Chapter 17: Six Hours of Grinding! Reaching Level 20!
Seito examined the new material.
[Dragon's Eye (Orange Material)]: A secret treasure from the Dragon-Speech Forest on the First Floor. It is an artifact created from the fossilized eye of an Ancient Dragon King. When crafted into equipment, it grants incredibly powerful illusionary effects.
"A fine addition," Seito muttered. He completely ignored the pile of Green-tier materials, focusing solely on the Orange-tier prize.
This material possessed a rare special effect. For a player like Seito, who specialized purely in speed and spatial physical attacks, it wasn't a perfect fit. However, for a player specializing in illusion or mental magic, this would be a legendary-tier core.
Satisfied, he stowed the eye away and glanced at his teammates. "Let's move out. Time to clear some mobs and see if we can trigger more material drops."
The group followed him deeper into the woods. Once they were out of earshot, Touka Takanashi turned to Haruno Yukinoshita.
"You just handed him an Orange material like that?" Touka asked, her face expressionless.
"Of course," Haruno chirped playfully. "Think of it as an investment. He's one of the top three players in the world. Having the 'Uncrowned King' owe me a favor is worth much more than a single crystal."
Touka remained silent, lost in thought.
"Anyway, let's head to the Seventh Floor. I still need to get some levels in today," Haruno said, pulling Tooka along as they headed toward the higher floors.
Time flew. In the blink of an eye, six hours had passed.
With a party this optimized, their leveling speed was monstrous. They didn't just stick to the Second Floor—they blitzed through the mob zones of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth floors, eventually reaching the Seventh.
Their inventories were now overflowing with rare materials, thanks to their flawless coordination. Seito, Blank, and Sally used their high mobility to "pull" mobs from four different directions, kiting hundreds of monsters at once. Then, Maple would use her Taunt to lock them down, and the group would unleash their AOE attacks.
By the time they stopped, all five had reached Level 20.
Currently, under a massive tree on the Seventh Floor, the party sat down to rest.
"It seems that once you hit Level 20, low-level mobs stop giving EXP," Seito noted, checking the official forums.
According to the data, once a player reached Level 20, mobs from the first ten floors provided zero experience points. To keep growing, players had to clear the Floor 10 Boss and move to the Eleventh Floor.
"It's a mechanic to force players into the front-line raids," Sora said, offering his analysis.
"Doesn't matter to us. Our clear speed is high enough to catch up whenever we want," Seito smiled. Instead of rushing the bosses, their priority remained collecting every rare material the first ten floors had to offer.
[Player: Sei]
Level: 20
HP: 20,000 / 20,000
MP: 20,000 / 20,000
Stats: STR: 65 | DEF: 65 | INT: 65 | AGI: 3,735
Talent: Space Mastery
Skills: Velocity Space (Unique), Spatial Blink, Spatial Void-Step (Unique), Spatial Dragon's Roar (Unique), Spatial Dragon's Breath (Unique), Dimensional Slash (Unique).
Equipment: White Wolf Set, Hurricane Necklace.
Seito's Agility was now nearly 4,000. Upon his next level up, he would receive 10 points to all stats and 50 Free Attribute Points—a trend that would continue until Level 30. During the grind, he had also unlocked a new combat skill.
[Dimensional Slash (Unique)]: An attack that cleaves through the dimensions. Requires Spatial Power to activate. A perfect synergy for his Chokuto.
Closing his stats, he checked his loot.
[Inventory:
Materials: Dragon's Eye (Orange), Ice Crystal (Orange), Wizard's Elixir (Purple), Tears of the Wind Sprite (Purple), Broken Horn (Blue), Goblin Gem (Blue)...]
Gold: 260,000
He was sitting on 260,000 Gold—the equivalent of 260,000 RMB. However, Seito was more interested in the gear than the cash.
Ding!
[Notification: Player 'SnowCat' has sent a friend request.]
"SnowCat?" Seito raised an eyebrow.
Wait, 'Snow' (Yuki) and 'Cat'... this has to be Yukino. Everyone knew Yukino Yukinoshita was a legendary cat lover.
He hit 'Accept' and opened the chat.
Sei: "Is this Flatty?"
SnowCat: "My name is YUKINO! Yukino Yukinoshita! If you don't need that brain of yours, Seito-kun, please donate it to someone in need. A shameless pervert like you, constantly obsessing over the measurements of girls... you are literal trash!"
Sei: "Ooh, the sharp tongue is back~"
SnowCat: "Hmph!"
Sei: "You know, Yukino, you're actually quite cute when you're being all serious and proper."
SnowCat: "..."
On the other side of the screen...
Yukino, sitting between Asuna and Kaguya, felt her face heat up instantly.
"Is something wrong?" Asuna asked, noticing Yukino's sudden flustered expression.
"N-nothing," Yukino stammered, shaking her head.
She was starting to get the hang of the game. Like Maple, she was a total novice, but she was surrounded by a "Super-Team" consisting of Asuna, Yui Yuigahama, Kaguya Shinomiya, and Ai Hayasaka. With three experienced players guiding them, she and Kaguya were leveling up fast.
Steadying her breathing, Yukino typed back.
SnowCat: "Has Seito-kun finally dropped the act? Finally revealing your true nature as a predator of innocent girls? Degenerate!"
Sei: "Cough. I mean, if you're offering, I wouldn't say no."
SnowCat: "..."
Seito grinned as he closed the panel. I can handle a bit of poison. Besides, he truly did think she was cute.
"Seito-kun~"
Maple's voice pulled him back to reality. She was rubbing her eyes, looking exhausted. "I need to log off. I didn't sleep well yesterday, so I should get to bed early."
"I'm heading out too," Sally added, stretching her arms.
"We're beat too, Seito," Sora said, removing his mask and rubbing his tired eyes. "We only got a short nap this afternoon after pulling an all-nighter. Shiro is already nodding off."
Thank you for reading.
Hope you are satisfied with the quality.