Congratulations, you have leveled up!

Your level has risen to Level 43.

Upon hearing the system notification, Qin Ruo immediately dismissed his Million Arrow Sleet. Spreading his wings, he soared away from the endless tide of Undead trudging up the mountain pass. With all the speed he could muster, he raced for the top of Eternity Peak.

The Amethyst Orc had run out of time ten minutes ago. Qin Ruo could return to the Eternal Barrier without feeling like he’d left something behind, and complete the last step of ‘Darius’s Request.’

Throughout his rapid ascent, Qin Ruo noticed that the mountainside was now barren of Undead. This was because he had spent the past ten minutes or so blockading the pass with his Million Arrow Sleet.

With his help, Darius should be able to find a moment of relief.

“Ruo Ruo, we’re leaving now!”

“Take care of yourself.”

“Don’t forget to keep us updated.”

When he reached the top of Eternity Peak, it was just about time for the next sweep by the Eye of Hades across the entirety of the Buried Lands. Slayer’s Heart and the others were clamoring over the Party Channel.

“Once you’ve made your Soul Imprint, return to town and buy some potions. Using the Angelic Wings takes quite a bit of MP.”

Qin Ruo chuckled. “It’s fine, I have Mana Drain. I just use it every so often during combat, and my MP is back to full. I haven’t even finished the potions you gave me.”

“Oh, right. I forgot you have that skill.” Everyone sighed.

Just then, Qin Ruo heard Xiaoxiao’s voice. “Are you going to stay up the whole night?”

Qin Ruo shook his head. “I can’t. Today I promised my manager that I wouldn’t do that sort of thing anymore, so she would let me off the hook.” Although he was doing well in the game, Qin Ruo did not intend to lose the job that he had worked so hard to find.

“Alright, let’s continue tomorrow then. It’s alright past one in the morning now—you’ve been staying up too much lately. You should get some rest,” Xiaoxiao reminded him gently.

Qin Ruo clapped a hand to his forehead. He’d been so caught up in the thrill of farming XP that he had not even noticed that he had already been down in the dungeons for over six hours now. It was true that he was up too late—he still had work on the morrow.

***

As the quest time entered the final countdown, a beam of blinding golden light shot out from the heart of the Buried City! The searing radiance formed a column of light connecting heaven and earth.

With startling speed, the light swept out across the length and breadth of the Buried Lands. It sought out every nook and cranny in the Buried City—every Undead creature in the air or on the ground, each rock and pebble.

As the light passed over them, each Undead creature stopped what it was doing, raised their heads, and looked up towards the source of the light. Crying and howling, they fell to their knees, laying down their weapons.

Across the Undead horde, packs of Hellhounds bowed their usually stubborn heads, laying down and whimpering like puppies.

It was an impressive sight to see!

Even the Skeleton Dragons soaring through the skies would come back down to earth, their gargantuan forms alighting respectfully upon the ground as their voices rumbled low in deference.

“Damn!” Qin Ruo exclaimed in awe, “That’s sinister!”

As the golden light reached the Eternal Barrier, without realizing it, he looked towards its source as well. In that instant when he looked directly into the light, Qin Ruo felt something profound, as though that fierce light had pierced into the depths of his very soul.

He reeled, feeling faint, until he felt something pressing down on his shoulder. He heard Darius’s voice from behind, calling him back to his senses. “Watch out! Don’t look directly at the Eye of Hades.”

“Is that the Eye of Hades?” Qin Ruo’s face was a mask of shock.

Darius nodded behind him, and explained, “That’s right, that’s the one. The power of the Eye of Hades is beyond our imagining! It was with this that accursed Hades destroyed our Buried City. Every six hours, he performs another sweep with the Eye, searching for intruders around the Buried City.”

“What powers does the Eye of Hades possess? That feeling just now… what was it?” Qin Ruo asked.

“According to our archives, the Eye of Hades is an immensely powerful Sacred Artifact, placed in the Underworld by an ancient god! From what I know, one of its abilities is to search for targets across a vast area, gleaning information on every living thing within its reach. This information is delivered directly to its user, giving them absolute control over a given area!”

“The Eye of Hades also has the ability to perform direct attacks. Any creature within its sight, if the user so wishes, may be subjected to a psychic attack, putting the victim into a daze for up to thirty seconds.

“With their soul under the power of Hades, they will be prevented from entering combat, and they will be unable to use Teleport Scrolls.

“If not for the protection of the Eternal Barrier just now, you’d already be under Hades’s control, and would most likely have jumped to your death.”

Hearing these details about the Eye of Hades, Qin Ruo was now scared half to death.

Patting his chest, he heaved a long sigh.

