Fang Zhen looked at the Gold Pendant in his hand.
It was a gold necklace. Hanging from it was a gold plaque with an embossed sun, surrounded by dense, religious-looking symbols.
Fang Zhen studied it for a moment, then weighed it in his hand.
'This feels heavy... it must be over a hundred grams,' Fang Zhen thought.
The pendant had some serious heft. It was made of solid Gold, feeling heavy in his palm.
He never expected to find something so valuable just from killing a few goblins.
He couldn't help but recall the wrecked carriage he had seen earlier.
'Maybe this belonged to the people in the carriage and was looted by the goblins?'
Soon, Fang Zhen's attention returned to the Gold Pendant in his hand.
A thrill of excitement shot through him.
'This has to be real Gold. Even if it's not 24-karat, the purity can't be that bad.'
'Not long ago, the price of Gold rose to over six hundred a gram. Even though it's dropped a bit, it's still very expensive. Selling this Gold Pendant would bring in a nice sum of money.'
As he thought about this, a strong sense of satisfaction washed over him.
Beating up goblins was thrilling, sure, but that was just a feeling. This was a real, tangible reward.
Fang Zhen's heart raced. After toying with the pendant for another moment, he stuffed it into his jeans pocket.
Fang Zhen took a deep breath, glanced around, and quickly replayed the events in his mind.
'The goblins look ferocious, but they're actually so weak. I'm especially surprised by how fragile their bodies are. Even an untrained guy like me can crack their skulls open with a baton,' Fang Zhen thought.
A thought suddenly struck him.
'Could it be...?' As the idea formed, his eyes lit up.
He immediately stood up and walked over to the body of the human lying on the ground nearby.
Fang Zhen looked at the stranger's corpse, sighed, and clasped his hands together.
"I don't know what happened to you. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. May you find peace. I'm only examining your body to confirm something. No offense intended."
After speaking, he unclasped his hands and began to examine the body.
Perhaps killing the three goblins had emboldened him. As Fang Zhen examined the corpse, he felt surprisingly little fear or unease.
After a moment of feeling the body's bones and muscles, a look of dawning realization spread across his face.
'So that's why... Even in a Nameless World on "easy" difficulty, people can still die.'
'This body's bones and muscles feel so frail. I feel like I could snap the bones with just a little force. It's not much sturdier than a goblin's body.'
'Maybe the beings of this world are just inherently weaker than people on Earth. That would explain why fighting the goblins was so easy. In other words, in this world, I'm practically a mini-superman?'
Fang Zhen recalled a comic he had read about an otaku with so-so Combat Power. He was transported to a world unlike Earth, one where the gravity was much lower and the native humans were far weaker. The protagonist entered with the strength of Captain America, rising from a nobody to a superhero on an absolute rampage.
He had just been wondering if this Nameless World was something similar.
He hadn't noticed any difference in gravity compared to Earth. However, his examination of the human corpse and the goblins showed that both humans and monsters here were significantly weaker physically than anyone back home.
'So I'm an overpowered character here?'
Fang Zhen's mind raced.
'The "easy" difficulty for this Nameless World... Judging from my experience so far, it probably just means that the monsters and people here aren't very strong. If I'm the standard, then they're all weaker than me. Is that what makes it "easy"?'
'But it's important to remember that even if I'm right, this isn't a game world. I don't have an HP bar. The enemies might be weak, but they have weapons. One hit to a vital spot, and I could still die here.'
'All in all, this is still a hardcore world. A single mistake could be fatal. The difficulty just isn't that high.'
Fang Zhen's mind felt exceptionally clear. Based on the evidence he'd gathered, his theory seemed highly plausible.
Figuring this out gave Fang Zhen another boost of confidence.
His intuition told him his guess was probably right.
Suddenly.
From deep within the woods, a guttural cry rang out, followed by a chorus of the same guttural sounds.
The color drained from Fang Zhen's face.
He suddenly had a strange intuition, and he understood what the cries meant.
The goblins were calling for reinforcements.
Perhaps this was his newly awakened talent for interpreting languages and symbols.
Judging by the sounds, it was more goblins—and a lot of them. It sounded like at least fourteen or fifteen.
Fang Zhen knew he could handle three or four goblins with little trouble, but a dozen or more at once? Just as enough ants can kill an elephant, he could easily be overwhelmed. A head-on fight would be suicide.
Fang Zhen shot to his feet, spun around, and sprinted back the way he came, toward the Light Gate.
He had gathered some basic intel on the Dark Path. He would go back, get better equipment, and return once he was fully prepared.
As he ran, a smile suddenly spread across his face.
He felt a sense of freedom he hadn't experienced in a long, long time.
'Heh, so this dungeon drops high-value items. Good. This trip wasn't a waste after all.'
'Just wait. I'll go back, gear up, and return to wipe every last one of these goblins out!'
With that thought, his steps grew much lighter.
…
「Back in Fang Zhen's living room.」
The Light Gate flashed with white light, and in the next moment, Fang Zhen appeared in the middle of the living room.
"I'm back," Fang Zhen panted, his face flushed and radiant.
He walked through the living room, went into his computer room, and checked the information on his Dungeon Life system.
Nothing had changed. Fang Zhen moved the cursor, revealing a single option to close the dungeon.
He clicked it and immediately heard a noise from the living room.
He glanced back to see the Light Gate in the living room close, leaving two external devices behind.
Fang Zhen nodded slightly.
'I was worried the goblins might chase me through the Light Gate into this world.'
'I don't know if I'm the only one who can use the Light Gate, or if people from the other side can cross over too. I'll have to run an experiment when I get the chance. I should figure out all the essential mechanics now, while the dungeon I'm entering is still low-level,' Fang Zhen thought.
'One more thing to take care of first.'
He took the Gold Pendant out of his jeans pocket.
Weighing it in his hand, Fang Zhen felt very satisfied.
The spoils of war.
'This should sell for tens of thousands, right?' Fang Zhen thought, twirling the Gold Pendant in his hand as the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.