Pirate's Nest
Bai Xiaowen checked the instructions through the console and found that the difficulty of the Trial Space is related to the rewards of the final treasure chest. The higher the difficulty, the better the rewards from the treasure chest.
In addition, each Trial Space has a "time limit". If you clear the level within the time limit, you will not only receive a treasure chest, but also a reward of Psionic Points.
If you exceed the time limit, you won't get Psionic Points as a reward, but you'll still get a treasure chest if you manage to clear the level.
If you clear the level early, you'll receive extra treasure chests! Clearing the level 20% early will grant you two final treasure chests; clearing it 40% early will grant you three final treasure chests!
The three final treasure chests, while still only awarding one Spirit Realm Ticket, will also reward other treasures such as Psionic Points, equipment, items, and more.
Therefore, when choosing the difficulty level, don't blindly choose the highest difficulty. You need to weigh the difficulty level against the extra rewards for completing the level and choose according to your own ability.
Bai Xiaowen thought for a moment and said, "Does anyone know roughly what level the four difficulty levels of the first level are?"
Han Xu was standing nearby, said, "There's a leaderboard in the bottom left corner of the console; we should be able to refer to that."
Bai Xiaowen opened the leaderboard in the lower left corner of the console screen and selected the leaderboard for the first Trial Space, "Pirate's Nest".
First place: Ling Feng, level 91, 46 minutes and 39 seconds, extremely difficult.
Second place: Huang Tianyi, Level 89, 47 minutes and 26 seconds, Extremely difficult.
Third place: Jia Ting, Level 89, 52 minutes and 54 seconds, extremely difficult.
Fourth place...
"Is this ranking list based on the achievements of previous students? Were they all achieved while still in school?" Bai Xiaowen asked.
Han Xu nodded.
Bai Xiaowen nodded and smiled, "I think I understand. I've heard of Ling Feng. He's a tank-type Awakened, right? Logically speaking, his output shouldn't be that high, so it's a bit puzzling that he's ranked first."
Ding Cheng explained, "In the Trial Space, if you accidentally die, you can revive on the spot. However, revival takes time, and the more times you die, the longer it takes to revive. As long as a tank-type Awakened can withstand the damage, they can clear the extremely difficult level faster than a squishy DPS..."
Bai Xiaowen nodded and began selecting the difficulty level. He directly selected "Extremely Difficult" and clicked "OK".
"Ah... it's my first time trying this challenge, I should probably play it safe..." Li Shuyi said.
Bai Xiaowen smiled and said, "I don't think Ling Feng was much better than I am now when we were in school. I can do better than him."
Li Shuyi nodded gently, seemingly understanding Bai Xiaowen's thoughts.
The other team members, unaware of the situation, were somewhat bewildered, unable to understand why Bai Xiaowen, who was usually amiable, would speak so aggressively to Ling Feng, a senior they didn't even know.
A mechanical electronic voice announced, "Trial Space Level 1, Pirate's Nest instance has been generated. Difficulty: Extremely Hard. Time Limit: 60 minutes. The instance timer will begin in ten seconds..."
Bai Xiaowen waved to everyone and stepped directly into the faintly glowing Trial Space portal. The others rushed to the rest hall, turned on their LCD screens, and connected to the first level of the Trial Space.
A slightly damp sea breeze caressed his face as Bai Xiaowen found himself at the stern of a large ship, with a vast blue sea below. His body swayed gently with the rocking of the ship.
For ordinary people who have never been on a ship before, it would take them most time to adapt, and they might even get seasick. However, awakened individuals have strong physiques and high agility. Just like Bai Xiaowen, whose agility is more than ten times that of ordinary people, they adapt after taking only a few steps.
There are three ships at sea, and each pair of ships is connected by iron chains. You must kill the captains of all three ships, who are also the BOSS pirate Boss Tier, to pass the level.
This instance looks like a vast ocean, but it's actually only about the size of three ships. To leave the instance, you just need to jump into the sea...
Bai Xiaowen further thought, "It would be fun if the BOSS had a knockback skill or something similar. If it knocked the awakened players into the sea, wouldn't that be equivalent to failing the challenge? Re-entering the dungeon would waste a lot of time, right?"
"Croak... Croak..."
A piercing sound rang out, and a parrot flew past Bai Xiaowen. Then, three Han Empire in tattered sailor uniforms spotted Bai Xiaowen.
"Fresh meat!"
Three Han Empire pirates pounced on them, their eyes gleaming with greed.
Bai Xiaowen first offered an Insight.
