nucmednet Chapter 4 The Curse of the Gods
Chapter 4 The Curse of the Gods
The blood-red warning lasted for three seconds, then disappeared.
A gray debuff icon appeared at the end of Wang Yan's status bar.
[Fate Mark (Cannot be dispelled)]
[Effect: Your location will be revealed to the Fate Weaver once every 24 hours. Additionally, the monster spawn level in your area will increase by 5.]
[Note: Those watched over by the gods will either become pawns or sacrifices.]
Monster respawn level increased by 5.
Wang Yan remained silent for two seconds.
This means that while other players are farming level 1 to 3 rabbits and slimes near the starting village, the monsters spawning around him are at least level 6.
If he goes to a level 10 area, he will encounter level 15 monsters.
And so on.
This is the curse.
Wang Yan took a deep breath, memorized the information, and then turned to walk towards the carcass of the rock-armored lizard.
He didn't have time to think about these things. In his previous life, the Fate Weaver was the boss who officially appeared in the third year, one of the seven observers. Right now, it was only casting a glance, far from being qualified to personally intervene.
Do what needs to be done first.
Wang Yan squatted down and peeled three rock scale fragments and a fist-sized dark red beast core off the rock-armored lizard's corpse.
System notification: [Materials obtained: Rock Armor Fragment x3 (Gray Quality), Rock Armor Lizard Core x1 (White Quality).]
Wang Yan laid all these things on the ground, then pulled out the rusty God-Slaying First Embryo from his back.
"Eat."
Wang Yan attached the first piece of rock armor scale to the sword.
hum.
The rusted sword emitted a faint vibration.
Fine cracks appeared on the surface of the broken scales, then turned into a wisp of gray light, which was absorbed by the sword.
[The God-Slaying Primordial Embryo has consumed 1 Rock Armor Fragment.]
[Growth Progress: 3/100]
Wang Yan then pasted on a second and a third piece.
[Growth Progress: 9/100]
Finally, there's the beast core.
The moment the beast core touched the sword, the rusted sword vibrated more violently. Dark red light surged from within the beast core, rushing wildly into the sword.
The outermost layer of rust on the sword crackled and broke off in several pieces, revealing the dark silver metal underneath.
[The God-Slaying - First Embryo has consumed the following materials: Rock-Armored Lizard Core x1.]
[Growth Progress: 21/100]
Attack power increased from 1-1 to 3-5.
Only one-fifth complete. And that's just the progress of the first stage of unsealing.
This sword has an outrageously large appetite.
He knew from his past life that the growth curve of the God-Slaying series was very slow in the early stages, but once the first stage of the seal was broken, the subsequent growth rate would increase exponentially.
The key is to survive the initial phase.
Wang Yan sheathed his sword and opened the map.
He is currently about 37 kilometers away from the starting village. At a normal player's movement speed, it would take at least 40 minutes to walk back.
But he doesn't plan to go back to the starting village.
The starting village must be packed with people by now. With billions of players flooding in, there's barely enough room to stand in that dilapidated stone town. And going back would mean being exposed to the crowds again.
Wang Yan's goal was another place.
There is an underground cave that is not marked on the map, located 12 kilometers southwest of the starting village.
In the previous life, that cave was discovered by an expedition team on the third day after the server opened. Inside was a hidden dungeon passage leading to a small level 5 secret realm.
The monster density in the secret realm is very high, and they drop various gray and white quality weapon fragments.
These fragments are trash to other players, but they are fodder for the God-Slaying Firstborn.
Wang Yan started running.
at the same time.
In the beginner village, the situation was just as Wang Yan had predicted.
Countless beams of light descended from the sky, leaving behind a bewildered player after each beam vanished. The entire village was packed with people, and an endless queue formed in front of the NPC assigning newbie quests.
In live streaming rooms around the world, the voices of the streamers are so loud they're practically shattering the microphones.
"I'm in! Guys, I'm in! This scene is so realistic!"
"Wait, look at the world channel—"
In the world chat, the system announcement about "Unnamed" was still displayed at the top.
All the players are talking about the same thing.
[Lone Wolf Under the Moon LV1: Who is this unnamed character? Any experts out there who can analyze this? Can a normal person log into the server in zero seconds?]
[Violent Nanny LV1: They must be an insider at Genesis, they opened a backdoor beforehand. Isn't this kind of thing common enough?]
[North America's No. 1 Assassin LV1: The North American esports league is in an uproar. They prepared a thousand devices to try and get the first kill, but they were instantly killed by an unnamed player. I heard the league president even overturned the table.]
[Sword Saint Without Sword LV1: Don't you guys find this strange? The talent information being hidden. I've gone through all the official website's explanations, and it never mentioned that talents could be hidden. This means that the talent's level is beyond the system's normal display range.]
After this analysis post was published, the world chat was silent for half a second, and then it was instantly flooded with countless new messages.
[Out of normal display range? You mean, not S-class?]
[S-rank or higher? Are you kidding me?]
If it's truly S-rank or higher... then is the game still balanced?
No one noticed that, dozens of kilometers northeast of the starting village, a figure was running at high speed across the wasteland.
Wang Yan ran for about twenty minutes and arrived at a low hilly area.
The ground beneath our feet had changed from cracked yellow soil to dark gray sandstone. A damp, musty smell filled the air.
Wang Yan stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary rock wall.
The post on the forum said that the entrance was at the bottom of the rock wall, behind a movable boulder.
Wang Yan squatted down, placed his hands on the bottom of the rock wall, and felt along the crevice.
Three seconds later, Wang Yan touched it.
A smooth-surfaced stone stands out starkly against the surrounding rough sandstone.
Wang Yan pushed hard.
The stone shrank back, and a crack appeared in the rock wall, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
The inside of the crack was pitch black, and a cold stream of air flowed out from it, carrying a faint, sweet, and slightly fishy smell.
Wang Yan bent down and crawled inside.
The crevice was narrow, but after walking about thirty meters, it suddenly opened up.
A huge underground cavern came into view.
Damp blue light emanated from the cave ceiling, casting a deep blue hue over the entire cavern. Scattered across the ground were numerous skeletons and fragments of broken weapons.
But Wang Yan's gaze did not linger on these things.
Wang Yan looked towards the deepest part of the cave.
There is a door there.
An archway made of black stone, its frame covered with runes he couldn't understand. Inside the archway was a flowing silver light curtain.
This is the entrance to the secret realm.
Wang Yan had only taken two steps when the Fate marker on the status bar suddenly flashed.
Then Wang Yan heard a sound behind him.
It was the sound of human footsteps, and not just one person.
Wang Yan slowly turned around.
Three figures emerged from the fissure passage at the cave entrance. The one in the lead was a tall, thin man wearing gray cloth armor, carrying a beginner's longsword with green blood dripping from its tip—he had just killed a slime.
His ID above his head consists of three characters.
【Zhuang Bugui LV1】
Wang Yan's pupils contracted slightly.
He recognized the name.
In his past life, he was the number one assassin in the entire server. At his peak, he was ranked eleventh globally. His codename was "Return to the Void".
Zhuang Bugui should have discovered this cave on the third day after the server opened. But it's only the first day now.
How did he end up here?
Zhuang Bugui also saw Wang Yan.
Or rather, he saw the conspicuous ID above Wang Yan's head.
[Unnamed LV2]
The cave was quiet for a moment.
Zhuang Bugui narrowed his eyes, and the corners of his mouth slowly curved into a smile.
"I've found you."