Chapter 16: Nightmare Mode, Activated!
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Qin Yue ran up to him.
Blinking her eyes, she looked Li Yao up and down.
Although Li Yao knew who the girl before him was, the two of them attended different schools and had never interacted before. They were strangers to each other.
“Miss!”
Seeing Qin Yue suddenly run off, several professionals hurried after her and gathered around her.
Qin Yue ignored them and continued staring at Li Yao.
“I heard that you awakened a talent. Is that true?”
The girl looked as though she had discovered something extraordinary, her eyes filled with curiosity.
As for his talent, his father had presumably already found a way to make it public. Otherwise, he would never have received an S-rank resource subsidy.
“Yes.”
Li Yao made no attempt to hide it and nodded.
“Miss Qin, did you need something?”
Qin Yue did not answer his question. Instead, she asked in amazement, “Then can you tell me what your talent does? I’ve never seen anyone awaken a talent before!”
The moment she said this, Li Yao raised his brows.
The expressions of the professionals behind Qin Yue changed drastically.
One of them hurriedly said, “Young Master Li, Miss... she didn’t mean anything by it. She’s simply curious.”
At the same time, the professional tugged Qin Yue’s arm and whispered, “Miss, apologize to Young Master Li.”
Qin Yue realized her mistake as well. She gazed at Li Yao pitifully.
“Li Yao, I’m sorry. I won’t ask anymore...”
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first,” Li Yao said.
Whether her question had been innocent or motivated by ulterior intentions, he did not care.
The Qin family had a good personal relationship with the Silver Wolf Guild, and he would not get angry over such a minor matter.
That was provided they did not continue provoking him.
“Oh, right. You came here to run a dungeon. We can’t handle Master difficulty, so we’re going to try Hard next. Would you like to come with us?”
“The dungeon is very difficult. You definitely won’t be able to clear it alone.”
Out of guilt, Qin Yue invited him.
Li Yao did not answer. He glanced at Qin Yue, then looked at the several “guardians” standing behind her.
The middle-aged professional hurriedly said, “Young Master Li, you’re welcome to join us. We can still manage Hard difficulty. As for Miss’s abrupt question just now, I hope you won’t take offense.”
The man had clearly misunderstood him.
“You just cleared the Master-level dungeon? Would you mind telling me the boss’s attributes?”
Li Yao wanted to challenge a higher difficulty.
However, a single dungeon escape scroll cost one million Dragon Coins. If he could not clear the dungeon, would that not be a complete waste?
Furthermore, dungeons had entry cooldowns. Wasting one attempt meant losing the experience it could have provided.
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Knowing the difficulty of the Master-level dungeon would also allow him to estimate the difficulty of the dungeons that followed.
The middle-aged professional was stunned for a moment, then smiled.
“Of course. Master difficulty isn’t exactly a secret. Young Master Li can find the information on the Star Network as well.”
He told Li Yao all the attributes in detail, even explaining the numerical values of the skills clearly.
Li Yao now had a general idea.
“Young Master Li, are you planning to have people from the guild take you inside? Be especially careful of the boss’s Cross Sword Energy Slash.”
The middle-aged professional took out his shield, which had been cleaved in two, and gave a bitter laugh.
“That skill is what brought us down.”
Li Yao nodded, then walked toward the vortex.
The moment he drew near, the system displayed a message.
[Current dungeon: Goblin Lair, Level 12]
[Dungeon restrictions: Levels 7–17; 1–5 players]
[Please select a difficulty: Normal, Hard, Master, Nightmare, Inferno (locked)]
[Inferno difficulty can be unlocked only after clearing Nightmare difficulty with an S-rank score or higher.]
“Nightmare.”
Li Yao’s figure vanished into the vortex.
At the same time, the enormous dungeon vortex instantly turned black and red.
Several professionals standing nearby were so startled that they stumbled backward.
“Black and red! What’s going on? Does the Goblin Lair even have this difficulty?”
Nearly everyone present noticed the change in the vortex.
They frowned, speechless for a long while.
How many years had it been since black and red last appeared in Jiangzhou?
Black and red meant that the challenger had selected Nightmare difficulty.
The Goblin Lair had existed for nearly twenty years. Countless challengers had entered during that time, yet not a single one had succeeded.
“Did another team from one of the major cities come to challenge it?”
“Uh... I don’t think so. Unless I’m mistaken, only one person went in just now.”
“One person?!”
Everyone was shocked, but their interest soon vanished.
They could think of no explanation for someone challenging Nightmare difficulty alone other than seeking attention.
Over at the Silver Wolf Guild—
“That was the Young Master who just entered the dungeon, wasn’t it?”
“It should be. Could he have entered the wrong dungeon?”
“Ugh, he’s wasted another escape scroll. The Young Master squandered a mountain of resources indulging in women before. Now that he’s finally awakened a talent, instead of training properly, he’s started wasting resources again.”
“Who can say anything? He’s the guild master’s son.”
“Aren’t you and I here to help him obtain the General’s Heart?”
“Why is the gap between people so enormous?”
“Damn!”
At the Yuwen family’s hunting party—
A young man surrounded by several female professionals watched the place where Li Yao had vanished beneath the vortex.
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“Is that the summoner who stole my S-rank resources?”
A level-seventeen female professional clad in excellent equipment nodded.
“That’s right.”
At this, the young man’s expression turned cold.
“Then why isn’t he dead yet?”
“No...”
“Slap!”
The young man struck the female professional across the face.
“Useless! Hurry up and recruit more people. If I don’t reach level eight today, none of you will be resting.”
Elsewhere—
“Miss, shall we run the Hard dungeon?”
Standing behind Qin Yue, the middle-aged professional asked her.
“Uncle Wu, why don’t we wait and see?” Qin Yue said, gazing at the vortex, her beautiful eyes filled with wonder.
Although she was somewhat awkward with words, she was far from stupid.
When Li Yao left, he had asked about the difficulty of the Master-level dungeon.
Yet now he had entered a Nightmare-level dungeon directly.
Unless there was something wrong with his head, he must have been confident in his chances.
“Student Li Yao certainly doesn’t look like someone with something wrong in the head.”
Seeing his young mistress like this, Uncle Wu could only smile bitterly.
Clearing Nightmare difficulty alone—let alone Li Yao, even the true prodigies from the Imperial Capital could never accomplish such a thing.
But once the young miss became curious, not even the family head could drag her away.
Uncle Wu had no choice but to say, “Miss, wasn’t our goal today to reach level eight? We still need one more Hard run to level up. Why don’t we go clear it first? We can watch Young Master Li after we come out.”
“All right, all right.”
Qin Yue also understood that they had to focus on the bigger picture. She nodded and followed Uncle Wu and the others into the dungeon once more.
......
Within the secret realm.
Li Yao descended onto a hill.
Below him stretched a dense forest, home to countless goblin tribes.
The most conspicuous structure stood at the very center of the secret realm. It resembled a pyramid, with several battle flags planted around it and countless goblin soldiers patrolling the area.
A rough estimate showed that there were at least three hundred goblins on patrol alone, not to mention the several large tribes built around the pyramid.
“No wonder this place requires a team. Clearing the entire secret realm with one person’s strength would be nearly impossible.”
Fortunately, the Void Mantis had comprehended area-of-effect damage. Otherwise, killing these monsters one by one would take an unknown amount of time.
Thinking of this, a smile curled at the corners of Li Yao’s lips.
Those hideous goblins suddenly became adorable in his eyes.
These weren’t goblins.
They were clearly the capital he needed to purchase summoner skill books.
......
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