go

Liam was speechless. Things around him were jiggling and shaking and moving too much. He took one look at this chaotic scene and did a u-turn returning back to his room.

He could even hear some giggling behind him but he didn't care and quickly shut the door. He had heard the words 5 minutes so he decided to take a shower first.

He also ordered a bunch of food for dinner. By the time he was done showering, the food had already arrived and it looked like the crowd in their apartment had also cleared out.

Only his sister and Shen Yue were collapsed on the floor of the living room. "Oh my god, the food smells so good." Shen Yue immediately exclaimed.

"Brother, sis is a big foodie. He He He." Mei Mei added.

"You are welcome to join us for dinner." Liam smiled politely. He didn't mind the intrusion as he was pleased to see his sister finally happy and smiling like a normal teenager.

"Waah! Thanks. Your brother is so nice, Mei Mei." Shen Yue chuckled and lifted her sweaty body from the floor.

"It's alright. I don't want to impose on you guys too much. Thanks for letting me use your apartment."

She waved goodbye when her stomach made a loud embarrassing grumbling sound. Mei Mei couldn't hold it in and ended up laughing loudly.

"Sis Yue, don't think too much. Just join us for dinner." She smiled brightly.

"Aha ha. Okay." Shen Yue nodded and agreed with an awkward smile. "Then I won't hold back. Let me wash up and come first."

After she left, Mei Mei turned around to give Liam a big thumbs up. "Huh? What is that for?

Chapter 87 - They All Died!

"He He." The young girl giggled and winked at Liam. "I know everything, brother."

"Eh? What do you know?"

"He He. I am not that small you know." She winked at him when Liam finally understood what she meant. He gave her a bitter smile and pinched her cheeks.

"Don't talk rubbish."

While the two of them arranged the dishes on the table, a surprised yelp came from within Liam's room. "She went to my room?"

Liam walked over to check what had happened when he saw Shen Yue admiring his game capsule with her mouth open. "Woah! This is so big!"

"Ya, it's an advanced full dive game so the capsule is quite complicated. By the way, there is another washroom in the corridor." Liam pointed her to the one outside his room.

"Sorry. Sorry. My bad. I saw this and just walked in." Shen Yue was really embarrassed this time as she had crossed a line and wandered into another person's private room.

"Don't worry about it." Liam shook his head. "Join us when you are done." He left her and returned back to the living room. He was starving so he dug in without waiting for anyone.

Shen Yue clapped her face with her hands and shook her head. She then quickly ran out of his room and used the washroom outside.

She splashed water on her face and looked up to see the mirror when she noticed that her shirt had been fully drenched in sweat and extremely transparent all this time.

Even her breasts and her nipples were clearly visible. "Ahhh!" She yelped once again and before any of the two siblings could stop her she ran out of the apartment first.

"I will change clothes first." Only her voice could be heard.

"What happened now?" Liam asked his sister who shook her head and shrugged. She also did not know.

When Shen Yue returned back, the TV was switched on and both Liam and Meilin were already sitting on the couch and munching their food.

Did he see everything? Shen Yue gulped and took some dishes onto her plate acting as normal as she could. She looked at Liam who seemed as expressionless as always.

But this only made it worse and her face became bright red. She silently sat on the other end of the couch and continued eating.

On the TV, once again news about the latest video game was being broadcast.

No one was still able to find how everything was hacked and who was the game developer of this revolutionary game.

"Well… I guess… this is all the same… they are paying attention to the wrong things." Liam sighed, muttering to himself.

"Brother, did you say something?" Meilin asked to which he shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing."

"Brother, by the way, did you hear the news yet?" The young girl looked so excited to tell him that she put her plate down and shouted with her mouth still full.

"First swallow your food idiot." Liam chuckled.

"Hmph. You wouldn't be this calm if you heard the news!" She pouted. Shen Yue silently watched the two wondering what they were talking about.

"The bullies that cornered us the other day? You remember?"

"Mmm." Liam casually put another scoopful of food in his mouth. He already knew what she was going to tell.

"Brother! They died! They actually died!"

"Oh really?" He slowly chewed, enjoying the taste of the fried chicken. "What happened?"

"Their gaming software apparently malfunctioned and they died within the capsule itself. Their parents only found out about it when they hadn't come out for a couple of days together."

