A Solution
Since he had never been inside Dungeon before, Xiao couldn't guess how to deal with the BOSS mechanics and could only rely on his previous experience playing games to ask for advice.
"Did you receive any hints before fighting the boss, or did the boss say anything before engaging?"
Zhou He frowned as he looked at Xiao Fan's reply.
How can a wolf talk? And how could a secret realm possibly give them hints on how to fight?
He shook his head in disappointment, then turned to look at Jian Qingfeng beside him. "It seems this player really doesn't understand this game."
This time, Jian Qingfeng did not refute it; what Xiao Fan said was indeed somewhat unbelievable.
The game <Cloud Sea> has been around for ten years, and no creature in it has ever spoken.
Hint? How could the Game System possibly prompt players to fight monsters?
"Nothing at all?"
Seeing Xiao Fan send another message, Zhou He, though having given up hope, still replied politely.
"No."
Xiao Fan pondered for a moment. Since the BOSS hadn't given any obvious hints, the problem was most likely with the mobs in front of him.
When they cleared Lost Island, didn't they also need to find the important item Ice Condensation Bead in the early stages?
Xiao Fan guessed that these players might have missed important items because they took a detour, leaving them without any countermeasures when fighting the BOSS.
Then another problem arose: the other side said that players would be frozen when fighting the mobs. They had no choice but to take a detour.
This problem is actually easy to solve; all you need is a crowd control removal skill. For example, his skill <Gift of the Saint> has the effect of removing negative status effects.
Unfortunately, he couldn't join the other side, and the Blue Star players probably don't have the concept of breaking free from control.
The problem seems to have reached a dead end.
Xiao Fan shifted his gaze to the long message the other party had sent earlier, hoping to find some useful information within it.
After looking at it carefully, he actually noticed a detail.
When this group of people fights the Ice Wolf minions, they are not frozen immediately, but rather after attacking for a period of time.
Furthermore, this freezing effect is unpredictable; it's not triggered by reaching a certain health threshold, which means that freezing isn't a mechanic specific to Fierce Beast.
According to him, this freeze effect doesn't seem like Ice Wolf skill.
"If it's not a mechanic, and it's not a skill, then what is it?"
There is only one answer!
The freezing effect is triggered by the player setting a certain condition. This condition is obvious: attacking the Ice Wolf minions to a certain limit will trigger the freezing.
To further verify this, Xiao Fan asked again.
"When you were fighting the Ice Wolf minions, did the system give any special prompts, or did anything unusual happen during the fight?"
"It seems this person really has no choice but to try and bring up the Ice Wolf minions properly."
Zhou He shook his head, utterly disappointed in Xiao Fan.
They only wanted to know how to deal with the player's health bar turning red; they had already solved the problem of the Ice Wolf minions.
Taking a detour was a stroke of genius; they could have gotten through without losing a single soldier. Why would they bother with the Ice Wolf minions?
Furthermore, they hadn't seen any system notifications when they were fighting the Ice Wolf minions. As for what was wrong, well... something's not right!
It seems there really is!
Zhou He stared wide-eyed, carefully recalling the details.
He remembered that those who were frozen said they felt colder and colder during the fight, and then they were frozen shortly afterward.
Jian Qingfeng, who was standing to the side, clearly thought of this as well.
"Quick! Tell him this information."
Jian Qingfeng didn't know why Xiao Fan asked Xiao Guai, but since the other party had asked, he must have guessed something.
"Good."
Zhou He sent the message to Xiao Fan.
"Just as I thought."
Xiao Fan nodded, wrote down his complete guess, and sent it to the other party.
"When the BOSS's health drops to 80%, a random player's health bar will turn red. At this point, another player needs to use an item to remove the effect from this player; otherwise, when the BOSS's health drops to 70%, this player will lose their mind and attack their teammates."
"The item to remove this abnormal status will most likely be obtained by clearing out the Ice Wolf minions ahead."
"As for what you said about being frozen when fighting the Ice Wolf minions, I guess players will continuously generate negative status effects when attacking the minions. When these status effects reach a certain limit, the player will be frozen."
Xiao Fan tried his best to express his guess in a way that the other party could understand.
On the other side, Zhou He and Jian Qingfeng stared intently at the message sent by Xiao Fan.
The more I looked, the wider my eyes widened.
After a long while, the two looked at each other, both utterly shocked.
"This person's analysis makes a lot of sense." Jian Qingfeng swallowed and spoke slowly.
"How can this make sense? I have a feeling this is the truth!"
The more Zhou He looked, the more he felt that Xiao Fan's guess perfectly matched the situation in the Dungeon.
"Who exactly is this person? He can guess so much from my description. Is he really a level 10 player?"
Zhou He had some doubts.
For a complete novice to guess such profound things, if the other person is truly a level ten expert, just how genius would they be?
Zhou He preferred to believe that the other party was a gaming expert and that he was just joking when he said he was level 10.
Only...
What good is knowing the truth? What they need now is a solution to the problem.
This is the key to clearing the secret realm.
"Ask him if there's a solution, or if he's willing to pay more."
"Good."
When Xiao Fan saw that the other party had offered to pay more, his smile widened.
Since the other party is so considerate, he won't be stingy.
"There are two solutions. First, you need to create a skill that can remove the freeze effect; that's the simplest."
"Secondly, pay attention to your physical condition when fighting mobs. Stop attacking when you feel the freezing threshold and wait for your body to recover before continuing to fight. This method requires your teammates to control the freezing point themselves."
Zhou He and Jian Qingfeng were surprised that Xiao Fan actually had a solution, and even two!
Only...
"What is this crowd control removal skill?" Zhou He frowned, puzzled. He had never heard of such a skill before.
"Qingfeng, do you know?"
Jian Qingfeng shook his head. "I haven't heard of it either. Since the other party said so, he must know it."
Previously, Zhou He would have thought that if even a Heaven-Tier Skill user like Jian Qingfeng didn't know, how could a level 10 player possibly know?
But now, Xiao Fan's image in his mind has changed from a novice to a mysterious master.
He nodded and replied to Xiao Fan, "Master, what is the skill that removes crowd control effects?"
"A 'control removal' skill is a skill that can remove negative status effects from a player, such as the freeze effect you encountered. Using this skill will remove that status effect." Xiao Fan felt like he was giving a basic introduction to the game.
The simplest kind.
Zhou He:... I understand, but how do I create a skill to break free from control effects? I have no idea!
Xiao Fan felt he had explained himself clearly enough; the other party could create a skill to break free from control after a little thought.
"It's getting late, I'm logging off now. Just transfer the money to my card."
After sending his aunt's bank card number to the other party, Xiao Fan closed the forum.
He checked the time; it was already 10:30 PM. Just as he was about to go to sleep, his phone beeped with a message notification.
Upon opening it, I found it was Fatty.
"Brother Fan, the school is organizing us to go back to school tomorrow to explain games to the younger students. Are you going?"