Chapter 1: Stable Development System!

He turned his gaze again to the window glass of the half-buried underground tavern.

Ta Ke hoped to see the person he was waiting for today.

That guy was already an hour late.

However, Ta Ke's gaze swept the entire dim street, and he still didn't see the person he was waiting for.

Outside, the street didn't even have a ghost.

Could it be that that guy ran off with the money?

Ta Ke rubbed his brow.

After all, that guy is an assassin; when danger struck on the last adventure, his escape speed was remarkably fast!

But after thinking it over carefully, Ta Ke rejected that possibility.

After all, this is the Ashen Land, and now it's the Ashen Night.

The La Mo Er High Tower City-State is the safest and most protective high tower domain within a hundred-mile radius.

Unless that assassin is willing to burrow into the underground and huddle with the dog-headed people for warmth.

Otherwise, before the next Ashen Day arrives, that guy cannot possibly succeed in fleeing.

Most likely something delayed him!

Although the item that assassin brought is crucial to Ta Ke.

It is the key for Ta Ke to let the system play a huge role next.

But reason still let Ta Ke's half-suspended heart gradually settle.

His gaze swept around inside the underground tavern.

Besides a few adventurers who missed the Ashen Date window and are stuck here drinking away their sorrows.

And then there are a few local drunks who are completely smashed.

No one disturbed him.

Ta Ke changed his sitting posture, then... continued waiting.

About three months ago.

Li Ta got drunk at a company team-building event.

When he woke up.

Li Ta then transmigrated to this bizarre supernatural world where the survival environment is strange, steam roars and surges, supernatural sequences abound, and death and evil gods lurk in the shadows.

Others getting drunk at team-building and waking up with sore buttocks is understandable.

But I got drunk and woke up having transmigrated—what the heck is this?

As his memories gradually digested.

Li Ta also gradually accepted the fact that he had transmigrated into a dangerous supernatural world and become an apprentice wizard named Ta Ke.

Back to sixteen years old!

Possessing a brand-new life.

Even looking forward to someday admiring the sleeping posture of a junior senior at four in the morning.

Everything's trajectory is developing toward the better.

Ta Ke was eager and ready, preparing to show his mettle and embrace his new life.

But!

After three days of nine meals of hunger.

Ta Ke then realized the reality.

He was merely an orphan whose parents died in the Ashen Tide in this world.

Only a left-behind underground hut from his parents.

Although he was a level 5 Apprentice Wizard.

But apprentices of that level were a dime a dozen in the La Mo Er High Tower City-State.

Fortunately, the transmigrator's benefit arrived before Ta Ke starved to death.

【Stable Development System】

This is Ta Ke's golden finger.

It can, by anchoring a region, obtain experience, specialty resources, etc., to carry out long-term stable development.

Having a system to establish himself, Ta Ke instantly stopped panicking.

Thereafter, Ta Ke used the system to begin his stable development journey.

In just three months.

Ta Ke raised his level from the original 5 all the way up to the current 9.

At the same time, Ta Ke's several supernatural abilities also received ample improvement.

Although Ta Ke now has some strength.

But Ta Ke knows.

Previously, the anchored areas were all ordinary zones that ordinary people could access.

And what he got were only ordinary resources.

Ta Ke urgently needs to anchor a region rich in source energy and dangerous—a rare zone.

To obtain rare resources that could let him truly undergo a qualitative change.

And today, in this underground tavern.

What Ta Ke is waiting for is just such an opportunity.

Clang!

The door of the Underground Cellar Tavern was shoved open violently.

Accompanied by a bone‑deep chill, a group of figures darted in quickly, then shut the tavern door just as fast.

The newcomer was about seventeen or eighteen, with blue short hair, wearing silver‑white leather armor, over which was a linen surcoat, beneath which a short sword could be faintly seen.

Originally handsome and cheerful, his face twisted and turned pale from the extreme cold.

"This damned ghostly weather is freezing!"

The young assassin shrank his neck, his teeth chattering, then spoke to the bartender.

"Give me a glass of Varoji liquor."

Varoji liquor is the favorite drink of adventurers in the Ashen Land.

Cheap, plentiful, and warming!

Soon, a warmed glass of Varoji liquor was pushed in front of the young assassin.

After downing half the glass in one gulp, the young assassin's face flushed with a slight rosy glow.

"If you don't come soon, I'll think you ran off with the money!"

"Besides, you're already an hour and a half late, Kaluosi."

Ta Ke's expression remained calm as usual, his voice soothing and steady.

Kaluosi, whose superior sequence is that of an assassin, turned to look at Ta Ke.

He did not think the other was younger, and because his sequence countered the other's, he felt contempt.

In the previous adventure, Ta Ke's performance in the team was completely that of a thigh‑level powerhouse.

His methods excelled in being quick, accurate, stable, and ruthless!

If it weren't for Ta Ke's several crucial strikes at key moments, the team would surely have lost members on the way back.

More importantly, when danger struck last time, this guy's escape speed was not the slightest bit slower than his.

Damn it, he's a wizard who doesn't excel in speed!

Moreover, Kaluosi had also heard.

In Huiriqi, Ta Ke had participated in several adventures, reaping rich rewards, and a few street gang members had set their sights on Ta Ke.

But the result was that, when the necromancer found those fellows' corpses deep in the Underground Cellar Passage, they had already been gnawed beyond recognition by water rats.

And Ta Ke was completely unharmed!

"What a joke—how would I run off with the money?"

"If I dared to take your money, you'd probably want my life!"

Kaluosi gave an embarrassed grin; he naturally wouldn't dare say that latter sentence.

"When I was getting ready to come over, my sister stopped me." Kaluosi spread his hands.

"You also know that the place we went to last time was extremely dangerous."

"And my sister's temper……"

Kaluosi spoke haltingly.

This made Ta Ke start to envy Kaluosi, that guy, for having such a great sister.

Kaluosi's sister, a perfect blend of talent and beauty, is highly favored by the Lamor Wizard Count.

Moreover, she's a sister who spoils her brother!

Soon, the Varoji liquor was drained.

"Supplies, ready?" Ta Ke lowered his voice.

"Mm!"

Kaluosi nodded solemnly.

"Are you really sure you want to go there?"

"That place is one of the forbidden zones of the Lamor High Tower City‑State."

"If something goes wrong, expulsion would be minor; you might even lose your life there."

"You can choose not to go!"

Ta Ke replied lightly.

"Heh…… You once promised me that if you discovered……"

As he said this, Kaluosi warily glanced around.

Although the patrons in the tavern paid no attention to their conversation, Kaluosi wisely kept quiet.

"Depart!"

Ta Ke rose, his peripheral vision catching an empty corner of the Underground Cellar Tavern, then walked out.

Kaluosi followed closely behind.

(End of chapter)