As Alexander gazed at the fourth wave of skeletons approaching, he took a deep breath and charged forward once again.
This wave was noticeably more difficult than the previous ones, but Alexander felt himself growing more adept with each kill.
After a moment of reflection, he realized why: for every ten monsters he killed, he gained one attribute point. With nearly 300 skeletons across the four waves, he had already accumulated around 30 attribute points in just a few minutes.
Thirty attribute points, spread across his stats, was a significant boost. Combined with the Insight Eye, which highlighted the skeletons' weak points, Alexander was cutting through them with increasing efficiency.
It took him five minutes to clear the fourth wave.
And then, without any pause, the fifth wave began.
This time, there were 10 Skeleton Lieutenants among the 150 skeletons.
Despite the increased difficulty, Alexander finished the fifth wave in just four and a half minutes.
After the battle, he downed a health potion, watching as his HP slowly recovered. While waiting for his health to regenerate, he opened his status panel.
---
[Name: Alexander]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 10 (EXP: 38%)]
[Strength: 140]
[Agility: 60]
[Defense: 167]
[Intelligence: 35]
[HP: 2758/3571]
[MP: 32/32]
[Talent: Basic Attribute Enhancement, Basic Attribute Absorption, Armament Absorption, Insight Eye (Left Eye)]
[Basic Attribute Enhancement (F): 10 freely distributable attribute points]
[Basic Attribute Absorption (E): 0.01% chance to gain 1 random base attribute point upon killing a target (does not trigger if the target is 10 levels below your own)]
[Armament Absorption (D): Weapons can absorb other equipment to evolve. Evolution success rate: 3%. If successful, weapon attributes increase; if failed, weapon quality downgrades. Upon evolution, there is a 0.1% chance to inherit the absorbed weapon's skill.]
[Insight Eye (C): +5 Perception. Allows you to see hidden hints and discern enemy weaknesses.]
[Note: Insight Eye (Left) and Judgment Eye (Right) can be fused into the Eye of the Oracle.]
[Current Talent Level: C (EXP: 11%)]
[Unallocated Attribute Points: 0]
[Hidden Attributes:]
[Luck: 10 (Maxed)]
[Charm: 0]
[Perception: 5]
[Inventory: 901/1000]
[Wealth: 955 Gold Coins]
[Dark Crystal experience acceleration remaining: 08:10:15]
---
Alexander frowned.
He had only gained 32 attribute points, but he had killed nearly 500 skeletons. The ratio didn't seem right.
He gathered the loot scattered on the ground, but even that seemed less than expected.
Something was off.
As a newbie instance, the sheer number of monsters here was overwhelming. Without a good talent, 99.99% of new players would be killed the moment they entered.
What had caused this strange situation?
Just then, Alexander noticed a few more skeletons emerging from the distance.
Like before, they charged at him the moment they saw him.
But this time, Alexander didn't even need the Insight Eye to find their weak points. With a few swift strikes, he easily cut them down.
That's when he realized what was wrong.
He hadn't gained any experience or gold from these skeletons.
And there were no drops.
Alexander took a few more steps forward and saw something that left him stunned.
The bones scattered across the ground were being pulled together by some unseen force. They gathered and reassembled into more skeletons, right in front of him.
Twenty more Skeleton Soldiers stood before him, fully reformed.
Alexander turned around and saw that the bones being used were from the skeletons he had already killed.
It dawned on him.
These skeletons could respawn. Many of the skeletons he had killed were the same ones, resurrected multiple times.
He had been killing the same enemies over and over.
Without hesitation, Alexander turned and walked away. There was no point in wasting time fighting enemies that didn't give any rewards.
Fortunately, the skeletons didn't pursue him once he moved out of range.
It seemed this was just the first checkpoint.
The Death Valley instance was a labyrinth of towering bone mountains. Each pile of bones looked eerily similar to the next, making it easy to get lost.
After walking in circles for a while, Alexander realized something was wrong.
He was going in circles.
This feeling... it reminded him of the time he had encountered the Dark Crystal.
Could this be some kind of formation?
Alexander recalled reading in the booklet Jessica had given him that Oracle had formations, but only Shamans could use them as traps.
Other non-shaman players could only use formation scrolls, which were expensive.
There were no system prompts, but in his left-eye vision, Alexander noticed slight distortions in certain areas.
"Is this the entrance to a hidden instance?" Alexander wondered.
He stepped forward and reached out to touch the distorted area.
His hand passed right through.
The distortion wasn't real—it was a Spatial Portal!
Gripping his sword tightly, Alexander took a step forward and walked through the spatial portal.
Once again, the world around him shifted.
The scene remained similar—bone mountains, a ground littered with skeletons, and winding paths—but the atmosphere had changed.
The wind had stopped, and a red moon hung in the sky, casting a bloody glow over everything.
The bone mountains, which had previously seemed somewhat illusory, were now solid and real.
Alexander noticed that the Insight Eye wasn't giving him any direct prompts this time, but he had a theory. It was likely because he was missing the other eye—the Judgment Eye. If he had the complete Eye of the Oracle, he would probably be able to see through everything instantly.
Still, the 5 points in Perception granted by the Insight Eye had been enough for him to notice the subtle distortions.
As Alexander continued forward, he caught a faint whiff of blood in the air.
A chill ran down his spine.