On the road

Xi Ji and the other four team members stood still, watching the metal ark, shimmering with elemental light, slowly sink into the dense darkness, accompanied by a sky full of fireballs.

"Minister Jing is truly a miracle worker!" A tall female team member carrying a longbow broke the silence first, her tone filled with sincere admiration. "With just a few words, Chairman Song's entire spirit seems to have changed; that heavy, gloomy aura has dissipated considerably."

"You can come to me for psychological counseling later, after all, I studied child psychology," Jing Yunxin replied with a smile, then took out a Skill Book from her pocket.

"Did Consultant Su give it to you?"

"Yes, he said this is my reward and investment." Jing Yunxin held the blue Skill Book in her hands.

[Dual-Cycle Method (Blue)]

[Level cap 15]

[Learnable]

The surroundings fell silent instantly.

While blue Skill Books are valuable, they are not unique.

What truly shocked these well-informed Elite team members was that this Skill Book was [learnable]!

All the blue Skill Books collected by the Mutual Aid Association so far come with strict [class restrictions].

Even with Attribute- based blue Skill Books, Jing Yunxin could use Skill Experience Stones to increase her Attributes before entering the Dungeon, which would undoubtedly greatly enhance her survivability and healing sustain in the perilous Dungeon.

Meanwhile, inside the cold, metallic Laboratory.

Su Luo put down the comparison table of the two worlds' basic mathematics sections that she had just translated and organized, put down her pen, and took out a deep blue magic staff.

"What's wrong? Did you encounter a monster?"

Song Shige nearby, was eager to get started.

"Not yet, but it's already reached the ten-kilometer lap, it'll be soon." Su Luo said calmly, but her hands began to disassemble the staff.

The area within a 10-kilometer radius of the Dungeon is a "Safe Zone" with no monsters; the Mutual Aid Association has completed its exploration.

It seems the system bug fixes weren't thorough enough; Su Luo was thrown into the Safe Zone.

Fireballs, each the size of a Fist and emitting a steady incandescent light, flew out one after another from around the Laboratory, as if they were alive.

They are not randomly scattered, but rather form a three-dimensional lighting network with the Laboratory at its core, constantly advancing and clearly defined, attempting to dispel the darkness ahead that seems capable of swallowing everything.

Light travels with exceptional difficulty here. Beyond a certain range, the light disappears rapidly, as if being devoured by an invisible giant mouth, greatly reducing the lighting effect. Su Luo still cannot detect the reason.

Suddenly, in the area illuminated by the flames below, a grotesque skeleton that had been lying prone on the ground, disguised as a rock, abruptly sprang up.

It didn't utter a roar, its silence was chilling, and with the power of its powerful lower limbs, it leaped more than thirty meters upwards, its stark white bone claws pointing directly at the massive metal object above.

But the Laboratory was at least a hundred meters above the ground and completely ignored this insignificant disturbance, maintaining a steady speed as it sailed into the depths of darkness.

It chases, it flees, it flies without wings.

This seems to be a signal.

Soon, hundreds of monsters of various shapes and sizes gathered below the Laboratory. Some of them, which had ranged attack capabilities, began to Throwing various "ammunition" into the sky: stones, bones, vomit, their own kind, and feces.

These attacks were insignificant against the Laboratory's heavily Spell defenses, but they were still incredibly annoying.

Pointing with a little hand.

Several ring-shaped devices on the bottom and sides of the Laboratory suddenly lit up with intense flames.

The next moment, dozens of fine, condensed fire lines, as solid as a physical object and displaying an intense white color, swept silently towards the monster horde below, like the most precise laser plows.

Still round and bright.

This system is a modification of Su Luo's previous Energy-Harvesting Ring of Fire System. Since the environment is full of Mana, there is no need to plunder energy.

He discarded the relatively inefficient and unstable parts, focused on defense, and enhanced its offensive capabilities, making it a highly effective area Cleaner.

Wherever the fire passed, the monsters fell into a deep, infant-like sleep, instantly turning crispy and charred in the extreme heat, leaving charred marks on the ground.

This was not Berserk bombing, but a highly efficient harvest.

The fire, as if it had a life of its own, Diffusion outwards in concentric circles from the Laboratory, precisely eliminating each and every child.

Occasionally, a few enormous, hard-shelled monsters would try to escape despite the Burn, but immediately several thicker beams of fire would focus on them, instantly burning them into molten ash.

Song Shige stared at the flames outside the Laboratory, his eyes filled with envy.

"So elegant! Consultant Su, you can clear out all the monsters with just a flick of your finger."

If it were him, he would have to cut them down one by one.

"I'm holding it in my hand." Su Luo glanced at the experience bar; it wasn't even 1%. Killing monsters, most of which were below Level 5, no longer provided any effective experience gain for a professional.

"Keep moving forward,"

An insignificant Survivor arrived in the Land of Darkness, but a genius appeared in the world of hardcore grinders.

Han Song focused intently on practicing his skills, over and over again, tirelessly, in his cramped Sanctuary.

This is his 68th hour without rest.

Thanks to the effective team he temporarily formed last time, he received a decent reward and experience during a cooperative monster-hunting session, successfully climbing to the bottom of Regional Kill Rankings and Level Rankings.

Having obtained the Skill Experience Stone, I entered a period of rapid development, slowly snowballing my progress.

But he's only at the bottom of the list. If he just continues to live on welfare without making any more effort, he'll soon end up like those he pushed off the list before.

He learned some techniques on the forum, and with the help of a strange item, he began to forgo rest and devote all his time to becoming stronger.

Just as he was fully focused, about to unleash his skill—

Boom! Boom boom!

In the distance, a muffled yet enormous explosion rang out, followed by the distinctive, chilling crackling of Burn!

Approaching rapidly from afar.

I've been in the Land of Darkness for so many days, and it's never been this lively before.

Without a trace of curiosity, he extinguished the oil lamp and nimbly slipped into the seemingly ordinary [Wishing Well] in the corner of the Sanctuary.

This was the "safe spot" he discovered after numerous tests. Both the Wishing Well and the Recycling Box were made of ridiculously hard materials, and he couldn't damage them in the slightest with his abilities.

With such a large-scale conflict outside, I don't know if the Sanctuary can hold them off. Maybe I should hide in the well for a while.

Staying at the bottom, Han Song dared not breathe, because he was surrounded by water.

Thump... thump... thump...

Just then, a clear and rhythmic knocking sound came from outside his Sanctuary!

The sound was unhurried, even polite, and continued for a while.

Damn, that's terrifying! Are they coming to rob us? Do robbers knock on the door?

Glug glug.

At the bottom of the water, Han Song was terrified and spat out a string of Bubbles.