Something Like This Is Best Enjoyed in Small Circles

"Little Lan, I heard people say your strength seems to have increased. Is that true?"

At Si Telan's home, the members of the Morning Wind team were gathered. They had all rushed over after hearing that Si Telan had been troubled by some thugs on the street.

Seeing that the main person was completely unharmed and even radiant, everyone visibly relaxed.

Si Telan showed a reassuring smile. She was also happy to see everyone come to care for her.

"I just went and healed that thug and then beat him up again. His strength is indeed quite high," Xiu En asked, "It should be about the same as yours, but the passersby said you instantly killed that guy. What happened?"

"Actually, I encountered something amazing in the Zane Dungeon,"

Si Telan recounted her experiences in the dungeon in detail. As expected, everyone had a look of surprise after listening.

Crooked Finger Summoning Potion? Friendly cooperators and hostile duelists? Hound Step? Bonfires and leveling up by sitting at the fire?

One after another, unheard-of things opened their eyes.

"What does the Crooked Finger Summoning Potion look like? Was the person who helped you alive?"

"I'm more curious about the bonfire you mentioned."

"Right, right, killing monsters allows you to... uh, what was that word again, 'level up' in the 'panel'? What is a panel?"

As Si Telan expected, everyone was most interested in the bonfire.

For adventurers, strength was everything. Now that something that could quickly make them stronger had appeared, everyone would pay close attention.

"It's just that after killing monsters, you gain Souls, and you use the Souls to level up at the bonfire,"

"Souls!?" The mage Ai Li's expression changed slightly. "Using Souls to become stronger is a blasphemous act that only necromancers do."

"Oh, this Soul is not the same as the Soul you're thinking of," Si Telan didn't know how to explain and simply said, "Just tell me if you'll use this bonfire or not."

"...Use it."

"See? That's all there is to it."

She stood up and clapped her hands. "Just talking is useless. Tomorrow, I'll take you to see it with your own eyes."

The next day, everyone arrived at the entrance of the Zane Dungeon early in the morning.

The surface structure of the Zane Dungeon was a damaged and collapsed ancient city. It wasn't large and was already covered in vines and moss, making one wonder what happened here back then, why the ancient city was destroyed, and where the residents went.

Now, due to the arrival of large numbers of adventurers, the ancient city was bustling with people. Some merchants even paid to repair houses and built shops inside. The flow of people here was even greater than the commercial street in Bede City. Even some small vendors unrelated to the dungeon came here to set up stalls, which also attracted nearby residents.

Many idle people liked to gather here and comment on the adventurers entering and leaving the dungeon. So, people with business acumen opened taverns nearby, and their business was booming.

Under the illumination of the morning sun, the lost ancient city was once again full of vitality.

"Is it just my imagination, or does it feel like there are even more people coming here?" Ai Li looked around and felt that there were indeed more people.

"Most of them are miners," Dan Ya said. "Count Philip sent double the number of miners, which is why the Blood Crystal production is barely the same as before the anomaly."

"Then wouldn't he be losing money?" Xiu En asked.

"No," Si Telan shook her head. "Every few days, miners can bring out rare Purple Blood Crystals. Just a small piece can offset the Bede Family's investment."

"Oh," Xiu En nodded, not knowing if he truly understood.

The number of miners has doubled, but the number of adventurers hasn't increased much compared to before. This is because the drastically increased difficulty of Zane Dungeon deterred a large wave of people, while new adventurers who heard the news and rushed from other places filled this gap. With the decrease in "clumsy players" and the addition of "pro players," the number of adventurers is bound to increase in the future.

The actual entrance to Zane Dungeon in the ancient city is a teleportation gate at the end of the city. To enter, you have to queue up and pay attention to the time interval between each person entering.

If the entry time is within two minutes, they can explore the dungeon together. If it's outside of two minutes, they won't meet and will explore separately, without affecting each other.

