《The Cardboard Explorer》 1 Chapter 1 Ten thousand years ago, humans on Earth were gifted with something called the system. The system came out of nowhere and it came with only two functions. The first function was the ability to view their own stats. Having the ability to view one''s own stats in data form was really helpful for humans to keep tabs of what they lacked, how long will they live and so on. The second function was the storage. There were only ten slots of storage and each slot can store up to 99 of same items. The storage function was really helpful to humans as they can brought many things with them and no one could steal the items they stored inside. Humans tried to figure out more about the system but they were unable to do anything more with it. Years of research were done on the system; however, they met a dead end. Even with so many researched done on the system, no humans knew why they suddenly gained the system and they also did not know how to improve the system. Scientists, programmers, engineers and everyone on Earth gave up trying to find out more about the system. However, years later, something big happened. A portal appeared out of nowhere all around the world and inside the portals were dungeon with monsters in it. At the same time the portal appeared, some humans on Earth awakened the real system and gained the ability to use magic. The awakened humans then fought to the best of their ability to clear the dungeons and closed them so that the monsters inside won''t leak outside. Humans finally found out the reason why they were gifted with the system. With the system, the awakener had the ability to kill the monsters because human-created weapons were ineffective against the monsters. The awakened humans kept fighting the monsters and later, they were called the Explorer. Explorers were not only hunted and killed the monsters but they also properly explored the dungeons for resources and many other things. The strong explorers were also somewhat a superhero in society. Thanks to the discovery of magic, dungeons and monsters, humans also made leap and bounds in their technology and that made humans abled to explore the space and thus started the ages of space travel and explorations. Upon getting the ability to travel far in the space, humans found out that not only Earth but every other planets and stars were also getting invaded by the monsters. Explorers continued their jobs of exterminating the monsters but now it happened not only on Earth but on other planets and stars too. *** The Biscuit Star Sector was a small star sector with only ten planets in the vicinity. Just like how brittle and weak a biscuit was, that was how the condition of this star sector and thus the name of Biscuit Star Sector. There was nothing special or precious in the Biscuit Star Sector and thus, it never got caught in a war. Biscuit Star Sector was the most peaceful star sector in the universe. No matter how bad someone was, they never wanted to invade and conquer Biscuit Star Sector because it was worthless and a waste of energy. There really was nothing out of ordinary in the Biscuit Star Sector. Dineon was a small planet located in the Biscuit Star Sector with the population of around two billion humans. Dineon was the sixth planet out of ten located in the Biscuit Star Sector. Dineon was just an ordinary planet and most of the humans living in the planet was just ordinary humans. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Oh~ that looks fun," said a young man while he was smiling watching a video on his geniusphone. The young man was around 20 years old with light brown hair and brown eyes. He had a beautiful white skin but he was not a pretty boy. He was slightly handsome but there were a lot more man more handsome than him. However, he had a nice and beautiful smile. It was not an exaggeration to say that he might attracted a lot of attention with just his smile alone. The young man continued watching the video and once it ended, he went to his room and got himself a few empty cardboard boxes. He grabbed a scissor, knife, glue and his stationary. The young man started drawing on the cardboard. After that, he started cutting the cardboard following his drawing on it earlier. Once the young man finished cutting the cardboard, he started gluing some of them and he finally created what he saw in the video earlier. On the floor was a short sword, a round shield and a mouth mask. All of them were made from cardboard. The young man saw a craft video on the internet making things out of cardboard and he found it interesting, so, he made his own version of cardboard craft. His craft was nothing fancy and even a kindergarten can made better than that but the young man did not care about that. He was bored to death and he felt happy wasting his time making that. However, after making that cardboard craft, he bitterly smiled by himself. The young man looked around him and his smile disappeared. The young man sat on the floor in the living room. Other than the sofa, a small table, television and a few cabinets, there was nothing else in the living room. There was no picture frame, there was no flower vase and there were no other decorations presented in the living room. The same situation applied to his bedroom, kitchen and toilet. Other than a few important things, they were basically empty. The young man was the only one living in the apartment. There was no presence of someone else in his apartment. His parents, his siblings¡­ no one was there with him and there was a reason for it. The young man was Cade. He came from a powerful, influential and rich family, the Blue Phoenix family. The Blue Phoenix family was located in a huge star sector called the Phoenix Star Sector. There were 50 planets in Phoenix Star Sector and ten of them were under the control of the Blue Phoenix family. The member of the family was all born strong and with huge potential once they awakened but that did not apply to Cade. Cade was the black sheep of the family. He was born with low growth potential and the entire family was ashamed of him including his parents and siblings. The family was well known with so many geniuses in the family and even the weakest of them all was with good potential. Cade however, broke all of that when he was born. He had the lowest potential a human can get and in the history of Blue Phoenix family, he was the first. Cade''s family wanted to keep his birth a secret and thus they sent him to Planet Dineon. A maid raised him until he was ten years old and then, the maid was called back by his family. Cade had been living by himself since he was ten. He knew about his family and wanted to see them but he was forbidden to set his foot on Phoenix Star Sector and told anyone about himself or else they will end his life. He was also forbidden to befriend anyone from the Biscuit Star Sector because a family member of the family cannot befriend a low life inhabitant from Biscuit Star Sector. Cade was afraid of getting killed and thus he followed everything he was ordered. He was afraid that they were watching him and never tried to do anything that they forbid him. Unbeknownst to him, no one was watching him. His family still wired him with money and that was it. All his life, Cade was alone. Even the maid that took care of him in his early life hate him. Cade had never gotten any love from his family. Cade knew how pitiful he was playing by himself. No family, no friends. He was all alone in the big empty apartment. Cade was currently in his second year of college. He did talk to his classmates but they were not his friends because Cade kept his distance from them. He feared that his family will kill him. Cade found the cardboard craft fun because he never played something like that in his life. He wanted to become an explorer but he was not awakened and thus he created the cardboard equipment. He did play by himself imagining he was a strong explorer using long ruler as sword and pillow as shield but they did not look like a sword and shield and thus it killed the fun. The cardboard he just created were shaped like real sword and shield and it will be more fun compare to the long ruler and pillow. It was obviously not fun playing by himself but it was better than nothing. Cade wore a black hoodie and then he equipped himself with the cardboard mouth mask, sword and shield. Once he finished equipping himself, Cade stood in front of a mirror to view himself. "I look silly," said Cade but he was still smiling happily. Suddenly, his system activated by itself and a meter bar with ''awakening'' word appeared in front of him. 2 Chapter 2 "Awaken?... Am I finally awakening my system?!!" said Cade excitedly. His potential was low and the chance for him to awaken naturally was slim. It not only happened to him but all humans with low potential had low chance to awaken. 80% of humans were born with low grade potential. The low-grade potential was people with grade E potential, the lowest grade listed in the system. Humans with grade E potential had a super low chance to awaken their system. People with this potential rarely awaken and even if they awakened, they will be the weakest among the explorers. The only thing they can do was being another explorer''s porter or servant or slave if they intended to survive as an explorer. Cade sat on the sofa and waited until the meter bar was full. It took about ten minutes for the meter to fill and Cade patiently waited for that. Ten minutes later, the system sent Cade a few notifications. Cade was too excited and did not read the notifications. He thought it was a normal procedure for the system to do that when someone awakened and he said yes to all. After a few times of ''yes'', there were no more notifications. Cade opened his stats and new stats were shown in the system. Name: Cade Age: 20 Lifespan: 60 Potential: E Level: 1 Stat Points: 0 Vitality: 10 Strength: 3 Endurance: 3 Dexterity: 3 Wisdom: 5 Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Luck: 1 Skill: Link Growth, Level: -, Grade: Special, Effect: Anything link with user can grow stronger. Cade had a lifespan of 60 years, that meant he will die of old age at the age of 60. However, that did not matter now as he had awakened. All explorers will be able to increase their lifespan as they level up. How many years will they get was based on their potential. The higher their potential, the longer they will live. However, lifespan will only reflect their death due to old age. If they were in an accident, had a fatal illness and killed by monsters or people, their lifespan will not affect that. Even when they were surprise and shocked to death can cost their life. However, in the age of magic and technology, resurrection was possible. With the right conditions, it was possible to bring back the dead to life. Cade had E grade potential. With this grade, every time he leveled up, he will gain 10 stat points. People with higher grade of potential will gain more stat points when they were leveling up. This was the reason Cade''s family kept his birth a secret from the public. No matter how high his level was, he cannot be on the same power as people of higher grade but same level. The stats difference between explorers of different grade were like heaven and earth. They were too far apart especially when they were in higher level. Other than his vitality, his other stats were really bad especially his luck. Out of the six stats, luck was the only stat human incapable of leveling up with their stat points. With only 1 point of luck, Cade will have a super hard time getting a monster drop and landed a critical hit on them. Upon seeing his stats again, Cade sighed. Even if he had awakened, he was still part of the loser group. However, an awakener was still an awakener. When he became an explorer, the explorer title was enough to give him some fame to his name. Then, Cade looked at the skill he got from awakening. Everyone who awakened will automatically got a skill. The skill got was random. If they were lucky, they will get a good skill. Cade looked at his skill and he smiled when he saw the grade of his skill. It was a special grade skill. Special grade skill was not that rare. Many awakeners got special grade skill and most of them were different with each other. Just like the grade implied, the skill was special. Everyone with this skill will usually made a name in society¡­ if they had a high potential. Cade might not be able to made his name known in the universe but he was happy nonetheless with the special grade skill he got. At least, his 1 point of luck favored him this time. "Link growth, anything linked to me can grow stronger?? Hmm~ I wonder what kind of link the skill meant?" Cade was thinking what the skill meant. Did his skill considered to be something linked to him? Cade opened his skill list and out of three skill slots he had, one was occupied by link growth and the other two empty skill slots was glowing in blue. Upon seeing the blue glow, Cade was happy. He read online that there was no such thing as the skill slot emitted some kind of color happened to anyone. Cade concluded that that meant he can make his skills growing stronger. Upon thinking of doing that made him excited. Cade was done viewing everything when he accidentally opened his storage slot. To his surprise, six out of ten slots of his storage were also glowing in blue. Cade was happy to see that. He can grow things he put in his storage¡­ was his conclusion until he saw that the glowing slots were filled with things he currently wore. However, all the things he wore were obviously not inside his storage. Upon closer look, the picture of items in that slot were faded. "Hmm? What is happening?" Cade wondered and then he tried to bring out the item out of his storage. Unfortunately, it cannot be taken out. Cade tried to move the items to other empty slots but it was not moving. Cade had bad feeling about it. Cade put his cardboard short sword into the storage and the slots where a faded cardboard short sword was located gained its color back. Cade tried to move the cardboard short sword to another slot and just like before, it was not moving. However, the system pulled out a new screen and upon reading what was written on the screen, Cade''s face went white. Cardboard Short Sword (Link) Level: 1 Next Level: 5 Level 1 magic crystal Durability: 1 Attack: 1 "No way! No way!! No way!!!" Cade went panic. Cade stored back his black hoodie, white t-shirt, black jeans, cardboard round shield and cardboard mouth mask. He tried to move them out of the glowing slot but they were not moving. The stats of all of them were shown in front of him and they were all linked to Cade. The level, durability and other stats of them were seriously the worse he had seen in his life. All of them had 1 point. Only 1. "....." Cade with only his underwear on his body sat silently on his sofa while looking at the white floor. He was silent for almost ten minutes until he snapped back to reality. Cade finally remembered that earlier, he got lots of notifications from the system and he suspected that that notifications were asking him about linking what he wore at the time. Cade felt like crying. He should have read it first before saying yes. Cade walked back to his room and took some clothes to wear and he suddenly got some ideas. Cade took out the cardboard equipment and burned them to ashes. He thought that if he destroyed them, the link will be broken. However, to his surprise, the faded picture of the cardboard equipment was still there in his storage. A minute later, they were restored. Cade blankly looked at his storage. He closed his system and lying on his bed. A few minutes later, he fell asleep. An hour later, Cade woke up and checked his storage and they were still there. He went to sleep because he thought that that was all a dream and when he woke up, it will not be as bad as his dream. However, it was not a dream. Cade started accepting his fate. He loses his mood of doing anything that day and all he did was lying on his bed blankly staring on the ceiling of his room. He felt like his luck stat said it all about what had happened. For the next few days, other than going to class, eating and using the toilet, Cade did not do anything else. Cade thought that he will finally be able to change his life but his carelessness cost him a lot. He regretted not reading the notifications properly. However, what was done cannot be undone. No matter how much Cade regretted it, he cannot change it. Cade stared at his storage and then he realized something. "That''s right! All of this equipment, no matter how weak they are, I can make them stronger. Equipment drop from monsters cannot grow stronger but my equipment can. I can still become stronger if I grow my equipment properly," Cade suddenly came to his realization. With that sudden realization, Cade eyes were burning with passion. 