Mei Mei started recounting the whole incident as she had read in the news. It was being talked about a lot and the specific gaming capsule manufacturing company was also being sued.

There were also several talks and serious protests about how gaming was the cancer of society and etc.

So they chalked this up to game capsule malfunction? Liam could only chuckle inwardly hearing all this nonsense.

He knew very well that nothing was going to change even after all of these. Human greed was boundless so despite the situation being risky, ultimately no one was going to care.

When the serious gamers started earning a lot, it was only inevitably going to grow more and more until the big balloon burst open and revealed the reality to everyone.

Snapping him out of his thoughts, Mei Mei clutched his hand and asked worriedly. "Brother… This… maybe you should also play the game a little less?"

Liam smiled and ruffled her head. "Don't worry dummy. I am using a different company's gear. He must have skimped on money. That's why it malfunctioned."

"Both of ours are pretty high-end so you don't have to worry about that."

Shen Yue finally mustered the courage to join the conversation and spoke up. "Oh! Which one do you think is good? I am also thinking of getting."

Liam nodded and gave her some details before finishing his food and returning back to his room. He then switched on his desktop.

He opened up the 'official website' for the game which was basically the most popular game's website now manually made into the 'Evolution Online' website by some of the gamers and the company.

Since no other company came forward and claimed a lawsuit for doing this unlawfully, they continued posing as the 'official website'.

Liam signed in as a guest and posted.

"I died a few times in game today and I am feeling a bit sick when I logged out. Did anyone else experience this?"

…

He made the same post on a few threads and then signed out. This was it. He could only hint at these things and just doing this was already risky enough.

Otherwise, he would be subjected to the unnecessary spotlight that he didn't yet have the strength to defend against.

Chapter 88 - It's Raining Black

"Mei Mei. Lock the doors properly before you go to sleep!" After reminding his sister again, Liam then stretched his arms and let out a big yawn before getting back into the game capsule.

"Your brother is always this loving and caring?" Shen Yue asked enviously.

She herself did not have any siblings and her parents also kind of stopped talking to her and were cold and distant from her when she did not listen to their orders and study medicine.

She wanted to become a dancer instead and in the meantime worked as a personal trainer to make ends meet and support herself financially.

"Yes, my big bro is nice to me all the time." Meilin replied but after that, she grinned widely and then winked. "He He? Why do you ask, sis Yue?"

"Ah… Nothing. Nothing. Was just curious." Shen Yue immediately became conscious again and turned her face back to the TV.

Watching her actions, Mei Mei became more excited and continued teasing her. "He also doesn't have a girlfriend, sis Yue. He He."

Shen Yue did not say anything and quickly stuffed her mouth with a spoonful of food. However, her beautiful face was already red like a ripe tomato.

Meanwhile…

Back in the game, Liam looked at the two leeches staring at him and then patted them with a smile. "Time to get to work!"

Kyuuuuuu!

The trio started walking around Yleka city as Liam was trying to make up his mind. He had 48 hours plus another 48 hours before the black market opened up again.

This was a significant amount of time and he needed to spend it properly. The most important task now was to level up and he knew a lot of juicy spots to do this.

However, he had a feeling that he could be spending this time better.

He opened the world map in his system interface and gazed at the blackish dark red blinking icon near the right bottom corner.

The nether realm!

According to the details of the reward he received for obliterating those worthless souls, he should be able to enter and exit this at will.

In his previous life, Liam had only entered this well past the event, and by that time everything good was already gone.

He also didn't know much details about this place as he had hardly paid any attention to it, but now that his undead affinity and demonic affinity were SSS-grade and S-grade, it would be foolish to ignore this part of the tutorial.

If he was simply going to be leveling, he might as well do that here and explore the nether realm at the same time to be more efficient.

Without the details of the treasure spots and juicy easter eggs, combing through a place like that was going to be a difficult job. So the earlier he started working on it, the better.

He might be sacrificing his leveling speed a bit, but it didn't matter as he would also be looking around the place at the same time.

Making up his mind, Liam pressed the blinking button. Immediately a reddish black swirling mass of energy appeared in front of him. This was a portal.

"Hmmm… If I am not wrong. This should be a single use portal. It should disappear after I use it until I summon it again."

