Chapter 108: The Second Level of the Demon-Suppressing Platform

I wonder if the poster did it on purpose. Although the post was packed with useful information, he didn't share the monster stats. It felt like he wanted others to go and find out for themselves.

Zhang Shan carefully examined the content of the post. The two weaker orange bosses were likely physical types, so as long as the tank was sturdy enough, most people could handle them. The strong one, however, might be a magic-type, which would be a bit more troublesome.

It didn't matter, though. A level 30 orange boss probably had less than two million HP. For Zhang Shan, since there was no level penalty, he could take it down in three minutes at most. It wouldn't be difficult at all, especially with Boss Wu there to provide healing. There was no way the Panda Cub wouldn't be able to hold out for three minutes.

The orange bosses shouldn't be hard to deal with; the main issue was that there might be too many elite mobs. If he had to clear them all by himself, it would take quite a while. As for the final dungeon boss, he had no plans for that yet; he’d wait until he could tackle it with Wind and Cloud together next time.

He decided to grind for a while and wait for Boss Wu to log on. During the work week, Boss Wu couldn't get online until after seven in the evening. As a man with a wife and child, he couldn't enjoy the same freedom as Zhang Shan, regardless of his job.

Perhaps that was what life was truly about. The days of a lone wolf like Zhang Shan couldn't be called living; it was more like just existing. He didn't have to wait long before Boss Wu logged on right on time.

"Did you have dinner?" Boss Wu asked.

"I just went downstairs and grabbed something casual."

"You're a wealthy man now, yet you still eat fast food downstairs every day? That's hardly living in style."

"What else can I do? You've seen the apartment I rent—it's a doghouse. You expect me to hire a private chef?"

"You've earned over ten million, haven't you? Buy a house! Or, if that's impossible, at least rent a bigger place."

"We'll see in a while. Besides, ten million in Pengcheng only gets you an average house, and only in the remote outskirts at that."

"True, property in Pengcheng is insanely expensive. My wife used to nag me about buying a place, but she stopped eventually. We simply can't afford it."

"It's fine. We'll do well in *New World*, and we'll definitely be able to afford one later."

"I hope so. Otherwise, Mengmeng won't even have a place to go to school, and we'll have to send her back to our hometown as a 'left-behind' child."

The sorrow of a working man: grinding away in a big city for years, with no roof over his head, no place to plant his feet, and even his child's education becoming a major problem. This was reality. One could only say he hadn't worked hard enough in the past, or perhaps it was just bad luck.

"Let's stop dwelling on these depressing things. Channel your recall; let's go hit the dungeon."

"Can the two of us really clear a dungeon?" Boss Wu had never run a dungeon in *New World* and had only seen related information on the forums. The consensus on the forums was one word: difficult. And that was without even considering they were only a duo.

"At our current level, we can only enter the second floor of the dungeon. Clearing it entirely isn't likely, but farming some experience and taking down a few mini-bosses shouldn't be a problem."

"Let's go. I hope we get some drops to sell. If I can't make money playing this game, my wife won't support it." Hearing that there were bosses to fight, Boss Wu perked up. He had been playing for several days but had yet to make his first pot of gold.

"Don't worry, you'll make money sooner or later."

After both finished channeling their recall, Zhang Shan took Boss Wu to the Auction House. He needed to upgrade him to level 20 gear; apart from his level 15 purple weapon, everything else he wore was junk from the starter village. It was as good as being naked.

Level 20 purple gear wasn't too expensive—ranging from a few hundred to a couple thousand gold coins—but the key was to get Boss Wu a decent cloak. A squishy class couldn't survive without a good cloak; a single area-of-effect attack from a boss would put him in the dirt. He didn't even consider purple cloaks. Although they occasionally appeared, the prices made Zhang Shan want to sell his own sacrificial cloak. The price tags were just too beautiful.

After searching for a long time, Zhang Shan spent over 80,000 gold coins on a level 20 blue cloak. As for the other gear, he managed to get everything for under 10,000 gold coins. The total cost was less than 100,000 gold coins. While gear prices had dropped significantly, it depended on who you asked. To a "whale," 100,000 gold was pocket change, but for an average player, spending 100,000 gold on gear was practically impossible.

He traded the purchased gear to Boss Wu. "Put on the new gear and toss that trash into the shop."

After receiving the gear, Boss Wu said, "There was no need to get me such good equipment. I just need to provide heals."

"It's just a little bit of money; don't worry about it. If we brothers want to dominate *New World*, we can't do it without proper attire."

Boss Wu didn't insist further. They had been best friends since college, and Zhang Shan had freeloaded off his meals plenty of times back then. After graduation, they came to Pengcheng to grind together, and Boss Wu had helped Zhang Shan out several times, even though he wasn't doing particularly well himself. True brothers don't need to say too much; the bond is understood.

"Let's go, dungeon time."

Teleporting to the Military Officer, Zhang Shan selected the second floor of the Demon Suppression Terrace dungeon, Normal difficulty. He didn't even think about other difficulty modes; with just the two of them, the mobs would likely send them back to town.

Entering the second floor, they saw the mobs in small clusters of three to five, or groups of ten or so. It wasn't like the first floor, which had been packed wall-to-wall with mobs. However, he had heard that the mobs on the second floor were all elites, so a smaller quantity made sense. If they had been as numerous as on the first floor, who could possibly clear them all?

Zhang Shan summoned the Panda Cub and dove straight in, while Boss Wu cast *Blessing of Attack* on him. The elite mobs on the second floor had the same names as those in the Monster Siege event—Demon Elite Warriors—and they were level 30. Since there was no level penalty against Zhang Shan, he could deal full damage.

Each attack dealt over 4,000 damage. With 100,000 HP, he could take down an elite mob in less than twenty hits. Because he had high critical hit stats, he would trigger a critical effect roughly every ten hits. Before long, an elite mob fell, yielding 1,600 experience points. Boss Wu should also receive over a thousand. That meant each elite mob granted over 2,000 experience points—very satisfying.

"Holy cow, the experience here is huge! One mob gave me over a thousand points. Doesn't that mean if I just kill a thousand of these, I'll level up again?"

The experience gains were fantastic. Boss Wu was currently level 21, and he only needed 1.5 million experience to level up. Although there weren't as many mobs as on the first floor, there were certainly a thousand or so here. At this rate, Boss Wu would be able to level up by the time they cleared them all.