Chapter 4 Pursuit!
All equipment and skills have levels.
Gray signifies "Broken," white signifies "Normal," green signifies "Excellent," blue signifies "Outstanding," and purple signifies "One in Ten Thousand."
This nightmare world common sense, as well as countless knowledge on movement techniques and footwork, emerged in Shen Ye's mind.
He felt as if he had become one of the elves.
From a very young age, he began training his footwork and movement technique, and after years of refining, he finally mastered this combat footwork.
However, the "Moonlight Deer Step" requires quite a bit of agility.
One could not fully and freely execute this footwork without reaching nine agility points.
Shen Ye smacked his forehead, turned around, walked to the desk, and took out his report card from his backpack.
The comprehensive evaluations given by his teachers were:
Strength: 1.2;
Agility: 2;
Spiritual Power: 0.7;
This was the comprehensive score that he achieved without any illness or injury to his body.
Actually, for middle school students, achieving "1" in strength and agility was already considered good.
"1" represents the standard of an average adult male.
As for spiritual power—
As long as one could awaken spiritual power, even if the value was only 0.1, it showed great potential.
After all, many people could not awaken their spiritual power.
Having it or not.
—That is an insurmountable gap in life.
As long as one had spiritual power, there were corresponding cultivation techniques in high school to help enhance it.
When spiritual power reached a certain level, one could cast techniques.
Techniques were the truly terrifying power and one of the main methods for humans to confront various threats.
Shen Ye sank into contemplation.
Having devoured an Evaluation Entry, he had gained 1 Attribute Point, which if added to agility, would make it 3 points.
With his thorough comprehension and understanding of "Moonlight Deer Step," three points in agility could only enable him to perform the "Dodge" of the footwork.
"Rush" required six points in agility.
"Misplace" was an even more ingenious footwork technique, needing nine points.
If he could earn a good Evaluation Entry, he would soon be able to perform "Rush," and with a few more days of effort, he might even master the complete "Moonlight Deer Step"!
A look of longing flashed in Shen Ye's eyes as he turned his gaze towards the Silver War Medal.
Wearing this medal into the gate tomorrow would teleport him directly to the Elf Territory, possibly granting him a higher Evaluation Entry.
One Marrow-Supplementing Pill could not achieve this many effects.
This trade was worth it.
"Your Grace is truly generous, all right, it's a deal!"
Shen Ye placed the Marrow-Supplementing Pill in front of the gate.
A burst of light suddenly emanated from the parchment filled with the contract.
The equivalent exchange was established!
The Marrow-Supplementing Pill disappeared in an instant.
Looking out the window, Shen Ye saw the large skeleton taking the Marrow-Supplementing Pill and swallowing it down in one gulp.
The next second.
Eerie runes lit up around the skeleton, emitting dark mist as they revolved ceaselessly around its legs.
The skeleton was chanting an obscure spell.
But it suddenly stopped.
It looked back at Shen Ye, thought for a moment, opened a door at the other end of the corridor, crawled in, and then shut the door tightly.
—Are you afraid I'll steal your technique?
I don't understand it at all!
Feeling slightly disgruntled, Shen Ye waved his hand and lifted the spell on the door.
Suddenly.
He heard a faint "click."
The sound came from the living room.
The house's front door made a noise but then was silent.
Strange.
If it were mom and dad coming back, they should have called for him or been chatting with each other. Even if there was none of that, at least the sound of them changing shoes would be heard.
But there was nothing.
Silent as death.
Shen Ye realized something.
—This does not bode well!
Could it be that the guy who used the "King of the Fallen Wicked Ghouls' Cursed Sculpture" to harm him had come again?
Was he here to finish him off?
Before he could react, his bedroom door also moved slightly.
Shen Ye's pupils constricted sharply.
His parents wouldn't push his door without a word.
What should he do?
If the visitor was an enemy, how would he deal with it?
He placed his hand on the wall and silently summoned.
The "Gate" appeared.
In the darkness.
A soft thud echoed.
The door to the bedroom opened.
A person in a black tight-fitting outfit and a black mask stood before Shen Ye, carrying a handgun.
An assassin!
Shen Ye abandoned all illusion, grabbed the Gate of Nightmares on the wall, and dashed through.
At the same time.
A hint of confusion flashed in the assassin's eyes.
Why was there another door in the bedroom that led to a different room?
But there was no time to ponder now.
—Just rush in, kill the boy, and the mission was complete!
The assassin moved swiftly to the doorway, peering inside.
By this time, Shen Ye had already allocated his only Attribute Point to "Agility", sprinted through the corridor that wasn't particularly long, and had arrived in front of the tightly closed main door at the end of the hallway.
An instinctual sense of crisis surged within him.
Shen Ye's body suddenly lowered, almost skimming the ground as he surfed forward with one hand braced against the floor and his feet racing across the ground, taking several rapid steps.
His movements were swift and graceful like a wild deer sprinting under the moonlight.
Bang!
Sparks flew from the door.
Bullets!
Shen Ye's heart skipped a beat.
Having activated the first move "Dodge" from the Elf Race's battlefield footwork "Moonlight Deer Step," he miraculously evaded the trajectory of the bullets!
