Farming Source Essence
In his perception, the Dreamscape layers here were significantly "deeper" and "denser" than the bottom layer. Every building that made up the city, even the most absurd one, was not just a background image, but was deeply embedded in the underlying rules and structure of this Dream World, and was part of the cornerstone that maintained the existence of this "city".
In short, it is much, much more powerful than Su Luo's Dream World.
"Increasing the Dreamscape Depth... will also increase the intensity of the Dreamscape; I have to climb this tower."
At this moment, the blood-red Text condensed:
[Currently in effect: Desolation Plague]
[Blight Shield (Tier 5): All enemies gain an additional 250% maximum Health Points.]
[Desolation Plague Spear (Tier 5): Deals an additional 400% damage to all enemies.]
[Time Maze: You cannot play more than fifteen cards per turn.]
Su Luo blinked, feeling like she was being targeted by the Tower.
The shield and spear layers jumped directly from layer 1 at the end of the first layer to layer 5, which means that the enemy's health and damage became an extremely exaggerated multiple.
The newly added [Time Maze] directly limits his card-playing speed, which is clearly aimed at his potential strategies such as rapid card draw and infinite combos.
"Now that you've regained some of your memories, can you tell me more about the Desolation Plague?"
Su Luo called out to Iron Guard.
Upon hearing this, Iron Guard began to recall, "'The Desolation Plague'... I vaguely remember that it wasn't just something that existed in the Tower. It seemed to be... a catastrophe that swept across the entire 'Eternal Night Court'? Countless people and... other beings died. The sky lost its color, the earth rotted, and the world itself was wailing... It was a truly desperate era."
"As for the 'Desolation Plague' inside the Tower... it seems to appear during the climb if you do something 'out of line' or violate some taboo, and it accumulates, making the climb almost impossible."
Su Luo nodded thoughtfully.
Iron Guard suddenly had a bad feeling. He glanced at Su Luo and continued, "I remember once I built an infinite card-burning deck, and then it was immediately punished by the Desolation Plague... What was it called? Time Maze? Anyway, it was disgusting. Why are you asking about this again? You can't possibly..."
Su Luo gave him a calm look that said, "You guessed right," then took out the White Card that the BOSS had dropped and started printing it.
[Elemental Control]
[Consumption]
[Gain a random advanced elemental status each round: Darkness, Nature, Ice, Lightning..., consuming two energy points]
This synergizes with [Elemental Collapse], doubling the damage is just too good to pass up.
Soon, they encountered their first enemy on the second level.
It was a strange structure suspended above the street intersection—a Perfect metal sphere about two meters in diameter, entirely silver-white, with intricate and complex red energy patterns etched on its surface. The patterns flowed slowly like living things, emitting a stable energy field.
[Orb Guardian]
[Health Points: 140/140 (affected by Blight Shield)]
Iron Guard paused for a moment, then said, "I remember... it originally only had 20 drops of health?"
Su Luo started playing immediately, casting a [Spell Mastery] card and a [Subconscious Reasoning] card. After ending her turn, she looked at the Iron Guard's Attributes.
[Health Points: 1067/1067]
So this is what inheriting the BOSS's Attributes looks like? That's interesting.
Su Luo didn't question why the Iron Guard could inherit the BOSS's Attributes and have such a huge cheat code, because he wanted to have one too.
"Can you hold on? I need to farm some Relics; it might take many rounds," Su Luo asked.
Iron Guard glanced at the monster and slowly nodded. "No problem. In the next round, it will deal 55 damage. Right now, the damage is below 200, so I have no problem with it."
Iron Guard felt a sense of triumph, like he had just gotten back the big one, but he quickly regretted it.
Su Luo consumed twenty Source Essence, which was used to convert into an initial armor value of thirty per round. Combined with the previous amount, the initial armor value per round reached sixty.
Then, Su Luo and Iron Guard began a long tug-of-war, focusing on defense rather than attacking the Orb Guardian.
Su Luo meticulously planned each round: using her high automatic block rate of 60 points and occasional armor stacks, she easily neutralized the attacks of the Orb Guardian.
At the same time, he used the "reverse conversion" function of the [Source Essence Circulator] to actively convert his abundant energy and Health Points into Source Essence.
The number of rounds accumulated rapidly: ten rounds, thirty rounds, fifty rounds... soon exceeding the total number of rounds in all the battles on the first level.
[Source Essence: 165]
Iron Guard, who was initially calm, gradually became bored and then began to feel anxious.
Because he discovered that he was also stacking "Desolation Plague" layers! Although he was slower than Su Luo, the marks for [Blight Shield] and [Desolation Plague Spear] were already clearly displayed in his status bar, indicating that he had reached the second layer.
"Scholar! I've also contracted the Desolation Plague!"
Iron Guard couldn't help but speak up, his tone trembling with unease, "The Tower doesn't allow this kind of 'cheating' method of delaying! If we continue like this, the Desolation Plague will accumulate to the point where we can't climb the tower anymore!"
Su Luo remained calm, completely ignoring the Desolation Plague of the Tower, until...
[Currently in effect: Desolation Plague]
[Blight Shield (Level 10): All enemies gain an additional 500% maximum Health Points.]
[Desolation Plague Spear (Level 10): Deals an additional 775% damage to all enemies.]
[Time Maze: You cannot play more than fifteen cards per turn.]
Meanwhile, the Blight Shield and Desolation Plague Spear on the Iron Guard's body had already reached the 5th layer.
Its next attack is a combo... which will deal 258 damage.
Iron Guard has already started losing health and is beginning to regret climbing the tower with the Scholar. This time, they've summoned the Desolation Plague and they're certain they won't make it to the top.
Su Luo ignored the masked Iron Guard and went about her own business.
[Source Essence: 543]
The [Source Essence Circulator]'s [Source Essence Return] is activated.
[Source Essence Return: Now, you can transfer Source Essence to ■■]
500 units of Source Essence were consumed out of thin air, instantly drained within the "legal" channels of the Dreamscape's rules.
Instead of being transformed into any specific Attributes to enhance Su Luo's game, they were transferred in reverse, targeting the core of his true power, which Suppression by the rules of the Tower.
Source Essence itself is a "resource" recognized by the rules of the Dreamscape, and its transfer is legal within the rules.
However, the "target" set by Su Luo through [Source Essence Return] exists within the gaps of the rules.
This is like legally transferring a huge sum of money through the banking system, but the receiving account is an unregulated private vault hidden behind a system loophole. The rules recognize the transfer, but cannot define the final destination and purpose of the funds.