Chapter 96: Fierce Battle, Dual Dark-Gold Bosses!
Inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
Time ticked away second by second.
The forty-ninth floor.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh——!"
Dense rows of Snake Guards acted like thick artillery batteries, attacking the enemies within the space.
However, when their attacks landed on the monsters, most of them floated up with pale grey text.
"- Immunity"
"- Immunity"
"..."
Su Chen winced in frustration.
From the twentieth floor to the forty-ninth floor, after several solid hours of high-intensity advancement, he hadn't rested for even a single second.
Over these dozens of floors, the monster mechanisms of the Heaven-Reaching Tower had not undergone a qualitative change.
No fancy new skills popped up; it was primarily focused on simple and brutal numerical inflation.
The number of monsters remained steadfastly at [Floor Number * 10].
But the stats and the values of those passive skills were soaring at an outrageous speed.
After the 40th floor, the monsters' stats had broken through the 1500 milestone.
These stats... if placed in the outside world, even a Level 40 professional would find it difficult to break their defense.
As for their skills, aside from a few special ones, three passive skills remained unchanged.
Spacetime Body, Chaos Strike, and Stun Strike.
After the fortieth floor, the damage immunity probability brought by the monsters' [Spacetime Body] had been forcefully stacked to 90%.
This meant... the Snake Guards could only hit a monster once every ten attacks on average.
And Poison would only have a probability of killing one after ticking ten times.
Su Chen was forced to increase the number of summoned Snake Guards.
The attack frequency was enough!
At this moment.
Along with the death of four hundred and ninety spacetime spiders, the teleportation array light of the fiftieth floor lit up.
Su Chen gulped down a mana potion.
To pass quickly, on every floor, he needed to summon over five thousand Snake Guards.
The clearance time was around a minute and a half.
The duration of the Snake Guards was 30 seconds, so he needed to summon them three times.
His mana bar was gradually failing to hold up.
"The boss is up ahead; what kind of opponent is it this time?"
After fully restoring his status, Su Chen stepped into the portal.
As soon as he stepped in, a hot, dusty smell wafted into his nostrils.
It was a huge desert colosseum.
Before Su Chen could take a closer look, two gazes locked directly onto his face.
[Lu Feng (Dark-Gold Boss)]
[Identity: Graduate of the 105th Class of China's Tianyuan Academy / Guardian of the Fiftieth Floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower]
[Class: Thunderstorm Sword Sage (Grade A Hidden Class)]
[Level: Dark-Gold]
[Level: 35]
[Strength: 1850]
[Agility: 960]
[Constitution: 1500]
[Spirit: 800]
[Skills: Thunder-Walking Wind-Cut, Three Consecutive Thunder Slashes, Thunder Shadow Step, Spacetime Body]
[...]
[Lu Qingqing (Dark-Gold Boss)]
[Identity: Graduate of the 105th Class of China's Tianyuan Academy / Guardian of the Fiftieth Floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower]
[Class: Dark Night Ranger (Grade A Hidden Class)]
[Level: Dark-Gold]
[Level: 35]
[Strength: 950]
[Agility: 1920]
[Constitution: 765]
[Spirit: 1260]
[Skills: Heart-Piercing Arrow, Shadow Flare, Shadow Arrow Rain, Spacetime Body...]
[...]
Two figures, one male and one female, one close and one distant.
The Thunderstorm Sword Sage wielded dual blades, moving so fast that they left an afterimage in place as they headed straight for Su Chen's throat.
Dozens of meters away, the Dark Night Ranger had already drawn her longbow to its limit.
The tip of the arrow flickered with a dim black light, clearly preparing to activate the skill Heart-Piercing Arrow.
With this arrow coming down, it would probably pierce right through his heart.
"Dual bosses? And an S-grade class combination?"
Su Chen looked at the two projections pincer-attacking from left and right, his eyelids twitching wildly.
One violent melee output right in his face, one ranged nuisance far away, coupled with that high 90% damage immunity.
"Who the hell would play with you guys like this?"
Su Chen's eyelids jumped, and he had no intention of taking it head-on at all.
He flipped his wrist, and the ring on his hand flashed with a dark gray luster.
"Shua!"
The next second.
The Thunderstorm Sword Sage's dual blades carried explosive thunder light, fiercely slashing into Su Chen's body.
Thunder light flickered.
Two gruesome wounds appeared on Su Chen's chest.
Immediately, blood gushed like a waterfall.
At the same time.
"Snap!"
A pitch-black streak of light, carrying terrifying momentum, struck straight into Su Chen's chest.
However.
Su Chen, who was hit by them, stood in place motionless as if he had been stunned.
Without the slightest hesitation, their attacks poured down head-on once again.
Not far away.
Su Chen's mouth twitched.
The one taking the beating was naturally the phantom created by him activating the shadow dancer ring.
He looked at his phantom, which was continuously being attacked, and slowly shook his head.
"So ruthless."
If he really hadn't reacted in time and been hit by their attacks, even he would have lost a layer of skin.
"Now, it's your turn to get beaten."
Su Chen moved his mind.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Countless Corrosive Snake Guards instantly burst out of the ground, directly surrounding the Thunderstorm Sword Sage and the distant Dark Night Ranger.
This time, Su Chen did not hold back, maxing out the number of Snake Guards and summoning seventeen thousand Snake Guards!
Following that.
"Light of Concealment."
Hum.
Without wasting words with them, Su Chen directly activated stealth.
An imperceptible transparent ripple surfaced across his body.
His entire person instantly melted into the air, leaving not even a trace of aura behind.
At the same time.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh——!"
Dense venom was spat out.
"- Immunity"
"- Immunity"
"- Immunity"
"..."
A series of white characters representing invalid attacks popped up above the heads of the two bosses.
"Tsk."
Su Chen watched them constantly pop up immunity statuses, feeling somewhat speechless.