Looking back—
The assassin seemed somewhat surprised and let out a disdainful snort as he rushed through the door.
He had entered the corridors of the Nightmare World!
In the twinkling of an eye, Shen Ye reached out to press against the firmly closed door in front of him.
—The large skeleton had locked the door when it departed.
But he didn't need to open it!
"Door!"
Shen Ye whispered in his heart.
In front of the tightly shut door, another door appeared—
This door was the best at blending in; here it had taken the form of a hospital ward's entrance.
—This was Shen Ye's ability!
He pushed open the door, slipping in directly, and slammed it shut behind him, thumping onto the floor of the bedroom.
He had returned!
"Dissolve—dissolve my door!"
Shen Ye murmured to himself.
With his will, the door on the wall vanished instantly.
—The assassin was left inside the door!
Nightmare World.
On the dark corridor.
The assassin had already charged up to the tightly closed door.
Pitch black surrounded him.
In the midst of his sprint, scattered bone fragments on the ground had slightly distracted him, plus Shen Ye blocking his view—
So he only saw Shen Ye rush through this door before slamming it shut.
—Who could have imagined that there were actually two doors overlaid one upon the other just now?
And who could have foreseen that today, someone with the ability to manipulate "doors" would appear in the world? And that it was that same young man from just a moment ago?
"A secret room, huh? Truly unexpected."
The assassin spoke in a teasing tone.
Indeed.
Judging by the long corridor behind him, it should be the Shen family's secret chamber within the door.
To think that trying to kill a youth would yield such an unexpected discovery.
"Listen up inside, come out now, and I guarantee I'll only capture you and not harm your life."
"I'm counting down from five seconds. If you don't come out, then I'm going to kill you!"
"Five,"
"Four,"
"Three—"
Click.
The door lock turned, opening a crack.
A smile formed at the corner of the assassin's mouth.
A fifteen-year-old boy is indeed naïve and easy to deceive.
This way, he could spare himself some effort.
The assassin raised his pistol, and with a reversed grip, he flung the door open, laughing maniacally:
"Kid, in your next life, remember to be smarter!"
The door was fully opened, revealing the scene inside.
There was no fifteen-year-old boy.
There was no Shen family secret chamber or any treasure either.
Only a four-meter-long skeleton was sprawled against the door frame, resting its head on one hand, the eye sockets glowing with faint ghost fire, staring at him.
"Monster!"
The assassin's expression changed as he retreated rapidly while consecutive gunshots rang out.
But—
There was a wall at the end of the corridor.
The door from before had vanished without a trace.
And the skeleton monster, though hit repeatedly by bullets, appeared completely unharmed; instead, it drew out a bone spear.
The skeleton monster murmured an obscure spell, and a sinister green flame immediately flickered on the surface of the bone spear.
—What an unexpected delight.
His new trading partner was so efficient and generous as to directly offer up a living creature for consumption.
Perhaps it was time to show some sincerity in his trade.
Several minutes later.
At the end of the corridor, a door suddenly appeared on the wall.
Shen Ye stood in front of it, peering inside.
He saw the large skeleton sitting amidst the blood, gazing down at its own right leg.
—Its broken shinbone was gone.
In its place was a segment of newly grown pale bone.
As if sensing Shen Ye's gaze, the large skeleton waved its hand—
A burst of white light radiated from the parchment on the door.
Then,
A white mask landed in Shen Ye's hands.
The parchment symbolizing the contract quickly filled with lines of text:
"Your offering of a living being has greatly pleased the other party."
"Following the principle of 'equivalent exchange,' the other party has offered this item in return, which has gained the contract's acknowledgment."
"Pale Shadow Crown (Excellent Grade Green Equipment).
"Description: Installed with a High-Level Shadow Technique from the Dark Abyss, no matter who wears it, they can disguise themselves as a member of the Elf Race."
"—Meticulously crafted by the Undead Race."
Shen Ye was taken aback for a moment, suddenly remembering something, and reached out to grasp the Silver War Medal.
This medal could transport him to Elf Territory.
But he was a human.
As a human, how could he earn military exploits on the elves' battlefield and win such a medal?
He would undoubtedly arouse suspicion.
Maybe they would capture him as soon as he arrived.
It wasn't until he obtained the Pale Shadow Crown that he could truly disguise himself as an elf, safely entering the Elf Territory, right?
He slowly raised his head to look into the glass window.
He saw the large skeleton nonchalantly eating the corpse.
Of course.
To it, he was just a fifteen-year-old human.
He was merely its food, and it had no reason to care about his life or death.
So it gave him the Pale Shadow Crown for disguise because it saw further value in trading with him?
What a supremely pragmatic skeleton.
Shen Ye placed the white mask on his face and walked to the mirror.
He had indeed transformed into an excessively handsome man with long, pointed ears and eyes like emerald gemstones, radiating a natural aura.
Great!
With this mask and the medal, he would surely make a name for himself and obtain an outstanding Evaluation Entry tomorrow!
(Thanks to the Alliance Hierarch from the River of Fire in the Sky for the reward. As per the usual rules, I'll post extra chapters after going on the shelves to thank you for the support!)