When Chen Luo entered the shop interface to inspect it, he was genuinely surprised. He had not expected the system shop to also use Ether Crystal as currency, though at present, it only offered a few minor survival necessities for sale. All advanced combat equipment and weapon categories were firmly locked, displaying a minimum requirement of reaching Level 10. It seemed he would still have to accumulate experience points for quite a long time before unlocking this most critical division.
After exiting the shop interface, Chen Luo began taking inventory of his grid-based storage bag after the tense hunt. Along with a large supply of fresh meat and gathered wild vegetables, the spoils of war this time included a slightly tattered suit along with several sets of ordinary clothing. It seemed these were gear drops from those unfortunate souls who had been transformed into 「Zombies」. Thinking back, it made sense; after all, in this post-apocalyptic setting, 「Zombies」 were one of the few creatures capable of infecting ordinary humans through bites, so it was completely normal for a few hunters to perish and turn into monsters.
Just as Chen Luo opened the 「Achievement Panel」, a series of familiar system alerts immediately rang in his ears:
-"Ding! Congratulations to player for successfully unlocking the achievement 「Master of Weapons-0」, acquiring the skill 「Master of Weapons-0」."
-"Ding! Congratulations to player for successfully unlocking the achievement 「Survival Weapon-1」, gaining 500 EXP."
Two lines of notifications popped up simultaneously, accompanied by two flashing red exclamation marks next to the corresponding achievement entries. When Chen Luo clicked to view the details, he found that his skill slot had gained a new ability, and the experience bar in the corner of his vision automatically jumped up by more than a third.
However, what truly caught the former boosting master's attention at this moment was neither the experience reward nor the two newly acquired achievements, but rather the 「???」 icon listed at the very bottom of the 「Achievement Panel」. When he curiously selected it, five hidden achievements were displayed inside, with their names and descriptions completely obscured by mysterious question marks. Looking at this design, he knew all too well that these five hidden achievements surely contained power that was anything but simple.
After his consciousness withdrew from the virtual space of the system, Chen Luo noticed a convenient change: now he no longer needed to go through the trouble of giving verbal commands to open feature interfaces; a mere thought or slight gesture would make the control panel automatically appear. He could even pin these attribute windows in his field of vision like widgets on a computer desktop, bringing an extremely convenient and familiar feeling reminiscent of his PC gaming days.
Just as he was testing the screen-pinning feature, his eyes happened to glance over a strange package lying quietly in a dark corner of his storage, something he was certain he had not picked up during the recent hunt. Perhaps in his haste while gathering loot he had accidentally grabbed it, or perhaps it was another hidden reward from the system. But regardless of its origin, the package was flashing a red exclamation mark signaling it was ready, allowing Chen Luo to open it right away.
The moment Chen Luo chose to open the gift package, an ancient book, a 「Blood Orb」, and a handwritten letter instantly appeared inside his grid storage. That thick encyclopedia-like tome was titled Alvibion Tome of Knowledge, with a brief yet heavyweight description: Containing the comprehensive knowledge of the entire world.
Item Information
*Alvibion Tome of Knowledge
- Grade: Legendary-Unique
- Description: An ancient tome containing intermediate and advanced comprehensive knowledge from different worlds, an encyclopedia that can be learned from, though it requires corresponding absorption capability to master the content within. Contents include: 「Elementary Overview of Magic」, 「Magic of Blood - Knowledge & History」, 「Parallel Worlds & Electromagnetic Space」, 「Crafting & Repair - Forging Technology & Blueprints」, 「Evolutionary Tech - Dragon Technology」, 「Dark Magic - Witches & Warlocks」, 「Potions & Magic, Plants & Nature」, 「Eternal Desert - Information & Knowledge」, 「Cloud World & Azure - The Lost Three Princes」, 「Twilight Forest - Corner of the Dark World」, 「Abyssal Forest - Swamp Magic」, 「Mechanical Technology - Modern, Electricity & Gears」, 「Starry Sky - Stars & Moon」, 「Animal Husbandry - Material Production Tech」, 「Military Armaments - Weapon Crafting」, 「Servants & The Art of Butlering」, 「Martial Arts - Epic Art of Warfare」, 「Seasons & Plants」, 「Cooking, Delicacies & Life」, and 「Nuclear Reactions」.
- Note: Permanently soul-bound item; cannot be dropped, cannot be stored in regular storage chests, and absolutely cannot be taught or traded to others.