The Dark Night Ranger clearly possessed a certain level of combat intelligence.
She immediately turned her bow and shot an arrow toward the sky.
"Bang!"
The arrow exploded mid-air, turning into a blinding white light.
[Shadow Flare: Dispels stealth units within a radius of 200 meters and causes friendly units to enter the Shadow state.]
The white light rained down, illuminating the entire colosseum.
However.
Su Chen still didn't reveal even a shadow.
"Are you dumb?"
Hiding in the corner, the corners of Su Chen's mouth couldn't help but curl up.
Lin Shiqing's stealth was at the highest level, and a flare couldn't illuminate it out.
However.
The Dark Night Ranger was clearly not an ordinary archer; aside from revealing invisible units, her Shadow Flare could also cause friendly forces to enter the Shadow state.
Immediately.
The figures of the two were enveloped by a dark gray shadow.
[Shadow State: Evasion rate increased to 100%, lasting for 15 seconds.]
Su Chen: "..."
No.
Is it this strong?
"These seniors are indeed not to be trifled with."
Su Chen expressed that he was shocked.
Evasion rate increased to 100%... lasting a full 15 seconds.
The Snake Guards' attacks could be considered completely ineffective.
Among Su Chen's skills, Poison Burst didn't have much effect when facing the Spacetime Body which had a 90% damage immunity probability.
Only the dog head at his waist spitting fire, or dropping a Void Rift, might possibly injure them.
What was even more absurd was that this was also a group buff skill.
"It seems that Senior Sister Lu Qingqing's class is not only violently offensive, but also has certain supporting capabilities."
Su Chen's heart started itching again.
I really want to steal it!
Unfortunately, the soul stealing secret note was still on cooldown.
Moreover, he didn't know if it could be used on the Heaven-Reaching Tower's projections.
Su Chen simply curled up in the corner and watched the show.
The two of them weren't idle either.
The dual blades in the Thunderstorm Sword Sage's hands flashed with explosive thunder light, and the dual blades fiercely slashed forward three consecutive times.
"Shua, shua, shua——!"
Three several-meter-long streaks of thunder-light Sword Qi extended forward.
The Snake Guards along the way shattered one after another like chopping melons and vegetables.
With just a single skill, hundreds of Snake Guards fell.
The Dark Night Ranger also began releasing skills.
She drew her longbow to its limit and fiercely shot a dark gray arrow toward the sky.
The next moment.
The arrow violently exploded in the air like fireworks, splitting into countless densely packed tiny arrows.
Pouring down like raindrops.
Within a radius of thirty meters, the Snake Guards shattered almost upon touch.
Even though half of the Snake Guards were resurrected under the effect of the Undead Monarch's Ring, they were still shattered by the subsequent arrows.
In just a few seconds.
A thirty-meter radius clearing was cleaned out of Snake Guards.
They stood back-to-back and did not act rashly again.
Their gazes swept rapidly across the arena, passing over the groups of Snake Guards.
"So strong."
After watching their smooth-as-flowing-water operations, Su Chen couldn't help sighing in his heart.
Sure enough.
The last thing lacking in this world was geniuses.
Even if they were just projections created by the Heaven-Reaching Tower, their combat intelligence was extremely high.
In just a few seconds, they had figured out the attack range of the Snake Guards.
After clearing out the open space, the Snake Guards couldn't attack them for the time being.
And they didn't rashly attack the Snake Guards again, instead attempting to find the invisible Su Chen.
Impeccable on-the-spot judgment.
Su Chen's side likewise didn't act rashly.
The cooldown of the Light of Concealment was ten minutes, so he didn't need to actively break his stealth skill.
Fifteen seconds later.
The Shadow state ended.
The dark gray energy on their bodies slowly dissipated.
Exchanging a glance, they began to approach the group of Snake Guards on the east side, preparing to release skills to continue clearing the Snake Guards.
"Can't hold your breath anymore?"
Su Chen revealed a smile: "Unfortunately, you figured out the attack range of the Snake Guards, but you don't know that their duration is only 30 seconds, and you even less know how much my DoT damage is."
The moment they entered the Snake Guards' range.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh——!"
Countless Snake Guards began to attack.
Even with a 90% damage immunity probability, under the saturated attacks of the Snake Guards, the two bosses were still infected with the Poison buff.
After Poison ticked a few times.
Amidst their slightly dazed expressions, they turned into spots of light and dissipated.
[Prompt: Successfully killed Level 35 Lu Feng (Spacetime Projection), gained 9,000,000 experience points!]
[Prompt: Successfully killed Level 35 Lu Qingqing (Spacetime Projection), gained 9,000,000 experience points!]
[Prompt: Experience points are full, Level upgraded to Level 26! All stats +1, gained 10 free stat points.]
[Prompt: Successfully cleared the fiftieth floor.]
Chapter 97: The True Insanity of the Heaven-Reaching Tower, a War of Attrition!
The fiftieth floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
The projections of Lufeng and Lu Qingqing completely turned into points of light and dissipated.
A ripple like water waves spread across Su Chen's body surface, the effect of [Light of Concealment] was lifted, and his figure reappeared in place.
He looked at the empty gladiatorial arena and let out a long breath.
"What a truly exhilarating battle."
Su Chen touched his chin and casually threw all 10 attribute points into Physique.
He recalled the brief and perilous clash just now.
If it weren't for the phantom of the shadow dancer ringtaking the first wave of fatal bursts for him, facing two Dark Gold-tier BOSSes with a 90% damage reduction probability and even group 100% evasion, he might actually have failed.
"Information gaps are truly too fatal in this world."
Su Chen walked towards the light cluster dropped by the BOSS while lamenting in his heart.
The projections of Lufeng and Lu Qingqing showed extremely high combat IQ; they instantly judged the attack range of the Snake Guard and decisively cleared out a safe zone.