3 Chapter 3 Cade made his decision to go through with the cardboard equipment and raised them to become a strong equipment. It looked silly but with the growing potential, it was possible for them to become stronger. After Cade made his decision, he registered online to get his license as an explorer. It was easy to become an explorer. All he needed to do was filled in the form online and waited for it to be processed. Explorer mostly used a nickname for themselves much like a superhero name. Cade decided to use a nickname ''The Cardboard'' due to his cardboard equipment. Luckily no one used that name and Cade did not need to think of using another nickname. It took a week for his registration as an explorer to finish. During the one week he had, Cade bought himself some equipment as substitute for his cardboard equipment before the cardboard equipment can be used properly. With one durability, it was impossible for them to make even one attack or defend. So, Cade decided to use other equipment first. He also needed to find out how much the increase will be when it leveled up. According to the data shown by the system, in order to level up the linked equipment, Cade needed to use magic crystal. Magic crystal was expensive and Cade did not have much money on hand to buy any of them. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The only way he can get the magic crystal was by getting it dropped from monsters. However, even that was hard due to his super low luck. He needed to work harder than anyone else if he wanted to become stronger. A week later, Cade got his explorer license. With the license on hand, Cade can buy license to enter the dungeon available. Whatever dungeons appeared; it was all belonged to the government of that planet. In order for a guild, clan or family to raid the dungeon, they needed to buy the license from the planet''s government. After they finished raiding the dungeon, 5% of their dropped items needed to be handed out to the planet''s government as tax. No matter what planet it was, all of them applied the same rate of tax. There were two types of dungeon license. The first type was the full ownership of the dungeon. With this license, the buyer had full rights to the dungeon. Other than the 5% tax, the government had no right to interfere with the buyer of the license. Only the owner of the license and people he or she allowed to were allowed to enter the dungeon. If an explorer without permission from the owner of the license tried to get in, the license owner can do anything he or she wanted to that explorer and the government won''t be able to interfere with their decision. The second type was a limited time entry license. Just like the name suggested, the owner of this license can enter the dungeon for a limited time. The time varied based on their application. It can be days, weeks or years. However, if someone already bought the full ownership of that particular dungeon, limited time entry license will not be available but if someone bought the limited time entry license before someone else buying the full ownership license, the license was valid until the time limit ended. As Cade just started to become an explorer, it was impossible for him to buy the full ownership license. Cade searched the Dineon government site for a dungeon with limited time license available and he found some. 90% of them were slime dungeon. Slime dungeon was the most unpopular dungeon in the universe because the slimes were weak and harmless. Even if they got out of the dungeon, they did nothing to the environment. All they did was digesting trash and garbage. They were helping the environment more than destroying it. There were even some people taking it as pet to help them destroying their trash and garbage. Some bad guys even used them to destroy corpse and everything else. After browsing through the list of slime dungeon, Cade decided to take the grade E level 10 slime dungeon. This dungeon had five floors with all of them filled with grade E slime from level 1 to level 10. Every dungeon had their own grade and level for their monster. It can easily be determined by any explorer using their system. It was obviously better to raid a dungeon of the same grade as oneself as higher grade meant harder monsters and that was exactly what Cade did, choosing the right dungeon for himself. Cade bought the license for a week of entry. He wanted to buy for longer time but unfortunately, he did not have enough budget for that. The location of that slime dungeon was quite far from his apartment. Cade needed to ride the train for 5 hours or using the teleporter if he wanted to reach there faster. Again, with his budget, he can only take the train. Cade waited for 3 days more before he got himself the license to enter the slime dungeon. Cade only had one week to hunt the slime in the dungeon and he decided to skip class for a week. Cade prepared a lot of things including food. With his budget, he bought many can food to last for a week. With all preparation was done, Cade started his travel to the slime dungeon. Just like he planned earlier, he took the train and arrived at his destination in 5 hours. The slime dungeon was located in an empty abandoned building near the train station. Cade walked for 10 minutes and he found the abandoned building. Once he entered the abandoned building, he saw the portal to the dungeon. It was not the first time Cade saw a portal with his own eyes but this time, he saw it with the intention of getting inside. There were no one around because the slime dungeon was unpopular. Cade took out his iron short sword and iron round shield he bought a few days ago. Both of the short sword and round shield were level 1 with 10 attack and 10 defenses respectively. Cade wore his black hoodie and jeans and equipped the short sword and round shield. Once he finished equipping himself, Cade entered the dungeon. "So¡­ it is not that much different with what was shown on the internet," said Cade. The dungeon was just a cave with monsters roaming around inside. Cade took out his torchlight and made way into the dungeon. Monsters inside the dungeon will not respawn once they were killed. Once all of the monster inside the dungeon were killed, the dungeon will close by itself. A minute of walk, Cade saw a slime happily bouncing around in front of him. They were known to be harmless but Cade did not know that they were friendly too. The happy slime went towards Cade and bouncing around him. It did not seem to want to attack Cade. Cade saw the slime and he felt guilty of killing it but, he needed to level up and killing the monsters were the only way to level up. Cade resolved his mind and swing the short sword towards the slime. The sword cleanly cut the slime however, the cut slowly healed by itself. "Ah, that''s right. I forgot that they had resistance against physical attack," said Cade. Before the slime abled to fully healed itself, Cade stabbed the slime core and breaking it. The slime died and the system notified Cade that he killed a level 1 slime. No mention of the slime grade because it was a grade E dungeon and that meant all the slime inside the dungeon was grade E. The slime evaporated and left nothing behind. That meant, there was no item dropped. It was not really a surprise to Cade because his luck was the lowest and it was impossible to get any dropped. When a monster was killed, there were 50% chance that there was no item dropped, 30% dropped of magic crystal, 15% equipment, 4% skill book and 1% puzzle. Someone with higher luck will have better chance of getting an item dropped. Usually, a party or guild will bring with them someone with high luck to help them easily getting an item dropped. All the drop obtained from monster had their value and will surely netted them some money. Cade continued his exploration inside the dungeon and he met a few more slime. He kept killing all the slime he met and after his fifth killed, the system notified him of a leveled up. Cade was happy he leveled up. He got himself 10 stat points and he opened his stats to distribute them to his stats. Since Cade potential was E grade, he will only be able to get 10 stat points for every leveled up. Someone of grade D will get 20 points, grade C got 30 points, B got 40 points, A got 50 points and S got 60 points. While Cade looked at his stats, something crossed his mind. 4 Chapter 4 "That''s right! According to the description of my skill, anything linked to me can become stronger. My luck is obviously linked to me¡­ does that mean I can raise my luck?!" thought Cade. 10 000 years had passed since the appearance of the system and there was never once recorded that it was possible to increase luck. There was some equipment that can increase luck but that was not a permanent increase. There was never once in history of someone capable in increasing their luck stat permanently. Cade felt excited thinking of that. Without wasting any time, he tried putting one stat points on his luck. Cade prayed in his heart that it will work. Luck played a crucial part for Cade to be able to strengthen his linked equipment. He needed a lot of magic crystal to strengthen his equipment. With low luck, he won''t be able to farm many magic crystals. Once Cade decided to use one stat point on his luck, his luck stat increase from 1 to 2. Cade stared at his luck stat. Instead of 1, it was 2 now. Cade''s mouth trembling and slowly it curled into a smile, a big smile. Cade started gasping for air and then, he jumped in the air celebrating that he can increase his luck. "Woooohooooo!!!!" Cade screamed in joy. He clenched his fist hard and was extremely happy. He had never felt this happy in his whole life. He felt happier than when he awakened a few weeks ago. Without further ado, he poured all of his stat points on his luck increasing his luck stat from 2 to 11. Cade did not feel much different compare to before but he knew he will feel it once his luck was higher. With the new discovery of his skill, Cade did not waste anymore time and started hunting for more slime. He wanted to raise his level fast and increased his luck. A few hours later, Cade raise his level once more to level 3. He got another 10 stat points and used all of them on his luck. His luck increased from 11 to 21. After that, he continued hunting for more slime but he realized the quantity of slime in the first floor had dwindled. He found it harder and harder to meet another slime. He had been hunting them since afternoon and the first floor had almost gone empty. Cade checked his system and found out that there were only 2 more slime available in the first floor. The monster count was part of the system function. Whenever an explorer entered a dungeon, they will be able to keep track of the number of monsters present in the dungeon. However, only monsters they had killed once before will be able to be detected. If it was a monster they never killed before, there will be no count of that monsters. Since Cade had killed a slime, he was able to keep tract of their number in the first floor. The two slimes left in the first floor were both level 2. "Tracking these two slimes will be a pain," thought Cade and it was true. The first floor was huge and it was common knowledge for explorers that all first floor of every dungeon was the biggest floor compared to their other floor. Cade did not know if he should search for the last two slimes or moving on to the next floor. After a bit of thought, Cade decided to enter the next floor. His reasoning was simple. He did not enter the dungeon to complete it but to level up. However, Cade decided to go out of the dungeon as it was already late in the evening. He needed some rest after hunting for quite a while. It was his first time so he was not use to it and he felt much more tired than he used to. "Maybe I should raise my endurance a bit," said Cade as stamina was important if he wanted to last longer. Cade walked back to the entrance of the dungeon. While walking towards the entrance of the dungeon, Cade found one of the last two slime in the first floor. Without wasting any time, Cade killed the slime. His level did not increase but to his surprise, the slime dropped a magic crystal. "My first item drop!" said Cade excitedly. He took the magic crystal and inspected it. It was a grade E level 2 vitality crystal. Slime was only capable of dropping the vitality crystal and it was impossible to get another type of magic crystal. Cade stored it in his storage and continued walking out of the dungeon. Once he got out, it was already dusk and he took out a tent out of his storage and set it up beside the portal. Once he set up his sleeping place, Cade opened his storage again and he had more empty slots in his storage now. He was currently level 3 and he had 30 empty slots. The slots of the storage did not increase based on potential. It will always increase by 10 for every leveled up. Cade took out the vitality crystal. He inspected his black hoodie and in order to level it up, he needed 5 level 1 magic crystal. He got a level 2 magic crystal, Cade wondered if it was possible to use level 2 magic crystal? "How do I use this?" Cade held the vitality crystal and tried shoving it to the black hoodie he was wearing. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Cade stored his hoodie back into the storage and tried putting the level 2 vitality crystal into the black hoodie slot. The crystal suddenly vanished and the system let out a notification, [Choose the stat to increase: MDef? Durability?] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. For his black hoodie, it had two different stats. First was durability and second was magic defense. The black hoodie''s durability had 1 point while the magic defense was 0. It was not a hard choice for Cade and he chose durability. It was an easy decision for him. Even if the black hoodie had high magic defense, it will easily rip if it had 1 durability and having high magic defense on it will be useless if it easily ripped. Once Cade made his decision, the notification disappeared and he checked his black hoodie new stats. Name: Black Hoodie Level: 1 Next Level: 3 level 1 magic crystal Durability: 20 Magic Defense: 0 "The vitality crystal contains 20 points of vitality¡­ 20 durability¡­ Does that mean it add that 20 points of vitality to my black hoodie''s durability? Cool~" Cade felt impressed with his link growth skill. If he kept adding magic crystal of higher grade, it was possible to make his linked equipment absurdly powerful. That thought alone made him filled with joy. He also realized that using a level 2 magic crystal was counted as 2 level 1 magic crystal. That was really convenient as there were no more level 1 slime that can be found on the first floor. After Cade finished adding the vitality crystal and checked his black hoodie, he opened a few can of food he brought and started eating his dinner. After that, he went online and played with his geniusphone. A few hours later, Cade fell asleep until morning. Once he woke up in the morning, he took his breakfast and went back into the dungeon. Cade went straight to the second floor through the stone stairs at the end of the first floor. He thought he will get lucky and found the last slime of the first floor but unfortunately, he did not find it. The second floor of the dungeon contained the same species of slime but they were slightly stronger than the first floor. All of the slime in the second floor was either level 3 or level 4. Once Cade found his target, he immediately went for the kill. After a few killings of level 3 slimes, Cade leveled up to level 4. He poured all of the stat points on his luck increasing it from 21 to 31. Cade continued his killing and after 5 hours of hunting the slime, Cade once again leveled up to level 5. Just like before, his stat points were put into his luck increasing it to 41. During his hunt before he leveled up to level 5, thanks to his higher luck, he got 2 level 3 vitality crystal. He did not used them yet and stored it to his storage. Cade got deeper into the second floor and even though his level was at five, his killing of the slime had become slower. The higher-level slime was much stronger and with his level 1 weapon, he had a hard time killing them. His weapon was too low level compared to the level of the slime he was currently hunting. He used all of his stat points on his luck and thus, his offensive stats stayed at the same level while the slime was getting stronger. 5 Chapter 5 "Should I raise my other stats too?" Cade wondered if he should do that. He deeply considered of doing that but decided to focus on his luck first. The luck stat was the weirdest stat out of all the other stats. It cannot be increased normally by stat point; it won''t increase naturally too and the highest luck stat ever recorded was 76. That luck stat belonged to a girl from the Cupcake Star Sector and it was 5 years ago that it was recorded. That girl was not an awakener and she was a normal human. A lot of powerful and influential family coveted her luck stat and tried to matchmake her with sons from their family. It was common knowledge that children will inherit some of their parent''s stats and that was what the powerful family was aiming for. If the lucky girl married into their family, she will be able to produce children with high luck. Having many children with high luck meant that they will be able to make more money. Luck was the most valuable and money-making stat because of its ability in affecting item dropped. Item dropped business was the easiest business to be done if someone wanted to become rich faster. They were too valuable and used in a lot of things. The magic crystals were widely used in many things. Based on the type of the magic crystal, it can be used in variety of things. Stat based magic crystals like the vitality crystal, strength crystal, endurance crystal, dexterity crystal and wisdom crystal were widely used in buffed potions for increasing stats for a period of time. Elemental based magic crystals like the fire crystal, water crystal and wind crystal were widely used as energy source to power up tools, gadgets, vehicles, machines and many more. It was also used widely in potions and just like the stat buffed potions, the potions from elemental magic crystal will granted the user elemental power for certain period of time. There was also monster based magic crystal like the dragon crystal, tiger crystal and turtle crystal that were widely used in researched of genes. This crystal helped humans in making the animal meat softer, taste like a certain monster, strong like a certain monster and many more. There was also recent researched of how the monster crystal can help in refining bloodline of monsters into human body granting them strength similar to monsters. Other than the magic crystal, monsters will also drop equipment. They were random drop. Sometimes the monster will drop a powerful equipment and sometimes it will drop weak equipment. However, no matter how weak an equipment was, they can be sold at high price. They were sought after all around the universe because it was much rarer compare to magic crystal. Monsters will also drop skill book. Skill book were highly sought after by explorer because they were the only ones that can use the book. In order for explorer to do well in a fight, skill was a must. Having stronger skill meant higher chance of survival but only those powerful explorers were capable of getting strong skill as they were richer and obviously powerful that others dare not to challenge them. Lastly, the rarest and most expensive item dropped ever was the puzzle. The puzzle were pieces of big parts of something like a weapon, shield, monster, skill book and many other things. If someone collected all the pieces of that puzzle, he or she will gain a super strong and powerful thing from that puzzle. For example, if someone complete a puzzle pieces of a sword, that complete puzzle will turn into a powerful sword. The sword was said to be able to kill S grade explorer in one hit. The part about one hit was merely rumors but it was the truth that everything came from the puzzle was super strong and super rare. Every time a puzzle pieces appeared in the market; their prices will usually reach trillions of space credits. Powerful and rich explorers will usually go all-out in obtaining the puzzle pieces. There were also once that a huge fight between powerful explorers happened because of the puzzle pieces. Seven planets were completely destroyed from their fights. Unfortunately, during the fights, someone sneakily stole that puzzle and the explorers did not get their hands on that puzzle. --- The day ended but Cade were not able to level up. His killing speed had slowed because his strength had not increased. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. However, Cade still felt happy because thanks to his high luck, he got more vitality crystal. Before he leveled up to level 5, he got 2 level 3 vitality crystal. After he increased his luck to 41, his killing after that got him another three level 3 and one level 4 vitality crystal. Cade decided to camp inside the dungeon because he was deep inside the second floor and it will take longer time to get back to the first floor and out of the dungeon. Cade did not set up his tent as he was afraid that the slime will attack him without him noticing. The slime was well known to be harmless and dislike attacking but the last few slimes Cade encounter weirdly attacking him. Luckily, he had his iron round shield to defend himself or else, he will get hit by the slime''s tackle. He found it weird at the beginning that the slime suddenly attacking him but he concluded that it was because he had been killing too many of them. Cade did not feel discourage by that and he welcomed that a lot. Killing the monsters without them fighting back was boring. He also needed some experience in fighting and the slime did not give him any of that. Now that the slime had started attacking him, Cade felt happier as he will be able to get some fighting experience. Cade took out the vitality crystals he got to level up his linked equipment. He used one level 3 vitality crystal on his black hoodie and raised it magic defense to 30. Name: Black Hoodie Level: 2 Next Level: 5 level 1 magic crystal Durability: 20 Magic Defense: 30 "Though my black hoodie is only a level 2, its magic defense is equivalent to a grade E level 3 equipment," said Cade as he looked at his black hoodie''s stats. He was happy that his black hoodie had leveled up but it was useless in the slime dungeon because the slime did not know any magic skills. Cade decided to increase his cardboard short sword level next. Cade used two level 3 vitality crystals on it and it instantly leveled up to 2. Cade put 30 stat points to the attack and durability of his cardboard short sword. Name: Cardboard Short Sword Level: 2 Next Level: 4 level 1 magic crystal Durability: 30 Attack: 30 Cade looked at his cardboard short sword and he compared it to his iron short sword he was currently using. Name: Iron Short Sword Grade: E Level: 1 Durability: 10 Attack: 10 "My cardboard is definitely better than this iron," said Cade and he was actually quite proud with his cardboard short sword. Cade decided to use his cardboard weapon and stored the iron short sword. He did not know how well the cardboard weapon will fare against the slime but he had a good feeling about it because of the cardboard short sword''s stats. With the last two level 3 and one level 4 vitality crystal, Cade decided to invest all of them to his cardboard round shield raising the level of the shield to 2. Name: Cardboard Round Shield Level: 3 Next Level: 5 level 1 magic crystal Durability: 50 Defense: 50 "Haha~" Cade started laughing silently. Looking at the defense of his cardboard round shield, he was getting extremely confident in defending himself against the more offensive slime he will meet the next day. His cardboard round shield''s stat was equivalent to a grade E level 5 equipment. He was currently on the second floor and only level 3 and level 4 slime presented there. Their attack won''t even be able to scratch his shield¡­ if it was a metal type shield. Cade did not know how strong his cardboard shield will be but he had high hopes for it thanks to it stat. Cade had no more magic crystal left in his storage. With nothing else to do, he decided to rest for the day. The next morning, Cade packed up all of his things into his storage including the iron short sword and iron round shield. Cade started equipping himself with the cardboard short sword and cardboard round shield. He stared at his own appearance and decided to use the cardboard mouth mask too to cover his face. Who knew? Maybe there suddenly be other explorers coming in and saw him swinging a cardboard sword and they will laugh at him. He will feel totally embarrassed at that. Even without anyone seeing him, he already felt extremely embarrassed. He did not want anyone to know his identity and decided to cover his face with the mouth mask. With everything set, Cade continued his exploration in the slime dungeon. 6 Chapter 6 Cade felt weird equipping the cardboard equipment because it was too light. Compare to the iron sword and shield, it was like day and night. Although the cardboard equipment had good stats, its composition was that of a cardboard, so it was really light. Cade tried swinging the cardboard short sword and his swing was fast thanks to the cardboard''s light weight. He did not know how good it will be but he hoped that it will be good. Ten minutes of walking further inside the second floor''s dungeon, Cade found a level 4 slime. He cannot wait to test his cardboard equipment and he decided to rushed towards the slime. The slime was shocked with the appearance of Cade but it did not run away but instead, it took its position and launch itself towards Cade. With the fast approaching tackle from the slime reaching him, Cade immediately put up his cardboard round shield to block the incoming attack. "Bap!!" the slime tackle hit the shield and the slime recoiled backwards. Cade was happy to see his shield was holding nicely but was shocked few seconds later as his shield had dent on it. Cade decided to let it go at the moment and swung his cardboard sword towards the slime. The sword nicely damaged the slime''s core but it did not kill the slime. The slime was shocked by the shield and later the attack from the sword. It quickly tried to regain its footing but Cade did not want to waste the chance and swung his sword again. The second strike from his sword nicely cut the slime''s core and killed it. The slime evaporated but there was no item dropped. Cade checked his cardboard round shield and short sword. He frowned when he saw that the cardboard round shield had dent on it and the cardboard short sword was wet from the slime''s body fluid. His short sword had become heavy as it started absorbing the fluid and it started to bent and softened too. Luckily his shield did not get hit by the slime''s fluid, it only dented and Cade tried to fix the dent part. Cade checked his cardboard equipment''s stat and surprise to see that their durability had decreased too much. His shield lost 10 points of durability and left with only 40 durability. His short sword was worse, its durability kept dropping without stopping and in a minute, 0 points left. His short sword had lost its appearance as a sword. It was totally like a wet cardboard. It was unusable. Cade tried to wipe it but it was the same. In the end, Cade put his cardboard short sword on the ground and burned it. It will restore to its original state in a few hours. Cade sighed. He did not know how he can make his cardboard equipment useful. He thought that maybe he will raise its durability more so that it can stand longer fighting the slime. He felt like the slime was the worse enemy for his cardboard equipment. He killed the slime but he felt like he lost more than he won. Cade took out the iron short sword and replaced his cardboard short sword. He still used the cardboard round shield because he totally felt that it was better when he used it to block the slime''s tackle compare to his iron round shield. It might have dent on it but after he fixed the dent, the durability increased a bit. Cade continued his explorations forward and found a few more slimes. He cannot kill them as fast as before but it was better than nothing. Cade finally found the stairs to the third floor and he got lucky as the last slime he killed near the stairs dropped a level 4 vitality crystal. Cade did not waste anymore time and used it on his cardboard round shield, raising its durability and defense by 20 points each. One more magic crystal and he can raise his shield to level 4. Cade decided to raise his round shield''s level first before he focused on his other linked equipment. His cardboard shield was really helpful in blocking the slime''s tackle. It might take quite a lot of damage but it was totally better than the iron round shield. Cade move on to the third floor. The third floor will be filled with slime of level 5 and 6. They were obviously stronger than the second floor''s slime. