Undying Warlord

"A settlement, really?"

On the outskirts of a huge, yet also somewhat badly constructed settlement Dilan spotted a huge Gate.

Its blue color was distinct and completely different from the two Gates he had seen before.

But before focusing on the Gate, his eyes flicked to the settlement that seemed more interesting.

He could see huts and small dens that were made of mud.

However, the closer he came to the center of the settlement the more stones, wood, and other materials he came across that were used for the buildings.

This was quite interesting, even more so because not a single tree could be seen in the underground valley.

'So they get resources from the other side of the huge Gate as well!' Dilan concluded quickly.

The answer was quite obvious, and it made him curious.

After all, there might be far more powerful monsters he would have to face than he could have hoped for.

But even then the thought of encountering stronger monsters didn't scare him.

Rather, he maintained his calm as his gaze was fixated on the huge Gate.

'I need to figure out its requirements to pass through. Like that, I can roughly gauge the strength of my opponents!'

Taking the dangers into consideration, it was only obvious that he wouldn't be able to kill Silver Tier-1 monsters, let alone higher leveled Tier-1 existences.

His weapons were not even strong enough to cut through their hide, to begin with!

Dilan understood this clearly, which was why he paved his way through the darkness.

Making use of the faint gleaming illuminating crystal that shone through his pocket, he found his way to the side of the Gate that didn't face the settlement.

[Permanent Gate to (Blood Ratmen Kingdom, Kirak). Conditions to enter not met! -All stats <150+>, Tier-2 Level [50]! Special permission granted to <Horned rats>, <Krendels>!]

Dilan instinctively backed off after reading the note while swallowing his saliva. It was near impossible for him to hide his astonishment.

Dilan didn't think that highly of the Krendels and horned rats before but the Gate changed everything as his mind had to adjust to what he was currently seeing.

'Tier-2!' He was baffled even though he knew that the huge Gate would be different to the one he came from.

Giving himself a few seconds to calm down, he immediately took a second glance at the notification he received from the Gate's information.

'So that is the Gate that leads to their home?... Is that how it is?'

Dilan's mind was rattling as he tried to figure out a proper answer on why he didn't encounter a more powerful monster yet. The crystal and ore cave should be valuable enough for stronger monsters to guard it from trespassers.

However, the strongest monsters he encountered were not even intelligent enough to guard the mine. They simply fought against each other, just to die at his hands.

Furthermore, it didn't even look like it was uncommon for the monsters within the cave to fight against each other.

After all, most low-leveled monsters simply ignored the four monsters as they fought!

'So…why are the monsters so weak but the restrictions to leave the Underground Valley so high?'

While thinking about an answer, Dilan felt that he was missing out on a very important piece of information.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do right now.

His mind was a mess, which was why he chose to ease his tension by experimenting with something else.

[<Silver> grade treasures can be exchanged with Silver Essence crystal of Tierless Level 10 Vociferous large-winged bat!]

The moment his hand came in touch with the Silver Essence crystal of the Vociferous large-winged bat, he received a notification.

The notification eased his tension in an instant, which gave him the necessary determination to throw the crystal in the Gate.

He waited with a bated breath, but nothing happened for several seconds.

Instead of letting anxiety get to him, Dilan forced himself to calm down mind got clearer as he tried to make sense of the situation.

'Maybe there are differences in the Gate's restrictions on each side of the Gate?... Like from this side I have to be at Level 50, Tier-2, while the other side might have a limit for existences, which are too powerful…

Like…maybe one can only be a Tierless existence while entering the underground valley, or an ordinary Tier-1 being?

If that were to be the case, it would mean that the system or the Underground valley itself can alter the restrictions…in order to…protect the underground valley from collapsing, is that it?'

In the end, Dilan believed that the Gates' restrictions were quite difficult to figure out. After all, it was the first time for him to encounter such a situation.

In fact, it was the first time for him to be in the dimension of a Gate.

It was only obvious for him to be lacking a lot of information. However, it made sense to think that the Gate would restrict beings that were too powerful to enter this place.

Otherwise, it might collapse, or the ecosystem of the entire place would be thrown off balance.

Dilan was unable to tell if his theories were true. As such, he was more careful than ever before as he peeked out behind the Gate.

He looked at the settlement and wondered whether or not he should take a look at it.

'If I'm right, the worst I can encounter would be rather low-leveled Tier-1 monsters…maybe a Silver Tier-1 monster. That would be bad, but it's not like I can pay attention to which monsters I am going to attack…'

While thinking about the next steps of his plan, his Silver treasure fell out of the Gate, just to land on the ground with a thump.

His eyes followed the treasure and found a bunch of leather boots on the ground.

They were black in color, and looked quite simple, if there weren't the faint silver threads that spread from the center to both sides of the boots, connecting with the boots' sole.

Picking them up, Dilan turned them over and spotted some sort of cryptic letter engraved on the sole.

This made him curious which led him to inspect the boots in detail.

[[Aeris' leather boots]<Silver treasure>

[+10 Agility]

[Gale] Consumes 5 Units of Mana to turn into a gale that crosses the distance of 10 meters in an instant! 3 Uses a day, no cooldown!]

The feeling of freedom will gain a new meaning while wear Aeris' Leather boots! They grant great comfort and temperature regulation!]

"Wow…" Dilan blurted out without being able to hold himself back.

It didn't take Dilan much time to understand that he had hit a jackpot with this pair of boots.

Not only was the stat boost extremely high, but the active ability [Gale] was comparable to short-distance teleportation!

The Mana consumption might be quite high. However, even if it were to be 10 Units of mana, the advantage one could gain from a single activation of the [Gale] ability was simply tremendous.

He knew that the Silver Essence crystal was something valuable and that a Silver treasure was bound to be extremely hard to procure.

Yet, even then, Dilan couldn't help but smile brightly holding the boots in his arms as if they were his little babies.

In an instant, they had become his most valuable treasures, which was actually not that difficult to understand.

Without wasting too much time, Dilan threw away his old pair of shoes and wore the new pair of boots.

They looked way too fancy and brand new in comparison to his other half-burned clothes.

But that was not important right now as he smiled vibrantly.

He felt the tremendous enhancement of stats he received from the Aeris' leather boots, giving him the necessary confidence to fight several Tier-1 monsters at the same time.

'Maybe I should try to procure a few Tier-1 Essence crystals and exchange them with treasures as well? I guess the 'Trash' treasures, I receive will be comparable or maybe even better than Aeris' leather boots!'

Dilan knew that he was daydreaming because he needed every single Essence crystal for himself.

However, it was a fact that better equipment was directly proportional to an increase in his combat prowess.

Meanwhile, higher combat prowess would allow him to defeat dangerous monsters with more ease.

That…was a matter of fact!