Shen Chi’s mech had transformed yet again.
After gaining Metal Manipulation, the mech’s interior expanded considerably. It could now seat twenty people.
Not only that, but the mech could shrink at any time, down to a minimum height of three meters. This allowed it to participate in battles in caves and palaces.
Its strength had increased tremendously.
The group of thirteen headed for Linjiang City. This time, they had all reached the required level, so they first reported to the guards.
The guard was surprisingly considerate. “Esteemed Plant-Man Awakened One, we have records of your repeated visits to Linjiang City. Would you like a soldier to guide you around the city again?”
[System Notification: Would you like to skip the tutorial quest?]
Chu Fu skipped it immediately.
Lu An, Holy Healing Angel, and Dream King, however, could not skip it.
They still had to go through the tutorial quest.
While Chu Fu and the others went to bind themselves to the city’s teleportation array, they would be able to return directly to Linjiang City whenever they used a Return Scroll in the future.
Returning to Fengdu Town would not be difficult either. After all, every one of them owned property there.
What was more, Chu Fu could even return to Wangxi Village—now known as Thorny Town.
As the town’s mayor, she had also given everyone present a job in Thorny Town:
Thorny Town Guard.
At critical moments, they could teleport directly back to Thorny Town.
After binding herself to the teleportation array, Chu Fu went to the Skill Awakening Hall.
Candles burned throughout the hall, which was decorated in dazzling splendor. There were far more instructors here than in the crude square and tiny building of the novice village. The place was practically luxurious by comparison.
The hall was also enormous. There were so many players that they even had to queue.
Of the people in Chu Fu’s group, only Little Sister Wu had yet to reach Level 25. Everyone else was already Level 25.
Little Sister Wu was beginning to regret her decision.
She had originally thought that giving up her spot in the party would only cost her some attribute points. She had not expected it to cost her experience and contribution points as well.
What a loss!
Especially after learning that Shafu Liangu and Zhimengzhe—both players who had originally possessed A-rank talents—had exchanged for Talent Enhancement Stones and upgraded their talents to S-rank.
She was genuinely starting to panic.
She was the only one in the entire party without an S-rank talent.
Would they kick her out?
When the group had not immediately set out for Linjiang City, Little Sister Wu had even suspected that they were planning to leave her behind.
After all, if she and Suture Saint both left, there would be no player in Fengdu Town capable of using resurrection magic.
The players in their Thorny Guild all possessed A-rank talents, and losing even one of them would be a major blow. From that perspective, staying behind to hold down the fort had indeed been the best choice.
But she wanted to go to Linjiang City with them!
Little Sister Wu was so anxious that she could hardly sit still.
Fortunately, they had not abandoned her.
From now on, she absolutely, definitely would not give up her place in the party again.
Just as she was thinking this, another group entered through the hall’s main doors.
It was Laoji Fuli and his companions.
Although Laoji Fuli did not have a mech, as the Lich King, he could kill certain flying monsters and then summon their undead remains.
That allowed him to ride an undead bird over.
His speed was not particularly fast, so although Chu Fu had spent some time establishing the town and dealing with various matters, she and Laoji Fuli still arrived in Linjiang City at roughly the same time.
Laoji Fuli had clearly come looking for Chu Fu specifically. Otherwise, as a Level 30 player, he would have learned his skills long ago.
“Captain Plant is here too? Have you run the new dungeon yet? Want to go together?”
Little Sister Wu jumped up. “I’m not giving up my spot this time, no matter how much you offer!”
Seeing the look on Little Sister Wu’s face—the look of someone who had suffered a colossal loss—Chu Fu understood that she was regretting her decision so badly that her intestines had turned green.
Laoji Fuli chuckled, then said, “Don’t worry, kid. The city dungeon can hold up to twenty people now. There’s room for everyone.”
Not only was there room for everyone, but Chu Fu’s group had only thirteen people, leaving seven open spots.
However, Chu Fu had no intention of running it with Laoji Fuli.
“There are still plenty of members in the Thorny Guild who haven’t run this dungeon. There are also quite a few Level 20 players coming here now, so we plan to compete for the fastest-clear rankings!”
“For outsiders, since the fastest-clear rankings can be challenged as many times as you like, the price is a little lower. One point to all attributes costs ten gold coins. If you want to join us, you can pay to come along. We have seven spots available.”
There were three dungeons in Linjiang City.
The first could be entered at Level 22 and was called The Lich’s Conspiracy.
It still had four difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, Nightmare, and Hell.
The rewards, however, had changed.
The first-clear rewards had long since been claimed, but a fastest-clear ranking had been added.
The top five on the ranking would all receive rewards.
On Normal difficulty, the rewards were five, four, three, two, and one points to all attributes respectively.
For example, if a party first claimed the reward for fifth place on the fastest-clear ranking and later took first place, the rewards would be made up to the first-place reward. They would not receive a combined reward of one plus five.
That was why Chu Fu intended to take first place only.
The four difficulty levels awarded five, ten, fifteen, and twenty points to all attributes respectively, for a total of fifty points.
In other words, one person would cost 500 gold coins. Seven spots would bring in 3,500 gold coins.
Laoji Fuli froze, then gave the group another careful look.
“Are you certain you can clear the fastest-clear ranking? To be honest, I’ve already taken second place. I’m only one reward away from first, and the difference isn’t that great. You may not understand the situation, but this ranking isn’t easy to break!”
“You can find the clear times on the forums. They’re simply ridiculous!”
“I don’t know whether you’ve heard of Lu Xing. He claimed the fastest times on most of these dungeons. He clearly has no intention of letting anyone else take second place!”
Laoji Fuli shook his head helplessly. He felt that Lu Xing had already walked so far ahead that he had left everyone behind with no path to follow.
Besides, he was already Level 30 and could no longer enter the first dungeon. He had only come to secure spots for some promising players in the Junhun Guild.
If money could solve the problem, he was more than willing to pay. With their nation-level efficiency, making money was far easier for them than it was for ordinary farming studios.
What was more, if Chu Fu and the others truly had the ability, he could join them for the second dungeon, The Lich King’s Scream, which was for Levels 25–30, as well as the final dungeon, Destroy the Undead Calamity, for Levels 30–35.
The Destroy the Undead Calamity dungeon dropped Dark Gold equipment. At present, only the top Level 30 players in all of Linjiang City could barely gather enough people to clear it once.
So far, only three parties had cleared the dungeon, and none of their members had changed.
Well, one of those “parties” was not actually a party at all.
It was a single person.
Lu Xing.
Still him.
Quite a few Level 30 players had already decided to give up on competing for the fastest-clear rankings and head straight to the next map.
Chu Fu had not paid much attention to the dungeon clear times. Before she could check them, it was already her turn in line.
“Wait a moment. I’m going to learn a skill. I’ll be back shortly.”
Chu Fu pointed ahead, then walked over.
The class-change instructor smiled.
“Learning a skill costs five gold coins!”
No wonder he was smiling so happily.
What a rip-off!
