Chapter 28
“What is this…” Eagle wasn’t a fool; even without receiving any quest or having ever met this underling of Kui Lang, and unaware that the man was already dead, he had nonetheless sensed something amiss in the scene before him.
Pei Sen glanced over and said softly, “This is the Illusion Realm of the Demon Crystal.”
In fact, although the dungeon illusion crystals specially created by the system for players are invisible to the “NPCs,” it’s not as if no one has ever accidentally entered a dungeon. To generate an illusion crystal, one must hold a “key” and locate the exact spot; in this particular dungeon, the “keys” are those rough wooden seals.
Typically, there is more than one key to open a dungeon. In later stages, it often happens that several teams obtain dungeon keys, and it becomes a race to see who can find the location and activate the dungeon first.
Activating a dungeon is no easy feat, but entering one simply requires crushing the illusion crystal. Some of those “NPCs,” or rather, the native inhabitants, have inadvertently stepped on or shattered these invisible crystals under unexpected circumstances, thereby entering the dungeon as well. They refer to this place as the “Illusion Realm of the Demon Crystal.”
According to their accounts, this was a magical illusory space formed by special invisible magic crystals, posing no real danger to humans; with good fortune, one might even stumble upon some extraordinary opportunities.
Years later, tales circulated among the natives about certain youths who accidentally wandered into these crystal illusions, gained miraculous encounters, and soared to greatness ever since…
Eventually, the Church of Light on the continent of Yali even proclaimed that these special crystals forming the illusionary realms were “Light Crystals,” divine gifts bestowed upon the mortal world by the God of Light.
Of course, all players knew full well that the Church of Light was merely trying to glorify itself.
For players, this area operates in dungeon mode: dying inside does not cause a level loss, only a slight reduction in equipment durability. However, once all entrants perish, the dungeon vanishes and can only be re-entered via Illusion Crystals.
Furthermore, whether you clear the dungeon or fail, you must wait seven days before entering again.
In other words, every dungeon in Bix Cube has a seven-day cooldown period. Moreover, even if your entire party is wiped out by regular mobs without defeating a single boss—meaning no progress was made whatsoever—the dungeon’s disappearance still triggers the cooldown. This differs from typical games where cooldowns only begin after defeating a boss.
Dungeon entry is also subject to player limits. For small-scale dungeons like the Slave-Trading Cave, the cap is six players with a minimum of one. Although Eagle isn’t a player, the moment he entered, Pei Sen received a notification: “Current Entrants: 2.”
He had never before brought an “NPC” into a dungeon; he only knew that they could enter, and that even though they were not players but natives of this world, dying within a dungeon did not mean true death. “NPCs” could likewise obtain items found inside dungeons, though the specifics remained unclear to him.
Only because he knew these rules in advance did he decide to bring Eagle along.
Eagle had never heard of the Magic Crystal Illusion Realm. Glancing around with mixed skepticism and curiosity, he asked, “So, this is a false space constructed by magic?”
Judging from the meaning of the words, Eagle could hardly believe this place wasn’t the real world, since it appeared no different from reality.
“Yes, this is a sealed, illusory world.” Pei Sen pointed behind him. “For instance, if we try to leave this cave, we’ll find ourselves back at the starting point after just a few steps. There’s only one path forward: kill everyone inside this cave and rescue the imprisoned.”
Eagle questioned, “But those people have already been killed.” He had also seen the earlier scenes that seemed recorded by Shadow Crystals.
On the continent of Yali, there exists a magical item similar to a camera called a Shadow Crystal. Many high-level alchemists can craft these, but they are exceedingly expensive and circulate only among the nobility.
As a noble, Eagle had naturally heard of it as well.
The scene he had just witnessed bore little difference from the recordings previously shown to him by Aijin using the Shadow Stone.
The Shadow Stone records only truth; it never fabricates illusions.
“That’s right, those who were imprisoned are all dead,” Pei Sen said, watching as one of Kui Lang’s underlings drew nearer, likely having heard the commotion. Due to the angle, the man could see them, but they remained hidden from his view. “But, Young Master, this is an illusory space constructed by magic.”
Eagle murmured, “So, everything is fake.”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s the point of doing all this?”
“Of course there’s a point. Here, we can become stronger.”
Before the words had even faded, Pei Sen stepped forward, drew out a long-handled staff, and sent an ice blade speeding with incredible swiftness toward the figure marked “Jack” above his head!
His backpack contained almost no staves suitable for his current level; after all, this was merely a storage character. Most of the gear discarded by his main characters required at least level fifty or sixty to equip. Only this single level-40 weapon had no level restriction, yet its stats were truly mediocre, lacking any special effects. Consequently, despite being a staff usable at any level, it remained unpopular among mages.
