I Became the Blacksmith NPC

Boosted by 4,700 points of Agility, Liu Kongkong teleported back to the center of the dungeon in an instant. He glanced around — no equipment box, just as expected. He didn't mind. He already had the Furious Lion Set, and those extra attributes meant little to him. He waited quietly for the second stage to begin, keeping a close eye on the spatial changes around him.

When he dealt 999,999 damage in a single strike, a system notification had popped up: single-hit damage had reached its cap. Not that it mattered.

"I don't know the Void Lord's HP, but the remaining boss had less than a million HP — one-shotting it won't be a problem." He watched as the six rooms around him slowly rose into position. Next up was the Blood-Light Moths — the stage that had stopped so many players in their tracks.

They posed no real threat to Liu Kongkong. The bonus defense granted by his tens of thousands of Constitution points was already terrifying by Starter Village standards, and his equipment added even more on top of that. Combined, even the Scorpion-Tailed Lion couldn't pierce his defenses — let alone a swarm of moths.

The next second, the six rooms of the second stage connected, and 270 Blood-Light Moths surged out all at once! But Liu Kongkong had no intention of wasting time here. He threw a punch into the air at one cluster of moths — a terrifying force instantly whipped up a violent gust of wind. Damage numbers erupted densely across the moths caught in the blast, and 45 of them dropped dead on the spot!

"My current weak point is still skills. If I had an area-of-effect skill, I could wipe these things out in one go." Skills had always been on Liu Kongkong's mind. The class trainers in the Starter Village required specific classes to learn their techniques, so no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't learn them. "But maybe I can improvise?"

With that thought, Liu Kongkong stepped to the edge of the arena in a single stride. He watched the dense swarm of moths turn and fly toward him, then aimed carefully and swung a palm strike at the swarm! A fierce wind erupted, and terrifying damage numbers exploded across the remaining moths. But Liu Kongkong's brow furrowed. That strike hadn't used any Mana, yet his 50,000 Strength had only dealt roughly ten thousand damage — enough to one-shot the moths, but still.

"It seems distance has a significant impact on damage with this kind of attack." He glanced at the warning countdown: 58 minutes and 30 seconds remaining. That meant from the start of the Scorpion-Tailed Lion fight to now, only a minute and a half had passed — and most of that time had been spent waiting for the arena transitions to complete. For ordinary players, a minute and a half was barely enough time for most teams to even reach the Yin-Yang Scorpion-Tailed Lion…

He continued waiting. Next stage: the Toxic Crawler.

Unfortunately, the boss that appeared was a Replica, not the real thing — otherwise Liu Kongkong had planned to ask it a few questions.

"So the Scorpion-Tailed Lion earlier just happened to be resting there?" After finishing off the first boss and returning to the center, he had faintly heard the lion calling out to its wife and laughing. Was it laughing because it thought its wife might have died from his punch just now?

He hoped its wife was still alive. Liu Kongkong offered a silent prayer, then drove his fist into the Toxic Crawler!

-999,999!

"Alright, done in 2 minutes and 20 seconds." Now that he knew the dungeon's damage cap was 999,999, there was no point channeling more Mana than necessary — 200 points per strike was plenty. "Next up… the main event."

He turned and looked around. In the distance, a stone door slowly swung open.

"There." Before the words had even left his mouth, Liu Kongkong was already standing at the stone door.

He stepped inside and looked around.

This boss room is something else. It was clearly built with far more care and detail than anything he had made. Liu Kongkong ran a hand along the carved reliefs on the wall, then turned his gaze to the Void Lord standing motionless in the center of the room, clad entirely in black.

No reaction. So this one's a Replica too? Liu Kongkong felt a flicker of disappointment. The true body of the Scorpion-Tailed Lion had given him quite a few surprises — he'd hoped his luck would hold.

"Well, if that's how it is, I'll just kill it and see if the Guild Establishment Permit drops." He'd seen the boss room, he'd seen the Void Lord — all that was left was getting his hands on the Guild Establishment Permit, assuming it actually dropped…

He took a few steps forward. The Void Lord slowly turned around.

Its movements were stiff. Definitely a Replica. In that case…

He surged forward! Liu Kongkong appeared before the Void Lord in an instant and, without a word, channeled 200 points of Mana. With the 50x amplification, his damage shot to its maximum! The Void Lord's movements were slightly faster than the previous two bosses, but against Liu Kongkong's near-impossible speed, it still wasn't nearly enough.

-999,999!!

The punch landed, and the familiar damage number appeared!

Wait — something was off. Liu Kongkong noticed the feedback from his fist felt wrong. The previous bosses had practically disintegrated under that same strike, but the sensation in his hand right now made it very clear: the target was still standing.

He looked up…

"Only 30% HP lost?!" Liu Kongkong was stunned. He immediately retreated to the boss room entrance. Now that he was in combat, he could see the Void Lord's HP — a full 1,200,000 points!

But even with 1,200,000 HP, losing only 30% from that hit made no sense.

"Phase lock…" Liu Kongkong's eyes narrowed. He immediately understood the boss's current state. Void Lord — Phase One: randomly selects 5 players as copy targets; the Replicas have 10x the target players' full attributes.

Realizing this, Liu Kongkong actually felt a hint of anticipation.

There was only one person in the arena right now — him. That meant the Void Lord could only copy him. But ten times his attributes… could this space actually generate that? A million HP and five hundred thousand Strength? If it really could, he was genuinely curious what that would look like. As for his own safety, he was standing right at the boss room entrance — if things went south, he'd bolt immediately…

But he waited a long time, and the Void Lord remained completely still.

"A bug? It needs five targets to copy but there's only one?" Still, Liu Kongkong didn't dare step forward. If he moved a couple of steps in and something with ten times his speed appeared, there'd be no escaping it.

And so, man and boss stood frozen, staring each other down.

Fine. He'd disengage from combat, boost his damage a bit more, and try again. Taking unnecessary risks wasn't worth it.

Just as Liu Kongkong was about to leave, two beams of red light suddenly blazed from behind the Void Lord's pitch-black face guard! Then a low, resonant voice rang out.

"You are… somewhat different."

It spoke? Liu Kongkong turned back to look.

He found that the Void Lord's HP was rapidly recovering — within just a few seconds, it had returned to 100%!

"So are you." Liu Kongkong kept his eyes fixed on the Void Lord. He hadn't disengaged from combat, yet the Void Lord was able to regenerate. Did that mean the dungeon's rules couldn't bind it?

Hearing that, the Void Lord seemed mildly surprised. When it spoke again, there was a hint of amusement in its voice: "You asked that little cat quite a few things just now?"

Little cat? The Scorpion-Tailed Lion?

"Quite a few, yes. But it didn't know much."

"What is it you want to know?" The Void Lord didn't seem to regard Liu Kongkong as any real threat. It gripped its enormous staff and turned, walking slowly toward a massive chair in the distance — one so tall it looked more like a table from Liu Kongkong's vantage point.

"You're willing to tell me?"

"You can try." The Void Lord finished speaking and casually reached out — a Guild Establishment Permit materialized in its grasp. "Perhaps we can even make a deal?"

For some reason, Liu Kongkong felt like he was negotiating with a tiger. And how did it know what he was after? Had it already seen through his identity?

"We can talk about a deal later. But I do have questions."

"Ask," the Void Lord said without hesitation.

"Why did Li Tiansheng lock you away in here?"

"Why?" The Void Lord let out a quiet laugh. "Because he cannot defeat me — so he needs your strength."

"Our strength?"

"You should understand what I mean."

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