White Bone Dungeon

Xi City Branch, underground manor.

Passing through the gloomy corridor, the heavy iron door creaked open. Light poured from the doorway, flooding Bai Pu like a tide.

Bai Pu felt something similar to Spirit Realm Teleportation, but no mission appeared this time.

The scene before him stabilized.

In the dim underground world, he could look up and see stone spikes hanging low, entwined with unknown vines. Strange, enormous fungi grew across the ground.

The plants of the underground world were vastly different from those on the surface. They did not need sunlight; instead, they emitted a faint glow, keeping this underground world from falling into complete darkness.

Besides the plants' faint light, he could also see piles of bones, with pale phosphorescent flames flickering atop them. Occasionally, one or two solitary "human" figures swayed about, deep soul flames gleaming where their eyes should have been...

This was the White Bone Dungeon, a world of graveyards, a paradise for skeletons.

Bai Pu glanced at the small green sphere floating above him. A tiny lens on it was pointed at him, recording him.

This was a Spirit Energy Camera. It could use Spirit Energy Particles to transmit signals and was considered a groundbreaking invention. From then on, ordinary people had a more convenient and efficient way to learn about the world of Awakened ones.

Some Awakened would livestream their adventures in low-difficulty Wilderness Areas and Intersection Lands in order to gain fame in the real world. This was commonly known as "farming the wild" and "exploring secret realms," and Spirit Energy Cameras had contributed greatly to its popularity.

This Spirit Energy Camera had been given to Bai Pu by Qilin to bring inside. Qilin said it was an organizational rule to record the time spent clearing each floor of the White Bone Dungeon.

Qilin and Black Tiger were currently in the tactical research room with Chou Shijie, an instructor from the God Strategy Army's Genius Camp. They stood before a large screen, watching the footage transmitted by the Spirit Energy Camera.

Bai Pu did not mind others learning about his class skills. After all, if he wanted to build fame in the real world later, exposure would be unavoidable. It was only normal for people to scrutinize him under a magnifying glass, especially the Superstar Alliance.

However, it was still necessary to keep one or two trump cards hidden as a means of self-preservation.

After putting on the Iron Thorn Shoulder Guard and picking up the Smooth Bone Hammer, Bai Pu strode forward. From time to time, dry bones cracked beneath his feet, the sounds carrying far through the silent dungeon and even producing echoes.

"Gah..."

A chilling, hoarse undead screech rang out. Amid the grating sound of bones rubbing together, two Rotten Bone Skeletons rose from a pile of bones, raised their rusty swords, and charged at Bai Pu.

"I wonder whether their attacks count as Sharp Damage or blunt damage..." Bai Pu looked at their rusty, broken swords and shook his head slightly. Still, he activated Keratinous Skin and stepped forward to meet them.

Slash, swish! The two skeletons' attacks landed on Bai Pu one after another.

Tactical research room.

Seeing this, Black Tiger could not help shaking his head. "Too amateurish. Rotten Bone Skeletons are weak-template monsters with only Basic-level Combat Expertise. Even facing two at once, he should have had an easy time dodging and parrying them."

"I heard Bai Pu never received systematic combat training before. He dropped out of middle school, and Ling-jie is helping him contact schools now. Maybe his fundamentals are weak," Qilin said.

"But I'm even more curious now. How exactly did he obtain an Enhanced Elite class? Could it be like the rumors say—that he stole a highly valuable Spirit Realm Oddity and only then obtained the Enhanced Elite Template?" Black Tiger muttered.

Instructor Chou said nothing and kept his eyes fixed on the screen. Seeing the two of them gradually drift off-topic, he snapped, "Stop guessing blindly. Can't you see? Bai Pu deliberately chose not to dodge. He's only testing how much damage the Rotten Bone Skeletons can inflict on him!"

The Rotten Bone Skeleton's slash dealt 2 points of Sharp Damage to you.

The Rotten Bone Skeleton's slash dealt 1 point of Sharp Damage to you.

Bai Pu's heart settled.

He swung the bone hammer and attacked, discovering that it took three or four consecutive blows to smash a Rotten Bone Skeleton apart. By his estimate, each Rotten Bone Skeleton had around thirty to forty Health Points.

