Chapter 43: The Forgotten One — Rhode
[Deadly Gaze]!
As Su Mubai's gaze focused, the skill instantly activated.
His aura underwent a dramatic transformation in a split second, and a terrifyingly majestic pressure surged upward.
Though he looked completely unchanged to the naked eye, he gave off the chilling sensation that some unknown, ancient entity had descended into the mortal realm.
-49940!
The soul fire flickering within the skeleton's eye sockets instantly warped and twisted. Immediately after, a terrifying grey-white number popped up above its head.
[Killed a Level 20 Skeleton. Extra 50% over-level bonus applied. Experience +30.]
Before it could even endure the first tick of damage, the skeleton collapsed onto the ground, dead entirely.
Its body remained completely intact without a single scratch, yet it was now nothing more than an empty shell.
Under the trampling feet of the surrounding skeletons, this pale skeleton was soon ground into a pile of scattered debris.
And it did not end there. [Deadly Gaze] dealt damage once every second, lasting for a total of ten seconds.
Even though the first target had already perished, the skill did not terminate prematurely.
As Su Mubai swept his gaze across the horde, the soul fires within the eye sockets of skeleton after skeleton instantly warped, followed by a succession of heavy, echoing collapses.
-124850!, -49940, -124850!......
Not until the tenth skeleton hit the ground did the effects of [Deadly Gaze] finally subside.
"This skill is simply god-tier!"
Having personally experienced the sensation of casting [Deadly Gaze], Su Mubai felt a surge of exhilaration that struck straight to his soul.
At the exact moment the skill was activated, he faintly felt as though he could control everything in existence.
The life and death of the skeletons before his eyes were entirely at the mercy of his single thought.
Prior to using it, although he had made some calculations regarding the potential damage, seeing those terrifying numbers still left him momentarily stunned.
The damage dealt was actually higher than that of the Skeleton Warriors buffed by the Cataclysm trait!
He rapidly reviewed his stats in his mind.
2,497 points of Spell Power. Under the enhancement of his class's Cataclysm trait, [Deadly Gaze] dealt ten times the damage per second.
Combined with the [Book of the Dead]'s passive effect of increasing damage dealt to undead creatures by 100%.
The math culminated precisely in that figure of 49,940.
True damage, bypassing all resistances and defenses—simple, raw, and unadulterated.
Furthermore, his current spell critical strike rate was as high as 35%, and his critical strike damage had been boosted to 250% under the amplification of [Dylan's Crystal Ball].
Among the ten targets, 4 of them had suffered a critical strike exceeding 120,000 damage!
And this was merely the baseline damage effect of [Deadly Gaze]. The most formidable aspect of this skill lay in its remaining utility effects.
An SSS-grade skill amplified by the class's Cataclysm trait possessed effects terrifying enough to defy reason.
It was only a pity that these skeletons were far too weak, dying the very instant Su Mubai's gaze swept over them, leaving him no opportunity to test the rest of the skill's capabilities.
His mana pool was instantly depleted by 5%. With a single thought, Su Mubai consumed 4 points of Death Energy to restore it back to full.
Immediately afterward, his gaze fell upon the scattered bone fragments littering the ground.
[Harvest Death Energy]!
[Prompt: You have successfully harvested 4 points of Death Energy from the corpses of 20 ordinary wild monsters, "Skeletons."]
[Prompt: Your stored Death Energy has reached its maximum limit. You must consume some before you can continue harvesting.]
"Undead creatures really do yield a greater amount of Death Energy."
Su Mubai's eyes brightened. He had only consumed 4 points of Death Energy previously, meaning this wasn't necessarily the maximum amount that could be harvested.
Even so, this yield was double what he had obtained earlier from the carcass of the wild bull.
At that moment, Su Mubai suddenly remembered that he still had 11 unallocated skill points remaining.
He had originally intended to save them until he reached Level 10 to see what new skills he would unlock.
However, upgrading [Deadly Gaze] required a staggering 50 skill points, so he could forget about that for the foreseeable future.
"Should I upgrade [Death Harvest Feedback] first?"
Su Mubai pondered for a moment and decided to wait a little longer.
The Land of Forgetting was crawling entirely with undead; it was bound to drop skill books exclusive to Necromancers.
Who knows, perhaps he might stumble upon a low-level, top-tier skill similar to [Summoning Space Expansion] right here?
Clinging to this thought, Su Mubai decided to hoard his skill points for now.
After all, leveling up a skill didn't increase its tier; a single level-up typically only provided around a 10% performance boost.
There was absolutely no need to rush.
The skeleton legion continued its tireless slaughter. Within mere minutes, Su Mubai's experience bar skyrocketed from 0% to 27%.
His leveling speed was like riding a rocket, multiplying several times over compared to his efficiency back in the Verdant Meadows.