["Varangian" Pirate (Elite Tier Level 4) / Varangian's Rallying Command]
[Race: Human Species / Human Race]
[Occupation: Pirate]
[Attributes: Strength 21, Agility 10, Constitution 18, Spirit 7]
[Skills: Net Throw, Iron Hook, Heavy Cleave]
It's worth mentioning that all three pirates have a buff effect.
[Varangian's Rallying Command: The target, Inspiration by Pirate Captain Varangian's rallying call, gains an additional 100 Life Value and 10 attack power.]
This should be the unique buff skill under the "extremely difficult" difficulty. These pirates originally have nearly 200 Life Value and about 30 attack power. With the rallying order buff, each pirate Life Value points and 40 attack power. They are indeed difficult for ordinary awakened beings to deal with.
Bai Xiaowen raised his hand and summoned a large number of creatures, leaving only a Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier inside the Black Soul Stone to block crucial skills. To save time, he even summoned the Vampire Kitz.
The Vampire Kitz had been holding back for over a month, and as soon as he emerged, he let out a joyful roar, transforming into a swarm of bats that flew behind the Han Empire, tearing at their backs with sharp Claw.
However, Vampire Kitz's damage output is average, lower than that of the Shadow Assassin. His strength lies in survivability, and he also possesses full consciousness and thought abilities. In the Spirit Realm Plane (a plane with Old Latin) where there are no language barriers, he can undertake tasks that require negotiation and command transmission.
The real main damage dealer was still the Rageclaw. After Bai Xiaowen intentionally manipulated the Rageclaw to take several hits, reducing its Life Value to around 60%, each of the Rageclaw's attacks gained an additional 40% critical Critical Hit rate. Considering the Rageclaw's high agility and the resulting critical Critical Hit output was simply explosive. With bites and gnaws, it could take down a pirate in just two or three bites.
Bai Xiaowen carefully checked his notification and found that, just as Yan Xiaoxin had said, killing monsters in the Trial Space not only increased skill proficiency but also combat experience!
In the Kane Plane, Bai Xiaowen's combat experience bar was less than 10% away from reaching level 5—partly due to the large number of Hero Quest he had discovered in the Kane Plane, and partly thanks to his hard work in clearing out Zombie in the last five days.
The Elite Tier monsters in the Trial Space each give a considerable amount of experience, roughly two to three times that of monsters of the same level in the Spirit Realm.
Bai Xiaowen understood why Yan Xiaoxin had said that many senior students would be vying to help him clear the Trial Space dungeon, without asking for any rewards from the final treasure chest... Who wouldn't want to level up so efficiently without needing to go through the storyline and without any risk?
After pushing the ship all the way to the bow, Bai Xiaowen finally saw the captain, a Han Empire with a bare upper body, an iron hook attached to his left arm, and a large axe in his right hand.
[Varangian (Boss Tier Level 4)/ Varangian's Resolve]
[Race: Human Species / Human Race]
[Class: Greatsword Warrior]
[Attributes: Strength 38, Agility 20, Constitution 30, Spirit 16]
[Skills: Mighty Swing, Trample, Great Axe Mastery (Passive),???]
The additional buff "Varangian's Resolve" increases Life Value by 200 points and attack power by 20 points, making it twice as strong as the buffs on other Elite Tier sailors.
This is precisely the characteristic of the "extremely difficult" difficulty. Bai Xiaowen further speculated that if it were the "hard" difficulty, Elite Tier monsters and Boss Tier would not have such abnormal buffs, while in the normal and easy modes, there might be some special debuffs that weaken the boss's negative status.
It was the first level of the Trial Space, and the Elite Tier and bosses were all of relatively low level, which made Bai Xiaowen was used to killing bosses of higher levels, feel much more relaxed.
This BOSS is clearly a warrior-type Boss Tier and doesn't pose any real challenge. The only thing to watch out for is the combo of "Trample" and "Mighty Swing," but Bai Xiaowen, who had Insight this, easily dodges it with his summoned creatures.
The only undetected skill was called "Iron Hook Capture," which was activated when the BOSS had 1/3 of its Life Value remaining. The BOSS suddenly raised its left hand, which was equipped with an iron hook, and aimed it at Bai Xiaowen. With a thud, an iron chain shot out.
An average person might not be able to react in time, but Bai Xiaowen could. He didn't even need to move; he simply controlled the Stitched Monster Fatty in the melee position to take a half-step forward and block the skill.
