Chapter 8 : Chapter 8
Chapter 8: A Hell-Difficulty Dungeon That Cannot Be Cleared? Shadow Squirrel!
Linyuan City, the City Lord’s Mansion.
“What did you just say?”
“There is a malfunction in the War Academy’s Novice Dungeon?”
“You have got to be kidding! I built that thing myself!”
“It was made with top-tier items dropped from the Abyss, and it contains the power of laws!”
“What do you think it is, some old television that just breaks down?”
“What? A freshly awakened Summoner, with no equipment and at best a Rare-grade summoned beast, entered the Hell difficulty alone and still has not come out after two hours?”
“Hiss...”
Linyuan City’s City Lord, the “Hunter King” Wan Feipeng, fell into deep thought.
A trace of bewilderment appeared on the face marked by a few faint scars beneath his messy dark-brown curls.
“It has already been more than two hours.”
The City Lord’s assistant, who had just finished reporting the situation, added another sentence before making a guess.
“Could it be that he was hiding his strength?”
Wan Feipeng grinned. “If it were one of those second-generation kids from the advanced class, I might think the same.”
“But the regular class... what strength would they even have to hide?”
The assistant immediately understood. “So he is from the regular class...”
As Wan Feipeng got to his feet and prepared to leave, he muttered to himself, “Besides, when I designed Hell difficulty back then, my main goal was to knock some sense into those second-generation kids in the advanced class!”
“I wanted them to understand that there is always someone stronger, and just how terrifying the Fiends are!”
“So they would not get too full of themselves!”
The assistant understood at once.
Under those circumstances, how could anyone possibly clear it?
If someone really could clear it, then how would it serve to knock them down a peg?
“Then now...?”
“Now, hurry up and bring out all the items and materials in the warehouse that have repair effects.”
Wan Feipeng picked up the warehouse key and left the office.
“If the dungeon really does need to be repaired, then I will have to do it myself...”
...
Inside the dungeon, Ye Ze had absolutely no idea what was happening outside. On the contrary, he was farming monsters with remarkable ease.
Previously, his only concern had been getting ambushed and surrounded by magical beasts.
But now that he had the squirrel’s scouting ability, he would never run into enemies by surprise, much less get surrounded.
The squirrel mapped out enemy movements and lured them in.
With his overwhelmingly strong attributes, Panda could kill them one palm strike at a time even without using skills!
And if one palm was not enough, then two...
【Killed Thundercry Falcon. EXP +15】
【Killed Duskback Wolf x2. EXP +30】
【Killed Stonearmored Beast King x2. EXP +40!】
With enemies being slaughtered all the way through, the high-level magical beasts in the mountainside area fell without the slightest suspense.
The experience bar rose at an astonishing rate...
On top of that, quite a few of the spoils they had picked up along the way had been fed to Panda, giving him another seven or eight points in attributes.
“Little mouse, what did you find this time?”
Ye Ze looked at the little squirrel running over along the ground.
The squirrel stood upright with its tail raised in front of Ye Ze. In its left paw, it held a dagger, while in its right, it held up a small blue flower.
The dagger was a Fine-grade weapon that had just dropped, and Ye Ze had equipped it to the squirrel.
Still, given its size, a squirrel barely over thirty centimeters long looked a little mismatched even with a dagger in hand.
As for the little flower in its right paw, that actually surprised Ye Ze.
【Windchime Flower: Green-quality herb. Can store a small amount of wind-element power and can be used in alchemy.】
That was a good find!
Many plants had evolved under the influence of transcendent power, turning into all sorts of exotic flowers and rare herbs, each with different effects.
But inside a dungeon, they were scarce, so finding one was no easy matter.
Who would have thought that the squirrel’s tiny body could serve another purpose as well?
“Not bad, not bad.”
Ye Ze praised it once, then took the Windchime Flower and prepared to feed it to Panda.
“If equipment and skill books can be eaten, then surely a proper herb will not be a problem either!”
The Windchime Flower was so tiny that it was not even enough to get stuck between Panda’s teeth.