This Eye of Hades was some terrifying stuff!

It was at least ten kilometers from the Buried City to the top of Eternity Peak. To be able to examine something from that distance, not to mention attack a target and dominate them? Sacred Artifacts were basically cheating!

***

The Eye of Hades swept across the entire Buried City three times in total before fading away, its light retreating back into the city.

Quest complete! The system notification rang out immediately.

Darius released a faint sigh of relief. Feeling around at his waist for a moment, he produced a pair of scintillating Chromatic Bracers, and placed them in Qin Ruo’s hands.

“Here, you’ve earned these.”

Qin Ruo nodded and took them without hesitation, holding them up for a closer look.

Chaos Frost Bracers:

Legendary quality

Resistance 42

Magical Resistance 28

Water Magic damage dealt increased by 10

Water Magic cast speed increased by 10%

Water Magic effects increased by 12%

Water Magic damage taken reduced by 10%

Fire Magic damage taken reduced by 10%,

Intelligence raised by 12

Maximum MP raised by 100

Maximum HP raised by 200

Chilled effects additionally increased by 15%

Magic Attack Speed increase by 20%.

Requires 105 Intelligence, Level 50.

Limited to Aquamancers.

Legendary-tier equipment for a Tier 5 Aquamancer. Although he would have to wait until he reached Tier 5 before he could equip it, it was pretty decent. He would not need Legendary equipment for his Advancement Quest, but it should serve him well afterward! Better yet, this saved him the trouble of fishing around at the Casanova Clan’s Trading Hall!

Putting away the Chaos Frost Bracers, Qin Ruo turned to Darius. “I should be able to leave my Soul Imprint on the Eternal Barrier now, right?”

“It’s already been done.”

Darius laughed mysteriously. “When you killed off those twenty Spectral Shamans, I took the liberty of inscribing your Soul Imprint upon the warp portal in the Eternal Barrier.

“From now on, any time you step into a warp portal, you only have to think to yourself, ‘The Buried City,’ and I’ll sense it—and then I’ll pull you over, if that’s what you want! This kind of teleportation hardly costs me any effort at all! And you can be assured that I’ll bring you in safely.”

Qin Ruo was delighted to know this. “So what you’re saying is, even if I go back now, I can return to the Buried City through any warp portal?”

“That’s right.” Darius nodded and smiled. “As long as you do what I just told you to.”

***

Qin Ruo had successfully received the quest reward, and had even left his Soul Imprint in the warp portal to Eternity Peak. That was all his tasks completed!

After inquiring with Darius about some of the quests that were to follow, he got an idea of the extreme peril that each one entailed. Qin Ruo decided it was best to take Darius’s advice and withdraw for now.

He unrolled a Return Scroll.

***

By the time he returned to Savis Town, Slayer’s Heart and the others had already logged off. Qin Ruo wasn’t the only one who took leave from work during the Graveyard of the Gods event.

Coming back from the Buried City, Qin Ruo’s heart was light, and he found it hard to sleep. After some thought, he idly sent a message to the second-in-command of the Casanova Clan’s Trading Hall, Hollow Cast.

Because the Trading Hall had only been in business for a few days, there was still a lot of setting up that needed to be done, things to be kept watch over. Therefore, Hollow Cast was online a lot.

Qin Ruo heard from him that both the Helm of Storms and the Darkscale Skelewing Robe had drawn the attention of players who had Aquamancer equipment to trade for them, but trading procedures and minor differences in item value meant that further negotiation was still necessary—there would be more news tomorrow.

As for Divinity… he would have to keep waiting for it.

***

His conversation with Hollow Cast over, Qin Ruo went looking for Black Market Trader.

In a rare coincidence, both Black Market Trader and the shop owner were absent. Instead, there was some random player watching the shop. Upset, Qin Ruo left a message for the both of them:

“Looking for three bundles of the Grade 3 herb ‘Nightstar,’ as well as one piece of the Grade 3 metal ‘Star Diamond.’ Contact me when you’re on.”

These materials were found in the Graveyard of the Gods, and Qin Ruo was still hoping he could find some to turn into useful potions and equipment.

He had come in full of anticipation, but left disappointed.

He could not sleep.

Finally, as he was in the appraisal shop, selling off all the Gold equipment that he had gotten off those twenty Spectral Shamans, Qin Ruo rediscovered the Broken Ring that he had forgotten about, down in some corner of his backpack.

Holding it in his hand, he admired its delicate craftsmanship, until suddenly a thought fired up his heart. Hastily taking back all the equipment he had just appraised, Qin Ruo rushed out of the appraisal shop.

Hey, hey! He’d found something he really had to do!