Chapter 2: The World Collapses at the Start! Landing Amidst a Horde of Monsters?!

[Welcome to the Dark World!]

[Here, you can gather resources, tame pets, upgrade your troops, and build your home to survive and thrive in this eerie realm!]

[According to the laws of darkness, humans who actively enter the dark must immediately establish a lord’s base to ensure their survival!]

[Protect the Altar of Light—it will be your greatest support for survival in the dark world!]

[The dark world knows no rules. Beware your own kind; excessive kindness only leads to death!]

[Good luck…]

Bathed in the glow of the teleportation light, Su Mu’s consciousness gradually blurred, leaving only a faint echo of an announcement in his mind.

When he regained awareness, he found himself lying on a cold ground.

Not far ahead, a campfire crackled softly, its flames flickering gently.

[Campfire: Provides warmth and some illumination in the darkness, consuming 2 wood per hour. However, prolonged burning will attract the attention of dark creatures!]

[Establish your lord’s base as soon as possible!]

“Is this the Dark World?” Su Mu rose and looked around. The campfire’s light extended about ten meters, beyond which lay a dense, impenetrable darkness.

Just a glance was enough to fill him with a suffocating sense of oppression.

“Roar—roar~”

Before Su Mu could fully recover, several howls pierced the air, followed by the rustling approach of something swift.

Within the campfire’s dim glow, a dozen or so withered zombies and zombie hounds charged into the light.

Their harsh roars and twisted, shambling movements betrayed an insatiable hunger for flesh.

“Damn!” Su Mu’s hair stood on end.

Though he had seen countless pictures of zombies in his former life’s memories, facing them in person evoked sheer terror.

Before he could react, the pack was already less than five meters away.

He knew he couldn’t freeze now. Focusing his thoughts, he quickly activated the Lord’s Bracelet.

In the next moment, a small yellow clay altar appeared in his palm.

This was the Empire’s most treasured gift to each lord—the Altar of Light.

The Altar of Light not only produces a set amount of holy water daily but also emits a radiant power.

Once installed, it creates a luminous area that inflicts severe damage on any creature of darkness that ventures within.

For new lords freshly arrived in the dark world, this was their strongest lifeline to survive the onslaught of dark creatures before their base was established.

“Altar of Light, activate!”

Su Mu crushed the small clay altar in his hand.

A burst of light erupted, fragments transforming into swirling dust particles that spun like a whirlwind, instantly growing into a massive altar.

Rays of light shot out from the altar, bathing the approaching zombies in a brilliant glow.

Black smoke billowed from their bodies as the radiant light seared them, forcing these denizens of darkness to retreat frantically.

Gradually, the light dimmed until it formed a sanctified zone about a hundred meters in radius around the altar.

Of course, the brightness didn’t stop at a hundred meters; this radius marked the burning zone of the holy light. Any dark creature entering this zone would suffer damage.

From 100 to 500 meters lay the vision zone—dark creatures here were unharmed, but the lord could clearly observe the situation.

Beyond 500 meters was pure darkness, with visibility near zero.

“Why are there so many dark creatures?” Su Mu sensed something was wrong.

Within his vision zone, a zombie hound appeared every dozen meters or so, numbering in the hundreds.

As the zombies howled, more and more noticed the presence of light and began to gather.

In less than a minute, Su Mu’s vision was swarmed with zombies.

“Shit! I’ve fallen right into a monster nest!” Su Mu muttered helplessly.

In the dark world, once too many of the same type of creature gathered, they formed a beast tide.

For a rookie lord without even one base level, even the lowest-tier beast tide was overwhelming.

This was a disastrous start!

“Since I’m trapped in a monster pile, building the base can wait. First, I need to clear the surrounding dark creatures!”

Looking toward the edge of the light zone, Su Mu saw hundreds of zombies amassed there, mixed with a few zombie bears and zombie tigers.

Even among bronze-tier dark creatures, these were formidable foes.

However, thanks to the system, Su Mu felt no fear—only fierce determination.

While others might see starting amidst monsters as a ruinous beginning, to him, it was wealth.

“Come forth! Skeleton Warrior!”

Su Mu focused on the Lord’s Bracelet and summoned.

In the next instant, a death skeleton appeared before him, wielding a rusty greatsword, clad in shattered armor, battered and barely holding together.

The skeleton’s eye sockets glowed with a soul fire as it faced the zombies a hundred meters away, raising its greatsword in a battle-ready stance.

[Undead: Skeleton Warrior]

[Level: 1 (permanently capped)]

[Strength: 9]

[Agility: 7]

[Spirit: 5]

[Constitution: 9]

[Skill:

Sword Draw Slash Lv2 (Half-second charge before unleashing an elliptical deep-blue slash with a sweep range of 2(1*{skill level}), dealing 180(10*9{strength}*1{skill level}) damage, cooldown 2 seconds)]

[Loyalty: 100]

“Of course! I couldn’t expect to buy anything good for thirty thousand coins!” Su Mu sighed.

None of the main attributes exceeded ten; at least the damage was linked to the skill’s range.

And the skill’s range depended on its level!

This meant the Sword Draw Slash damage could increase infinitely!

Unlike the human lords’ tiered levels from one to fourteen, dark creatures were ranked from lowest to highest as: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Star, King, Emperor, Saint, God, True God, Cosmic God, Universe God, and Divine King.

Though this death skeleton couldn’t level up, its powerful skill remained.

A level 2 skill might not defeat a silver-tier dark creature, but used well, it could easily handle the bronze zombies before it.

“It’s time to start clearing the dark creatures!”

Su Mu noticed a few more dark creatures approaching the edge of the light zone, so he brought the skeleton warrior to the border.

“Roar~”

Su Mu took only a few steps forward when the zombies suddenly surged at him like mad beasts, snarling fiercely.

Soon, a small mound of corpses formed right before him.

“Sword Draw Slash! Kill them!”

Su Mu wasted no time. He commanded the skeleton warrior to unleash Sword Draw Slash.

The skeleton’s dark eye sockets suddenly flashed a red light as it slightly crouched, right hand gripping the sword hilt at its waist.

In the next moment, the greatsword was drawn, its blade shimmering with a faint crimson glow, and the sword’s aura rippled like water waves.

The zombies barreling forward slowed instantly at the touch of this sword aura.

But the skeleton warrior showed no hesitation—it sheathed and unsheathed the sword repeatedly.

Three consecutive Sword Draw Slashes flowed seamlessly until its blue energy was nearly depleted, then it stopped.

After three slashes, the zombies before them dissolved into black mist, which the Altar of Light purified, turning into experience that surged into Su Mu’s body.

[Successfully killed zombie, experience +10!]

[Successfully killed zombie hound, experience +12!]

[Successfully killed zombie bear, experience +13!]

[You have leveled up to Lv1!]

[Your light zone radius has expanded by 100 meters!]

[Your Altar of Light’s daily holy water production has increased to 120 units!]

...

[You have leveled up to Lv1!]

[Your light zone radius has expanded by 100 meters!]

[Your Altar of Light’s daily holy water production has increased to 360 units!]

“Sigh! My level is forever capped at 1!”

“But thankfully, the lord’s personal level has no symbiotic relationship with the base! Otherwise, my base would never rise beyond the first stage!”

Su Mu sighed deeply.

“Hm?”

Just then, he noticed that where the zombies had dissipated, many white light orbs were gathering.