Chapter 40: A Feast of Permanent Stats
Liam was stacking his health with great relish.
But right then, a second Frost-Wolf Lycan emerged.
It lunged straight for him.
Liam’s expression shifted. One-on-one was a breeze, but the appearance of a second Frost-Wolf Lycan changed the battlefield's rhythm.
He kept firing with Spiral-Draw Archery while mentally calculating if his Life-Steal could outpace the damage from a second attacker.
Slash! Slash!
The second Frost-Wolf Lycan closed the distance instantly, tearing into Liam with two rapid swipes.
-3,999
-3,999
True Damage!
Liam’s eyes narrowed.
-599
-599
...
Bleeding!
His pupils constricted. The Frost-Wolf Lycan’s basic attacks actually inflicted a Bleeding effect. Under normal circumstances, that was incredibly rare.
However, his Life-Steal was still holding the line. He wasn't afraid. Arrows continued to fly in a blurred frenzy as his max HP ticked upward, point by point.
Before long, a third Frost-Wolf Lycan joined the fray.
Liam knew he had reached his limit. The Lycans dealt True Damage and applied Bleed. Tanking one was manageable; tanking a pack was suicide.
Sure enough, Liam’s health bar began to plummet. Life-Steal alone couldn't keep him afloat anymore. His Attack Velocity was high, but the Frost-Wolf Lycans were just as fast. With the constant Bleeding and intermittent skill strikes, he couldn't maintain the kite.
But Liam didn't care. His max HP was climbing steadily. As for his level, he was only Level 1. Death carried no real penalty.
He managed to stack another five thousand HP before he finally went down under the Lycans' jagged claws.
The moment he died, Liam’s eyes widened in shock.
Something completely absurd was happening.
His stats had reset!
He was back to the exact attributes he had when he first entered the dungeon. The HP he had just spent so much effort stacking was gone!
This was terrifying.
Liam sucked in a sharp breath. His Innate Talent was Transcendent Grade. Even if it wasn't fully awakened and only functioned at a high Divine Grade level, it shouldn't be so easily suppressed by a dungeon.
"Temporal Reversal?"
Liam shook his head. That was unlikely. Rewinding time was a god-tier feat that even some deities couldn't manage.
If that wasn't it, there was only one other answer. This dungeon was semi-Divine Grade, pseudo-Divine Grade, or perhaps... a legacy left by a god!
If it were a Divine-Grade Dungeon, resetting his stats suddenly made sense. No matter how broken an Innate Talent was, it was still just a talent. In the context of his past life, having a Divine Grade Innate Talent meant you had the potential to become a god, but you were still worlds apart from an actual deity.
He had underestimated this place.
Furthermore, Liam realized his Death Cycle hadn't triggered even once. He knew why—it was likely the suppression of the Divine-Grade Dungeon combined with the Level Gap.
In Twilight of the Gods, the Level Gap didn't show up as a raw stat penalty, but it heavily influenced probability. For example, Liam’s Death Cycle had a 1% base rate. If he tried to fight a Level 50 boss while he was only Level 1, that 1% could drop to less than 0.01%. Combined with his low Luck stat, the odds were abysmal.
On top of that, the grade difference between him and the dungeon added another layer of suppression, crushing the probabilities further.
"If that's the case, I have no choice. I have to kill the Frost-Wolf Lycans properly."
Alternatively, there might be another way to clear the dungeon, perhaps by enlisting the help of the locals. Either way, Liam was starting to feel the pressure.
Thinking of this, Liam resurrected, dumped his gear into the guild warehouse, and sent a message to Barney.
"Barney, take some of the gear from the warehouse and sell it for cash. We’re upgrading to Nutrient Pods."
Nutrient Pods were far more expensive than standard Gaming Pods, costing over a hundred thousand credits each. They required regular injections of nutrient solution, allowing a player to stay submerged for about two weeks without logging out. The solution itself wasn't cheap either—a half-month supply cost nearly ten thousand credits. It was an expense most families couldn't dream of.
But Liam didn't care. If he didn't switch to a Nutrient Pod, he’d starve to death during the mid-to-late game when world-tier dungeons could take half a day or even full days to clear.
He wasn't worried about Barney selling the weapons he needed for himself. Only the Guild Master could grant withdrawal permissions in the warehouse; everyone else could only look, not touch.
