Chapter 61: News of Early Enrollment, Preparing for Class Advancement!
Inside the living room of the dilapidated school district apartment.
The Nine-Dragon Purple Gold Medal shimmered under the lights.
"This is your reward."
General Zhan Wuji's voice became deep and serious.
"Since the founding of Dahua, this medal has only been awarded seventeen times. You are the eighteenth recipient."
General Zhan Wuji handed the badge to Su Chen, a flash of nostalgia crossing his eyes.
"It can block the detection spells of all professionals below level 200, as well as divination spells that lock onto your location."
"This includes Rift Demon Shadow and Zhi Bai!"
"Wear it, and they won't be able to find you so easily anymore."
"Furthermore, as long as you wear it, within the borders of Dahua, you can ignore the private territory blockades of all guilds and forcibly enter any known dungeon or secret realm."
"Most importantly..."
General Zhan Wuji paused, then said word by word, "If anyone dares to attack you from the shadows, regardless of who they are, their level, or their background, the Dahua military will spare no cost to bring them to justice!"
Nearby.
Principal He Kaishan looked at the badge, his body shuddering, nearly sliding off the sofa.
The Nine-Dragon Purple Gold Medal!
This is treating this kid like a national treasure!
Su Chen picked up the heavy badge.
"Thank you, Elder Zhan, I will accept it."
His tone was exceptionally sincere.
With this thing, he could basically do as he pleased within Dahua.
Of course, he couldn't be too arrogant.
Open attacks are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against; keeping a low profile and developing is the right way to go.
General Zhan Wuji nodded with satisfaction.
Immediately after.
He flipped his wrist, and a pure black metal card was pinched between his fingertips.
"This is my personal business card."
General Zhan Wuji pointed to the card.
"In the future, if you encounter trouble you cannot solve yourself, call this number at any time. In an emergency, crush this card directly."
"It will force the generation of a one-way portal, and no matter what I am doing, I will immediately arrive at the scene."
"..."
Hiss!
This time.
Not only Principal He Kaishan, but even Su Chen couldn't help but gasp.
General Zhan Wuji arriving at any moment... This is even scarier than Mythical-grade equipment.
Su Chen carefully took the black card, preparing to use it as his final life-saving measure.
General Zhan Wuji glanced at the clock on the wall, stood up, and patted Su Chen on the shoulder.
"In a few days, you will be heading to Sky Dome Academyto report."
"Those old fogies at Sky Dome Academy are arrogant. After you go there, if anyone dares to make things difficult for you, just mention my name."
General Zhan Wuji snorted, "My name, General Zhan Wuji, still carries weight at Sky Dome Academy."
"As for your reward for being the national top scorer..."
General Zhan Wuji smiled mysteriously: "When you arrive at Sky Dome Academy, someone will naturally take you to collect it."
"Understood, Elder Zhan."
Su Chen nodded obediently.
Although he was curious about what it specifically was, since General Zhan Wuji was being coy, he didn't ask further.
The reward wouldn't run away anyway.
Before leaving, General Zhan Wuji added, "The country will do its utmost to cultivate you. As for your training plan, the country's opinion is to temporarily stop discussions until you arrive at Sky Dome Academy and have a mentor; then, based on the school's and the mentor's opinions, we will discuss it further."
Su Chen said solemnly, "Rest assured, Elder Zhan, I will never let the country down."
"Good."
General Zhan Wuji smiled with satisfaction, didn't stay any longer, and stood up to leave.
Once his figure disappeared into the night, Principal He Kaishan let out a long sigh of relief.
He slumped onto the sofa and reached up to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
"My God..."
Principal He Kaishan's lips were trembling.
"The Nine-Dragon Purple Gold Medal... and Elder Zhan's personal business card..."
"Kid, do you know what this means? In Dahua, this is more... than any top-tier equipment..."
"Knock, knock, knock."
A dull knocking sound suddenly rang out, interrupting Principal He Kaishan's exclamations.
Principal He Kaishan sprang up from the sofa as if electrocuted, his just-relaxed nerves tightening again.
Who on earth is it in the middle of the night?
Su Chen walked forward and opened the security door.
A tall man stood outside the door.
He was wearing a crisp military uniform, with dark purple magic pattern burns spreading from his left cheek down to his neck.
"Co... Commander Lei Jun?!"
Principal He Kaishan saw the person's face clearly, and his voice cracked from fright.
Oh no.
This crazy Lei is running over in the middle of the night; he's not here to forcibly conscript me for city defense duties, is he?
Commander Lei Jun ignored Principal He Kaishan, his eyes locking directly onto Su Chen.
He didn't make small talk like Elder Zhan; he said straightforwardly, "Good kid, I really didn't misjudge you."
Commander Lei Jun strode into the living room.
His heavy combat boots creaked on the old floorboards.
"Well done. Although I don't know exactly what happened, the military high command is shaken and values you extremely highly."
Commander Lei Jun looked at Su Chen, the muscles on his face twitching slightly into a scary smile.
"Just luck."
Su Chen said modestly.
Even Commander Lei Jun didn't know what happened; it seems the country's powerful hand has already been set in motion.
He revealed an innocent smile: "Commander Lei Jun, you didn't run all the way here in the middle of the night just to compliment me, right?"
"..."
Commander Lei Jun didn't feel offended; he reached out and patted Su Chen's shoulder, saying:
"The rules at Sky Dome Academy are terrible, and there are many factions. As someone from a commoner background, no matter how high your talent is, there will be short-sighted mentors who give you a cold shoulder."
