Qingcheng Dungeon Center.
Every city in Great Xia had a designated place like this for dungeon runs. Unlike the Classist Hall at Second High School, the dungeon entrances here were higher-level, with none below level 10.
It saw more Classists coming and going each day than anywhere else, and major guilds and first-clear teams were everywhere.
Dressed in a pure white uniform, Bai Qiu Li walked with light steps, the ends of her hair fluttering in the breeze. As she searched for the teammates she had agreed to meet here, she drew admiring looks from plenty of passersby.
Jiang Che waved eagerly when he saw her. Beside him, a young man leaning casually against the wall also greeted her:
"Ye Xiu."
"You're a Battle Mage?"
Bai Qiu Li noticed the mage armor Ye Xiu wore, a type of armor exclusive to Battle Mages.
Ye Xiu smiled. "I used to be. Now I know a little of everything."
"Wan Jiang is in Dingcheng. He'll come over later. Let's run some dungeons first."
"Okay."
As Ye Xiu and the other two prepared to enter a dungeon, someone in the overcrowded Dungeon Center fixed his gaze on him.
The man wore a custom guild outfit with the word "Sega" embroidered on it.
"Wait, isn't that Ye Xiu?"
At that, several nearby members of the Sega Guild turned to look. They could recognize him just from his back, because they had often watched Ye Xiu from behind during their past dungeon runs.
Leading them was Sega's guildmaster, Ma Xiang. Seeing Ye Xiu's two teammates, he looked disdainful:
"Without Sega, Ye Xiu really is nothing. He's actually sunk to teaming up with kids who just got their classes!"
"Looks like our old captain is finished, while we're about to conquer a medium-sized secret realm!"
"From now on, Ye Xiu won't even be in the same league as us."
"..."
Meanwhile, Yi Tian had sought out Wei Yuan again, asking him to help bring Wan Jiang back.
Military regulations prohibited leaving camp without permission, but things became much easier once Wei Yuan put in a word.
One phone call later, Wan Jiang was in a dedicated car heading back to Qingcheng.
Seated behind a large wooden desk, Wei Yuan looked at Yi Tian on the sofa and reminded him:
"Your team is different from the others. Their levels are too low, and they can easily get hurt in a secret realm. Don't rush recklessly ahead."
Neither dungeons nor secret realms were games. The moment someone's health bar reached zero, they were dead for good.
Yi Tian's team had one divine-class member and three legendary-class members. Losing any one of them would be a tremendous blow.
"Got it, Brother Wei!"
As asking Wei Yuan for favors became increasingly natural, Yi Tian's way of addressing him had automatically shifted from Elder Wei to Brother Wei.
Level 25 dungeon, hell difficulty: Withered Wind Canyon.
"Is the leveling efficiency in your plan really as high as you said?"
As Ye Xiu and the other two reached the canyon entrance against the howling wind, Bai Qiu Li couldn't help asking.
A team usually needed at least an hour to clear a hell-difficulty dungeon, yet Ye Xiu had claimed five minutes at most.
"Of course." Ye Xiu smiled calmly. "Just wait here for me."
With that, Ye Xiu used [Three-Stage Flash Step], flashing several hundred meters away.
Jiang Che looked puzzled. "Is he going to pull monsters by himself?"
Pulling monsters was an inefficient strategy because a single person could hold only so much aggro and attract only a few monsters at a time. This method of dungeon farming had quickly fallen out of use.
Just over two minutes later, while Bai Qiu Li and Jiang Che were still puzzling over it, the ground suddenly began to shake!
"Holy shit!"
Jiang Che looked toward the other end of the canyon and froze in disbelief.
Ten "Ye Xius" were running toward them, followed by countless monsters. The thunder of their footsteps seemed to make the canyon itself tremble.
Jiang Che was stunned. "Did he pull every monster in the dungeon over here?!"
Bai Qiu Li was surprised as well. "Using clones to pull monsters... But making so many at once, and precisely controlling every clone to hold monster aggro? That's some incredible micromanagement!"
Indeed, by using [Multi-Shadow Clone], Ye Xiu was effectively managing monster aggro from ten different viewpoints!
The number of clones [Multi-Shadow Clone] produced changed with its level. At level 10, it could currently create only ten clones, but they couldn't use the original's skills. They could only attack or defend.
Ye Xiu had instantly realized this was an incredible monster-pulling skill!
Rumble...
Under Ye Xiu's skillful aggro management, every monster in the dungeon was drawn into the canyon.
He used [Three-Stage Flash Step] to return to his teammates and reminded them:
"The canyon confines them to a small area. Use your strongest area skills to wipe them out!"
Their levels were generally more than ten below the dungeon monsters', so clearing it normally would have been painfully slow.
Fortunately, their advantage lay in their extremely high skill damage. Unleashing their strongest AOE attacks in one burst when the monsters were packed closest together sent their efficiency soaring.
"Divine Punishment Thunder Domain! Metal Storm!"
"Ice-Sealing Breathless Slash!"
"Bajiquan-Crushing Fist!"
Destructive roars intertwined with surging power. The entire canyon was nearly torn apart in an instant, and a blazing wave swept through, extinguishing all life!
A dozen or so seconds after they unleashed their skills, the dungeon-clear notification arrived.
"Level 11."
After the three were teleported out of the dungeon, Ye Xiu checked his level, thoroughly pleased with their efficiency. "Looks like the one-pull strategy was a big success."
Bai Qiu Li and Jiang Che both nodded in agreement.
At this rate, their leveling speed would be unbelievable.
Just then, a short-haired, masculine young man standing 1.9 meters tall approached the three:
"My name is Wan Jiang. Boss told me to come join you..."
"Oh, looks like everyone's finally here." Ye Xiu took the initiative to shake Wan Jiang's hand with a smile.
"Boss isn't here, so the four of us will run dungeons together."
His expression turning slightly serious, Ye Xiu reminded them, "Today's dungeon farming will be boring, repetitive, and tedious..."
"But for Boss's assignment, I hope everyone can stick with it."
As their tactical commander, Ye Xiu had instinctively taken on the role of team leader.
Keeping his teammates motivated was part of that job.
But the only answer he received was Bai Qiu Li's cool voice. "Skip the pointless talk."
"The Strategic Meeting buff has a time limit. Don't waste it."
Wan Jiang and Jiang Che agreed, not the least bit concerned about the tedious dungeon farming ahead.
Ye Xiu scratched his head and smiled sheepishly at his own unnecessary fuss. He simply stopped talking and opened the dungeon again.
Inside, however, Ye Xiu was deeply surprised:
During his time with Sega, he had also encountered some epic- and legendary-class Classists in other guilds.
Those people were often incredibly arrogant because of their powerful class grades. Getting them to follow a team leader's instructions was a pipe dream, unless they were coaxed and pampered like royalty.
By contrast, not only did all these people under Yi Tian have Legendary Classes, but their overall caliber was frighteningly high!
By that evening, Ye Xiu was even more convinced of this.
Spurred on by Bai Qiu Li, the entire team kept running dungeons late into the night. Only when the [Extreme Fatigue] debuff appeared in their status bars did they finally get to rest.
Yi Tian sent the four exhausted teammates back to the Green Mountain Apartments to rest.
Wei Yuan had placed every room on the fifth floor of the Green Mountain Apartments under Yi Tian's management, so there was more than enough space.
"What do I do when my employees work so much overtime that it scares me? I'm not going to end up hanging from a lamppost, am I...?"
As Yi Tian sank into thought, the new day's Management Log began processing...
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