After giving Barney his orders, Liam logged out to eat. He needed to be full before tackling this dungeon again. If he got hungry halfway through and had to log out, having to restart the entire sequence would be a massive waste of time.
Sated and refreshed, Liam re-entered the game. He knew the upcoming battle would be a grind. He needed absolute focus to maximize his gains.
Upon returning, he was still inside the dungeon.
Everything played out exactly as before. He entered the village, and the script remained unchanged. The window of the small house blew open, and the woman rushed over to close it. The Frost-Wolf Lycan appeared, lunging at her with lightning speed.
Liam fired the moment the wolf leaped into the air.
The arrow whistled through the wind. Spiral-Draw Archery!
As he interrupted the wolf's trajectory, he immediately followed up with Aerial Archery.
"Just as I thought!"
Every dungeon had a mechanic to exploit. No dungeon was truly impossible.
While in the Suspension state, the Frost-Wolf Lycan’s health regeneration stopped. It only healed while its paws were touching the snow.
That made things much easier.
With Liam’s current Attack Velocity, keeping the wolf in a permanent state of Suspension was even simpler than before. He shredded over five million of its health while it was still airborne.
"Awoo!"
The Frost-Wolf Lycan let out a furious howl and activated Unstoppable. The Suspension effect broke, and it slammed back onto the snowy ground.
Liam noticed something else. The wolf didn't instantly snap back to full health; it was regenerating at a rate of 100,000 HP per second. In other words, Liam’s raw damage could outpace its healing.
He just needed to kite it until Unstoppable wore off, then knock it back into the air.
The wolf became a blur of silver as it charged. Liam rolled to the side, dodging the strike while keeping his Attack Velocity capped, never letting up his fire. He had already proven he could tank a single wolf, so he stood his ground.
The moment Unstoppable expired, Liam used Aerial Archery to launch the wolf skyward again. Without its crowd-control break, the Frost-Wolf Lycan could only howl in impotent rage until Liam finally depleted its health.
You have slain a Frost-Wolf Lycan. Experience +0.
Liam’s pupils shrank again.
Damn it!
This was the most absurd dungeon he had ever encountered. Killing monsters granted zero experience. This meant that ordinary players couldn't even grind here to level up and overpower the challenge.
He finally understood why the nobles of the Astral Kingdom looked at him with such pity. He understood why Queen Fiona had "recommended" this place. If he were trapped here forever, no one would ever know about her collusion with the Nether-kin.
But she had overlooked one major detail: Adventurers had ways of communicating with each other.
Regardless, it didn't matter now. He was becoming genuinely interested in this "Traces of the Frost-Corpse" dungeon. If there were no experience rewards and the difficulty was this high, what would the final reward be?
Liam didn't have time to ponder. A second Frost-Wolf Lycan appeared.
He repeated the process. Launch, Suspend, infinite combo. Even when Unstoppable forced him into a ground trade, he suppressed its health with overwhelming firepower. Once the buff faded, the wolf went right back into the air.
Liam was now dealing over 20,000 True Damage per arrow. With the Lycan's nine million HP, it took about four hundred arrows to kill. Accounting for the Unstoppable phases, it took about six hundred arrows per wolf. Every kill added another 2,000 HP to his maximum.
From there, Liam began a health-stacking frenzy.
He killed nine Frost-Wolf Lycans in a row, adding over 17,000 base HP. With the 10% boost from Barney’s Innate Talent and the 20% bonus from the Tears of the Life Goddess, that 17,000 translated to over 22,000 actual HP.
Still, for Liam, this wasn't nearly enough.
Then, something unexpected happened. When the tenth Lycan was supposed to appear, it wasn't alone. Two Frost-Wolf Lycans emerged simultaneously.
"So this is a Hell Difficulty dungeon."
Liam’s gaze turned grim. He stuck to the plan: Suspend one and kite the other.
With his HP up by 22,000, his Basic Attack damage had increased by over 600. With his Attack Velocity, that added an extra 3,000 damage per second. It was still a bit slow against a nine-million-HP bar, but Liam was undeterred. He pushed his output to the absolute limit.
Even against two Lycans, Liam remained composed. He could tank the hits now, and his Life-Steal kept his health bar topped off. He finished the first, then dismantled the second.