However, they miscalculated one thing—the duration of the Snake Guard was only 30 seconds.
If they had known this, they could have completely dragged out the survival time of the Snake Guard by force.
Once the Snake Guard disappeared, Su Chen had to break his stealth state in order to continue summoning the Snake Guard.
Moreover.
They also didn't know how high the damage of Poisonwas, and probably wanted to test the damage of the Snake Guard, which was why they lowered their guard and fell for the trick.
"No wonder Rift Demon Shadow wanted to make my intelligence public. If the two of them knew all my intelligence, the battle wouldn't have ended so simply."
Su Chen now knew how deep the malice of Rift Demon Shadow was.
In front of so many examinees, Rift Demon Shadow made public the information about his class characteristics and skills.
Although the country carried out confidentiality work, it was still not difficult for those with intentions to obtain it.
"However, I'm not panicked either."
Su Chen shook his head and smiled.
His life had just begun.
His equipment wasn't formed yet, and his skills hadn't been upgraded yet either.
He was confident that as long as he was given some more time to develop, Rift Demon Shadow's intelligence would already be outdated!
When they met again, Su Chen could instead use the previous old intelligence to catch him off guard!
Su Chen stopped thinking about it and reached out to touch the light cluster on the ground.
[Prompt: Obtained Spacetime Core (Rare materials) * 2]
...
This time, two rare materials dropped.
Su Chen put them into his backpack and sat cross-legged on the floor of the gladiatorial arena.
Although he had already cleared the fiftieth floor, he was not in a hurry to step into the teleportation array leading to the next floor.
That wave just now summoned 17,000 Snake Guards, and his mana value had hit rock bottom.
The CDs of the shadow dancer ring and Light of Concealment were both ten minutes, and both were currently on cooldown.
Before knowing what perverted mechanics he would encounter on the fifty-first floor, he had to max out his status.
Time passed minute by minute.
Ten minutes later.
All skills finished cooling down.
The mana value was restored to full under the effect of the potion.
Su Chen stood up, patted the dust off his magic robe, took a deep breath, and stepped into the portal.
"Let me see what tricks can still be played after the fiftieth floor."
...
The scene before his eyes changed for a while.
The space of the fifty-first floor was no longer a gladiatorial arena, but a bright circular hall.
Gold patterns were embedded on the white ground, and above the dome was an inverted sea of stars.
Countless light spots slowly flowed, casting a bright luster.
Su Chen quickly discovered the monsters on this floor.
A group of tall humanoid creatures wearing holy armor and holding glowing greatswords.
[Spacetime Guardian (Elite Monster)]
[Level: 36]
[Strength: 2400]
[Agility: 2000]
[Physique: 2500]
[Spirit: 2100]
[Skills: Spacetime Body, Chaos Strike, Stun Strike, Feather Blade Storm]
[Feather Blade Storm (Active): Fires dozens of light feathers, tracking enemies and exploding upon hit, causing physical damage equal to Strength * 2 and light-attribute magic damage equal to Spirit * 5.]
...
"!!!"
Seeing the attribute panel, Su Chen's eyes instantly widened round.
The attributes comprehensively broke through the 2000 mark. Although it wasn't the strongest among the monsters Su Chen had fought, it was definitely not weak either.
What shocked him the most was... the damage reduction probability of Spacetime Body further increased from 90% to 99%.
"Are you even human?!"
Su Chen couldn't hold it back and directly cursed out loud.
He felt that his blood pressure was rising in a straight line.
A 90% damage reduction had already made him feel extremely sick of fighting, requiring a massive amount of Snake Guards to stack attack frequency just to barely scratch the monster's skin.
Now it was directly maxed out to 99%?
In other words, out of a hundred attacks, ninety-nine times were invalid!
Isn't this acting like a hooligan?
"No... how on earth did other people clear this Heaven-Reaching Tower?"
Su Chen's mouth twitched.
Could anyone really clear it?
He found it a bit hard to imagine how those senior brothers and sisters had cleared it.
Could there be someone even more monstrous than him?
Moreover.
Song Xin had said that Lu Qingyan had just cleared the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
"As a Temple Knight, what did she rely on to get through? Could it be relying on shield bashing, gambling on that 1% probability one strike at a time?"
"Or is there some special mechanism in this Heaven-Reaching Tower that I don't know about?"
Su Chen felt that his whole person was not well.
"Hum—"
Before he finished complaining.
Hundreds of Spacetime Guardians had already discovered Su Chen.
They simultaneously pulled out their glowing greatswords, unfolded the wings behind them, and their entire bodies radiated a holy glow.
"Intruders, die!"
As the words fell.
They turned into streaks of light and rushed rapidly towards Su Chen.
"Tch."
Su Chen clicked his tongue, and the staff in his hand heavily pounded the ground.
"Corrosive Snake Guard!"
"Boom boom boom!"
17,000 green phantom poisonous snakes instantly burst out of the ground, directly filling the wide space.
"Sizzling sizzling!"
Venom sprayed out like raindrops.
However.
"- Immunity"
"- Immunity"
"- Immunity"
"..."
Gray text filling the entire screen rose like a waterfall above the heads of the monster group.
A wave of focused fire.
Only a sparse dozen or so monsters had green Poisonmarks pop up on their bodies.
Even if Poison was applied.
Most of the damage from Poison ticking per second was also immunized.
Su Chen's mouth twitched for a moment.
"This is simply torture..."
He quickly calculated in his mind.
The Snake Guard's attack frequency was once every 1.5 seconds.
The survival time was only 30 seconds.
In other words, a Snake Guard could only attack a maximum of 20 times in its lifetime.
Furthermore.
The Snake Guards' range was limited.
Although many were summoned, only a few thousand could attack each time.
Calculated down... after a wave of focused fire, less than one-tenth of the enemies had Poison applied.
