The information before his eyes dissipated like mist.
Feng Yin silently digested the mission details without panic. Up to this point, other than the world transforming from pixels to reality, nothing much had changed. Based on his past gaming experience, this "starting level" was essentially designed to familiarize novice players with the controls. There would be no difficulty in clearing it. He should be able to get through it safely.
Following the information's instructions and after a few attempts, Feng Yin successfully summoned his status panel. As the gray mist surged, a simple, small interface appeared before his eyes.
—Sealing Armor—
Liberation Level: 10%
Durability: 10/10
Secret Energy: 10/10
Strength: 10
Mobility: 10
Main Hand Armament: Canfeng Sword
Secondary Hand Armament: Simple Arm Crossbow
Engraving: None
Skills: None
Secret Technique: None
———————
It was a highly concise interface, devoid of any embellishments or flashy designs. He was no stranger to its contents.
The Liberation Level could be considered the Level of this Armor; the higher the Liberation Level, the stronger the Armor's overall performance. Durability was roughly equivalent to the Armor's Blood Volume, while Secret Energy was equivalent to its mana. Strength could be seen as the physical power the Armor could exert, and Mobility related to the complexity and coordination of movements it could perform.
The Main Hand and Secondary Hand Armaments were even easier to understand.
The Main Hand Armament, the Canfeng Sword, was currently attached to the back of the Armor, held by something akin to magnetic attraction. Feng Yin reached up to grasp the sword hilt protruding over his shoulder, drawing the weapon to inspect it.
Unlike its pixelated counterpart in the game, the "true form" of this starting weapon was much more ferocious and formidable. Its design was plain, lacking any superfluous decorations, and the material looked like a hybrid of metal and rock. The entire piece was over one and a half meters long, with a blade measuring one point two meters and a hilt exceeding a foot in length. The blade was long and straight, about three or Four fingers wide, featuring a simple straight crossguard.
What stood out was that one edge of the blade was deeply pitted, looking heavily rusted. The other edge, however, gleamed with a cold Light, remaining as sharp as ever. No wonder it was named the Canfeng Sword.
Holding it in one hand, Feng Yin gave it an experimental swing; his chops and horizontal sweeps flowed with a nimble, effortless grace. Since he was now a suit of Armor, he couldn't feel the weapon's weight. However, judging by the blade's thickness of over a centimeter, it was definitely not something an ordinary human could wield easily. In other words, this Armor, capable of swinging the sword one-handed with such ease, possessed strength far beyond the imagination of an ordinary person.
He thought, "Not bad. At least I haven't received any nerfs. It's pretty much the same as when I play the game..."
Feng Yin felt reassured. He had originally worried that the Armor's power might be weakened due to its Materialization.
As for the Secondary Hand Armament, the Simple Arm Crossbow, Feng Yin simply raised his left arm and looked down at his Arm Armor. With a shift in his mind, the originally fully sealed Arm Armor deformed and opened up. A device quickly rose from it, its two wings springing outward to instantly transform into a structural mechanism he could understand at a glance.
A loaded Crossbow Arrow.
He knew that as long as the thought of shooting arose in his mind, this powerfully destructive Crossbow Arrow would fire. This was the Armor's most basic Remote attack method.
These two Main Hand and Secondary Hand weapons would serve as his reliance for survival for the time being. As for the three categories displayed at the bottom of the panel—Engraving, Skills, and Secret Technique—they could simply be understood as the Armor's Enhancement accessories, Martial Arts, and Magic. They were things he could only acquire a bit later. For example, an initial Skill could be obtained after clearing this level.
Feng Yin finished his inspection and looked up at the building shrouded in the fog ahead. This should be the Nameless Prison.
It was time to set off.
Resting the sword on his shoulder with his right hand, he stepped forward. As he moved, the White Crow cried out, CAW CAW CAW, and took flight from a roadside branch, flapping its wings to arrive at the building's entrance ahead of him.
It perched on a metal fence and called out, "This way. Go this way."
Feng Yin glanced at the noisy White Crow. Just like in the game, this bird's role was essentially that of a guide. He pushed through the mist to catch up and got a clear view of the prison's main gates.
It was a rather large metal grated door, its metal bars covered in spots of rust. However, for some unknown reason, in the center of the otherwise intact door, there was a massive gap where it had been pried open. The metal bars on both sides of this gap were severely deformed, as if bent by some entity with astonishing Strength, creating a large hole in the otherwise impassable grate that an ordinary person could easily walk through.
The White Crow was perched right above this opening.
Cautiously, Feng Yin poked his head in to look at the inner side of the gates. He saw a long, narrow, and dim corridor. The thick mist did not thin out indoors, and amidst the fog, several halos of Light were systematically distributed along both sides of the corridor. It was these halos of Light that kept the indoor corridor from falling into total darkness.
He no longer hesitated. Stepping firmly through the gap, he officially entered the Nameless Prison.
The White Crow immediately took to the air, maintaining its lead. It flew ahead down the corridor, landing in a spot just within his line of sight. It really was a signpost.
Feng Yin followed it silently down the corridor for a distance. After passing several empty cells sealed by metal bars, he finally spotted a different scene through the mist. It was another cell—one where the grated Iron Gate was swung wide open.
The White Crow remained silent, flapping its wings to hover before the cell door as it turned its head to look at Feng Yin.
There was likely a monster here.
Maintaining his vigilance, Feng Yin lightened his footsteps in the fog, slowly approaching the edge of the cell. Although he was now a suit of Armor, he managed to conceal most of his noise by deliberately walking slowly. He quietly peeked his head in for a glance.
Inside the cell was a shadow. It was a standing human figure, looking somewhat hunched, its head lowered, and completely motionless. The figure was facing the open bars. Despite having its head lowered, it would only need to look up to see the situation in the corridor.
Just as Feng Yin wanted to observe a little longer, the figure seemed to sense something and abruptly raised its head to look in his direction.
A withered, hideous face entered Feng Yin's vision. It was a "person" resembling a dry skeleton, with almost no sense of flesh and blood beneath its skin. To put it bluntly, it was a skeleton draped in skin! And now, within those deeply sunken, skeletal eye sockets, two clusters of greedy blue-white flames of Light ignited.
He thought, "So ugly."
Feng Yin grumbled inwardly as he quickly retreated a few steps, backing into the corridor he had come from.
"URGH..."
A low, hoarse roar emanated from the throat of the humanoid skeleton. It dashed to the open cell door and gave chase. Then, the moment it crossed the threshold, it flung its arms wide in a crazed posture and lunged directly at Feng Yin.
He thought, "Don't panic. It's just the weakest type of mob. I am now a suit of Armor. Even if I get caught by this thing, it's highly unlikely I'll be killed outright..."
Feng Yin mentally braced himself while continuing to retreat. With one retreating and the other advancing, the skeleton-like person had already charged right up to his face, hands outstretched.
Suddenly, Feng Yin's right hand tightened its grip. With a fierce vertical swing, he unleashed the Canfeng Sword that had been resting lightly on his shoulder!
SWISH!
The Heavy Sword cleaved downward, slicing the mummified figure in half without the slightest resistance. The bisected remains of the mummy crashed to the ground and never moved again. A wisp of black mist dissipated from its corpse. Immediately after, the two pieces of remains crumbled, turning into a human-shaped pile of ash.
[Banished 'Prisoner Filthy Corpse'. Obtained 2 units of Spirituality.]
The information that suddenly surfaced before his eyes made Feng Yin breathe a sigh of relief. His confidence grew in tandem. Sure enough, just like when he played the game, this Armor was very strong. And the monsters encountered at the very beginning were all very weak.
He thought, "This is playable!"