"Those are Blood-Light Moths! And there are a lot of them!" Night's Gentle Chill and the others, having successfully slain the Yin-Yang Scorpion-Tailed Lion, were now standing in the center of the arena. As the six great doors swung open, Second Bear's sharp eyes had already identified what was inside.
Blood-Light Moths? These weren't bosses. Nearly everyone present had leveled up almost exclusively through dungeons, but they'd still heard of wild monsters at similar levels. These creatures had weak attacks but flew at blinding speed — most players who encountered them out in the field simply didn't bother wasting time fighting them.
"So this is just pure annoyance? First it was memorizing math problems, and now they're throwing a mob rush at us?" In Heart and Soul's opinion, mob-rushing a dungeon was an incredibly lazy design choice — a sign that whoever built this dungeon had run out of ideas and was simply relying on sheer numbers to ramp up the difficulty.
"And this dungeon is way too lazy — just swapped out a few rooms."
Night's Gentle Chill agreed, and honestly found it quite irritating too, since they hadn't had a chance to get out and hand the rewards over to Lonely as a Song. From the looks of things, the second stage had clearly already begun.
But there was nothing Liu Kongkong could do about that.
Building a proper 30-player dungeon from scratch would take ages just on the scenery alone, so reusing the same terrain layout was unavoidable. As for the mob rush — it wasn't laziness. It was meant to give the players a thorough workout before they faced the final boss, the Void Lord (Replica). And the reason he hadn't given players time to leave and equip their gear between stages...
He wanted the Masquerade Ball. He'd set it as a random drop from the first boss specifically hoping someone would get it to drop in the second stage. So the moment every last item in the chest was claimed, the second stage would automatically begin.
It took barely a minute.
Night's Gentle Chill and the others trickled back to the respawn point one by one.
"Roughly 240 to 270 of them." Second Bear was as calm as ever. A massive swarm of Blood-Light Moths had surged in from all directions, and in the first wave Night's Gentle Chill's group was instantly wiped out. Others managed to dodge a few, but even the last person standing hadn't survived past the fourth wave.
Night's Gentle Chill's group of five looked a little embarrassed. Everyone else on the team had been handpicked from the guild as top players — those five were the weakest links by far, failing to dodge a single attack in the entire first wave.
"Looking at what just happened, it seems like the Blood-Light Moths pre-select their targets. I lasted three waves, and after the guild leader died I noticed eight or nine moths stalled for a few seconds — and the number I was facing was about the same..."
Big Bear's brow furrowed at that. "The numbers are just too overwhelming. Even if we barely manage to dodge, we won't have any time to attack them."
"What if we just brute-force it? Put the tanks up front?" Fifth Bear suggested from the back.
"That's going to be rough. The moths' individual attacks aren't high, but the sheer volume is the problem."
As the five Bear brothers and the other team members debated heatedly, Night's Gentle Chill, Heart and Soul, and their three companions stood off to the side like invisible bystanders. There was nothing to be done — when you're the weakest, you don't get much of a say.
Oh right — what had dropped when they died just now? Night's Gentle Chill opened their inventory to check.
"Phew, thank goodness — just the poison needle dropped." As long as it wasn't equipment, it was fine. The first boss had also dropped seven pieces of gear, though most of it was for Sorcerers. Just like Big Dumb Duck, Night's Gentle Chill had wanted to store it all with Lonely as a Song first, but hadn't gotten the chance to leave. Now that they were back, Night's Gentle Chill went ahead and stashed everything in the warehouse. The gear would go up for points auction later — and if nobody wanted it, they could buy it with in-game currency.
"Alright, here's the plan! Once it starts, focus on keeping yourselves alive first. Within your ability, help the guild leader and Wanxing's group of five clear out the moths targeting them." After deliberating, Second Bear laid out the battle strategy.
Sigh, how pitiful. Night's Gentle Chill let out a breath — then immediately felt something was off. Since when did you get to call her "Wanxing" so casually?!
"Brother Night, I'll fight to the death to protect you!" No. 4 Bear said with complete sincerity.
Night's Gentle Chill let out a dry laugh. "Get lost!"
* * *
Hours of hammering and chiseling passed.
Liu Kongkong stared at the dense spread of black iron pieces laid out before him, carefully shaping each one.
"Alright, that's enough for today — top-tier equipment isn't something you finish in a single day." Liu Kongkong took a deep breath. These black iron pieces were far more difficult to craft than he'd imagined, and the quantity required was substantial. Still, with his skills boosting the process, things moved along at a decent pace — and by now he had finally reached Level 20.
He put his remaining skill points into [Looks Are Justice], then logged out.
As for the attribute points — there were too many to deal with right now. He'd sort them out when he logged back in tomorrow.
* * *
He woke up inside the Game Pod, removed the headset, and lay there staring blankly at the ceiling above him. For some reason, the ceiling looked strange today — textures and bumps he'd never noticed before stood out with unusual clarity.
"Hm? This thing feels like it shrank somehow." Liu Kongkong tried to climb out of the Game Pod. He gave a light push with his hand, and before he even registered what had happened, he was already standing outside it.
Something was off...
Liu Kongkong grabbed his phone from the desk and headed to the bathroom — no matter how strange things felt, he still needed to check his balance first.
He'd sold 720 gold in in-game currency that morning, with over 1.4 million yuan deposited. His bank account balance had climbed to nearly 2.7 million yuan.
"Though at least half of today's earnings came from the scalpers..."
Before logging off, he'd taken a distant glance at the scalpers — they were still sitting there looking miserable as ever. But since all the NPC shops had closed for the night, some players had actually started buying gear from them.
He hoped they'd at least break even tonight. Otherwise, once his shop opened tomorrow, their stock would be a lot harder to move.
"With this much money on hand, maybe I should buy a place?"
Leaving it sitting in the bank felt like a waste. He'd never been particularly fussy about food or clothes — Liu Kongkong thought it over and figured it probably had something to do with his boosting and carry work. Every time he used to go out to eat, he'd automatically calculate how many hours of work it would take to earn that meal back. After years of that, his appetite for material things had dulled considerably.
But before he thought any more about buying a place...
Liu Kongkong stared blankly at his reflection in the mirror. His once scrawny frame had somehow bulked up an entire size overnight. He raised one arm and flexed slightly — his bicep surged up immediately, veins snaking across his arm like the gnarled roots of an old tree, every tendon pulled taut like a bowstring about to snap.
He looked over his thighs, his abdomen, his pecs.
Then he reached up and felt the top of his head — thankfully, no pointy bits. Otherwise he'd have thought someone had snuck in and injected him with some kind of nine-dragon power serum...
But why, though?
Liu Kongkong pulled up the Hunt Heaven official website and searched around. While some people mentioned improved mental clarity and enhanced constitution, nobody had turned into a full-on muscle man overnight!
Eventually he scrolled back to the familiar promotional material.
"...Your every choice will shape this world, and yourself. The attributes you gain in Hunt Heaven will also influence your physical body..."
Liu Kongkong looked up at the screen.
Looked down at himself.
Looked back up at the screen.
Looked back down at himself.
This went on for quite some time, until finally he squeezed out a single word.
"...Huh?"
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