Unlike swordsmen, whose weapons primarily needed high attack power, a mage’s staff ideally offered spell amplification effects or certain magical specializations; the raw value of magic attack was actually secondary.
Otherwise, a staff boasting the attack power of at least a level-40 weapon should have sold very well to beginners.
However, the awkward truth is that broke beginners can’t afford it, while wealthy beginners look down on it due to its low level. If this were an 80-level weapon with no level restrictions, it would be incredibly valuable.
Yet, such a divine artifact has never appeared in Bix Cube; the highest cap for equipment without level restrictions is currently level 50.
Stuck between being too high-end for some and too low-tier for others, this item has been gathering dust in the warehouse all along.
Pei Sen never expected he’d actually find a use for it under such extraordinary circumstances.
Staff of Ruila
Level: 40
Physical Attack: 25–35
Magic Attack: 135–155
Effect: No level restriction
Durability: 400
Originally, Basic Ice Blade was merely an apprentice-level spell. However, after Pei Sen advanced to the rank of Junior Mage, he mastered its upgraded version—the true spell known simply as “Ice Blade.” Spells prefixed with “Basic” do not indicate they are accessible only to Junior Mages; in fact, all such spells belong to the apprentice tier. Only upon becoming a Junior Mage does one truly grasp the essence of magic!
Ice Blade, Fireball, Thunderclap, Wind Arrow, Earth Shield—these are all Class D spells attainable by Junior Mages. Upon reaching the rank of Intermediate Mage, one can research more powerful Class C spells. Apprentice-level spells, by contrast, aren’t even classified into categories; they are merely crudely labeled with the term “Basic.”
In the ice element alone, there are various types such as Ice Blade, Ice Shield, Ice Arrow, and Ice Wind, not to mention countless other ice spells mutated from basic ice spell models. A novice mage can learn hundreds of single-element Class D spells just within the ice category.
The sheer variety of spells overwhelms native mages. On the continent of Yali, most mages dedicate their entire lives to mastering a single element, which already leaves them no room to explore others. Those who excel in two elements simultaneously are considered outstanding among mages. Ordinary individuals who greedily attempt to study multiple elements usually end up mediocre, wasting vast amounts of time.
Keso, for instance, is a mage specializing exclusively in ice magic. In fact, the Kingdom of Asmia boasts the world’s strongest ice mages. Its ice magic system is the most complete, its research the most profound, and it possesses the greatest number of ice spell models. Among Asmian mages, ice affinity is the most common.
For example, not only Keso, but also the assassin who attempted to kill Eagle was likewise an ice mage.
This comes as no surprise; among the high-level mages of Asmia, five out of ten are ice specialists.
As a mage player, Pei Sen knew this well. In the late game, players who favored fire magic would travel to the distant land of Bonfris.
Indeed, unlike Asmia, the country where Eagle’s mother had married into predominantly practiced fire magic.
To some extent, this reflected the game’s freedom. Even among mage players, without seeing each other’s skill panels, one could never be sure what spells the other had mastered. It could be said that in Bix Cube, no two players possessed exactly the same set of skills.
Like mages, swordsmen in the Bix Cube do not possess fixed skills; each “NPC” swordsman masters a unique set of techniques. For instance, Sardin, an eighth-rank grand swordsman, knows many sword arts that no one else in Aesmia can replicate. Although Sardin has taken disciples, the sword techniques taught to his students can never be exactly identical to his own.
Just as there are no two completely identical people in this world, there are no two entirely identical sword techniques.
Every swordsman possesses a style uniquely their own.
This saying is widely circulated across the continent of Yali. Players, however, operate differently; they disregard such logic entirely. As long as the prerequisites are met, they can completely “copy and paste” an NPC’s sword technique, which is referred to as “learning a skill.” Nevertheless, given the vast number of NPCs and the extensive variety of sword techniques, most player swordsmen still end up with different skill bars.
The same applies to mages. Take Pei Sen, for instance; he need not delve deeply into any specific school of magic. As long as he comprehends and memorizes the spell models, there is no barrier to learning spells from any school.
Overall, everyone possessing a player interface is essentially cheating.
Most of the spells in the spellbook given by Kexo belong to the ice school. Pei Sen had no choice but to learn these.
Fortunately, ice-type damage is quite formidable. With his current capabilities, clearing this dungeon should pose little problem.
Pei Sen is currently level 20, and this dungeon is roughly suited for players around that same level. However, without any teammates, attempting to clear it solo at this stage would be quite strenuous.
