Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Chapter 19: They Chose Nightmare Difficulty Because Nightmare Was the Highest Difficulty
“Wang Meng, Li Feng, stop talking.”
Chen Hongwei shook his head. “This truly is my dereliction of duty.”
He should have gone with Lin Yuan to the dungeon entrance and chosen the difficulty for him personally.
That way, the two of them would not have selected Nightmare Difficulty on a moment’s impulse.
More importantly, they were two class-holders with S-Rank talents. Looking across all of Xia Country, and even all of Blue Star, talent holders of S-Rank and above were exceedingly rare.
And yet today, two of them had supposedly died in a single stroke.
Being sent to serve on the front lines for ten years was already a very light punishment.
Tian Ye, captain of the Third Squad, was a fairly reasonable man.
He paid no mind to the words of the two teachers, nor did he press Chen Hongwei.
“You have one hour to pack your things.”
Tian Ye glanced at the time. “Do not think of running. You know what methods the Enforcement Squad has.”
“Of course I know.” Chen Hongwei let out a bitter smile.
The minimum requirement to become a member of the Enforcement Squad was to be a class-holder above Level 20 who had completed a class advancement mission.
As for Tian Ye, as the captain of the Third Squad, his level was as high as 37.
Chen Hongwei was only Level 17. There was nowhere for him to run.
“There’s no need to pack. I’ll go with you right now.”
Chen Hongwei was remarkably open about it.
Since he was being sent off to serve anyway, the worldly possessions in his home no longer mattered.
He could replace them when he came back.
If he could come back at all.
...
Just as the people from the Enforcement Squad were about to take Chen Hongwei away, a notification suddenly rang across the entire plaza.
【Congratulations to the team of Lin Yuan and Sun Xu for conquering Nightmare Difficulty Golden Fang Ruins in 42 minutes】
????
The first to react was Tian Ye.
They had actually cleared it.
Well then, the people above him were going to have a headache again.
The second to react was Chen Hongwei.
His face lit up with wild joy.
Wonderful. This meant he would not have to go serve at the Hive Fortress after all.
He might even become the Dean of Studies.
As for everyone else, they all shared the same thought:
Two people had actually cleared Nightmare Difficulty.
How had they done it?!
“My heavens, they actually cleared Nightmare Difficulty. I’m not hearing things, am I?”
Luo Qingqing’s teammates all stood there with their mouths hanging open in O-shapes, plainly shaken to the core.
Luo Qingqing herself was no exception.
Nightmare Difficulty was something she had never even considered.
Because it was not something meant for ordinary people to challenge at all.
Unless one could gather a team of five class-holders, all with SS-Rank talents, only then would a successful challenge even be possible.
And yet Lin Yuan, a Summoner, together with Sun Xu, a Priest,
had actually cleared Nightmare Difficulty Golden Fang Ruins.
And the clear time was even three minutes faster than their Beginner Difficulty run.
It was unbelievable.
When he emerged from the dungeon, Lin Yuan was met with the final settlement.
【Cleared Golden Fang Ruins (Nightmare Difficulty), Evolution Points +1600】
【This dungeon run: Killed Safety Technician Silver Fang (Third Rank Elite), Evolution Points +500; killed Combat Robot Annihilation 4000 (Third Rank Elite), Evolution Points +500; killed Kobold Leader Golden Fang (Third Rank Elite), Evolution Points +500】
【Battle duration: 42 minutes. Perfect Clear achieved, Evolution Points +500】
【Final reward for this dungeon run: Evolution Points +3600, EXP +10000】
That enormous amount of EXP raised Lin Yuan to Level 9 (7400/8000).
He was only the tiniest sliver of EXP away from Level 10, and the sight of it felt irritating no matter how he looked at it.
Lin Yuan had thought the notifications ended there, but to his surprise, it was not over yet.
【Perfect Clear triggered. The derivative dungeon Plain Mine has opened from Golden Fang Ruins】
A thunderous rumble followed, and a second portal appeared at the entrance to the Golden Fang Ruins.