"One hundred kilometers north of Sky Dome Academy is the Gaoshan City military base. The commander there, Chen Shaofeng, is my brother-in-arms, and I've already spoken to him."
"If you have trouble, go to him."
"If you need equipment, materials, or skill stones, just ask at any time. The military will back you up."
"..."
Su Chen's eyes flickered, and he quickly said, "Thank you, Commander Lei Jun."
He didn't stand on ceremony.
In this world of universal class advancement that values interests above all, such a backing guarantee from a military bigwig is the hardest currency.
Declining further would just seem pretentious.
"There is one more thing."
Commander Lei Jun's face became unusually serious, "Tomorrow morning, go immediately and clear that class advancement secret realm in the south."
"The Demon Race lost face, and recently there seems to be some trouble at the border. The old fogies at Sky Dome Academy are anxious and might send someone to pick you up for enrollment early."
Commander Lei Jun turned around and strode toward the door.
"Advance your class as soon as possible, don't waste time."
Walking outside the door.
Commander Lei Jun suddenly stopped.
He didn't turn back, his voice very low, but extremely solemn.
"Grow up as fast as you can; the country needs you... humanity needs you!"
"..."
"Bang!"
The security door was slammed shut, shaking the white plaster on the ceiling until it fell in flurries.
Principal He Kaishan finally dared to breathe deeply.
He looked at Su Chen and smiled bitterly: "Kid, you've really become a hot commodity now. Even a guy like 'Crazy Lei,' who only has eyes for dead people and monsters, has personally come to pave the way for you."
Su Chen stroked his chin and turned to look at Principal He Kaishan: "Old He, look, Elder Zhan gave me a medal and a business card, Commander Lei Jun promised to back me up. As my old principal, don't you have to show something too?"
"Get lost!"
Principal He Kaishan rolled his eyes.
This kid is still as cunning as a fox!
He asked irritably: "Sky Dome Academy uses a mentor system. Kid, do you know what the special thing about these mentors is?"
"What?"
Su Chen really didn't know.
He had heard Song Xin mention it once in the wild.
It is said that Sky Dome Academy has no specific curriculum; students are taught by mentors according to their aptitude, receiving individual training.
Principal He Kaishan explained: "They can teach skills in a special way."
"Teach skills?"
Su Chen was shocked.
Skills... aren't they only learned at level ten?
"That's right."
Principal He Kaishan snorted proudly, "I won't go into the detailed mechanics; you'll naturally know once you get to Sky Dome Academy."
"What I want to say is..."
He carefully pulled a crumpled A4 paper from his bosom.
"I, this old man, have risked my old face to secure a guaranteed spot with a special mentor for you!"
On the A4 paper, it was clearly printed: "Special Mentor Two-Way Selection Guarantee Agreement," with the official seal of Sky Dome Academy stamped in the bottom right corner.
"With this agreement, you can freely choose your mentor! Even those old things who no longer accept students, you can forcibly choose them."
"Among them, there is a mentor named Granny Poison; her skill pool has an extremely high compatibility with your class."
"However, who you specifically choose is ultimately up to you to decide."
"..."
Su Chen took the agreement and quickly stuffed it into his backpack.
Since mentors at Sky Dome Academy are so important, this guarantee agreement is even more precious.
As for who to choose... he decided to wait until he met them.
He said obediently: "Thank you, Principal."
"..."
Principal He Kaishan's mouth twitched.
Damn it!
He started calling me Principal now.
When there are benefits, it's 'Principal,' and when there aren't, it's 'Old He,' right?
"Alright, you still have to clear the class advancement secret realm tomorrow, get some rest early today."
Principal He Kaishan waved his hand and turned to leave.
"Okay."
After seeing Principal He Kaishan off, Su Chen let out a long breath.
This national top scorer... it was definitely worth getting!
He glanced at the experience bar locked at level 20.
"Tomorrow, I'll go and clear the class advancement secret realm!"
"I wonder what changes my class will have after my first advancement?"
Chapter 62: Entering the Class Advancement Dungeon, Sea of Skeletons!
The next morning, Su Chen set off early, heading to the coordinates of the dungeon.
The dungeon was located thirty kilometers south of Tianhe City. Because it was in a remote area, several large guilds in Tianhe City had set up armed shuttle buses to get there.
However, the tickets were very expensive; a one-way ticket cost 2,000 gold coins.
Su Chen boarded the bus.
The heavily armored armed shuttle bus sped across the wilderness.
The heavy machine gun on the roof occasionally spat out tongues of scorching fire, instantly tearing apart any low-level monsters that tried to approach.
The further they got from the city, the sparser the vegetation on the wilderness became, and the air began to fill with a faint scent of blood.
An hour later, the armed shuttle bus stopped at the entrance of a massive canyon.
Unlike what Su Chen had imagined, the area outside the dungeon was noisy, with people everywhere holding up signs and shouting to form parties.
" [Throne of Wailing] perimeter clearing team, need a healer level 18 or above, any kind of healer is fine, as long as you can heal! Missing one driver!"
"Level 20 elite warrior leading the team, guaranteed to clear the elite monster patrol, fee is 100,000 gold coins, clients come quickly, limited spots!"
"..."
Su Chen observed briefly and quickly understood the situation.
This dungeon had yet to be cleared by anyone, but the experience points were exceptionally generous, and many guilds had already mastered part of the strategy.
Just farming the mobs in the first half provided much more experience than clearing ordinary dungeons.
Su Chen ignored the party recruitment information and walked straight toward the deepest part of the canyon.
There, a dilapidated black stone gate stood.
The door frame was carved with twisted demonic faces, and inside the gate was a slowly rotating dark red vortex.
Su Chen cast Scouting Spell.
