LWGP - Chapter 134
Chapter 134: 03 Tunnel
"It's hard to say. The lower a person's foundation, the faster their rate of improvement with sufficient resources. Currently, the areas for enhancing strength boil down to seven factors."
"1. Attribute points from equipment."
"2. Equipment enhancement (Within the same tier, the enhancement efficiency is ranked: 1. Badges, 2. Accessories, 3. Equipment.)"
"3. Skills (Basic skills determine the foundation + Class skills determine the ceiling.)"
"4. Spirit Power (Territory, Homestead (Title + Furniture.))"
"5. Special items."
"6. Pets (Arcane sprites, contracted pets, and pitiful creatures like Bai Bai who were schemed against and reverse-enslaved.)"
"7. Teammate status buffs."
"Ordinary people follow a path of filling their deficiencies with resources, slowly ascending. Bronze becomes silver, silver is replaced by gold. As long as they survive, their attributes will gradually creep up."
"Elites are one step faster than ordinary people."
"Experts rely on their layout."
As a highly skilled captain, Zhong Qing would provide some guidance and discussion after his team members obtained resources, even though his people were already considered upper-echelon elites.
"Layout? That Wang Jiu's layout must include enhancing her badges and growth accessories. Her equipment enhancement must be very high too."
"I think the most terrifying thing about her is her skills. Her system seems very mixed, not specialized, but they're all very strong. Does this mean her three talent sequences are all full, and all very powerful?"
"Definitely. We've seen Priest, melee, and dark arcane arts. With such a mix, if she wasn't confident her resources could keep up with her layout, she would never have chosen this path."
"And her spirit power. I calculated it. She consumed at least 4500 spirit power in that wave of fighting. Damn, I don't even have a third of that. It's terrifying."
Humans are very pragmatic creatures. When an ordinary person does something unconventional, the masses think it's stupid and don't hesitate to mock them.
But if a powerful person does the same thing, the masses will assume there must be a deeper meaning behind it.
Luo Sheng paid no mind to their discussion. She was different from Zhong Qing. He was a captain, but she was a boss. With different statuses came different perspectives.
What Zhong Qing said about the layout wasn't wrong, but the layout Luo Sheng saw was beyond attributes and damage output.
Lures, coordination, control.
This required terrifying calculations—calculating the strength of everyone in all three teams, as well as the temperaments and strategies of the two captains. It meant calculating the attributes and skills of all 30 bosses she had observed, positioning them, timing them, and preparing corresponding countermeasures.
Only after the calculations came the layout and control.
Wang Jiu's cunning was the biggest scheme of all.
"The slayer excels at attack."
"The strategist excels at schemes."
"One who is both is a true hegemon."
Luo Sheng suddenly recalled the moment when Wang Jiu had glanced at the probe, clearly seeing its sensor lock onto her, yet remained unperturbed and calmly ate her bread. She silently mulled over the words her grandfather had once told her.
She sighed to herself. She really was still far from that level.
She didn't know what rewards Wang Jiu had received. She had been talking with Zhong Qing earlier and hadn't paid attention to what the 30 bosses had dropped or what she had picked. But judging by the good items left behind, the resources she had chosen must have been of very high quality.
Including the 28 small treasure chests she had tossed to Wang Shu to pop open, Wang Jiu's haul from this wave was as follows.
15 class skill books, 34 basic skill books, two gold equipment pieces (helmet and belt), 10 Puppet Cards, 7 furniture items (totaling 1800 permanent spirit energy), 10 intermediate puppets, 18 silver equipment pieces, two sets of silver accessories (including two silver growth-type accessories and two bronze growth-type accessories), 20 small HP potions (5 HP per bottle), 15 stamina pills, 8 Upgrade Scrolls, 370 Strengthening Stones, 6 recipes, a large pile of basic production materials, and a large pile of alchemy and food ingredients.
Among the 15 class skill books, 4 were for Holy Light, 2 were for Blood Wrath, and 1 was 《Dark Element Mastery》.
Previously, Dao Dao had obtained a copy of 《Earth Mastery》. It was a passive, permanent buff that enhanced all of its earth-type arcane arts, making it quite valuable.
The book Wang Jiu got was similar, but she didn't learn it right away. Instead, she asked the System a very profound question.
"Arcanists, mages, and witches should be three major systems, right? What are the specific differences?"
The System didn't restrict access to this kind of question. "Mages rely purely on the elements of various systems to form their power. Arcanists rely half on elements and half on mastery. Witches rely on faith and sacrifice to, in turn, control mastery and elements."
