This Drop Rate Wasn't Right

An older security officer turned toward Gan Ming and suddenly called out:

"Don't loiter near the entrance. Either go in and work, or come back out."

Seeing this, Gan Ming silently backed away seven or eight steps.

But those gazes followed him.

They were not staring directly at him, but their expressions were enough to show that they felt something about this direction was off.

Gan Ming kept retreating.

Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters...

By the time he had backed off more than thirty-five meters, those gazes gradually withdrew.

The older security officer glanced around once more, said nothing else, and lowered his head to scan ID cards again.

Gan Ming stopped and examined the Soul-Stealing Panels of the dozen or so security officers one by one.

Second Tier, with all their levels marked as question marks.

Their talents were all things like "Vigilance," "Hold Fast," "Battlefield Perception," "Iron Body," and "Command."

There were several perception-related skills in their skill lists.

Such as "Scent Detection" and "Anomaly Alert."

But none of them specifically countered invisibility.

In other words, they had not "seen" Shadowmeld.

They had merely sensed an "abnormal energy fluctuation" through experience and instinct.

Thirty-five meters.

This was the safe distance for [Shadowmeld +7] against Second Tier security-type Awakened.

As Shadowmeld's level continued to rise, that distance could certainly be shortened further.

But for now, it was enough.

Gan Ming memorized the distance and turned to walk deeper down the slope.

After taking a dozen or so steps, he took out two Standard Dual-Blade Short Swords from his ring and replaced the Edgesteel One-Handed Sword at his waist.

The instant the hilts landed in his hands, the passive effect of Dual-Wield Mastery activated automatically.

His Double Blades talent activated at the same time.

[Main-Hand Physical Attack: 106.0]

[Off-Hand Physical Attack: 106.0]

Not bad. With the damage bonus from [Double Blades +7], both hands had directly broken a hundred damage.

And with [Fanged Charge +7] unleashing a 285% burst every three strikes...

If both hands charged their attacks at the same time, his actual DPS would be considerably higher than that Edgesteel One-Handed Sword.

The only issue was that these two swords had been taken from the twin-sword man.

Would anyone recognize them?

The answer was obviously no.

Because the maker engraved at the base of the blades was Chen Tiesheng.

The same maker as his Edgesteel One-Handed Sword.

He had seen at least three Awakened in the Ruins Zone using similar models made by Chen Tiesheng.

No one would trace a common, mass-produced weapon back to him.

Preparations complete.

Gan Ming gave a light sniff.

[Beast Scent +7] peeled apart the scent information in the tunnel layer by layer and delivered it to him.

Within eighty meters ahead, two living human scents were moving away.

Another clump of fishy, sour odor seeped out from deep within a fork on the left.

That was the scent of a monster.

Gan Ming gripped both swords tightly and silently slipped into the left fork.

This side passage was not long. Its end came after just over thirty meters.

At the end was a partially collapsed open area, with rubble and broken steel reinforcement bars hanging down from the ceiling.

Three Dark-Hole Spiders were clinging high on the wall.

They were not large, their legs spanning only a little over a meter.

A slick sheen glimmered across their grayish-brown chitinous shells.

Their eight legs clung motionlessly to the wall, compound eyes aimed downward at the ground.

The Soul-Stealing Panel popped up.

[Soul Snatch Target: Monster]

[Species: Dark-Hole Spider]

[Level: 14]

[Skills (4): Web Bind · Venomous Fang Injection · Shadowed Corner Ambush (Passive) · Vibration Sense (Passive)]

All three were level 14.

One level below him.

Four skills each, neither more nor less.

Gan Ming locked onto the one on the far right.

**Shadowstep!**

Before the rubble beneath his feet could make a sound, his body had already appeared directly behind the target.

**First sword!**

**Second sword!**

The two short swords slashed down simultaneously, their edges cutting precisely into the gap in the Dark-Hole Spider's armor at the back of its neck.

-103!

-102!

**Third sword!**

**Pfft!**

-411! (Critical Hit)

The 106 damage from Double Blades, multiplied by the 285% dual-hand charged attack, then multiplied by the 1.5 critical damage from [Lock-On +7].