An ice blade shot forth, instantly carving a bloody line across Jack’s neck. Just as he was about to let out a scream, a second ice blade severed his vocal cords.
Such a feat would be nearly impossible for most players to accomplish, yet years later, it became standard practice to include a mage specialist in vocal cord severing during dungeon runs—commonly known as a “Silence Mage.”
Outside dungeons, players could often be heard shouting, “Professional dungeon clearing, no CD stealing! Looking for a Silence Mage!”
Later, no one knows how the Voice-Silencing Mages evolved into the Castration Grandmasters, to the point where people started directly requesting, “Need a Little-Knife Eunuch for this dungeon.”
A eunuch wielding a small knife, a professional Castration Grandmaster.
…This development sparked solemn protests from the crowd of Vocal-Cord-Slicing Mages, but unfortunately, it was to no avail.
The term “Little-Knife Eunuch” spread far and wide.
Besides, clerics who have learned the divine spell “Silence” can also achieve a sound-canceling effect. However, the cleric class in Bix Cube has always been the least popular, with hardly any players choosing it.
This is probably the class in all of Bix Cube that requires the most innate talent; even players with cheat-like status panels would find it difficult to master those divine spells.
…Essentially, players simply cannot comprehend those mystifying and headache-inducing divine spells, as they fundamentally lack the basis to accept those local beliefs.
This is just a “game”; are they really expected to take faith seriously?
However, in the current timeline of Bix Cube, mages have not yet appeared; the high-level player who would later invent the precise vocal cord severing technique is nowhere to be seen, and the priest class remains far from being unlocked. Naturally, only Pei Sen can achieve this feat. Such delicate spell manipulation requires countless hours of practice—it has nothing to do with level or skills, but purely stems from experience-forged prowess.
Opening the throat, silencing the voice—all done in one seamless motion.
Within the dungeons of Bix Cube, NPCs are more than mere NPCs; they are not simply rigid, foolish data constructs. For instance, had Pei Sen not severed Jack’s vocal cords just now, his agonized screams would undoubtedly have drawn even more enemies.
No matter how strong Pei Sen might be, under such circumstances, he could never hope to fight ten opponents alone.
The frost had congealed his blood. Jack’s face remained contorted in agony, yet he could no longer utter a sound. He gazed into the darkness before him, hesitating whether to advance. As a Level One Swordsman, he was at least considered an “Extraordinary”; his vitality far surpassed that of an ordinary person. Though his injuries were severe, his throat hadn’t been completely severed, so they weren’t fatal.
Yet the next moment, he suddenly turned and fled, having no intention of foolishly charging forward to confront Pei Sen head-on.
Pei Sen, however, had anticipated this. An ice arrow pierced directly into Jack’s back—he wasn’t wearing armor; otherwise, Pei Sen wouldn’t have targeted that spot.
Ice arrows weren’t as fast as ice blades and required casting time. Jack’s attempt to flee had only given Pei Sen the opportunity he needed.
With Pei Sen’s pitifully low Intelligence stat, the damage should have been negligible at best; the Ice Arrow might only have grazed the flesh. However, the Staff of Ruila provided such an immense damage bonus that the ice arrow pierced straight through Jack’s body.
Thus, the first mob of this dungeon fell dead on the spot.
The entire kill took merely a few seconds.
Eagle glanced at Pei Sen thoughtfully, as if seeing a completely different person.
The butler, who had always been gentle and reliable before him, turned out to have such a sharply formidable side.
“Pei Sen, I feel a bit strange,” Eagle said.
At the moment this person collapsed, something seemed to enter his body, filling him with a warm heat that spread throughout.
Pei Sen glanced over; this minor monster had provided nearly 500 experience points. For his current level, it wasn’t particularly generous, but considering it was just a minor mob, the reward was already quite substantial.
“Young master, are you feeling a bit warmer?”
“Mm.”
This is perfectly normal. At Pei Sen’s current level 20, defeating a single minor monster wouldn’t grant him any experience, but Eagle is still practically an ordinary person—merely a mage apprentice who has learned a few novice-tier spells. In player terms, he would be below level 10, making those 500 experience points quite significant.
Players must reach level 20 and fulfill specific prerequisites in magical knowledge to advance to Junior Mage, but the natives do not follow this system.
For players, this experience is highly beneficial; when it enters Eagle’s body, it feels like pure energy, bringing him great comfort while also transforming into his own power as he continues his studies in the extraordinary realm.
This is precisely why legends speak of natives who accidentally stumbled into dungeons and encountered “fortuitous opportunities.”