Liam carefully observed it first and then extended his hand to reach the portal.

At the same time, he was also prepared to react immediately as he had no idea what awaited him on the other end.

It wouldn't be anything that he couldn't handle, but Liam doubted that the system would go easy on him. If anything, it would be the other way around.

He looked at the bird and the fox and pointed to the portal once before directly touching it. The two as well did the same and the next second, all of them were pulled in.

The lush green forests around them disappeared and they now stood on what looked like a vast desert, except the sands were brownish green in color.

The sky above them was crimson, blotched with pitch black clouds.

[Ding. You have entered the nether realm]

[Ding. You are the first player to discover the nether realm]

[Ding. 5000 Experience points have been rewarded]

[Ding. You have obtained the title 'Pioneer']

[Pioneer: When the title is equipped, drop rates are higher and experience points gained are boosted by 5%]

"Heh. This is a very useful title." Liam clicked his tongue and then opened the map on the system interface once again. It indicated that he was in the Zodal Empire in the eastern zone.

"If I remember correctly, this should be a demon kingdom. The eastern zone should be mostly demon kingdoms while the south should be beastkin lands."

He gazed at the map which was mostly blanked out and tried to remember as much as he could.

But his exact starting point didn't matter too much as necromancers were typically scattered throughout the nether realm.

As he looked at the map trying to jog his memories, a loud thunder rumbled snapping him out of his thoughts. Black raindrops fell from the sky, wetting the barren desert lands and forming small black puddles.

"Hmmm." Liam collected a drop of the black rain in his finger and flicked it casually. This was the trademark debuff of the nether realm.

Players avoided this rain like plague as it not only decreased their stats but also sizzled and burned as it touched the skin. However, Liam currently did not feel any pain.

He was also not injured. The drops that fell on him momentarily drenched his clothes but were later absorbed by his skin underneath, leaving his clothes once again clean and dry.

The raindrops falling on his hands and his face were also readily absorbed and before he could wonder why this was happening, he received the answer.

[Ding. You have been empowered by the nether]

[Ding. All your stats are increased by 10%]

Chapter 89 - On Their Own

[Ding. You have been empowered by the nether]

[Ding. All your stats are increased by 10%]

[Ding. Experience Points gained are increased by 10%]

[Ding. Your pet1 is inflicted by the nether]

[Ding. Your pets stats are decreased by 10%]

[Ding. Your pet2 is inflicted by the nether]

[Ding. Your pets stats are decreased by 10%]

Liam waited for all the notifications to roll in one after the other. He had expected some of these but he hadn't expected his pets to get affected by the nether debuff.

But now that he thought about it, everything made sense. One pet was the common type and the other pet was the spirit type. Both didn't have an affinity to the nether energy as he did.

"Well. It doesn't matter. My experience points should transfer over without any problems so you both can still level up."

As he looked around, wondering which direction to head in first, suddenly small skittering noises sounded behind him. Liam instantly turned around and unsheathed his sword by habit.

But when he looked at what was making the noise, he relaxed a little. It was just a horde of demon larvae passing by.

[Demon Larvae]

Level 4

Health: 400

Liam glanced at their stats and they were just ants in front of him. "You two want to try fighting them?" He looked at the fox and the bird. He wanted both to be more accustomed to fighting.

And that was something that needed to be learned and trained the hard way. There were no shortcuts.

Otherwise, they would simply just be glass cannons leeching his experience points and nothing more.

Kyuuuu! The fox excitedly jumped up and down.

The bird was even more excited eying the demon larvae that had the potential to become powerful demons as simply mere food. It liked that they looked like wiggling worms.

Liam did not have to tell them twice and they quickly jumped into action. In the meantime, he continued to think about where to move next.

But he also paid attention to what they were doing from the corner of his eyes. After all, there were about 50 or 60 demon larvae wiggling towards them.

He didn't plan on intervening unless things became very bad. Nevertheless, he still kept an eye on the two.

The fox did not approach the horde yet and started sending out fire blasts one at a time, aiming for the horde.

Kyuuu! Kyuuu! Kyuuu!

It jumped up and down in joy as if it was playing an 'aim and shoot' video game.

