Blade of Tyranny

Chapter 60: Feral Lycanthropy

Nie Fan looked through the stats of Feral Lycanthropy.

[Feral Lycanthropy: Skill Level 1, Morphing lasts 10 minutes, 1-hour Cooldown, 55 points Mana Cost.]

[Talent Buff: -25% Mana Cost (Arcane Blessing)]

[+27% Attack Speed (Feral)]

[+16% Speed (Feral)]

[+30% Attack (Predator’s Wrath)]

[+5% Critical Hit Chance (Sharpened)]

[+6% Defense (Thick-skinned)]

[+1 Attack with each Rage point gained (Bloody Rampage)]

[Lurk: Lycanthrope can assume Lurking mode in Morphed state.]

[Morphed state can be dispelled.]

Lycanthropy grants Druid formidable close-range fighting capabilities, and Feral Lycanthropy provides an additional 10% to the basic attributes for normal Lycanthropy.

Moreover, that was the effect of Feral Lycanthropy at Level. It sprung up for Nie Fan up to Level 3 immediately after he learned it, with the buffs increasing by an entire notch.

After a flick from his right hand to learn Feral Lycanthropy, Nie Fan glanced at the stats for the skill level at Level 3.

[+31% Attack Speed (Feral)]

[+18% Speed (Feral)]

[+36% Attack (Predator’s Wrath)]

[+7% Critical Hit Chance (Sharpened)]

[+8% Defense (Thick-skinned)]

[+2 Attack with each Rage point gained (Bloody Rampage)]

As he expected, Level-3 Lycanthropy had much stronger buffs compared to the skill at Level 1.

He was pleased with the numbers, and now all he needed to do was Morph to gain combat ability that wouldn’t lose out to any melee classes.

“Let’s go back.” He said, turning to Shadow Sadwind and Wastrel—their quest here was completed after all. “I’ll disband the party, let’s work together if we have another chance in the future.”

“Alright.” Both Shadow Sadwind and Wastrel nodded and left the party, although they were uncertain if they would have the chance to work together again. Still, this venture together into the Heartlands of the Wood Nymphs’ Forest left them keenly aware that is always a better player, which left them with an urgent desire to improve their individual ability.

They went their separate ways after bidding Xue Yu and Lin Suyue farewell.

“What are you planning to do, Nie Fan?” Lin Suyue asked, staring at him.

“I’m going to check out the Zombie Mines.” Nie Fan replied. It was a dungeon for players between Level 22 to Level 32 players—any players above Level 32 were prohibited from entry.

“Zombie Mines?” Xue Yu repeated, bemused. I heard that it takes twenty level-thirty players to clear that dungeon. At level twenty-five, you could only farm at its outer reaches since the zombies have high Defense and HP. Trying to level there isn’t worthwhile.”

“I just want to check something out; I won’t be farming zombies over there.” Nie Fan grinned. “You guys should go farm some beasts—I’ll send a message when I have a plan.”

“Okay, then I’ll be leaving with Suyue.” Xue Yu nodded. Nie Fan must have his own plans, and he did not have to say more.

After exchanging goodbyes, the trio parted ways.

***

Nie Fan decided to return to Tajit village after some thought, since he would have to circle around the village to reach the Zombie Mines anyway as it was over on the other side.

When he reached the Tajit, he put every item he received into his storage chest, and went off to buy some Gillyweed Potion and a Random Teleportation Scroll. With everything done, he left the village and headed towards the Zombie Mines.

The first and second floors of the Zombie Mines were for excavating Copper, while the third for Cyan Bronze. That is why there would occasionally be parties entering with a Miner joining them, earning money by mining while also killing monsters.

After dashing away for a dozen minutes, Nie Fan appeared outside the mines.

He looked in to find only pitch-blackness. It was also cold and dismal outside with not many people around, and since it was rumored that Phoenix Down Studios and Wandering Souls Studios were already exploring it, they probably would be inside.

Be that as it may, it was a dungeon and Nie Fan would be placed in a separate space after entering, and wouldn’t run into the people from Phoenix Down Studios and Wandering Souls Studios. Everything inside the dungeon would also be refreshed upon entry and exit as well.

[System: Are you entering the Zombie Mines? The threat level of this dungeon is SSS at your current player level.]

The system warned Nie Fan that entering the Zombie Mines was extremely dangerous at his current level.

Nonetheless, he ignored it since he had already planned for it. He simply clicked ‘confirm’, and with a passing flash, he appeared within the mines.

Pulling up the map of the mines from the website, Nie Fan found that found the path in the mines were winding and connected to each other. It was easy to be lost within, not to mention the surging tides since it was permeated by rivers everywhere.

Patiently studying the map, Nie Fan then marked various spots on it.

‘That should be it,’ he thought, and started forward.

He entered the interior of the mines and found it utterly damp with boulders arranged closely to one another, along with puddles of mud all over the place. He emboldened himself and advanced since it was a safe zone without monsters ahead, and found a log bridge after walking over a hundred yards, and past it was the zone to farm monsters.

‘This is the place.’

Nie Fan walked up on the bridge and looked down to see a deep ditch, dark and bottomless. Waves of chilling winds blew past him, along with the gushing sounds of the river’s tide.

There was no telling what was within the river. One could only hope that there wouldn’t be too many hidden reefs beneath.

Nonetheless, there was just a little difference between the real layout and his map. After hesitating over the log bridge, Nie Fan finally decided he could just give it a try—dying was not a big deal since he could just level up again. Hence, casting Sealmorph, he sprung and leap, plunging deep into the water headfirst.

After plummeting rapidly over a dozen meters, Nie Fan dropped into the water with a loud splash, and he shuddered within the cold stream that chills to the bone.

The flow was far more rapid than what he imagined, and as soon as the water enveloped him, it hurtled him and surged away.

Any struggling was futile in such rapids, although Nie Fan was darting along the flow like a fish, darting across beneath the surface.

In Sealmorph, his swimming was still agile enough to freely control his direction.

After just over twenty seconds, he had already swum a stunning several hundred yards—but his body was suddenly flung out and he was in the air, while a pitch-black abyss stretched down beneath him. Meanwhile, the stream continued down a cliff just like a white curtain.

He only remembered then that the map had marked this spot out as a waterfall!

Out of control, Nie Fan’s body plunged—the waterfall must be around thirty meters tall, and he smiled bitterly as he hoped that he wouldn’t drop to his death. It felt as if his heart was hanging in the air too: he had not been careful in his preparations before coming here, and should have prepared something like an Ethereal Potion.

After all, it wouldn’t all that embarrassing when he landed, not to mention how depressing it would be if he fell to his death. As the winds shrieked beside his ears while he couldn’t tell at all when he would reach the bottom, Nie Fan felt his heart leap up to his mouth.