Chapter 12: Players Pledge Allegiance
Things unfolded exactly as Xia Er had predicted.
In the wake of the streamer Dao Shan's spectacular defeat, discussion among players about the Undead Territory dungeon exploded overnight.
For a dungeon meant for players around level thirty, it should have been cleared within the first three days of the server going live — yet it had survived to this day.
The corpses of neighboring domain lords had long since started to rot, while the Undead Archmage hadn't even taken a scratch worth mentioning.
Reading the discussions on the Oracle Forum, Li Shen was so moved he nearly burst into tears.
Finally — his name had been cleared!
If T1-tier players who had already completed their job advancements had all crashed and burned here, what chance did an ordinary, freshly-employed guy like him ever have?
It wasn't that he was bad — the enemy was just utterly broken!
After venting to his heart's content, Li Shen suddenly began to think more carefully.
During the closed beta, the Undead Archmage had been nothing more than an ordinary boss. So why had the developers cranked up his intelligence so dramatically after the open beta launched?
Something was off.
There had to be something going on behind the scenes.
Even back during the closed beta, the Oracle studio had earned the titles of "Detail Fanatics" and "Grind Lords" from the player community.
The entire world of Oracle was immeasurably vast. Beyond the absurdly difficult main storyline, there were countless richly detailed side quests, all intricately interwoven.
If he had to guess, after the closed beta ended, a character side quest had definitely been added to the Undead Archmage — and an extremely important one at that!
Otherwise, there would be no reason to raise his intelligence to such a level.
"Hiss..."
With that thought, Li Shen's mind suddenly opened up, and a growing excitement began to burn in his chest.
The rewards from certain side quests were extraordinarily generous.
Plenty of legendary gear and endgame equipment came from various side quests, and some NPC-issued rewards could even trigger a qualitative transformation in a class!
With that in mind, Li Shen took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He had already worked out the reasoning — now he needed to figure out how to actually "trigger" this side quest.
The answer wasn't hard to find. All he needed to do was interact more with the NPC, raise his favorability rating, and at a certain threshold, the quest would naturally be issued.
But the real crux of the matter was...
Talking to an NPC was easy enough, but how exactly was he supposed to talk to a boss?
Li Shen had no experience in that department — but that was fine.
As the old saying goes: no one hits a man who comes with a smile.
As long as he put on a sufficiently simp-like attitude and went to butter the boss up, he believed something would come of it.
Besides, he'd already died twice. His good gear was safely stashed in storage, and he wouldn't lose much experience — the cost of trial and error was minimal.
* * *
"As expected..."
"I'm about to get wrecked..."
Seated in the chair within the ancient castle, Xia Er read through the forum discussions about himself, his mood heavy.
If only he had held back a little during that earlier direct confrontation — now that his abnormality had been exposed, there would surely be no shortage of players coming to challenge him.
He let out a sigh and quietly opened his skill panel.
He still had two skill points he hadn't used.
After a moment's thought, Xia Er allocated them to [Dark Veil] and [Undead Summoning].
The former could be paired with [Lia's Necklace], while investing in the latter was preparation for the potential player army that might arrive — he needed some frontline units.
[Skill points used.]
[Skill: Dark Veil Lv.1 → Lv.2]
[Description: MP drain per second reduced by 50. Fog coverage range increased by ten meters. Corrosion effect enhanced.]
[Skill: Undead Summoning Lv.2 → Lv.3]
[Description: MP cost reduced by 100. Number of Undead Soldiers increased to 40.]
[Undead Summoning has reached Lv.3. "Undead Specialization" has been unlocked.]
Xia Er stared at the system notification and blinked.
Specialization?
What was that?
He followed the prompt icon and opened it. A massive skill tree branched outward from [Undead Summoning] as its root, spreading in all directions. Looking upward, there were currently two specializations available to unlock.
[Specialization — Undead Control]
[Description: After unlocking this specialization, you will be able to control your summoned Undead Soldiers through thought alone.]
[Unlock Condition — Obtain materials: [Undead Bones] + [Charm Spirit]]
[Note: These materials are sourced from the Witch of Pride's domain [Undead Territory] and the Witch of Lust's domain [Charm Dungeon] respectively.]
[Specialization — Path of Balance]
[Description: The undead you summon will no longer be limited to the single type of "Undead Soldiers."]
[Unlock Condition — Craft equipment: "Uriel's Grudge"]
[Note: This equipment is crafted from [Uriel's Skull + 100 High-Grade Magic Crystals].]
"Hiss..."
After reading through both specializations, Xia Er couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.
These were seriously powerful — each one felt like a qualitative transformation. But the unlock conditions seemed rather difficult.
The first crafting material for Undead Control was available right here in the domain, but the Charm Spirit was not something easily obtained.
If he recalled correctly, that item was within the jurisdiction of the Witch of Lust. As a subordinate of the Witch of Pride, Xia Er absolutely could not venture into that territory.
And then there was Uriel's Skull — that belonged to a formidable boss somewhere in the level 35–40 range.
Collecting either of these items on his own was out of the question. The only method he could think of was perhaps posting a bounty on the trading board...
Just as Xia Er was deep in thought, the door suddenly burst open and Avril rushed in.
"Lord Xia Er, an adventurer has entered our domain."
Xia Er furrowed his brow. "Is he strong?"
Avril shook her head. "Not strong — but he's... strange. He came without any weapons, and he's even stripped off all his armor. All he's wearing is a pair of shorts."
Xia Er: ...
"Are you sure it's an adventurer and not some kind of pervert?"
"Never mind, I'll go take a look."
With that, Xia Er made his way toward the area under Avril's watch, moving with extreme caution.
These were unusual times. Who knew what new tricks those players had cooked up? He had to stay on guard — as a player himself, he understood his own kind all too well.
After a careful and thorough reconnaissance, Xia Er finally spotted the player near the entrance, both hands raised high in a classic French military salute of surrender.
[Li Shen]
You again?
Xia Er remembered this username well. Early on, this guy had generously provided him with a good chunk of experience points, and later brought along his buddies to deliver more equipment — a gesture that had deeply moved the impoverished Domain Lord Xia at the time.
"Lord Xia Er!"
Spotting the shadowy figure lurking in the distance, Li Shen immediately reacted, frantically waving both hands. "Don't kill me yet — I come in peace!"
When the Undead Archmage showed no sign of making a move, Li Shen's heart leapt with joy.
His instinct had been right — there was hope!
Xia Er spoke in a low, muffled tone. "What do you want?"
Li Shen suppressed the excitement welling up inside him and immediately dropped to one knee. "Lord Xia Er! Ever since I witnessed your overwhelming power a few days ago, I have been completely and utterly conquered!"
"Please — allow me to serve under you!"
Xia Er: ......