When Chen Luo opened the remaining handwritten letter, the handwriting inside once again froze him in place with shock:
-"To Brother Chen Luo: Forgive me for leaving without saying goodbye. I know you will blame me, but I really have no choice. This journey may have no return, but if you are fortunate enough to survive this calamity, please forget me and live a good life. The one who loves you, Mo Shi'er."
A suicide note? Chen Luo was completely baffled, yet the moment he finished reading those words, his chest suddenly tightened, and tears uncontrollably rained down onto the paper. An overwhelming surge of grief washed over him, as if he had truly lost something priceless that he himself could not clearly remember. He was originally a transmigrator who did not know anyone named Mo Shi'er at all, but he was dead certain of one thing: ever since he first stepped foot into this world and realized his body had regressed into a 17-year-old youth, he had vaguely guessed part of the truth. The appearance and name of this body were identical to his own; it seemed his soul had perfectly fused with the original host upon transmigration, two bodies directly merging into one.
After taking a deep breath and quietly reflecting to steady his mind, Chen Luo carefully stored the letter deep within his inventory. Immediately, the cold mechanical voice of the system chimed again:
-"Congratulations to player for unlocking the chain quest 「Recovering Memories」. Description: The transmigrator's consciousness has fully merged with the original host's physical body, uniting soul and mind into one. Now, the sole remaining obsession of the original host is to recover lost memories. This chain quest is generated to fulfill that final wish."
Chen Luo was slightly startled, but quickly regained his composure. Since the system provided such an explanation, inheriting this body meant taking on the responsibility to carry forward its destiny. Although his heart was somewhat tangled over the hidden variables of the past, he ultimately chose to accept it. After all, having taken over someone else's body, helping the original host fulfill his last wish could be considered an act of good karma.
-"Ding! Daily quest received: Chop 10 logs of any wood. Completing the quest will yield rewards. Progress: 0/10"
The daily quest had finally refreshed. He had been longing for this feature for a long time, as the system had not issued any repeatable quests all day yesterday. Looking up at the sky outside where afternoon was just beginning, the stamina of a 17-year-old body was still abundant. Chen Luo decided to grab his 「Military Hatchet」 and set out to leave the ruined industrial zone heading toward the city outskirts.
After winding through long gaps between collapsed buildings, he finally reached the city gate area. The once-sturdy city gates were now reduced to a pile of broken, collapsed ruins. Judging by the eye-catching energy cut marks and deep bomb craters around, Chen Luo deduced that a brutal defense battle must have taken place here; otherwise, the tough alloy structures of the previous era could hardly have been destroyed to such an extent.
Stepping out into the world outside, what met his eyes was a wild landscape both unfamiliar and familiar: endless virgin forests stretching as far as the eye could see, interspersed with the roaming figures of mutated creatures. Although founded on high technology, in terms of geographical area, the continent of 「Infinite Class」 was still unimaginably vast—even if the entire population of the real world were squeezed in here, with each person allocated 10 square meters of land, it still wouldn't fill a fraction of a corner of this continent, to say nothing of the intersecting alternate dimensions.
After more than two hours of continuous axing, Chen Luo finally gathered enough wood from 10 large trees. Thanks to the Strength and Constitution attributes allocated earlier that morning, this heavy physical labor became easier than ever for him. Although he could not yet match the god-like hand speed of using a keyboard and mouse in his previous life, his current physical output efficiency far exceeded the limits of an ordinary adult.
-"Ding! Congratulations to player for completing the quest, unlocking the skill 「Appraisal」, and receiving 30 Experience Points."
Yet another massive unexpected gain! He hadn't expected to directly comprehend the core skill reserved exclusively for main-class players. It seemed that even though he was forced into the role of an NPC, his built-in All-Powerful System still granted him supreme favor.
By the time the new skill was registered into his status panel, dusk was beginning to settle. Chen Luo packed up his tools and quickly retraced his steps toward his base.
However, as he crossed several familiar alleys leading back to the hideout, Chen Luo's footsteps abruptly froze. He noticed a stone early-warning trap he had intentionally set up earlier—it had been triggered and destroyed. Combat intuition told him that a new life-or-death battle was about to erupt.
Without a moment's hesitation, Chen Luo instantly activated the skill 「Breath Control」, dropping his body temperature and life aura to absolute zero. Pressing his body against the collapsed walls, he silently crept toward his small house. Just as he stepped into the outer perimeter of his base, the sharp combat senses of a top boosting master sounded a frenzy alarm: an extremely agile entity was moving at high speed in the dark. The surrounding space echoed only with eerie "whoosh, whoosh" sounds of tearing wind. At such terrifying speed, without high enough Agility to predict movements, catching the opponent's trajectory would be near impossible for an ordinary person.