“Not good. An unknown dungeon has appeared. Evacuate all teachers and students immediately!”
Tian Ye reacted at once and rushed to the dungeon entrance, ready to stop any monsters from emerging.
“There’s no need to panic. It’s only a resource dungeon. No monsters will appear.”
Lin Yuan lifted his head and called out to Tian Ye,
“This is Plain Mine. There are two hundred million tons of iron ore stored inside.”
“How much?” Tian Ye went blank for a moment. “Two... hundred million tons?!”
Half doubting and half believing, Tian Ye approached the dungeon entrance. Then a look of wild delight spread across his face, and he immediately contacted his superior—
namely, Liao Chen, the Commander of the Tianfeng City Enforcement Squad.
“Hello, Chief. Someone at No. 1 High School just achieved a Perfect Clear of Nightmare Difficulty Golden Fang Ruins, and a derivative sub-realm has appeared.”
“Yes, it’s iron ore. Two hundred million tons.”
“It’s absolutely true. Why would I lie to you?”
After hanging up, Tian Ye’s eyes shone brightly as he stared directly at Lin Yuan and Sun Xu.
“Let me introduce myself. I’m Tian Ye, captain of the Third Squad of the Tianfeng City Enforcement Squad.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”
After a simple handshake with Tian Ye, Lin Yuan asked in surprise,
“Captain Tian, doesn’t the Enforcement Squad usually handle crimes committed by class-holders? Why would you come to No. 1 High School?”
That question left Tian Ye speechless.
Why had he come?
Was it not all because of the two of them?
Because the two of them had made the decision to choose Nightmare Difficulty on their own, potentially causing the deaths of two S-Rank class-holders.
Their homeroom teacher had nearly been dragged off to serve at a Hive Fortress.
After briefly explaining the whole matter to Lin Yuan and Sun Xu, Lin Yuan laughed in disbelief.
“They were going to drag Old Chen off to serve just because of this?”
“And you think this is a small matter?” Tian Ye shot Lin Yuan a glance. “You two didn’t say a word before choosing it. The least you could have done was let people prepare themselves mentally.”
At that, a strange smile appeared in Lin Yuan’s eyes.
“Captain Tian, do you think the school would have agreed if I had told them I wanted to choose Nightmare Difficulty?”
“Well...” Tian Ye hesitated. “Probably not.”
“It’s not ‘probably not.’ It’s definitely not.” Lin Yuan said it with absolute certainty. “I’m a Summoner, a universally acknowledged bottom-tier class, and Sun Xu is a Priest with no offensive power at all. No matter how you look at it, we should not have been capable of clearing Nightmare Difficulty Golden Fang Ruins.”
“If I had gone to the school in advance and said I wanted to choose Nightmare Difficulty, I would definitely have been forbidden from entering the dungeon. Am I right?”
Tian Ye had no answer.
Because Lin Yuan was correct.
If Tian Ye himself had been the principal, he would have done the exact same thing.
“The reason I didn’t say anything wasn’t because I wanted to hide something.”
“It was because I didn’t think it was necessary.”
“For everyone else, Nightmare Difficulty is like a heavenly chasm. But for me, it’s the same as going back to my own home.”
“When you go home, do you need to notify other people?”
At the side, Sun Xu picked up the thread and added,
“Other people choose Normal Difficulty after clearing Beginner Difficulty because Normal is the highest difficulty they can challenge.”
“My Brother Lin chose Nightmare Difficulty because Nightmare is the highest difficulty there is.”
“Captain Tian, you understand, right?”
I understand?
I understand my ass.
Tian Ye kept a smile on his face, but inwardly he was furiously complaining.
Listen to them. Was this even human speech?
Entering a Nightmare Difficulty dungeon was like going back to his own home.
And the reason he chose Nightmare Difficulty was because Nightmare was the highest difficulty available.
Damn it, those two brats were even better at showing off than each other.
Why hadn’t I ever thought of lines that impressive back then?