Apocalypse: Everyone Levels Up, I Return to the Time Before the Server Opened

Chapter 28: Can Copy Other People’s Skills!

The fifth item:

[Skill Book – Apprentice’s Will (Special Skill): Upon learning and using this skill, you can copy one ability from another person. Each level-up grants an additional copy opportunity.]

“A skill book?!

“And not just any skill, it’s that legendary special skill!!!”

Ye Qiu’s eyes widened in shock.

His heart pounded wildly.

For a long moment, he simply stood there, trying to process the enormity of what he had just found.

After finally calming himself, he took a deep breath.

Then, deep within, a wave of overwhelming joy surged through him!

In his past life, this special skill had once shaken the entire Trial City.

Its effect? It wasn’t just limited to copying player skills. It could be used on NPCs as well!

And even more shockingly, it could also be used on pets, monsters, and demons!

Furthermore, special skills had a unique trait. They were one of a kind.

Once someone learned it, no one else could obtain it!

Suppressing his excitement, Ye Qiu wasted no time and immediately chose to learn the skill.

Whoosh!

In the next instant, his personal interface updated.

Under the section for special skills, a new entry appeared: [Apprentice’s Will].

This skill had the potential to be incredibly powerful or completely useless.

Everything depended on the strength of the user.

In his previous life, a certain player had obtained this skill.

However, that player was too weak.

Even though they eventually copied dozens of abilities from others, all of them remained at Level 1.

They had no ability to upgrade so many skills!

Spreading oneself too thin often led to ruin.

That player became the ultimate example of this lesson.

In the end, they were defeated. They were killed by an ordinary player of the same level, who had no special skills at all.

It was a tragic ending.

“There are no useless skills, only useless players.” Ye Qiu had now completely regained his composure.

He would not repeat the mistakes of that failed player.

Afterward, he scanned through the rest of the loot.

Most of it consisted of common and blue-grade equipment, along with various materials.

Ye Qiu only kept the materials.

He also stored the Rare Boss Deep Mountain Tiger Demon’s corpse into his backpack.

These items, they were all tied to quests from his past life.

“Found it!”

Soon, from within the pile of items, Ye Qiu discovered what he was looking for.

[The Lost Black Iron of Blacksmith Zhang’s: Unidentified. Quest Item. Cannot be dropped upon death.]

Finally, three standard quests and two hidden quests.

At this moment, all of them were complete!

With nothing else left to gather, Ye Qiu turned to leave the mountain.

However, perhaps because the night was too dark, Ye Qiu failed to notice something.

In the crater at the heart of the explosion, the soil had collapsed slightly inward.

And in that depression, there was an object whose shape was almost identical to something Ye Qiu had just obtained.

It was… the Ancient Horn.

This item had not dropped from the Rare Boss Deep Mountain Tiger Demon.

Instead, it had always been buried deep beneath the Tiger Mountain summit over ten meters underground.

The explosion had merely deepened the crater,

Finally exposing what had been hidden for so long.

Of course, even if Ye Qiu had noticed it, he wouldn’t have paid it much attention.

After all, he had no idea what it was.

Even with Heavenly Eye, he couldn’t see any additional details.

It couldn’t be identified.

Its true effects would only become apparent once he reached a certain level.

But the most crucial detail was that the item was now in his inventory.

It could not be dropped, gifted, traded, or destroyed.

From this moment on, it belonged to Ye Qiu alone.

Unless he died permanently, without any chance of resurrection, this item would remain bound to him forever.

—

At the base of the mountain…

A large group of people had gathered at the entrance to Tiger Mountain.

Many were clamoring to go up, and some had already begun making their way forward!

Ning Qianjun and Ning Qingyue exchanged helpless looks.

Among the players present, there were even official personnel.

If it were just ordinary players trying to force their way in, they could ignore them  or even take action to stop them.

But now that the officials were involved, no matter how strong they were, they had no choice but to step aside.

“I can’t believe even the officials have been alerted?!”

Ning Qianjun and Ning Qingyue watched as several figures ascended the mountain, deep in thought.

When the game had just launched, Ning Qianjun had already wondered if this was truly just a simple virtual game?

It boasted 1:1 realism,

With NPCs that acted just like real people, possessing independent thoughts.

Yet beyond that, it still seemed to contain only the usual game mechanics.

But now, with the officials making an appearance, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this brain-implanted game was far from ordinary.

Due to the official intervention, the other players who had wanted to go up the mountain had no choice but to back down reluctantly.

After all, for now, this was still just a game.

And in the real world, they were all just ordinary people.

“Brother, could that NPC have already teamed up with another player? Is that why there was such a huge commotion?” Ning Qingyue asked, instinctively assuming Ye Qiu was an NPC.

“That… shouldn’t be the case.” Ning Qianjun was reluctant to accept that theory.

He reasoned, “We’ve been watching that NPC all this time, and we’ve never seen any other player near him.”

In truth, deep down, he wanted that hooded, possibly-player-possibly-NPC individual to keep working for them.

“But… what about the explosion just now? And the system-wide announcement in the Trial City?” Ning Qingyue frowned, lost in thought.

“The explosion happened here in our novice village,” Ning Qianjun reasoned. “But the announcement likely came from another novice village, where a player killed a rare boss.”

“Why do you think that? Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?” Ning Qingyue still wasn’t convinced.

“Think about it. Where are we?”

“…Tiger Mountain.”

“And what kind of monsters spawn here?”

“The Level 10 Green-Eyed Tigers, of course. And because they’re so strong, the whole surrounding area has no other monsters.”

Ning Qianjun smiled. “Actually, there’s one more monster here.”

Ning Qingyue blinked.

Then, suddenly realizing, she exclaimed, “Besides the Level 10 Green-Eyed Tigers… there’s also the Level 15 Rare Boss, Deep Mountain Tiger Demon!”

“Exactly.” Ning Qianjun nodded. “Now tell me, who in this beginner village, NPCs included, could possibly kill that monster?”

Ning Qingyue hesitated, then shook her head.

She didn’t know, but she understood her brother’s point.

The hooded NPC was strong but not strong enough to take down a Level 15 Rare Boss!

Considering the system-wide announcement, the most logical explanation was that it had been another novice village’s player who had killed a low-level Rare Boss.

That was the only thing that made sense.

After all… Tiger Mountain had no other monsters.

It was impossible to believe that hooded NPC had actually slain the Deep Mountain Tiger Demon!

Others might not understand how terrifying that monster was.

But the two of them had personally encountered it before.

That overwhelming power, none could withstand it!

Just a single roar froze every player in fear. Just a single poisonous miasma wiped out everyone instantly!

Who could possibly fight against that?!

No one.

At least, not unless they were Level 30 or higher, with a well-coordinated team of at least five skilled players.

Just as the siblings were discussing this, a deep voice spoke beside them.

“Why were you two guarding the entrance to Tiger Mountain, stopping other players from going up?”