SEC Chapter 23 "The Entrance to the Labyrinth"
Chapter 23 "The Entrance to the Labyrinth"
On the edge of a desolate forest in the northern border of the kingdom.
As evening approached, You Che, after confirming that there were almost no people around, set up camp and started a fire.
The game "Dark Fantasy" naturally has a fatigue value system, and similar to the hunger value, the higher the level and constitution, the stronger the endurance.
Setting up camp in the wild is something that beginners often do, because there are no means of transportation in the early stages, and teleportation is not an option, making it very troublesome to travel between hunting grounds and villages/towns.
Therefore, simple tasks such as setting up a tent and starting a fire are not difficult for Youche.
At this moment, he was sitting by the campfire, carefully peeling the outer shell of a mud-covered, roasted potato.
Ironically, the bag of potatoes in his bag, which he had only carried on a whim, had now become his emergency food.
Similarly, seeing this bag of potatoes naturally reminded him of the little girl named Leah.
Although it was initially just a precaution, You Che was now extremely grateful that he had arranged for the evacuation of the town's civilians, women, and children in advance.
Even though they were ultimately struck by a deus ex machina attack from the dark races, at least they escaped death.
Judging by the time, they should have crossed the Aetherland Pass by now, right?
Youche believed that Roland could take good care of those people. Even disregarding Roland's character and the bargaining chips he offered, the many skilled craftsmen among those refugees were themselves worth investing in.
After all, as a starting village for players, the initial town is full of talented people. Due to the needs of some quests and the fact that they are consumable NPCs, many residents have life skills that far exceed the level that their level should be.
Given Roland's vision, ideas, and resources, those people believed there was no need for You Che to worry too much.
As You Che scooped out a small piece of roasted potato and put it in his mouth, he looked at his control panel, or more accurately, at his inventory.
[Backpack Slots: Throwing Daggers x10, Throwing Axes x10, Blessed Spear x7, Medicine Bag, Miscellaneous Storage Box, High-Quality Potatoes (Bag)]
This was his original backpack.
[Backpack Slots: Grammer Family Crest Ring x1, Holy Water Bottle x10, Poison Powder Pack (Inferior) x5, Floral Staff x1, Kingdom Map x1]
These are things from the Baron's magic pocket.
There were no letters or messages, and Baron Grammer wouldn't have had time to prepare those anyway, but there were holy water bottles and maps—items that would be helpful in almost any situation.
As for the Grammer family ring, it is obviously a family heirloom and it seems to have no practical use now. However, it has an enchantment effect that increases Intelligence and Perception by 1, making it a very good accessory item.
Even without any enchantment, Yuche would still keep it safe.
The poison powder packet was naturally placed there by the thief, as was the rusty green short sword, which he had somehow slipped into the bag and was now tucked into You Che's waist on either side, along with the hound's henchmen.
As for the last item...
【Floral-decorated staff】
Type: Staff
[Quality: Rare]
[Spell Amplification: 20]
[Item Description: A staff adorned with entwined floral patterns, seemingly an artifact of an ancient noble family, possessing peculiar power]
[Requirement for use: Intelligence 12]
This staff is the starting staff for mages, and it was also an essential piece of equipment that Yuche tried during the game for the early game when he was a wanderer trying to farm starting attributes and switch to a magic build.
In the game, each character's starting stats have fixed growth values, but their initial attributes can fluctuate within a certain range.
Therefore, start with the Wanderer, get the highest initial intelligence stat, then put all the attribute points you get in the prologue into intelligence, and finally equip it with specific gear to meet the requirements for using this staff.
Why use this staff? Because its hidden effect is that its spell amplification benefits from luck. Using this staff to switch to a magic-based build is the way to maximize the Wanderer's early-game damage.
In the game, it's quite a challenge to trick this staff out of the magician NPC.
Although the luck of a mage is quite low, which doesn't match the hidden effect of this staff, it is still a rare quality weapon and an antique of the family.
If a player's charm is even slightly low, there is no chance of success.
After transmigrating, You Che discovered that his basic attributes were all 5 points, which was so average that it couldn't meet his needs for a while. So he gave up on getting the staff. He never expected it to end up in his hands like this.
"..."
He remained silent for a moment before turning to the charred half of his staff that he was leaning against, and muttered to himself, "How unpredictable life truly is."
The staff leaned quietly against the tree stump, with only the deep red ruby at its tip faintly reflecting light.
[Crown of Chaos Staff (Damaged)]
[Cannot be enhanced/Cannot be repaired]
[Item Description: A cursed piece of equipment imbued with the power of chaos, said to imprison the user's soul. Reduces the user's maximum health by 25%. When equipped, the user can only cast the exclusive spell "Chaotic Fireball".]
[Note: Completely damaged and beyond repair]
You Che swallowed the last piece of potato, then wiped his hands, first slung the damaged Crown of Chaos staff behind his back, and then drew the two daggers from his waist.
[Equipment Slots: Villager's Cloth Robe, Hound's Claws, Rusty Short Sword, Grammer Family Crest Ring]
In the nearby forest, dark shadows could already be faintly seen moving about.
"There are rotting corpses in the village, and dark beasts in the forest and by the river. Even on flat ground, they can probably conjure up a few ghosts out of thin air."
Yu Che remarked, "This actually makes it easier for me to grind monsters!"
"Awooo—!!"
As You Che muttered to himself, several dark figures pounced out of the forest, the first of which was a demonic wolf that had been tainted by darkness and whose body had mutated halfway!
But what awaited it was a flying emerald green dagger!
"Pfft—"
……
Three days later.
It was still the northern border, but we had entered a much colder region, and the vegetation was beginning to turn darker.
On the edge of a much larger forest, Youche raced along a path overgrown with weeds.
Behind him were several small dark beasts and three blurry, illusory figures.
Although Yu Che had only said it casually, it turned out to be prophetic, as Bronya's mark actually gave him three Spectres.
You Che couldn't help but want to curse. His current fighting style consisted of physical attacks plus status effects, so he naturally found it particularly troublesome to deal with dark race units like the Spectre, which were immune to most physical damage.
Needless to say, Spectre is obviously immune to abnormal effects such as Blood Explosion or Poison.
"You've been chasing me for miles, aren't you done yet!"
You Che was also annoyed. He had come all the way north here with a plan, but the repeated attacks by the dark races had really exhausted him.
He hadn't had time to fully recover from the injuries he sustained in the final moments in the town, and he almost got hit with the fatigue status again.
He came looking for something, but at this rate, he wouldn't have any time to properly explore...
You Che was thinking this when he suddenly noticed that in the forest not far to his right, he could vaguely see an ancient stone gate standing there quietly.
"—I've got it!"
You Che's eyes lit up, but opening that door would take some time, so...
He suddenly stopped, turned around, flipped his hand, and grabbed a blessed spear, which he then threw with force!
"Buzz—"
The flying Blessed Spear pierced through one of the wraiths, and the exploding light annihilated the other two as well. It even affected the dark beasts following behind, causing them to fall to the ground and writhe in agony.
You Che naturally wouldn't give them a chance, and his flying axe followed closely behind, reaping these dark beasts.
After the battle, You Che gained another amount of experience points. He carefully retrieved the throwing axe he had thrown before entering the forest and arriving at the stone gate.
"This is it... the entrance to the 'maze'!"