"Furthermore, after Poison is applied, it can only tick 20 times, and it needs an average of 100 ticks to Poisonsomeone to death..."
Su Chen was speechless.
If Poison wasn't triggered, he had to re-apply the Poison.
To re-apply the Poison, he had to go gamble on that 1% hit rate again.
And the Snake Guard would disappear in 30 seconds; once they disappeared, he had to consume mana to summon them again.
This was a hopeless vicious cycle.
"WTF, how can there be such a disgusting dungeon?"
Su Chen sighed.
The advancement speed was forced to press the pause button.
However.
The IQ of these Spacetime Guardians didn't seem very high, and they fought with the Snake Guards with great delight.
Su Chen simply sat down on the spot, took out a mana potion, and chugged it.
"Come on, let's see who exhausts who to death first!"
Chapter 98: Legendary Pharmacist, Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan!
From the fifty-first floor to the fifty-ninth floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
Su Chen's advancement speed completely slowed down to a snail's pace.
To avoid completely draining his blue bar, he no longer dared to summon seventeen thousand Snake Guards at once like before.
"Corrosive Snake Guard."
Su Chen hid in the shadows of the platform, gently tapping the ground with his staff.
Ten thousand green phantom vipers burst out of the ground, spitting venom at the distant wandering monsters.
After a wave of spitting, the vast majority of the damage remained a full screen of gray "- Immunity".
When he was lucky, he could afflict dozens of monsters with a layer of [Poison].
Twenty seconds after the Poison finished ticking, one-fifth of the monsters were still not dead.
Su Chen sighed, continued to chug mana potions, and waited for his mana to recover.
"There is definitely something wrong with this mechanic."
Looking at his slowly rising mana value, he grew even more puzzled.
Aside from a pervert like him, could anyone actually clear this?
Just like that.
Summoning only ten thousand Snake Guards each time, he slowly chipped away at them relying on potions.
On average, it took over ten minutes to strenuously clear a floor's monsters.
This fighting style was excruciatingly boring.
When the portal on the sixtieth floor lit up, Su Chenglanced at the time.
Almost two hours had passed since he entered the fifty-first floor.
"Finally reached the boss floor. Next... should be the final floor, right?"
Su Chen chugged another mana potion.
Logically speaking, the immunity probability of the monsters' Spacetime Body had already been maxed out.
Going any higher, would it reach 100%?
This Heaven-Reaching Tower... surely it couldn't be so unreasonable, right?
He took a deep breath and walked in.
...
"Hum——"
The scene before his eyes changed once again.
The space on the sixtieth floor was no longer a platform under a dome.
All around was a brilliant, vast starry river, and soft starlight permeated from all directions.
In the center of the dungeon stood a plump young man wearing robes.
"He should be the boss of this floor. I wonder whose projection this will be."
Su Chen cast Scouting Spell.
[Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan (Epic Boss)]
[Identity: 69th Graduate of China Sky Dome Academy / Guardian of the Sixtieth Floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower]
[Profession: Arcane Alchemist (S-Level Hidden Lifestyle Profession)]
[Level: Epic]
[Level: Level 45]
[Strength: 140]
[Agility: 180]
[Constitution: 100]
[Spirit: 5480]
[Skills: Living Potion, Destined Harmonization, Multiple Harmonization, Spacetime Body...]
...
[Living Potion (Active): Imparts activation characteristics to a certain potion, allowing it to move with an infinite duration.]
[Destined Harmonization (Passive): When harmonizing potions, there is a probability of producing a higher-grade potion and a probability of not consuming any materials.]
[Multiple Harmonization (Passive): When harmonizing potions, there is a probability of producing an extra bottle of potion.]
...
"!!!"
Su Chen's eyelids twitched.
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan... This name was extremely well-known.
China's legendary alchemist, the current president of the Professionals Chamber of Commerce.
The potions he brewed were hard to come by.
A few days ago, Lin Shiqing even stole a Double EXP Pill from him.
Su Chen did not expect that he was also a student of Sky Dome Academy.
Although Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan was only a lifestyle profession, if anyone dared to look down upon him, they probably wouldn't even know how they died.
His stat panel fit the identity of an alchemist very well.
His other attributes were utterly mediocre, with only his Spirit value being exceptionally high.
Clearly, he had allocated all points into Spirit.
As for his three skills, they were likewise very special.
"Make potions come to life?"
Su Chen looked at the introduction of Living Potion and was slightly dazed.
The latter two potion harmonization skills were easy to understand, but what did it mean to make potions come to life?
Su Chen couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
His expression turned solemn.
This time, he was fighting a true powerhouse!
"Corrosive Snake Guard!"
Su Chen did not dare to hold back anymore; seventeen thousand Snake Guards instantly filled more than half of the space.
Dense venom was sprayed toward Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's projection.
However.
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's projection did not mindlessly charge like the previous monsters, nor did it release any world-destroying ultimate skills.
He simply stood in place and gently waved his right hand.
Over a dozen test tubes of various colors flew out of his backpack and smashed heavily onto the ground.
"Clack, clack, clack!"
The sound of shattering glass rang out one after another.
But bizarrely, those liquid potions did not seep into the ground; instead, as if they possessed life, they quickly squirmed and expanded.
A bottle of dark red [Explosive Potion] twisted a few times on the ground.
A few seconds later.
It actually turned into a bizarre creature standing two meters tall with flames burning all over its body!
It let out a roar, blocking directly in front of Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan.
"– Immunity"
"– Immunity"
"..."
The flame creature's massive body was like a solid wall of flesh, blocking all the venom!
Even more outrageous things were yet to come.
After a bottle of green [Advanced Health Recovery Potion] shattered, it transformed into a translucent green slime.
This slime had no attacks and leisurely wandered around the arena.
With every step it took, a circle of green ripples spread out around it.