As for the damage dealt by the Rotten Bone Skeletons, it was about the same as mosquito bites. The sporadic loss of health from their attacks was not even as fast as Bai Pu's natural Health Points regeneration.

What Bai Pu did not know was that killing the two Rotten Bone Skeletons had taken him nearly a minute. In the eyes of Qilin and Black Tiger in the tactical research room, this performance only made them look down on him even more.

After the first round of combat, Bai Pu had already learned the Rotten Bone Skeletons' Attack Power, Health Points, and other information.

"It's time to act."

Bai Pu murmured to himself, then glanced back at the floating Spirit Energy Camera behind him. He grinned, showing his teeth, and chose to turn off the livestream feed.

In the tactical research room, the screen went black and automatically switched to a map of the White Bone Dungeon's first floor. Only a green dot remained, flashing at the entrance to the first floor.

"Huh? Why did he turn off the feed?" Qilin cried.

Instructor Chou sat in his chair without any urgency. He waved a hand and said, "The camp admission test never required the feed to remain on. We only need to record the time. Bai Pu merely turned off the livestream feed and did not disable the tracking function, which shows that he knows where to draw the line. Through the tracking, I can see Bai Pu's location. Let's see how far he can make it."

Qilin and Black Tiger exchanged a glance. Both felt that this newcomer, Bai Pu, was rather bold. He did not seem like someone easy to fool.

Inside the White Bone Dungeon, the style suddenly changed completely! With the livestream feed off, Bai Pu seemed like an entirely different person as he cheerfully ran through the first floor of the dungeon! He held a thigh bone in each hand, knocking them together, the crisp clacking of bone clearly ringing out.

Clusters of soul flames lit up as the sleeping skeleton monsters awoke one after another! The ignorant, mindless monsters picked up their rusty weapons and charged toward Bai Pu.

Before long, a huge swarm of skeletons was trailing behind Bai Pu.

Only after running all the way to the end of the first floor did Bai Pu stop.

Looking at the surging horde of Rotten Bone Skeletons, Bai Pu smiled happily, like an old farmer gazing upon a field of ripe wheat.

He lowered his stance and planted his feet, taking up a fighting posture.

The Rotten Bone Skeletons' blades struck Bai Pu, but most could only leave red marks on his body, dealing one or two points of damage.

Only a small number of skeleton soldiers with higher Attack Power, equivalent to Level 1 standard-template creatures, could deal three or four points of damage.

As for the physical imbalance caused by the powerful force of a group of skeleton monsters hacking at Bai Pu, he had the passive trait of Heavy Armor Mastery, making him much harder to knock flying or knock back!

Bai Pu gritted his teeth and endured, standing firmly in place like a steel nail driven into the ground.

It looked as though a huge group of skeletons had surrounded Bai Pu.

In reality, Bai Pu had surrounded them all by himself! The flesh runes on the Iron Thorn Shoulder Guard lit up inch by inch, as if they were burning.

Thin strands of blood-red energy from within the skeleton monsters attacking Bai Pu were drawn to Bai Pu's body, forming a layer of blood-colored shield.

Class skill: Flesh Armor! The continuously replenished flesh shield restored 1–3 points per second and dealt group magic damage for 120 seconds...

With both offense and defense, it was practically a perfect skill.

If it had a weakness, it was that intelligent enemies would find a way to escape the skill's effective range.

But these skeleton monsters were ignorant and mindless, making them perfectly countered by Flesh Armor! Dozens of seconds later, the skeleton monsters in the inner ring fell one after another. Yet for every one that fell, another took its place.

By the time Bai Pu's Flesh Armor duration ended, not a single skeleton monster remained standing. Bai Pu's Health Points were still full.

Only fragments of bones littered the ground, along with three glowing virtual treasure chests!

Congratulations, newcomer (Bai Pu). You have successfully cleared the first floor of the White Bone Dungeon. You may now choose to exit the dungeon or challenge the second floor of the White Bone Dungeon.

If you do not enter the second floor within 60 minutes, you will automatically leave the dungeon.