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Cade took a deep breath and took the stairs to the third floor. Upon reaching the third floor, a group of three level 5 slime ambushed him. Cade was obviously shocked by the ambush and he immediately took up his shield to block the attack. He managed to block two of the slime, however, the third slime''s tackle landed on his side without the protection of any equipment. Cade was sent flying to the wall and coughed out blood. His vitality and endurance were too low to reduce the damage from a level 5 monster. The three slime did not stop and it rushed towards Cade. As he saw that, he used every ounce of energy left in his body to roll himself towards the stairs. Due to his injury from the attack, he cannot stand up because it was extremely painful. It was the first time in his life he felt that kind pain. The roll helped him reached the stairs and instead of walking down, he kept rolling towards the second floor. The three level 5 slime did not want to let him go and followed him to the second floor. Once Cade reached the second floor, he immediately took out a healing potion and drank it. His body immediately healed and he stood up and readied himself to fight the slime. One of the level 5 slime reached the second floor first and Cade used the same tactic the slime used earlier and ambushed that slime. His planned worked and succeeded in damaging the level 5 slime''s core but it did not break. Cade continued slashing the core and after about six times of rapid slashing, the core broke and to his surprise, he leveled up to level 6. Cade immediately used the stat points to increase his luck to 51. He did not think of increasing his other stats when he knew he needed to do that the most because he knew he did not need it. He got hurt earlier because he was ambushed. He should have been more careful but because it was a slime, he never thought he needed to worry much. What happened earlier teach him a good lesson. No matter how weak a monster was, they were still a monster. No matter how nice a monster was, he still needed to be vigilance and careful. When Cade thought of the pain he felt earlier, he got angry at himself. He knew it was his own fault and he should be more careful. He got too comfortable killing the slime and now he knew he should not. The other two slimes arrived and Cade bashed his shield to one of the slimes and send it flying away from him while he slashed his iron sword towards the other slime. Just like earlier, he kept slashing the slime''s core until it broke. Once he killed that slime, he did not stop and attacked the last slime. After a few seconds, he killed the last slime. Cade breathed heavily as that was the first time, he fought that hard. He did not feel happy about it and felt extremely tired. Cade saw the last slime evaporated and left a vitality crystal. He looked at the other one and that slime also dropped a level 5 vitality crystal. Cade collected both of them and he sat beside a wall and leaned on it. He stared at the two level 5 vitality crystal in his hand. Cade closed his eyes to stabilize his breathing. Once his breathing stabilized, he slowly opened his eyes and used the two vitality crystals on his cardboard round shield raising its level to 5. Name: Cardboard Round Shield Level: 5 Next Level: 1 level 1 magic crystal Durability: 120 Defense: 120 Cade distributed the stats properly between the durability and defense. His cardboard round shield''s durability and defense rose to a whopping 120 and it put it on the same level as a grade E level 12 shield. His shield had become the most important equipment he needed to killed the slime. Now that the slime had started to get much more aggressive, he needed his shield to hold itself longer. With his 51 luck, he will be able to get more magic crystal than before. It was evidenced in his fight against the three level 5 slime earlier when two of them dropped a magic crystal each. "With my luck this high, I will be able to farm more magic crystals. All of my equipment needs a lot of them," said Cade. He sat there for about half an hour before he started heading back to the third floor. 7 Chapter 7 Cade''s exploration on the third floor was moving smoothly. It was slower than before but he did not suffer any injuries as before because he had been treading carefully since the fight against the three slime. Thanks to his high luck, he got more magic crystal than before. Every four to five slime he killed, he will get himself one magic crystal. He had collected about fifteen level 5 vitality crystal and five level 6 vitality crystal. Unfortunately, he was unable to leveled up. He realized that once he reached level 5, it was getting harder and harder to level up. However, he did not feel down about it because he got a good amount of magic crystal that he can use to power up his linked equipment. He decided to stop for the day and his third day inside the dungeon ended. Just like the two days before, Cade started feeding the magic crystal to his linked equipment. Name: Cardboard Round Shield Level: 6 Next Level: 0 level 1 magic crystal Durability: 150 Defense: 150 Cade kept giving the vitality crystal to his cardboard round shield and once it reached level 6, he cannot give it more crystal. He now knew that his level was the limit level of his linked equipment. Once he leveled up to level 7, he will be able to give more crystal to his shield to level up. He still had quite a lot of vitality crystal. Cade did not know which equipment he should powered up. A few minutes of thinking, he decided to power up his cardboard short sword. The slime fluid was still a big problem for his sword but he still decided to go with it. Name: Cardboard Short Sword Level: 6 Next Level: 4 level 1 magic crystal Durability: 130 Attack: 130 A grade E level 5 monsters will have the maximum endurance of 50 points and 60 points for level 6. With his cardboard short sword''s attack points, it can one hit killed all the slime in the third floor. However, its weakness to the slime''s fluid was the greatest enemy of Cade''s cardboard equipment. He planned to wipe his cardboard sword immediately once he killed a slime. The cardboard can absorb the fluid but it was not that fast, if Cade cleaned it fast, it was possible to keep his sword fine all throughout his exploration in the dungeon. The slime fluid was much thicker compare to water and it will take a while to be absorbed by his cardboard short sword. After Cade finished powering up his linked equipment, he went to sleep. Due to him staying in a dangerous area, Cade did not fall asleep for real. He just closed his eyes and be alert of his surroundings. He did not want the slime to ambushed him like earlier in the day. Time passed and it was morning. Cade felt tired when he woke up because he was attacked by the slime a few times last night. One of the attacked almost hit him and he got lucky that the slime missed and he did not suffer any injuries. He also tried using his cardboard short sword like what he had planned and it worked perfectly. He wiped his sword as fast as he can and prevented the sword from absorbing the fluid. Just like he thought, he only needed one hit to kill the slime. His cardboard sword had tremendous amount of attack. Slimes inside the dungeon won''t be able to stay alive once they were hit by his sword. Cade continued his explorations and his paced was much faster than before. He needed to slash the slime''s core once and the slime will die. There were no exceptions, all of the slime he found met the same fate. As he killed more and more of the slime, the slimes became more and more aggressive. It was like they were connected to each other and they were angry that more and more of them died. Not only did they become more aggressive but smarter too. Usually they will just directly attack Cade or ambushed him but now, they were different. They were fighting with strategies. The slimes did not blindly tackle Cade. It now knew to wait, evade and wait for an opportunity to strike. Cade was totally impressed with the way the latest slimes he found fought. They thought more when fighting. Cade had gotten used to one hit kill them but now that they knew to evade, he needed to hit them more than once. The most he had hit was ten times. That was how hard it was to kill them after they had improved themselves. The third floor was not as big as the first and second floor. A few hours after he started his explorations on the fourth day, he found the stairs to the fourth floor. Cade did not waste any more times and went to the fourth floor. On that floor, Cade will be able to fight level 7 and 8 slimes. Cade had a bit of trauma entering the new floor thanks to the ambush he got at the third floor''s entrance. So, he entered the fourth floor with extreme caution. In his current stat, it was impossible for him to survive if he was attacked. His caution this time safe him because the slime did wait to ambush him at the entrance of the fourth floor. There were five of them. Due to them started fighting with strategies, Cade took a bit more time to kill them. Once he killed the fourth slime, he leveled up to level 7. Just like before, he raised his luck to 61. The last slime he killed showed him how much luck he had because it dropped an armor. It was a plain iron body armor. Name: Iron Body Armor Grade: E Level: 7 Durability: 70 Defense: 70 Cade needed more protection and immediately wore that iron body armor. Once he wore it, he realized how heavy it was. "This did not feel that good," said Cade as he tried to move while wearing the body armor but it was better than nothing. With the new armor, he felt a bit safe than before. It was a bit hard to move but he needed it to survive. Cade continued his explorations forwards. The new armor did help him a lot. The slimes had gotten smarter and their attacks had started landing on him. Luckily, he had the armor or else he might have left the world. All of the slimes he met at the fourth floor also started moving in a group. Not once he met a lone slime in the fourth floor. The slimes fighting in a group was really a huge problem to Cade. It took longer and longer for him to kill them. His fighting skill and strategies were tested to their limit. He felt really tired every time he finished fighting a group of slime. It was evening and Cade decided to head back to the third floor. He decided to stop hunting for the day earlier than usual because he was really extremely tired. Staying the night in the fourth floor was not a good idea and thus he went to the third floor. There were still a few more slimes in the third floor but they were not a threat to Cade. Once Cade arrived at the third floor, he set up his camp. Cade checked his hauled for the day. He was extremely glad to his high luck. He got a lot of magic crystals. He did not get any equipment other than the iron body armor he currently wore but the huge amount of magic crystal was enough to satisfied himself. He got ten level 5, five level 6, twenty level 7 and fifteen level 8 vitality crystals. If he were to sell all of the magic crystals, he will get a lot of money. Unfortunately, the magic crystals were important to him to increase the stat of his linked equipment. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Cade planned to sell any equipment he found because he won''t need most of them and in order to raise his chance of getting an equipment dropped, he needed to increase his luck. Cade knew he needed to start increasing his other stat but he had a feeling that he should keep increasing his luck. From all the knowledge he had about luck, he felt like the luck stat had its limit. He wanted to know what happened when he reached that limit. He speculated that the limit of the luck was 100 and he wanted to try reaching that limit. However, due to him having a grade E potential, he will need to reach level 10 to be able to get 100 luck. His rate of levelling had gone slower and slower and he did not know if he will be able to reach level 10 before his time limit entry to the dungeon ended. While he was thinking for all of that, an idea came across his mind. 8 Chapter 8 "If I can increase my luck, can I increase my grade too?" Cade wondered. Seeing that his luck can be increase, it was possible that he can increase his grade, lifespan and everything else linked to him. Cade never once tried to check it but he was desperate to become stronger and he should try it even if it was not working. Cade opened his stats screen and stared at his grade E potential. Looking at it, he sighed. His special skill made it possible for him to increase his puny luck, he really hoped that it can increase his grade too. Cade tried touching the ''grade E'' on the system screen and to his surprise, beside it appeared a sentence. ''1000 Grade E level 1 magic Crystal'' was what the sentence said. Cade''s body started shivering with excitement. He felt like crying too. He was really happy that he can increase his grade. Cade tried touching his other stats too like his lifespan, age, vitality, strength, endurance, dexterity, wisdom and level. However, out of all of them, only lifespan and age can be increased. Both needed stat points instead of magic crystal. For one year increased of lifespan, Cade needed to use 10 stat points. As for his age, he can decrease his age for a year with 100 stat points. Cade was really amazed that he can increase his lifespan and also reversed his age. However, he found it a wasted to use his stat points there because his lifespan will increase automatically when he levelled up and he was still young to lower his age more. Unfortunately, his skill did not affect his other stat. Cade concluded that maybe that stat was capable of increasing normally with stat points and link growth did not bother to affect that. With this new discovery, Cade immediately poured all of the magic crystal he got that day to increase his grade. Thanks to his huge amount of magic crystals, Cade added 340 grade E level 1 magic crystals to increase his grade. He needed another 660 grade E level 1 magic crystals more to increase his grade to D. This new discovery made him treasured all the magic crystals he got. They were totally useful to him. He extremely needed them to increase his linked equipment and also his grade. