"Ding... System upgrade... Exchange system unlocked... Item storage unlocked... Trial quests unlocked... The host will enter the first trial quest in five minutes."
Haoshuai froze for a moment, then quickly entered the system to ask what was happening.
"Since the host has now basically adapted to the system, it has been upgraded to Level 1."
"Leng, what's this trial quest about?" Haoshuai guessed that the exchange system probably allowed him to trade for powerful items, and the item storage was for keeping things. While he was a bit excited about these two features, the upcoming trial quest was what he urgently needed to understand.
"Trial quests are designed to train the host. The host must complete one trial quest every real-world month. And since today is August 31, there is a trial quest today. For details, please check the trial quest system."
Hearing this, Haoshuai looked at the light screen in front of him. The system interface now had buttons for Quest System, Skill System, Exchange System, Trial Quest, and so on. He immediately entered the trial quest section to see what was going on.
"Quest Name: The Heart of the Burning Dead"
"Quest Duration: 30 days"
"Quest Level: G−"
"Quest Requirements: In the Diablo dimension, personally kill 100 monsters and defeat the Burning Dead."
"Quest Rewards: Beginner Skill — Breath Concealment, 100 Legion Points, one random G-rank piece of equipment, and a random +1 to an attribute."
After reading this, Haoshuai had a rough idea. He thought: So I'll be sent to another dimension. In most novels, the Diablo dimension is pretty manageable at the beginning. Plus, if he only needed to kill the Burning Dead, it sounded like an easy task. As for the 100 monsters? Those were just small fry. Overcome with excitement, he didn't even bother checking the item storage. As for danger—sorry, all he felt right now was excitement. He wasn't thinking at all about other questions, like how exactly he would enter the Diablo dimension, what the time ratio would be, or how to cover up his disappearance in the real world.
Five minutes quickly passed.
"Trial quest begins... Dimension transfer in progress..." As the cold voice echoed, Haoshuai lost consciousness. In that instant, the real world seemed to freeze as if by magic, and his body vanished in a flash of white light.
In the Diablo dimension, with a flash of white light, a young man wearing nothing but briefs appeared on the ground.
"Ugh..." A cold wind blew, and Haoshuai woke up. Once he came to, he immediately felt something wrong with his body. Looking closely, he realized he wasn't wearing any clothes. Only then did he remember: he had been getting ready to sleep earlier, so he had only worn briefs. He instantly felt embarrassed. He looked around in a panic, and after confirming no one was around, he let out a small sigh of relief. Now that the initial excitement had passed, he finally had time to think about his situation.
"Ding... Since this is the host's first trial quest, the host may choose to forgo the 100 Legion Points reward in exchange for one beginner skill. Would the host like to proceed?"
"Of course!" Without hesitation, Haoshuai chose to get a skill instead. After all, he was alone and unarmed—having a skill would make survival much easier.
"The host may choose one of the following skills:"
"Magic Arrow"
"Ice Bolt"
"Tiger Strike"
"Bash"
"Prayer Aura"
"Lycanthropy"
"Raise Skeleton"
"I choose Raise Skeleton!" When he saw these familiar Diablo skills, Haoshuai immediately picked the Necromancer's Raise Skeleton. It was the only summoning skill among them, which would keep him safer. When he played the game, only the Necromancer felt secure even on Hell difficulty; other classes were too fragile. So he decisively picked Raise Skeleton.
A sudden pain surged in his head, and Haoshuai knew he had successfully learned the skill.
Only then did he notice something else.
"Leng, why aren't you calling me A'Shuai anymore?"
"Host, after the system upgrade, my intelligence has slightly improved. Don't you think 'A'Shuai' sounds a bit awkward to say?" The system explained unexpectedly. (Actually, the author realized that "A'Shuai" sounded kind of lame while writing…)
"Oh…" Haoshuai laughed awkwardly. It was true—the name did sound a bit weird. But this was a small issue, so he didn't dwell on it. "Host" actually sounded pretty good, better than something like "Master."
"Open Exchange System." Haoshuai began checking out the exchange system.
Displayed before him was the exchange page. It was divided into Martial Arts, Weapons, Armor, Skills, and Daily Items.
