The Secret Realm’s First Trial

Crystal Staff (Bronze, Main Hand Weapon): Level Requirement: 5. Magic Attack +13-15, Intelligence +5, Spirit +3, Cooldown -10%.

Iron Shield (Bronze, Off-Hand Weapon): Level Requirement: 5. Health +150, Physical Defense +3, Magic Defense +3, Constitution +5. Additional: 30% chance to block 30% of damage.

Upon reviewing the attributes of the two items, Ye Jue couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. These were considered minor artifacts for the early game.

Their high stats were notable, but it was the two additional attributes that truly stood out. The cooldown reduction was undeniably crucial for a Priest, while his Iron Shield boasted an extra block chance.

Combined with his innate blocking ability, a 30% block chance could instantly reduce incoming damage by approximately 50%.

Ye Jue first visited the novice instructor, spending 1 silver to learn his second skill: Sweeping Strike. This Warrior skill allowed him to unleash his fury, dealing 110% physical damage to enemies in a frontal fan-shaped area, consuming 20 rage and having a 20-second cooldown.

Following this, the two companions set off towards their quest objective.

Lin Shenyue followed Ye Jue until they reached the entrance of a mountain cave. Ye Jue paused, remarking, “This is the place. If you hadn’t accepted the quest, you wouldn’t see a soul in here.”

Lin Shenyue nodded. As she approached the cave mouth, a system notification chimed in her ears: [You have entered the Secret Realm: Dark Cave].

Hearing this, Lin Shenyue questioned with a hint of confusion, “Why is it a Secret Realm?”

“A Secret Realm is essentially a prelude to a dungeon, though not always,” Ye Jue explained. “Some Secret Realms, once cleared, unlock dungeons, while others offer players substantial rewards. Regardless, a Secret Realm is always a good thing.”

Lin Shenyue nodded once more, then asked with a touch of apprehension, “Can the two of us clear it?”

Ye Jue offered a faint smile. “Of course. I wasn’t entirely confident before, but these two new pieces of equipment are simply too powerful. We should be able to manage it. Generally, the difficulty of a Secret Realm is equivalent to the hard mode of its corresponding dungeon—neither too easy nor too hard.”

Lin Shenyue gazed into the dimly lit cave, a slight frown creasing her brow. “Which way do we go?”

Ye Jue chuckled inwardly, though no outward sign betrayed his amusement. “Follow me.”

Lin Shenyue sensed something peculiar about Ye Jue, but unable to pinpoint it, she remained silent. As they ventured deeper, the cave grew progressively darker.

Only the occasional torch fixed to the cave walls offered a meager, flickering light, barely illuminating their path.

After about a minute of following Ye Jue, he abruptly halted. “Be careful,” he said in a hushed, grave tone. “We’re about to encounter monsters.”

Lin Shenyue readied her skills, her gaze fixed on the depths ahead. From within the cave, a distinct ‘clack-clack’ sound echoed, growing steadily closer.

Ye Jue intently focused forward. Due to the pervasive gloom, their vision was limited to roughly three meters ahead. Suddenly, a ‘whoosh’ cut through the air.

Ye Jue, acting on pure reflex, raised his shield to block.

“-42.”

A moderate damage number appeared above Ye Jue’s head. He frowned. “It’s an archer, but there will be warriors coming too. We must deal with the warriors first.”

No sooner had Ye Jue spoken than Lin Shenyue saw two Skeleton Warriors approaching. Their attributes instantly appeared above them.

Skeleton Warrior (Elite): Level 5. Physical Attack: 45-50. Health: 1000/1000.

Lin Shenyue couldn’t help but frown slightly. Presently, she possessed no offensive skills, relying solely on Ye Jue’s damage output. This meant it would take at least a minute to defeat a single monster, and these were merely elite mobs.

Ye Jue, too, recognized the predicament and offered a wry smile. “Our efficiency is far too slow. It’s fortunate that we only need to defeat the first boss to complete this Secret Realm. If we were attempting a hard dungeon, it would likely take us at least three hours.”

Lin Shenyue hesitated for a moment, then, recalling a web novel she had once read, her eyes lit up. She cast a healing spell directly onto a Skeleton Warrior.

Instantly, a “-60” appeared above the Skeleton Warrior’s head, followed by another “-60” a second later.

Ye Jue’s expression shifted. While Lin Shenyue had dealt significant damage, she had also immediately drawn the aggro of the skeleton. With such high damage output, it would be incredibly difficult for him to reclaim its attention.

Lin Shenyue was still basking in the glow of her high damage when she suddenly heard Ye Jue’s shout: “Move quickly! Your aggro is too high; I can’t pull it off you!”

Lin Shenyue froze for a moment, then her small face paled as she watched the Skeleton Warrior charging towards her. She hadn’t forgotten her 100% pain setting. She hastily activated her ring’s attached skill and dodged backward.

Ye Jue immediately landed a basic attack on the Skeleton Warrior, but it only dealt 20 damage. To snatch aggro from Lin Shenyue, he would need to attack for at least 25 seconds—a period long enough for the skeleton to catch up to her.

