I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 436: Monk

Nightfall descended, and Song Jian, who had slept all day, was spirited and full. After a meal, he checked his supplies and headed toward the cemetery he had visited the day before.

The cemetery still bore the signs of yesterday’s battle, with many tombs shattered. Song Jian could see bones overturned, glowing with a phosphorescent green light under the cover of night.

Sword in hand, he cautiously made his way deeper into the cemetery. As he passed each tomb, he prepared for the possibility of spectral ghosts lunging at him.

He walked more than ten meters without encountering any spectral ghosts. A furrow settled on Song Jian’s brow, “What’s going on? Could it be that after yesterday’s battle the spectral ghosts got scared and dare not come out? That’s impossible!”

Just then, he suddenly felt a tremor beneath his feet. A skeletal hand emerged from the dirt and clutched Song Jian’s ankle.

The night was still. Surrounded by the silence of the cemetery, anyone else might have been so scared their soul would fly off in terror, but Song Jian kicked forward and freed himself from the skeletal hand’s grasp, stepping back two paces and preparing for anything.

Song Jian’s strength was now at thirty-seven points, on par with the previous level thirty boss, the Master of Evil Spirits. There was no way the hand, possessing only the strength of an average adult, could hold him down.

Splash!

A white skeletal monster emerged from the ground where the hand had surfaced, with green ghost-fires burning fiercely in its hollow eye sockets.

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

This was a standard level thirty skeletal monster, and it tottered toward Song Jian. He heaved his sword and struck at it. It took just over a minute to reduce his adversary into a pile of bone dust.

Glancing at the skeletal monster at his feet that hadn’t dropped any loot, Song Jian couldn’t help thinking, “This must be the weakest ordinary monster at level thirty.”

To Song Jian, this skill-less skeletal monster was just a beefy, high-defense meatbag, or perhaps an Experience Points gift box. His Experience Points had gone up a bit, and he was pleased with the increase.

Even if it didn’t drop a single piece of loot, the battle experience awarded by a level thirty monster was unmatched anywhere else. Song Jian began stepping over each tomb, trying to draw out more skeletal monsters.

After battling in the cemetery for over four hours, Song Jian’s level rose from level 21 with 1% progress to level 21 with 73% progress. If he fought until dawn, he could certainly level up again.

Levelling up in one night was an achievement enjoyed only by players under level ten. Players over level ten who grind monsters the same level as themselves need at least three to four days to level up.

It would take at least twenty days, or even a month, grinding same-level monsters to level up past level twenty.

Despite this, Song Jian’s strategy of leveling up by fighting monsters nine levels higher allowed him to level from 21 to 22 in a single night. His progress would surely turn many players green with envy.

As the night deepened, white spectral ghosts began to drift out of the tombs. Spectral ghosts were standard level thirty monsters too, but they were clearly much more formidable than the previous skeletal monsters.

The “Void” characteristic itself reduced the damage Song Jian could inflict on them by a third. In addition, the spectral ghosts could use a move called “Soul Spikes”. Although the move wasn’t up to par compared to the Master of Evil Spirits’ “Soul-shattering Sting” and had no curse effect, the move would induce shock and fear if it hit.

Even though Song Jian’s “Thick Skin” talent could perfectly counteract this shock effect, each triggering of the skill still came with a brief reactivity window of less than a second. If tens of spectral ghosts were to relentlessly fling “Soul Spikes” at him, in theory, they could keep Song Jian trapped until his death.

However, spectral ghosts weren’t that smart. As soon as Song Jian entered their range, they would pounce at him like a Shi Lezhi, with reckless abandon.

The Experience Points awarded from killing spectral ghosts was one-third more than those from killing skeletal monsters, and they dropped loot. Although they were tougher to defeat, Song Jian still preferred hunting spectral ghosts.

As long as he paid attention during the fight and didn’t stay in one place for too long or get surrounded by spectral ghosts, Song Jian found leveling up here quite easy.

After another hour, Song Jian’s level went up to 21 with 97% progress. In less than half an hour, he would reach level 22.

At that moment, Song Jian realized that the number of spectral ghosts in front seemed to be decreasing. And they didn’t disappear because he had hunted them. They just vanished inexplicably.

He wondered, “What’s happening? Could it be that another Master of Evil Spirits has shown up?” Song Jian suddenly became alert and cautiously surveyed his surroundings.

In no time, he noticed several spectral ghosts, apparently drawn by something, that were slowly gathering toward him, only to suddenly turn around and float towards a small forest beyond the cemetery.

Intrigued, Song Jian quietly followed.

The spectral ghosts were slow drifters. Song Jian just needed to avoid getting too close to the other spectral ghosts, so they wouldn’t notice and become agitated, attacking him.

The spectral ghosts effortlessly passed through the cemetery fence, disappearing into a nearby small forest. Looking at the pitch-black forest, Song Jian furrowed his brows.

He felt as if the forest was concealing something, perhaps a monster too powerful for him to handle. After all, this was a region of level thirty monsters.

After some hesitation, Song Jian decided to venture inside and see what was hidden.

Morphing into Dark Cloud!

Song Jian transformed into a black cloud and slowly floated up, moving towards the little forest.

Very quickly, he noticed the spectral ghosts that had entered the forest earlier. They were continuously passing through the large trees, going straight towards the heart of the forest, as if something there was strongly enticing them.

Song Jian followed these spectral ghosts, quickly arriving at an open space in the center of the forest.

A bald monk, around twenty years old with three scars on top of his head, was sitting cross-legged on a tree stump. He emanated a faint golden glow and incessantly recited sutras, sounding like he was chanting a melody.

Around the monk were between thirty and forty spectral ghosts. They stood quietly, seemingly listening intently to the recitation of the sutras.

The golden glow radiating from the monk’s body transformed into tiny sparks and constantly drifted into the bodies of the spectral ghosts. Each time they absorbed some of the sparks, they seemed to respond with satisfaction, and their hazy faces started to become clearer.