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Both equipment and grade potential played a huge part in an explorer''s strength. The higher their grade, the stronger they become. The better equipment they had, they stronger they become. Cade calmed down and went to sleep. He started his fifth day in the dungeon as usual. Once he had his breakfast, he headed to the fourth floor and continued his explorations. At his current pace, it was possible for Cade to complete the dungeon before his time limit ended. There were only five floors in the slime dungeon and he was currently at the fourth floor on his fifth day. If there was no hiccup happening in his explorations later, he will be able to complete the dungeon before his limit entry license ended its time. He was excited to think that he might be able to complete the dungeon solo. He knew the slime was weak and the dungeon was weak overall but he was still happy nonetheless. --- Cade met his first slime of the day and similar to how all of the fourth floor''s slime had been, they were in a group. Cade started his killing immediately. Due to the floor getting smaller and smaller, he arrived at the end of the fourth floor three hours after he started his day. Cade decided to take a rest for a bit before he advanced to the fifth floor. The fifth floor was the last floor of the dungeon and seeing what had happened to the fourth floor, he needed to be extra careful. It was also a common knowledge that the fifth floor housed the highest level monsters the dungeon can offer and they were strong. Other than that, the last floor will have a boss monster. The boss monster will usually exceed the dungeon''s level limit and it was the biggest threat to all explorers who wanted to complete the dungeon. If an explorer wanted to complete and closed the dungeon fast, he or she can go straight to the boss and kill it. However, no explorer wanted to do that because the monsters dropped items and that items were valuable. No one wanted to let that fortune past. Cade checked his hauled he had gotten. His high luck was working really well that morning. He got himself a grade E level 8 bow and a grade E level 7 spear. They were grade E equipment and thus did not have anything special. He had no intentions of using them but they still fetched quite a lot of money when he sold it. The equipment was left in his storage once he had looked at it. He also got twelve level 7 and ten level 8 vitality crystals. Cade used them all to increase his grade. He was currently halfway to increasing his grade to D. When he got enough rest, Cade went to the fifth floor. To his surprise, there was no ambushed from the slime this time but he still stayed cautious. All of the slimes in the fifth floor were at level 9 and 10. He did not want to make any mistake and always stayed vigilant. Upon walking further and further inside the fifth floor, he still did not meet any group of slime, even a lone slime had not once appeared in front of him. Cade had a bad feeling however, he still continued forward. Once he felt like he had walked too far, Cade stopped. He opened his system and checked how many slimes were there in the fifth floor. Upon seeing the amount of slimes, he was shocked. There were many of them but he did not meet any of them. "Maybe they are scare of me?" Cade wondered. It felt like the slimes were evading him on purpose. "If they were really running away from me, this is not good for me. I can''t get more items," said Cade worried that he won''t be able to get anymore item drop. While Cade was focusing himself with his system, something was coming fast at him. Without him realizing, an army of slimes had surround him. Cade sighed when he thought about not meeting anymore slime, unbeknownst to him that they were already surrounding him. Cade was again being careless. He closed his system and was totally shocked to see he was surrounded. "Damn it!!" Cade immediately took a fighting stance readying himself to fight the army of slime. However, the slime did not move. They looked totally angry¡­ or maybe rage and it was shown clearly in their eyes. They were shining red. It was scary. Cade''s hair stood while looking at their eyes. Sweat started forming on his forehead and flowed down. Cade knew he was in an extremely dangerous situation. Suddenly, the ground shook lightly. It was not an earthquake and Cade felt like something big was moving towards him. Then, he saw something huge was coming. When it got closer, Cade saw an extremely huge slime. Compare to the slimes that had surrounded him, that huge slime was twenty times bigger than them. "The dungeon boss," Cade immediately knew the identity of the huge slime. It seemed like the boss slime was either controlling the slimes or buffing them. The boss slime stopped on its track and stared at Cade. Cade did the same but the boss slime was staring viciously at Cade. Cade wanted to stare viciously too but he was unable to do that because the pressure of the boss slime was too great. He felt fear. After a minute of staring, the boss slime smiled sinisterly with its red eyes. Cade felt goosebumps all over his body. His danger-sense was tingling violently and he realized that the army of slime had started attacking him. Cade blocked the incoming attack with his cardboard round shield and slashed the slime with his cardboard short sword. He killed the slime in front of him instantly but the one at his side tackle him. Thanks to his body armor, he did not suffer much damage but it really hurt. However, he held it in and slashed that slime and killed it too. His one hit killed worked wondrously even against the level 9 and level 10 monsters. The slime army came at him fast and he moved as fast as he can too. Cade blocked an attack, slashed and kill the slime and at the same time got hit by another slime. This routine kept happening. Other than enduring the pain he felt, there was nothing else he can do to elevate the pain. He strikes and then, he got hit. He did not know how he can dodge their attack because there were too many of them. Cade leveled up while he kept killing the slime. Instead of increasing his luck, he increased his endurance. At the moment, he needed to endure the attack coming at him and kept killing them. If he gave up, he will die. 9 Chapter 9 Cade suffered too much damage. He took out a potion and drank it while fighting the slimes. It never once crossed his mind that he will use a potion while exploring the slime dungeon. Slime were well known to be friendly and harmless monster. He never thought that he will get injured inside the slime dungeon. However, he still bought some potions in case he needed it. That decision was correct but he did not have much of them and he will finish all of the potions if he kept getting hit. His situation was dire. If he knew he will end up in this situation, he will buy an emergency teleporter. With that teleporter, he can teleport outside the dungeon when he was in danger. That item was quite expensive but it was really useful. It was a life saving item. The battle kept going, his body armor and cardboard round shield had suffered a lot of damage. It will break soon if he kept getting hit. Although he suffered a lot of injuries, the slime also lost a lot of its comrade. Cade had killed 50% of them and soon, all of the slime will die. Upon watching their comrade had fallen one by one, some of the slime started falling back. However, upon seeing them doing that, the boss slime ordered them to move forward. Due to fear to their boss, the slimes bit their lips and moved forward. Looking at the massacre that Cade made, they knew they won''t last long. If they fall back, their boss will kill them and if they move forward, Cade will kill them. They were in a dilemma. They feared both their boss and Cade. Suddenly, a slime thought of something. In a crisis, its mind came with an idea. Its group was still further away from Cade and it will take a while before they reached him. Sneakily, slime 1 whispered something to slime 2. "Are we really going to follow the Boss?" asked Slime 1. Slime 2 frowned when he heard that. "What do you mean by that? He is our boss, we should follow his order," said Slime 2. When he said that, there was a bit of hesitation in his voice and Slime 1 caught on that. "You know, Boss is an asshole all this time. He never once treated us well and now he wants us to sacrifice our life to protect himself," said Slime 1 seriously. Slime 2 was still focusing on the fight that was happening but he still listened to what slime 1 was saying. He looked at Slime 1, "So? That is our duty as his subordinate," said Slime 2. "Do you see how strong that human is? He only needs to slash at our core once and we are out! I am still young and I don''t want to die yet," said Slime 1 with grim face. "¡­" Slime 2 was silent. He stared at Slime 1 but he did not say anything. "I also don''t want to die," a sweet and soft voice appeared beside Slime 2. Slime 2 looked at the beautiful and cute Slime 3 that stood beside him. "I don''t want you to die too," said Slime 3 to Slime 2. Slime 2''s core shook. Slime 2 and Slime 3 had been dating for a while and seeing the scared face of Slime 3, his core felt heavy. Slime 3 started thinking rationally. Thinking of the girl he loves died, he felt sad. He knew it in his core that they stood no chance in winning against that strong human. He and Slime 3 did not want to die but there was nothing they can do. Slime 2 looked at Slime 1. "You have any idea?" asked Slime 2 as he knew his friend must have thought on something. "Let''s help that human," said Slime 1 confidently but Slime 2 frowned again. "I don''t think that human can do anything. He might be strong but he still suffered a lot of injuries. He is at least at the same level as us while our boss is far stronger than us," said Slime 2. "Tch, tch, tch," Slime 1 shook its body left and right. "That human is weak but that weak looking sword he uses is on another level. Our boss is around level 11 but I felt like that sword had the power of around level 13¡­ If we support that human properly, we might stand a chance of killing Boss," said Slime 1 and he evilly smiled. Slime 1 cannot wait to see his boss died. He hated his boss to the core since his boss once stole his girlfriend in the past. He held a huge grudge against his boss and that wench. Slime 2 started thinking if it was the right things to do. Looking at Slime 2, Slime 3 lightly nudging Slime 2 body. Slime 2 looked at Slime 3 and he blushed. Slime 3 lovingly stared at Slime 2. She wanted Slime 2 to agree to Slime 1. Slime 2 was defeated by that look and agreed to Slime 1 suggestion, "By the way, how sure are you that the sword is strong?" asked Slime 2. "100% sure. I once met a level 13 slime and he emitted the same kind of strength that the sword was emitting," said Slime 1 confidently. "And I am pretty sure that the boss knew it too. He tried to make that human tired by using sheer numbers against him. He knew he stood no chance against that human''s sword," Slime 1 continued. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Spread the words," said Slime 2 like a man. He showed his manly side to Slime 3 but Slime 3 only smile while looking at her silly boyfriend. Upon hearing the words, Slime 1 started telling others about their plan. Just like what he thought, they all did not want to die and they hated their boss. They were actually thinking of defecting too but were too afraid to say anything. The words spread around the army of slime and slowly and steadily, more and more slime readied themselves to help Cade. They still got the buff from their boss and they wanted to use that buff to pay back to their boss for treating them like shit. The boss slime was unaware of what had happened to his army, he was concentrating himself towards Cade. His mind was running wild and he prayed hard that his minions will finish Cade off. However, he got more and more impatient as well as annoyed when Cade kept healing when he was on the verge of dying. He was scared of the sword and did not want to risk his own life and thus he asked his minions to settle the fight. Suddenly, he saw his minions stopped fighting. "Hmm? Why are they stopping?" Boss Slime wondered. "You idiot!!! Why are you stopping? Keep attacking that human!!!" the Boss Slime screamed to the top of his fluid. He got mad that they stopped. However, even with that screaming, none of them were moving. "Is this that human''s skill! Stopping movement of my minions?" thought the Boss Slime. But the slime''s boss remembered that Cade did not once used any skill during his explorations inside the dungeon. He only used his sword to kill the slimes. How can Cade suddenly have had skill? Skill book? But the slime did not know any skill that can stop movement. "Is it a skill that has some kind of limit?" thought the Boss Slime. "But I cannot feel any magic coming out of that human?" "Wait! He looks shock too. Is it not his doing then? Could it be that there is someone else inside this dungeon right now?!!" The Boss Slime panicked. If there was someone else nearby and that person can use this heavenly skill, he won''t stand a chance in winning. He might get one shot by that human. Fear started to fill his core and he started to retreat slowly. He did not want to die. Cade saw that the situation suddenly turned weird. The army of slime stopped attacking him and he saw that the slime''s boss''s face was filled with fear. "Are they starting to feel fear towards me?" Cade wondered and then, he saw the boss slime sneakily trying to retreat. "Should I attack that boss?" The Boss Slime turned the other way and started running away. Cade was shocked that the slime''s boss was running away. Cade assumed that the boss did feared him but unfortunately that was not the case. The Boss Slime did not fear Cade, he feared the unknown ''explorer'' nearby and the cardboard short sword that Cade wielded. When the slime''s boss started running away, the army of slime suddenly moved and blocked his path. The slime''s boss''s face changed. "That explorer can control their movement too!!!" The slime''s boss got more scared. "Attack!!!" Slime 2 shouted. 