[Face-Silk Pants]
[Quality]: Green
[Requirements]: None
[Effect]: Increases speed by 1
[Description]: These pants look pretty decent—as long as you don't know how gross face-silkworms actually are.
...
[Faceless Bird Feather Shoes]
[Quality]: Green
[Requirements]: None
[Effect]: Increases speed by 2
[Description]: Handcrafted shoes that look pretty ugly. Best worn under your socks.
After taking out more than a dozen Coffin Guild players, all Ethan got were these two green-quality gear pieces. Still, they were just what he needed to upgrade his equipment.
Once he geared up, Ethan checked his stats.
[Name]: Windchaser
[Talents]: Pain Resistance (Blue), Ten-Thousandfold Intelligence Reward (Unknown)
[Level]: 10
[Class]: None
[Status]: Normal
[Equipment]: Pure Cotton Underwear (Gray), Frostblade (Blue), Filthy Hard Hat (Green), Worn Protective Gloves (Green), Face-Silk Pants (Green), …
[HP]: 100%
[Strength]: 16 (equipment +3)
[Speed]: 14 (equipment +3)
[Defense]: 10 (equipment +1)
[Energy]: 9
[Charisma]: 10
[Luck]: 1
[Attribute Points]: 0
[Inventory]: Hellblade Class Intel (Orange), Guild Hidden Quest Intel (Purple), Frostheart (Blue), Impure Potential Stimulating Potion (Green), …
Ethan looked at his old [Worn-Out Sneakers], feeling a bit curious. As far as he remembered, those sneakers were the only white-quality gear he'd found so far that actually boosted his stats.
After thinking about it for a moment, Ethan decided to put the [Worn-Out Sneakers] in his storage by themselves, instead of tossing them in with the rest of his junk items.
If he could ever fix them up, they might even be better than the [Faceless Bird Feather Shoes] he was wearing now.
With all his gear, Ethan had boosted his stats by seven points in total. On top of that, the [Third Generation Human Potential Enhancement Potion] gave him another bonus, so he now had twelve more attribute points than an average player with no equipment.
At this point, he had a blue-quality sword and a full set of green-quality gear—well, except for his underwear, which was still just gray.
There wasn't much he could do about that. After all, it'd be pretty strange if monsters started dropping high-quality underwear.
After a short break, Ethan got ready to head deeper into the sewers with [Tank] and [Kayla].
No matter what, Ethan had already accepted the payment from [Tank], so as long as they could keep exploring, he had to stick to their deal.
Besides, he was also curious to see if there really was a hidden boss down here, and whether he could take it down and get some new intel as a reward.
As for the Coffin Guild, Ethan was sure they absolutely hated him by now and saw him as someone they had to kill.
That was exactly what he wanted, because he still planned to target the Coffin Guild and use their hatred against them until they were completely wiped out from Safe Zone 9527.
For example, he could try to anger [Overlord] as much as possible, then purposely show a weakness and lure [Overlord] and his team out of the safe zone to chase him.
But before that, he'd need to team up with other guilds in Safe Zone 9527, get them and their trusted members ready in ambush, and wait for the right moment to strike a heavy blow against the Coffin Guild.
Using himself as bait to pit one enemy against another—unless something went wrong, he was pretty sure this plan would work.
Of course, there were risks, but Ethan could handle them. At worst, he might die and lose a level. But with his superhuman pain resistance and the [Ten-Thousandfold Intelligence Reward], he wasn't afraid at all!
Forgiving others for their mistakes or for hurting him had never been Ethan's style. In his mind, there was no need to forgive anyone—only to get revenge.
Soon, Ethan headed deeper into the sewers with an excited [Tank] and [Kayla], who kept glancing at him and seemed a little distracted.
The monsters here hadn't changed much, but they were definitely tougher—faster and with better defenses than the ones near the entrance. This made [Tank] even more excited. He was sure there had to be a boss hidden deep inside the sewers!
After easily taking out a few monsters, Ethan suddenly stopped and stood alert, staring ahead.
[Tank] and [Kayla] stopped too. They didn't know what was going on, but now they completely trusted Ethan and followed his lead.
Ethan took a deep breath and said, "Have you noticed? The smell here isn't as bad anymore. In fact, there's even a faint, sweet scent."
Hearing this, [Tank] and [Kayla] took a deep sniff and finally noticed the change in the air around them too.
[Tank] didn't think much about it and said, "Maybe we've just been in the sewers too long and our noses got used to the smell?"
Ethan shook his head. He believed any strange sign was worth paying attention to—it was the only way to spot trouble early.
He gripped his sword tighter and reminded them, "If something dangerous happens, I'll try my best to keep you safe. Remember, I'll try."
[Tank] and [Kayla] both nodded. After coming all this way, neither of them wanted to turn back now. No matter what was ahead, they wanted to see it for themselves.
Plus, with [Windchaser]—a real expert—by their side, this was a rare chance that might not come again.
So, the three of them kept moving forward.
This time, there weren't any monsters in sight. Instead, they started seeing white, root-like things growing all over the sewer walls, spreading through the whole tunnel.
[Tank] excitedly took notes about everything around them, while Ethan glanced at the dirty water nearby.
He couldn't tell if it was just his imagination, but the water here seemed a bit cleaner than outside.
Just as Ethan was about to crouch down for a closer look, he suddenly heard a strange sound!
In an instant, Ethan raised his sword toward the noise, holding it in front of his chest as he carefully watched his surroundings.
He saw that the white, root-like plants on the wall were slowly wriggling, making a weird squelching noise, like thick liquid moving around.
[Tank] and [Kayla] quickly moved closer to Ethan. [Kayla] especially looked scared, and whispered with a shaky voice: "Why are those roots moving?"
Ethan didn't answer. He kept his eyes on the white roots.
He watched as they slowly dropped from the wall and touched the sewage. Wherever they touched, the dirty water started to clear up right before their eyes.
But it only lasted for a few seconds. As more filthy water flowed in from the rest of the sewer, the water near the white roots quickly turned dirty and smelly again.
After that, the white roots looked much weaker and drooped down, almost lifeless.
Ethan stared at the scene before him, feeling a wave of curiosity. He had never seen anything like this before—these strange, white root-like things that looked like some kind of monster could actually purify the sewage?
After making sure the white roots wouldn't attack them, he carefully led [Tank] and [Kayla] forward again.
As they went deeper, the white roots became even more common, almost filling up the whole sewer.
After walking through the area with the most roots, Ethan stepped into a huge underground chamber. He stopped in his tracks, wide-eyed with surprise at what he saw.
The place was packed with rats and lizards, all gathered together as if they were worshipping something. They were facing the center of the chamber, bowing down to a massive, white plant.
The plant was over ten meters tall, looking a bit like a giant mushroom. Countless thick white roots hung down from the top, splitting into smaller branches that twisted around the bodies of the rats and lizards.
Before Ethan could take a closer look, all the rats and lizards suddenly stood up and turned to stare right at them!