Level 3 Gatekeeper Monster
Su Luo pressed his throbbing temples. The idiots on the Regional Channel had started showing him their daily "concern" again.
[@Su Luo, my shelter reached Level 1! When are you going to upgrade yours? (peeking)]
[@Su Luo, the rankings are opening soon!]
[@Su Luo, I have the original flavor...]
[Su Luo: (sent an image)]
[Holy shit?! Grilled fish?! Where did you get that?!]
[??? Why is your background so bright? Did you find the sun?]
[Boss! Did you find a way back to Earth? Take me with you!]
[Am I the only one who noticed Su Luo doesn't seem to be wearing pants...]
With that small move, Su Luo threw the Regional Channel into an uproar. He blocked the avalanche of private chat requests that followed, then withdrew his hand in satisfaction.
[Time remaining: 3 hours, 05 minutes]
The grand, cold voice, its source and gender impossible to discern, sounded in every survivor's mind once again, right on schedule:
[Survival Log update: Day 3]
[Current region (Zone 76) survival rate: 75.73%]
[Based on an assessment of survival data from the first three days, minor regional adjustments have been completed]
[Resource spawn mechanism: [Iron Chest] has been added to the spawn rotation. There is currently no spawn mechanism for [Gold Chest] or higher-tier chests.]
[The rankings system is now officially active: Level Rankings, Shelter Rankings, and Kill Rankings have been activated. Survivors may check the system interface for live rankings]
[Ranking reward mechanism: Every day at midnight (system time), those in the top 1,000, top 100, top 10, and first place on each ranking will receive survival supplies, special items, or even titles of different tiers]
[Monster ecology adjustment: As some survivors grow stronger, monster populations in the darkness will undergo dynamic changes, and higher-level monster units (Lv. 2–Lv. 3) will have an increased chance of appearing. There is also an extremely small chance of an "Elite" monster appearing. Killing one may bring an unexpected surprise.]
[Regional event notice: A "Monster Tide" is gathering in the distance. Its effects are expected to reach this region in 96 hours. During the Monster Tide, environmental visibility, monster activity, and resource distribution will fluctuate drastically. Please prepare in advance.]
Not even half of the seven-day safety period had passed, and a quarter of the people were already gone. Su Luo couldn't help feeling a little rueful.
When the announcements ended, Su Luo opened his panel to check his gains:
[Spirit: 7.2 (↑1.0)]
[Magic Power: 9 (↑7)]
[Meditation Level 6 (0/600)]
[Basic Visualization Method Level 6 (0/600)]
[Fireball Level 3 (186/300)]
When he raised Meditation to Level 6, his Magic Power reached 7.
But raising the Basic Visualization Method from Level 1 to Level 4 had only increased his Spirit, without adding any Magic Power.
That was because the Basic Visualization Method at low levels was no longer enough to increase Su Luo's Magic Power. Only once it reached a higher level could it increase again.
Low-level skills had a pronounced diminishing effect on high attributes.
For example, if a burly man with 7.0 Strength learned the [Basic Body-Strengthening Technique], could he immediately gain 0.1 Strength?
Obviously not, just as an athlete's muscles wouldn't grow stronger from drinking protein powder.
What should he do, then? He should inject...
Ahem. In short, once an attribute reached a certain point, low-quality, low-level skills could no longer increase it.
Su Luo checked the forum and found that some survivors had noticed the phenomenon, but nobody had brought it up for dedicated study.
Su Luo hurriedly cobbled together a post and published it on the forum.
[On the diminishing marginal returns of skill quality and level when increasing high attributes]
It gave Su Luo, who had just graduated from university, the feeling that he was padding out a paper.
Su Luo shouldered his nearly empty carrying basket and walked into the forest to gather food.
He focused on collecting fruit and roots with high water content. He had no container to carry stream water out of the Dungeon.
After half an hour of work, Su Luo had taken care of everything. He lay down on the ground and closed his eyes.
Only a few seconds passed before Su Luo's consciousness began to blur...
The [Meditation] book recorded many related techniques, all of which Su Luo had memorized. Among them was a highly developed method for deep sleep.
Su Luo combined it with segmented sleep and a method for falling asleep quickly. With less than three hours of sleep in total each day, he could basically meet his body's needs.
"Right!"
Su Luo jolted upright like a dying man springing from his sickbed.
"I can make another post."
[Crash course for beasts of burden—flexible sleep and short-sleep training methods]
Only after doing all that did he fall into a deep, contented sleep.
[Time remaining: 0 hours, 05 minutes]
Su Luo opened his eyes right on time, got dressed, and checked his carrying basket.
"It's almost over..."
Su Luo turned his gaze toward the Dungeon entrance, which he hadn't visited at all.
"I entered a Dungeon, but I haven't fought a single monster."
The powerful perception granted by his high Spirit gave him a sliver of confidence unlike anything he'd felt before, and he slowly moved toward the Dungeon entrance.
He slowly approached the heavy door, carved from an enormous stone of unknown origin. Several peepholes had been cut into it.
Su Luo stopped on the steps and peered through the door.
There was no way he was taking a risk. At most, he would stand to one side and investigate.
Looking inside, he saw an exceptionally spacious hall beyond the door. And just inside the entrance stood a full circle of skeletons, clad in rusted iron armor and gripping weapons!
They stood motionless, like sentries from time immemorial. But the blue soul flames that occasionally flickered in their empty eye sockets gave off a chilling sense of danger.
"Appraisal!"
[Appraisal: Unknown target]
[Check: Your level is 0, the target's level is 3, and your Appraisal is Level 5...]
[Check failed. Appraisal failed]
Su Luo: "..."
Su Luo sighed and cast Appraisal more than a dozen times in succession.
[Check failed. Appraisal failed]
[Check passed. You have obtained partial information on the target]
[Armed Skeleton]
[Level: 3]
[Strength: 10]
[Constitution: ?]
[Spirit: ?]
[Skills: ???, ???]
Ten Strength... It really could chop Su Luo apart with a single blow.
Su Luo sighed again and sent the information to Qin Lang.
[Su Luo: Here, these are the gatekeeper mobs]
[Qin Lang: ...That's ridiculous. Hardly anyone in our Mutual Aid Association can even reach 10 Strength for a short time.]
[Qin Lang: Wait, what? What level are you? How can you appraise a Level 3 monster!]
[Su Luo: Level 5 Appraisal]
[Qin Lang: Have you been grinding Appraisal this whole time because you had nothing else to do these past two days?]
[Su Luo: I've been grinding levels]
"Close enough. I've been grinding the whole time anyway," Su Luo muttered.
The moment he finished speaking, the white light of the system's teleportation lit up.
[Dungeon: The Wizard's Abandoned Testing Ground—challenge failed]
[Clearance progress: 0%]
[Overall evaluation: Trash]
The world spun around him, and Su Luo returned, basket on his back, to the spot where he had stood before entering the Dungeon.
After taking a moment to adjust, Su Luo turned and tapped the point of light again.
[You have entered this Dungeon recently. Please wait until the cooldown period has ended before trying again]
[Cooldown: 23 hours, 59 minutes]
"There's a cooldown too..." He was a little disappointed.
Su Luo took a deep breath and turned to face the boundless darkness that had once left him feeling desperate and helpless.
Then he slowly raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Poof!
A scorching, bright, dancing orange-red fireball appeared at the sound, hovering in midair above his palm. It instantly dispelled the dense darkness for several meters around him, illuminating his face for all to see!
Warm light enveloped him and illuminated the unknown ahead.
"I'm not the same as I was before!"