Perhaps anticipating the disaster that would strike Hope Town tomorrow, Ili was busy working through the night to forge equipment for the town's guards.

Receiving the energy crystal submitted by Zhang Yi, Ili nodded with satisfaction, "Young adventurer, you truly didn't disappoint me. You actually found an energy crystal!"

Zhang Yi placed his hopes on Ili, "Master Ili, it's all up to you now."

Ili nodded, "Don't worry, with this energy crystal, I'll definitely forge a top-notch weapon for you!"

After a pause, Ili continued, "Come around noon to pick it up. It should be ready by then."

Noon was good; it meant Zhang Yi could get the weapon before the disaster hit Hope Town and use it to fight against the calamity.

To be precise, what was a disaster for other players in Hope Town was a blessing for Zhang Yi.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yi felt a bit inexplicably excited.

At this moment, Ili asked Zhang Yi, "By the way, how's the collection of the Divine Bones and Undead Knowledge I asked you to gather?"

Looking at the less than 100 Divine Bones and Undead Knowledge he collected after a night's effort, Zhang Yi replied awkwardly, "Uh, I'll definitely collect them all within a week."

"Good, once you bring me what I need, I'll give you a generous reward!"

Bidding farewell to Ili, a somewhat fatigued Zhang Yi, whose fatigue level had dropped to the 20s, rented a five-star room at the inn in Hope Town to rest.

The next morning, Zhang Yi got up at five.

While other players were pulling all-nighters, Zhang Yi couldn't afford to slack off either.

After stocking up on a large supply of potions at the town's pharmacy, Zhang Yi left Hope Town and returned to the Undead City.

The drop rate for Divine Bones and Undead Knowledge was about one in five.

At last night's pace, collecting 1000 of each was no easy task. It seemed Zhang Yi would be spending the next week in the Undead City.

While other players only dared to take on level 1 and 2 difficulty quests, Zhang Yi directly accepted a level 3 [Undead Requiem] quest with a difficulty rating of 300 points from [Undead Merchant Ailo] stationed outside the city.

The level 3 Undead Requiem required hunting 150 each of level 19-20 Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Archers, Undead Mages, and Undead Slayers!

At this stage, most players didn't have the ability to fight level 19 monsters, so when Zhang Yi entered the Undead City and passed through the first two lower-level areas to reach the level 19-20 area, he saw no other players around.

So, Zhang Yi took out his Flame Staff and began the slaughter.

With an attack power of 340 and over 1200 HP, Zhang Yi's strength was more than enough to handle level 19-20 skeletons and undead.

Thus, after completing the quest and grinding for an additional two hours, Zhang Yi leveled up to 16 with 80% experience by around 11 a.m. Feeling the time was tight, he decided to stop.

Because after 12, he had another important task to attend to, concerning the inevitable disaster approaching the major Safe Zones.

The Undead City was divided into three layers: levels 15-20 for the first layer, 21-25 for the second, and 26-30 for the third.

To enter the next layer, players had to complete a challenge in the previous one, which involved killing 1000 each of two types of skeleton and undead monsters.

Although Zhang Yi had cleared the first layer, even the highest-level 20 skeletons and undead couldn't satisfy him. However, according to the system's automatic statistics, Zhang Yi had only killed 400 each of the two types of skeleton and undead monsters. To complete the first layer challenge and enter the second, he still needed to kill 1200 more skeletons and 1200 more undead.

And indeed, the Undead City was a treasure trove. In one morning, Zhang Yi found four One-Star Treasure Chests! The drop rate for equipment and Enhancement Stones was twice as high as in other outdoor maps!

In one morning, Zhang Yi acquired ten pieces of equipment from the Undead City, including three pieces of the [Undead Set]! Two of which were obtained from treasure chests.

Unfortunately, the Undead Set items dropped in the first layer of the Undead City were mostly 1-star. Even though one of the three undead items was a pair of mage boots that Zhang Yi could use, he wasn't interested, as his goal was to obtain a 2-star [Undead Set] for mages in the Undead City.

As for the 1-star items he obtained, he planned to see if he could assemble a few complete sets and then auction them off. The value of a set was extraordinary; even a 1-star set could make one rich overnight.

Therefore, despite the undead boots being better than the Man-eating Bug Boots Zhang Yi was wearing, he didn't plan to use them, because once equipment was enhanced with [Divine Enhancement], it would become bound.

When Zhang Yi arrived in the morning, there was no one around, and even by the time he was ready to leave at noon, there were only a few players grinding in the level 19-20 area of the Undead City. They struggled to handle the level 19-20 skeletons and undead in groups of three or five.

These high-level skeletons and undead, which Zhang Yi could easily defeat with a few basic attacks, were currently seen as terrifyingly powerful by other players.

Passing through the level 17-18 and 15-16 areas, Zhang Yi saw countless player teams grinding low-level skeletons and undead, with the entire map nearly saturated. This showed that the Undead City, this treasure city, was quite popular among players.

At this time, whoever could first collect a complete set of the Undead Set would be a big shot.

After leaving the Undead City, Zhang Yi submitted his quest to Ailo.

Then, several exciting system notifications came one after another—

"Ding~ Congratulations on completing the quest [Undead Requiem] (level 3 difficulty), earning 70,000 EXP, 1 Gold Coin, 15 Level 2 Enhancement Stones, and 72 Human Reputation! You received a special reward: 1 Tier 1 Energy Crystal, 1 piece of equipment [Undead Robe], and 10 Affinity with [Wandering Traveler]!"

"Ding~ Congratulations on leveling up to level 17, requiring 86,000 EXP for the next level..."

"Ding~ Congratulations on increasing your Affinity Level with [Wandering Traveler] to level 1, gaining a privilege: 5% bonus on quest rewards from Wandering Traveler!"