Swords, magic, and martial arts

Rhodes turned around and saw a blurry blue figure looking at him, with a strange mural behind the figure flashing with an odd light.

"Why do I always see strange things when I turn around?" Rod wondered.

Rhodes turned around, gripped the axe in his hand, and stared at the blurry figure.

"Don't be nervous, I won't hurt you," the figure said, his voice hoarse and echoing.

Rhodes remained wary upon hearing his words and asked, "Who are you?"

"I am the master of this place, and I need your help," the figure said.

"Are you a ghost? Why are you calling me 'you'?" Rhodes asked.

"This is a projection I left here. Please don't try to communicate with me, just listen patiently to what I have to say," the figure continued. "First, let me introduce myself. My name is... Never mind, who I am is not important to you. You may not even find my name in history, but remember that I am not some nobody. In my time, I was a very famous figure, and I swear on my honor."

Rod was speechless. Not telling him his name and then insisting he was some important person—this guy must be out of his mind. Wait, why did I add "also"?

"Remember what I'm about to say. Keep moving forward, defeat the creatures you encounter along the way, and defeat the ghouls that my body has become to obtain the weapons I used in my previous life. After leaving here, keep heading north, keep heading north. Don't ask me why you're heading north. Once you've gone far enough, you'll know what I need you to do for me," the figure said.

Rhodes was somewhat confused. Why was this person asking everyone who came here to head north? Was it to let others know that the world is actually spherical?

When he first arrived here a few days ago, he asked the adventurers who had been to sea and confirmed with them that this world was also on the sea surface. Ships coming from afar always saw the mast first and then the hull, which meant that this world was also on a planet.

After saying this, the blurry figure disappeared, and the light from the mural on the wall went out.

Rhodes decided to keep going; there must be a way out eventually. Although he was somewhat afraid that the man in life was incredibly powerful, so much so that even his corpse could easily kill him, he had no choice but to continue.

He entered the room filled with cobwebs, and the door was immediately closed behind him.

Fortunately, there was no danger in the room.

In the middle of the room was the carcass of a giant spider, as large as a two-story house. This giant spider was a close relative of the Frostbite Spider and was called the Frostbite Giant Spider.

This giant spider has been dead for many years, but its enormous corpse is still somewhat frightening.

Rod thought it must be because the spider was too big and had been kept here for so many years that it starved to death.

Nords can "come back to life" after they die, but animals certainly cannot move on their own without someone casting necromancy.

Rhodes walked around the room several times before finally finding a door blocked by spider silk.

After many years, the spider silk had become less resilient. Rod used his axe to clear a path through the door.

Through this door, Rod entered a passageway.

This passage reminded him of a game he had played before he traveled through time called "Girl's Roll".

One side of the passageway has many stone paving stones where people can lie down.

In the game, these places are filled with ghouls. When the protagonist enters, these ghouls all get up, pick up weapons, and fight the protagonist.

There were no ghouls on the stone paving stones in Rhodes's face.

Rhodes found it strange. Could it be that someone had come here before and lured all the ghouls together and locked them up somewhere?

With doubts in his mind, he continued walking forward. The passage was long, and Rod walked carefully, taking more than ten minutes to traverse the entire passage. After descending dozens of steps, turning several corners, and finally ascending more than ten flights of stairs, a huge door appeared before him, behind which was a hall nearly ten meters high.

Rhodes stood at the entrance of the hall, sticking his head in to secretly observe the situation inside.

In the very center of the hall is a set of steps, but what's on the top of those steps is not visible from the outside due to the angle of view. The two levels of the hall contain more than a dozen stone coffins.

Rhodes figured that once he went inside, the gate would definitely close, and then a ghoul would crawl out of each sarcophagus and gang up on him. The sarcophagus of the tomb's owner should be placed on the steps.

Once he's finished fighting the ghouls or is halfway through, he'll jump out and join the fray to beat him up.

Rhodes hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to go in. The ghouls were slow-moving, and as long as he rushed in, he could find the hidden exit and escape before they could react.

Although this approach would certainly not yield the treasure of the tomb's owner, the dog's life was still more important.

He slowly walked into the hall, and nothing unusual happened. Rhodes stood in the hall for a while and still nothing unusual happened. Just as he was about to stomp his foot and tell them to get up and party, his rationality stopped him in time.

If there are no monsters here, wouldn't it be easier to find the exit on my own? Why would I have the idea of ​​waking them up?

Could it be that the original owner of this body had a reckless personality that influenced me?

