Chapter Eighty-One: Level Ten!

Lifting the corpse of the mutated wanderer, Mo Fangyuan tossed it into the fire pit dedicated for burning. With a heavy thud, the skeleton crashed into the pit. He threw in the wood, then drew out his flint and struck it lightly.

A spark flared, flames spread across the planks, devouring the mutated wanderer's body. The crackling of the fire echoed throughout the rest stop.

Mo Fangyuan, ever resolute, now treated monsters with merciless determination—kill on sight, and punish even after death.

He had assumed the mutated wanderer would simply burn to ash over time. However, as he turned away, the flames on the planks mysteriously extinguished.

He stared, bewildered. What was going on?

He tried lighting the wood again, nodding in satisfaction as the fire caught. Yet once more, an inexplicable force snuffed the flames.

Unwilling to accept defeat, Mo Fangyuan tried a third time, but the fire was extinguished yet again.

Gazing at the blue skeleton of the mutated wanderer, realization dawned. After another attempt, he pinpointed the problem.

"Damn it, even in death you refuse to behave! I'll scatter your ashes to the wind!"

The mutated wanderer spawned amidst bitter cold, its body saturated with ice, which was dousing the fire.

After breaking the body into several pieces and replacing the wood with coal, Mo Fangyuan struck flint once more.

He watched the fire for a full minute. Once certain it would not go out, he joined the others to repair the rest stop.

Compared to slaying mutated monsters, fixing the shelter was child's play. Before long, the drafty rest stop was nearly mended. All the wool blocks had been placed. As for the damaged leaf blocks outside, the raging blizzard made it too risky to venture out; that would have to wait until tomorrow.

"Everyone must be exhausted. Let's rest for now," Mo Fangyuan suggested, intending to stand watch so the soldiers could sleep.

They protested at once.

"Sire, please rest!"

"It is our duty to protect you!"

Their profession was to safeguard and support their king, not to have him defend them. It would be shameful to let such a rumor spread. Moreover, as a monarch, Mo Fangyuan was far too noble to stand guard for his 'humble' subjects.

Their refusal was absolute; Mo Fangyuan was left with no choice but to rest himself.

"Alas!" He sighed. Thus ended his five-month streak of nocturnal vigilance.

Mo Fangyuan felt a pang of discomfort.

The blizzard gradually subsided, and pale light crept along the horizon. Mo Fangyuan's biological clock woke him precisely.

Surveying the room, he smiled wryly at the soldiers sprawled about, some lying, some slumped over. One cannot generalize about physical constitution; while he himself could go without sleep, his men could not.

"Looks like I need to be firmer in the future..." He realized he was still too soft-hearted toward his block people, unable to easily refuse their reasonable requests.

"Let them sleep a little longer," he mused. Dawn was just breaking; sunrise was still some time away.

Suddenly, recalling yesterday's dim-witted mutated wanderer, Mo Fangyuan glanced instinctively at the fire pit.

The flames were completely extinguished, leaving only gray particles at the bottom. Whether they were wood ash or the wanderer's remains was unclear.

Around the fire pit, experience orbs and loot hovered in the air.

"This is exactly what I wanted!" Any player would eagerly loot a corpse.

Delighted, Mo Fangyuan walked forward and picked up the floating items.

Last time, the giant zombie dropped plenty of good things; what might the mutated wanderer yield?

The first white light revealed a green gift bag, a grade above the giant zombie's white one.

"Could it be that elite monsters always drop gift bags?" He had killed two elites so far, both yielding gift bags, while ordinary monsters never did. Perhaps, he speculated, every elite monster dropped a gift bag.

"Let me see..." Mo Fangyuan was not one to hoard; he tore the bag open immediately.

It burst, scattering four items across the ground: an iron block, a workbench, a torch... and dirt!

Instantly, his interest waned. The iron block was acceptable, but the others were simply baffling. The green gift bag's contents were inferior to those from the white bag.

Just as he had suspected from his previous life—utter disappointment!

Besides the green gift bag, the mutated wanderer had dropped four more white lights. Each contained loot, though what they held depended on Mo Fangyuan's luck.

Ignoring the experience orbs crawling toward him, Mo Fangyuan approached the first white light.

Stretching out his 'sinful' arm, he reached inside.

A pile of gleaming bones appeared in his inventory.

Bones x37.

"Well, that's reasonable." Mutated wanderers were skeletal monsters, so bones were an expected drop.

He reached into another white light.

Ice blocks x17.

"Er, that makes sense too..." Wanderers spawned in frigid lands, so carrying ice was normal.

Moving on, Mo Fangyuan again ignored the persistent experience orbs and strode to another white light.

He rummaged inside. "Got it!"

Weak arrows x22.

Twenty-two weak arrows appeared in his inventory.

"Normal enough..." In the game, wanderers sometimes dropped weak arrows; it was logical that mutated ones would as well.

Finally, the last white light.

Mo Fangyuan crossed to the other side of the fire pit, leaving the experience orbs behind once more.

"Spirits of heaven and earth, Supreme Elder, grant me luck!" He pressed his hands together, praying for good fortune. The previous loot had been abysmal.

Wiping his hands, he reached inside.

Mutated wanderer fragments x5.

"Ah! Good stuff!" Mutated skeletons dropped fragments upon death. These could be used to craft armor, which boosted defense and granted buffs; for example, boots made from mutated fragments allowed higher jumps, while helmets improved accuracy.

The mutated wanderer, being a variant of the mutated skeleton, confirmed this.

With five fragments, he could forge superior gear—just enough for a helmet.

Mo Fangyuan had long wanted to replace his low-defense golden crown. Previously, he kept it to distinguish himself and command his block people more effectively. Now, with better materials for a crown, the golden one was obsolete.

"I'll melt this golden crown into ingots when I return!" He thought, touching the smooth crown atop his head.

Strive! Strive! Strive!

The tiny experience orb, after much hardship, finally managed to reach Mo Fangyuan!

"This has been too hard!" The orb plunged into his body.

A crisp chime sounded in his mind as he examined the mutated wanderer fragments in his hand. The experience bar surged upward.

Level ten.

A year and a half after crossing over, Mo Fangyuan finally stood at the threshold of the 'starter village' from his previous life.

Night Vision.

His eyes burned, so hot he couldn't open them, yet the sensation was oddly pleasant—so comfortable he didn't want it to end.

It was a paradoxical, wondrous feeling.