Liam was actually having trouble focusing on his thoughts as the adorable thing was putting on a good show for him.

It was like fireworks and the attacks wreaked havoc amidst the previously coordinated and orderly horde.The bird, on the other hand, used this chaos to pick up the pieces. It swooped in and pecked the injured larvae that were trying to run helter skelter.

"You guys even know how to work together!" Liam nodded in approval and for a change, he was getting experience points from their efforts.

This was not much so when he spotted a nearby group of poisonous scorpions, he started tossing fireballs at them.

He didn't want to just simply stand while waiting for the two to learn fighting. He also had a lot to learn and figure out.

Aiming for the scorpion at the front, Liam tried to focus on the mana flowing inside his body and cast a fireball, when he abruptly stopped in his actions without casting anything.

He didn't know why but the mana inside his body at the moment felt a bit different. It wasn't anything bad but rather it felt more chaotic and restless.

Liam used both his hands to better picture the image in his mind and then again conjured a fireball in front of him.

Now he had no doubt. This was definitely different from the other times he had cast the same spell. Was it because he was in the nether realm?

Liam did not know if this was why he also had received notifications about his attack boost. "Since when did I become so sensitive to mana to spot such small changes?"

Something was different and he pondered about it as he sent the fireball flying towards one of the scorpions.

These were Level 15 beasts and considering that Liam's stats were already enhanced because of his body cleansing and this coupled with the nether realm boost… the beast was completely overpowered!

The flames roared as they destroyed the scorpion's shell in one clean hit, thereby killing the beast along with it.

[Ding. 75 Experience points have been rewarded]

The experience points were rather low as there was a significant level difference but Liam was excited nevertheless.

He was slaughtering beasts that were only 5 levels below him as if he was slaughtering Level 1 demon larvae.

He was also gaining a better and better sense of the mana coursing through the body. Perhaps he was influenced by the joyful look on the fox's face, Liam also had a big smile on his face.

It felt truly nice to not be weak and powerless, scrapping just to get hands on leftovers.

[Ding. 75 Experience points have been rewarded]

...

After killing the five scorpions, Liam stopped for a moment. There were a few more ahead of him but he didn't move to attack them just yet.

[Awaken]

He tried casting the only undead spell he had learned so far.

If he could feel so much difference when casting a fire magic spell, then how would he feel when casting an undead spell?

"No. I have to get it this time." He clenched his fists.

Liam closed his eyes and carefully paid attention to the changes in his body, while he muttered the spell and then tried to sense everything to the fullest that he could.

Chapter 90 - Just Out Of Reach!

Zu Zu Zu Zu

The roiling waves of mana crashed inside his body as they churned and circulated everywhere. They were turbulent and unsteady.

As Liam tried his very best and followed this trail of thought, he suddenly caught the feeling of an unfamiliar presence. It was as if a black stream was intermingling with a vast blue river.

The two did not mix with each other but there were splashes which made them both more turbulent.

Liam gritted his teeth and tried to focus more and grab this insight but before he could everything shattered and scattered like a glass vase on the floor.

"Damn it!" He stretched his limbs in frustration. He almost had it but it slipped out of his hand.? He took a few deep breaths and calmed down.

"It's fine. Everything is just beginning. Calm down. I should not be hasty."

After settling his thoughts, Liam looked at the five undead scorpions in front of him, all waiting for his command.

The other two had also finished fighting with the demon larvae so he whistled and started walking, signaling everyone to follow closely.

The group wandered around the red barren desert for a while. Everything was cracked and devoid of moisture and there wasn't any vegetation as far as the eyes could see.

Every now and then the group ran into some lower level beasts which either Liam took care of by himself or if they were weak enough, he let the other two pets handle the situation.

He didn't particularly use the undead as he was still training his spell casting, so they simply wandered near them like unused bodyguards.

He only continued to use the fireballs one after the other. After a few minutes, Liam paused and realized something that he hadn't observed before.

The mana in the nether realm was thinner!

Mana was still there and an adequate amount at that but there definitely was a lower concentration of it in the air around.

He wondered if he was only able to notice this because he had cleansed his body once. Other than removing impurities from his body, it had also made him more sensitive to mana.

Even for a low grade potion, he was seeing this much effect! Just how effective was a high-grade or a rare elixir going to be?!

