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Chapter 69: The Tankiest Assassin
Because Silverfang took away 40% of the experience, the 561 ghosts only gave Wu Shaochen 370,944 EXP. His level was still stuck at Level 22 with 462,982/500,000 EXP. Had Silverfang not taken that extra 20%, Wu Shaochen would have already leveled up. But he didn’t mind at all. As far as he was concerned, experience points were something he could always farm in bulk. What really caught his attention was that, despite receiving such a massive amount of EXP, Silverfang only reached Level 10. However, the growth in strength was nothing short of terrifying.
[Silverfang]
Potential: Awakening in progress…
Level: 10
HP: 40,400
MP: 2,200
Physical Attack: 550
Physical Defense: 330
Magic Defense: 220
Speed: 220
Even just at Level 10, Silverfang’s stats had improved dramatically compared to before. And since its potential was still awakening, there was definitely room for further growth. Most notably, its speed had increased significantly—reaching 220 at Level 10. That meant it could now keep up with Wu Shaochen and even help him fight bosses. Before, he never let Silverfang tank bosses because its speed was too low. Once sent out, it usually wouldn’t make it back alive. Even though pet death only meant a 1-hour cooldown and a single level loss, dying too often would lower loyalty. And if loyalty dropped too low, pets could rebel. That’s why Wu Shaochen never considered sacrificing Silverfang recklessly. Maybe that’s exactly why—after awakening—Silverfang still chose to stay by his side. At Level 10, Silverfang had grown a lot, but was still only about knee-height.
“Since my talent has already reached its cap, I might as well go back to the upper level to grind HP. The efficiency here is just too low.”
He logged off to eat, planning to grind until midnight afterward before tackling the dungeon again. That should provide another major power spike.
After logging off in a safe area, he reheated the lunch he had packed earlier and opened his phone to browse the forums. The hottest topic was still that piece of dark-gold equipment. At this stage, it was practically impossible to obtain dark-gold gear, let alone defeat a dark-gold-level boss. Later, someone revealed that Dust-Sealed had only obtained the gear after clearing a dungeon, and that revelation set the forums on fire. Countless players began grinding like mad, desperate to hit Level 20 and enter the dungeon.
Wu Shaochen chuckled. “You guys better not get your hopes up for dark-gold equipment. Normally, even clearing a dungeon would only reward a silver chest. If you manage to get a single gold item from it, that’s already a miracle.”
After eating, Wu Shaochen logged back in and took Silverfang to the first floor, heading down the left corridor. Grinding HP was most efficient on the first floor. Sure enough, at the end of the corridor, he found another densely packed monster mine area. This time, the mobs were Level 24 skeletons holding bone shields. They had 68,000 HP, 620 Defense, and slightly weaker attacks at 610. They were slightly easier than the Level 23 skeleton mages, but their skill—Shield Bash—was annoying. It only dealt 150% damage, but it forced a 1-second stun.
“Man, the skeleton warriors in the first mine zone were way easier to deal with,” he muttered. Still, there was no choice but to grind through it. He needed the HP, and Silverfang needed the levels. His goal was to kill that tiger within the next two days, which would give him a huge boost in strength. After that, he planned to take on the gold-tier War God’s Secret Realm. That would be very nice.
Wu Shaochen resumed his long grind. The skeleton shield guards were frustrating to deal with, especially their Shield Bash. He could only pull four to five at a time. The skill had a 10-second cooldown, and pulling too many would leave him stunned to death.
Jinling City…
Ao Shi Tianxia: “Have you found where Dust-Sealed is yet?”
“Nope. He hasn’t been seen in Jinling City for a while now. Most likely grinding mobs out in some high-level area. Our people can’t even get there,” Ao Shi Fangyu replied.
“Hmph, let’s see how long he can hide,” Ao Shi Tianxia snorted. “Tell everyone to keep looking. We need to hurry and reach Level 20 to challenge the dungeon.”