[Throne of Wailing]
[Dungeon Grade: Nightmare]
[Dungeon Level: 15-20]
[Dungeon Capacity: Maximum 5 people]
[Dungeon Time: Clear within 8 hours]
[Special Mechanism: Upon clearing, level 20 professionals will complete their class advancement]
...
Nightmare grade!
Seeing these three words, Su Chen felt a hint of excitement in his eyes.
The previous Silent Stone Sea was only a Hard-grade dungeon, yet it had yielded him a bountiful harvest.
A Nightmare-grade dungeon... the monsters were stronger, and the equipment and items dropped would naturally be better as well.
"Hey, buddy."
A thin, sharp-featured man suddenly approached, rubbing a few yellowed pieces of parchment in his hands.
"Judging by your stance, are you here to try for a class advancement?"
He sized up Su Chen, found he couldn't see his class or level, and asked again, "Did you come alone?"
Su Chen nodded. "What about it?"
"Heh, you've got guts."
The thin man lowered his voice, looking mysterious. "Buddy, take my advice: this [Throne of Wailing] is not like those dungeons in the class advancement halls."
"These days, there are too many hot-headed youths who want to come here and gamble on a special class advancement, but what happens?"
"Once they go in, they get chopped up by the skeletons until not even a scrap is left. I've seen hundreds, maybe thousands, of them!"
The man waved the parchment in his hand, making it rustle loudly.
"See this? This is the monster distribution map and mechanism guide for the first half of the [Throne of Wailing], which our guild paved with human lives!"
"It's not expensive, 50,000 gold coins a copy. With this, if you join a strong party, your survival rate will increase by at least thirty percent!"
"How about it? It's money to save your life; not expensive, right?"
"..."
Su Chen glanced at that tattered piece of paper.
50,000 gold coins for a guide to the first half?
Wouldn't that make him a sucker?
"No need."
Su Chen walked past the man and continued toward the black stone gate.
The thin man was stunned for a moment, then sneered.
"Pfft, another broke idiot who values money over his life!"
"Fine, soloing the [Throne of Wailing]? I'll stand right here today and watch how you die inside! When your corpse gets spat out by the dungeon, I won't even dig a grave for you!"
Several people nearby who were forming parties heard the commotion and looked over.
"Soloing the Throne of Wailing? Is this kid crazy?"
"Probably some young master from a family out for training, hasn't experienced the harsh beatings of society yet."
"Daring to enter a Nightmare-grade dungeon alone at level 20? This is just pure suicide, wasting all that experience."
"..."
Su Chen ignored the mockery behind him and walked straight into the portal.
The dark red vortex expanded violently, instantly swallowing his figure.
The thin man outside the gate curled his lip and spat. "Damn, he actually went in? Young people these days really don't value their lives."
...
After a brief moment of dizziness, Su Chen stepped onto the hard obsidian ground.
At the same time, several system prompts popped up.
[Notification: You have entered the dungeon—Throne of Wailing.]
[Warning: This dungeon is a high-risk area; monster attributes are significantly enhanced. Please explore with caution.]
[Notification: Detected that player Su Chen has reached level 20. Please note that you will complete your class advancement upon clearing the dungeon!]
In this world, there might be people who want to cap their level at 20, so the system specifically provided this reminder.
Clearing the dungeon would directly trigger the class advancement.
Su Chen looked around. It was a massive underground palace, and the air was filled with a thick scent of blood.
On both sides of the main hall stood two rows of giant demon statues.
"Click, click, click..." The teeth-aching sound of bones rubbing against each other echoed from all directions.
The obsidian floor slabs of the main hall began to crack, and bone skeletons holding rusted iron swords crawled out from underground.
In their eye sockets, ghostly blue soul fire flickered as they wandered aimlessly.
[Skeleton Warrior]
[Level: 25]
[Strength: 380]
[Agility: 250]
[Stamina: 500]
[Spirit: 200]
[Skills: Bone Reconstitution (Passive): After death, has a 50% chance to resurrect with full health once. Heavy Strike (Active): Deals Strength * 2 physical damage to the target and stuns for 0.75 seconds.]
...
Su Chen's eyes narrowed slightly.
No wonder that group outside said it was suicide for ordinary people to come in.
Under the enhancement of the Nightmare-grade dungeon, the attribute values of these skeletons were five to six times higher than ordinary level 20 monsters.
500 points of Stamina was enough to make the average level 20 professional retreat in the face of difficulty.
What was even more fatal was that these skeletons were packed densely; looking out, the entire hall was crowded with at least a thousand of them.
It was a complete sea of skeletons!
A level 20 class advancement quest, starting off with a group of a thousand level 25 monsters.
Furthermore, there was actually a 50% chance to resurrect with full health.
This was equivalent to... on average, having to fight over 1,500 skeletons.
If an ordinary party came in, they would be drained to death just from mana consumption.
These skeletons also had active skills with crowd control. If they were swarmed, they would likely be stun-locked to death without even being able to use a skill.
Of course, for Su Chen, these skeletons posed no threat at all.
Not to mention comparing them to the Flame Demon Guards with four-dimensional stats over a thousand, they couldn't even compare to the Shadow Bats he encountered in the Abyss Dungeon earlier.
He raised the burst staff in his hand, pointing the tip toward that ocean of bones ahead.
"Let's speedrun this."
[Corrosive Snake Guard] activate!
"Boom, boom, boom—!" Two thousand thick, dark green totem pillars rose from the ground!
Almost in an instant, the space around Su Chen was packed full of Snake Guards.
He snapped his fingers lightly. The snake head statues opened.