Wang Jiu raised an eyebrow. "Mages are more limited, right? They mostly control a single system because elements conflict with each other. The more varied, the weaker. Arcanists can use mastery to amplify the power of elements, but they still can't resist elemental conflict, so single-system remains king. But witches don't have this problem, because they can obtain a higher level of control through sacrifice, allowing for high-end manipulation of arcane arts."
System: "That's about right. From mage to arcanist to witch, the number of practitioners decreases. You can think of it this way: anyone can be a mage, but arcanists and witches depend on related class talents. Witches, especially, are hailed as natural-born arcanists. It even depends on bloodline; it can't be learned later in life."
This was a tacit admission of the power of witches.
"But it's undeniable that for a witch to become powerful, they must invest limitlessly in elements, mastery, and sacrificial resources. In terms of investment ratio, it's naturally higher than that of arcanists and mages. To put it bluntly, it's a matter of a project's qualifications. But as long as the post-natal investment is in place and managed well, a mage can also make a comeback."
System: "Of course, that's based on the issue of resource investment and application. But do you think you can't keep up?"
"If you give me a few more witch resources, I can keep up."
What a player. The System knew she was waiting for this and immediately went silent.
Wang Jiu smiled, raised Holy Light to level 3 and Blood Wrath to level 2. However, after learning 《Dark Element Mastery》, she keenly sensed that she had developed some perception of the dark elements in the air. She hadn't learned any dark element skills; just by learning its mastery, her perception and control over it had been enhanced.
To put it bluntly, no matter the class, as long as it was a magic-type, elements were the foundation.
After learning the skills, Wang Jiu equipped the gold equipment and listed the silver set for sale. She kept the other silver pieces for now, waiting to complete a second set to sell.
And the price for this set was 2000 gold.
Because it had two set bonuses.
"Increases crit damage by 10% and grants one-time exemption from a negative status effect. These stats are very strong. But every piece of gold equipment comes with its own skill and has strong stats, so it's right for you not to switch."
As strong as this silver set was, it couldn't compare to the attributes and built-in skills of individual gold equipment pieces, so there was no need for Wang Jiu to switch. But it was very valuable.
The accessories were also valuable, especially the growth-type silver and bronze ones.
Wang Jiu first checked the market price and found that someone was already selling Upgrade Scrolls. This was a rare resource and very expensive, but not everyone was willing to use it. The probability was too low. Bronze to silver was okay, but the probability of silver to gold was low enough to challenge one's worldview. Who could afford to gamble resources like that? This wasn't a resource that ordinary players could afford to use themselves. Even Xie Lu was reluctant to use them.
So someone listed it for 200 gold. This price wasn't low, and the market for it wasn't large. People with funds could invest in steadily improving areas like skills and territory construction. There was no need to gamble on upgrade probabilities. Wouldn't it be better to spend 2000 gold on a level 30 silver set?
So they were basically listed but not selling.
But Wang Jiu was willing. This time, however, she gambled on the two bronze growth accessories. With 4 scrolls, she directly upgraded them to two silver ones. Then she posted the four silver growth-type accessories in the team channel and set a price.
"800 gold. In five minutes, I'm putting them on the auction house."
A series of shocked exclamation marks appeared from the group below.
In almost an instant, Xie Lu traded 800 gold, and Qiao Xuejing traded 800 gold. But what surprised Wang Jiu was Wang Shu. That fatty directly private-messaged Wang Jiu and gave her 1600 gold.
Wang Jiu: "You sold them?"
Wang Shu: "Not yet. I'm hoarding them now. I'll sell them when the market opens up. This money is what I saved up from selling class skill books. I only sold four of them."
So, the small treasure chests that fatty opened were all priceless, popular class skill books, while she just got Strengthening Stones?
This fatty was probably the richest person under her command, especially once he started selling clothes.
Wang Jiu glanced at Wang Shu with a neutral expression and traded the accessories to the three of them.
Dungeons were extremely profitable. Class skill books were a high-profit item. Even if you couldn't use them yourself, you could make a fortune. Wang Jiu had many of them herself, now numbering in the double digits, but she hadn't sold them.
She was saving them for a reason.
Just as she finished the trade, the funds from the sale of the silver set arrived. Wang Jiu took a look. Zhao Si?
It was this Zhao Si again.
Wang Jiu didn't pay it much mind. She took out all 5600 gold and bought Upgrade Scrolls—28 of them. Added to the 8 she had left, she had a total of 36 Upgrade Scrolls.
"Ah Shu."
"Yes, Master! What the hell!"
"Thirty seconds."
Everyone was on the move. Wang Jiu pinched Wang Shu's little ear, and then she smashed all the scrolls in one go.
Currently, she had three gold badges and one purple gold badge.
But for accessories, only her necklace was gold; the rest were all silver.
