Chapter 13: Opening the Treasure Chest (Please Bookmark)

After returning from the game, Liu Zhi had only been to the Underworld Palace once, and that was when the Ide family from Sulk City delivered supplies there.

After unloading all the supplies into the palace, Liu Zhi immediately set his subordinates to work on developing Nazmir, the Underworld Palace.

Having been away for over a month, the entire palace had completely transformed by now.

Originally, only one side of the city wall was built, but now walls surrounded all four sides. Alongside the walls, the web-like moat had also taken shape, appearing quite complete. Even the gap near the drought-stricken lake had been sealed with a sluice gate.

At this point, Nazmir could be considered a relatively complete city. The next step for Liu Zhi was to add functional buildings to the city walls and construct arrow towers and similar defenses.

Entering Nazmir through the main gate, Liu Zhi’s eyes immediately caught sight of a new building near the alchemy hut—a blacksmith’s forge. This was the only architectural blueprint the Ide family had gifted him.

[Blacksmith Shop Blueprint: General-purpose basic building, maximum level 3, usable 3 times, can construct one blacksmith shop at a designated location.]

[Blacksmith Shop: Production output depends on the blacksmith’s skill level, quality of the forge, and the crafting manual’s grade. Automatically produces 10-30 corresponding weapons or 5-10 sets of armor weekly.]

The Ide family had truly helped Liu Zhi a great deal this time. Besides the blueprint, they also provided a zombie blacksmith and a grade-D forge. Over these past days, the blacksmith had been tirelessly crafting Nightthorn daggers. Even if nothing else, the number of daggers produced was enough to equip all personnel trained in Nightthorn dagger techniques.

However, Liu Zhi’s mind wasn’t on those matters at the moment. He swiftly made his way to the center of Nazmir—the site where the pyramid once stood.

Finding a spot to sit, Vednina and the Spinner Widow appeared beside him.

As before, Vednina stood behind Liu Zhi, her four arms resting on the longsword, protecting him silently, while the Spinner Widow swayed continuously, recounting the changes within the Underworld Palace during his absence.

Liu Zhi, however, had no time to listen now. He took out the reward he had received after completing the novice quest “Survival Game.”

This was a valuable prize he had earned from the game. He should have opened it immediately upon finishing, but unexpectedly, right after exiting the game, he was brought directly by the Ide family to their clan territory, and then swiftly dispatched to Adal-Malik City.

Although he had enough time during the journey, the beast ship forbade entry into the Underworld. Liu Zhi couldn’t even open boxes or spin the big wheel; all he could do was watch time pass until now.

Gazing at the seven gift packs before him, Liu Zhi inhaled deeply. Then he produced a stone-like item previously given by the Ide family, which seemed to be a material for upgrading his VIP level.

Though he didn’t know exactly what this game’s VIP system required for upgrades, something that could instantly elevate a regular player to VIP level 3 must be useful.

He squeezed it firmly, and a prompt popped up.

[Ding! Detected 1,000 Starstone Energy. Would you like to recharge?]

“Recharge!”

[Ding! Your total Starstone Energy has reached 2,000. You have attained VIP level 4 and received one VIP level 4 gift pack.]

[Explanation: VIP privileges, level 4 (maximum gameplay time adjustment ratio 72:1, one of three game identity bonuses selectable.)]

After raising his level, Liu Zhi took a deep breath and pointed at the eight boxes and gift packs on the ground. “Open all!”

[Notification: Opened Survival Time-Limit Gift Pack. Received 1 random novice talent, 1 premium active skill book, 600 universal currency.]

[Notification: Opened City Lord Commendation Gift Pack. Received 1 fully-staffed city guard unit (level 5, upgradable, non-trainable), 1 city guard hero (self-aware, guard bonus, cannot leave city), 800 universal currency.]

[Notification: Opened Secondary Profession Gift Pack (Intermediate). Received 2 random secondary profession upgrade books, 1 poisoner’s recipe, 600 universal currency.]

[Notification: Opened Active Skill Gift Pack (Advanced). Received 1 extraordinary training book, 1 basic skill book, 1,400 universal currency.]

[Notification: Opened Passive Skill Gift Pack (Advanced). Received 3 extraordinary knowledge manuals, 1 extraordinary book, 1,500 universal currency.]

[Notification: Opened Charm Gift Pack (Beginner). Received 1 servant’s equipment, 1 corresponding servant training manual, 100 universal currency.]

[Notification: Opened Combat Gift Pack (Beginner). Received 1 general combat equipment (battle squad), 1 general item (universal building blueprint), 100 PVP currency.]

[Notification: Opened VIP Level 4 Gift Pack. Received 1 professional equipment (Underworld resident), 1 professional item (Underworld building blueprint), 1,200 universal currency.]

Watching the items spill out of the packs and the numerous prompts flashing before him, Liu Zhi realized his luck was quite favorable.

Most of these items were useful to him—not necessarily the best, but certainly the most suitable for his current needs.

All these items appeared in the form of statues, mostly bronze-colored, with a few shimmering in silver and gold.

Liu Zhi casually picked up the one closest to him, a statue resembling a scroll that had emerged from the Secondary Profession Gift Pack (Intermediate).

[Secondary Profession Random Upgrade Book: Randomly increases one secondary profession level by 1-2 levels, with a maximum cap of level 4.]

Liu Zhi pondered this. This must be the key to upgrading secondary professions. Unlike skill upgrades that advance simply through experience, secondary professions had more specific requirements. Take his extraordinary sailor secondary profession, for example: to level up, he needed to own a ship or belong to a ship and sail it for a certain period to gain one level.

Moreover, upgrading from level 3 to 4 required additional criteria, such as entering certain difficult waters and finding specific returns—adventurous undertakings needing at least two attempts.

This gave Liu Zhi a headache. If this was the case, perhaps the main profession, which hadn’t shown an experience window either, worked similarly.

He pressed his forehead and finally picked up one of the random upgrade books.

“Upgrade apprentice poisoner.”

[Ding! You have become a level 3 poisoner...]