Chapter Thirty-Five: The Skeletal Mage

Carefully counting through my skills, I realized that, aside from the passive Berserk ability exclusive to swordsmen, I only had three active skills left: Heavy Strike, Combo, and Frost Slash. Compared to someone like Xu Lin, who gained six magical abilities just upon becoming a mage, I felt utterly ashamed. Such was the awkwardness of being a swordsman or any close-combat class. I was already considered lucky, having received an extra skill as a system reward; most swordsmen at this stage probably only had Heavy Strike and Combo.

It was then that I recalled the skill trainer nearby—he seemed to offer a new skill for me to learn after my recent promotion. Hurriedly, I opened a conversation with him, and a new skill appeared before my eyes: Suppression!

Suppression: Passive skill. Grants a chance for an additional attack after a physical strike. The chance increases with the skill’s level.

Although the learning fee was a steep three gold coins, I gritted my teeth and learned the first level. At level one, the chance to trigger Suppression was only three percent, but with each level, it would increase by another three percent. In other words, at level ten, the chance would rise to thirty percent—not high, but not exactly low either. It made sense; otherwise, if it was a hundred percent, other classes wouldn’t stand a chance.

After learning the skill, it was time to head to the marketplace and consign that green dagger. I was sure it would fetch a handsome price!

The marketplace was packed with players, all browsing the equipment and materials up for sale. Every item could be searched by level and quality, making purchases much more convenient for everyone.

I checked the dagger in my inventory—its attributes were impressive!

[Spectral Dagger] (Green Equipment)
Attack: 21-36
Strength: +8
Agility: +12
Required Level: 16

Though the eight points of Strength felt a little redundant, the 21-36 attack range was enough to make any player below level twenty drool. And with that twelve points of Agility, it was nothing short of a deadly weapon for any rogue chasing speed.

I set it up for consignment, quickly entering a starting price of 300 RMB, without setting an upper limit. Six hours from now, it would go to whoever offered the highest bid. If it didn’t sell, it would be returned to me for collection.

After consigning my goods, I checked the consumables section and was surprised to find a stack of red potions being sold at a shockingly low price. While others priced their medium red potions—restoring 500 health—at one gold coin each, someone named Peerless Apothecary was selling a whole batch for just thirty silver coins apiece.

Not wanting to miss out, I bought ten bottles in one go, spending three gold coins without the slightest regret.

With my gear sorted, I knew it was time to look into the Princess Misha Rescue quest. If I could complete it alone, there was no need to waste everyone else’s grinding time helping me. Now, with ten medium red potions, my chances of soloing the quest were even better.

...

Skeletons still patrolled the Plague Cemetery restlessly. At my current high level of twenty-one, they barely gave any experience points. I simply cut a path through them and headed straight for the haunted house at the cemetery’s center.

No more skeleton warriors spawned near the haunted house—instead, level twenty-six skeleton mages had taken their place. Fortunately, they didn’t appear in groups. Otherwise, my plan to solo the quest would have been doomed.

Judging the distance, I charged toward the nearest skeleton mage. As soon as it noticed me, it began channeling Fireball, but I interrupted its spell with Combo, then finished it off with a Heavy Strike. With my current attack power of 120-155, it only took two regular hits to bring down a level twenty-six skeleton mage.

After efficiently clearing out dozens of skeleton mages near the haunted house, I actually reached level twenty-two. My health pool now totaled 720. Considering each Fireball from a skeleton mage hit me for forty points, I could withstand eighteen magical attacks—meaning I could take on three skeleton mages at once without dying.

Lifting the curtain, I pushed open the cobwebbed, dusty door and took one look inside—then bolted back outside without a second thought.

“Whew!!”

No fewer than forty fireballs shot after me as I fled!

Luckily, only a few hit me; otherwise, I’d have been sent back to town for free. Even so, I was left with less than a hundred health and desperately used my innate ability—Stealth. After a few seconds, the skeleton mages finally calmed down. This talent truly came in handy!

Wiping away cold sweat, I sat trembling, waiting for my health to recover.

Once I was back to full health, I approached the entrance again. The skeleton mages inside gave me unblinking stares—or rather, since they had no eyes, their big empty sockets glared at my direction.

Given my current strength, it was absolutely impossible to force my way through them all. They were packed tightly in the room, making it even harder to lure out single monsters. In Moonlit Eternity, there was an interesting mechanic: if you attacked one monster in a group, the rest would retaliate together. But if you just got close and lured one away without attacking, the others stayed put.

Slowly approaching the skeleton mage room, I was so tense I was shaking, afraid they’d suddenly roast me with a barrage of fireballs.

Finally! Three skeleton mages moved, fire elements gathering in their hands!

I immediately turned and sprinted, with three fireballs and three skeleton mages chasing right behind.

Once they were far enough out, I spun, used Combo and Heavy Strike to finish one, then, for the first time, unleashed Frost Slash—freezing another in place and stunning it. A quick normal attack finished it off. The last one posed no threat; two regular strikes took care of it, and to my luck, it even dropped a piece of equipment!

[Intellect Shorts] (Green Equipment)
Defense: +16
Stamina: +8
Intellect: +14
Required Level: 18

...

It was the first time I’d ever seen an item that added fourteen intellect. I couldn’t imagine how happy Xu Lin would be about this.

I turned its stats into a screenshot and sent it to her. She immediately begged me to return to town for a trade, but I had to comfort her for a while before convincing her to wait until I finished my quest...