He managed to kill eighteen more Frost-Wolf Lycans in one go.
"What's next? Three of them?"
Though those eighteen kills had added another 40,000 HP to his pool, tanking two at once was still his current ceiling.
To Liam’s relief, no more wolves appeared.
Back at the small house, the woman cracked the window open. Seeing the coast was clear, she finally threw open the door.
"Brave Adventurer, thank you so much! If not for you, we wouldn't have survived this winter."
Liam turned to look at the speaker.
Villager: Mrs. Gable
Level: 50
HP: 1,000,000 / 1,000,000
Attack: 985
Skills: ???
(Note: She is a local resident. She might give you an unexpected reward.)
Liam was stunned—not by her health or attack power, but by her name.
With five years of experience from his past life, he knew that in the Astral Kingdom, there were almost no NPCs with names characteristic of the Dragon Empire. In fact, he didn't know of a single one. Players used to complain that while other regional servers had NPCs reflecting their own cultures, the Dragon Empire’s NPCs were all Westernized, with the exception of the Gods.
Seeing an Eastern name in this dungeon sparked a surge of excitement—and a sense of familiarity.
"I only did what was right. Anyone would have done the same," Liam said with a smile.
"Regardless, you've done us a great kindness. To show my gratitude, please allow me to prepare a feast for you. Would you stay?"
Liam wasn't sure how the dungeon mechanics worked yet, so he decided to play along. "I would be honored."
He followed Mrs. Gable inside. The house was modest. A dozen slabs of smoked meat hung in the kitchen, looking remarkably like authentic Sichuan preserved pork. She began bustling about and asked him to wait.
He waited for over half an hour. Having lived two lives, Liam’s patience was far greater than most. He sat quietly, waiting to see where the story would lead.
Eventually, three dishes and a soup were placed on the table. Preserved meat, hot and sour shredded potatoes, egg drop soup, and sweet and sour ribs. It was quite a spread.
"Give them a try. My cooking is plain, so please be patient with me if it isn't to your liking."
Liam waved his hand dismissively. "It looks delicious. To have a hot meal in this frozen wasteland is a blessing."
He picked up a piece of the preserved meat and took a bite.
Attack +5.
Liam froze. Eating gave permanent stats?
He took a small bite of the shredded potatoes.
Attack Velocity +0.02.
Liam’s spirit soared. Holy sht, I’m going to hit the moon!
To confirm the bonuses, he tried the soup and the ribs.
Sweet and Sour Ribs: Critical Hit +1.
Egg Drop Soup: Movement Speed +0.1.
Liam was ecstatic. He didn't care about Crit or Attack as much; Attack Velocity and Movement Speed were the holy grails for his build. He began to feast.
But very quickly, he felt a pang of regret. He regretted eating before he entered the dungeon. He had been worried about being hungry, but now he had screwed himself. Even though in-game food didn't provide real energy, the sensation of fullness was very real.
Liam forced himself to eat as much as possible. He managed to polish off all the shredded potatoes, gaining a full point of Attack Velocity.
When he got to the egg drop soup, he fought for every swallow but only managed half the bowl. If he drank any more, he felt like it would come back up. The result was a 3-point increase in Movement Speed.
As for the rest, he simply couldn't take another bite. He had to stop. It was a shame—he could have pushed his speed even further. Because his Movement Speed had already surpassed 10, the bonus was halved, resulting in a net gain of 1.5.
"Thank you for the wonderful meal," Liam said politely, wiping his mouth.
"You are such a kind Adventurer, leaving so much meat for me. I don't know what to say."
Mrs. Gable looked touched. To show her appreciation, she rummaged through a back room for a while. When she returned, she held a token in her hand. "Young man, you are very strong. A powerful Adventurer I once took in left this with me. I hope it serves you well."
Liam instinctively took the token.
The Frost Decree: Special Equipment
Requirements: None
Effect: Your attacks slow the enemy's Attack Velocity and Movement Speed by 20% for 5 seconds.
Durability: 100
Liam’s eyes lit up. This was a top-tier item.
But a second later, he realized a serious problem. It seemed completely useless inside this specific dungeon. Here, he needed knockups, Grievous Wounds, or massive HP stacking.
A slow? That wouldn't do a damn thing.