Chapter 28: Entering the Mystical Realm: Sky-Covering Yellow Sand

At ten in the morning, Fang Shi, having rested and gathered his strength, was fully prepared to open the Mystical Realm.

Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan, with dark circles under their eyes and looking utterly lifeless, stared out the window at the Fire-winged Birds constantly patrolling outside.

After midnight tonight, the two of them had not slept a wink.

The house shook from time to time, and furniture and furnishings were tossed onto the floor.

Especially the sight of building after building drifting away outside terrified them.

The subsequent sky-covering crimson light could not compare to this upheaval.

They had grown accustomed to more monsters; it was merely a matter of dying sooner or later.

But the drifting apart of the buildings was a power that could change heaven and earth.

Moreover, under the glow of the firelight, it was clear to see that the gaps between the buildings were patches of land that had appeared out of thin air.

Ancient trees grew on this land, some even taller than the buildings, with lush branches and leaves, their canopies blocking out the sky and sun.

It was as if Blue Star had fallen back into an ancient era.

Regardless, Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan could not sleep; finally, utterly exhausted, they lay down in a daze.

Not long after, they were woken by Fang Shi to get up and work, giving them a feeling of wanting to die.

"Alright, we part ways here. As long as you don't go out these days, eat well and exercise, nothing will happen."

After saying this, Fang Shi did not wait for their reply and went straight out the door.

He left the two of them, unsure whether they were happy or sorrowful.

Fang Shi was not Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan's nanny; with Fire-winged Bird meat and energy cores already left behind, if they still could not carve out a living in the apocalypse, it could only be said that their fate was sealed.

Quickly, Fang Shi followed the location where the Mystical Realm would open and arrived downstairs.

Just before the Fire-winged Birds surrounded him, he activated the key in his attribute panel.

"Do you wish to use the random Mystical Realm key?"

"Yes."

The black key emitted a silver glow and slowly floated up from Fang Shi's hand.

After a flash of light, the spot was empty; no one remained.

The Fire-winged Birds diving down, after looking left and right and failing to find Fang Shi's figure, also scattered.

Yellow sand, sky-covering yellow sand, yellow sand like a rainstorm.

After Fang Shi's consciousness returned, he felt only the stinging pain of sand grains hitting his face, and his nose and throat were dry and painful.

"What is this?"

Squinting his eyes, Fang Shi saw sand tornadoes connecting heaven and earth in the distance and was stunned for a moment.

Although the key opened a random Mystical Realm, it shouldn't be like this right from the start.

It could be said to be one of the worst possible starts for a Mystical Realm.

Could my luck have been exhausted because of my rebirth?

Mystical Realms are jokingly called dungeons, but in reality, there is a certain difference from dungeons.

They actually lack the mini-levels and BOSS mechanics of dungeons; they are simply an unknown map that can be explored.

The rewards for clearing a Mystical Realm are given based on exploration progress.

Once exploration progress reaches 60%, it counts as clearing the Mystical Realm.

As for whether there are monsters to fight or other gains, it all depends on the player's own skill.

Moreover, an Iron-tier Mystical Realm can only be stayed in for 12 hours; exceeding the time will automatically return one to the original spot on Blue Star.

Therefore, the situation Fang Shi faced was a terrible start.

In such a desert environment, where would one find monsters to kill? Plus, with such an astonishing sandstorm, it was purely a survival map.

If he did not seek shelter from the sandstorm, he would surely drown in the desert.

"Exploration progress 1%."

Fang Shi glanced at the data on his attribute panel and decided he must try hard and not give up easily.

He looked around and suddenly, amidst the sky-covering yellow sand, faintly perceived a black shadow.

Fang Shi's mind sharpened, and he immediately realized this black shadow was the key to this Mystical Realm.

Mystical Realms do not have things that appear without reason;

all abnormal things are related to the Mystical Realm's exploration progress.

Thus, Fang Shi began walking toward the direction of that black shadow.

In a short while, a ruined temple appeared before his eyes.

The temple was made of stone, with only a single hall remaining, and even this hall had crumbled into an unrecognizable state due to long-term weathering.

Even the paintings on the temple's stone walls had been worn down into smooth stone slabs.

Half of the main gate had collapsed, revealing the deep, dark hall within.

"Exploration progress 6%."

Fang Shi examined it from outside the gate, sensed no apparent danger, and slowly stepped into the hall.

With this step, the exploration progress increased by another 5%.

He slightly adjusted to the darkness, looked around, and found the hall was nearly empty.

Only an altar broken into several stone fragments remained.

"This..."

Fang Shi was basically speechless; he had thought there might be some hidden treasure, yet it was so empty.

What kind of bandit is so ruthless, not even sparing some worthless trifles?

No, absolutely not right!

Merely entering this temple increased the exploration rate by 5%; it is absolutely not that simple.

Moreover, the hall is by no means empty; aren't there these rock-made floor tiles?

Could there be something fishy about these bricks?

Fang Shi observed carefully, exerting his perception to the fullest, and finally discovered something unusual on one of the floor tiles.

In an environment like the desert, let alone not touching it for a long time, even half a day without touching it would leave a thin layer of fine sand.

Yet one of the bricks, though having fine sand, had a thickness far less than the surrounding bricks.

This wasteland has a much lower probability of human presence than remote wilderness; so who has been touching this stone slab?

