Pa!

I landed on a piece of land that was surrounded by wilderness. The moment my feet landed on solid ground, a melodious ring entered my ears—

Ding~!

System Notice: Warning! You have entered a contested territory, the Iron Skull Wilderness!

……

Iron Skull Wilderness?

I let out a hum and brought up the official database. When the search revealed nothing, I checked the Chinese forums next. This time, I found three pieces of information regarding Iron Skull Wilderness—

A: Iron Skull Wilderness. My uni mate and I traveled for 24 hours straight through White Bone Desert, Thunder Mountain Range and Elephant City to arrive at Iron Skull Wilderness in hopes of fighting some never-before-seen boss. Unfortunately, we were assassinated by a foreign assassin right as we entered it.

B: Iron Skull Wilderness is a death zone. Never go there unless you’re looking to suffer. I heard stories of people getting ambushed there and having their bodies camped for half a month…

C: I’ve read about Iron Skull Wilderness in the European official database before. It is a super huge, super chaotic map that’s almost as big as the entire Sky City domain. The natives of Iron Skull Wilderness are as brutal as they are strong. They are a community of many tribes with no nationality or sense of honor whatsoever. The only trades they conduct are business and murder.

……

"Business and murder?"

I shivered. My subconsciousness sure knows how to choose a great vacation destination! Iron Skull Wilderness was practically the borderland of Heavenblessed Continent, so there was a good chance that even Elephant City would find it too great a hassle to hunt me here, which was just as well. Right now, the goal was to hit Level 210 and become qualified to take my eighth-promotion quest. Who knows, maybe my trainer would have some OP skills for me to learn when I got back!

I kept the Ancient Divine Dragon on low altitude—ten meters above the ground to be exact—because it gave me the best vision. Technically speaking, there should be nothing that could hide from me. Of course, just in case one of Iron Skull Wilderness’ infamous assassins decided to target me, I made sure to activate Dark Pupils.

I spotted a lot of Level 220 dread-rank bear-type mobs on the ground. It was no wonder this place was called a death zone. Generally speaking, it would take at least a party of Level 190+ seventh-promotion experts to be able to survive this place. A normal party would be just wasting their levels and time.

However, I was Level 206 now. Level 220 dread-rank mobs were completely useless to me. I had to find something that was at least 30 levels above my current level, or the Ancient Divine Dragon and my own Divine Armaments would weep at the indignity.

I roamed around the wilderness for almost an hour not because I couldn’t find suitable prey, but because I was looking for an orange dot; an NPC dot. What could any player do without a place to repair their equipment and restock their supplies? Absolutely nothing.

Finally, after almost an hour and a half of mindless flying later, a couple of orange dots finally entered my view. Thank the heavens!

I immediately descended to the ground and canceled my mount. There was a simple tent at the edge of the forest, and right next to the tent was a huge skeleton. It didn’t look like a dragon’s, but it was still ungodly huge and eerily white. Five NPCs could be seen sitting around a bonfire that was set up close to the tent as well. The combatants of the group—one warrior and two archers—were in a sorry state. Their equipment was terrible and in tatters. The gnome blacksmith and succubi trader next to them were exactly what I was looking for though.

Even better, the NPCs obviously belonged to the Silver Moon Alliance, so there was no need to worry if they would attack me on sight. I might have lost my in-game nationality, but the mark of the Silver Moon Alliance predated even that. No one could strip this from me.

The Purple Ying Sword in my hand, I planted my foot on some dead leaves and allowed myself to be heard.

"Who is it?!"

One of the succubi archers immediately turned toward my direction and drew her bow tautly. She growled, "Show yourself!"

I emerged into the open with an innocent expression on my face. I made a show of sheathing my weapon before greeting them with a smile, "Hello, I’m an adventurer from Sky City."

"Oh, it’s just another lost adventurer…" The Level 245 dread-rank NPC warrior let out a sigh of relief.

I rolled my eyes at the comment. "I’m an adventurer, but I’m not lost."

"You’re not? Then why on earth are you in this barren wasteland?" The middle-aged warrior smiled. "There’s no need to be embarrassed, youngster. If even we could lose our sense of direction in this god-forsaken place, you could too."

I smiled. "Is that so? Fine, I guess I am lost. Anyway, can I rest here for a bit? I would also like to restock my supplies and repair my equipment."

"Of course!" The blacksmith laughed.

I praised him on the inside. He didn’t even make me kill or mob or pay for his service! I knew that Silver Moon Alliance’s NPCs are kinder, unlike those bastards who call themselves Sophie’s underlings.

A bunch of clinks and clanks later, my equipment was fully repaired. I also bought some fresh, nice-smelling bread from the trader. Man, this was such a good spot!

I sat down on a rock covered in dew and chewed my bread, resting. I could use one after all the battles I had gone through today, especially the one against the Indian players.