Heart-stopping green light gathered frantically in the two thousand snake mouths.
"Swish, swish, swish, swish!" Dense beams of Poisonpoured out like a rainstorm.
The dozens of Skeleton Warriors in the first row that rushed up didn't even manage to make a sword-swinging motion before they were instantly pierced through by the green light.
"-2130" "-2082" "-4264!" "..."
Dense damage numbers popped up.
Yesterday, after swallowing an Epic-grade Abyss Crystal, although his Spirit increased by 400 points, his direct damage decreased by another 4%.
The direct damage of the Snake Guards didn't change much. But the damage of the Poison had increased.
The next second.
"-21917952!" "-21921123!" "-21924294!" "..."
Terrifying green damage numbers rose in patches within the skeleton horde. The DOT damage per second had officially broken through 20 million!
Hitting the Skeleton Warriors, who only had 500 Stamina, was simply a dimensional strike.
The ghostly blue soul fire in the eyes of those Skeleton Warriors instantly extinguished. Their bony bodies melted directly into green pus in the Poison.
One-shot!
[Notification: Over-level kill of level 25 Skeleton Warrior, experience points gained: 2500.]
[Notification: Triggered trait [Doom Siphon], Poisonstacking limit permanently +1. Current stack limit: 6913 layers.]
[...]
System notification sounds flooded the screen frantically. Su Chen's eyes lit up.
Nearly half of the fallen Skeleton Warriors, amidst a rustling sound, had their bones reorganize and crawled back up from the pool of green pus.
Before they could even stand steady, they were splattered in the face with dark green Poison again. The next second, they died again.
The bones shattered all over the ground again, turning into green pus.
What made Su Chen feel satisfied was that after these skeletons resurrected, they could still add stacks! In other words, if one skeleton triggered the skill, it could give Su Chen two stacks.
"Wait, that's not right." Su Chen quickly discovered something off.
A skeleton that had already resurrected actually crawled back up slowly again.
"Holy crap, I misunderstood. It's not that they can only resurrect once; after each skeleton resurrects, there is still a 50% chance of resurrecting again."
"So... here comes the math problem: 1,000 skeletons, each with a 50% chance to resurrect, how many times do I have to kill them on average?"
"..." Su Chen brainstormed for a moment, then finally shook his head. Too lazy to calculate!
However, this difficulty was truly high enough; if an ordinary party dove headfirst into this pile of skeletons, they would probably die without even knowing how.
But for Su Chen... wasn't this just helping him stack layers beautifully?
"Little skeletons, keep it up, resurrect a few more times!"
Chapter 63: The Difficulty of a Nightmare-grade Dungeon, Sweeping Through Everything!
Although the sea of skeletons was vast in number, their intelligence was clearly extremely low.
They charged forward while wielding their machetes.
The vast majority of the skeletons were afflicted with Poison the moment they entered range, with only a very few managing to touch the Snake Guards.
Then, they began a life-or-death struggle with the Snake Guards.
There was absolutely no intention of flanking the backline to go directly for Su Chen.
Su Chen had originally been clutching [Light of Concealment], prepared to turn invisible at any moment, but now it seemed completely unnecessary.
He was even bored enough to occasionally throw out a few basic attacks to trigger the effect of the burst staff.
[Notification: Killed a level 25 Skeleton Warrior above your level, gained 2500 EXP.]
[Notification: Triggered trait [Doom Siphon], permanent +1 to maximum Poison stack limit. Current stack limit: 8922.]
[Notification: Obtained Thick Bone * 5]
[Notification:...]
Ten minutes later.
The system notifications finally gradually subsided.
"Added over two thousand stacks, I don't know if that's unlucky or lucky."
Su Chen glanced at his panel, then stepped over the green pus covering the floor that had not yet completely dried, walking unhurriedly through the spacious front hall.
Behind the main hall was a dark and deep corridor.
The nauseating stench of decay in the air grew even stronger.
Having run many dungeons, Su Chen understood the dungeons of this world.
In a level 20 Nightmare-grade dungeon, it was impossible for there to be only one type of monster.
The front hall used pure physical melee skeletons to wear down one's resources, so there must be more disgusting mechanics waiting ahead.
Sure enough.
Barely a hundred meters after stepping into the corridor.
"Cackle, cackle..."
A scalp-tingling chewing sound came from the shadows ahead.
By the dim blue firelight, Su Chen saw hundreds of bloated, massive figures lying on the ground in front of the corridor.
These monsters were over three meters tall, their bodies stitched together from various incomplete corpse parts.
A large mouth filled with fangs was split open on their stomachs, with green acid flowing from inside.
Su Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, and he cast Scouting Spell on them.
[Stitched Abomination (Elite Monster)]
[Level: 27]
[Strength: 450]
[Agility: 80]
[Constitution: 1000]
[Spirit: 100]
[Skills: Meat Hook, Acid Spit]
[Meat Hook (Active): Throws a poisonous iron hook forward, forcibly dragging the target to its front, dealing Strength * 2 physical damage and stunning for 1 second.]
[Acid Spit (Active): Sprays strong acid in a 0.5-meter fan-shaped area in front of its stomach, reducing the target's physical defense by 50% and dealing Spirit * 1 Poison-attribute magic damage per second.]
...
Looking at the data on the panel, Su Chen stopped his footsteps, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
1000 Constitution... at this point, they aren't even pretending anymore.
No wonder no one has ever cleared this dungeon in decades.
With hundreds of these Abominations placed here, who could possibly get past?
These two skills are just purely disgusting.
Meat Hook can forcibly pull and break formations; once pulled over, one would face hundreds of Abominations spraying acid in their face, followed by being hacked to pieces.