"+5000"
"+5000"
Within the range.
Above the heads of all those strange potion creatures, as well as Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan himself, large green health recovery numbers instantly popped up.
Seeing this scene, Su Chen was completely dumbfounded.
"Holy shit!"
He couldn't help but curse.
"Is this fucking alchemist or a summoner? Potions turning into creatures and standing up to beat people? And they can even be used as priests?!"
This completely subverted his understanding of lifestyle professions.
Generally speaking.
Potions were just consumables; you drank them to add buffs or recover health.
But now, they had directly turned into minions with solid collision volumes!
Not only could they block damage, but they could also move and recover health. This mechanic was simply shameless to the extreme!
At this moment.
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's projection did not stop moving.
Standing behind the protection layers of living potions, he pulled out a small alchemy bench from his robe with his left hand and placed it directly on the ground.
Then, he began methodically tossing materials into it.
"Glug, glug..."
Accompanied by the triggering of the two passives, [Destined Harmonization] and [Multiple Harmonization].
Bottle after bottle of new potions were refined.
Then.
They were casually tossed onto the ground by him, transforming into new living creatures.
The Poison potion transformed into a purple giant python.
The deceleration potion turned into a blue ice crystal monster.
The shield potion turned into a tall Malphite, and like the red potion, it could provide shields to everyone within range.
In less than ten seconds.
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan had summoned a small army.
Even more outrageous was that...
these bizarre creatures could similarly enjoy the 99% damage reduction probability of the Spacetime Body!
Chapter 99 Abyss Awakening Activated, The Power of the Heaven-Reaching Tower!
"No... is this even human?"
Su Chen hid in a dimly starlight-dim corner, watching the chubby figure continuously throwing potion bottles in the center of the dungeon, his eye twitching wildly.
"You're telling me this is a lifestyle profession?"
He had truly opened his eyes.
He originally thought Lu Feng and Lu Qingqing on the fiftieth floor were already tricky enough.
But compared to this Professionals Chamber of Commercepresident before him, those two were simply endearingly naive.
"As expected, what the textbook wrote is correct. Not a single one of these older-generation powerhouses who left behind resounding reputations in history is an easy person to deal with!"
Su Chen muttered in complaint, chugging a mouthful of mana potion.
At the same time.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh——!"
Dense venom poured down like a torrential rain onto those bizarre potion creatures.
However.
A series of System prompts popped up.
"- Immunity"
"- Immunity"
"- Immunity"
"..."
Those creatures mutated from potions could similarly enjoy the 99% damage immunity probability of the space-time body!
On the rare occasion when luck was good and the Poisonstatus was applied.
"- Immunity!"
"..."
The damage of Poison likewise needed to break through the 99% immunity probability.
What shocked Su Chen was that his speed in clearing these potion creatures actually couldn't even compare to Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's refining speed!
"Ding!"
[Prompt: Guardian Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan triggered Destined Harmonization!]
"Ding!"
[Prompt: Guardian Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan triggered Multiple Harmonization!]
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's hands turned into a blur on the small alchemy platform.
Bottle after bottle of potions were casually smashed onto the ground by him like throwing away garbage.
Throughout the entire dungeon, the number of living potion liquids not only didn't decrease, but instead grew more and more.
Densely protecting Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's true body tightly in the very center.
"Is this right?"
Su Chen watched blankly as Alchemy Master Jin Buhuantriggered a certain skill, brewing several bottles of potions without using any materials.
This wasn't scientific!
What happened to the promised law of conservation of mass?
"What the f*ck, even Grandpa Niu would be scared to cry if he came here—no wait, this world doesn't belong to Grandpa Niu's jurisdiction."
Just at this moment.
On Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's alchemy platform, an extremely dazzling purple-gold light suddenly erupted!
This light even suppressed the surrounding starlight.
[Prompt: Guardian Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan triggered the Destined Harmonization limit probability, successfully refining Advanced Berserk Potion (Epic Grade)!]
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's projection expressionlessly picked up that bottle of purple potion radiating terrifying fluctuations, and casually smashed it onto the ground.
"Clack!"
The glass shattered.
The purple potion liquid wildly expanded and rose like boiling magma.
In just a few short seconds.
A terrifying creature nearly five meters tall, its entire body covered in purple muscle lumps, directly tore through the wrapping of the potion liquid and let out a deafening roar!
"Roar——!"
[Berserk Beast (Dark Gold Grade BOSS)]
[Grade: Dark Gold Grade]
[Level: Level 40]
[Strength: 3140]
[Agility: 3180]
[Constitution: 3100]
[Spirit: 2100]
[Skills: Living Creature, Potion Concordance, Berserk Pulse...]
...
Su Chen looked at the monster with the Dark Gold Grade BOSS halo on top of its head, completely dumbfounded.
"???"
He slowly typed out a giant question mark.
"Epic grade potions thrown out, and it directly turns into a Dark Gold Grade BOSS?!"
Su Chen was startled.
A BOSS summoning a BOSS was something he was seeing for the first time.
"Fine. Comparing who's more perverted, right? Let's see who is more perverted."
Su Chen took a deep breath, his gaze turning extremely icy.
"Abyss Awakening!"
"Hum——!"
A purple-black mist thick to the extreme instantly enveloped Su Chen's entire body.
His eyes turned pure pitch black.
A row of blood-red prompts instantly refreshed on the System panel.
[Prompt: Skill Abyss Awakening has been activated.]
"120 seconds is enough."
Su Chen felt the surging power within his body, a smile pulling at his face shrouded by the black mist.
Under the Abyss Awakening state, all attributes were increased by 100%, and skill cooldowns were reduced by 90%.
"Corrosive Snake Guard!"
The staff struck heavily against the ground.
The original 30-second cooldown time, under the blessing of 90% cooldown reduction, became a mere 3 seconds!
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Over seventeen thousand Snake Guards burst out from the earth!