Here lies pure energy they can absorb, which can be converted into mana, sword qi, or even divine power.
Not to mention that if they’re lucky enough to defeat a BOSS, there will be loot drops as well.
Indeed, in normal thinking, a place where death merely shatters the illusion without causing real demise, and even grants valuable rewards, is no different from a rare opportunity.
“Don’t worry, this is something good. If you continue studying magic,” Pei Sen said, extending his hand and placing his palm against the boy’s chest, “the energy stored here will transform into your own power.”
Eagle looked down at Pei Sen’s slender fingers. “This place… it must be extremely precious and difficult to enter, right?”
The more Eagle understood the rules of this magical illusory space, the more keenly he perceived its extraordinariness and value.
And yet he had insisted on following Pei Sen… though beforehand, he certainly hadn’t known this place would be so miraculous.
“Not at all,” Pei Sen said with a chuckle, seemingly reading his thoughts. “Don’t get too moved, young master. While places like this are rare, entering here costs me nothing.”
Eagle nodded. He had ultimately taken advantage of Pei Sen’s kindness; perhaps he should treat him even better once they returned?
Compared to Eagle, Pex standing nearby looked even more stunned. Throughout the entire encounter, he had been cowering behind Eagle, appearing utterly timid. Yet, due to his excessive bulk, Eagle could barely conceal Pex’s肥胖 figure.
However, I never expected this new master to be so formidable; he killed someone in an instant.
Pex also felt that peculiar warmth. Unlike Eagle, as Pei Sen’s pet, it gained experience and followed the same rules as players—it leveled up…
Five hundred experience points propelled it from level 2 straight to level 4!
Pex stared at its paws, then scraped the ground with its claws and spun around in a circle.
The cat did nothing at all, yet somehow grew stronger.
It seemed the new master wasn’t entirely useless after all.
If the cat simply followed him, could it grow stronger just by eating and sleeping?
However, Peks had no dreams; it was merely a pet cat.
What does a pet cat need to become stronger for?
The cat doesn’t want to become stronger; it just wants to return to being a noble’s pet cat.
The two humans and the cat continued slowly deeper into the cave. Peks curled up tightly, wishing desperately to be a tiny, utterly inconspicuous little kitten.
Eagle, however, began wondering whether he should try out the few spells he had learned; otherwise, he would truly become nothing but dead weight, completely unable to help Pei Sen.
Thus, when Pei Sen killed the next minor monster, Eagle successfully landed the finishing blow and then looked proudly at Pei Sen, as if saying, “Hurry up and praise me.”
Pei Sen smiled and generously offered his praise, “Young master is truly formidable.”
“Of course,” Eagle replied smugly.
Only Pex, as always, remained true to his heart.
As they turned the corner, they encountered a subordinate of the Kui Wolf clan walking a vicious dog. Upon seeing the ferocious beast, Pecks’ fur stood on end in terror; he lost control, meowing frantically and nearly scrambling onto Eagle’s back.
However, that vicious dog seemed to sense Pecks’ Shadow Cat lineage, realizing it was facing a magical beast, and likewise began trembling with fear, its four paws digging into the ground.
Pei Sen: “…”
Useless cat! What good are five skills if you can’t even use them!
He grabbed the fat cat by the scruff and hurled it toward the dog. “Kill it for me!”
You’re an utter disgrace to magical beasts! You’re a high-tier magical beast with noble bloodline and no fewer than five skills, for heaven’s sake!
And yet you’re afraid of an ordinary dog? If this gets out, you’ll have shamed the entire Shadow Cat clan!
Pei Sen himself was handling that Qu-Wolf underling; leaving the dog to Pex was already being generous. After all, aside from its fierce appearance, the dog possessed no extraordinary power whatsoever. Moreover, intimidated by Pex’s aura as a magical beast, it had already lost most of its fighting capability.
However, Pecks screamed miserably as he scrambled backward, terrified he wasn’t retreating fast enough.
The cat is scared; the cat is going to die; the cat is going to be bitten to death by the dog!
Pei Sen: “…”
In the end, Eagle couldn’t bear to watch any longer and stepped in to kill the vicious dog himself.
Pei Sen sighed, “You’d better take this cat back, young master. I feel it just doesn’t get along with me.”
Truly a useless noble cat, even more delicate than Eagle himself.
“No, I said it’s yours.” Eagle didn’t want this embarrassing cat either.
After spending nearly half an hour, the two had ventured deep into the cave and finally encountered the first boss of this dungeon—a familiar face, none other than Kui Lang, who had already been executed.
