Strengthening the Team's Power

With Wang Qianduo demonstrating his strength, everyone's pace quickened considerably.

Facing the spider monsters in the depths of the forest and the ambushing Black Shark interstellar pirates, they no longer hesitated. They all opted for the most crushing tactics, pulling them in and finishing them off instantly.

With Wang Qianduo's offense and defense stats, the margin for error was simply too high.

This dungeon might be genuinely difficult for ordinary Level 5 players, but this was just a beginner's dungeon. No one present thought it was hard.

The normal difficulty Dark Forest had three bosses: the Wolf King, a mechanical spider modified by the Black Shark Pirates, and the final boss, a Large Lumbering Robot.

Yes, Wang Qianduo's quest target, Hyena Minkson, was not among the bosses; he was likely a hidden boss.

The Wolf King had already been dealt with. The mechanical spider was even simpler than the Wolf King. Its much-vaunted attack frequency was nothing to them, and it was easily defeated.

Upon its defeat, it left behind a skill disc, a normal-grade armor piece, and two exquisite materials.

The skill disc was a crucial skill for strength-type mechs: [Provoke], commonly known as the taunt skill.

Provoke (Exquisite) (Active): Uses demonic energy to force the target to attack yourself, and reduces the target's defense by 5.
Attack Range: 20
Casting Time: Instant
MP Cost: 10
Cooldown: 15S

There was no question about this skill; it was directly assigned to Miracle Sword, as their team only had "one" strength-type mech.

After he acquired this skill, Wang Qianduo never managed to steal monster aggro again.

The dungeon's ultimate boss was called the Large Lumbering Robot, also a leader-class artificial mech.

This robot lived up to its name, being nearly three times the height of everyone else's mechs.

It had high attack and defense, and its giant chainsaw swept through, felling trees in swathes. However, such large things had a universal weakness:

They weren't agile enough.

Miracle Sword easily toyed with the robot, clearing its entire health bar without letting it land a single hit.

After the Lumbering Robot fell, it left behind the blueprint for its weapon, the Lumbering Chainsaw. Unfortunately, no one fancied it.

Helplessly, they decided to roll for it, and the person who won the roll would decide its ownership. Wang Qianduo was fortunate enough to obtain this equipment.

"Done. Teaming up for dungeons at the appropriate level certainly increases the drop rate.

We're preparing for Hard Mode. Brother Qianwang, do you have a guild? Want to join ours?

Our guild's benefits are absolutely top-notch, and we have lots of pretty girls too!"

After distributing the loot, everyone gathered outside the dungeon. As they prepared to enter Hard Mode, Yun Zhongge seized the opportunity to speak.

"Why should I join your guild? Isn't our [Great Qin] stronger than your [Sword and Rose]?"

Before Wang Qianduo could reply, Sister Cat got defensive.

"How is your Great Qin stronger than us?"

"Last year's guild competition, we were third and you were fourth. Doesn't that say something?"

"That was because our guild leader was unwell and didn't come. Otherwise, would you have won? Besides, we have the number one beauty. Do you?" Yun Zhongge retorted.

"Does your guild leader know you're trying to introduce her to someone else?"

"..."

Sister Cat's remark hit Yun Zhongge where it hurt. Just as he was about to say more, Wang Qianduo spoke up.

"You two, please stop arguing. I already have a guild," Wang Qianduo said, looking at the words "[Shanhai Seventh Regiment]" on his mercenary group tab.

Before coming to this dungeon, he had been pulled into a mercenary group by Lin Qimeng.

Mercenary groups were the equivalent of guilds at this stage, though they differed somewhat. Their member limit was only around a thousand.

Major guilds were unable to establish themselves, as they couldn't meet the conditions for building large guilds.

In the Mech World, players needed a Fortress-class aerial fortress as their guild base to establish a guild.

This point alone blocked everyone. Even if they knew how to build one and had the blueprints, a crucial item, the Fortress Energy Core, had yet to be seen by anyone.

