players stopped what they were doing and stared at the scene in confusion.

"What's going on? What happened to the secret realm?"

"I don't know... I've never encountered anything like this!"

"Look at the words on the archway!"

Jiang Chuan looked up. The four ancient characters above the stone archway were changing, as though being corroded. Their strokes gradually turned dark red before finally becoming four completely new characters:

[Primordial Tree Realm]

A freezing wind blew from the archway, carrying a dense stench of decay.

Jiang Chuan stood at the very front, and the wind struck him directly in the face.

It was ice-cold and bone-piercing.

As if countless fine needles were pricking his skin.

But he did not retreat. Instead, he stepped forward.

[Notice: Challenge Primordial Tree Realm (Nightmare Difficulty)?]

[Yes!]

White light flashed, and Jiang Chuan's figure disappeared into the stone archway.