"Roar!"
At this moment, an Abomination discovered Su Chen's presence.
The large mouth on its stomach suddenly opened wide.
"Whoosh!"
A huge, rusty iron hook, accompanied by a foul wind, shot toward Su Chen's chest like lightning.
The speed of Meat Hook was extremely fast; if it were an ordinary mage, there would be no way to dodge in this narrow corridor.
Once hooked, they would face hundreds of Abominations spraying acid in their face and being hacked to pieces.
Su Chen, however, didn't even blink.
He tapped the ground lightly.
Boom!
The obsidian slab shattered again, and two thousand Snake Guards suddenly appeared, packing the space in front of Su Chen completely full.
"Splat!"
A loud noise.
The iron hook slammed heavily into a thick Corrosive Snake Guard.
That Snake Guard was forcibly dragged flying toward the Abomination with a "whoosh" by the immense force.
After getting close, the Abomination hacked the Snake Guard into countless fragments with one blow.
"Sorry, my Snake Guards all have physical bodies, feel free to hook them."
Su Chen laughed.
You like hooking people, huh?
Then I'll let you hook them.
The two thousand Snake Guards blocking the front of the corridor began to attack simultaneously.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
The dim green venom beams wove into an airtight net of firepower in mid-air, instantly engulfing the dozens of Stitched Abominations in the front.
"-28291662!"
"-28294833!"
"-28298004!"
"..."
A series of terrifying eight-digit damage numbers exploded above the heads of the Stitched Abominations.
The massive, bloated bodies melted at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—"
Green pus and chunks of flesh were scattered all over the ground.
[Notification: Killed a level 27 Stitched Abomination (Elite Monster) above your level, gained 5400 EXP.]
[Notification: Triggered trait [Doom Siphon], permanent +1 to maximum Poison stack limit. Current stack limit: 8923.]
[Notification: Obtained Bloody Chunk of Meat (Rare Material) * 2]
[Notification: Obtained Rotten Breastplate (Common-grade)]
The system notifications rang incessantly.
Hundreds of Abominations successfully hooked hundreds of Snake Guards over, only to be easily hacked into fragments by them.
But this elimination speed was clearly not fast enough.
The scale of the Snake Guards didn't even change much.
The Abominations' intelligence was also not very high; after using the Meat Hook skill, they chose to close in physically.
However.
Their battle record was not even as good as those skeletons.
The reason was simple—their movement speed was just too slow!
They were all one-shot upon contact; the skeletons could at least rely on reviving to run in front of the Snake Guards, but these ones were "face-washed" by the Snake Guards before they could even walk a few steps.
In just a few minutes, hundreds of Abominations had all turned into green pus.
The last bloated body of an Abomination completely melted, turning into a pool of pus.
"Elite monsters give a lot of EXP, and the materials and equipment dropped are good too."
Su Chen organized his backpack and continued to step forward.
This corridor seemed extremely long, and the terrain began to become complex.
The deeper he went, the more insidious the monster configuration became.
A few minutes later.
A wide crossroads appeared ahead.
In the center of the crossroads, dozens of semi-transparent ghosts wearing tattered mage robes were floating.
[Wraith Mage (Elite Monster)]
[Level: 28]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 150]
[Constitution: 400]
[Spirit: 850]
[Skills: Physical Immunity, Soul Scream]
[Physical Immunity (Passive): 90% reduction in physical damage.]
[Soul Scream (Active): Deals Spirit * 5 magic damage to enemies in a large area and inflicts [Silence] status for 3 seconds.]
...
Seeing this panel, Su Chen was completely speechless.
A group of magic-type monsters that are almost immune to physical attacks and also have a large-area group Silence?
If a warrior or assassin came here, they would be completely dumbfounded.
Only a mage could deal some damage.
"Which level 20 team could beat this?"
Su Chen curled his lips, "Too bad, you met a freak like me."
He didn't give these Wraith Mages any chance to cast [Soul Scream].
Before those wraiths even discovered him, Su Chen had already summoned the Snake Guards again, controlling the front row of Snake Guards to launch an attack.
"Boom!"
The dense venom accurately hit the group of Wraith Mages in the center of the crossroads.
"-29198568!"
"-29201739!"
"..."
The blinding damage numbers flooded the screen again.
Those semi-transparent ghosts didn't even have time to scream before they were wiped out by the terrifying true damage.
Sweeping through everything.
About twenty minutes later.
After Su Chen cleared another mixed group of three types of monsters, he finally reached the end of the corridor.
Ahead was a dark golden bronze gate over ten meters high.
Countless painfully twisted demon faces were carved onto the gate, and a thick aura of the abyss was seeping out from the cracks.
The system notification rang at this moment.
[Notification: You have arrived at the dungeon core area: Throne Hall.]
"The final boss should be up ahead."
Su Chen stopped, looking up at the heavy bronze gate.
He took a look at his status bar.
[Current maximum Poison stack limit: 9341.]
"Over nine thousand stacks."
"With this value, even if a level 100 Epic-grade BOSS is hiding inside, I can take it on."
"..."
Su Chen took a deep breath, raised his hand, and pushed hard against the dark golden bronze gate.
"Rumble—"
The heavy sound of friction echoed in the corridor.
The gate slowly opened, revealing the even wider Throne Hall inside.
Chapter 64 BOSS: "I Really Don't Have Any Left!"
The main hall was vast, and at the far end, a throne piled high with countless skulls stood toweringly.
Sitting on the throne was a terrifying figure clad in heavy black armor.