The theoretical output of that strike alone exceeded 436.

Then came the second round!

When the ninth strike of the third round fell!

-418! (Critical Hit)

**Slash!**

**Hah!**

The Dark-Hole Spider's body fell from the wall before it could even finish struggling.

**Bang!**

After hitting the ground, its legs twitched violently twice before falling still.

At the same time, the other two spiders had reacted.

The one on the left opened its mouth and sprayed a grayish-white strand of webbing straight at Gan Ming's upper body.

Gan Ming twisted aside, his right-hand sword cutting through the webbing in passing as his left foot stepped forward.

Three normal attacks!

Slash, slash, slash. The speed was so fast that the two swords left afterimages in the air.

The instant the ninth strike landed, the charged attack triggered again.

-417! (Critical Hit)

**Bang!**

That spider was cleaved straight into the air and smashed into the broken steel reinforcement bars.

Its abdomen split open, and bodily fluid spilled all over the ground.

Seeing this, the third spider turned and fled, its eight legs scrambling up the wall.

"Running?"

Gan Ming chased after it directly, flicking the tip of his sword upward.

**Pfft!**

One sword pierced through its abdomen, followed by another horizontal slash.

Second round.

Third round!

The spider fell from the wall, already dead by the time it hit the ground.

Less than six seconds had passed.

All three level 14 Dark-Hole Spiders had been wiped out.

Gan Ming released his grip, and the twin swords vanished.

He crouched down.

His palm pressed against the first spider's corpse.

Soul Snatch.

Grayish-white light spread from the point of contact, enveloping the entire corpse.

[Soul Snatch Successful!]

[Skill Acquired: Web Bind (Sprays sticky webbing at the target, preventing movement for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 16 seconds. Mana Cost: 12.)]

[Skill Acquired: Venomous Fang Injection (Bites the target and injects venom, dealing 80% physical damage and inflicting Poison, causing the target to lose 4 HP per second for 8 seconds. Cooldown: 14 seconds. Mana Cost: 10.)]

[Skill Acquired: Shadowed Corner Ambush (Passive) (While remaining still in dimly lit environments, greatly reduces the chance of being detected. The effect disappears after moving or launching an attack.)]

Hm?

Three out of four?

"I'm one level higher than it, and I can still miss one?"

Gan Ming raised an eyebrow slightly.

The ten-second cooldown ended.

Gan Ming pressed his hand onto the second one.

[Soul Snatch Successful!]

[Skill Acquired: Web Bind. Duplicate acquisition converted into talent proficiency.]

[Skill Acquired: Shadowed Corner Ambush. Duplicate acquisition converted into talent proficiency.]

Huh?

Two out of four, and both were duplicates.

Another ten seconds passed.

The third one.

[Soul Snatch Successful!]

[Skill Acquired: Web Bind. Duplicate acquisition converted into talent proficiency.]

[Skill Acquired: Venomous Fang Injection. Duplicate acquisition converted into talent proficiency.]

[Skill Acquired: Vibration Sense (Passive) (Perceives vibrations within twenty meters through bodily contact with the ground, determining the approximate position and direction of movement of objects touching the ground. Perception accuracy increases with the intensity of vibrations.)] ```

Three out of four again?

Gan Ming frowned at the panel.

Among three monsters of the same type, he had not gotten a complete acquisition even once.

Every one of them had been different.

He recalled the scene when he had taken abilities from those four Awakened in the Ruins Zone yesterday.

One had been a complete nine out of nine.

Another had been ten out of eleven.

And today?

Three spiders: three out of four, two out of four, and three out of four.

That should not have happened. The four Awakened had clearly been higher level than these spiders.

But Gan Ming merely shrugged and did not dwell on it.

Maybe yesterday had simply been an insane stroke of luck.

Killing four Awakened in a row and still acquiring all their talents would have been SSR-tier luck in any game.

By the law of conservation of luck.

Being a little unlucky today was perfectly reasonable.

Gan Ming stored the three spider corpses in his ring.

Within the range of [Beast Scent +7], several traces of Awakened scent drifted over.

Two people were approaching from roughly sixty or seventy meters away.

They were coming from the direction of the main tunnel.