In the world of Nightmare, all equipment and skills are categorized by levels:
- Gray: “Broken”
- White: “Ordinary”
- Green: “Excellent”
- Blue: “Outstanding”
- Purple: “One in a Million”
This foundational knowledge, along with countless movement and footwork techniques, surged into Shen Ye’s mind.
He felt as if he had become an elf—one who had trained in agility and footwork since a young age, enduring years of honing to finally master such combat techniques.
However, “Moonlit Deer Stride” had a relatively high agility requirement: only those with an agility score of 9 could fully utilize it.
Shen Ye slapped his forehead, turned around, and opened his schoolbag to retrieve his report card.
The teachers’ comprehensive evaluation read:
- Strength: 1.2
- Agility: 2
- Spirit Power: 0.7
These were scores measured when his body was free of fever. For a middle schooler, a score of 1 in strength or agility was considered impressive—1 represented the standard level of an average adult male.
As for spirit power—
Even a score of 0.1 was remarkable, as long as one could awaken spirit power.
After all, many people never managed to awaken it.
The difference between having spirit power and not having it was a gulf impossible to bridge.
With spirit power, high school offered techniques to enhance it. Once it reached a certain threshold, one could use spells.
Spells were humanity’s true power and a primary means of countering threats.
Shen Ye fell into contemplation.
He had acquired 1 attribute point from consuming the entry, which, if added to agility, would raise it to 3. With his understanding of “Moonlit Deer Stride,” 3 points in agility allowed only the “Evasion” move.
“Advance” required 6 points.
“Sidestep” was an even more intricate maneuver, needing 9 points.
If he could obtain favourable entries, he might soon perform “Advance” and, with more effort, master the complete “Moonlit Deer Stride” in days!
Hope sparked in Shen Ye’s eyes as he glanced at the silver badge again.
Wearing it tomorrow and entering the door to teleport to the elf territory might yield higher entries.
A single marrow-enhancing pill couldn’t achieve so much.
This trade was worth it.
“Your generosity is truly admirable. Deal!”
Shen Ye placed the marrow-enhancing pill by the door.
The parchment covered in contract runes emitted a glow.
The equivalent exchange was established!
The pill vanished instantly.
Shen Ye peered through the window, watching as the skeleton grabbed the pill and swallowed it in one bite.
The next second, mysterious runes flickered around the skeleton, emitting dark mist as they swirled around its legs.
The skeleton chanted an obscure incantation but suddenly paused.
It glanced at Shen Ye, seemed to deliberate, and then opened a door at the end of the hallway and crawled inside, shutting the door firmly behind it.
—Afraid I’ll steal your spell?
I can’t understand it anyway!
Shen Ye waved dismissively and dismissed the door.
Suddenly, he heard a faint “click.”
The sound came from the living room.
The front door had moved slightly, but there was no further noise.
Odd.
If his parents had returned, they would have called for him or chatted, or at least he’d hear the sound of them changing shoes.
But none of that happened.
Silence filled the air.
A realization struck Shen Ye.
—This isn’t good!
Could it be the person who had cursed him with the “Sculpture of the King of Fallen Evil Spirits” had returned?
To finish him off?
Before he could react, his bedroom door moved slightly.
Shen Ye’s pupils contracted.
His parents would never push his door silently.
What should he do?
If it was an enemy, how could he respond?
He pressed his hand against the wall and silently summoned:
“Door.”
A door appeared.
In the darkness, the bedroom door opened with a faint “thud.”
A figure clad in black, wearing a mask, and holding a gun appeared in the doorway.
An assassin!
Abandoning all hope of negotiation, Shen Ye yanked open the Nightmare Door on the wall and rushed through.
Meanwhile, the assassin’s eyes narrowed in confusion.
Why was there another door leading to another room in the boy’s bedroom?
But now wasn’t the time to hesitate.
—All he needed was to kill the boy to complete the mission!
The assassin darted forward, reaching the door in an instant.
By this time, Shen Ye had already used his sole attribute point to boost agility and had traversed the hallway in the Nightmare World, reaching the tightly shut door at the other end.
An instinctive sense of danger surged.
Shen Ye crouched low, nearly hugging the ground, his hand brushing it as he propelled himself forward, his feet gliding across the floor like a deer dashing under moonlight.
Bang!
Sparks flew as bullets struck the door.
Shen Ye’s heart raced.
Activating the elven combat movement technique, “Moonlit Deer Stride,” he successfully evaded the bullet’s trajectory!
Looking back—
The assassin seemed slightly surprised but scoffed, stepping through the door.