Beside it was a skeletal warhorse burning with ghostly blue soul fire, holding a three-meter-long decapitation greatsword in its hand.
Su Chen stood fifty meters away from the throne and cast [Scouting Spell] directly.
[Death Knight (Dark Gold BOSS)]
[Level: 30]
[Strength: 1200]
[Agility: 450]
[Stamina: 1500]
[Spirit: 800]
[Skills: Abyss Barrier, Undead Scourge, Immortal Aura, Soul Devour]
[Abyss Barrier: Reduces all physical and magical damage taken by 30%.]
[Undead Scourge: Summons an army of the undead consisting of Skeleton Warriors, Abominations, and Wraith Mages to fight for you.]
[Immortal Aura (Passive): All undead units within a 500-meter radius of the Death Knight have a 50% chance to revive at full health after death.]
[Soul Devour: Devours a friendly undead unit to instantly restore 20% of its own maximum health.]
...
A level 30 Dark Gold BOSS.
1500 Stamina, with 30% damage reduction built-in.
But that wasn't even the most outrageous part.
Su Chen looked at the descriptions of the last three skills, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch twice.
Undead Scourge was a summoning skill; all the monsters encountered along the way could be summoned.
Heaven knows how many there were.
But since it was called an "Undead Army," the number surely wouldn't be small.
And the Immortal Aura was even more shameless.
All undead within 500 meters, including those tricky elite monsters, had a 50% chance to revive.
Along the way, only Skeleton Warriors could revive; the Abominations and Wraith Mages encountered didn't revive.
The final Soul Devour was even more of a rascal; devouring one undead unit restored 20% health.
Percentage-based healing, completely unreasonable.
"That's truly shameless. No wonder no one has been able to clear this."
Su Chen shook his head speechlessly.
With such high stats, this wasn't something a level 20 professional could touch in the first place, plus those perverted skills.
No wonder this secret realm hadn't been cleared in decades.
"Wait, that's not right."
Su Chen suddenly realized something, and a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
"It can summon an endless army of undead, and the undead can revive—isn't this just perfect for stacking my layers?"
"..."
Thinking of this, the way Su Chen looked at the BOSS changed.
"BOOM—!"
At this moment, the Death Knight on the throne seemed to have sensed the aura of the living.
It suddenly raised the decapitation greatsword in its hand and let out a roar that shattered eardrums.
"Sleeping servants... tear the living to shreds for me!"
Along with its roar, the entire throne hall trembled violently.
"Crack! Crack!"
Countless pale arms broke through the ground.
Within just a few seconds, hundreds of Skeleton Warriors crawled out from the ground.
Behind them, dozens of massive Abominations with minced flesh stitched all over their bodies waved their iron hooks and roared.
In mid-air, dozens of translucent Wraith Mages wearing tattered robes appeared.
This was the power of a Dark Gold BOSS.
Such a terrifying mixed team—even without the BOSS, a normal level 20 squad wouldn't be able to defeat them.
However, Su Chen didn't even take a half-step back.
He just raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
"So you want to play the numbers game, huh?"
"Corrosive Snake Guard."
"HUM—!"
The ground beneath Su Chen's feet instantly collapsed.
This time he didn't hold back and summoned six thousand of them directly.
"HISSS—!"
Over six thousand snake heads opened their bloody mouths simultaneously, their hollow eyes locked tightly onto the incoming undead army.
-38,961,311!
-38,965,482!
...
Dense balls of venomous light, like a rainstorm flowing in reverse, instantly covered the Skeleton Warriors in the front row.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The fragile Skeleton Warriors couldn't even last a second; their skeletons were completely corroded by the venom and scattered all over the ground.
But the next second, the Immortal Aura at the Death Knight's feet flashed with a ghastly white light.
Half of the bone fragments on the ground reassembled.
With a "crack," hundreds of Skeleton Warriors stood up at full health again!
"ROAR!"
After the Abominations killed dozens of Snake Guards with their meat hook skill, they charged forward through the venom rain, their thick flesh sizzling as it was corroded.
But after they fell, half of the Abominations still revived on the spot under the effect of the aura.
This mechanism is truly disgusting.
Su Chen couldn't help but curse in his heart as he watched this scene.
However.
I like it.
[Notification: You have killed a level 25 Skeleton Warrior above your level, gained EXP: 2500.]
[Notification: You have killed a level 27 Stitched Abomination (Elite Monster) above your level, gained EXP: 5400.]
[...]
The kill notifications kept popping up.
At this moment.
Ghostly light exploded in the eye sockets of the Death Knight on the throne.
It was clearly different from the low-level undead, possessing extremely high combat intelligence.
After seeing those Snake Guards that simply couldn't be cleared, it immediately realized where the problem lay.
Killing these summons was meaningless.
It had to kill the summoner!
"Giddy up!"
The Death Knight flipped onto its horse and pulled the reins.
The skeletal warhorse let out a neigh and charged straight toward Su Chen in the back.
"Living... die!"
The greatsword was raised high, bringing with it a whistle that tore through the air, locked onto Su Chen's head.
Facing this unstoppable charge, Su Chen just snapped his fingers casually.
"Take your time playing, I'm going AFK."
[Light of Concealment] activated.
"Swish."
Su Chen's body seemed to merge into the air, disappearing without a trace.
"BOOM!"
A few seconds later.
The Death Knight's greatsword fell, smashing heavily into the spot where Su Chen had just been standing.
A huge crater was hacked into the ground, and dust flew everywhere.
But not a drop of blood flowed out.
The Death Knight violently reined in its horse, the ghostly light in its eye sockets flickering wildly as it scanned its surroundings.
Where is he?!
