Chapter 6: The Underworld

Having landed safely in the underworld, Li Bin’s first instinct was to look back at the way he had come. When he saw the same runes flickering behind him, he finally felt reassured.

At that moment, Gate of Excitement bounded over to Li Bin, exclaiming loudly, “Brother, have you noticed anything different about me?”

Li Bin focused his gaze and realized that the pair of ram's horns on Gate of Excitement’s head had changed from their original bluish-gray to jet black. He asked, “Why did your horns change color? Where did you get the dye?”

“You noticed? They’re not dyed! I’ve advanced—my special ability, Mindset of the Half-Ram, has finally leveled up!” Gate of Excitement explained eagerly.

After listening for a while, Li Bin finally parsed Gate of Excitement’s rambling words. It turned out that Gate of Excitement’s special ability, Mindset of the Half-Ram, was a campaign ability that could affect the legion's morale, luck, and other attributes depending on Gate of Excitement’s current identity.

But to do so, Gate of Excitement had to understand the corresponding mindset and transform into the correct subrace of half-ram. For example, to boost morale, he had to become a Prairie Half-Ram; to boost luck, a Swamp Half-Ram, and so on.

However, to advance this skill from basic to novice required knowledge of five types of half-ram mindsets, yet throughout the Bloodthirsty Wastelands, only four types of half-ram existed, which had stymied his progress.

Who would have thought that by entering the underworld, Gate of Excitement would come to understand the mindset of an exiled half-ram tribe, thus gaining the ability to transform into a Fallen Half-Ram, boosting the whole legion’s magic resistance.

Most importantly, Gate of Excitement had now collected all five half-ram mindsets, and his skill had advanced from basic to novice. The attribute bonus that had been +1 shot up to +3, making the rest of the party rejoice on his behalf.

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While sharing in Gate of Excitement’s joy, Li Bin discovered something he had long overlooked: the conditions for advancing special skills.

He opened his character panel and checked the special skills tab, finding that his Necromechanics skill also had levels. At the basic level, he could only use blueprints to create small and medium war machines or design undead mechanical units below level 5. At the highest grandmaster level, however, he would be able to freely design, modify, and mass-produce level 20 or even higher undead mechanical units.

Excited, Li Bin quickly searched for the advancement requirements for Necromechanics. In a corner of the panel, he found them written in small script.

Li Bin was stunned—advancing from basic to novice required him to create three entirely new undead mechanical species. Beneath this requirement, the names Undead Gargoyle, Undead Ballista, and Undead Scorpion were flashing in red. The system note explained that having met the requirements, he could advance at any time.

Realizing this, Li Bin couldn’t help but laugh wryly. His special skill had been eligible for advancement long ago, but his carelessness had delayed it until now.

Nevertheless, he selected the option to advance. Necromechanics instantly leveled up to novice, and the associated attributes changed as well.

Now he could freely craft small and medium war machines, and use blueprints to make large and giant war machines. He could design undead mechanical units up to level 10, though there was a limitation: on the Novice Continent, he could only create units up to level 7.

Even so, Li Bin was delighted. He checked the next advancement requirements and saw that he would need to create five undead mechanical constructs above level 5. This filled him with both excitement and anxiety.

He was excited because he could now manufacture level 5 and 6 units without worrying about the graveyard demon’s rank; anxious because he knew how many resources it would take. He hadn’t forgotten that when he first made an Undead Gargoyle, he had used up twelve regular gargoyles in research.

As Li Bin’s thoughts wandered, the party suddenly stopped. Looking up, he saw a massive shadow ahead.

His heart tightened and he immediately ordered the Forest Pursuers to ready for battle, but Thunder Bull issued no commands. Instead, Thunder Bull strode alone toward the shadow.

Soon Thunder Bull returned, and the shadow brightened. Li Bin saw it was a pillar of earthfire. Legend held that whoever ignited an earthfire pillar would receive a detailed map of the surrounding fifty kilometers.

Thunder Bull gathered all the players and handed each a map. Flipping through his, Li Bin found it was not much different from the one his thieves had drawn.

Then Thunder Bull pointed to a blank spot on the map and said, “Everyone, pay attention. Our target this time is a magical temple, probably located here. So I hope everyone focuses on the mission. After we finish, I’ll give you time to loot the underworld at your leisure.”

“So what are we waiting for? I can see it—this road is the shortest. Let’s charge in!” shouted the Giant Soldier.

“No, the enemies on that route are the strongest. We need to rest for the night,” Thunder Bull replied, shaking his head.

Li Bin and the others looked and saw that, as Thunder Bull said, the route the Giant Soldier pointed out was marked with numerous level 6 enemy units.

“Why not take another route?” asked Gate of Excitement.

“We’re out of time,” Thunder Bull explained. “Here and here—two other teams have already entered the underworld. If we don’t reach the magical temple before them, they’ll seize the magical knowledge first. So we can’t afford any delays.”

“I understand,” said the mermaid player Light-Dancing Butterfly, nodding. She pulled a water-made rug from her pack and spread it on the ground, instantly conjuring a small pond.

Without another word, Light-Dancing Butterfly summoned her troops and slipped into the pond.

Seeing this, Li Bin snorted softly, found a corner, and began unloading the harpy corpses he’d collected that day, preparing for his night’s work.

Soon, several corpses were processed into standard level 5 corpses by his hands, making them more convenient to store and, in future battles, immediately usable for creating level 5 units.

At that moment, Li Bin spotted the Harpy Queen who had caused him so much trouble. He was about to process her into a standard corpse when a thought struck him—why not create a new unit right now?

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