10 Chapter 10 Once the slimes heard Slime 2 command, they all started attacking the boss slime. The slime was huge and he cannot dodge the attack of the army of slime. All it can do was take the damage and endured it. The boss slime''s focus was to escape from them. He was afraid that if he wasted his time fighting the other slime, the unknown explorer will appear and killed him. Slime was known to have high physical resistance and the only way physical attack worked on them was by destroying its core. Cade had been doing that since he started exploring the slime dungeon. However, the physical resistance rule only applied to the attack from other species. If a slime attacked another slime using physical attack, they will receive the normal physical damage. With that many slime attacking the boss slime, he received a lot of damage. The situation was dire for the boss slime and he decided to take action too. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Cade was watching with interest at what was currently happening in front of him. He had no idea why the slime was attacking their boss. While he was looking at them attacking their boss, three slimes approached him. Cade saw the three slime came to him and readied himself to attack. However, one of the slimes immediately made some body movement and Cade weirdly looked at that slime. It did not look like it was trying to attack him. Cade lowered his sword. Upon seeing that, the three slimes sighed. They were Slime 1, Slime 2 and Slime 3. Slime 1 moved forward and tried to write something on the ground. Slime 1 had met a lot of humans before and he knew their language. Once it finished writing, Cade read it. "We hate fighting and we mean no harm. Let''s stop our war. Let us go and we will help you defeat our boss," said Slime 1 with its writing. Cade was shocked with what he read. That meant, the slime rebelled. They were helping him killing their boss in exchange for their freedom. "They must have hated their boss a lot and decide to do this," thought Cade. He was impressed with their intelligence and felt a bit guilty of killing a lot of them. Cade felt like he made a huge mistake of attacking the slime. Cade knew they were attacking him because he attacked them first. They were getting revenge for their fallen comrade. Cade wondered if the other explorer knew about this and decided to let the slime go. He also knew the slime was harmless but he never thought they were this intelligent. Cade was the one at fault in this situation and he felt like his knowledge about the slime was too shallow. He always thought the slime was a mindless and stupid monster. He felt really guilty. "I am sorry for attacking your home," said Cade and he bowed at the three slimes. They nodded and accepted his apology. Even if they tried to attack Cade for revenge, they stood no chance. Cade was too strong for them. Their focus right now was to kill their boss. While they were talking, the boss slime suddenly made his moves and started attacking the slimes. He was still in the dark about his minions'' rebellion. Tentacles made from the boss slime''s body fluid formed around the boss slime''s body. The boss slime launched his tentacles and attacked the other slimes. Cade was shocked to see that the boss slime was capable of doing that. Cade was also angry that he dared to attack his own species especially now that he knew the slimes were totally a nice creature. Humans did that a lot but he never thought that it happened in the monster community too. Cade and the three slimes did not waste any more time and went to join the fight. Cade looked at his cardboard sword and it was wet and heavy. Thanks to its high durability, the sword still retained its shape but it won''t be long before it crumbled. Cade needed to finish the boss slime as fast as possible. The boss slime saw Cade advance towards him and he felt more pressure. He did his best attacking his ''controlled'' minions and now, the humans joined the fights too. His minions were too many and he cannot one hit kill them like Cade did and now he knew what Cade felt. The slime boss did not possess any active healing skill too and his damage kept rising. Cade was getting nearer and it knew that Cade was much more of a threat compare to his minions. He decided to ignore his minions and focused his tentacles attack toward Cade. The slime boss''s tentacles were moving fast towards Cade but Cade did not slow down and instead he kept moving forward. One of the tentacles arrived and Cade evaded it and then cut that tentacle. He kept moving forward cutting and evading every tentacle coming his way. The boss slime was shocked to see Cade''s movement evading his tentacles. He knew Cade''s strength, endurance, dexterity was low based from what he saw during Cade''s fight with his minions. Cade had a hard time evading their attack and always getting hit and the slime boss was right. Other than Cade''s luck, his other stats were trash. However, the boss slime was wrong about one thing, Cade was unable to evade the attack of his minions because there were too many of them. With only the boss slime as his target, it was easy to evade his attack especially when the tentacles were straightforward in attacking him. There were no feints or anything else in the tentacles. It was really easy to dodge. Cade fought hundreds of slimes earlier and comparing it with the tentacles, "Meh~" it was too easy for Cade. The army of slime was much scarier compared to the boss slime. Tens of tentacles straightforwardly attacking at the same time was nothing compared to an army of slime fighting strategically. Cade was shocked earlier when he first saw the tentacles but once he encountered it himself, it was nothing much. They packed a lot of power but as long as it did not hit him, the tentacles were basically nothing. Cade got a lot of ''training'' earlier when fighting the army of slime. Many of the slime saw Cade getting nearer towards their boss and started attacking more and more to give more damage to their boss. Cade evaded another tentacle and arrived in front of the boss slime. The boss slime was worried but not too much because his body fluid was thick and his core was still quite far from Cade. He still manipulated his tentacles to attack Cade but his minions had started blocking his tentacles too. Cade started slashing his sword to open a path towards the boss slime''s core, however, the boss slime''s regenerative ability was stronger than normal slime. Every time he slashed, in a second, the wound healed. It kept happening and Cade did not know what he should do. But then, when he slashed once more, Slime 2 jumped forward and blocked the fluid from healing. The healing stopped. Cade and the boss slime were shocked. They were shocked because Slime 2 stopped the healing. Cade did not want to waste the opportunity and slashed the boss slime''s body more. When the other slime saw what Slime 2 did, more and more of them moved towards the wound and stopped its healing. Bit by bit, Cade and the slimes were getting deeper and deeper into the boss slime''s body. The boss slime shuddered. They were inside his body and he cannot digest them because they were not inside his fluid. The boss slime tried moving its body to shake Cade and the other slime out of his body but he was unable to do that. His minions had been attacking him non-stop and blocking his movement. The boss slime encountered the biggest crisis in his whole life. He did not know what he should do. He had no more tricks, skills or anything else he can use at the moment. Looking at his minions, he also realized something else. They were not control by someone else. They looked totally sane and some of them even mockingly smiled at him knowing he will die soon. The boss slime now knew that they betrayed him. He had been treating them well (he thought he was nice to them) all this time and that was how they paid him back. The boss slime gave up and he called his tentacles back into his body. He will just let Cade killed him. After continuously slashing the boss slime''s body, Cade finally arrived in front of the boss slime''s core. Slime 1, Slime 2 and Slime 3 was by his side. They looked at Cade and nodded at him asking him to destroy the core. Cade nodded back and without any hesitation, he slashed the core a few times and it broke to pieces. 11 Chapter 11 The boss slime''s core was destroyed by Cade''s cardboard sword and died. Cade were inside the boss slime''s body and around him were steam coming out from the evaporating boss slime''s body. Not only Cade, Slime 1, Slime 2, Slime 3 and few others slime also seeing the spectacle inside from inside the body of the boss slime. Cade felt weird as the steam was not hot or cold, it felt like normal air. After Cade killed the boss slime, he levelled up once to level 9. He did not distribute his stat points yet as he was viewing the vapors. In about 30 seconds later, the boss slime evaporated completely and to Cade surprise, the boss dropped a skill book. Cade saw it and he cannot help but feel extremely happy. Skill book was super rare and he got one. "Raising my luck is the right thing ever," said Cade with huge smile on his face. Cade put the skill book into his storage without viewing it. Suddenly, the dungeon started shaking lightly. Cade looked around and he knew the dungeon will disappear soon. He needed to get out of the dungeon fast. Cade turned around and saw many slimes collecting the drop item and put them in front of Cade. Slime 1 came forward and wrote on the ground, "Take this and quickly leave this dungeon. It will be gone soon." Cade took all of the drop items and put it in his storage. Most of them were vitality crystals and there were two equipment among them. Once Cade put all of them in his storage, he decided to leave. If he stayed any longer, he might have been trapped there or worse died alongside the destroying dungeon. The truth was, there was no one in the universe knew what happened to the dungeon when someone completed it. Some theory said that the portal closed but the dungeon was still there. It will reappear back a few years later. There was also a theory that the dungeon was destroyed forever. Cade did not want to know what would happen and decided to leave immediately but then, he stopped his steps. He remembered something, the leftover slime. Cade looked behind him and saw that the slimes did not intend to leave the dungeon. He looked at the slime weirdly. "You guys are not leaving the dungeon?" Cade asked the slimes. Slime 1 being the only slime who knew human language stepped forward and wrote on the ground, "We are not. Don''t worry about us and leave here fast. Humans will die if you get trap inside the dungeon." ''So, human will die if they stay in the dungeon?..." thought Cade. He looked at slime 1 and asked, "What will happen to all of you if you stay here?" Looking at the slimes relaxed nature, Cade thought that they will be fine but will they live inside the dungeon for all their lives. "When this dungeon is destroyed, we will be sent back home," Slime 1 wrote on the ground. "Home? Where?" asked Cade. He thought it will be nice to know where they live. One of the mysteries of the monsters were their origins. After 10 000 years had passed since the appearance of dungeons and monsters, human still did not know where they came from. There were theories they came from another universe or dimension. There was also theory that they were actually byproduct of human''s misdeeds and there were many more theories. However, no one managed to get any proof of their origins. In the beginning, everyone was eager to find out the mysteries but later, no one care anymore. They just hoped that the dungeons and monsters did not suddenly disappeared because their drop item was valuable. "Our world," wrote Slime 1 while smiling. "Which planet?" asked Cade curiously but Slime 1 did not answer him. It just smiled at Cade. Looking at the response from Slime 1, Cade knew they did not want to tell him. Maybe because he killed too many of their comrades and did not want him to come to their planets. Cade felt guilty again. He decided not to pursue that further and left the dungeon. However, before he left, he bowed once again towards the slime and apologized for killing their comrades. After that, Cade immediately left them and rushed towards the dungeon''s entrance. He had stayed too long inside. While passing through some place inside the dungeon, he saw some of the wall had collapsed and he hastened his pace. Finally, he arrived at the dungeon''s entrance and immediately got out of the dungeon. Once he got out, the white portal of the dungeon entrance slowly dissipated. A few minutes later, the dungeon completely disappeared. Cade got worried about the slimes. He wondered if they really will be fine. [Congratulations for completing the slime dungeon solo. Gain Grade E ''Conqueror'' title and all stats increase by 10] the system suddenly gave a notification to Cade. Cade did not get surprised by the title gained because it was common knowledge of gaining the title after dungeon completion. Cade checked his stats. Name: Cade Age: 20 Lifespan: 60 Potential: E [504 / 1000 Grade E Level 1 Magic Crystal] Level: 9 Stat Points: 10 Vitality: 20 Strength: 13 Endurance: 23 Dexterity: 13 Wisdom: 15 Luck: 61 Thanks to the Conqueror title, Cade got a boost in all of his stats. He felt happy seeing his boosts in his stats. He can feel the effect of his stats increasing totally different from his luck. He had 10 stat points unused from levelling up earlier and decided to use it on his luck like he had planned all this time and increasing it to 71. "My luck had almost reached the same amount as that lucky girl¡­ Am I a lucky boy now?" muttered Cade while looking at his high luck. Cade checked his limit entry license and had 2 more extra days. Alongside that, the license also listed his list of drop item and also marked red at the item he should use as his 5% tax. He got too many magic crystals and needed to pay quite a lot. Luckily, the license marked he pay using one of the equipment he got. He had no need for any of the drop equipment and thus he did not mind to part with one of them. The body armor he used against the army of slime was totally unusable. He decided to throw it away. Cade took out the equipment the license marked and put it on top of the license. The license glowed and enveloped the equipment and then the equipment was teleported to the government office as his tax. The license then disappeared as the dungeon had been completed. The license was made from special materials with few functions on it. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. One of them was recording the drop item and suggested which one should be paid as tax. However, even if it was recording the drop item, no one can see it and only the owner of the license was allowed to see the record. Even the government who issued the license cannot see it. The tax can also be paid only using the license. So, explorer cannot cheat the government with their tax. If the license judged that the tax was not enough, it won''t teleport the drop item. If after the dungeon was completed and the government did not receive any tax, the explorer become a criminal. Once Cade was done with all of that, he stored all of his equipment into his storage. He did not want to walk around the city with cardboard all over his body. Cade did not go straight home but stopped at a small caf¨¦ and have some late lunch before he went home. While eating his lunch, he realized something. He had awakened but he heard nothing from his family. He even completed a dungeon solo and no one from his family called him or anything. "Are they really keeping their eyes on me?" Cade wondered. Cade made quite a lot of fortune on his first dungeon exploring and were they not curious how he got too many drop items? Cade actually wanted them to keep an eye on him. If they were keeping their eyes on him, it meant that he was not fully being abandoned by his family. If not¡­ "It was all lies¡­ Now that I know that, I don''t care anymore. If they try to kill me, I will kill them back. I am not a normal human anymore. I am an explorer and I have huge potential of becoming the strongest of all," said Cade with determined face. He decided to fight back if his family ever tried to harm him but he knew in his heart that they won''t even bothered to do anything to him. His family was too high in society that someone who was at the bottom won''t even be in their eyes. 12 Chapter 12 ''TEET!!! TEET!!! TEET!!!'' Cade''s alarm clock rang. Lazily, he reached his alarm clock and turned it off. Cade arrived home late yesterday after he completed the slime dungeon. After he arrived home, he cleaned himself and went straight to sleep. He was too tired and took only a few minutes before he started snoozing. It had been a week he skipped classes. He did not want to go at first but thinking that he had skipped classes a lot, he decided to go. Cade prepared himself and took the bus to his college. His college was as lively as ever. There were students who studying on a grassy field, some students played sports, some playing around and many more. While he walked into his faculty''s building, he saw from far that a guild was recruiting freelancing explorers. Those type of recruitment was common. There were quite a lot of explorers among the students and it was easy to know who was it by looking at their attendance. Since explorers needed to go to many places far away from their home, they will usually absent from class just like what had happened to Cade. In Cade''s class alone, including him, there were 10 explorers. Some of them was much more active as explorers while some were exploring to get some pocket money for their studies and so they were usually coming to class. However, Cade wanted to explore the dungeon by himself. He wanted to go solo and thus, all that recruitment did not interest him at all. Cade was planning to go exploring another dungeon after he got enough rest from his last exploration. Cade''s day in his class went without much happening. It was the same boring day he had as before. He had no friends and he had no intention of finding friends too. After his class ended, Cade went home as usual after he stopped at a supermarket to buy some grocery. He left his home for almost a week and there was nothing he can eat at home. Once he arrived home, he arranged his grocery properly in his refrigerator and cabinet. Once he was done with that, Cade went online to sell his equipment drop. He got five equipment in the beginning but he had thrown away the body armor and one of the equipment was used as tax. So, he only had three more of them. All three of the equipment was Grade E and thus, it will not fetch him a lot of money. However, that money will be enough for him to use for few months. Cade was not a big spender, so, it will be enough for him. The were rules to the price setting of an equipment. The rules were based on the equipment grade, level, stat and effects. One level was equal to 100 space credits. If an equipment was level 10, it will have a value of 1000 space credits. An equipment will commonly have two different stats. One was durability while the other depended on the equipment. If it was a weapon, it will usually have attack stat or magic stat. If it was an armor, it will have defense stat. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. For every stat available, 100 space credits will be added not counting on durability. Having more than two stats for an equipment was rare but when an equipment had three or more stats, rather than 100 space credits, 1000 space credits will be added for three stats and 5000 space credits for four stats. However, that kind of equipment was super rare. Even if there were one, it will be high grade. Some equipment had effect and every effect an equipment had will added 1000 space credits to their value. Lastly, after level, stats and effects were counted, the grade will determine their value. For grade E, the total value calculated earlier will be multiplied by 10. For example, a grade E level 7 bow with attack stat will have a price of 8000 space credits. 700 space credits for its level 7 and two stats meant another 100 space credits totaled to 800 space credits. Since it was grade E, it will be multiplied by 10 which will have the price of 8000 space credits. No matter the type of equipment, they will all used this basic calculation. However, there were some people managed to get more when the equipment had some aesthetic value or it was made from rare materials. The basic calculation was done to get the minimum price of that equipment. Cade had one level 7, level 8 and level 10 equipment. When he sold all of the equipment online, he got about 25 000 space credits. Enough for him to last for few months. Once Cade finished dealing with the equipment, he took out the skill book he got from the boss slime. The cover of the skill book wrote ''Grade E Level 15 Physical Resistance''. It was a good skill for Cade who fight close ranged and he decided to learn it by himself. All skill had grade and level. The grade and level will determine how strong the skill will be. However, skill cannot grow stronger. Its effect will become stronger when the user of the skill increased in stat but that was it. All explorers will get three free slot skills when they awakened. One was used for the random skill they got when awakened and left with only two slots. Luckily, the slot increased for every time an explorer gained five levels and explorer can also remove the skill they had learned before. So, there was no need to worry wasting a skill slot, only wasting money because skill book was expensive. The skill book was that of low grade but at Cade''s current level, it was suitable for him. Cade did not hesitate and opened the skill book. [Learn Physical Resistance?] said the system. Cade said yes and the skill book vanished from his hand. His mind was suddenly filled with information about the skill and he gained a lot of understanding about the skill. The process went on for one hour and after an hour, the system told Cade that he had learned the physical resistance. Cade checked his physical resistance skill and upon seeing it, Cade was shocked. Skill: Physical Resistance (Passive) Grade: E Level: 1 Mastery: 1% [Grade E Level 1 magic crystal] Effects: 10% physical resistance against attack from grade E opponent. The effect lowered by 90% when receiving an attack from grade D opponent. Ineffective against higher grade opponent. Cade was shocked to see that the level was reset and a new column was added, mastery. Cade guessed that in order for him to level up his skill, he needed to increase his mastery. Looking at it, Cade knew it was the work of his link growth skill. Looking at his skill, he sighed once. It needed more magic crystal. Magic crystal was not as expensive as equipment, skill book and puzzle because they were common. For Cade, magic crystal will be the most expensive to him because he had so many uses for them. He needed magic crystal for his linked equipment, he needed for his grade increase and now, he needed it for his skills. Even if the magic crystal were common but they were used for many things and their demands were extremely high. It was hard to buy them because the big companies and factories usually emptied the magic crystal in the market by buying all of them. In order for Cade to get more magic crystals, he needed to get it himself. It was a hassle but there was nothing he can do. Cade checked the magic crystals he got from killing that army of slime. He currently had 80 level 9 and 50 level 10 vitality crystals. He got a lot fighting hundreds of slimes at the same time. Cade decided to use the magic crystals to increase his potential grade first. It was important because it affect the amount of stat points got from levelling up. Cade used 56 level 9 vitality crystals and increased his grade from E to D. Now that his grade was D, Cade will get 20 stat points every time he leveled up. Cade used the remainder 24 level 9 vitality crystals to increase his mastery of his physical resistance skill. Cade''s physical resistance skill''s level increased to level 3. He can resist 30% physical damage from grade E opponents. Cade used the remainder of his magic crystals on his linked equipment. He focused on increasing his cardboard round shield to the limit before he started on his other equipment. Name: Cardboard Round Shield Level: 9 Next Level: 0 level 1 magic crystal Durability: 250 Defense: 200 After his cardboard round shield reached the level limit, Cade used the leftover vitality crystals to increase all of his linked equipment. Luckily, he had more than enough magic crystals made them reached their level limit. Cade loved making his equipment had the same amount of stat so that it was easier for him to keep track of them and his other equipment had more or less the same amount as his cardboard round shield. 13 Chapter 13 Once Cade finished dealing with levelling up his linked equipment, he stretched his body and flopped on his bed. After a few minutes lying on his bed, he got up and went online to apply for more dungeon license. Before he started exploring the slime dungeon, Cade wanted to conquer all slime dungeon on the planet. However, after he got to know Slime 1, Slime 2 and Slime 3, he did not feel like doing that anymore. They were not monster that loves fighting. They preferred peace. Cade felt guilty killing them and decided to not exploring any slime dungeon. Cade searched through the list of dungeons in Dineon''s government website for limit entry license but there were none currently available. All the low-level dungeon was bought by many big guilds for their new members and thus leave him with zero dungeon to go through. Cade sighed, "Maybe I should join a guild," thought Cade. If he wanted to get access to a lot of dungeon, the only way to do that was by joining a guild. However, there were advantages as well as disadvantages of joining a guild. For example, guilds preferred their members to form a party while exploring the dungeon but Cade did not want to join any party because of his luck. If people knew about his luck, many of them will want him in their party and that was a hassle. If more people knew about it, he might end up with the same situation as the lucky girl. "Will girls come at me and want to make babies with me?" Cade shuddered when he thought about it. He did not want to go through that situation. The lucky girl got it easier in regard to making babies because she was a girl. She needed to choose only one guy but Cade was a guy and in the current era, man having many wives or mistresses happened a lot and were accepted by society. Men from prestigious and powerful family usually married a lot of woman and according to Cade''s researched before, even his father was the same. Cade''s mother was the fourth wife and Cade had many step siblings. Apparently, his father was quite good at making strong children excluding Cade because they were all born with high potential and all of them started making name for themselves at young age. Cade knew all of their names and faces but Cade wondered if his siblings even knew about him? Not that he cares about it anymore as he had decided to ignore his family and maybe fought them if they tried to harm him. He was an explorer and he had a huge opportunity of becoming super strong. He won''t stay still and let his family bullied him anymore. As there was no more dungeon''s limit entry license available, Cade went offline. He did not know what he should do now. Joining a guild or wait until a new dungeon appeared. Cade walked out of his room and into his living room and then, he switched on the television. Upon opening it, it was a news channel with breaking news. ''A dungeon with time and level limit appear at Planet Snowball in Ice Star Sector!'' The news title wrote. Cade was immediately pulled by the news. It was not weird for him to get pulled by the news because everyone else will surely got interested in it too. The reason was that there was never once appeared a dungeon with time limit and level limit. The dungeon that had appeared all this time had no time or level limit. They usually appeared until some explorers killed off the monsters or the boss and then the dungeon will close and disappeared. The dungeon will always stay opened until someone closed it. The dungeon was also opened to any one without any level limit. No matter how high or how low an explorer''s level was, they can enter all the dungeon that appeared in the universe. A dungeon with time and level limit