Runic World. At the entrance of the Labyrinth of Caves near Maple Leaf Town.
Wu Wei, who had spent the night before completing his preparations in his dorm, had entered Runic World early this morning and just arrived at the entrance of the map.
Upon arriving, Wu Wei learned for the first time that there was a queue to enter the cave.
This was because the Labyrinth of Caves was a special zone.
Although the monsters on the first two floors were weak and only around level 10, the area was abundant in resources, and treasure chests even spawned periodically. These conditions made it a popular map.
There were many people here - Wu Wei had spotted at least 40 to 50 people so far.
Labyrinth of Caves was so popular that the school even deployed staff members here to maintain order.
At this moment, staff members were shouting vigorously.
"Those who come from behind, line up in small teams! Every team is to be separated by one meter. You can only enter after the team in front of you has gone in for five minutes!"
Those present were all students of Yuehua Academy, so they were pretty cooperative with the staff members. They queued up obediently.
Wu Wei had to wait an hour before it was finally his turn.
"Are you alone?"
When the staff saw that Wu Wei was alone, he was stunned. He began to examine Wu Wei's records.
"Wu Wei, first year, Runic Summoner…
November 3rd, expelled from Team 8911..."
Upon seeing his records, the staff frowned. "Are you sure you will be fine alone? Why don't you form a temporary team with the other students? Don't worry, forming a temporary team is not hard…."
Wu Wei smiled and refused. "It's fine. I'm just trying my luck. If there's any danger, I'll log off as soon as possible!"
The staff member hesitated for a moment before finally nodding. "Alright then, go in!"
"Thank you!"
After Wu Wei entered, the staff member marked Wu Wei's information and flagged him!
This was standard procedure. All students who traveled alone in Runic World were paid special attention.
When Wu Wei entered the cave, what he saw stunned him.
It was vastly different from what he had expected.
Dark to the point of not being able to see your own fingers?
It appeared that the exaggerations were overblown! There were bright lights everywhere!
Wu Wei found himself in a small chamber.
It was connected to a myriad of tunnels that led to other chambers.
There was light coming out from within these tunnels.
More specifically, the light came from Runic Torches that had been hung at the entrances of these tunnels.
I see. These torches are hung at the entrances of tunnels to let others know there is already a team exploring the tunnel, right?"
After coming to this realization, Wu Wei proceeded to find a tunnel that had not been marked.
After summoning Yellow and the Golem Doll, he hung a Runic Torch at the entrance and officially set out on his exploration.
After entering the cave and getting further away from the Runic Torch, Wu Wei's surroundings quickly darkened.
As the surroundings darkened, uneasiness began to creep in.
Wu Wei quickly took out another Runic Torch and held it above his head. The light helped to quell his uneasiness.
However, Wu Wei still positioned Yellow in front of him and the Golem Doll behind him for safety. He had equipped the Boar Slaughtering Knife and was even prepared to summon the Book of Runes for a lightspeed-log-out at any time.
Such behavior was expected from the ever-cautious Wu Wei, who conducted thorough scouting before hunting monsters.
With a personality like his, Wu Wei would never have chosen to come to unexplored territory like this if it were not the fact that it was necessary. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Nonetheless, Wu Wei proved adaptable.
After exploring for half an hour, Wu Wei slowly began adapting to the cavern environment. He was not as jumpy as before.
However, as Wu Wei thought he had gotten used to it, Yellow suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong? Why did you suddenly stop?"
Wu Wei was flustered at first but reacted quickly to take out an Alarm Talisman.
Ring!
Ring!
Ring!
The instant that he activated it, a loud warning sound filled his ears.
"Is there really an enemy?!"
Wu Wei was shocked. Suddenly, he heard the sound of an impact and noticed something had stuck onto Yellow's body.
Wu Wei squinted his eyes as he examined Yellow, and an attribute window appeared.
..
Item: Spider Web
Quality: Uncommon
Description: This web appears to have come from an Elite spider monster!
..
As Wu Wei was reading the attribute window, the spider web was yanked all of a sudden, as if in an attempt to pull Yellow away.
"Yellow, use Yellow Turban Strength and pull it over!"
After Wu Wei shouted, Yellow immediately activated his skill.
The next moment, Yellow's entire body emitted yellow light, and his strength soared to 2.5. He then pulled onto the thread of web forcefully.
Unfortunately, instead of pulling the spider over, Yellow broke the thread.
Following that, the alarm bell began to quiet down. It seemed as if the spider had been frightened by Yellow's strength and ran away.
From what he could observe, Wu Wei deduced that it was an elite monster around level 10 and should be within his capabilities to deal with.
However, after a moment of hesitation, Wu Wei decided to retrace his steps and returned to 100 meters before where he had encountered a fork.
He decided to choose the other path and avoid the path of the spiders.
This was because he knew that spider monsters rarely acted alone. He could even wander into a spider nest if he were not careful.
Lightspeed-log-out meant that Wu Wei could easily escape even if he did bump into a spider nest. However, after his experience in the Treant Forest, Wu Wei, who had never relied on this method, confirmed that it was wiser not to.
Events in Treant Forest had proven that it was not a foolproof escape method, so he should not count on it.
Right now, his only goal was to advance the Golem Doll. In the first place, he would not have come to this place if not because it was necessary.
Hence, Wu Wei decided to focus only on his goal and avoid unnecessary danger.
Alas, this change, of course, was what would lead let him to the spider nest.
After traveling about 300 to 400 meters down the path, Wu Wei stumbled upon a sprawling karst zone about 200 to 300 meters wide.
The entire area was draped in spiderwebs, and Wu Wei, who had unwittingly made his presence known, was soon greeted with the sight of spider after spider crawling out.
Wu Wei almost spat out blood in the next moment. At least a hundred spiders had appeared out of nowhere.
"F*ck!"
..