Right now, the most important thing for Lin Mo was to collect a full set of the [Deadly Poison Set].
So Lin Mo opened the map and searched for [Insect Nest Underground Palace].
Because the Deadly Poison Set was born in this very Insect Nest Underground Palace.
The poison resistance effect of the Deadly Poison Set wasn't limited to countering the Shadow Breath inside the Shadow Sanctuary.
It also had a huge restraining effect against poisonous high-level maps and dungeons within Blazing Ember City, such as the Toxic Swamp, Lethal Caverns, and Valley of Death.
And these places all produced precious resources.
So in his previous life, many big-shot players had a rigid demand for the Deadly Poison Set. Lin Mo, along with many professional gold-farming players, had come to this Insect Nest Underground Palace to collect Deadly Poison gear for those big shots and sell it to make money.
That was why this place had left such a deep impression on him.
He even clearly remembered, "In my previous life, a single piece of Deadly Poison set equipment, even the worst white-quality one, could easily sell for five or six hundred yuan. Its value was several times higher than ordinary white gear of the same level."
He remembered that back then, Lin Mo had gone through a period of joyful gold-farming days.
Although it often happened that a piece of Deadly Poison equipment he had just managed to farm, before he even had time to sell it, would get dropped and taken by people from Chaotic Era.
Still, that one month earned him a solid twenty to thirty thousand yuan.
This had made Lin Mo, who at the time needed a whole year of work to save that much money, extremely happy, and firmly believe that he had the potential to become a professional player.
However, it would take at least another day or two before the true value of the Deadly Poison Set was fully discovered by players in Blazing Ember City.
For now, naturally, no one would think of going to the Insect Nest Underground Palace to collect Deadly Poison gear.
"Looks like I'll have to do it myself."
With that thought, Lin Mo headed to the potion shop.
Because according to the map display, the Insect Nest Underground Palace was level 20, a full seven levels higher than Lin Mo.
Even with Lin Mo's current strength, it would probably still be quite difficult.
So he had to prepare first.
For Lin Mo, his biggest consumption right now was mana.
"One SSS-grade Seven-Star Volley consumes 48 mana points."
"With my current mana cap of 98, I can cast at most two Seven-Star Volleys before I'm completely empty."
Every five player levels corresponded to one potion tier.
That meant that at level 13, Lin Mo could already use tier-three potions.
However, given Lin Mo's mana cap of 98, tier-two potions were already enough for him.
So, at the hefty unit price of 20 copper coins each, Lin Mo bought a full 20 stacks of tier-two mana potions (restores 50 mana on use and recovers 5 mana per second for 10 seconds).
Seven-Star Volley could convert 55% of damage dealt into shields, greatly increasing Lin Mo's survivability.
So, at a unit price of 30 copper coins, he only bought 5 stacks of tier-three health potions (restores 400 HP on use and recovers 40 HP per second for 10 seconds).
The total cost was 55 silver coins, which converted to 5,500 yuan.
"That's enough to get more than ten massages from Empress Xiyue at Listening Rain Pavilion."
Lin Mo immediately felt a wave of pain in his heart.
With all preparations complete, Lin Mo set off and left Blazing Ember City.
———
Outside the city, players were scattered and few in number.
They were all forming teams to grind level 11–12 maps.
Following the map's guidance, twenty minutes later, Lin Mo finally arrived at his destination.
Looking ahead, he saw a massive black nest, shaped like a bird's nest, entrenched within a region shrouded in black mist.
Outside the nest, there were dozens of fully armed human NPC soldiers, all as high as level 30, standing guard in strict formation.
That alone was enough to prove how dangerous this place was.
At this moment, Lin Mo approached the lead guard captain, William.
Because he knew that the monsters inside the Insect Nest Underground Palace would not directly drop Deadly Poison set equipment.
Players had to accept a quest from Guard Captain William. Only after entering the underground palace and killing monsters would a certain item drop. With that item, they could then exchange it with William for Deadly Poison set equipment.
So Lin Mo triggered a dialogue with William.
"My lord, please allow me to enter the underground palace and eliminate the harmful insects."
"This place is extremely dangerous!", Seeing that Lin Mo was only level 13, William wore a solemn expression and advised him, "Adventurer, I suggest you come back after increasing your level!"
"Let me try. I want to challenge myself."
Seeing Lin Mo's firm attitude, William didn't say anything more, "Alright then!"
[Ding~ You have accepted the quest · Clear the Insect Nest (1)!]
Lin Mo opened the quest list.
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[Clear the Insect Nest (1)]
— Difficulty Index: 335
— Description: Please enter the first floor of the Insect Nest Underground Palace, kill Deadly Poison Spiders, and collect venom…
— Quest Progress: 0/10
— Quest Rewards: EXP +40,000, Silver Coins +1, Reputation +2, William Favorability +1, Level 20 Deadly Poison set equipment +1 (quality, slot, and class random. The higher William's favorability level, the higher the chance of obtaining high-quality gear).
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Back in the beginner village, the highest-difficulty quest had been the only E-rank hidden quest Lin Mo accepted, Slay the Wolf King, with a difficulty index of only 100.
This quest's difficulty index was more than triple that of Exterminate the Wolf King.
And this was only the first stage.
In his previous life, Lin Mo would probably have been scared stiff at the entrance of the Insect Nest Underground Palace and wouldn't have dared to go in.
But now, all he felt was excitement.
"Nice. This is what a challenge should be like."
With that, under the soldiers' permission, Lin Mo stepped into the Insect Nest Underground Palace.
[Ding~ You have entered the first floor of the Insect Nest Underground Palace. Only after completing the first-floor quest can the second floor be unlocked.]
Lin Mo entered a structure riddled with holes everywhere, a cold, gloomy aura permeated the surroundings.
Looking around, he saw giant black-haired spiders, each as big as a bull, brazenly moving through the caverns.
They were the overlords of the first floor of the Insect Nest Underground Palace: level 20 monsters, Deadly Poison Spiders.
"They're already beyond the detection range of Detection," Lin Mo thought as he was about to cast the skill, then canceled it.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.
"Right, after evolving Seven-Star Volley earlier, I still have 22 skill evolution points left. I can use those to evolve Detection."
Detection was a life skill and did not occupy a skill slot.
Moreover, it would automatically level up with each class change.
Just like when Lin Mo changed to an archer, Detection automatically upgraded from E-rank to D-rank.
But even D-rank Detection could only view monster data up to four levels higher than the player.
Against Deadly Poison Spiders that were seven levels higher than him, it was still useless.
Lin Mo tried evolving Detection and was pleasantly surprised to find that it could indeed be evolved just like combat skills.
So Lin Mo began his evolution path.
[Ding~ Consumed 2 skill evolution points. Congratulations, you have evolved D-rank Detection to C-rank!]
[Ding~ Consumed 4 skill evolution points. Congratulations, you have evolved C-rank Detection to B-rank!]
[Ding~ Consumed 8 skill evolution points. Congratulations, you have evolved B-rank Detection to A-rank!]
The remaining 8 evolution points were no longer enough for another evolution.
However, A-rank Detection already satisfied Lin Mo greatly.
After all, under normal circumstances, players had to wait until level 80 and their fourth class change before they could upgrade Detection to A-rank.
A-rank Detection could view monster data up to seven levels higher than the player.
Which perfectly matched the conditions of the Deadly Poison Spiders.
No matter how much its quality increased, Detection's cost always remained at just 1 mana point.
So Lin Mo cast A-rank Detection on a Deadly Poison Spider ahead of him.
The next second, the complete attributes of the Deadly Poison Spider clearly appeared before Lin Mo's eyes—
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