Its massive mental power swept across the entire hall like radar, but it couldn't even capture a trace of Su Chen's aura.
No magical fluctuations, no footprints, nothing at all.
"Come out! You cowardly bug!"
The Death Knight roared, waving its decapitation greatsword and slashing wildly at the surrounding air.
But it couldn't capture even a trace of Su Chen's aura.
In its anger, it raised its greatsword again, the ghostly fire in its eye sockets burning fiercely.
"Sleeping servants... tear the living to shreds for me!"
[Undead Scourge] activated again.
"Crack! Crack!"
Hundreds of Skeleton Warriors, Abominations, and Wraith Mages crawled out from the ground once more.
However.
Su Chen, hiding in the distance in stealth, looked at the undead covering the mountains and plains; not only was he not afraid, but his eyes lit up instead.
These were all EXP and layers!
"However."
"Six thousand Snake Guards—avoiding that big guy in the center and only hitting the small monsters on the side... that's really not easy."
Su Chen rubbed his temples, his mental power instantly becoming highly focused.
He had to manipulate the Snake Guards to avoid the BOSS and only attack the small monsters.
As long as one glob of venom accidentally grazed this Death Knight, with his current toxin limit, this poor Dark Gold BOSS would be poisoned to dust in two seconds at most.
"Pfft pfft pfft pfft!"
The dense venom poured down like a rainstorm again.
But this rainstorm strangely left a circular vacuum zone in the center, perfectly bypassing the Death Knight itself.
-41,705,829!
-41,710,000!
...
The surrounding monsters, as soon as they poked their heads out, had their faces plastered with green venom.
In one second, they turned into a puddle of green liquid.
Immediately after.
The Immortal Aura lit up, and half of the small monsters stood up again.
Then they were sprayed to death by the venom again.
[Notification: Triggered trait [Doom Siphon], toxin stacking limit permanently +1. Current limit: 9999 layers.]
[Notification: Triggered trait [Doom Siphon], toxin stacking limit permanently +1. Current limit: 10000 layers.]
The system's notifications began to spam the screen crazily.
Officially broke through ten thousand layers!
Su Chen looked at the rapidly rising layers in the status bar at the front, his mouth grinning almost to his ears.
"This stacking speed... I really met a noble person."
"You are a Dark Gold BOSS, keep it up!"
The Death Knight watched its army being unilaterally slaughtered and became even more furious.
It wielded its greatsword and charged around like a headless fly, trying to find the master of those disgusting Snake Guards.
Twenty minutes passed.
The Death Knight's roar had become somewhat hoarse.
The magic power on its body was depleting at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The summoning range of [Undead Scourge] had shrunk from covering most of the hall at the beginning to only being able to summon dozens of skeletons around the throne.
Moreover, the frequency of summoning was getting slower and slower.
The number of Snake Guards was also down to just over a thousand, but for the dwindling undead, it was still a wall of sighs.
Thirty minutes later.
"Sleeping... servants..."
The Death Knight raised its greatsword, the ghostly blue light on the blade flickering a few times and making a "sizzling" sound.
Finally, like it was suffering from a deficiency, it extinguished completely.
No reaction.
No skeletons crawled out.
Not even a bone fragment moved.
Su Chen blinked.
Looking at this posture, it's about to run out of mana.
No, a dignified level 30 Dark Gold BOSS, and it only has this much mana?
Can't it be more enduring?
Chapter 65: First Level Advancement Complete, New Class Traits!
The entire hall became deathly quiet.
The Death Knight rode on its skeletal warhorse, holding its greatsword, looking blankly at the empty hall around it.
"Hmm? Out of mana completely?"
Suddenly, an extremely annoying sigh drifted through the air.
Su Chen looked down at the Death Knight standing there all alone, his tone filled with intense disdain.
"Pity, I can't force-feed the BOSS mana potions."
He shook his head and glanced at his status bar.
[Current Poison stacking layer limit: 17,280 layers]
It had stacked nearly eight thousand layers!
If this were outside, who knows how many months of killing mobs it would take to stack it full.
"I've gone to great lengths just to keep you alive."
"Since you can't summon a single monster anymore, then die."
Su Chen issued the attack command to the Snake Guards.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!"
The attacks from the Snake Guards finally landed on the BOSS.
Su Chen gently clenched his hand toward the Death Knight, which was now coated in Poison.
"Myriad Poison Explosion, detonate!"
After using the spell, his figure instantly appeared, but the spell had also been unleashed.
The Death Knight's massive body stiffened abruptly.
The ghostly fire in its eye sockets contracted violently, as if it sensed some incomprehensible, terrifying power detonating within its body.
"-720,748,800!"
An incredibly exaggerated damage number popped up.
Its health bar was instantly emptied.
"Boom—!"
The Death Knight didn't even have time to let out a scream.
With eyes full of unwillingness, it, along with the warhorse beneath it, all dissolved into a pool of green pus.
At the same time, the System's notification sounds rang out in Su Chen's ears like an explosion.
[Notification: You have killed an Abyss Death Knight(Dark Gold Level BOSS) across Levels, gaining 18,000,000 experience points!]
[Notification: Current Secret Realm has been cleared. You have completed your First Level advancement.]
[Notification: Your Level limit has been unlocked, up to Level 40!]
[Notification: Experience points full. Level increased to 21! All attributes +1, gained 10 free attribute points.]
[Notification:...]
[Notification: Experience points full. Level increased to 25! All attributes +1, gained 10 free attribute points.]
[Notification: Your class trait [Decay of All Things] has changed. Please check it promptly!]
[Notification: You have comprehended a new class trait [Slow Poison Miasma].]
