Looking at the experience bar: level 9, 57%. Hmm, let’s get to level 10 and complete the class promotion first, learn a few combat skills, and then see. If Dragon Rider wants to put out a bounty, let him mess around in the newbie village by himself—I have no interest in keeping him company.

Holding the Green Blade, my strength has greatly increased. Time to fight my way out of Dawnlight Forest, accumulate experience along the way, and once I return to Corpse Wasteland to turn in the quest, I should basically hit level 10.

Coming straight at me, a level 10 Green Mantis lunged.

Without thinking, I swung the Green Blade. With a crack, a damage number floated above the Green Mantis’s head—

“124!”

Impressive! An attack power of 38-64 really didn’t let me down!

A level 10 monster only has about 500 HP, so it takes roughly four hits to finish it off. Upgrading from a peashooter to a cannon feels amazing!

I fought my way out of Dawnlight Forest and headed straight for the newbie village.

But just then, a system chime sounded—

“Ding~!”

System Announcement: Player Wind Fantasy has reached level 10, becoming the first player in Newbie Village #7 to qualify for class promotion. Rewards: Level +1, Reputation +50, and 1 gold coin!

……

I was slightly stunned. Wow, what a powerhouse—someone actually reached level 10 even faster than me. As expected, the world is full of rising talents; this is truly an era of strong contenders!

Entering the newbie village, I found the Corpse Wasteland guard to turn in my quest and, sure enough, leveled up to 10. Unfortunately, the system didn’t make a big announcement for me, but that’s probably for the best. My current identity isn’t suitable for public exposure. Otherwise, a bunch of righteous youths who hate darkness might storm Corpse Wasteland, maybe even nail me to a cross or dunk me in a pig cage. I can’t even imagine how tragic that would be.

I went to the merchant and took out the Great Magic Stone. The skeleton beauty was instantly dumbfounded and exclaimed, “Little Skull, you’re amazing! You actually managed to collect such a magic-rich ore. Here, I’m willing to pay 1,980 copper coins for it!”

I nodded and sold the other four Small Magic Stones I’d picked up as well. With that, I now had 24 silver coins in my bag. Learning skills shouldn’t be a problem.

I went to the Necromancer again—he’s the village chief, after all, and I should at least say goodbye before leaving.

“Little Skull, you’ve grown so fast! I’m truly delighted!”

The village chief tapped my forehead with his staff and laughed heartily: “Go on, there’s a much wider world waiting for you out there. Your next stop will be Frosthold. Ten miles outside Frosthold, there’s a place called Frost Ridge. That will be your new home. At Frost Ridge, you can find the undead swordsman Rachel Parker. Take my personally written letter of introduction—Rachel Parker will accept you as his apprentice!”

With a “plop,” the letter of introduction dropped into my inventory. Sure enough, it’s proof of class promotion. From now on, I’ll be a glorious and brave necromancer swordsman, with “gold coins and women” as my life’s goals!

Full of enthusiasm, I set out for Frosthold—the place where dreams come true.

Frosthold is one of the nine level-2 main cities in the China region. Above that are the three great main cities, but their names haven’t been announced yet, and on the world map, those three cities are still blank.

Basically, players from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are all assigned to Frosthold. It’s a regional distribution model.

……

Opening the world map, the coordinates for Frosthold have appeared. It’s about a half-hour journey from Corpse Wasteland. There are many newbie villages around Frosthold—at least ten. The elite players from these ten villages will all gather in Frosthold, which will surely become a stage for heroes to rise.

I smiled slightly, gripped the Green Blade, and set off. Frosthold will be the stage for “Ethan” to rise again!

Following the gray, misty path, I didn’t encounter any danger along the way—just saw a squad of human sentries, which I avoided from a distance. These soldiers don’t tolerate any outsiders, let alone a powerful skeleton warrior like me.

“Beep!”

A system message gave me a prompt: Player Broken Spear, hello. Since you belong to the Forsaken race, you can freely enter the safe zones of both the Light and Night Spirit factions’ main cities without being attacked. However, in combat zones, your status will always be “demon”!

……

Oh, so that’s how it is—I can still enter the main city!

But thinking about it, forget it. The NPCs in the main city would never entrust quests to a necromancer swordsman. I’m better off hanging around my old haunt at Frost Ridge, where I can still get some quests and, more importantly, learn powerful skills!

Just thinking about skills makes me tear up. I’ve been killing monsters all night without any skills, but finally, the clouds have parted and I can learn some!

I immediately dashed off, leaving the Frosthold area and racing into the vast forest. Not long after, a heavy necromantic aura filled the air, the cold wind howled, and my destination—Frost Ridge—appeared. It’s a dark faction outpost, garrisoned by a not-so-strong squad of Night Spirit sentries.

“Gurgle, gurgle…”

Bubbles rose in the blood ponds on both sides of Frost Ridge, filled with severed limbs and remains. This… this must be the Night Spirits’ cafeteria, right?