……

Beside me, the NPC warrior sighed. "We are the ‘Black Wind Scout Battalion’, and we serve Princess Karinshan. We were carrying out orders from Her Majesty to hunt down the Fierce Capricorn. We succeeded, but our 500-man-strong battalion has also dwindled to just 5. I have no idea if we can even leave this place alive."

The female archer consoled him. "Don’t be dejected, captain. The Fierce Capricorn was a monster who killed tens of thousands of Vanished God City citizens. Even if we may never return to Sky City, that we were able to slay an evil beast like that before our time’s up is an honor we can take to our graves. Also, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Princess Karinshan catches wind of our success!"

The warrior nodded. "It’s too bad we didn’t figure out that the Fierce Capricorn is supported by an army of monsters, or we would’ve fared much better."

That immediately caught my interest, so I set down my bread and asked, "What monsters are we talking about, uncle? If the Fierce Capricorn is that strong, its companions can’t be too weak, right? I’m interested in giving it a try!"

The warrior looked at me for a second before shaking his head. "I would advise you to return to Sky City, young adventurer. This place is not a good place for you to hone yourself. Look at my right arm. My wounds aren’t healing because they were stung by the venomous scorpions. If I’m unable to acquire its venom soon, the only thing I can do is to wait for death to take me!"

"Venom?"

"Yes. These venomous scorpions are extremely huge and powerful. Unfortunately, the only way to make the antidote is to procure the same venom that was used to poison my arm. Otherwise, I will have to spend the rest of my life in this god-forsaken place."

I immediately rose to my feet and picked up my sword. "If you trust me, allow me to find you some scorpion venom and get you treated, uncle!"

"Really?"

The warrior’s eyes lit up. "Very well, you may as well give it a try. Youngster, the Venomous Scorpions reside in a cave to the west. Once you’re inside, kill them and gather 100 samples of Scorpion Venom for me. I will reward you handsomely if you succeed!"

Ding~!

System Notice: You’ve accepted the quest [Venomous Scorpion]! (Current Quest Rank: S-)

Description: Enter the Scorpion King’s Cave, kill the Venomous Scorpions and gather 100 samples of Scorpion Venom for the captain of Black Wind Scout Battalion to receive a handsome reward. But be careful, the Venomous Scorpions are incredibly powerful. You may want to gather some companions first.

……

It was a shareable quest, but obviously I was alone. Worst case scenario I die, so whatever...

The fact that the quest was ranked S- meant that the Venomous Scorpions had to be pretty high-level. I fully expected them to drop a lot of equipment as well, which was why I took a moment to clear out some space in my bag and sold around 200 mediocre pieces of equipment to the blacksmith.

"Wait…"

The female archer called out to me right before I was about to leave. "Young warrior, there is one thing I must warn you about before you leave. No matter what you do, don’t enter the innermost area of the Scorpion King’s Cave. A terrifying devil as strong as the Fierce Capricorn itself lives there. You will die if you run into it…"

I smiled. "Oh, don’t be so hasty to judge someone. Who knows, maybe I’ll surprise you and return with its head…"

The female archer blinked once before moving closer to caress my cheek. "It would be a shame to lose such a handsome youngster like you. If you can kill the Scorpion King and return with its venomous stinger, I will reward you handsomely. Also…"

The beautiful NPC suddenly turned red. "I can marry you if you want to!"

Beside her, the warrior laughed heartily. "Mona is the prettiest woman in our Black Wind Scout Battalion, so do your best, youngster! For your love and Sky City’s honor!"

I grinned but said nothing. How was this a good thing, exactly? If I actually married this NPC lady, He Yi and Lin Yixin would literally cut me down to size. No, Mona could find a better husband elsewhere. That being said, I still accepted the quest to kill the Scorpion King because the reward was definitely going to be generous.

……

I turned around, climbed onto the Ancient Divine Dragon and took off toward my destination. This place had deadly players, deadly mobs and deadly bosses, so I was going to stay mounted for as long as I was able. I didn’t want to suffer a death I could’ve avoided.

On a related note, my Phantom Wolf King was following me on foot while howling incessantly. In a sense, the Ancient Divine Dragon was travelling on foot as well, if you ignored that its feet were hovering about a meter above the ground and moving incredibly quickly.

I spotted a pack of fierce, wild wolves in the forest along the way that were making threatening growls at me, but I ignored them. There was no point killing random mobs when there was a quest to be done.

I followed the directions displayed on the minimap and arrived at my destination; a pitch black cave beneath a mountain in less than ten minutes. The good news was that the cave was more than big enough to fit even the Ancient Divine Dragon.

"Head inside, little wolf!" I ordered.

However, the Phantom Wolf King let out a rejecting howl before hiding behind my back with its tail between its legs. I could practically translate its howl, "You first!"

Cowardly bastard!

I swore in my head but spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon forward. The cave was unusually dark, so I raised the Purple Ying Sword and let it illuminate my way. A terrible stench entered my nostrils the second I was inside. Tsk tsk, it’s more or less what I expected from a place called ‘Scorpion King’s Cave’, I suppose.