Under Martial Arts, there were options like Military Combat Boxing, Taichi (pseudo), Bajiquan (pseudo), Taekwondo, and so on.
Under Weapons, there were items like Flintlock, Ebony Sword, Bronze Sword, etc.
Under Armor, there were items like Coarse Cloth Clothes, Worn Robes, and so on.
Under Skills, there were Magic Arrow, Ice Arrow (Level 1), Fireball, and others.
Under Daily Items, there were various supplies like bread, clean water, etc.
Haoshuai checked the Legion Point costs. Military Combat Boxing required 15 points; Taichi (pseudo) only needed 10 points. After reading the description, he saw that Taichi (pseudo) was basically the popular health-preserving version practiced nowadays, mainly for wellness, hence only 10 points. Military Combat Boxing had actual combat effectiveness, so it needed 15 points. When he checked Taekwondo, he saw it also cost 10 points. But after reading the description, he realized that modern Taekwondo had been heavily toned down and focused mainly on kicks, making it less comprehensive and effective than Military Combat Boxing.
For weapons, although there were guns, they were primitive flintlocks and cost 20 points. The Ebony Sword was a beginner weapon from the Legend dimension, with stats: Attack: 4–8, Magic: 0–1, Weight: 8, Durability: 7, also for 20 points. Haoshuai thought about it and decided it was better to find weapons from the Diablo dimension since weapons from other dimensions might not "work" properly here.
The system's functions were quite powerful—it allowed conditional searches. When Haoshuai searched for weapons from the Diablo dimension, many familiar names appeared. Of course, he didn't even consider advanced weapons since only beginner weapons were available now: Hand Axe, Staff, Club, etc. These weapons cost 15 points each. According to the descriptions, the items would be "white items" with basic randomized attributes. Haoshuai guessed this meant they worked like in the game—same weapon names but different specific stats. The differences wouldn't be huge, unless it was gear with skills or special properties.
Armor was similar to weapons—mostly beginner equipment from games or comics, usually costing 10–20 points.
When he checked the Skills section, Haoshuai almost spat blood. Why? Because Raise Skeleton only cost 50 points to redeem! Remembering he had to exchange 100 points for it earlier, he felt heartbroken. But then he thought about how much interest mortgages charged on houses, and his heart calmed down. Similarly, these skills were all beginner-level.
Checking the description for Raise Skeleton, he saw it matched the skill from Diablo, not from games like Warcraft.
Raise Skeleton: Use a monster corpse to summon a skeleton warrior to fight for you.
Damage: 1–2
Current skill level: 1
Defense: 20
Health: 21
Max skeletons: 1
Compared to the game, it lacked a "hit chance" attribute. Haoshuai thought that made sense—this was the real world, not a game, so there wouldn't be an accuracy stat.
After reading the Skills section, he looked at Daily Items and found that most were basically free. One Legion Point could buy ten kilograms of bread or one ton of water. Seeing this, he stopped worrying about food.
After checking out the exchange system, he exited. At this point, he sensed a one-cubic-meter space. With a single thought, he felt this space was like an extension of his body, and everything inside was under his complete control. He realized that when he needed to take things out, it would be as natural as using his own hands—items would appear exactly where he needed them, within about one meter around him. He knew that as he grew stronger, the space would expand, and his external control range would also increase.
After studying the storage space, he turned his attention to the Raise Skeleton skill. Although he had seen the description before, he still wasn't fully familiar. So he asked the system for more details.
"How does this skill work exactly? What does the 1–2 damage mean? And what about hit chance, defense, health, and so on?"
"Damage 1–2 means the skeleton will reduce the target's health by 1 to 2 points per hit, relative to life values. For example, the host currently has 63 health points; if hit, it would reduce your health by 1–2 points. Of course, if it hits a vital point, there is a tenfold damage multiplier. Defense refers to reducing incoming damage. A defense of 20 means damage is reduced accordingly. The max skeleton count indicates the host can currently only control one skeleton at a time—if you can't maintain control, the skeleton would collapse."
Hearing this, Haoshuai generally understood how it worked. Since he didn't have any Legion Points left, he exited the system and prepared to start his adventure.