Arriving at the First Basement Level

Arriving at the First Basement Level

The enormous, bloated monster occupied nearly half the elevator car. It extended three tentacles and nailed them into the elevator walls to hold itself in place. Opening its huge mouth full of sharp teeth, it roared at Luo Jun, then shot out a tongue as thick as an ordinary person's thigh, stabbing toward him!

The Dice of Heavenly Secrets activated, and everything around him slowed down. The bone spur on the tongue was less than half a foot from him. Luo Jun's eyes trembled slightly.

Dodge the attack!

Ding! Event Difficulty: 36. Final Points: 41 + 5. Event Success!

Good!

Luo Jun was invigorated. Since breaking through to the first level of the Body Refinement Realm, his physical abilities had surged. When using the dice against monsters, the Event Difficulty was clearly lower than it had been last night. Dodging attacks was the same—usually only twenty or thirty points of difficulty. With Luo Jun's level-six Luck and five points of Attribute Point correction, success came naturally again and again!

And that was not all. Luo Jun realized that for reaction-based events such as attacking and evading, activating the Dice of Heavenly Secrets in time could also lower the difficulty!

The slowing effect when the system activated gave him time to observe his opponent's movements while rolling the dice, form a plan in advance, and even spare some attention to planning his next move. That was less difficult than relying purely on instinctive reactions!

Even if the event failed, seeing the opponent's movements clearly would allow him to remedy the situation as much as possible and minimize the consequences of failure.

In short, using the Dice of Heavenly Secrets in a life-or-death battle was extraordinarily effective!

Back in the fight, after the dice gave him a success notification, Luo Jun's heart settled. He sidestepped out of the way, but before the tongue could flash past his body, he activated the Dice of Heavenly Secrets again!

Everything slowed down once more. Luo Jun was now standing sideways toward the monster, both arms crossed before his chest. In front of him, the thick, long tentacle slowly shot toward the elevator buttons.

Change the tentacle's direction!

Having set his target, Luo Jun rolled the dice!

Ding! Event Difficulty: 29. Final Points: 66 + 5!

Good! With confidence in his heart, Luo Jun pressed his back against the wall, poured Vital Energy into both arms, and swung with all his strength at the tentacle!

Smack!

Luo Jun successfully knocked the tentacle off course. It shot out through the open elevator doors and, with a thud, nailed itself into the wall racing upward outside!

That nail changed everything. Before the monster could react, its tongue was carried upward along with the wall and dragged into the gaps between the elevator and the shaft wall. The immense force of the falling elevator pulled the Tentacle Monster toward the doorway as well!

Get out of the way, don't get dragged in!

Ding! Event Difficulty: 41. Final Points: 12 + 5. Event Failed!

Damn it! After five consecutive successes, Luo Jun finally encountered a failure. Though he did everything he could to evade, the flailing Tentacle Monster still caught him and dragged him toward the doors!

Break free!

At the critical moment, Luo Jun used his final chance!

Ding! Event Difficulty: 45. Final Points: 80 + 5. Event Success!

"Aaaah!" Luo Jun strained with all his might, broke free from the tentacles, and fled to the inner side of the elevator. He watched as the Tentacle Monster itself was dragged toward the doors!

The elevator car alone weighed over a thousand jin, and it had been falling for so long. Even the Tentacle Monster could not resist that tremendous force. Just as it was about to be pulled out of the elevator, the monster suddenly shut its mouth and bit off its own tongue with a crunch!

This is bad! Seeing the tongueless monster stop at the doorway, Luo Jun steeled himself, gathered all his strength, and rammed into it headfirst!

The poor Tentacle Monster had been less than ten centimeters from the elevator doors. It had barely stopped when a massive force struck its back and shoved it out through the doors!

Screeeeeech!

A teeth-grating sound rang out. The monster's body scraped against the Elevator Shaft wall, and under the violent friction, it was ground into chunks of flesh and blood that sprayed out along the upper edge of the elevator doors, staining the walls red!

The monster shrieked in pain and tried to retreat, but its flesh was caught in the gaps between the car and the Elevator Shaft, leaving it unable to pull free. It could only extend tentacles and frantically attack Luo Jun behind it!

Luo Jun's eyes had turned red as well. He had no more uses left, so he could only rely on brute strength. Even as his back endured the attacks, he refused to let go, shoving outward with one hand while hammering away wildly with the other!

At last, as its flesh wore away, the monster's body grew thinner and thinner, and its retaliating tentacles became weaker and weaker...

Bang!

