Nothing Special

She was dressed in light white armor, and several ice-blue cards were inserted into the card box at her waist.

Her face was somewhat pale, and there was a faint bluish tinge under her eyes, indicating that she hadn't rested much in the past two days.

But those eyes remained cold and sharp, like two ice needles piercing Su Mu's face.

Su Mu was somewhat surprised, but not entirely.

Ye Qingxue is an SSS-level Awakened One, so her level-up speed is definitely faster than that of ordinary students.

She should have been here yesterday, which is not surprising.

But what puzzled him was that the other party was clearly targeting him.

Just as Su Mu was about to ask a question, Ye Qingxue spoke first.

"You came to the wilderness yesterday?" Her voice was cool, with a hint of barely perceptible fatigue. "What level are you now? I can't see your level."

Su Mu raised an eyebrow slightly.

The level is not visible, which is clearly the effect of the Shadow Concealment Badge.

This badge concealed his level and core card information. Although Ye Qingxue's level was not low, it was definitely not more than ten levels higher than his, so it was impossible to detect her.

Ye Qingxue's mind was far from as calm as it appeared on the surface.

After the awakening ceremony yesterday, she finished completing the school's three trials—Normal, Hard, and Nightmare—and immediately rushed to the wilderness.

She used three scrolls to clear cooldowns and ran the Goblin Nest three times in a row, plus one run each on Normal and Nightmare difficulty. After a whole day, she barely reached level twelve. She still had half the experience needed to reach level thirteen.

When she returned to the school's training grounds this morning, she didn't see Su Mu. She then asked her homeroom teacher, Teacher Zhou Teacher Zhou, who only said that Su Mu had left the school yesterday afternoon without saying where he went.

Ye Qingxue guessed it right away.

Su Mu must have come to the wilderness.

She knows him too well.

Throughout his three years of high school, this person never missed a single competition.

During the awakening ceremony, he awakened an F-grade stone card. Everyone thought he was finished, but Ye Qingxue knew that Su Mu would not give up so easily.

He will definitely find a way to overtake them by taking a shortcut.

Ye Qingxue, having finally surpassed Su Mu in level, how could she possibly give him a chance?

Despite her exhaustion, she rushed to the Goblin Nest that very night.

She spent the entire day here yesterday, hoping to catch a glimpse of Su Mu, but she didn't see him at all. She even started to suspect that something might have happened to Su Mu while he was out in the wild.

So when Su Mu appeared in front of her, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

But she would never admit it.

She would never tell anyone that she was worried he would die in the wild.

Ye Qingxue clenched her fists, suppressing those chaotic thoughts, and regained her cool expression before asking the question.

Su Mu looked at her.

He didn't have a bad impression of Ye Qingxue. Although this girl was a bit arrogant, she was straightforward and didn't play dirty tricks.

Moreover, there was nothing to hide about his level.

"Level fourteen," he said.

Ye Qingxue's expression froze.

Level 14.

She thought she had misheard.

She relied on equipment that could clear the cooling effect.

Yesterday I ran the Goblin Nest on Hard difficulty three times, plus Normal and Nightmare difficulty, for a total of five dungeons. Today I ran it twice more, and I barely managed to reach level twelve.

Su Mu, who arrived in the wilderness later than her, was already level fourteen?

He's two grades higher than her?

How is that possible?

She opened her mouth, wanting to ask, "How did you do that?", but swallowed the words back.

Based on her understanding of Su Mu, she knew he wouldn't lie about something like this. If he said level fourteen, then he meant level fourteen.

But she just couldn't understand it.

On the day of the awakening ceremony, Su Mu's level was lower than hers.

Why is Su Mu two levels higher than her?

Ye Qingxue felt her competitive spirit ignite like a fire in her chest. Her body, which had been somewhat exhausted from grinding through the night, was now filled with an inexplicable surge of energy.

She glanced at Su Mu, said nothing more, and turned to walk towards the entrance of the Goblin Nest.

She played on Nightmare difficulty.

The dark green light curtain turned deep purple in front of her, and a suction force several times stronger than ordinary and difficult ones surged out from the depths of the light curtain, swallowing her whole.

A commotion broke out among the surrounding crowd.

"Is Ye Qingxue having nightmares again?"

"Didn't she already clear the Nightmare mode yesterday? Why is she going back again?"

"She's probably trying to grind experience. Nightmare dungeons give significantly more experience than Hard dungeons; she's aiming for level 13."

"SSS-rank is great, we can enter Nightmare dungeons whenever we want."

"You can't be envious. Her core card is the Snow Queen, and the theme is Ice and Snow World. She's born to conquer dungeons."

Amidst the murmurs, Su Mu withdrew his gaze.

Ye Qingxue left, and he didn't think much of it. He looked around but didn't see Li Ming.

I was slightly surprised.

According to his estimation, Li Ming's current level should be around level seven or eight. The school's trial dungeons should still offer some room for improvement for Li Ming, but the efficiency is already low. If Li Ming was here yesterday, he should still be here today.

Perhaps we arrived a little late.

Su Mu didn't think much of it.

Communication equipment in the wild is expensive, and he had no intention of buying any in the first place, so he was unable to contact Li Ming. Shaking his head, he regained his composure and headed towards the dungeon.

I glanced at the time. It was a little past five in the morning, and there were still about six hours until the Bone Burial Nest cooled down.

It will take five hours to get back, with an hour's buffer in between. There's plenty of time.

Su Mu walked to the light screen and brought up the control panel.

[Trial Nest: Goblin Camp]

[Difficulty Selection: Normal/Hard/Nightmare]

[Currently available challenges: Normal/Hard/Nightmare]

This nest doesn't have a Hell difficulty rating. But that's normal; not all wild nests have a Hell difficulty rating.

He chose the ordinary path.

A dark green light curtain engulfed him.

Outside the entrance, several dungeon raiders who were taking a break noticed this scene.

"Someone went in? Just one person?"

"Normal Lair, soloing it? You've got guts."

"While Normal Lair in the wild aren't particularly difficult, it's still a bit risky to go in alone. Normally, it's a team of two or three people to share the burden."

"Maybe he's S-rank. Look at how he was talking to Ye Qingxue just now. Don't you know what kind of temper Ye Qingxue has? Anyone who can talk to her is definitely not an ordinary person."

"That's true. But he went in alone."

"Never mind that, let's continue resting. I'll go do a round of Hard Lair later."

The murmurs gradually subsided.

There wasn't much discussion about it. Most of the people who come here at this time are above average, and there are even a few top experts with double S-level rankings.

A Normal Lair can be cleared solo; it's nothing special.