Chapter Eighty-Seven: Reunion

He closed the forum and continued to focus on grinding monsters, occasionally glancing at the Wolf King. Although bosses usually remain near their spawn point, people are prone to compulsive habits—seeing it firsthand is always more reassuring.

Time passed slowly.

System announcement: Congratulations to Storm Dominates the World, Storm Secretary, Storm Blade, and others for being the first to clear the first floor of the Demon Suppression Platform dungeon in Hard Mode. All members have been rewarded with +1 skill point and +100 merit.

They finally finished it. It must have taken them three or four hours to run that dungeon—truly dedicated. But the first hard mode clear gets a system announcement? And skill points as a reward?

For no apparent reason, Zhang Shan felt as if he’d lost a skill point himself.

World channel:

"Damn, is the Storm Guild treating the dungeon as a place to farm skill points? They ran it once in Normal, now again in Hard."

"Yeah, if they clear Extreme Mode next, that’s three skill points from one floor. That's excessive."

"You’re thinking too much. Clearing Extreme Mode—do you really think humans can manage that? You all know how brutal it is, right?"

"True, Extreme Mode is way too hard. Even the regular monsters can't be beaten. Has anyone even seen the boss that guards Extreme Mode?"

"I doubt it. With such insane monsters, who could ever clear them all?"

"I wonder if Storm Guild will try Extreme Mode again next week?"

"No way. They're already level twenty. It's impossible they'd spend a whole week not leveling, just waiting for the next dungeon."

"So, does that mean Extreme Mode is destined to be an unsolvable challenge? Is any powerful team ready to try?"

"Who would waste a dungeon attempt on such a thankless task?"

"Extreme Mode on the first floor probably can't be cleared by anyone, but for future second-floor dungeons, who knows?"

"Exactly, leveling is getting slower. If progress stalls, those top players will definitely attempt a challenge."

Storm Dominates the World leading a team to clear Hard Mode had a real impact on all players. For most, even Normal Mode was a near-impossible feat, yet Storm’s team managed Hard. This showed that player progress was rapid, and the gap between players was widening quickly.

For other top-tier players, if Storm’s team could clear Hard Mode, then so could they. In a few days, more teams would begin attempting Hard Mode.

He called Storm Blade:

"Blade, you finally finished! Did you get anything good?"

"Haha, not bad—two pieces of red gear and a skill book. Nothing special."

"You’re acting modest. Careful, or you’ll get struck by lightning."

"Hehe, Six-Barrel, is the Wolf King still there?"

"Still here. You all gained a skill point for free, while I’m stuck guarding the Wolf King—without any skill point."

"Don’t envy us. The boss said after we kill the Wolf King, you get first pick. You always find the bosses—our guild’s thieves should be ashamed."

"Haha, then hurry over and let the Wolf King drop me a legendary item!"

"Dream on. We’ll head out once we’ve split the loot."

After ending the call, Zhang Shan glanced at the Wolf King, his hopes rising. Maybe it would drop some good gear for him. Letting him choose first made sense; he couldn’t always be contributing to the guild without reward.

He had discovered the boss, and the Secretary had only managed to tank the Wolf King thanks to a borrowed cloak. Zhang Shan was the main damage dealer. Competing for loot with everyone via dice rolls wasn’t quite fair to him.

Dice rolls were pure luck. Last time, when the Wolf King dropped the Jump skill book, he didn’t win it, and that bothered him for a long time. Still, he hadn’t complained; he got a red bracer from that drop—so it wasn’t a total loss.

Zhang Shan couldn’t defeat the Wolf King alone. Without Storm’s team, he’d get nothing. He was still a new member, slowly fitting in, and doing fine. The other new member, Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles, had barely made his presence felt. At least he could tag along for each boss hunt, which was already quite good.

Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles’ gear was lagging behind the first-tier group. Being able to join boss fights meant he hadn’t been abandoned. That guy was quite pleased—an ordinary player, getting to run with top players, was a rare opportunity.

Soon after, Storm Dominates the World invited Zhang Shan to join the party.

"Legendary guy, is the Wolf King your brother? Why do you keep finding him?"

"I’ve only found him twice, haha."

"Your luck is unbelievable."

"Well, to camp a boss, you’d have to cover the entire map—lots of people searching over and over."

"Yeah, the New World’s boss spawn mechanics aren’t exactly friendly to high-level players."

"It doesn’t matter. True bosses can’t be beaten by regular players anyway; in the end, high-level players will always take them down."

"Just a bit more troublesome."

Less than half an hour later, Storm’s team began arriving at Wolf Hill.

"Damn, Six-Barrel, why did you run so far? I thought we could fight the boss as soon as we entered the map."

"Ugh, I still need to eat lunch. Now I have to run for ten more minutes to reach the Wolf King, plus the boss fight time—my meal will be delayed by another hour. Not happy."

"No choice. The East Sea Dragon King and his crew chased me ten streets—I ended up here."

"You’re incredible, Six-Barrel. You’re the guild leader’s nemesis. You’ve taken down the Heaven-Slaying Dragon Saber twice, and now East Sea Dragon King just got stomped by you."

"They brought it on themselves. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother with them."

"Legendary guy, not unable, just unwilling to fight."

"Of course. If I want to fight, anyone is chopped like vegetables."

"Damn, so many wolves—how do we even get to the Wolf King?"

"Clear the way. You have enough people—it won’t take long."

"Just imagine, legendary guy running while clearing monsters, with a pack of dogs chasing behind. What a scene, haha."

"Imagined it—two words: truly awesome."

"I wish I could be this strong someday."

"You can! Go to the newbie village chicken map—you’ll dominate."

"Screw you."

After much effort, the group finally cleared their way to Zhang Shan’s location. Everyone looked toward the distant Wolf King, itching to make their move.