Chen Luo knew he had run into a "tough nut to crack". Without a word, he silently drew his 「Military Dagger」, slowly closed his eyes, and concentrated all his hearing to analyze the wind flow vibration, preparing a decisive strike.
--"With such extreme movement speed, the opponent must belong to the Assassin or Rogue branch, and be Level 10 or higher... Following the classic combat positioning habits of the system... Right at this corner! Die!"
After frame-perfect calculations in his mind, Chen Luo swung his arm and threw the dagger hard toward the empty space ahead without the slightest hesitation.
Pfft!
A dull thud of metal sinking into flesh echoed, followed by the heavy crash of a body collapsing onto the cold ground. Chen Luo let out a long sigh of relief, knowing the danger was averted. Fortunately, this agility-type enemy had low defense and a thin health pool; otherwise, that long-range dagger throw would not have achieved an instant kill.
-"Ding! Congratulations to player for completing an over-level kill on a Level 8 「Assassin」 with a critical weakness hit (Headshot). Driven by the achievement 「Master of Weapons」, unlocked the knife-branch exclusive skill: 「Dagger Throwing Master」."
*Skill Information 「Dagger Throwing Master」: When player throws dagger-type weapons and hits a target's weak point or bullseye, it is guaranteed to trigger a critical hit dealing 200% extra damage. Skill level can be increased through proficiency. Currently, all equipment of the target has been dropped; item ownership marks have been removed due to the owner's death, and player is free to harvest them.
-"Ding! Congratulations to player for successfully eliminating the Level 8 「Assassin」, gaining 1,000 EXP. Congratulations to player for leveling up to Level 6! (Current EXP progress: 100/1800). Level-up reward: 20 free attribute points, along with fixed base attribute bonuses: +1 Attack Speed, +1 Agility, +2 Magic Penetration, +3 Health, +2 HP Auto-Regen, and +1 Constitution."
Unlocking a deep-tree knife skill was completely within Chen Luo's expectations. As a veteran booster, he knew all the mechanisms and hidden conditions for activating basic weapon skills. Only the exclusive divine weapons of certain rare hidden classes were unknown to him because he hadn't had the chance to touch them in his previous life.
Walking up to the corpse of the assassin lying motionless in the distance, Chen Luo squatted down and began searching. This guy was quite poor, with very few valuable items on him—other than a dagger with a bizarre curved shape and a yellowish parchment scroll inscribed with a complex magic circle, there was nothing else.
When Chen Luo used 「Appraisal」 on the dagger, he was surprised to discover it was no ordinary piece of gear—「Toxic Fang Wolf Blade」.
Item Information
*Toxic Fang Wolf Blade
- Grade: Super Rare
- Stats: +20 AD, +10% Attack Speed, +15 Agility
- Description: A short blade forged from the unique venomous canine of the Snow Wolf King from the extreme cold regions. The blade edge is steeped in a secret extracted deadly poison. Every accurate strike inflicts both 「Frost」 and 「Poison」 debuffs on the target, continuously eroding their life force and significantly reducing movement speed.
- Effect Details:
Frost: Each hit reduces target's Agility and Attack Speed by 4%, stacking up to 20 times.
Poison: Causes the target to enter a deep severe poisoning state, dealing 8-10 (+15% AD) Magic Damage per second. Each stack lasts for 3 seconds and increases poison damage potency by 5%. Maximum duration is 30 seconds.
Looking closely at the dominant attributes of the 「Toxic Fang Wolf Blade」, Chen Luo finally understood why Assassin-class players in his previous life went crazy over this weapon in the early to mid-game. With such luxurious stat boosts and dragging health-drain debuffs, any assassin would drool over it. Especially for solo players, the extra Attack Speed and Agility were often lifesavers in critical moments.
When Chen Luo turned to check the parchment scroll in his other hand, he realized it was a 「Beast Sealing Scroll」. At the core of the scroll, a faint beast-shaped energy was struggling violently within the array, attempting to break free. However, knowing his current strength was insufficient to tame it, Chen Luo put the scroll into his inventory and conveniently stripped the assassin leather armor off the corpse to sell later.
Opening the system's sales interface, he placed the stripped leather armor along with rotten materials collected earlier from monsters into the trade slot. After confirming, he closed the virtual window, and the system's settlement voice sounded immediately:
-"Congratulations to player for successfully selling 「Assassin Leather Armor」 and 「Rotten Meat」 x93, receiving 350 Ether Crystal. System Tip: Whenever player reaches certain level milestones, the System Shop will automatically upgrade and expand the sale limit for higher-grade items. Please keep up the good work!"