· Level Up

With a fierce slap to his own face, Lu Qiming's head cleared completely, and a bitter smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"System, tell me, am I a weakling? I clearly possess power that completely transcends ordinary people in this world, yet I still let my sanity crumble from fear."

"Ding! This system does not understand what the host is referring to. This system is only responsible for passing down classes. If the host fails the mission, this system will select a new host."

The mechanical, mature-sounding voice echoed in Lu Qiming's mind, completely indifferent to what he had just experienced.

"Tch! Got it, got it!"

Listening to the system's voice in his head, Lu Qiming felt his suppressed, shattered sanity find a sliver of comfort for some reason. At least he wasn't alone; he still had the system with him.

Thinking of this, Lu Qiming's blood-stained face broke into a slight smile.

"System, can you change your voice to a loli voice? Preferably one that changes every day. For now, give me a tsundere loli!"

"Ding! This system does not possess that capability."

"Tsk."

Lu Qiming smacked his lips a few times and stopped teasing his system. He turned and walked toward the stainless steel basin he had discarded earlier.

"Brother Stainless Steel Basin, what happened to you!"

Picking up the basin from the ground, Lu Qiming looked at the large dent in it with a pained heart. It was fortunate that he hadn't needed to use Brother Stainless Steel Basin for his final move, or it surely would have sacrificed itself heroically.

Afterward, Lu Qiming flipped the basin over and pressed down on the protruding part of the bottom with one hand.

"Clang, clang, clang."

After a series of rhythmic strikes, the stainless steel basin returned to its original shape, though the bottom was now covered in distinct fist marks. He trusted that Brother Stainless Steel Basin wouldn't mind.

After all, it was the existence that had accompanied him across time and space!

"Now, it's time to collect the spoils."

Looking at the pile of magic stones, Lu Qiming wore a smile like a farmer seeing a bountiful harvest in autumn. He held the basin in his left hand and crouched down to pick them up one by one.

While picking up the magic stones, Lu Qiming opened his status panel.

Name: Lu Qiming Lv3 (200/300)
Age: 16
Spirit: 15.3
Strength: 15.3
Agility: 20.3
Constitution: 15.3
Class: Assassin
Skill Points: 0

On the panel, a level had appeared next to his name, each of his physical attributes had increased by 0.3, and Lu Qiming felt that he had become much more familiar with the techniques in his memory. However, upon seeing the newly appeared skill points, his movements slowed.

"System, what's the deal with these skill points?"

"Ding! The host gains one skill point every five levels, used to unlock class skills."

Lu Qiming nodded and looked at his level—three. That meant he only needed to level up two more times to gain another skill point. Furthermore, according to the mission record he had just checked:

It had changed to 50/1,000,000. In other words, he had killed fifty monsters, and he was still 999,950 short of the mission goal.

"System, what's up with my experience points?"

"Ding, the host's initial experience requirement is one hundred. Before level ten, each level increase adds one hundred to the required experience. Each ordinary monster on the first floor of the Dungeon provides ten experience points."

"I see."

Lu Qiming nodded. He understood it completely now: before level ten, the required experience increased by one hundred with each level, and as the strength of the monsters increased, the experience gained would also rise. This was much better than the games he played where the required experience increased tenfold every level. Moreover, every level-up granted a 0.1 increase to all attributes, and every five levels granted a skill point.

This meant that if he wanted to unlock the next tier of skills, assuming each skill required three points, he would need at least 10 skill points—meaning he would have to reach at least level 50 to unlock the second tier.

"Then, let's continue!"

A dangerous arc formed on Lu Qiming's lips. He placed the stainless steel basin on the ground and looked toward the monsters charging from the intersection.

There, nearly a hundred monsters—Goblins, Half-Wolf, Gnomes, and Ant Monster—were rushing toward him, each emitting strange roars and looking at Lu Qiming with bloodlust.

"Roar!"

Lu Qiming took a deep breath, let out a roar at the charging monsters, raised his fists, and charged straight at them.

At this moment, a pair of adventurers who had just returned from the middle floors of the Dungeon heard the commotion. Having experienced countless battles in the Dungeon, they immediately recognized that a large number of monsters had gathered there.

"Captain, should we go take a look?"

A half-elf girl turned to look at the man behind her carrying a greatsword. Familiar with the Dungeon, she could tell from the monsters' roars that it was a sound of a massive horde surrounding an adventurer.

"Hmm, let's go take a look." The man with the greatsword said, turning his head to look at a pair of Amazon sisters behind him.

"Aili, Ailin, get ready to fight in a moment. It'll be a good chance for you to get used to team combat."

"Yes, Captain!"

The twin lolis, who looked to be only fourteen years old, nodded. They had joined the Familia two months ago, and they were accompanying the team to the middle floors this time because they possessed the rare 'Berserker' talent.

Possessing such a talent, the more intense their battles became, the faster they grew. To nurture the two of them, their Familia had uncharacteristically brought the two fledglings all the way from the upper floors down to the middle floors.

However, throughout the journey, their teammates would kill the majority of the monsters, leaving only one or two behind for them to fight.

After a month, they had grown significantly, transforming from mere fledglings into qualified warriors. That was why, upon hearing about a large gathering of monsters, their captain had wanted to let them give it a try.

After all, Aili and Ailin were now capable of defeating the weakest monsters of the middle floors on their own, though they had yet to experience being swarmed by a large number of them. Running into this on the way back, and with monsters from the first floor at that, it was just right.

As the team from the unknown Familia approached the monsters' gathering point, they discovered dense, overlapping footprints on the ground. With their rich experience, they could tell at a glance that at least a hundred monsters were congregated ahead.

Seeing this, everyone grew even more curious. They wondered which rookie adventurers were so ignorant that they hadn't left the area after a battle, allowing themselves to be surrounded by monsters drawn in by the sounds of combat and the scent of blood.

The group quickened their pace, and as they rounded a corner in the passage, a terrifying scene appeared before them.

A dense mass of monsters was gathered together, roaring incessantly. In the center of the swarm, a black-haired youth kept vanishing and reappearing, slamming fist after fist into the monsters' heads, while eerie laughter spilled from his lips.

"Thud, thud, thud."

The heads of the monsters exploded one after another like fireworks. Coupled with the youth's bizarre laughter, the onlookers were frozen in place, completely at a loss.

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