[Notification: Your spell Level has been unlocked, with a limit of Level 2.]
...
The dazzling golden pillar of light gradually dissipated.
Five Levels in a row!
Su Chen exhaled a breath of stale air.
"This experience pool has been held back for long enough."
With so many Abyss monsters in the college entrance exam, plus an Epic-grade Dragon, and the Nightmare-grade Secret Realm he cleared today, his Level had jumped directly to 25.
One must know that after Level 20, leveling up becomes extremely difficult.
If one only farms ordinary monsters outside the city, some people might not even gain a single Level in months, or even a year.
Meanwhile.
Class advancement is an absolute chasm that divides social classes in this world.
Aside from unlocking a higher Level limit, the most intuitive manifestation lies in the growth rate of base attributes.
Before the first advancement, for every Level gained, all attributes increase by one, and five free attribute points are obtained.
After completing the first advancement, this growth rate directly doubles.
For every Level gained, all attributes still increase by one, but the free attribute points become ten!
Don't underestimate those extra five points; as one's Levelcontinuously increases, the gap created will be a chasm.
A Level 30 class-Advanced professional can absolutely crush forty or fifty Level 10 professionals in terms of base attributes.
Su Chen glanced at the full fifty free attribute points accumulated on his panel.
Without the slightest hesitation, he moved his mind and dumped them all into Stamina.
He needed to wear the Epic-grade robe, which required a Stamina reduction of 100 points; even with these fifty points added, he still seemed very frail.
After adding the attributes, Su Chen shifted his gaze to the next line of the System notification.
That was the qualitative change in class traits that only occurs after completing a special class advancement Secret Realm.
"Ordinary class advancement wouldn't have this kind of effect. Special class advancement is truly sweet."
Su Chen opened the trait panel.
[Trait 1 · Decay of All Things: Any form of your attacks (including basic attacks, spells, etc.) will force the target to be afflicted with 1 layer of [Poison] status.]
(Note: [Poison]: Deals true damage equivalent to [Spirit * Layers * 1] per second, ignoring armor and magic resistance. Duration: 20 seconds. Current Poisonstacking layer limit: 17,281 layers.)
[Trait 4 · Slow Poison Miasma: Any enemy infected with the [Poison] status has their movement speed reduced by 20%. For every 1 second the Poison persists, the slowing effect increases by an additional 20%, up to a maximum of 100%.]
After reading the panel, Su Chen gasped.
Not because he was scared, but because he was shocked by the shamelessness of his own class.
Does this thing even have any shame?
The duration of Decay of All Things doubled, from ten seconds to twenty seconds.
This means that a layer of Poison that originally could deal damage ten times can now deal damage twenty times!
The total damage has directly doubled!
With his current terrifying Spirit and the Poison limit of over seventeen thousand layers, once fully stacked with Poison, even a mountain could be melted away.
At the same time, the damage of Myriad Poison Explosionalso doubled.
But this wasn't the most perverted part.
The most disgusting thing was the newly Awakened [Slow Poison Miasma].
Apply Poison, and instantly slow by 20%.
Then, it stacks an additional 20% every second.
In other words, as long as Su Chen scratches their skin a little, after five seconds, this monster will be slowed by 100%.
Unable to move.
If it's a melee unit, it will be completely unable to attack.
It can only stand there like a wooden stake, watching helplessly as its health bar is slowly drained by the Poison, until it turns into a pool of green water.
"Too disgusting."
Su Chen shook his head repeatedly.
After admiring his shameless traits, he continued reading downwards.
[Notification: Your spell Level has been unlocked, with a limit of Level 2.]
Seeing this notification, Su Chen raised an eyebrow.
In this world, spells are not immutable.
Every time a class advancement is completed, all mastered spells unlock a new Level limit.
First advancement corresponds to Level 2 spells, second advancement to Level 3 spells, and so on.
However, spell upgrading is not like Level leveling; it doesn't automatically upgrade once enough experience is gained.
It requires using specific resources, or going to specific places to "comprehend."
And the effects of upgraded spells are not uniform.
Instead, they undergo different mutations based on the professional's personal tendencies and choices.
This is the core way professionals build their own combat Systems.
Let's take the simplest example.
The most basic Mage spell [Fireball].
When upgraded to Level 2, it might have several different branches:
Some people's Fireball chant time is significantly reduced, or even becomes instant, suitable for interrupting and guerrilla tactics.
While others' Fireball explosion range doubles, becoming a small AOE spell, suitable for clearing mobs.
Others can cast two or even three fireballs at once, pursuing single-target burst damage.
Everyone chooses different spell evolution directions based on their own talents, equipment, and combat habits, eventually combining them into a unique combat style.
This is the most charming part of this world.
Even with the same class, by the Late Stage, everyone's combat methods are completely different.
However.
To upgrade spells and have this kind of directed mutation occur, it requires consuming massive amounts of resources, and even the guidance of an Advanced mentor.
And these things are simply not provided by ordinary guilds and trading firms on the market.
Even if they did, the average person couldn't afford them.
There is only one place where it is easiest to upgrade spells.
The major colleges and universities.
This is the importance of colleges in this world.
Su Chen's [Corrosive Snake Guard] and [Myriad Poison Explosion] are still Level 1.
He is very much looking forward to what kind of perversion these already outrageous spells will become if they are upgraded to Level 2.
Su Chen closed the System panel, raised his head, and looked toward the place where the Death Knight had fallen.
Beside that pool of green pus, several dark golden rays were flickering.
"Stop thinking about it, let's loot the corpse first."
Su Chen walked over with light steps.