Which Path to Take

Su Mu looked at the five cards and fell silent.

Textbooks rarely mention anything about Hell Lair; all I know is that Hell difficulty is far greater than Nightmare difficulty, and the loot is higher and better. I never imagined it would be so rich in loot.

Five C-grade cards, each with a "class" tag. Normal cards don't have class categories, so these five cards alone would be worth well over a million.

Su Mu carefully put away the five cards and turned to Ye Qingxue.

He handed over three cards... Iron Crown Bone General, Poison Bone Priest, and Golden Bone Guardian.

Ye Qingxue shook her head. "I don't want to."

Her tone was soft. "I used that scroll purely out of impulse. I put you under pressure, and if the BOSS destroys your cards, you'll likely waste a lot of Soul Points on the cards you've painstakingly accumulated."

Su Mu looked at her. "You still have your core card on the battlefield. Dying here would have a bigger impact on you, and might even ruin your instance."

Ye Qingxue pursed her lips. "Of course I have something to forcibly protect the core card."

Su Mu paused for a moment, then handed the card forward again.

"Without this scroll, we wouldn't have been able to kill these five monsters. We'll split the spoils 50/50. If you don't want it, then our team session is over."

He returned exactly what Ye Qingxue had said when she forcefully allocated the plan.

Ye Qingxue was taken aback.

She looked at Su Mu, a flicker of indescribable emotion flashing in her clear, cold eyes. Then, like a little girl, she nodded, no longer refusing, and accepted the three cards.

Su Mu gave her three cards, while keeping all the materials for himself.

Ye Qingxue nodded without wavering, but her face flushed slightly.

The two exited the instance.

A crimson light curtain expelled them. Outside the entrance to the Land of Buried Bones, the crowd was even larger than before, and dozens of gazes fell upon the two of them.

"She's out! Wait, look at her level... That Ye Qingxue, level 15! And her experience has increased by 20%!"

"Wasn't she level 15 before? How did she level up again? Did they reach a higher level, Nightmare difficulty?"

"Maybe they were already planning to upgrade? How can you tell?"

"But they chose the Hell difficulty level when they went in! Didn't you see the bright red light curtain?"

"Hell difficulty? They really fought a Hell difficulty level?"

"Being able to clear Hell difficulty means they've at least completed 50% of the Nightmare Lair. Just who are these two people?"

"I still can't see the man's information, but I know Ye Qingxue, the SSS-level Snow Queen of Rongcheng No. 1 High School. Anyone who can team up with her must be extraordinary."

"They finished the Hell difficulty level and their level increased. This means they reached at least wave ten."

"Two people managed to clear the Hell Lair up to wave 10 or higher, that's terrifying!"

Whispers rose and fell, but no one recognized Su Mu. Everyone assumed they had suffered a loss in the Hell Lair before coming out, given the Hell-level difficulty.

Su Mu ignored the stares.

He walked to the light screen and brought up the control panel. This time, he didn't choose Hell.

Nightmare.

He had calculated it very clearly.

Although Hell Lair offers higher experience and Momentum Points, it's difficult to clear without Ye Qingxue's Bloody Battle Banner Scroll. Without the final boss's bonus, the experience gained is actually less than Nightmare Lair.

Moreover, the battle just now left him feeling somewhat exhausted. He sensed that exhaustion from the feedback from Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit, proving that even they had a very difficult time fighting.

The textbook states that the combat costs of dungeon creatures are fed back to the dungeon master.

The Little Drill Wind and the White Bone Spirit fought with all their might in the Hell Lair for so long that the mental strain on Su Mu was naturally considerable.

Ye Qingxue nodded slightly when she saw that he had chosen Nightmare.

She also knew that without the scroll's enhancement, they couldn't defeat the Hell Lair.

The two stepped into the dark red light curtain.

The chatter continued outside the entrance.

"As expected, they chose Nightmare. They probably can't beat Hell Lair."

"That's normal. It's already a stretch for two people to clear the Hell Lair. Being able to get past wave 10 or higher is already quite impressive."

"Even two people fighting Nightmare difficulty is quite strong. We couldn't even survive the first wave of Nightmare difficulty."

"The gap between geniuses and ordinary people is larger than we imagine."

"Thankfully, they didn't continue fighting Hell. Otherwise, with a genius like that around, it would feel like we're completely different species."

Amidst the murmurs, the dark red light curtain silently rotated, completely engulfing the two figures.

Afterwards, the two experienced the nightmare twice more.

During this time, Ye Qingxue remained somewhat depressed.

She spoke much less than before, mostly just silently following behind Su Mu, while the Snow Queen quietly released ice shards in the distance to clear out the scattered monsters.

Su Mu occasionally turned his head to look at her, but she didn't turn her head away like before. She just lowered her eyes, her eyelashes casting a small shadow on her pale face.

Su Mu didn't know if she was feeling down because she realized the gap between herself and a hellish BOSS, or for some other reason.

To his relief, Ye Qingxue didn't mention going to run the dungeon alone. She still followed him into the dungeon and kept up with his pace.

Su Mu didn't press the matter, but frequently changed the subject during their conversation.

He tried to steer the conversation toward the Ice and Snow World.

"You could try adding another card for your Snow Queen," Su Mu said, "Like the Ice and Snow Empress."

Ye Qingxue slightly raised her eyes. "The Ice and Snow Empress?"

"Yes." Su Mu nodded, recalling the Ice and Snow themed system in his mind. "The Snow Queen is the core of the domain, responsible for control and suppression. But if the Ice and Snow World only has one core card, the system's depth is insufficient. You can add an Ice and Snow Empress as a secondary core, responsible for output and advancement. The Queen controls the field, and the Queen finishes off the enemies; the two cards synergize, and the overall combat power of the dungeon can be increased by at least 30%."

Ye Qingxue remained silent for a while, without refuting.

Su Mu was somewhat surprised. He had originally thought that, given Ye Qingxue's personality, she would immediately raise a different opinion. But she simply listened quietly and then nodded.

"You're right, it lacks depth," she said softly. "However, I don't want to go down the Western fantasy route."

Su Mu was slightly taken aback. "So, which way do you plan to go?"