Chapter 107: Level Twenty-Eight

After nearly an hour of arduous travel, Zhang Shan and Boss Wu finally arrived at the Ant Hill map.

Seeing the vast expanse of marching ants covering the mountainside, Boss Wu was a bit stunned.

"Damn, so many ants, all level forty. Were you farming monsters here before? How did you manage it alone?"

"Not hard. The Panda Cub can tank damage from over twenty marching ants. I just lead one group to fight another. Once the Panda Cub’s health recovers, we keep going."

"With such a powerful pet, you’ve got all the best luck in the game. I wonder when I’ll get my hands on a summoning skill book?"

"Skill books depend on fate. Right now, the only summoning skill book for the Taoist is Summon Heavenly General—it's very rare. I don’t know if there are others."

Zhang Shan directed the Panda Cub straight into a swarm of marching ants.

Now that Boss Wu, a Taoist, was with him, there was no need to lure monsters carefully. The Panda Cub could charge directly into the mobs.

Although Boss Wu’s level was still low, he could easily heal the Panda Cub when dealing with small monsters.

Once the Panda Cub drew the ants’ attention, Zhang Shan began attacking. With the Taoist’s Blessing of Attack, his offensive power had greatly increased compared to when he farmed alone. The speed of killing monsters was much faster.

Watching Zhang Shan slash through marching ants as if slicing vegetables—just a few hits to kill one—made Boss Wu a little itchy to join in.

Gripping his wooden sword, he swung at a marching ant. Damage: minus one.

"Damn, does it not break their defense at all?"

"Of course not. Your attack power is too low, and your level is far below theirs. Forget about level forty ants—you probably couldn’t even break the defense of level thirty monsters."

"Attack power is king. Your level is over ten levels lower than the ants’, yet you can still deal over two thousand damage."

"Yeah, as long as attack power is high enough, you can deal considerable damage even under level suppression. The suppression is probably proportional."

The two chatted as they farmed, with Boss Wu only needing to heal Zhang Shan’s Panda Cub.

The Blessing of Attack skill, once upgraded to level ten, lasted three minutes—no need to keep recasting.

Although they shared experience now, Zhang Shan’s leveling speed didn’t slow; in fact, it accelerated.

Because both belonged to the Storm Guild, teaming up gave a ten percent experience bonus. Normally, a marching ant yielded 420 experience, but now it gave 460.

Since Boss Wu’s level was low, he earned less experience—Zhang Shan got just over 400 per monster, while Boss Wu received only fifty or sixty.

With the Blessing of Attack active, Zhang Shan’s attack power rose to 4,600, dealing around 2,500 damage per hit—much faster than before.

The best part was no longer needing to be cautious and slow; the Panda Cub took the front line. Zhang Shan only had to keep firing, almost mindlessly.

He used the Frenzy skill whenever it cooled down, and with all the buffs combined, leveling efficiency improved significantly.

After more than an hour, Boss Wu leveled up to thirteen.

"I’m logging off now. Can’t play too late or my wife will nag me."

"Alright, log off near the map entrance. I’ll farm around there tomorrow and wait for you to log in."

With that, the two slowly retreated to the Ant Hill map entrance.

Boss Wu logged off, leaving Zhang Shan to farm alone again.

Having family meant Boss Wu couldn’t play as freely as Zhang Shan. Maybe he had tasks to complete at night.

The entire Ant Hill map was now just Zhang Shan quietly farming monsters by himself.

Without a healer to support the Panda Cub, farming was tedious. He had to lure out marching ants in small groups and handle them slowly, feeding the Panda Cub to restore its health—a real hassle.

But patience was key.

Over the next three days, Boss Wu was online all weekend but only able to play after seven in the evening on weekdays.

After three days of effort, Zhang Shan not only reached level twenty-eight but also gained several million extra experience points.

However, seeing that level twenty-nine required 25 million experience left him speechless. To reach level thirty might take a whole week—truly tough.

In three days, Boss Wu reached level twenty-one. With Zhang Shan guiding him, leveling felt like flying.

Tomorrow was Wednesday, and the dungeon would reset. Zhang Shan still hadn’t used this week’s dungeon entries.

Once Boss Wu was online later, they planned to tackle a run together. Although unlikely to clear the dungeon as a duo, they didn’t want to waste their attempts.

Boss Wu was now over level twenty, so they could enter the second level of the dungeon to farm some monsters. Maybe they could even take down a mini-boss.

First, Zhang Shan decided to check the forum for information about the second-level dungeon to see what they were facing. He wasn’t sure if it resembled the first level.

Reports said it was a large crowd of elites plus an orange boss, and a red boss guarding the final gate.

Most players were already in their twenties, some even reaching twenty-four or twenty-five. Many had tried the second-level dungeon, but no one had cleared it yet.

The forum should have information on this.

Zhang Shan searched quickly and found plenty of relevant posts, opening the one with the most views.

“The New World operators really know how to play—the second-level dungeon at Demon Suppression Platform is like this.”

The title was eye-catching; hopefully, it had some real insights.

Zhang Shan skimmed the post. It was quite honest; the poster had faced everything except the final gatekeeper boss.

Other details about the second level seemed comprehensive.

First, the second-level dungeon’s monsters were different from the first level’s; they weren’t ordinary mobs but elites—like those in the Monster Attack event.

Thirty-level elites with 100,000 health and high attack power. If the team was too small, a few could overwhelm them.

Dungeon entry allowed one to fifty players. Many, like Zhang Shan, planned to enter with just two or three.

The poster warned against that idea.

But Zhang Shan had no plans to recruit more. These were just 100,000 HP elites, not difficult for him.

The poster also mentioned that these elites gave generous experience—unlike the Monster Attack event, where elites only gave experience equal to normal mobs.

As for the orange bosses in the second-level dungeon, the poster’s group encountered three—some strong, some weak.

The weaker ones could be defeated with a solid tank and enough support.

But one orange boss was extremely powerful, likely unbeatable for most groups.

Because they hadn’t defeated that boss, the poster’s group never reached the final gatekeeper and eventually exited the dungeon.