In Kane Jungle, it was rare to see monsters grouping together. Even encountering three or more monsters at the same time was difficult. Thus, their fight with the Dark Arachnosnakes earlier rang alarm bells everywhere. The five of them moved carefully. Without further danger and obstruction, they finally reached their destination—Aricus Underground Ruins.
Aricus Underground Ruins was located about five kilometers deep into Kane Jungle. Due to the aggressive and powerful nature of the monsters there, it was rare to spot the existence of Tier 3 players in the parties that arrived there. Even Tier 4 players there were not equipped with cheap regalia. Most of them would have Dark Violet equipment on, looking like experts. Occasionally, you could also catch sight of a pro with one or two Gold equipment.
So, when the party reached the outskirts of the ruins, the players there all seemed pretty surprised. They gave Qin Ruo's party a strange look.
Qin Ruo was very aware that his level was quite mismatched with the environment. He closed his mouth, silently training his eyesight on the entrance of the ruins, looking like a good boy.
***
It was said that a long time ago, Aricus Underground Ruins was one of the entrances to a large underground city.
Underground city!
It was a place with hundreds of years of prosperity and thousands of years of underground civilization. It was said that many races lived there in harmony. It compared favorably with the capital of the Mythical Continent. During the eruption of the Eternal War, two very different beliefs completely destroyed the peaceful land!
The lord of the underground city, Ary Carqis hated the war. In the end, he resolutely ordered his guards to cut off the eight entrances that were connected to the underground city to avoid destruction. This completely disconnected the underground city from the outside world!
Even after "Eternal War" began to wind down, the Underground City still did not appear on the mainland again.
For many years, many adventurers and thieves hunted for treasures as well as wealth from the underground city. They searched every single literature, inquired and sought ways to enter the underground city... However, there had been no results so far. Over time, this entrance to the underground city was forgotten by people and it turned into the ruins today...
It was basically related to a beautiful legend about wealth!
Qin Ruo recalled the legend as he stood at the entrance of the ruins, looking at a giant Crypt Demon's stone head on the ground... He also secretly compared the entrance with his height... It puzzled him greatly!
The entrance was actually the mouth of a Crypt Demon...
"This is not hygienic."
***
"Ruo Ruo looks so dumb."
"Stop daydreaming, come inside quickly."
Slayer's Heart and iLittle Arrow successively entered the ruins. When they saw Qin Ruo shaking his head weakly and staring at the Crypt Demon, they both laughed at the same time.
Qin Ruo "smiled" too, but it was a wry one. He never expected people to call him "Ruo Ruo". A feminine name would make people think it was a delicate and elegant girl's name...
Once again smiling wryly, Qin Ruo did not show any protest. Shaking his head as usual, he bent over and followed them. Shortly after, he noticed that several parties still remained at the entrance, so he began to wonder.
"What are they waiting for?"
"Huh? Oh... the Crypt Envoy," Burning Rose explained at the back.
"Being a Tier 4 Elite Monster, there's a chance that it'll drop the key to the third floor of Aricus Underground Ruins."
Qin Ruo was stunned and he slowly asked, "Key, third floor... Aricus isn't a small town?" He now realized that he was truly inept compared to these "real players".
"Silly… The underground ruins are completely different from our city on the mainland. The first floor of Aricus Underground Ruins is just a common trading place. You see, these buildings are similar to our land, but the first floor is only for merchants to trade their goods..." As he spoke to Burning Rose, the five of them walked out from the Crypt Demon's "esophagus". They saw a spacious street, and the exit behind looked like a door of an ordinary shop.
This was Qin Ruo's first time in Aricus. He immediately looked around, secretly marveling.
Even though it was now occupied by advanced monsters, Aricus was still kept in good shape. It just looked like a normal land city. The only difference was the cave at the top. One could not see the sky and the sun in the cave, but the light from the golden rock wall reflecting off the sky still made Aricus shine very brightly.
"It's very... quiet here..." Qin Ruo was a bit puzzled. The whole city did not look too big, but there were monsters on the street. It indicated that this was not a good leveling location.
At this moment, Burning Rose became Qin Ruo's personal, professional narrator. She urged Qin Ruo to move faster while she explained to him, "The number of monsters on the first floor are few. You can only see them in some leveling locations; let's go to the second floor. That's where the real cave residents live. It's ten times bigger than this place and there are several good leveling spots there."
On the way, Burning Rose explained to Qin Ruo about the distribution and strengths of the monsters on the second floor, so that he had some understanding of the place.
However, what shocked Qin Ruo the most was the fact that Aricus was one of the designated leveling sites of Bauhinia Clan!
Designated leveling site...
This referred to hidden, small and medium-sized leveling places that were reserved for the Seven Great Leagues. These places usually had good item drop rates or fast monster respawn rates. Special items or equipment could even be dropped in these places. In short, it was a good place!
However, the Seven Great Leagues did not want to stand on the opposite side of hundreds of millions of players, so they would not monopolize these places. When the place was crowded, parties not from the Seven Great Leagues would receive a notification.
"Leave, or else get ready for battle."
Whenever they received this notification from the Seven Great Leagues, the smart parties would leave and wait until there was an available place. Otherwise, all the members from the Seven Great Leagues in the area would begin their massacre.
Besides seeing the absolute power of the Seven Great Leagues, Qin Ruo also saw the other side of it in Burning Rose's narrative—they were strong and barbaric!
Despite the "notification", it still revealed a sign of power and rudeness. However, players were already used to it. They had to admire the absolute dominance and means of the Seven Great Leagues in the game.
For some ordinary Clans, they needed to fight endlessly in order to get the respawn points of the monsters. Unfortunately, these endless fights could destroy a powerful Clan...
***
The lower second floor of Aricus Underground Ruins was much darker than the first floor. It seemed that the cavemen did not like the light very much. From afar... there were no visible buildings and no spectacular, beautiful plains as in Mythical Continent. What filled the open ground were... numerous black rocks, a murky stream, and a cave with stones walls less than a meter wide.
It was said that these caves were originally houses belonging to the cavemen, but unfortunately, they were now the habitat of the Gorefiend Spider.
"Well, chat time is over," Slayer's Heart said.
"From now on, please stay focused and pay attention to every stone cave next to you, as well as the puddles and the top of your head... All of these places may contain a Gorefiend Spider. I don't want any of you to die halfway."
Qin Ruo was alerted and he instinctively looked up. At once, he saw an enormous, black spider was hanging in the air. It moved its forelimb and mouthpart in a grotesque manner as it slid down quickly using its silk.
Watching this, Qin Ruo took a deep breath. He had goosebumps all over...