Just as Luo Jun was about to be unable to hold on any longer, the elevator suddenly crashed to the bottom. A tremendous shock surged up from beneath his feet. The ceiling above his head slammed downward from inertia, and the walls around him were crushed and twisted, producing a bizarre metallic groan.

Luo Jun felt the space in front of him suddenly empty. Under the enormous gravitational acceleration, he fell out of the elevator, landing atop the Tentacle Monster, which had been ground down until only a sheet of skin remained.

"Ugh... ugh..."

Lying on the ground, Luo Jun felt as though every bone in his Whole Body was about to fall apart. His right foot hurt terribly and had no strength in it; it was probably fractured. Every joint in his body was bruised, his neck hurt badly, and with the wounds on his back from the tentacles, he felt as though he had only half his life left...

Fortunately, the monster rubbing against the wall had acted as a brake for the elevator car. If it had maintained Freefall all the way down, he would probably have died on impact, without even a chance to groan...

Ding!

Mission: "Hold out against the Cannibal Ogre until the first basement level" completed!

Mission Difficulty: 45 points. Severity Coefficient: 12x.

Final reward: 540 chips.

Calculating mission experience...

Dice used seven times during the mission. Total experience gained: 1,048 points.

Congratulations, you have Upgraded!

You may draw Attribute Points!

Congratulations on reaching level ten. You may draw one skill.

As the string of notifications came through, Luo Jun felt a Warm Current rise within him. In an instant, his injuries were healed and his body nourished.

Already level ten...

Luo Jun shook his head and got to his feet. The benefits of Upgrading were truly plentiful—healing, Attribute Points, and even skills... But that was only the early stage. He had Noticed that the experience required for each level was increasing, while as his strength increased, opportunities to encounter high-difficulty events with high Severity Coefficients would become fewer and fewer. Upgrading would also get slower and slower.

No point thinking about that now. He should claim the rewards first.

He would draw a skill first.

Ding! An upgradable skill, "Beginner Point Correction," has been detected. You may choose to upgrade it to "Intermediate Point Correction," or draw a new skill.

Current level: 10. Does not meet the level requirement for "Intermediate Point Correction."

Please draw a new skill.

The new prompt left Luo Jun stunned. Apparently, opportunities to draw skills could also be used to upgrade old skills, but since he had not met the level requirement yet, he could only draw a new one.

Thinking of that, he carefully checked the description of Beginner Point Correction and found an additional line of information.

Can be upgraded to "Intermediate Point Correction." Level requirement: 15.

It seemed he could upgrade it the Next time he drew a skill. This was an extremely practical skill. Most importantly, it could increase Attribute Points, so the earlier it was upgraded, the better.

As he calculated in his mind, Luo Jun began drawing a skill.

Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the skill: Regret.

Regret: After rolling the dice, you may choose to refuse to carry out the event. Limited to once per day.

The skill's effect was simple and direct. It gave Luo Jun greater freedom, and if used well, it should have remarkable effects.

After drawing the skill, Luo Jun Looked towards the darkness outside the elevator doors, then at the 540 chips he had just received. He spent 500 chips to draw a medium lucky bag.

There might be enormous danger ahead. He had to seize every opportunity to strengthen himself!

As the lucky bag icon shimmered, a Blue Light Lit Up and finally condensed into a plain-looking ring!

Luo Jun focused his attention on the ring, and its attributes appeared In Front Of him:

Name: Wealth Ring

Level: Rare

Effect: While worn, when making dice-roll checks related to money, the Severity Coefficient is doubled, and the Final Points increase by 5.

Note: Want to become the richest person? Want to become a gambling god? The Wealth Ring is your best choice!

It was blue rare-quality equipment, and its effect was decent, but it was of no help in the current situation.

Luo Jun sighed and put it into the system, half pleased and half disappointed. Then he claimed the final reward, receiving a total of ten Attribute Points.

After allocating the points, Luo Jun's attributes were as follows.

Level: 10 (454/1100)

Strength: 32 points

Agility: 25 points

Perception: 26 points

Spirit: 28 points

Luck: Level 6

Skills: All Things are Dice, Beginner Point Correction, Regret

Item: Wealth Ring

Chips: 40

Uses: 5/5

He felt his body grow stronger by several degrees, and even his Vital Energy seemed to have increased along with it. Luo Jun circulated it through a full cycle within his body, adjusting himself to peak condition before leaving the elevator.

Since it had fallen all the way down, this had to be the first basement level of the Midnight Hotel.

The first basement level, mentioned by more than one rule—the place he absolutely must not go.

(End of Chapter)