Fang Shi observed slowly and finally discovered that one side of this stone slab had two indentations that could form a grip to lift it up.

He tried lifting it with force; good heavens, it weighed a full four or five hundred jin.

But this lift completely exposed the secret beneath the stone slab.

"Exploration rate 16%."

A tunnel extending downward appeared before Fang Shi; forming a convection with the surrounding air, it blew in gusts of cold wind.

Fang Shi tore off a piece of cloth, lit it with a lighter, and threw it down; nothing abnormal happened.

He knew that what lay beneath this tunnel was absolutely not that simple; perhaps there was a certain degree of danger.

But Fang Shi was a person with an adventurous spirit; the main reason he activated the Mystical Realm was still to grind experience points and clear the Mystical Realm to obtain rewards.

Rather than simply coming here to dodge the first impact.

If there were no danger, he might even be very disappointed; this would mean there were no good rewards here.

Thus, he picked up a smokeless lamp he had scavenged and walked into the tunnel cautiously.

The tunnel was very high, a full three meters, and also very long, extending downward for fifty meters, yet he had not reached the end.

This engineering feat made Fang Shi gasp; constructing buildings thirty or forty meters underground was nothing, but what was rare was that in this desert environment, after hundreds of years, the tunnel remained so intact.

No yellow sand had spilled in; the passage was spotless, as if someone had swept it.

Someone swept it?

Fang Shi's pupils contracted slightly; one meter ahead, there was something unusual, hidden in the darkness at the tunnel's ceiling.

He raised the smokeless lamp and observed carefully; a mechanical trap was waiting quietly at the tunnel's ceiling.

Isn't this the Kobold's Dragon Flame Trap?

With rich post-apocalyptic survival experience, Fang Shi was naturally not unfamiliar with these creatures, which were more numerous than weeds.

He had killed countless of them.

Fang Shi deeply suspected that the reason these creatures had not gone extinct was due to their reproductive ability.

Kobolds are short-statured, cowardly, and cunning humanoid creatures. They have two light-colored horns growing on dog-like heads and shining eyes.

They prefer living in deep underground areas and are experts at mining and setting traps.

Seeing them beneath a tunnel is naturally not strange.

Could it be that after this temple was abandoned, a group of foreign Kobolds occupied the tunnel?

As for the scenario of Kobolds storming the temple, Fang Shi immediately dismissed it.

Kobolds, as the lowest tier among many races, are at the bottom of the food chain; even with a trace of dragon bloodline, they are trash.

Even at the same creature level, their combat power is unremarkable.

An opportunity, truly a great opportunity; no wonder it is a Mystical Realm key.

As long as a group of Kobolds spawns, this trip will not be a loss; it is far easier than fighting to the death against a bunch of monsters.

Of course, only Fang Shi would dare say that.

Kobolds value cunning over bravery; ranged attacks and ambushes from the shadows are their specialties.

Especially in this dark tunnel, they have the advantage of home ground and terrain.

Yet Fang Shi felt no fear at all; before his rebirth, he had mined so much and farmed Kobolds until he was sick of them, so he knew their tricks very well.

As long as they didn't come in hundreds or thousands all at once, he had ways to deal with them.

Kobolds are indeed experts at setting traps; along the way, Fang Shi dismantled countless traps before reaching the end of the tunnel.

The end of the tunnel was a towering underground palace, ten meters high.

Fluorite was embedded in the walls of the underground palace, filling the entire subterranean world with a faint blue glow.

The moment Fang Shi entered, he sensed the scent of Kobold life.

Especially under his perception, the stench on the Kobolds' bodies was so obvious.

"Why are there no Kobolds guarding the entrance to this underground palace? Could it be that living here has become too comfortable, and with no enemies, they've become lazy?"

Just as Fang Shi was pondering, a seventy-centimeter-tall Kobold wearing tattered armor stumbled out, fiddling with a slender sword in its hand.

The constantly trembling right hand made Fang Shi fear that this Kobold might accidentally stab the slender sword into its own throat.

Seeing this Kobold appear, Fang Shi hesitated no longer; he lunged forward in a single stride, reaching its front, and thrust his sword directly at it.

This was a Level 3 Kobold Swordsman, possessing 18 points of Agility and the Lightning Reflexes feat.

Plus the advantage of being a small creature, theoretically it should have been able to easily dodge Fang Shi's attack.

Unfortunately, the influence of alcohol was too great; this Kobold was easily pierced through the head by Fang Shi.

"Pierce attack activated."

"Target received fatal damage."

"You dealt 25.5 damage to the target."

"Slash attack activated."

"You dealt 25.5 damage to the target."

"The target has taken fatal damage."

"The target is dead."

"Extracting target's soul energy. You gain 60 experience points and 6 survival points."

This is the benefit of having high health.

A level 3 Kobold Swordsman has 30 health points.

Even with the brain pierced, Fang Shi retained a certain level of vital activity and had not completely died.

Unfortunately, this state was no different from being in a vegetative state; Fang Shi only needed to turn the sword hilt slightly to inflict a second killing blow.

However, it can be foreseen that when a monster's health reaches a certain threshold, so-called vital point attacks will no longer be vital.

Situations where piercing the heart does not kill and beheading the brain still leaves one alive must exist.

Wait, this Kobold is strange; I have never seen gray scales before.