【You Are What You Eat! — Consumed ‘Windchime Flower.’ Gained: Speed +10, Wind Element Control +7%!】
“As expected, he really can eat anything!”
“It looks like once we get out of the dungeon, I can get Panda more herbs too...”
Ye Ze was still thinking about it when Panda suddenly charged forward and met a lone Duskback Wolf.
Perhaps it had slept through the pack’s assault, leaving it to appear here all by itself.
There was no suspense whatsoever. Panda killed it with a single palm strike.
【Killed Duskback Wolf. EXP +15!】
【Ding! Your level has risen to Level 3!】
【Attributes increased: Strength +3, Constitution +3, Agility +5, Spirit +10!】
【Free Attribute Points +5!】
【Talent — You have gained one draw chance for ‘Infinite Golden Traits’!】
“I can draw another Trait!”
Ye Ze rubbed his hands together excitedly.
The Level 5 magical beast area had already been almost completely cleared out, so there was no need to think it over. He drew immediately!
The familiar golden Trait frames filled the space around Ye Ze once more.
After last time, he had realized that besides random selection, he could also reach out and draw one himself.
It just depended on whether he trusted his own luck.
This time, Ye Ze stretched out both hands at once, trying to draw two out of the “sea of Traits” at the same time...
But in the end, only one Trait frame remained in his hand.
【You have drawn the golden Legendary-grade Trait: Shadow Master!】
【Shadow Master: Control shadows, become shadows, the assassin hidden within darkness.】
A pure combat-type Trait!
Ye Ze was overjoyed. It looked to be every bit as powerful as Taiji Grandmaster.
He thought for a moment. “Panda is suited for frontal combat, using softness to overcome hardness and borrowing force to return force.”
“But Shadow Master is more suited to an assassin role.”
Without hesitation, Ye Ze assigned this second Trait to the Dusktail Squirrel!
That way, he would have two gold-medal enforcers.
【Trait ‘Shadow Master’ successfully assigned!】
【Summoned Beast: Dusktail Squirrel (Green Fine) evolved → Shadow Squirrel (Orange Epic)!】
A second Epic-grade summoned beast!
Although it still lagged behind Panda in star rank, the squirrel had originally only been Fine-grade, yet it had crossed two full qualities and evolved straight into Epic!
That alone was enough to show just how powerful the Shadow Master Trait was!
At that moment, the little squirrel’s fur turned black as night, gleaming with a dim and ghostly luster.
Its bearing was completely different from before.
【Shadow Squirrel】
Quality: Orange Epic
Level: 3
Attributes: Strength 43, Constitution 38, Agility 49, Spirit 40
Talents: Enhanced Perception (Rare), Shadow Meld (Legendary)
Skills: Shadow Clone lv.8 (Legendary), Shadow Bind lv.8 (Epic), Shadow Assault lv.8 (Epic)
————
“My goodness, you really did not disappoint me!”
Three skills and one talent, with equally terrifying attributes.
Although all the skills were only Level 8, making them a little worse than the full max-level start of Taiji Grandmaster,
their effects were absolutely not weak!
Especially Shadow Clone, the skill Ye Ze had set his sights on the most!
【Shadow Clone: Consumes 20 mana to summon one shadow clone with 80% of the original body’s attributes. Lasts 4 hours. No cooldown!】
With the squirrel’s current 40 Spirit, it had 800 mana!
In theory, it could summon forty shadow clones at once, all with attributes not too far from its own!
How terrifying was that?
Of course, shadow clones could not cast Shadow Clone themselves.
Otherwise, things would get a little too absurd.
【Ding! Your summoned beast has gained tremendous growth and will feed back part of its attributes!】
【Your attributes have increased: Strength +8, Constitution +8, Agility +12, Spirit +8!】
Another round of attribute feedback.
Who could have imagined that Ye Ze, a Summoner, would end up with a Constitution almost on par with a Warrior of the same level?
A Level 3 Summoner with two Epic-grade summoned beasts!
No one would probably believe it even if it were said out loud.
His confidence soaring, Ye Ze led his panda and squirrel straight toward the final stage of the Hell-Difficulty Dungeon:
Secluded Valley!