Wang Jiu slammed them one after another. By the time 20 scrolls were used, all three silver accessories had turned gold. With sixteen scrolls left, she went through all her gold badges in turn.
Fifteen consecutive failures.
On the last one, Wang Jiu wasn't holding out much hope. She just casually hugged Wang Shu, a spur-of-the-moment idea, but she didn't expect the result to be so surprising.
Ding.
Nightmare Descent Badge — Purple Gold.
The skill changed.
After activating Nightmare Descent, the status buff increased to 80%, and an additional effect of +30% crit damage was added.
In other words, once she used Nightmare Descent, her overall crit damage could soar to the 110% level.
Additionally, her other gold rings, amulet, and jade pendant each activated an effect: armor penetration +20%, armor effect +30%, and injury recovery speed +50%.
These were all status buffs that would allow Wang Jiu to deal damage far exceeding her own attributes.
System: "…"
5600 gold! What did it mean to smash resources? This was true "smashing."
Boss Wang was so domineering.
But that last one was so lucky.
Even the System was stunned. Wang Jiu herself was stunned. Then she let go and looked at Wang Shu.
She said slowly, "I'm thinking, your RNG God aura is quite lecherous."
Wang Shu: "…"
Master, you took advantage of me and now you're blaming me!
Wang Shu felt wronged and sent a private message.
"Master, what did you do? You seem pretty happy."
"I only spent 5600 gold to upgrade three golds and one purple gold. It's alright."
Wang Jiu had no intention of hiding it from Wang Shu. After all, a large portion of her resources had been swiped from this fatty's hands.
Holy crap! Master, are you possessed by an old Versailles demon?
Only spent? It's alright?
Wang Shu was stunned. He was being stared at intently by the other three teams who didn't know the truth. He wanted to cry but had no tears, yet he didn't reveal anything. Instead, he chuckled and said, "Master, are you trying to borrow my lucky aura to enhance weapons and equipment again?"
He knew that Wang Jiu hadn't even started enhancing her own set of equipment. This was a point of potential growth, and he thought it would be good if outsiders misjudged the situation.
Luo Sheng's group was watching intently.
Of course, Wang Jiu understood Wang Shu's intention. She raised an eyebrow but, in her usual fashion, couldn't be bothered to respond. She just transferred the recipes and related materials to Wang Shu, clarifying the investment ratio and future profit sharing.
She wasn't in a hurry to enhance her gear. She had upgraded her accessories and badges only in preparation for entering the Research Institute.
Wang Shu was quite apprehensive. He had originally just wanted to make a little money for himself. Who knew he would attract a capital crocodile like his master? Would spreading the business this wide rip his pants?
System: "It won't. Usually, she'll just cut off the sponge-like thing between your legs and reattach it."
Wang Jiu, feeling uneasy, began to private message the people he had hired in the territory.
"Lord Lao Wang, where are we going now?" Although she had been kicked out of the team, Luo Sheng, the C-lister of the socialite circle, was able to bend and stretch.
Seeing Wang Jiu getting handsy with a fatty, she inwardly criticized her taste, but on the surface, she was very obedient and amicable.
"To find a place where everyone can sleep."
"…"
Luo Sheng subconsciously looked up at the sky.
Because the mist was so thick, she had momentarily forgotten that it was getting dark again.
With a sweeping glance, she couldn't tell where the surveillance eyes of the institute's behind-the-scenes controller were hidden in this dim world of trees and grass. But she could see a building standing in the dense forest ahead. It seemed to have some age to it; she could see some mottled marks.
Formal, majestic, like a rigorous and dull old man. Yet, it was the pinnacle of technology and medicine.
A very contradictory feeling.
She didn't know that at this moment, inside the Research Institute, in an office, an old man in a research coat was twirling a pen between two fingers. He wasn't looking at the monitors showing the moving crowd.
He just lowered his head and touched the pen, then the pen tip paused on the map below, leaving an ink dot. Then he began to draw, either crossing lines or making circles, and soon stopped on the map.
There was a marker on it—03.
He had chosen the place she would ultimately pick based on her style and personality.
Looking up again, he looked at a video he had saved from earlier.
It was Wang Jiu.
She was eating at the time, and she had casually glanced over.
Eyes can say a lot.
This woman was looking at him with contempt.
The man pursed his lips, showing no anger or cold evil, just silently closing the video and then typing a line into the channel on the computer next to him.
03 Tunnel.
Then, he stood up and slowly walked into the vast, empty research lab, his back old and heavy.
He took off his research coat.