He had entered the hallway of the Nightmare World!
In a flash, Shen Ye pressed his hand against the closed door before him.
—The skeleton had locked the door behind it.
But he didn’t need to open it!
“Door!”
Shen Ye silently commanded.
Before the tightly shut door, another door appeared—
This time resembling a hospital room door to blend into the environment.
—This was Shen Ye’s ability!
He pushed the door open, slipped through, and slammed it shut behind him with a loud “thud,” landing back on his bedroom floor.
He’s back!
“Dismantle—dismantle my door!”
Shen Ye silently commanded.
With his will, the door on the wall instantly vanished.
—The assassin was left behind in the door!
Nightmare World.
In the dark corridor, the assassin had already reached the tightly shut door ahead.
Surrounding him was pitch black.
Moments ago, while running, the shattered bone fragments scattered on the ground had slightly distracted him. On top of that, Shen Ye had obscured his vision—
So all he saw was Shen Ye rushing into the door and slamming it shut behind him.
—After all, who would have thought there were actually two overlapping doors just now?
And who would have imagined that today, the world would witness the birth of someone with the power of “doors”? And that it would be that teenage boy?
“Is this a secret chamber? How unexpected.”
The assassin spoke in a mocking tone.
Indeed, from the long hallway behind him, it seemed that this door likely led to the Shen family’s secret chamber.
He hadn’t expected that targeting a teenager would yield such a bonus.
“Listen up, kid inside. Come out now, and I promise I’ll only take you away without hurting you.”
“I’ll count down from five. If you don’t come out, I’ll kill you!”
“Five.”
“Four.”
“Three—”
Click.
The lock turned, and the door opened a crack.
The assassin’s lips curled into a smirk.
A fifteen-year-old boy—so naive and gullible.
This would save him some effort.
He raised his gun, casually pulling the door wide open, and laughed wildly.
“Kid, in your next life, be a little smarter!”
The door fully opened, revealing the scene within.
There was no fifteen-year-old boy.
No secret chamber or hidden treasures of the Shen family.
There was only a massive skeleton, four meters long, leaning against the doorframe with its chin resting on its hand. Its hollow eye sockets glowed faintly with ghostly fire as it gazed at him.
“Monster!”
The assassin’s expression changed as he fired his gun repeatedly while retreating.
But—
The hallway ended in a solid wall.
The door from earlier had disappeared without a trace.
Meanwhile, the skeletal creature, though struck by the bullets, remained completely unscathed. Instead, it drew a bone spear.
Muttering an incantation in a low, incomprehensible tone, the skeleton caused a dark green flame to ignite on the spear.
What a pleasant surprise.
A new trade partner, efficient and resourceful, had delivered a living creature for consumption.
Several minutes later.
At the end of the hallway, a door appeared on the wall.
Shen Ye stood in front of it, peeking inside.
The giant skeleton was seated amidst a pool of blood, inspecting its right leg.
Its broken shinbone was gone.
In its place was a new, pale white bone.
Noticing Shen Ye’s gaze, the skeleton casually waved its hand—
The parchment of the contract glowed white.
Moments later, a white mask fell into Shen Ye’s hands.
Lines of text appeared on the parchment:
“Your offering of a living being greatly satisfied the recipient.”
“In accordance with the principle of ‘equivalent exchange,’ the recipient provided this item, approved by the contract.”
“Pale Shadow Crown (Green Equipment, Excellent Grade).”
“Description: Enchanted with advanced shadow magic from the Abyss. Anyone who wears it can disguise themselves as an elf.”
“—Crafted meticulously by the undead.”
Shen Ye froze for a moment, then pulled out the silver war medal.
This medal could transport him to the Elven Territory.
But he was human.
How could a human gain recognition and a war medal on an elven battlefield without arousing suspicion?
He would likely be detained the moment he arrived.
With the Pale Shadow Crown, however, he could perfectly disguise himself as an elf, ensuring a safe entry into the Elven Territory.
He slowly raised his head to look through the glass window.
The giant skeleton didn’t even glance at him, busily consuming the corpse.
Of course.
To the skeleton, he was merely food—a human teenager, insignificant in its eyes.
Giving him the Pale Shadow Crown wasn’t out of goodwill; it simply saw continued value in trading with him.
What a thoroughly pragmatic skeleton.
Shen Ye donned the white mask and stood before a mirror.
His reflection transformed into an excessively handsome young man with long, pointed ears and eyes like emeralds, radiating a natural aura.
Excellent!
With this mask and the medal, tomorrow, he would surely secure a favorable evaluation tag!
