To the Valley of Misfortune

A few minutes later.

A resounding dragon's roar echoed throughout the Imperial Capital, as a colossal Silver Dragon slowly descended upon the main square, immediately drawing the attention of the NPC crowd.

"Look, it's a giant dragon again! Could it be that Master Lan Ruo of the Dragon Domain has arrived in the Imperial Capital?"

"The giant dragon is so handsome! I wish I could touch it."

"Look, there's a young man on its back. Could he be a Dragon Knight?"

Shen Feng leaped directly from the Silver Dragon's back.

Seeing Shen Feng dismount, the Silver Dragon flapped its wings and soared into the sky, disappearing above the Imperial Capital.

Watching the giant dragon depart, Shen Feng looked around and realized he was being stared at by a crowd of NPCs like a monkey in a zoo.

Admiration and reverence shone in the eyes of these NPCs.

"Does a giant dragon have such a big impact?"

Shen Feng muttered to himself, ignoring the chatter around him as he walked towards the teleportation array.

Immediately after Shen Feng left, a young man in luxurious robes appeared in a corner of the square.

"The Dragon Domain actually sent a Silver Dragon to escort this young adventurer. Even I didn't receive such treatment back then."

The young man pondered for a moment.

"This young man has an extraordinary connection with the Dragon Domain. He cannot be offended. I must win him over if the opportunity arises."

A moment later, the young man also slowly left the square.

...

Of course, Shen Feng was unaware of the young man's appearance.

He opened his quest panel. The quest "Rise of Light - Chapter 1" had a one-month deadline, so there was plenty of time and no need to rush.

He had been online for too long, feeling utterly exhausted. To prevent sudden death, he decided to log off and rest for a while.

Returning to the inn in Baofeng City.

Ruo Ruo had gone off to play somewhere, but Shen Feng didn't pay it much mind. With her current strength, self-defense was absolutely not an issue for her.

Without overthinking, he quickly returned to his room and chose to log off.

...

His consciousness returned to the real world.

Checking the clock, it was already past nine in the morning the next day. As a model student of the new century, Shen Feng had pulled another all-nighter.

"So tired, sleep! Sleep!"

Exiting the game pod, he quickly performed some basic hygiene before collapsing onto his bed and falling into a deep sleep.

...

That afternoon.

"Beep beep beep... Beep beep beep..."

The alarm clock blared, waking Shen Feng. He checked the time; it was three in the afternoon.

Time to go online.

...

"Welcome back."

His consciousness returned to the inn in Baofeng City.

First, he opened the New Era Merchant Association management panel and found that after a day of business, the association's finances had exceeded 300 million gold coins.

He immediately arranged for the association's NPCs to continue acquiring vacant shops and houses in other main cities.

While prices were still cheap, he would buy them as soon as he had money. Gold coins could not be allowed to depreciate; they had to be converted into fixed assets.

After making all the arrangements, Shen Feng opened his quest panel.

Now was the time to execute his original plan: to complete the quest in the Valley of Misfortune in the Demon Realm.

Based on his memories from his previous life, Shen Feng knew that this trip to the Valley of Misfortune would involve extremely dangerous monsters, so he didn't bring Ruo Ruo along.

He left her in Baofeng City to level up with Ru Fan and the others, which would also earn him some attribute points.

Looking at the required destination in the quest, he soon had a clear itinerary.

After more than an hour of travel, he finally reached his destination, the Valley of Misfortune.

"Ding, you have entered the territory of the Demon Realm. The current map 'Valley of Misfortune' is extremely dangerous. It is recommended to leave immediately."

Shen Feng glanced at the system notification and ignored it.

He continued deeper into the valley.

Not long after, he arrived at a colossal cave entrance hidden by trees.

Shen Feng curiously peered into the cave several times when suddenly, the Pan Long Ring on his hand emitted a strange summoning sensation.

"Could it be that I've already found the giant dragon's remains?"

He continued into the cave.

A few minutes later, a pungent, nauseating stench assaulted his nostrils, forcing Shen Feng to cover his nose tightly.

Just then, pairs of crimson eyes appeared in the deep darkness of the cave. Looking closely, the cave walls were crawling with gigantic eight-legged spiders, each taller than a human, with massive fangs dangling in front, looking utterly terrifying.

**Demonic Misfortune Spider (Silver-tier creature)**
* Level: 35
* HP: 6000
* Attack: 1000
* Defense: 450
* Skills: Poisonous Fang Stab, Venom Spray, Spider Silk Entanglement.
* Description: A giant spider species endemic to the Valley of Misfortune in the Demon Realm. After absorbing an unknown source of energy, it has grown stronger and frequently attacks passing creatures. Caution is advised.

"It seems there's definitely something unusual here; even the monster description is different."

Shen Feng immediately began chanting a skill.

"Summon Lightning Spirit - Extreme Light Ge Lei Lin!"

Soon, five lightning spirits carrying bolts of lightning appeared, illuminating the entire cave.

Since his first class advancement, he hadn't checked the attributes of his current summons, so he immediately inspected them.

**Lightning Spirit - Extreme Light Ge Lei Lin (Bronze-tier)**
* Level: 40
* HP: 8400
* Attack: 1250 (Magic)
* Attack Speed: 1.8 times/second
* Movement Speed: 2 meters/second
* Defense: 650
* Skills: Lightning Strike, Thunder Shield, Five Thunderbolts, Myriad Lightning, Thunder Burst.
* Normal attacks have a 20% chance to inflict a paralyzed state for 3 seconds (ineffective against Silver-tier units and above), dealing additional Light attribute damage to paralyzed enemies.

Although the current Extreme Light Ge Lei Lin was only a Bronze-tier summoned creature, its grade was a bit low. Fortunately, its skill level was high enough, and with the 50% attribute enhancement from his talent, it was still considerably stronger than ordinary Gold-tier elite creatures. Most importantly, it was an area-of-effect summon. With five bolts of lightning striking down, even a normal Silver-tier BOSS would struggle to withstand it.

Shen Feng immediately commanded the five Extreme Light Ge Lei Lin to attack the Demonic Misfortune Spiders on the cave walls.

"Hiss hiss hiss..."

Five golden lightning bolts struck down upon the spiders' heads.

...

Five bolts of Myriad Lightning descended, and each Demonic Misfortune Spider turned into white smoke under the electrical current.

"Ding, congratulations on defeating Demonic Misfortune Spider LV35 (Silver-tier creature). You have received 1200 experience points. Hundredfold Reward activated. You have received 120000 experience points."

"Ding, Spirit Maiden - Ruo Ruo has received 50% experience. Spirit Maiden - Ruo Ruo has received 60000 experience points."

One Demonic Misfortune Spider, under the effect of the Hundredfold Reward and after sharing half with Ruo Ruo, still earned Shen Feng sixty thousand experience points. Defeating six would be 360,000.

Shen Feng checked again. He was at Level 30 and needed 1.2 million experience points to reach Level 31. One attack had already filled 1/4 of his experience bar.

Looking at the silver coins on the ground, Shen Feng didn't bother picking them up. He stepped directly over the spider corpses, advancing deeper into the cave.
...