After hearing what Wang Jiu said, Luo Sheng didn't ask any more questions. She just followed her deep into the dense forest. The vegetation here grew thicker and thicker. Soon, they saw the complete Research Institute, but…
"We just passed a tunnel entrance," Luo Sheng reminded her. Wang Jiu pushed aside the nearby branches and leaves and looked ahead.
"I know. Tunnel entrance 02, but it's not suitable."
Luo Sheng agreed. "It's indeed not suitable. A large group of mutated monsters just went in, probably chasing someone."
They had just consumed a wave of spirit power, and their strength was not at its peak. It was indeed not advisable to take risks without being sure of the opponent's strength.
"But, why must we enter the Research Institute through a tunnel? Is it difficult to enter directly?" Mei Qinghe asked.
Zhong Qing explained on Wang Jiu's behalf, "There are so many hidden surveillance eyes in this forest, it's hard to spot them. The other party knows our every move. As soon as we enter the institute's internal defense wall area, they can directly kill us with locked-on thermal weapons."
The implication was that this research institute's defense wall was quite formidable.
How formidable, exactly?
Luo Sheng released a bird puppet and had it fly to the edge of the institute's perimeter wall. Without touching the wall, just by getting close, it was sliced apart by an electric net shot out from a hole in the wall.
"Holy crap! That's so high-tech!"
"What if we break through the wall directly?"
"No good. Look at the building tower on the other side of the wall. The holes on it are cannon ports. The moment the defense wall is breached, it will immediately lock on and fire. Attacking it is just making yourself a target."
Everyone: "Fuck!"
Wang Jiu wasn't surprised at all. Since the other party could even manufacture weapons, the entire institute was a terrifying fortress.
"It's not safe underground either, but at least it's manageable."
Luo Sheng glanced at the sign next to them.
03.
Two things were very strange.
Why were there so many tunnel entrances around the institute? And why were they numbered?
Was there some logic to this?
It was as if they were waiting for them to enter the tunnels. Perhaps this was also part of the game's dungeon design.
Wang Jiu chose the tunnel entrance in front of them. Before stepping in, she said, "Try to apply your status skills. Use up your spirit power first."
What? Everyone thought her words were a bit strange for a moment, but Luo Sheng and Zhong Qing frowned. Could it be?
But everyone still applied all their status skills. Then, as soon as they walked into tunnel 03, a system notification arrived.
"Congratulations, you have successfully found the tunnel to enter the Research Institute and have approached this terrifying region. But you are also about to face terrible dangers. For this, the System expresses its deepest sympathies and, in accordance with the rules—will reduce your spirit power by 50%."
What the fuck!! I'm gonna explode! You Dog System!
The moment the entire group had 50% of their spirit power deducted, Wang Shu and the others were dumbfounded. They all looked at Wang Jiu.
No wonder she told them to apply their status skills first. Otherwise, after the reduction, the spirit power cost for their skills would be extremely expensive.
Wang Jiu didn't respond. She just walked ahead into the deep, dark tunnel. But there were actually lights in the tunnel below, which was worse than no lights at all. It felt like something was waiting for them.
In the team channel.
Xie Lu: "You knew there were underground passages beneath the institute?"
Wang Jiu: "The data from the police station included a research institute construction project from five years ago. Because Mist Town was already sealed off from the outside at that time, no one could enter or leave, so they couldn't hire outside workers. They could only hire locals. That project was this tunnel, listed as an underground research area."
Xie Lu looked at the mottled marks in the underground passage. "It seems to have been open for a long time, but it's also been abandoned. These marks…"
The walls and ground were stained with blood, but there were even more traces left by mutated monsters.
"It was abandoned three years ago. This was indeed an underground research lab. This institute must have been expanded." Qiao Xuejing picked up a half-used, dirty tissue box from the ground. The production date was on the bottom. Not being finished meant that time had stopped there.
Looking up, Qiao Xuejing frowned.
"There are surveillance eyes everywhere. Is that bastard still watching us?"
No one liked being watched by the enemy.
But suddenly, with a few booming explosions, all the lights in the underground passage went out.
Amidst the panic, they heard Wang Jiu's faint voice, "Don't panic. I had my puppets find a few electrical boxes and blow them up. This town's technology level isn't so high as to be independent of a power source."
Wait, you found the electrical boxes as soon as you came in?
No, she must have sent out her puppets to approach this underground passage long ago, spent some time finding the electrical boxes, and then blew them up when they arrived, rendering the opponent's surveillance eyes useless. No wonder she wasn't in a hurry to move earlier.
But this also had its downsides.
It was too dark!
Everyone was plunged into darkness. And at that very moment… about twenty dark figures suddenly rushed out from the left.
Breathing, the sound of footsteps, the sound of weapons cutting through the air.
"Who's there?"
"Attack!"
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