3 seconds later.
"Again!"
Another seventeen thousand Snake Guards rose from the ground!
Su Chen's mana points were pouring out frantically, but he didn't care at all.
In less than ten short seconds.
The entire dungeon space of the sixtieth floor was almost completely filled by green phantom poisonous snakes!
Over fifty thousand Corrosive Snake Guards formed a true sense of a dead Poison forest!
"Sizzlesizzlesizzle——!"
Innumerable amounts of venom, like a green tsunami, submerged toward Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan and his potion army in the center of the field!
Quantitative change finally caused qualitative change.
Even though the space-time body had 99% damage immunity.
But under this ten-thousand-unit scale saturation attack, that 1% hit probability was infinitely magnified.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh——!"
Green skull marks began to frantically light up above the heads of those living potion liquids.
The Poison status was instantly stacked to the max!
"- Immunity!"
"- Immunity!"
"- 250208112!"
"- Immunity!"
...
Damage numbers filling the screen began to jump.
The vast majority were still immunity, but occasionally when a number popped out, it was over 200 million!
Although that green health-recovering slime monster was still struggling to ripple, the '+ 5000' healing amount completely became a drop in the bucket.
"Roar..."
That Dark Gold Grade BOSS Titan Berserk Beast, which had just been majestic and awe-inspiring, didn't even touch a corner of Su Chen's clothes before its health bar was emptied under the baptism of the dense venom, collapsing with a crash and turning into a puddle of green pus.
The other living potion liquids also vanished in large swaths like harvested wheat.
The defense line was instantly torn apart!
The dense venom crossed the defense line and finally landed accurately on Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's projection.
The [Poison] status took effect!
The next second.
The Poison DOT damage began to pop out.
"- Immunity!"
"- Immunity!"
"- 250236616!"
...
It popped out!
Su Chen stared intently at the health bar above Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's head.
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's health bar... actually didn't move an inch!
Just at the moment when that true damage of over 200 million points was about to deduct health points.
Above Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's projection, a huge golden abacus phantom suddenly emerged.
The beads on the abacus frantically rattled, emitting a crisp colliding sound.
Immediately after.
A money bag at Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's waist burst apart with a bang.
Countless golden coins gushed out like a waterfall, turning into a golden barrier that forcefully blocked that green poisonous gas outside his body!
[Prompt: Guardian Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan triggered the hidden passive skill [Dispersing Wealth to Avert Disaster]!]
[Dispersing Wealth to Avert Disaster (Hidden Passive): When taking damage sufficient to deduct health points, forcibly consume carried gold coins to offset it. Offset ratio: 1 gold coin offsets 1 point of damage.]
[Prompt: Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan consumed 250236616 gold coins, successfully offsetting this Poisondamage!]
...
"???"
Su Chen looked at the System prompt, his eyes widening as large as copper bells.
"F*ck!"
He directly cursed.
There was even a skill like this?
He had seen tanking damage relying on shields, tanking damage relying on lifesteal, and even seen relying on eating allies to recover health.
But this was his motherf*cking first time seeing someone directly deduct bank savings to tank damage!
This was simply writing the three words 'Banknote Almighty Power' directly on his face!
"Doesn't that mean... as long as Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's money isn't used up, he completely won't die?"
"No wonder he didn't add any points into Constitution at all. With a perverted skill like this, I wouldn't add points either."
Su Chen had a painful expression.
He glanced at Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's bulging money bag, which seemed to contain a different-dimensional space.
Ghost knows how much money this future largest Professionals Chamber of Commerce president of Huaguo actually brought on his projection!
And at this time.
Because of the existence of the Heaven-Reaching Tower's damage immunity mechanism, within the subsequent few seconds, the Poison attack was once again judged as "- Immunity".
"Fine, you want to smash me with money, right?"
Su Chen raised his staff, a trace of ferocity flashing through his pitch-black eyes.
"I want to see just how deep your wallet goes, you dead fatty!"
Damage of over 200 million gold coins per tick, he could block it.
Then what if twenty ticks of damage were instantly detonated?!
Even if Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan would be the Chamber of Commerce president in the future, at Level 45, he was still just a student.
How much money could he possibly have?
Su Chen clenched hard toward Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan.
"Myriad Poison Explosion!"
Under the Abyss Awakening state, the 15-second cooldown of [Myriad Poison Explosion] now only needed 1.5 seconds!
"Bang!"
A muffled sound came from within Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's body.
"- Immunity"
It didn't hit.
"Again!"
Su Chen stood in the center of the dense Snake Guards, continuing to cast skills.
1.5 seconds later.
"Myriad Poison Explosion!"
"- Immunity"
"Again!"
"Myriad Poison Explosion!"
"- Immunity"
...
The time of Abyss Awakening ticked away second by second.
Su Chen's heartbeat also grew faster and faster.
This feeling of gambling his life made his adrenaline surge.
It felt like returning to gacha rolling in his past life.
"The last twenty seconds!"
Su Chen glanced at the status bar, biting his teeth tight.
"I refuse to believe this, Myriad Poison Explosion!!"
"Bang——Boom!!!"
This time.
There was no gray text.
A huge, terrifying damage number directly filled Su Chen's vision!
"- 5004732320!"
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's projection, which was still leisurely taking out potion bottles, abruptly stiffened its movements.
The huge abacus phantom above his head emitted an unbearable wail, its beads frantically sliding, even sparking fire.
"Clatter-clatter-clatter——!"
Countless gold coins spewed out wildly from his body, attempting to fill that terrifying damage gap.
One hundred million!
Two hundred million!
Three hundred million!
Four hundred million...
When the gold coins spewed to the 1.3 billionth, the money bag at Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's waist completely shriveled down.
"Crack!"
The abacus phantom shattered with a crash!
[Prompt: Guardian Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's gold coins are exhausted, [Dispersing Wealth to Avert Disaster] status is lifted!]