Pei Sen didn’t know how many bosses this dungeon had. Generally, dungeons in Bix Cube featured at least two bosses, usually three or four.
He wondered: if the first boss was Kui Lang, then who would be the next one?
Dungeon patterns were actually quite fixed; the first boss was always the weakest. No matter how many bosses a dungeon contained in total, the first one was undoubtedly the easiest to deal with.
Pei Sen knew that Kui Lang was definitely one of the bosses in this dungeon; he just hadn’t expected Kui Lang to be the first boss. This meant that within this slave-trading cave, there existed someone of higher status than Kui Lang.
“It probably isn’t Wallis; he wouldn’t come to a place like this in person. Besides, given Wallis’s level, he doesn’t fit the difficulty standard of this dungeon. It might be someone from Archi Town, perhaps related to that mayor.”
Wallis is far too powerful. As the lord of the border city, he is the strongest among the three city lords and commands a knightly order. In a dungeon of this difficulty, it’s impossible for such a high-level boss to appear.
Keep in mind that during the incident at the Lord’s Manor, the players were utterly incapable of defeating him; it was only when Keso intervened that Wallis met his end.
“It’s Kui Lang,” Eagle remarked, recognizing the figure as well. “He seems somewhat different from how he was back then.”
The Kui Wolf, not yet broken by player torment, still carried an imposing presence. Towering and muscular, his status as a Level 2 Swordsman granted him extraordinary power; he was almost an entirely different person from the mud-like Kui Wolf who had already lost all will to live.
Pei Sen showed this boss due respect. “Young Master, please step back. I’ll handle him.”
Knowing that Pei Sen already harbored a grudge against the Kui Wolf, Eagle raised no objections and obediently stepped back a few paces.
Facing the boss alone, Pei Sen felt fairly confident after gauging the dungeon’s difficulty level. Moreover, the fact that Kui Wolf was the Number One Boss inherently meant he was the weakest.
After just ten or so minutes, Kui Wolf collapsed; his corpse vanished, transforming into a golden chest.
Eagle exclaimed in surprise, “What is this?”
“This is a unique treasure found only within the Magic Crystal Illusion Realm.” In other words, it was a rare stroke of fortune for certain native inhabitants.
Opening the chest, Pei Sen gazed at the exceedingly generous rewards bestowed for achieving the first kill and felt deeply satisfied.
Unlike other rewards, dungeon rewards are quite fair; they determine the boss drops based on the classes of the players who enter the dungeon.
Only if a mage enters the dungeon will mage-specific items drop; if only swordsmen enter, the drops are guaranteed to be exclusively for swordsmen.
As for how those native dungeons make their determinations, Pei Sen does not know.
Inside this chest now are no fewer than eight items; at first glance, they all appear to be for mages, including weapons, mage robes, magical artifacts, skill scrolls, and an ice-elemental crystal brimming with frost.
As for typical dungeon drops, this BOSS will likely yield no more than four items, with their quality also being somewhat reduced.
For instance, if there’s a purple skill scroll inside the chest, under normal circumstances, the highest quality of skill scrolls dropped in a dungeon of this level would only be blue.
In lower-level dungeons, items of purple quality will only drop during the first kill.
“Young master, let’s examine them carefully once we return; for now, let’s clear this area first.”
“Alright.” Eagle had no objections. He didn’t know what a skill scroll was, nor did he harbor much desire for other items. Given his status and position, even the finest mage robes and staves were well within his reach if he wanted them; many nobles enjoyed purchasing magical artifacts purely for collection.
Rather, it was the energy that had entered his body that ignited a deeper longing within him.
Pei Sen felt the need to act quickly. It was already daytime, and more and more players were logging in.
Taking a quick glance at the forum, he saw that those two players had already shared the quest with far too many others.
The situation was dire. He felt that if he and Eagle didn’t hurry back, while Eagle might be fine, he himself would be outright killed by the enraged Sardin.
Players were beginning to flood into the Golden Rose Manor; by now, Kara and Linnie must have already discovered that Eagle and Pei Sen had vanished.
Pei Sen was terrified that things would spiral out of control like a runaway horse.
…He certainly didn’t want to spend the rest of his life on the run. At this point, he was already regretting having assigned the quest to those two carefree and goofy players.
Why are you two being so generous? Sharing with just a few people would suffice. Did all of you really share it to complete this quest?
Aren’t you worried that too many people sharing it will reduce the rewards?
This makes no sense! Are you guys even serious players?
Just imagine the scene of one or two thousand players swarming in to tackle this quest..
Pei Sen instantly felt a chill run down his spine.