Just the mere thought of it made Liam lick his lips in delight or perhaps because he was parched after walking around in the desert for so long.

"Ok. This is not going to work. I need to find a viewing spot and get a grasp of things." He looked around and saw a small range of pointy hills in the distance.

He walked over to it and then started climbing it. Thankfully, it wasn't too steep so all his summons and his pets were able to follow him without any difficulty.

They hiked for a while and then they finally arrived at the top of the tallest hill in the cluster. Liam looked around and sighed. The air here was much cooler.

He also came prepared. So he took out a bottle of water from his inventory. The cool water felt refreshing and he drank several mouthfuls.

As he did that, the small creature next to him jumped up in delight and ran towards something.

Kyuuuu!

Liam's gaze shifted to see the fox running to a small thorny bush that had some berries on it.? "Stop. Don't eat that." He immediately warned the furry ball of energy.

He knew that nothing here was edible and even the beasts were poisonous beasts. So most probably those berries were poisonous too.

The small fox stopped in its tracks and did not disobey him. It, however, drooped its head in sadness.

Liam looked at the fox and then at the bird. One barely even showed its presence while the other behaved cutely every chance it got.

He was amazed at this difference. He chuckled and took out some berries and meat from his inventory. "My bad. I should have fed you guys a while back."

Both the pets instantly jumped onto the food while the undead continued to stand as if everything happening around them had nothing to do with them.

After settling the matter of food, Liam walked back and forth, going to the various edges of the cliff and peering down and ahead to get an idea of the place he was in.

Unfortunately, this height was still not enough and he could only see the red sand desert spreading across the horizon, interspersed with some hills and rocky terrain here and there.

"What the heck?" He scratched his head, deciding to try his luck by climbing onto another cluster of hills nearby.

As he was about to give up and climb down, suddenly a slight whizzing noise sounded in the distance and Liam turned to catch a glimpse of a red flare going up into the sky.

"Oh! That should definitely be a demon settlement." Liam's eyes brightened and he noted the direction before climbing down from the cliff.

The fox and the bird looked reluctant to come down as the air above was nicer but seeing Liam walk away, they could only follow him.

The group continued their journey once again and before long they ran into a group of rabid dogs that had longer tails and horns protruding from their heads.

There were totally 10 of them, all seeming to belong to the same pack and they were baring their teeth at the big juicy prey in front of them.

[Rabid Hound]

Level 21

Health: 20000

"Get back. Don't engage." Liam immediately warned both of his pets and he stepped forward, retrieving his sword.

Rabid hounds were demon beasts that excelled in strength as well as agility. Besides, some of them were also capable of using demonic magic.

So he didn't dare to simply use fireballs in this situation and use these guys as sparring partners, especially considering that it was 1 vs 10. He had to go all out!

Chapter 91 - Friend Or Foe?

The pack of rabid hounds scraped their feet on the ground and snarled at Liam before bounding towards him collectively.

Their ferocious gnarling sounds were terrifying and the sight of an entire pack together was even more terrifying.

Liam stood calmly, unfazed by the fact that he was outnumbered. Since he still had a couple of seconds before they reached him, he quickly activated his skill [Lava Rain].

Black rain was still pouring endlessly around him but now laced with these droplets of corrupt water, there were beads of lava falling from the sky.

The hounds hissed in pain as the lava seared their skin and within a second, injuries started piling up and damage numbers were popping out.

GROWL!

The bunch of rabid hounds became extremely enraged as they leaped towards Liam, wanting to rip him apart, limb from limb.

Liam smirked. He instantly unsheathed his sword and blocked the hound that came for his throat.

Clang!

The paw nails of the hound scratched his sword, producing a screeching metallic noise as the beast was flung aside.

Liam did not stop there.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

He parried with three more hounds that were aiming for his vital spots. As for the rest of the rabid hounds that were coming at him…

[Sword Dance]

His lean muscular figure spun around slashing unceasingly at every enemy that daringly bared its teeth at him.

"Aim for the hounds that are bleeding and send out fire bursts."

"Attack the two on my left."

Hearing Liam's instructions, both the fox and the five undead scorpions quickly got to work.

If they had attacked right from the beginning then the beasts would have aggroed onto them completely and the level 20 rabid hounds were a bit too strong for either to handle.

