Chapter 335: Wei Ke Na's Life Casket

"Phew, solved it." Emma wiped the pixel‑style square bead of sweat from her forehead, plopped down on the tombstone and gulped for breath.

Naimi Xisi opened his game panel to check his loot.

Sixteen Skeletons; he defeated fourteen, each granting him 3 experience points. Adding the corpse‑mound monster's 15 points and two ghoul's 10 points.

He instantly gained 67 experience points.

The experience jumped from level 3's 0/45 to level 4's 22/100.

Naimi Xisi closed the panel enviously, wishing reality worked like a game where killing monsters gave experience and leveled you up.

From now on, he Juan Ce Long is Frelen's greatest monster hunter!

Now that he's level 4, he has 20 Second-circle Spell Slots and 30 First-circle Spell Slots, and the Spell Slots he previously spent have been restored with the level‑up.

He is once again brimming with combat power!

The two reached the cellar entrance; Emma swung a sword to pry open the rusted iron door, and they descended the moss‑covered stairs. Naimi Xisi's illumination spell orb struck a violet barrier.

Naimi Xisi tossed a stone at the violet barrier, which instantly burned to ash.

"What do we do next?" Emma asked, troubled.

She had just spoken when her attached sword "Night Owl" unsheathed itself by half an inch; the dark‑red crystal set in its guard projected a key Rune, and the barrier instantly melted into data streams and vanished.

"It seems your sword knows this place better than its master," the Mage said, capturing drifting data debris with his fingertips, the glowing specks scorching burn marks onto his skin.

Emma was also very surprised: "What's going on?"

Naimi Xisi shrugged: "Given the circumstances, it's highly likely your sword is precisely the key to this cellar, no wonder that dice led us here."

"Where did you get this sword?"

Facing Naimi Xisi's question, Emma began to answer but suddenly froze, her expression stuck like a glitch.

"I… I can't recall, I swear I'm not lying to you," she said anxiously.

Naimi Xisi gave a noncommittal nod, saying nothing more, though he already had a hypothesis in mind.

Emma, deep in thought, followed behind Naimi Xisi into the cellar, where an empty central stone platform stood.

The stone platform in the cellar's center was pierced by eight chains; the dust‑covered ancient tome's cover suddenly displayed a human face outline: "Unauthorized access detected… executing purge protocol…"

Emma's sword was faster than the spell, but the moment she sliced the chains, the "Igwilf Manuscript" automatically flipped to page 666, and the yellowed parchment's characters began to writhe and reassemble.

"Back off!" Naimi Xisi cast a "Protection Evil" barrier; the black mist spewing from the pages coalesced into a Skeleton cloaked in a splendid black robe, its eyes glowing with faint ghostly fire.

It was a Lich.

The Lich's projection looked down at Emma's sword hilt: "You actually bring the key to my treasury to search for the keyhole… how thoughtful of a offering."

"Wei Ke Na?" Naimi Xisi squinted, probing.

The Lich turned its head toward him, its whole form suddenly freezing as if caught in a data glitch. After a moment, it spoke in a stiff voice: "Ah, intruder! Are you also here to challenge the great Lich Wei Ke Na?"

"Come, come to Wei Ke Na's Dark Castle, I am waiting for you here!"

Then the figure vanished.

"He is… Wei Ke Na? This is the first time I've seen his form!" Emma said, heart pounding.

Naimi Xisi glanced at her, saying nothing.

Wei Ke Na's appearance when facing her and when facing himself were completely different faces.

One was vivid as a living person, the other stiff as a puppet.

What's going on?

After the black mist cleared, the ancient tome on the stone platform revealed a tampered history—where the original text read "Wei Ke Na was exiled to the Star Realm", it now read "Submitted to the primal darkness". When Emma lifted a page with her sword tip, a sudden anomaly erupted:

The dark‑red crystal in the hilt glowed together with the torn pages, the ceiling's peeling mural reassembled, revealing a treasury built of gears and bones, its central lockhole matching the sword hilt's outline.

Naimi Xisi initiated an "Item Identification" on it, his vision flooded with data streams:

【Name: Night Owl (Disguise Form)】

【Material: Star Realm Silver (73% purity), Wei Ke Na Life Casket fragment (15% purity), Cognitive‑blocking alloy (12% purity)】

【Enchantment Effects: Bloodline Binding, Spatial Anchor, Protocol v‑1982 (Dormant)】

Seeing Emma's bewildered face, Naimi Xisi explained: "Your sword is the key, Emma."

"I guess this so‑called treasury lies within Wei Ke Na's castle," Naimi Xisi said, looking at the painted treasury.

He pulled out the dice and activated it with magic.

This sixteen‑sided die this time did not project a hologram, but a gentle female voice spoke a passage.

"After a tense and thrilling adventure, the intruder—a wildly daring little dragon—has begun a journey opposing the primal darkness."

"Then, head to Wei Ke Na's castle! Brave little dragon, use your strength to forge ahead, reach that mysterious treasury, find Wei Ke Na's Life Casket, and destroy it!"

As soon as the words ended, the golden dice returned to normal.

Emma cautiously glanced at Naimi Xisi, a hint of doubt in her eyes: "Little dragon? Who is it talking about? You? Is your name Little Dragon?"

Since the golden dice spoke, Naimi Xisi, who had been silent, snapped back, smiled at her and said, "Perhaps I'm a dragon in the real world."

Emma gave an awkward smile, and the doubt in her eyes faded.

"So…" she said hesitantly, "Should we really follow this dice's advice and go to Wei Ke Na's lair? It's too dangerous! What if it's a trap? In the item identification I saw the name prefix includes Wei Ke Na's name!"

Naimi Xisi gave a mysterious smile: "This 'Wei Ke Na' is not that 'Wei Ke Na.' Trust? That's a heavy word, but for now, I think He is trustworthy."

"Moreover," he pointed to an inconspicuous wooden box in the treasury, "the only way to kill Wei Ke Na is to destroy the Life Casket; otherwise, as a Lich he will keep resurrecting."

It shares the same English word as 'He', and Emma thought Naimi Xisi was referring to the dice, so she shut up reluctantly.

"Check the surroundings for any usable supplies or treasures," Naimi Xisi told Emma.

As a veteran of three years living here, Emma naturally knew that places overrun by such monsters often hide good loot, so she immediately began rummaging.

She didn't notice the deep gaze Naimi Xisi cast at her from behind.

"Is the prophecy a trap?" Naimi Xisi murmured, "I'm afraid you're the trap, how amusing. If I think as you do, I could spare your life at the end."

"Did you just speak?" Emma asked, turning back with some confusion.

Naimi Xisi smiled: "Yes, I say, you look very lively, like real life, truly a miracle."

Emma was speechless at his strange words: "What do you mean? I'm a living person, of course I'm lively; you haven't faced my pixelated body for too long, have you forgotten the real world?"

"Don't get distracted," she said seriously, looking at Naimi Xisi: "If you get assimilated here, you can never go back; I've seen too many examples like this."

Naimi Xisi curled the corner of his mouth: "Yeah, we will all 'together' go back."

(End of chapter)