Chapter 25: The Second Round Begins

[Experience +1007]
[Experience +996]
[Experience +997]
...

The pleasant chime of earned experience echoed endlessly in the ears of the trio.

“No wonder this is a high-difficulty dungeon—the experience you get from these small mobs is really something.”

“Each one gives over three hundred experience, that’s as much as ten zombies combined.”

Song Qi, holding a handful of cards, sighed with emotion.

With the triple experience card activated, each blood thrall netted Song Qi nearly a thousand experience points.

However, for Wang Zihao and Gongsun Wuyue, each kill yielded just a little over three hundred.

“By now, the blood thralls in the castle’s main hall should be almost wiped out. Time to head in and loot the gear,” Gongsun Wuyue said, standing up and putting her cards down.

“Corpse Tide” was a special dungeon, not known for dropping loot.

But in “Crimson Blood Nest,” there was a chance of obtaining rare equipment or other items.

As the other two got ready to leave, Wang Zihao protested.

“Oh, come on! You two are just quitting because you’re about to lose, aren’t you?!”

“I still have a king bomb! And a straight flush! Even if you run, you owe me ten forehead flicks!”

Song Qi ignored him, turning to Gongsun Wuyue as if to discuss something more important.

“Hopefully, we can get one or two pieces of rare gear. Even if we can’t use them, we can sell them and buy something else at the market.”

Gongsun Wuyue nodded. “Actually, skill books are even better than equipment.”

“The drop rate for skill books is much lower, demand is higher, and the price is better, too.”

“Good point.”

They continued their discussion as they walked toward the castle, pretending not to hear Wang Zihao’s indignant shouts.

Seeing them getting farther away, Wang Zihao shot them both the finger behind their backs, then grudgingly gathered up the playing cards and hurried after them.

...

The three entered through the main doors.

By now, the blood thralls inside had been almost completely cleared out.

Occasionally, faint sounds drifted down from the rooftop, only to quickly fade away.

Each time, their experience bars inched up a little more.

Clearly, Lü Bu had swept the entire castle clean.

“There’s a staff here!”

As soon as they entered, Song Qi spotted something gleaming beside a blood thrall’s corpse.

He walked over, picked it up, and examined it.

[Weapon: Brand New Stainless Steel Staff]

[Quality: Common]

[Required Level: None]

[Required Attributes: Spirit 15, Constitution 10]

[Strength: +2]

[Agility: -1]

[Constitution: +1]

[Spirit: +5]

[Effect: Slightly enhances the power of fire spells.]

[Innate Skills: None]

[Review: A product of industry and magic combined. It’s not particularly powerful, but at least there are no side effects.]

“A staff. Do either of you want it?”

The other two glanced at it and immediately waved their hands in dismissal.

Wang Zihao scoffed, “A common staff? Better for you to keep it, Song. I’d rather spend a bit at the market than equip that.”

Gongsun Wuyue shook her head too. “I’m not considering anything below extraordinary grade for gear or skills at the moment.”

Song Qi laughed. “Alright, alright, you two are flush with cash, huh? In that case, I won’t be shy.”

With that, Song Qi stuffed the staff into his backpack.

Even a low-level, common piece of equipment could fetch two or three hundred credits on the market.

Selling a few of these would be enough for his family to buy a chicken for a feast.

For someone used to scraping by like Song Qi, this wasn’t a trivial windfall.

The three wandered around for a bit more and found a second piece of equipment in an upstairs room—a common apprentice hat, which Song Qi also pocketed.

After a while...

Boom!

The rooftop of the castle exploded.

A gigantic bat burst into the sky, shrieking so sharply it pierced the air, desperate to escape.

This was the last monster in the castle—the dungeon boss, Baron William.

But in this moment, the figure who had always seemed elegant and dangerous to the players now looked utterly wretched.

His body was covered with deep wounds, bones showing through in places. His eyes were wild with terror and unease.

Without a backward glance, he fled toward the distant cape.

“Going somewhere?!”

Lü Bu shouted in fury, bounding after him.

His halberd, the Sky Piercer, flashed with a chilling silver light, tracing an arc through the air. A blade of silver sliced through the bat’s body.

Rip!

The sound was like fabric tearing as Baron William was bisected diagonally from neck to lower limbs.

Splash! Splash!

The remains tumbled into the sea with a great spray.

And then...

[Experience +10034]

[Ding!]

[Congratulations on clearing the dungeon!]

[Calculating your dungeon rewards...]

[Congratulations! You eliminated more than 100% of the monsters in this run! Your completion time surpasses 95% of challengers. Overall evaluation for this run: S-rank!]

[Congratulations! Based on your evaluation, you’ve earned: Credits +1000!]

[Credits will be automatically deposited into your account within three business days. In case of discrepancies, please inquire at the Professional’s Hall.]

[Keep up the good work, and strive for even more outstanding records.]

Flash!

The three were ejected from the dungeon space and found themselves back on the plaza.

“Let’s see... only ten thousand experience from ‘Crimson Blood Nest’?”

“If I want to advance to Intermediate Professional, wouldn’t I have to run this a few hundred times?”

“And this dungeon’s so tough, with hardly any loot drops. No wonder no one wants to grind it.”

Wang Zihao crunched the numbers on his panel and immediately concluded that this dungeon was garbage.

“I think the ‘Corpse Tide’ dungeon has spoiled you,” Gongsun Wuyue said, not surprised at all.

“This dungeon already gives one of the highest experience rewards outside of ‘Corpse Tide.’ Be grateful.”

“Otherwise, why do you think becoming an Intermediate Professional within half a year is recognized as a sign of genius?”

“Leveling up as a Professional is as hard as climbing to the heavens!”

“The higher you go, the harder it is to gain levels. The gap in experience requirements becomes an unbridgeable chasm.”

“Of course...” As she spoke, Gongsun Wuyue shot a complicated look at Song Qi.

“With one exception.”

She still couldn’t figure out what Song Qi’s talent actually was.

How could he level up at such a monstrous pace?

And more importantly, his summoned spirit was outrageously powerful!

While there was some luck involved in the strength of one’s summoned spirit, she knew well that luck was only part of the equation.

Wang Zihao, standing beside her, felt much the same.

“Yeah, Song, your leveling speed is just absurd.”

“For someone else, reaching Intermediate in half a year would already mark them as a genius.”

“But for Song?”

“I bet he’ll break through in a month.”

Song Qi shrugged and said nothing, checking his own panel instead.

[Triple Experience Card: 00:31:29]

He still had half an hour left on the triple experience card.

In other words, that dungeon run had taken about twenty minutes.

“But that was our first time in the castle,” Song Qi thought. “Lü Bu wasn’t familiar with the layout, and the blood thralls had some intelligence—they tried to run.”

“Most of the time was spent hunting them down.”

“If we run it again, we should be able to finish quicker. With luck, we can clear it twice more before the boost ends.”

Nodding to himself, Song Qi glanced at the time. It was still midday, with plenty of time before their meeting with the City Lord.

He looked at his two companions.

“Ready? ‘Crimson Blood Nest,’ round two...”

“Begin!”