The Level 4 fox would probably become a snack in a second for the Level 20 hound. This was why he had asked them to wait first.

But now that he had the full attention of every single enemy, he was comfortable asking the fox and the undead to join the fight, leaving the pet bird in reserve.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The small fox had good eyes to pick out the targets with the most number of injuries and it aimed for them, shooting out fire bursts one after the other.

The five undead scorpions stabbed the two fallen down hounds with their pincers and when they were struggling to get back up, they dealt the final blow by stinging them with their venomous tail.

[Ding. You have gained 165 experience points]

As the undead finished their target, the fox took down three as well since these hounds were already heavily injured by Liam.

[Ding. You have gained 165 experience points]

…Liam, meanwhile, also finished three hounds and the big pack of ferocious rabid hounds that could strike fear in many players' hearts, were suddenly reduced to a pair of stray dogs.

Growl! Growl!

The last two came running at Liam and he slashed down at one while gripping the other one's throat with his left hand.

He then materialized a ball of fire right where its head was directly blasting the hound apart.

[Ding. You have gained 165 experience points]

As the last one also dropped dead, all the ten hounds laid scattered around. Their heavy bodies lifelessly sunk inside the red desert sands.

"Good job." Liam did not forget to compliment the fox on a job well done and he then looked around to see if any skill books had dropped.

"Hmm… No luck huh. That's fine." He placed the copper coins that were nearby into his pockets and then also placed all the rabid hounds into the inventory space.

He then once again proceeded to walk towards the place where he had seen the red flare go up.

Liam was still quite unsure of where exactly he was.

Unlike the Gresh Kingdom map, he didn't know this one all too well, but if he reached the city or town, he had the confidence to at least vaguely guess where he could be.

There would also probably be NPCs whom he could talk to for information. So he just had to reach a settlement.

After a few minutes, the group reached the place without running into any other monsters, and Liam walked ahead to talk to the two guards standing at the entrance of the city.

It seemed to be a small city juxtaposed in between rocky barren hills and the two guards standing were also quite peculiar.

They looked very gruff and angry and they had scales covering their bodies. These were undoubtedly demon and beast hybrids.

And as soon as Liam laid his eyes on these two, he immediately remembered something important!

The event! He had completely forgotten about the significance of the event that had opened up this nether realm to everyone!

When the nether realm was opened for everyone, it was because the divine army wanted to use the chaos in the nether realm and massacre the beings of the nether realm.

But in the end, only some of the human factions joined the divine army. The rest ended up joining the demon army.

Now that this hadn't happened yet…

There should be no other players or even many humans here except for Liam. More importantly, humans would be considered as a hostile party.

"Damn it. Should I not have tried to enter a settlement?" Liam silently pondered. He did not want to be captured and massacred, his death made into a spectacle.

More importantly, he didn't want to be imprisoned by some lusty demoness and used a sex slave which was a very common occurrence in the nether realm.

He keenly observed the two guards as they stared back at him, both observing each other's reactions.

After a while, Liam decided to back away as this was his last chance.. He was about to activate [Stealth] when the demon-beast opened his mouth, pointing his spear at Liam.Chapter 92 - Reeks Of Death

"Either shit or get off the pot, bitch. Which is it going to be? Hmm?" The demon beast hybrid muttered as he twirled his spear, still pointed at Liam

Liam was shocked for a moment. He is asking me to go in? This guy really did not have a problem with me being human? What the heck?

He was very confused. Even after two lifetimes, he was still not able to understand some aspects of this world!

"What? Are you deaf?"

The other demon half breed who had scales on his upper body and something spindly on his lower body, covered up by his clothes now started making gestures at Liam.

He clicked his swollen thumb finger and index finger. "Money. Money. Money."

"Do you have the copper coins? It will cost you 20 coppers to go in. Do you have it or not?" The first one took his spear away from Liam's face and banged it on the ground.

"Ah. Yes. I have." Liam snapped out of his thoughts. This was the second main point about the nether realm. Everything here was cheap as hell.

He fished out the copper coins and handed them over.

"Hmph. You can go now." The demon half-breed stepped aside.

Liam nodded and he was just about to walk in when the other guard propped his spear in front of him and spelled out his worst outcome.