Therefore, at this stage, no matter how powerful a guild was, all players were playing in mercenary groups. No one could establish a proper guild.

"You have a guild!!!" *4

All four were astonished when Wang Qianduo spoke. This was not good news for them; a potential future rival might just have been born.

Yun Zhongge: "Brother, I advise you not to join some small, insignificant guild. It will not only affect your future development, but small guilds also have a lot of troublesome issues!"

"I know, but I can't help it. The guild was established by the company, so I couldn't refuse," Wang Qianduo replied.

"Established by your company? May I ask who your company is?"

"Shanhai Group."

"[Shanhai]! The rule-breaking entity that throws money around? Your company's reputation in the industry is..."

Yun Zhongge tried to persuade him further, but Miracle Sword pulled him back.

Wang Qianduo being able to join Shanhai at this time and act alone indicated he wasn't a low-level employee.

If he were a bottom-tier employee, he wouldn't have been able to join Shanhai's mercenary group so early in the game.

He also couldn't be a professional player recruited by Shanhai, as they wouldn't be acting alone.

He must be part of Shanhai's management. Such individuals were difficult to poach.

The cost would be too high, and the money they could offer might not be enough to sway him.

After all, the Shanhai Group was far superior to the clubs behind them.

Before this game even appeared, they wouldn't have had the chance to even speak with the Shanhai Group.

"I don't know much about the company's affairs, but I'm not planning to resign, so I can only apologize to all of you," Wang Qianduo said.

"That's fine. Come on, let's add each other as friends and keep in touch," someone replied.

After adding each other as friends, the group finally entered the Dark Forest on Hard difficulty.

The Dark Forest on Hard difficulty was indeed no ordinary challenge. In Hard mode, even the regular monsters were elite, and the bosses were five times stronger.

However, it was still not enough to challenge them, especially after they acquired some skills.

The primary output of the Dark Forest dungeon was various basic skills. The propulsion device Wang Qianduo wanted wasn't that important to the average player.

This was because they would obtain a common-grade thruster from the main quest, which would be sufficient for a long time.

After the final boss, the Lumberjack, was defeated, the system prompted Wang Qianduo that he could summon the hidden boss, Hyena Minkson.

But after discussing it, they didn't summon him directly. They planned to challenge Nightmare difficulty for higher rewards.

"Let's go out first and run Hard difficulty twice more to farm some skills. Otherwise, our stats won't be enough for Nightmare.

The intelligence of monsters in Nightmare dungeons is incomparable to Normal and Hard. It's like a completely different dungeon," Sister Cat said.

Everyone knew she was telling the truth.

This game had been out for a year, and only a handful of teams could clear Nightmare dungeons of the same level.

Most players, even at the maximum level of 12, still couldn't beat Nightmare dungeons.

Furthermore, no one could clear dungeons more than five times a day. They could use two of those attempts to strengthen themselves.

The group acted immediately. With the rewards from their first clear, the Hard difficulty dungeon felt significantly easier than before.

After completing three Hard difficulty dungeons, everyone received a boost in their skills.

Wang Qianduo also acquired three skills: [Provoking Strike], [Block], and [Charged Strike], significantly increasing his offensive and defensive options.

[Provoking Strike] (Normal) (Active):

LV1

Swings weapon, briefly repelling enemies and dealing 120% of attack power as damage.

Attack Range: Depends on weapon's attack range.

Casting Time: Instant

MP Cost: 10

Cooldown: 5s

Proficiency: 0/100

[Block] (Normal) (Active): Parries enemy physical attacks. Damage reduction depends on the timing of the action.

Casting Time: Instant

MP Cost: 0

Cooldown: 20s

[Charged Strike] (Refined) (Active):

LV1

Charges the weapon, dealing (130%~230%) attack power as damage to the enemy.

Attack Range: Depends on weapon's attack range.

Casting Time: 0~5s

MP Cost: 30

Cooldown: 20s

Proficiency: 0/200