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--- Chapter 516 ---
Han Yuan sighed softly, watching the Twin-Headed Cyclops' giant form dissolve into shimmering virtual particles that dissipated into the quartz chamber.
Truthfully, the Twin-Headed Cyclops was significantly tougher than most thousand-year-old spirit beasts he had encountered and slain in the Spirit Ascension Platform. The reason was obvious. The Wild Boss's system-boosted attributes were ridiculously stacked.
At a mere Level 25, the Cyclops possessed stat totals that easily rivaled a Spirit King's strength in the real world, probably made that way under the assumption that a large raid party would fight it together.
Subjugating such a creature with only two people, especially in the early game, pushed the difficulty to its absolute limit.
Naturally, if Han Yuan had gone all out, he could have soloed the beast with ease, but letting Mu Xi take stage was far more valuable for her growth.
"Sister Mu Xi, are you alright?" Han Yuan asked, approaching the exhausted girl.
"I'm fine!" Mu Xi panted, sitting on the polished floor with a weary look on her face.
She pulled a glowing stamina berry from her inventory and popped it into her mouth, rapidly restoring her depleted Health Points, Stamina, and Spirit Energy bars.
Han Yuan reached down, offering her his hand. "You certainly didn't look fine getting swatted into the wall like that."
Mu Xi grinned up at him, grabbing his hand to pull herself up. "Hehe... but you avenged me in the end, didn't you?"
"You're completely hopeless," Han Yuan grumbled, though a faint, bitter smile tugged at his lips.
"Anyway, where's my loot?! My massive, shiny boss loot!" Mu Xi's silver eyes immediately locked onto a glistening pile of coins and glowing treasure chests sitting near the bone throne.
These were the direct monster drops, different from the server-wide achievement rewards granted by the system.
"Oh my goodness! My treasure!" Mu Xi darted straight toward the pile, leaving Han Yuan standing in her dust.
"..."
Han Yuan stared blankly at her fluttering silver hair, shaking his head with a helpless laugh. Sometimes, he really needed to learn to adopt a fraction of her unbridled optimism.
Stepping forward, he joined her in sorting the spoils.
In total, the boss yielded 69 Silver Coins, a fortune for early-game players like them, along with three decent high-tier armor pieces and several rare crafting materials dropped by the Cyclops itself.
[Rare Crafting Material: Twin Cyclops' Eyes]
[Consumable / Crafting Material. Permanently increases Mental Power by +100 units.]
[Rare Crafting Material: Twin Cyclops' Core]
[Consumable / Crafting Material. Permanently increases Mental Defense by +100 units.]
[Rare Crafting Material: Twin Cyclops' Heart]
[Consumable / Crafting Material. Permanently increases Health Points by +500 units.]
"Hmm, well... I don't think we should consume these raw," Mu Xi said with a thoughtful look, tapping her chin. "Couldn't we find a formula to make them into high-tier alchemical medicine instead?"
Han Yuan nodded in agreement. "Definitely. Given that DND Online has a fully fleshed-out Blacksmithing system, an Alchemist profession should exist as well."
He glanced at the equipment drops. "As for these armor pieces... besides this cloak, the metal handguards and greaves suit you perfectly."
"Really? Then I'm putting them on right now!" Mu Xi beamed, equipping both items through her system interface.
The heavy white metal handguards and swift greaves instantly snapped into place over her avatar, granting her a substantial boost to physical defense and movement speed.
Han Yuan equipped the dark-blue cloak, which draped over his shoulders, subtly dampening his overall aura and presence.
Mu Xi inspected him from top to bottom with warm, bright silver eyes, letting out a soft giggle. "As expected, my Xiao Yuan looks handsome from literally any angle."
"You look great too, Sister Mu Xi," Han Yuan replied with a gentle smile.
"Of course I do! Who do you think I am?!" She puffed out her chest proudly, placing her hands on her hips.
Then, she glanced down at the remaining drops with a pout. "Still... it's a bit of a shame the Cyclops didn't drop any unique weapons or skill books."
Han Yuan blinked at her in utter astonishment. "Did you completely block out the global announcement? We literally received custom server-first rewards."
"Ah! You're right!" Mu Xi slapped her forehead in realization and checked her inventory.
Sure enough, sitting in her top slots were two radiant, glowing icons.
1x [ Unique Skill Book Voucher ]
1x [ Unique Weapon Voucher ]
"Um... should I claim them right now? Or is it better to save them until my level is higher?" Mu Xi paused, her index finger hovering nervously over the glowing icons.
Han Yuan pondered for a moment before replying. "It's better to use them immediately. Right now, we hold the lead among all players in DND Online."
"So, we hold the tactical advantage."
"Acquiring stronger skills and weapons right now will widen that gap even further, preventing anyone from catching up."