This was simply because there was no need to actively search for or pull monsters here; the skeleton legion could just stand in place and operate like an assembly line.
Upon entering the Land of Forgetting, Su Mubai suddenly felt as though he were playing a lawn-mowing simulator.
Despite having slaughtered so many, the sheer density of the skeleton sea showed no signs of diminishing whatsoever, remaining a massive, densely packed tide of bones.
Yet, a lingering doubt in Su Mubai's mind remained unresolved.
[Deadly Gaze] incinerated the soul. The fact that these skeletons could be damaged by this skill meant they undoubtedly possessed souls.
Besides, those azure-blue flames of the soul were by no means fake.
So why couldn't the [Book of the Dead] harvest any Soul Points from them?
Where exactly was the problem?
"This is the Land of Forgetting. We were all cursed during our lifetimes, and our souls have been locked away in this place long ago."
Just as Su Mubai was deep in thought, an ethereal voice suddenly echoed right beside his ear.
"Who's there?"
Su Mubai felt his hair stand on end. He hadn't even the slightest inkling of how the other party had managed to get close to him!
"Me? Just one of the forgotten ones."
"Let me think..."
"Ah, Rhodes. That was my name once. You may call me that."
The ethereal voice drifted leisurely, carrying a drifting, illusory quality. Though it sounded right beside his ear, it felt as though it originated from an infinite distance away.
Su Mubai whipped his head around, only to be shocked to discover that the source of the voice was actually a spirit entity.
In overall appearance, it still retained a human shape, but it was translucent, entirely devoid of physical substance, and floating suspended in mid-air.
[The Forgotten One - Rhodes]
Special Elite
Spirit Entity
Level: 20
Health Points: 100,000 / 100,000
(Spirit entities are immune to physical damage.)
[Current Exploration Progress: 10%]
The moment Rhodes's spirit manifested, Su Mubai was astonished to find that his exploration progress had directly jumped to 10%.
Considering the entity was merely a special elite, this magnitude of increase was simply incredible.
He had slaughtered countless skeletons previously without the exploration progress budging even a fraction of a percent, but now it had suddenly surged by this much. It seemed Rhodes was undoubtedly a pivotal figure in the Land of Forgetting.
With this thought in mind, Su Mubai spoke up, "What is this curse you mentioned? And how can we break the shackles binding the souls?"
"A curse... Yes, the curse! It is a terrifying curse!"
"A terrifying curse!"
......
This question seemed to have triggered some sort of internal switch.
Rhodes's facial expression suddenly distorted violently. He clutched his head with both hands as if enduring excruciating agony, endlessly repeating those same words.
Su Mubai was left momentarily dumbfounded.
Come on, buddy, you were fine when you brought it up yourself—why did you glitch out the moment I asked about it?
For a moment, he felt entirely at a loss as to how to proceed, and could only stand in place and silently watch Rhodes's avant-garde performance art.
After a short while, Rhodes finally returned to normal. His eyes filled with utter despair as he shook his head at Su Mubai, muttering, "I forgot. Let me think carefully... Let me think carefully..."
With that, the fellow reverted to a human-shaped repeating machine.
Su Mubai patted his forehead in resignation and continued to wait for the rest of the dialogue.
Fortunately, he didn't need to exert any effort to farm monsters. If it were any other player, trying to fend off the endless sea of skeletons while simultaneously protecting this erratic NPC, their head would undoubtedly be splitting with a migraine.
Drawing from his years of gaming experience, an "NPC" like Rhodes would surely be targeted by the surrounding sea of skeletons as well.
This time, the duration of Rhodes's contemplation was noticeably longer. It wasn't until Su Mubai's experience bar ticked up to 43% that Rhodes abruptly raised a hand and pointed toward the north.
"I remember a little bit now. Over there!"
"What is over there?"
Su Mubai followed the direction of his pointing finger.
"I forgot."
"Stop right there! I'm not asking anymore."
Su Mubai rolled his eyes, raising a hand to cut Rhodes off, terrified that the NPC would loop back into being a broken record player.
Since this was the only clue available for now, they would just have to head over and see for themselves.
"All forces, shift northward."
With a single thought, he issued the command to the skeleton legion.
In an instant, the meat-grinder formation composed of the skeleton legion sprang into motion.
The 100 Skeleton Warriors forming the outermost perimeter maintained their strict formation and began advancing toward the north.
Although the sea of skeletons was terrifyingly numerous, their physical strength was vastly inferior to even a single hair of a Skeleton Warrior, making them completely incapable of halting the legion's advance.
The Skeleton Archers and Skeleton Mages within the encirclement also moved in unison, while Su Mubai walked unhurriedly right at the very center.
Having been interrupted, Rhodes simply floated silently beside Su Mubai, clearly intending to accompany him to their destination.