Rhodes controlled his steps, trying to make as little noise as possible, and slowly ascended the steps. At the end of the steps was a throne, and behind the throne was a sarcophagus. If it were a scroll of a young girl, there would also be a wall behind it recording dragon roars. But there was no such wall in front of Rhodes.

He continued to walk forward stealthily, preparing to secretly cut the thing in the stone coffin, only to find that there was only a long sword and a scroll of animal hide inside.

Picking up the animal hide scroll and the longsword, he discovered that the stone coffin was inscribed with:

"Congratulations on completing such a thrilling and exciting adventure. It's a pity my friend wasn't settled here in the end. I think my lovely pet should have treated you well, but you must have been lonely without the ghouls by your side. I took my friend's weapon, and to make up for the time you wasted, I've left here an interesting weapon and a useful combat technique. I won't waste any more time. If you took the weapon and the scroll, I hope you'll head north. When you've gone far enough, you'll know how much we need you. Yours truly, Reventon."

Rhodes didn't know why a barbarian would speak like that; it made him feel a little nauseous.

I'm sorry, the big one died a long time ago, and I also encountered a ghoul.

Rhodes still has some questions he doesn't understand: how did the Frostbite Spider get into the first room, and why didn't they bury anyone in the tomb, but instead encountered a ghoul at the entrance?

I'd rather not think about it anymore. With my current intelligence, I probably couldn't figure it out even if I racked my brains.

Rhodes picked up the animal hide scroll again. The front of the scroll recorded a combat technique. Rhodes studied it carefully for a long time, but eventually gave up because there were many unfamiliar words on it.

I'll wait until we get out and have Baron read it to him. I don't know how someone as brainless as Baron could recognize most of the words.

By the way, how's Baron doing?

Rhodes rolled up the scroll and found words on the reverse side, recording the attributes of the longsword. The handwriting on it was similar to that in the stone coffin, and these words were simple enough for him to understand, but the words on the animal skin scroll were like celestial script.

The Wise Man's Calamity: This is a sharp and sturdy weapon, and I believe its user will surely love it. It possesses a spell that can be used once a day and lasts for the entire day; active use will temporarily reduce the intelligence of a certain creature. It has a somewhat mischievous nature; if it is not used for a day, it will randomly reduce the intelligence of a nearby creature, while the sword's user will remain unaffected.

Rhodes immediately picked up the longsword. As he did so, a blue light flashed across the sword, and he felt as if his intelligence had returned.

He examined the sword himself. It had been in this tomb for who knows how many years, yet it still looked incredibly sharp. He drew a deep line across the ground with the sword. "I really don't know what kind of craftsmanship it was made of, that it could remain so sharp after all these years," Rhodes marveled.

Rhodes remembered something he had forgotten.

"System, could you record the combat techniques on this animal hide scroll?"

"Scanning..."

"Recorded. The host may choose one type of martial arts."

After thinking for a moment, Rhodes decided to choose internal cultivation techniques, as most internal cultivation techniques can comprehensively enhance various abilities.

Please choose one of the following three internal cultivation techniques.

The Sunflower Manual: To master this divine skill, one must first castrate oneself. Besides internal energy cultivation, it also includes swordsmanship and acupuncture techniques.

The Eight Desolations and Six Directions Supreme Skill: Also known as the Eternal Youth and Longevity Skill, it requires the highest level of internal energy cultivation as its foundation to be practiced.

Shenzhao Gong: The techniques recorded in the Shenzhao Jing have the miraculous power to bring the dead back to life.

Rod chose the Divine Illumination Technique almost without hesitation. The fact that it could bring the dead back to life when cultivated to a high level was enough to excite him.

Divine Illumination Skill LV1: Comprehensively improves physical fitness; actively activating this function can accelerate wound healing. (Upgrade method: Obtain the subsequent Divine Illumination Skill manual through a lottery or achieve self-breakthrough)

After selecting the Divine Illumination Technique, the system directly applied it. Rhode felt a warm energy circulating within his body, which made him feel very comfortable. He also felt that his strength and reaction speed had increased.

However, leveling up seems a bit difficult. If you're unlucky, you might stay at level one for a long time.

The combat techniques recorded on this animal hide scroll must be extraordinary, which is why the martial arts skills given by the system after scanning are so advanced. I must learn these combat techniques after I leave.

Rhodes began searching for an exit, but after walking around the throne for a long time, he couldn't find any hidden exit.

He was getting tired from walking, so he plopped down on the throne, crossed his legs, and leaned back against the back of the throne. Then, Rhodes, along with the throne, fell down through the hidden hole below...