"Wait a second. Mmm…" The guard started circling around Liam. "Doesn't this lad look suspicious to you? He reminds me of those stinking uppity motherfucking…"

"Naw… what are you talking about? This guy reeks of death. Can't you tell? Look behind him."

Liam only heard that much of their conversation as the two demon half breeds started murmuring among themselves, every now and then glancing at the undead behind him.

Initially, Liam had considered dismissing these undeads, but now it looked like these were his ticket inside the city.

He waited for a few seconds, but the two guards continued chatting, completely ignoring him. So he started heading into the city. He now felt more confident as he walked around.

It looked like he would be able to get in and get out without any issues even though the 'nether realm event' hadn't started.

Liam took a few minutes to look around the city. There wasn't that big of a difference between the human settlements and the demon kingdom settlements.

The buildings and structures here were cruder and the crowd had a huge variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.

Liam was in fact the only human being in the vicinity.

He was getting a lot of attention as he walked by but no one dared to look twice at him as soon as their gaze fell on the five undead scorpions closely following him behind.

The lesser demons and demon half breeds scurried away, not wanting to butt heads with a necromancer.

He was now also able to open the map and see his exact location, Thol city.

However, that didn't help much as he had never heard of this city before. "Ok. Time to get some quests and start grinding…"

Liam muttered to himself and first walked over to a blue skinned demon who was busy repairing a pair of leather boots.

Demons or beasts or humans, flattery worked the best. So he started from there. "Sir, do you perhaps need some rabid hound leather for your amazing craftsmanship?"

The blue skinned demon lifted his head up scrutinizing Liam from top to bottom. His eyes then landed on the undead crawling near him and only then he opened his mouth.

"Oh. I indeed need some. Do you happen to have a bundle of leather with you?"

[Ding. New Quest Available]

[Ding. Bartha needs some leather]

[Ding. Reward: 1 copper coin; 500 experience points]

[Ding. Do you wish to accept the quest? Yes /No]

'Bingo! Just as I thought.' The monetary reward was abysmal but the experience points were generous.

Liam grinned and immediately handed over the rabid hounds he had placed in his inventory earlier.

[Ding. You have received 1 copper coin]

[Ding. You have received 500 experience points]

The blue skinned demon accepted all the hounds but he had a frown on his face. "Hmmm… These beasts are yet to be skinned and their leather is not usable as such."

[Ding. New Quest Available]

[Ding. Assist Bartha in skinning the rabid hounds]

[Ding. Reward: Skinning Skill]

[Ding. Do you wish to accept the quest? Yes /No]

Liam nodded. "I would be gla..."

Interrupting him, a loud siren blared and another red flare was shot into the sky. This was similar to the one he had seen from the distance.

"What is that?" Liam asked the demon, ignoring the quest for the moment.

"Eh? You don't know what that is?" The demon looked surprised."We are at war, lad. That's the call to duty."

"You must have heard about the recent decree our Lord has given. We are actively gathering more resources in preparation for the war.

"So our warriors will be despatched using portal magic to various realms. We scour and scavenge those places."

"And if we can't find any by ourselves, then we plunder from those who have it. Fu Fu Fu."

The demon grinned suddenly and then continued talking as if he was recollecting a fond memory. "The last time I joined the forces, it turned out to be a lot of fun. Fu Fu Fu."

"We found a group of elven beauties in the spot where we were dispatched and we had a lot of fun with them."

"Not only that, we even brought a few back with us and sold them off for lots of coppers! So if you are planning to participate, you will definitely be in for a treat. Fu Fu Fu."

"But remember, it can also be very dangerous.. Do you see that demon over there?" He was pointing to a big-bellied burly demon that laid in a corner, seemingly wasted.Chapter 93 - First Mission

"He was my good friend. He lost both his hands in the war. So beware, wealth or misery, it will all depend on your luck, lad." The blue skinned demon muttered somberly.

Liam patiently listened to him and when he was done talking, he nodded. "I appreciate the warning, sir. I will keep that in mind."

Things were slowly becoming more and more clearer to him.

Though he hadn't heard about such a quest in his previous life, he still had a vague idea of what this was about after hearing the explanation.

He now knew what he had to do to explore this realm more.