Julu City…
A flash of golden light marked a level-up. Guild leader Godking from the Godking Pavilion had become the first player to hit Level 20 after Dust-Sealed, thanks to help from his guild’s top players.
“Godking, are you heading into the dungeon now?” asked God’s Left Hand beside him.
“Yeah. You guys probably won’t reach Level 20 today, so I’ll go in solo and test the waters. If Dust-Sealed could clear it solo, then the difficulty shouldn’t be that high. No reason to waste today’s run.” Godking nodded.
The group made their way to the Linlang Dungeon in Julu City. Godking looked at the monument listing the first-clear team—Dust-Sealed’s Party—and smiled. “Time to finally face him, at least indirectly.” He clicked on “Challenge.”
“Think Godking can clear it?” one of the guild members asked.
“Of course. He’s Godking. That Dust-Sealed guy just came outta nowhere. There’s no way he can compare to Godking,” God’s Left Hand said confidently.
“Exactly. Dust-Sealed might’ve had a talent advantage early on, but his actual strength is trash,” added God’s Right Hand.
Not long after their chat started, Godking was suddenly teleported out, face grim.
“What happened, Godking?” the group rushed to ask.
“This dungeon is tough! We’ll have to wait until you all hit Level 20 before we challenge it together.” With that, Godking glanced once more at the monument before turning away.
Everyone exchanged looks and quietly followed him. It was obvious Godking had failed. No one dared to rub salt in the wound.
As more players reached Level 20, the leaderboard quickly filled up with names. Every single one of them rushed to try the dungeon—and got wrecked. Thankfully, dungeon deaths didn’t cause EXP or gear loss; they just resulted in forced ejection. Otherwise, they’d be pulling their hair out.
While the outside world buzzed, Wu Shaochen kept grinding without a care. That was when his private messages lit up.
Xue’er: “Dust-Sealed, any tips for the dungeon?”
Dust-Sealed: “What tips? There are three paths. Just clear them one by one.”
Xue’er: “But the number of monsters keeps increasing, I can’t handle it!”
Dust-Sealed: “Isn’t it a group dungeon? Just get 10 people together.”
…
Dust-Sealed: “Wait… don’t tell me you went in solo?”
Xue’er: “Mm…”
…
Dust-Sealed: “How many brain cells do you even have? You really went in solo?”
Standing at the dungeon entrance, Su Muxue read Wu Shaochen’s reply and ground her teeth in frustration. She wanted to reply, “Weren’t you solo too?” but she held it in. That guy wasn’t even human.
After replying to Su Muxue, Wu Shaochen opened the level leaderboard. Other than himself, it was now filled with Level 20 players.
“These guys are leveling up fast,” he muttered. “Guess I can’t slack off.”
After more than three hours of grinding, he finally cleared the entire zone of shield skeletons—604 in total. Wu Shaochen also reached:
Level 23: 165,390 / 600,000 EXP
After Level 20, each level required 100,000 more EXP than the last. The leveling curve had steepened, but Wu Shaochen didn’t care. He could still grind HP even if he didn’t level. His goal was to become the tankiest assassin out there.
His Immortal Body skill, combined with the 561 ghosts from earlier, boosted his HP by another 1,165 points. Add the 80 HP from leveling up and the 10% bonus from his title, and his HP increased by 1,369, reaching a maximum of 15,646. He hadn’t used any of his stat points yet and had 40 saved. He dumped them all into Constitution to prep for the tiger boss. Both physical and magical defense increased by 57 points.
Physical Defense: 950
Magic Defense: 939
Almost 1,000 in both—definitely the tankiest assassin in the entire server.
The 600+ skeleton shield guards also pushed Silverfang to Level 14. But Wu Shaochen frowned. Ever since Silverfang awakened, it took way more EXP to level up. Even with 40% of the EXP and fighting high-level monsters, it took over a thousand kills just to reach Level 14. Before, it would’ve been in the 20s by now.