Dungeon Guardian

Setting aside the fact that Redbeard, despite being a dwarf, had given him a Visit Talisman that was unmistakably a Daoist talisman...

The Visit Talisman was an Epic-quality item, too.

The words in Redbeard's message warmed Xiao Yang's heart.

After putting away the talisman, Xiao Yang replied to Redbeard.

Okay!

Compared to meeting in person in the Myriad Worlds Trading Area, Xiao Yang was clearly much shyer and colder online. But the outrageous bill that the God Game promptly sent him quickly shattered his reserve.

Please confirm receipt of the information transmission bill. Due to the distance and differences in planar rules, sending this message will cost 18,532 Spirit Coins. Would you like to proceed?

Wait, what?!

Are you kidding me? You have to pay Spirit Coins just to send a message? And that much?!

Xiao Yang finally understood exactly what Redbeard had meant when he said, "You'd better stock up on Spirit Coins. You'll need them for all sorts of things."

Damn it, this God Game was really out to bleed him dry!

In the end, though, Xiao Yang gritted his teeth and paid.

When he saw the notification that the message had been delivered and the numbers disappear from his account, his heart bled.

"I really do need to stock up on Spirit Coins!"

Xiao Yang gritted his teeth and squeezed the words out through them.

Over the next few days, Xiao Yang didn't rush into challenging the Dungeon Guardian. Instead, he kept drinking Health Potions while clearing out the Skeletons and Skeleton Warriors that kept resurrecting.

He wanted to test whether the Pot of Greed's stat increases had a limit. He also planned to raise his Health to the maximum before challenging the Dungeon Guardian, just to be on the safe side.

One bottle after another, he drank Health Potions almost nonstop. Within just a few days, the glass bottles piled haphazardly around the Safe House.

Xiao Yang found the limit when his Health reached 200 points.

Player Health has reached the limit. Please try increasing it again after advancing in rank or breaking through level 20!

That was the notification from the God Game. It wasn't just the Pot of Greed—even his spare Attribute Points could no longer increase his Health.

Two hundred Health was equivalent to investing twenty Attribute Points. This wasn't unexpected, but it was a pleasant surprise all the same. It meant the Pot of Greed was more effective than he'd anticipated. The restriction wasn't because the Pot of Greed couldn't raise his stats any further; he himself had reached some kind of limit.

There were still three stats he could raise: Strength, Defense, and Agility. Xiao Yang should be able to get all three to twenty.

Of course, he meant twenty without relying on equipment, the maximum under his current limits. As for further improvements, he might have to wait until Redbeard returned from the Abyss. He'd have to ask his big brother about it then.

It seemed he could advance in rank once he reached level ten.

With that in mind, he made his plans: defeat the Dungeon Guardian, farm more materials, buy more potions to max out his stats, enter the second floor of the Skeleton Dungeon, and take down the fully matured Elite Corpse Mushroom.

Xiao Yang still had plenty of Health Potions left.

But it wasn't a waste. The potions wouldn't become useless once his Health reached its limit. On the contrary, they'd become a powerful weapon for defeating the Dungeon Guardian.

In the starting Safe House, Xiao Yang began stuffing Health Potions into the Pot of Greed's mouth. The sheer number of potions made its mouth bulge grotesquely, as if it had been thoroughly used and abused. But its body was honest.

One after another, it spat out dangerous, unstable Entangled Life Essences.

Xiao Yang collected them.

He stuffed nearly all the remaining Health Potions into the Pot of Greed's mouth, turning them into Life Grenades.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten his equipment either. Xiao Yang was now wearing all three pieces of the Blackrock Prison set.

Justice's Condolence dealt eight points of damage, only two more than the Wilderness Hatchet. But its main purpose was to inflict negative statuses. Once an enemy entered a cowering state, the Blackrock Prison Guard Badge immediately added ten points to Xiao Yang's damage and reduced the enemy's Defense by ten.

That brought Xiao Yang's damage up to eighteen. Of course, that wasn't his limit. He still had the boost from the Blackrock Prison Armament Manual, which not only increased the chance of inflicting fear and cowering but also converted Strength into damage.

Strength couldn't directly boost damage; it had to be converted through technique.

For every two points of Strength above five, the Blackrock Prison Armament Manual added one point of damage. Xiao Yang currently had thirteen Strength, which translated into four additional damage. Add the doubled damage from his Heavy Strike skill, and...

At his limit, Xiao Yang could deal as much as forty-four damage. That was no small amount. At his peak, he could already kill a Skeleton Warrior with one swing of his club and a Prisoner Zombie with two.

Even so, Xiao Yang still wasn't confident about facing the Dungeon Guardian. Maybe it was because the Guardian had made such a deep impression on him the first time he entered the Skeleton Dungeon.

But there was no way around it. He had to get past this obstacle.

The tunnel led to his home, after all. How could he let the Dungeon Guardian keep blocking his door?

Xiao Yang hung the Life Grenades from his waist. Oh, and the Screaming Chicken, too. He didn't actually take a squawking rooster out of his Personal Backpack. Instead, he pulled out a futuristic-looking rooster-shaped alarm clock and hung it at his waist like a grenade.

He took a deep breath, gripping Justice's Condolence in one hand and resting the other on the black iron door of the Safe House.

"All right! Let's finish this!"

Xiao Yang said fiercely, then yanked the iron door open.

At the far end of the narrow tunnel, a towering Skeleton holding a giant axe stirred at the noise and slowly raised its head. Two ghostly blue flames danced in its deep-set, bony eye sockets.

Under its gaze, Xiao Yang strode into the tunnel. As soon as he entered, something unexpected happened: the Safe House door slowly closed, and he might not be able to retreat back inside.

Xiao Yang noticed, but he didn't panic. So what? All he had to do was kill the bastard in front of him!