Queuing is the most disgusting thing in life that one has to experience, even more disgusting than the poison pool swamp in Zane Dungeon.

After a long and tedious wait, the Morning Wind team finally got their wish and entered the dungeon.

Si Telan was already familiar with the route in the upper area and led everyone through the Swamp Area quickly. When they reached the Blighttown area, she took down the greatshield she was carrying on her back.

Xiu En's mouth twitched, and he said, "Although I've wanted to ask you what you're doing carrying a greatshield for a long time, you're not... planning to use it here, are you?"

"Why not?"

Si Telan shrugged, propped up the greatshield and spear, and walked at the very front alone, fighting monsters while not forgetting to look back and say:

"Want to give it a try? I guarantee you'll love them."

Xiu En hesitated for a moment, then refused.

Dan Ya and Ai Li didn't need to be asked; their strength was even lower.

However, people's thoughts can change.

After watching Si Telan's few battles, Xiu En suddenly said:

"How about... let me try?"

Si Telan remembered what Gong Qiying had said before, and smiled, "Want to learn? I'll teach you."

A moment later.

"Shield Poke is so fun!"

Not long after, the adventurers defeated the Giant Curse Frog and lit the Bonfire. With Si Telan, an "old veteran" who had cleared it once, leading the way throughout, no one died except for suffering some injuries.

However, fright was unavoidable.

Various malicious and disgusting traps caused everyone to erupt with mental energy no less than if one or two people had died!

And Shield Poke wasn't omnipotent. When encountering things that couldn't be solved, they still had to honestly switch back to their usual weapons.

As soon as they sat down by the Bonfire, the other three immediately started shouting. They finally knew what the so-called panel looked like.

Last time Si Telan came, Gong Qiying basically had her fight monsters the whole time, which was why she accumulated a few thousand Souls.

This time, with more people, everyone had killed monsters, so the amount of Souls obtained was naturally dispersed. Dan Ya and Ai Li had a few hundred, while Xiu En had over two thousand.

Dan Ya said, "I need over four hundred Souls to level up."

"Huh? I only need two hundred," Ai Li said in surprise.

"..." Xiu En was silent for a moment. "I need over a thousand to level up."

The initial data on everyone's panel was 1, but currently, the amount of Souls required to level up varies for different people.

It seems that the stronger a person is, the more Souls they need to level up!

This time, the Giant Curse Frog also dropped an item, the [Giant Curse Frog's Soul], but there was only one.

After some discussion, everyone decided to give it to Xiu En because he contributed the most in the battle.

Si Telan, on the other hand, found that she could no longer use the [Giant Curse Frog's Soul] to enhance her physique at the Bonfire; she could only crush it into a Soul for leveling up. It seemed there was a limit to the special effects for each person.

"Strength, I feel strength surging within me,"

Xiu En put all the Souls into Strength, immediately getting excited and "oh oh oh"-ing. With a golden special effect added, he could become a Super Saiyan.

Dan Ya put one level into Dexterity, and Ai Li put one level into Intelligence. A single level increase wasn't very obvious, but the growth in strength still surprised both of them.

"With this thing, becoming a Gold-Rank Adventurer won't be a problem!" Ai Li's eyes were full of anticipation for the future.

"That's hard to say. Once others find out about this place, maybe their leveling speed will be even faster than ours," Si Telan said.

Dan Ya was thoughtful, looked up, and asked, "Besides you, has anyone else discovered this place?"

"I don't know. Currently, I haven't heard of anyone being able to clear this floor. What's wrong?"

"I think,"

Dan Ya stared intently at the Bonfire and slowly said:

"It's best to enjoy this kind of thing within a small group."

Shot into a sieve by the Repeating Crossbow Ratfolk of Shamen Village, recalling the painful past events of the Ringed City.

Also, who did Yin Hu learn that slow-fast sword from? Even the Omen wasn't this outrageous, damn it!