And as an added plus point, he might even be able to explore more realms through these invasion portals.

"This is definitely worth trying." Liam clenched his fists in excitement and hurried.

There was a tower building in the center of the city from where all the flares were being shot and the siren was being sounded. So Liam walked over to that area.

He saw the crowd thickening as he approached closer and groups were starting to assemble.

There were all sorts of demons in various sizes and shapes, mostly grotesque looking, and they gathered around in dozens.

Liam cautiously observed everything before walking up to a tall and lanky demon who was dressed in leather and metallic gear from top to bottom.

He even saw this one commanding a couple of other demons and it was clearly one of the many in charge.

"Sir, I would like to report for duty!" Liam briskly declared.

The tall horned demon immediately turned to pay attention to him and it looked at him, especially at the few undead trailing close to him.

"You can do magic?" The demon curiously asked.

"Yes, sir." Liam nodded. Only answering what he was asked and not giving away any other information.

The demon continued to scan him for a while as if it was deep in thought. With every passing second, Liam began to grow more nervous.

In the next moment, however, the demon burst into a fit of loud laughter without warning.

"Good. Good. You came to me at a perfect time. With you, I can rest at ease that our mission this time will be successful!"

[Ding. New Limited Quest available]

[Ding. Survive the mission and bring back adequate resources]

[Ding. Reward: +50 contribution points; +50000 experience points]

[Ding. Do you wish to accept the quest? Yes /No]

Liam could feel his blood boiling as he looked at the quest. This was ridiculous!

To gain the same amount of experience points, he had to take care of an entire dungeon that too to utter completion which took several hours.

And from the looks of it, the invasion mission should only last for a couple of hours at the maximum.

Not just that, but Liam also observed something very crucial.

The quest mentioned adequate resources so there was a high possibility of there being different grades of rewards.

If he by chance managed to gather more than necessary, then there was a chance that he would be rewarded more!

"Hmmm… What are these contribution points?"

Liam flicked open his status screen to see if there were more details when he saw a new term 'Soldier' added below his name.

[Rank: Soldier] (0/250)

Hmm. These should be the contribution points. So if one invasion mission gave me 50 points, I should be able to rank up when I finish doing 5 invasions."

Liam stopped thinking about this as he heard the loud voice of their squad leader. "We will begin now!" The demon banged on his chest and jumped to stand at the front.

"Let's all fight! We need to show them our power! We, demons are below no one! Kill! Plunder! Devastate!"

After the rousing speech, everyone quickly stood in order and the tall leader demon dragged its gaze over, taking out a parchment.

He then dropped some blood onto the parchment and the next second, a red glowing circle immediately started spreading.

"This is an inscription!" Liam's eyes observed everything carefully.

Inscriptions were spell papers that were usually crafted using mana, but this was the first time he was seeing one activated by blood.

"This spell shouldn't be too strong." He hypothesized. Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to casually activate a portal spell like this.

This was probably why it was random!

Liam doubted if the leader demon himself knew where the portal was about to rip open.

Just as he was mulling over the potential dangers they could be soon facing, his vision turned dark and Liam found himself standing along with the demons in a vast grassland.

Behind them, there was a reddish black colored swirling mass of energy. "This should be the return portal."

Liam's thoughts were interrupted by the leader demon as he began shouting loudly.

"Go forth and wreak havoc! Whoever brings back the most spoils will get a special remuneration from me!"

"Hooorah! Hooorah! Hooorah!"

All the demons immediately began cheering. The group of 30 then dissolved into smaller units as the demons scurried hastily in different directions.

"Won't they do more damage if they stick together?" Liam shrugged. He observed his new surroundings and opened up the system interface to check where they were.

However, he was instantly shocked to see almost no details on the map.

World ???

Kingdom ???

Zone ???

"Just where the hell are we? Which continent is this?"

Liam did not linger around any longer and headed out to explore. No matter what this was a juicy experience reward quest, so at the least, he would gain that.

He ran across the vast grasslands, the five undead and his two pets still following him. There was no black rain here and the mana concentration also seemed normal.

"What is even here to loot and plunder?" Liam planned to go in another direction as there was nothing ahead of him and he didn't want to stray too far from the portal.

But just as he turned, a loud hissing sound echoed.

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