Chapter 3: Open the treasure chest, extinguish the lantern

Because of the armor, Charles's movements were no longer as cautious as before. On the contrary, he was more relaxed, as if he was about to explore the village.

With the increased activity, it naturally caught the attention of the Corroders in the village.

Accompanied by the approaching roars from his phone, Charles rubbed his hands together and immediately prepared for battle.

Soon, the figures of several Corroders appeared on his phone screen.

Charles controlled his character and began to slaughter them.

With a swing of his club, one of Corroder's heads shattered.

And because of the armor, Charles wasn't afraid of facing a large number of Corroders. As long as he avoided their acid attacks, their ordinary attacks did not affect his character.

In no time, the dozen or so Corroders surrounding him were all taken care of.

"[Successful collection, you have obtained 12 corroded bones and 13 corrosive venom.]"

After collecting all the Corroder corpses, which then disappeared, Charles continued to explore the village by controlling his character.

After entering a wooden house, a wooden treasure chest appeared in his field of view, making Charles's eyes light up.

"Finally, a treasure chest."

He walked over and opened the chest, revealing a soft glow.

"[You have obtained a Dispersing Lantern.]"

"[Dispersing Lantern.]"

"[Description: A special lantern that contains the energy of the flame of hope. Its flame never extinguishes, and its radiance can disperse the black mist, increasing visibility within a one-meter radius.]"

"I got this."

Charles's eyes brightened, immediately revealing a smile.

Although it didn't seem to be helpful in combat, it allowed him to see further and avoid more dangers.

It was a valuable tool for exploration.

Moreover, this item was very rare. Many people in the previous life wanted to obtain it, but due to its limited availability, it was not available on the market.

Unexpectedly, in this new life, he obtained it right away.

"Could it be that my luck has improved after the reincarnation?"

Charles chuckled lightly and equipped it.

Immediately, a lantern appeared around the waist of his character on the phone screen.

The visibility on the screen doubled in an instant.

It made it more convenient for Charles to explore the village.

There were also two Corroders that had quietly approached, but they were discovered and immediately dealt with by Charles's controlled character.

Continuing the exploration, Charles soon found another wooden treasure chest in another wooden house.

"Tsk tsk, those players in the previous life didn't deceive me. There are indeed good things in these structures."

This was the second treasure chest.

Charles immediately opened it.

"[You have obtained an Incomplete Monster Compendium.]"

"[Incomplete Monster Compendium.]"

"[Description: In a world ravaged by an evil god, a knowledgeable mage traveled the world and created a compendium of monsters to resist the invasion. It contains detailed information and data on some of the monsters in the darkness, but unfortunately, it is incomplete.]"

"A Monster Compendium?"

Charles opened his backpack and found the Monster Compendium inside. When he opened it, he saw that it had a total of twenty-three pages, each page containing information and pictures of a different monster.

The first page was the familiar Corroder.

"[Corroder.]"

"[Introduction: A type of monster formed from the contamination of humanoid beings. They are weak and have a vulnerable spot in their heads, which is very fragile. Even an ordinary person with a weapon can kill them, but caution is required against their corrosive acid, which possesses strong corrosive properties.]"

"[However, not all Corroders are weak. Corroders formed from the contamination of different beings such as orcs and elves have considerable strength and require careful handling, but their weak spot is still their head.]"

"It's similar to what I know, but I haven't encountered Corroders formed from races like orcs."

Charles murmured and continued to flip through the compendium.

In the later part of the exploration, Charles encountered some monsters he had seen or heard of before, which were relatively common, such as ghouls, screechers, and bloodthirsty reptiles.

If other players obtained the incomplete Monster Compendium, they would be thrilled because, as the saying goes, knowing oneself and the enemy leads to victory in every battle. With the Monster Compendium in hand, they could learn more about the weaknesses of different monsters, making it easier to deal with them.

However, for Charles, the Monster Compendium didn't have much use since he already knew most of the information.

"Wait a minute."

Suddenly, Charles's eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on his face. "That's right, I don't need it myself, but I can sell it to other players."

Of course, he wouldn't sell the one he currently had. Instead, he planned to make copies and sell them when there was a demand. It could be quite profitable.

With this thought in mind, Charles happily closed the Monster Compendium and prepared to continue exploring.

He had already explored most of the village, with only a few houses at the back left to visit. In addition to the row of houses, he noticed a two-story church.

After searching through the row of houses, Charles didn't find any treasure chests but collected some materials instead.

At this point, the number of wood and stones in his backpack had exceeded a thousand. Of course, having more of these basic materials was always better, and Charles wouldn't miss any he came across.

If he wasn't concerned about causing too much noise and attracting dangerous monsters, he would have already demolished the houses in the village to collect the materials.

He arrived in front of the church and carefully observed it.

"A church... I wonder if there are any runes inside."

Charles's eyes sparkled with anticipation.

In the fused world of the Dark Land, there were extraordinary powers.

Religious organizations, like the one the church belonged to, were usually powerful and known to have exceptional cultivation methods. In the Dark Land, these cultivation methods would transform into runes, allowing players to directly gain power.

This was what Charles had learned in his previous life.

The church looked like a tall tower, surrounded by a stone courtyard, with a wooden door at the front.

Charles controlled his character to push open the door and walked in.

In the next moment, he saw a white figure standing in the middle of the courtyard, staring directly at him.

Before he could react, the figure emitted a terrifying and piercing screech.

Even though Charles was outside the screen, he still felt a dizzying sensation.

Bang!

The game character's head exploded directly.

"[You died.]"

The screen turned black, and a blood-red message appeared.

Charles's face turned ugly. "Damn it, how could there be a screecher in the church!"

He recognized the monster.

It was called a screecher, capable of emitting a scream that could kill people. It was extremely terrifying.

Usually, these types of monsters roamed in the wilderness, so he didn't expect to encounter one in the church.

Charles felt some regret because, with his character's death, he wouldn't be able to enter the game again today.

If only he had been more cautious.

Shaking his head and cursing his bad luck, Charles exited the game.

Checking the time, he realized it was already 2 a.m.

He had been immersed in the game and hadn't noticed that five to six hours had passed.

Now that he snapped back to reality, he felt a hint of exhaustion.

Yawning, Charles went to the bathroom to freshen up and then fell into a deep sleep, preparing for the next day.