With a whoosh, Fatty's bulky body was dragged into the BOSS's melee range... because he and the BOSS Varangian were already face to face, and this drag only moved him by one centimeter, which was equivalent to wasting the BOSS's skill.
With a thud, the BOSS collapsed to the ground.
There are no treasure chests when the BOSS in the Trial Space is defeated. You need to clear the level to find the treasure chests at the end of the level.
Putting away his summoned creatures, Bai Xiaowen stepped onto the thick iron chain at the bow of the ship and jumped onto the second ship in a few steps.
The second ship was named "Ulag," and the sailors on board were all dressed in tattered mage robes—they were all mages...
The buff they have is called "Ulag's Arcane Rune," which increases their Life Value by 100 and the base damage of their spells by 20.
Anyone else might be terrified to see a ship full of mages and pirates, but for Bai Xiaowen, it was the easiest way to get through. Three Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier cleared the way in front. "Hey, you want to cast a spell? Here's a Shield Bash."
These poor mage sailors had incredibly low strength, some even weaker than the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier, and were instantly swatted into the sea. These unlucky fellows didn't need fighting; they were automatically declared drowned...
While it's a bit strange that a pirate would drown, he was, after all, a mage-type pirate... there are always trade-offs, right?
Bai Xiaowen didn't dwell on this philosophical question and went straight to the Boss Tier of the second ship, the Arcane Mage Ulag.
It's worth mentioning that Ulag is a green-skinned Orcs...
Bai Xiaowen didn't even have time to complain about the setting of the Trial Space. The Orcs, who were always known as the magic desert, actually had mages, and even trained a whole ship full of mage apprentices to be sailors.
Arcane Mage Ulag's four skills are: Arcane Blast, Arcane Barrage, Arcane Nova, and???
After Insight the detailed description of Ulag's third skill, [Arcane Nova], Bai Xiaowen felt a chill run down his spine.
[Arcane Nova: The caster unleashes an instantaneous arcane explosion centered on themselves, dealing arcane damage to all enemies within a 10-meter radius and knocking them away. The distance they are knocked away is determined by the combined attributes of both sides.]
The area-of-effect magic damage is one thing, but the key issue is the "blowback" effect! Keep in mind that Ulag is located at the bow of the "Ulag," and if those summoned creatures are blown away and fall into the sea, it's equivalent to death in battle...
In this Pirate's Nest dungeon, the consequences of Bai Xiaowen's summoned creature dying in battle are more severe than his own death... He can revive himself after dying, though it takes a little time. But if his summoned creature dies, it cannot be summoned again in this dungeon challenge, because Black Soul Stone summoned creatures cannot be summoned again after 12 hours!
Needless to say, the Rageclaw are even more formidable.
Fortunately, Ulag was only level 4. Apart from having high spirit, his strength and agility were both low, and his constitution was less than 30 points. Even with the extra 200 Life Value points, it was still not much. In order to save time, Bai Xiaowen decided to kill him head-on!
The best way is to prevent the BOSS from using its skills!
"You will all perish at sea!" With this line, the boss battle in Ulag begins.
All the summoned creatures rushed forward to gang up on Ulag's first spellcasting action, and just as there was any sign of it, the three Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier simultaneously unleashed their Shield Bash —a single Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier's Shield Bash, due to its power disadvantage, was likely to fail to interrupt.
Sure enough, the Shield Bash from the three Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier took effect, Ulag was knocked back a step.
Rageclaw unleashed its ultimate attack, granting the entire team a 20% attack power and attack speed buff with a long howl. It then Pounce forward, pinning the unbalanced Arcane Mage Ulag under its claws and wreaking havoc.
Due to the force of the Suppression, the Suppression lasted for 3.5 seconds. Bai Xiaowen certainly wouldn't waste this opportunity, and fired wildly with both hands.
The 3.5-second Suppression took away more than 300 Life Value from the Arcane Mage Ulag! And that wasn't the end of it. Bai Xiaowen activated the Talisman Switching skill and used a yellow card to stun Ulag, who had just finished Suppression, and followed up with a 3-second stun control.
As Ulag fell to the ground, Bai Xiaowen quickly retracted his summoned creature and boarded the third ship, the "Grego," via the iron chain at the stern.
The ship was quiet; there wasn't a single person in sight.
Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes slightly. After his Super Brain processed for 0.1 seconds, it immediately narrowed the range of the Mental Scan, greatly increasing the accuracy of the scan! Instantly, two faint figures holding short daggers appeared in his field of vision.
"This ship... is actually filled with assassins!"