Chapter 1

Snap!

Qiao Yu had barely entered when he crushed a piece of white bone underfoot.

"So it's true what they say in movies – weathered bones really do shatter when you step on them!"

The incredibly realistic sensation fascinated Qiao Yu.

Snap, snap, snap!

Entering the Otherworld for the first time, Qiao Yu was extremely excited. He made a point of stepping on bones as he went.

In the early stages of the game, mages were a particularly mana-intensive class. Casting just a few spells would deplete their mana.

And a mage without mana had almost zero combat power, plus they were squishy, making them easy prey for monsters.

But Qiao Yu naturally didn't have to worry about that.

He soon encountered his first monster, a skeleton soldier wielding a rusty iron sword, its hollow eyes burning with a ghostly blue soul fire.

Qiao Yu checked its stats.

[Common Monster: Skeleton Soldier]

[Health: 20/20]

[Strength: 5]

[Defense: 0]

[Agility: 1]

The skeleton soldier spotted Qiao Yu and immediately charged, brandishing its iron sword.

Seeing this, Qiao Yu quickly pulled out his novice staff. He swung his arm in a wide arc and slammed the staff squarely on the skeleton soldier's head!

"-20!"

A crimson number floated up from the skeleton soldier's body.

Snap! Snap, snap!

The familiar sound of bones cracking echoed as the skeleton soldier's skull exploded from the blow, and the ghostly blue soul fire in its eyes instantly extinguished.

Qiao Yu couldn't help but sigh. "It's a tough fight when you can't use magic!"

[Detected player Qiao Yu solving the skeleton soldier through melee combat, awarding 1 free attribute point, experience +3]

Qiao Yu immediately added the point to Strength, bringing his Strength attribute to 21. His experience also went from 0/10 to 3/10.

[Ding! Congratulations to player Qiao Yu for killing his first monster in the Otherworld through melee combat, rewarding A-grade passive skill Da Li Chu Qi Ji (Miracles Come from Strength)]

"A-grade? And a reward like this?"

Qiao Yu immediately began to examine the skill.

Da Li Chu Qi Ji (Miracles Come from Strength): Grade: A.

Effect: Each point of the player's Strength attribute is converted into two points of attack power.

"So, if the opponent's defense is 0, then one of my normal attacks would deal 42 damage?"

Qiao Yu scratched his head in confusion.

Strength determines physical damage, defense determines damage reduction, agility determines evasion and movement speed, spirit determines magical damage, and intelligence determines casting speed.

One point of Strength equals one point of attack power, and the same goes for other attributes.

This skill was basically letting Qiao Yu use one point of Strength as if it were two, which was simply unfair.

A level one newbie player only has 10 health points. One punch from Qiao Yu and they might owe him three lives.

"Forget it, the top priority is to complete the newbie quest."

Qiao Yu continued forward. Skeleton soldiers appeared one after another, but they simply couldn't withstand a single blow from his staff.

After killing four skeleton soldiers, Qiao Yu finally reached level 2.

[Congratulations to player for leveling up successfully, current experience: 5/20, rewarding 5 free attribute points.]

Adding the 4 attribute points just rewarded for killing the skeleton soldiers, Qiao Yu's Strength had reached an astonishing 30.

Keep in mind that for a normal newbie, reaching 10 in a single attribute was considered genius.

"Surely the Mist Cave doesn't just have these skeleton soldiers to grind levels on, right? That would be too easy."

As if the Mist Cave had heard Qiao Yu's words, the entire cave began to shake!

Immediately afterward, a skeleton soldier much taller than the others walked out, holding a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right.

His stats also appeared in Qiao Yu's eyes.

[Common Monster: Skeleton Soldier Captain]

[Health: 50/50]

[Strength: 15]

[Defense: 20]

[Agility: 1]

The skeleton soldier captain, after discovering Qiao Yu the intruder, immediately raised his spear, its sharp tip aimed at Qiao Yu.

Being stabbed by such a monster would undoubtedly result in a disembowelment.

Qiao Yu immediately chose to strike first, swinging the staff in his hand.

Clang!

A sound of metal clashing against metal rang out as the staff collided with the skeleton soldier captain's shield.

"Huh? This monster can actually block with a shield?"

Qiao Yu tilted his head in confusion.

The next second, a bright red "-40" appeared above the skeleton soldier captain's head.

This monster instantly had only 10 health points left.

Qiao Yu swung again, this time smashing the skeleton soldier captain, shield and all, into pieces.

[Detected player Qiao Yu solving the skeleton soldier captain through melee combat, awarding 3 free attribute points, experience +10]

"Truly a powerful opponent!"

Qiao Yu couldn't help but exclaim. At the same time, he was a little puzzled. How did other people complete such a difficult newbie quest?

At this moment, the dead skeleton captain transformed into a soul core.

Qiao Yu went over and searched, discovering a pair of bone gauntlets.

[Skeleton Gauntlets]: One-time use item, guarantees a critical hit on the next attack after use!

A critical hit deals double damage. For example, with Qiao Yu's 60 attack power, a critical hit would deal 120 damage.

"Tsk, why is it a one-time use item? It would be great if it were permanent!"

Qiao Yu shook his head in disgust, but his body was honest as he put the gauntlets into his inventory.

Just then, the entire Mist Cave began to shake again!

This time, a skeleton captain led five skeleton soldiers and appeared before Qiao Yu!

Qiao Yu immediately became serious. Even after leveling up to level 2, his health was still a pathetic 20 points.

If he accidentally got stabbed to death by a skeleton soldier, that would be a disaster.

That would mean that he would not only have to experience the pain of death, but also lose his save and start all over again.

Fortunately, these skeleton soldiers only had a pathetic 1 point of agility. With Qiao Yu's desperate kiting, he successfully cleared all the skeletons after ten minutes.

Qiao Yu was panting slightly from exhaustion, and the staff in his hand was almost smoking. His level had also successfully risen to level 3.

Unfortunately, these skeleton soldiers didn't drop anything for him.

"Check attribute panel!"

Name: Qiao Yu

Class: Undead Mage

Realm: Apprentice (Lv3)

Strength: 46 (Extremely Strong)

Defense: 6

Agility: 9

Spirit: 0

Intelligence: 0

Mana: 80/80

Health: 30/30

Experience: 20/30

Talent: Mage's Heart of a Warrior (Grade Unknown)

Skills: Da Li Chu Qi Ji (Miracles Come from Strength) (A-grade)

"All the skeletons are dead, so why hasn't it notified me that the quest is complete?"

Qiao Yu scratched his head in confusion. Could there be any stragglers?

He reached out and stomped on the bones on the ground.

A hoarse and eerie voice rang out in the Mist Cave, sounding like a middle-aged woman next door scraping her nails on a chalkboard.

"Bullying skeletons too much!"