Frowning, Ye Jue finally conceived a kiting strategy. He took a deep breath and positioned himself between the Skeleton Warrior and Lin Shenyue.

The other Skeleton Warrior had already begun attacking Ye Jue, dealing “-28” damage. The first Skeleton Warrior paused briefly, intending to bypass Ye Jue and continue its pursuit of Lin Shenyue.

As the skeleton shifted to its left, Ye Jue stepped left in unison, once again blocking its path, and delivered an additional attack.

In her panic, Lin Shenyue watched Ye Jue resolutely interposing himself between her and the monster. A warmth spread through her chest. She gazed at Ye Jue’s back and smiled faintly, feeling an unbidden sense of security.

“-45,” “-22.”

Ye Jue’s brow furrowed slightly after blocking the Skeleton Warrior’s attacks, but he relaxed, remembering Lin Shenyue’s potent healing abilities. He repositioned himself in the warrior’s path and landed another attack.

Suddenly, Ye Jue noticed the other Skeleton Warrior raising its bone blade high. His brows furrowed intensely, and he met the incoming attack with his shield.

“-24,” “-55.”

[Skeleton Warrior used the skill ‘Armor Break’ on you, reducing target’s armor by 50%.] [You triggered a block, reducing this attack’s damage by 30%.]

Ye Jue lost nearly 80 health from that assault, leaving his health at just over half. What troubled him most was the ‘Armor Break’ debuff, which would cause him to take significantly more damage in subsequent monster encounters.

Lin Shenyue, seeing the immense damage Ye Jue had sustained and realizing he was still expertly kiting the skeleton, quickly dashed forward two steps and cast a healing spell on him.

A green “+190” appeared above Ye Jue’s head, restoring his health to nearly full. Ye Jue took a deep breath. Because he had to maintain the skeleton’s position, he couldn’t dodge the incoming attacks, making the remainder of the battle potentially difficult.

‘It seems I’ll have to perform beyond my usual limits again,’ Ye Jue thought with a frown. His current situation demanded he minimize damage as much as possible, which meant blocking as many incoming arrows from the distant archer as he could. However, with the darkness ahead, he could only rely on sound to pinpoint the arrows’ trajectories. If an arrow reached within three meters, he wouldn’t have time to react. Ye Jue took another deep breath, concentrating fully on the sounds of the arrows.

“Whoosh!”

Ye Jue instinctively brought his shield up to his chest, simultaneously using his sword to parry a strike from the Skeleton Warrior. “-28,” “-47.”

He successfully blocked both attacks, then shifted a step to the right, once again halting the Skeleton Warrior’s advance.

Lin Shenyue, whose skills were still on cooldown, stared at Ye Jue in utter shock. ‘Is he using three senses at once?’ she mused. To block two attacks with separate hands while simultaneously keeping track of the Skeleton Warrior’s movements for kiting required not only multitasking but also an ingrained, instinctive mastery of blocking. Without it, successfully blocking two attacks would be impossible.

‘Though I don’t know your background, your combat prowess seems far beyond that of current players,’ Lin Shenyue murmured.

At that moment, Ye Jue found himself in a peculiar state of consciousness. He knew that even in his previous life, he could only manage two tasks simultaneously at most. Now, for some unknown reason, he had fallen into this strange awareness where he could feel everything around him slowing down. Yet, concurrently, he sensed his mental energy rapidly depleting.

Ye Jue only managed to maintain this peculiar state for less than five seconds before it dissipated. Lin Shenyue’s healing spell finally came off cooldown, and casting it on him instantly significantly slowed the decline of his health.

Ye Jue vigorously shook his dazed head, refocusing his attention on the monsters before him. However, he felt he could only manage to multitask slightly; clearly, his mental energy was severely depleted, making even two simultaneous actions difficult. Nonetheless, he maneuvered to kite again, delivering a well-timed ‘Rage Slash’ that finally allowed him to reclaim aggro.

Ye Jue had to steel his resolve once more, beginning to dodge the monsters’ attacks.

After another two minutes, under Lin Shenyue’s potent healing and Ye Jue’s exquisite footwork, they finally vanquished the two Skeleton Warriors. The distant Skeleton Archer, unable to withstand their combined formidable output, fell ten seconds later.

Once the monsters were defeated, Ye Jue’s vision swam, and he nearly stumbled to the ground. While his mind had been taut with concentration, he had maintained control of his body. Now, with the mental strain released, he felt incredibly weak, barely able to stand.

Lin Shenyue looked at him with concern, asking, “Are you alright?”

Ye Jue forced a smile. “I’m fine, just overused my brain. I’ll be good after a short rest. You go loot the bodies first.” For some reason, Ye Jue didn’t want Lin Shenyue to see him in such a vulnerable state, so he sent her to collect the spoils.

Lin Shenyue cast another worried glance his way. Seeing Ye Jue close his eyes, she sighed and proceeded to loot the corpses.