Losing the protection of gold coins, the violent toxin explosion directly detonated from within his body.
Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan's chubby physique was instantly torn into countless dots of light!
[Prompt: Successfully killed Level 45 Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan (Space-Time Projection), gained 45000000 experience points!]
[Prompt: Successfully cleared the sixtieth floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower.]
[Prompt: You have successfully cleared the Heaven-Reaching Tower (Normal Grade), dungeon progress has been reset.]
Along with the System prompt sound ringing out.
The black mist on Su Chen's body dissipated at the same time.
The [Abyss Awakening] state ended, and a 90% all-attribute reduction penalty instantly descended.
"Thud."
Su Chen's legs softened, and he directly slumped down onto the floor of the Galaxy Laboratory, panting heavily.
His complexion was listless, looking as if he had stayed up late for three consecutive days and forcibly took off a few times.
Thirty seconds later.
The phantom shadows of the Snake Guards all over the field also dissipated accordingly, and the entire space restored dead silence once more.
"Damn..."
Su Chen wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, looking at the place where Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan disappeared with lingering fear.
"This old thing almost managed to smash me to death with money."
This skill mechanic was simply frenzied and inhuman.
This Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan... when he was Level 45, he was merely a student of Sky Dome Academy, yet he actually carried 1.3 billion gold coins?
Does he have any shame left?
If it weren't for Abyss Awakening reducing the cooldown by 90%, Su Chen might have also been able to slowly grind him to death, but the process would have become agonizing.
Switch to any other professional, even an SS-grade hidden class, and they would definitely be worn to death by this fatty using money.
"Hoo..."
Su Chen let out a breath.
His gaze fell upon those glowing light clusters left on the ground after Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan disappeared, radiating dense light.
Among them, the most dazzling one was a bizarre crystal radiating multi-colored luster.
The corners of his mouth finally couldn't help but crack open into a huge arc.
"Fought for so long, if you don't drop me some good stuff, it wouldn't make sense, right?"
Su Chen calmed his breathing, walked over, and casually scooped.
[Prompt: Obtained spacetime core (Rare materials) * 10.]
[Prompt: Obtained Temporal Chapter Fragment (Epic Grade Item) * 1.]
...
Directly dropped ten spacetime cores.
Su Chen packed them into his backpack and checked the other special trophy.
A kind of colorful, irregular crystal.
[Temporal Chapter Fragment]
[Grade: Epic Grade]
[Usage Requirement: Below Level 40]
[Effect: After use, triggers Time Reversal, reducing the professional's current professional Level by 1 level (minimum not lower than Level 1).]
[Note: After the Level drops, all attribute points obtained through leveling up are completely retained and are not affected by Level reduction; learned skills will not be forgotten; equipped items ignore Level restrictions and will not be forcibly unequipped or invalidated due to Leveldrops. Can only be used 40 times in a lifetime.]
...
Su Chen: "!!!"
He stared fixedly at those few lines of System prompts, even pausing his breath for half a beat.
Level reduced by 1 level, but attribute points are retained?!
What did this mean?
This meant that if he dropped from Level 26 back to Level25 right now, all his attribute points from Level 26 would still be there.
Then.
Rising back up to Level 26, he could get another set of leveling attribute points for free!
And it could be used 40 times in a lifetime!
"This is simply... too shameless."
Su Chen swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
You must know, everyone's attribute points in a lifetime were limited.
Maxing out at one hundred transitions, the fixed attribute points and free attribute points one could obtain were a dead number that could be calculated.
But this [Temporal Chapter Fragment] could allow a person to conjure out of thin air a massive amount of attribute points equivalent to a full forty levels!
Forty levels!
This was equivalent to forcibly having a huge chunk of base attributes more than people of the same level!
"What is leveling up for? Isn't it just for attribute points?"
"No wonder Sky Dome Academy is so formidable, able to steadily sit in the chair of Huaguo's number one institution of higher learning for decades."
"Forcibly having 40 levels more of attribute points than everyone else, who could ever compete with you?"
...
Su Chen finally understood the true value of this Heaven-Reaching Tower.
No wonder Elder Zhan, Vice Principal Lin Xiaotian, and a host of other bigshots held the Heaven-Reaching Tower in such high regard.
It was completely cheating!
Chapter 100 Breaking Records! An Unknown Hidden Floor!
Outside the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
The blue transistors representing the floor numbers surged all the way up.
From the twenty-second floor, to the thirtieth floor, and then to the fortieth floor...
Every single jump was like a heavy hammer, fiercely smashing against the nerves of the group of junior and senior students outside the tower.
Old Zhang was no longer speaking.
That female student holding a staff had also stopped shivering.
The bespectacled senior simply sat directly on the steps of the square, staring blankly at the display screen in mid-air.
"It is simply too shameless..."
It was unknown who broke the dead silence with an extremely weak voice.
"This climbing speed... Did he get stuck with some bug in the tower? This completely defies data logic."
"The monster damage immunity on the fortieth floor has already reached 90%, how on earth was he able to clear it in three minutes? How on earth?"
"..."
No one answered.
Because no one could explain everything happening right before their eyes.
Time passed.
As the blue light representing the "forty-ninth floor" went out, the transistor display emitted a low humming sound.
At the very top of the display screen.
That gigantic red transistor representing the "fiftieth floor" suddenly lit up!
Everyone's breathing stagnated at this very moment.
"It's the fiftieth floor."
Old Zhang's voice was dry.
That was the final floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
It was also the nightmare in the hearts of all top students at Sky Dome Academy.
Time ticked away second by second.
Ten minutes.
Half an hour.
One hour...
The red transistor remained lit, neither extinguishing nor popping up a clearance notification.
Until nearly two hours had passed did the originally dead atmosphere in the square liven up slightly.
"Huu... It seems he got stuck on the fiftieth floor."
