What Level Was Lin Ye Really On?

After hearing Itō Hidetaka's words, all the challengers present were fired up.

As a top design genius, Itō Hidetaka did have a point.

If they took a calm look at it, the dungeon mission really wasn't that hard.

At the very least, it seemed somewhat at odds with the dungeon's purgatory difficulty.

"Well said! Mr. Itō really is a genius among geniuses."

"I bet this dungeon is only purgatory difficulty because the map is so big. The actual mission isn't that hard."

"Wait, am I going to get carried to victory this time?! It feels great to be carried."

"Hahaha, if I can follow an expert and clear a purgatory-difficulty dungeon, I can advance to LV1 and become a Dungeon Designer too."

All the challengers still in the dungeon were full of confidence now, their earlier dejection gone.

Prince Singh walked forward with a smile and warmly shook Itō Hidetaka's hand.

"As expected of Mr. Itō Hidetaka. Your reasoning is sound and well supported."

"I'm willing to put all my warships under your command for this dungeon. I hope you can lead us to clear it."

"If we can clear this dungeon, my prestige among the A San people will rise with the tide."

Normally, the commander of a dungeon party, also known as the party leader, was the person with the highest level and combat strength.

Although the Firmament had no explicit rule about it, everyone observed the practice by common agreement.

That was because higher-level people generally had more weapons at their disposal, as well as plenty of experience clearing dungeons.

But this prince of the A San people was another matter.

The A San royal family's advantage was that they were fools with money to burn. Many of their weapons had been bought with points, and they had little real experience.

So his decision to hand command over to Itō Hidetaka of his own accord was indeed a wise one.

"Very good! Thank you for your trust, Your Highness," Itō Hidetaka said with a smile.

"Mr. Itō, do you have a battle plan in mind?" Singh couldn't help asking.

"The battle plan is simple. In two words: surprise attack."

"A surprise attack?"

A smug smile spread across Itō Hidetaka's face, as though he had seen through and understood everything.

"Prince Singh, take a close look at the mission. It only tells us to destroy Pearl Harbor Military Base. It doesn't say we have to destroy all the naval forces at the base."

"We can simply launch a surprise attack and blow up the military base, catching them off guard."

"Or we could lure away all their military forces first, then send a surprise force to blow up the base."

Itō Hidetaka's idea was actually inspired by Lin Ye's performance in the Battle of the Imperial Sea dungeon.

Itō Hidetaka's words opened the door to a whole new world for Singh.

He hadn't expected they could play it that way!

But if he looked carefully at the mission description, they really could do that.

"Brilliant! Mr. Itō, I'm in awe of your ingenuity."

Prince Singh couldn't help exclaiming in admiration.

If Itō Hidetaka's strategy worked, the dungeon would become much easier.

One could even say it wouldn't be difficult at all.

"From this alone, it's clear that Lin Ye has no talent for dungeon design," Singh said bluntly, slowly stroking his beard.

"There's an obvious loophole in his mission design. He's all show and no substance; he can't compare to Mr. Itō at all."

The other challengers chimed in enthusiastically.

"Good thing I didn't quit the dungeon early. Those who did were real suckers, hahaha."

"That's great. As long as we follow Mr. Itō's lead, we can definitely clear this dungeon."

Excitement filled the dungeon, and the livestream comments erupted along with it.

[o(*￣︶￣*)o Running into Mr. Itō, Lin Ye really has had eight lifetimes' worth of rotten luck.]

[I heard Lin Ye was the one who invited Mr. Itō into the dungeon. Isn't he just asking for trouble?]

[This young man Lin Ye got carried away after clearing Battle of the Imperial Sea. He made the map so big, but the mission turned out to be utterly ordinary. What a shame.]

[That's why a newcomer shouldn't aim too high when designing their first dungeon. Starting honestly with the simplest thing is better than anything else. Don't try to run before you can walk.]

[If you ask me, the Great Xia people have no talent for dungeon design at all. Up against a genius of our Great He Clan, even Long Yuan couldn't do a thing!]

[You up there, stop barking! Lin Ye's dungeon hasn't even shown its true strength yet. What makes you say it's no good?]

[Exactly. It's a purgatory dungeon, after all. It can't be that simple...]

The comments descended into a shouting match, and most people were pessimistic about Lin Ye's dungeon.

The reason was that Itō Hidetaka's analysis made a lot of sense; it felt as though he had gone straight for its vital point.

Some Great He Clan spectators also got into direct arguments with the Great Xia people, and they began hurling insults at one another.

Of course, this kind of shouting between peoples was common on Azure Star. The Firmament would ban those whose words grew too extreme, temporarily revoking their right to post comments in dungeons.

After a round of mutes, the livestream comments calmed down a little.

At that moment.

Outside the dungeon.

Lin Ye was watching what was happening in his dungeon while enjoying some authentic flatbread and grilled skewers.

The recent wave of challengers surrendering in the dungeon had already earned him 300 points.

He immediately spent one point on a barbecue meal to enjoy.

He had loved this kind of food in his previous life, and he hadn't expected Azure Star to have it too.

As he watched Itō Hidetaka share his insights in the dungeon and saw the discussion in the comments, the corners of Lin Ye's mouth lifted in a faint smile.

"Seeing that you've all chosen to continue the mission, I can rest easy."

Actually, Itō Hidetaka had been right about one thing.

Lin Ye really had put some thought into the mission setup and used a few tricks to misdirect them.

It was just many times more complicated than Itō Hidetaka imagined.

What Itō Hidetaka was thinking now was exactly what Lin Ye wanted him to think.

Lin Ye wasn't afraid of these people taking Pearl Harbor at all. What he feared was that they would be too useless and all choose to surrender and submit.

That was when he would really lose out.

Destroying Pearl Harbor was only the prerequisite mission for Raging Waves.

Once that mission was complete, the true Raging Waves would descend.

Setting a prerequisite mission was the essence of Raging Waves!

Raging Waves was simply too vast in scale. If he dumped it all on these challengers at once, they would only choose to surrender.

So he had to set an easy prerequisite mission first, giving the challengers a little hope. He would keep giving them hope, then keep shattering it.

What was more, in Lin Ye's setup,

they only had a chance to submit at the start. Once they formally began the mission, there would be no chance to back out.

They had to experience Raging Waves to the end before it could be over!

Itō Hidetaka thought he had seen through Lin Ye, little knowing that he was on the first level while Lin Ye was already on the fifth.