"Besides," Han Yuan added slowly, "According to the system guidelines left by DND Online's Game Masters, Unique Items are strictly one-of-a-kind on the entire server. Once you get your item, no one else can ever obtain it."
"Then... let's see what kind of unique weapon I get!" Mu Xi rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Gacha gods, smile upon this lady!"
"..."
Han Yuan watched her with a twitching eyebrow. He couldn't help but feel that this version of Mu Xi was drifting further and further from her original personality.
There's no way the soul contract altered her behavior this much, right? She's literally a gacha addict now.
Under Han Yuan's curious gaze, Mu Xi tapped the weapon voucher.
FLASH!
A blinding column of radiant white light erupted in her palm, condensing into a magnificent, pure-white longsword wrapped in raging, crackling arcs of white electricity.
The moment her fingers wrapped around the hilt, a subtle soul-binding resonance vibrated between the sword and her Martial Soul.
Han Yuan narrowed his eyes, quietly activating his Eyes of Truth to dissect the item's secret.
'Tch... Xu Deming really didn't hold back on DND Online's rewards,' Han Yuan realized with a faint shock. 'He actually granted her a true Spiritual Weapon, the same class of artifact Ye Ziyun used during the Plane Invasion.'
'Once Mu Xi fully masters this blade and resonates with it, she will be able to manifest it directly into the real world.'
"Thunderflare Dominion..." Mu Xi whispered, reading the glowing gold text above the blade.
She looked up, her face flushed with pure thrill. "Xiao Yuan! I actually rolled a growth-type Unique Weapon!"
"It levels up alongside me! It's literally perfect!"
"No... we were fated!"
'More like someone hand-crafted it specifically for you, Sister.' Han Yuan commented inwardly, though he kept the thought to himself.
"Is that so?" Han Yuan smiled faintly. "Then you're going to be even more unstoppable, Sister Mu Xi. What about the Unique Skill?"
Mu Xi eagerly put the blade away and tapped the skill voucher. "Oh! My unique skill... hmm, it's called [Gladiator Queen's Aura]."
"It's a passive aura skill!"
"It boosts all my base attributes during combat... and the higher my level grows, the higher the percentage boost becomes! Right now, at Level 14, it gives a flat 14% increase to all stats."
"Plus, it says the aura allows me to ignore most crowd-control and crowd-debuff skills!"
"And look here, it says [Gladiator Queen's Aura] Skill can undergo further evolution once specific conditions are fulfilled!" Mu Xi practically jumped in place, waving her arms. "Awesome! This is so ridiculously awesome!"
Han Yuan chuckled warmly. "Don't forget that skills learned here can be integrated into your real-world self. That passive is far more broken than you realize, Sister Mu Xi."
"Jeez, DND Online is so generous!" Mu Xi laughed delightfully.
She turned to him, her eyes sparkling. "What about you, Xiao Yuan? Aren't you going to claim your Unique Weapon and Skill?"
"Well, might as well." Han Yuan nodded, bringing up his personal system interface.
However, just as his finger reached toward the glowing voucher icons, Gnosia's voice boomed across the sky once more.
[SERVER SYSTEM NOTICE!]
[All players have reached the maximum 12-hour continuous login limit for this session.]
[The DND Online server will now go offline for daily maintenance, disconnecting all active avatars.]
[Please secure your inventory and return to a Safe Zone immediately...]
[Server Shutdown in: 30... 29... 28... ]
"Xiao Yuan! Hurry! Use the vouchers!" Mu Xi shook his shoulder in a sudden flurry of panic.
"Forget the vouchers, we need to reach the beginner village safe zone first or risk logging off in an unsafe spawn point!"
Han Yuan sighed, stepping forward and scooping Mu Xi up into a swift, seamless princess-carry before dashing out of the white chamber at top speed.
"W-Whoa!" Mu Xi squeaked, caught completely off guard.
Her charming face flushed crimson as she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. She hadn't expected him to carry her like that, but as she rested her head against his shoulder, she realized she didn't dislike it at all.
In fact, she loved every second of it.
SWOOSH!
Using his raw agility, Han Yuan crossed the threshold of the Beginner Village's main square just as the timer hit zero, and the virtual world dissolved into white noise.
Real World—Heaven Dou City, Blacksmith Association.
Han Yuan and Mu Xi slowly opened their eyes in the bedroom.
Bright morning sunlight filtered through the bedroom curtains, illuminating the bed where the two of them lay wrapped tightly in each other's embrace.
Their young bodies were positioned in a quite intimate embrace.
"So... it really wasn't a dream," Mu Xi mumbled softly, gazing up into Han Yuan's striking silver eyes.
Han Yuan reached out and gently flicked her fair forehead. "Of course it wasn't a dream. But for now, we should keep everything about DND Online strictly between us."
"Mhm... this is our secret," Mu Xi purred, hugging him tighter and burying her blushing face snugly into his chest.