The bespectacled senior let out a long breath, "This is more like it! Among the previous BOSS floors, there wasn't a single one where he stayed for a full three minutes."
Old Zhang nodded deeply, the expression on his face finally relaxing a bit.
"Indeed. The guardians of the fiftieth floor... Those are projections of the Lu family siblings! The dual-class combination of the Thunderstorm Sword Saint and the Shadow Ranger!"
Old Zhang pointed at the red transistor, his tone carrying deep apprehension.
"The combo mechanic of that pair of siblings is simply unsolvable. The Shadow Ranger is responsible for peripheral damage and containment, while the Thunderstorm Sword Saint is responsible for burst damage in close quarters. Furthermore, the siblings have perfect synergy and high combat intelligence, so if you aren't careful, you'll capsize in a gutter!"
The female student also chimed in with lingering fear: "I remember back then when the senior who was the chief assassin of the fourth year went to challenge it, he couldn't even cast invisibility right after entering the arena before being directly killed in one combo by the Lu family siblings. For him to last for nearly two hours... is already extremely strong."
"However, it should be reaching the limit."
Old Zhang made the final judgment, "Facing the endless consumption of the dual BOSSes, he won't be able to hold on. He's probably going to be forcibly teleported out immediately."
They analyzed it as a matter of course.
The Lu family siblings... were notoriously difficult to fight.
Both of them had extremely high burst damage and survival skills.
Especially the Shadow Ranger's flare, which could allow both of them to enter a 100% evasion shadow state.
If there were no life-saving means, 15 seconds would be enough for the two of them to chop the challenger into minced meat.
Right at this moment.
"Hum—"
The pristine white portal at the bottom of the Heaven-Reaching Tower suddenly erupted with a strong white light.
Space distorted slightly.
A figure walked out from the white light.
It was precisely Su Chen.
He looked dispirited overall, with a pale complexion and eyes filled with unsuppressable fatigue.
"No way, this time I'm really a bit drained..."
Su Chen muttered softly while rubbing his throbbing temples.
The moment he raised his head, his actions froze.
Outside the teleportation array.
Old Zhang, the magical-class female student, the bespectacled senior, and those few sporadic junior and senior students around were staring at him fixedly as if looking at an alien.
In more than a dozen pairs of eyes, the gazes looked like they were looking at a pervert.
Su Chen was somewhat dazed by this lineup.
No.
He was just clearing a dungeon, how come there were so, so, so many people again?
Don't these upperclassmen need to attend classes or farm monsters?
He patted the dust off his body, not yet having time to speak.
"Boom!"
The transistor display behind him suddenly erupted with a dazzling golden light!
A line of huge text slowly emerged in mid-air.
[The latest clearance record of the Heaven-Reaching Tower has been refreshed!]
[Challenger: Su Chen]
[Total time spent: 2 hours 14 minutes 36 seconds]
Old Zhang gasped a breath of cold air, almost biting off his tongue.
The female student covered her mouth.
"It... It was broken..."
Old Zhang pointed tremblingly at the golden characters in mid-air, his speech no longer fluent: "The fastest clearance record in the academy's century-long history... was broken by a freshman?!"
The students who had originally just come to watch the tower-climbing spectacle completely exploded into an uproar at this moment.
Looking at the expressions of the people around them who looked like they were about to faint, Su Chen blinked his eyes.
"Ah?"
He glanced at the golden characters in mid-air and was also somewhat dazed: "This broke it just like that?"
After reaching the 50th floor, a single floor required over ten minutes.
He had even thought... his tower-clearing speed was already very slow.
Who would have thought that it could actually be considered fast?
Su Chen's taken-for-granted appearance made Old Zhang and the others feel as if a large boulder was blocking their chests.
What do you mean by "it broke it just like that"?
Do you even know what you've done?!
For them, being able to clear the Heaven-Reaching Towerbefore graduation was considered a success!
If a certain floor got stuck, they would fight it for several weeks or even months!
And the result?
Su Chen pierced right through it in just over two hours!
A hot-tempered warrior senior finally couldn't hold it in anymore; he rushed forward in a few steps and stared fixedly at Su Chen.
"Junior! How... how on earth did you do it?"
He asked loudly, "Those are the Lu family siblings! You, all by yourself, facing the pincers attack of the Thunderstorm Sword Saint and the Shadow Ranger, how did you clear it?"
The surrounding students immediately pricked up their ears, not even daring to breathe heavily, afraid of missing a single word.
"The Lu family siblings?"
Su Chen was stunned for a moment, recalling for a few seconds.
"Oh, you're talking about those two on the fiftieth floor."
Su Chen scratched his head, "They were alright. Although their attacks were very high and their skills were very strong, their health pools weren't very high. They weren't as hard to fight as Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan, right?"
The air suddenly fell silent.
The expression on Old Zhang's face froze.
The female student and the bespectacled senior looked at each other in dismay.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
"Al... Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan?"
Old Zhang stammered and repeated the name.
"What does Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan have to do with this?"
The warrior senior had a blank look on his face, "Isn't Alchemy Master Jin Buhuan the president of the Professionals Chamber of Commerce? Why would he be inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower?"
"Yeah, Junior, did you get too tired from fighting and start hallucinating?"
"Although President Jin is also an outstanding graduate of our school, the Heaven-Reaching Tower has nothing to do with him, right?"
"..."
Looking at this group of seniors with full of question marks in front of him, Su Chen also furrowed his brows.
He glanced at the entrance of the Heaven-Reaching Tower, and then glanced at this group of people.
"You guys..."
Su Chen pointed at the tower door, "You guys didn't fight past the 51st floor?"
A gust of wind blew across the square.
"51st floor?"
Old Zhang asked with a dumbfounded expression: "There are only 50 floors in this Heaven-Reaching Tower total, where did a 51st floor come from?!"