had never appeared once in the 10 000 years since their first appearance. The news then showed the footage of the dungeon and suddenly, Cade got a warning from the system. [Warning! Warning! Warning!] red letters were used to write the words. It meant that it was an emergency. [Clear the dungeon before the time limit end!] said the system. [70:52:23] the system showed Cade the time limit for the dungeon. It looked like something will happen if the dungeon was not clear within the time limit. Below the time limit was the level limit. [Level 30 to 40] That meant only explorers between level 30 to level 40 were allowed inside the dungeon. "I wonder what will happen if the dungeon is not clear within the time limit?" Cade wondered and the news host said something that interested Cade. "We just got an update that the Snowball''s government decided to see what will happen when the time limit end. The high-level explorers from Planet Snowball were the ones asking them to do that." "Since this is the first time a dungeon like this appear, they want to see the end result. All of the high-level explorers guarantee the citizens that they will make sure to protect everyone if something bad happened." "The dungeon is low level so I can understand their confident¡­ but this warning from the system is not good news. The system had never once sent this kind of warning when a dungeon appears," said Cade while looking at the news. Cade felt like they were making the worse decision ever. No one know the real reason humans got or were given the system. When the dungeons appeared, everyone concluded that the system appeared to counter the dungeons. However, when the dungeons appeared in the past, there were never any warning coming from the system but for the dungeon in Planet Snowball, a warning sign were given by the system. Biscuit Star Sector was too far from Ice Star Sector and just by watching the dungeon entrance from the television''s screen, the system gave Cade the warning sign. "The threat of that dungeon must be really huge," thought Cade and he was afraid to see what will happen after the time limit end. He had a bad feeling about it. After reporting the decision made by Snowball''s government, the news followed up with the public reactions toward that decision. An interview with lots of people were shown and most of them disagreed with the decision made by them but only the normal citizen thought like that. Expert like scientists, explorers and theorist however, agreed with the decision made by Snowball''s government. All of them said that if something like dungeon breaks happened, there were many high-level explorers available to handle the situation. The dungeon breaks were a theory made by humans when a dungeon appeared for the first time 10 000 years ago. The theory explained that all the monsters inside the dungeon will come out after certain period of time. However, that theory was useless when the monsters easily came out of the dungeon a second after the dungeon appeared. There were no such things as dungeon break. "Are they testing the dungeon break theory?" Cade wondered more because at the moment, there was no news about any monsters coming out of the time limit dungeon. It looked like the monsters were restricted inside the dungeon. After the time limit passed, the monsters might be able to come out. Cade went online and saw the news about the time limit dungeon were trending on social media and every news website. The time limit dungeon had turned huge. On social media, many people were against waiting until the time limit ended especially the citizen of Planet Snowball. Obviously, they were scared because the system gave them a warning about the dungeon. They wanted the explorers to immediately closed the dungeon. A lot of Planet Snowball''s citizen went and did demonstration in front of the government building urging them to closed the dungeon immediately. It was understandable for them to do that as they were normal humans. If the dungeon breaks happened, they won''t be able to protect themselves. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Yes, there were lots of strong explorers and they guaranteed the citizens safety but who knows what might actually happened when the time limit ended? The explorers cannot be fully trusted either. Even if they were called explorers, they were still humans. There were many humans that were selfish, greedy and many more and most explorers were known to be high on those. Killing between explorers happened a lot due to their selfish and greedy nature. The clearest example of that was when the fight for the puzzle pieces happened before that destroyed seven planets. The powerless and helpless citizen cannot trust any of the words coming out of the explorers and thus decided to do the demonstration. Two days later, Cade saw the news and cannot help but stunned at what the news were reporting. 14 Chapter 14 Planet Snowball, 5 minutes before the end of the time limit for the dungeon. A lot of spaceship were seen from the space flew out of planet snowball. Not one or two spaceships but hundreds of them. The scene of spaceship leaving Planet Snowball had been going on from the day the snowball government decided to wait until the dungeon''s time limit end. The truth was that the snowball government did not want to wait but those high-level explorers from Ice Star Sector pressured them to wait. If the government allowed explorers to close the dungeon, those high-level explorers threatened to not do anything if something go awry. They also said that they will move to another star sector and not closing any dungeon that appeared on Planet Snowball in the future. Obviously, the government cannot allow that to happen. No matter how low level a monster in a dungeon was, they were all strong and only explorers were able to kill them. Losing high-level explorers from the planet were huge loss to the planet and they had no choice but to follow their ''suggestion''. In the end, they were hated by their citizen and a lot of them started fleeing from the planet and moved to another planet. At the moment, there were no more citizen in cities nearby the dungeon. Only explorers and government employee decided to stay. They did pressure the government because they thought they will get some kind of huge profit and if they also left, that will leave a stain in their record if something bad happened after the time limit ended. They were confident that they can handle it because the level limit for the dungeon were level 30 to level 40. They were too far above that level that anything came out of that dungeon can easily be handled by them. So, they were not scare of anything. To them, the citizens were too paranoid. 5 more minutes before the end of the time limit and many explorers had started gathering around the portal to the dungeon. Since there were no monsters coming out of the dungeon for the past three days since the dungeon appeared, that meant that all of them will come out after the time limit end. All they needed to do was wait there and killed any monsters that came out of the portal. Easy. Time kept passing and, in a minute, the time limit will end. None of the explorers were nervous but for the government employees, they were totally scared of what will happen. The government employees were after all normal humans. They stood no chance even against a level 1 monster because only awakener can damage them. ''Tik¡­ tok¡­ tik¡­ tok¡­'' time kept moving and from the system notification, only three seconds left. 3, 2, 1. The time limit end. The system suddenly blared in alarm with big warning sign while the system screen flickering and new notification came from the system. [Immediately evacuate the planet if you are not awakened!!!] said the system. Everyone that was still on the planet were shocked with the warning from the system especially the normal humans. The explorers that were waiting for monsters to come out of the portal got the same notification too but they ignored it and kept focusing themselves on the portal. However, they keep waiting but nothing happened. Nothing came out of the dungeon other that the portal started changing color to black-gold. --- Many citizens of Planet Snowball were currently on the spaceship outside Planet Snowball area and they were all watching the live stream of the portal. Watching the portal changing color, they felt fear. From all the knowledge everyone had about portals, there were never once a portal with black-gold color. Portals to the dungeon came with different colors. The color of the portal represented the grade of the dungeon. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. E grade dungeon had white portal, D grade dungeon had yellow portal, C grade dungeon had orange portal, B grade dungeon had green portal, A grade dungeon had blue portal and S grade dungeon had purple portal. The color of the portal did not help much in determining the dungeon''s grade because the system will usually examine the dungeon automatically and tell their users the grade of the dungeon. Suddenly, the live feed of the portal was cut off without any warning. Everyone that were watching found it weird when suddenly someone gasped while looking outside the spaceship towards Planet Snowball. Everyone moved from their seats and went to the spaceship window to look at what that guy was seeing. Upon seeing Planet Snowball, they were all either stunned or shocked. Their eyes were wide opened due to shock. Their mouth was shivering and trembling from what they saw. Planet snowball was covered with thick black-gold mist. No one can see the planet and all they can see was the black-gold mist. The media went frenzy when they lost their footage of the portal and when they switched to the view of the planet, their frenzies stopped momentarily from shock before they started the live feed back with the view of the planet from space. At the moment, every channel that live stream of what was happening to Planet Snowball was getting more and more viewers all around the universe. Most people did not know how they should react but the citizens of Planet Snowball that escaped the planet were filled with fear. The explorers from all the different star sector that were watching the live stream frowned and some with serious face. They all got the warning notifications from the system. They did not know what had actually happened on Planet Snowball at the moment but they had a feeling that something really bad had happened. Some of those explorers'' secretary or employees tried to contact the government of Planet Snowball but the line was not connected. It looked like the black-gold mist had cut off every communication with Planet Snowball. --- The explorers and everyone else on Planet Snowball at the moment had a bad feeling. At the top of their head in the sky were thick black-gold mist and there were no movement coming out of the portal. To normal humans that was on the planet, they were filled with fear and panic. To the explorers, they were restless. The explorers expected that monsters will swarm out of the portal but nothing came out of it but instead, the black-gold mist happened. They already found out that their communications were blocked or cut. Even contacting other people on the planet did not work. Suddenly, they heard screaming coming out of the government building. Some of the explorers ran to them immediately and they saw all of them were running out of the building. Before they can even ask anything, they saw something absurd was happening. One of the humans that ran out of the building suddenly stopped running and his body suddenly bulging like it will explode. However, instead of exploding, that guy grew fur and then he started screaming. He was changing into something. The explorers felt like it might turn bad if that guy finished the transformation and they all rushed forward to kill him but then, something fast jumped at them. The thing that was jumping at them was like a human but it was furry. Looking at the face of that thing, they gritted their teeth because it was a monster of a human shaped but with the face and body of a gorilla. That gorilla looked a lot like a beastman from fantasy comic. The gorilla was coming at them with its huge fist and slammed on a body of an explorer. The explorer blocked it but he was sent flying. The other explorers went and attack the gorilla but they were shocked when their attack did not hurt the gorilla at all. The gorilla stared at them and it smiled. Chill went through the explorers'' body and their face changed to fear when the gorilla suddenly, "How do you expect to hurt me when you are not in the limit?" The gorilla talked!! The gorilla smashed the explorers nearby it and killed them immediately. At the same time, the guy that was transforming finished the transformation and he had the same appearance as the gorilla that were killing the explorers. "The humans, change into the monsters?" said one of the explorers shocked. "Who are you calling monsters?" the first gorilla suddenly appeared in front of that explorer and killed him. After that, more and more humans started transforming into the gorilla. The phenomenon was happening to all the humans all around Planet Snowball and it only happened to normal human. None of the explorers went through the transformation. The fight between the explorers and the gorilla monsters started but the situations were dire because the explorers were losing. No matter how strong the explorers were, none of them can hurt the gorilla. The system appraised the gorilla as in the range of level 30 to level 40 and only explorers in between level 30 to level 40 were abled to cause damage to the gorillas. Now, they all finally aware of the warning from the system. 15 Chapter 15 When Cade was watching and reading the news all over the internet, a few hours had passed since the black-gold mist covered Planet Snowball. At that time, all the media was reporting was about the black-gold mist. Explorers from other planets tried to pass through the mist and they were all suddenly lost contact with that explorers and they never came out. That was also another news that they were reporting. Other than the footage of the planet covered with the mist, there was no other footage shown on the news. However, when Cade was watching the news, they had move on from that part to a more shocking news. Even Cade was watching with his eyes and mouth wide opened. A video recording from 30 minutes ago were playing over and over on all news website. It was the video recording of the mist dissipated and disappeared while it left nothing on the area. Yes, Planet Snowball and everyone on it had disappeared completely from Ice Star Sector. There was no more Planet Snowball in the universe. Planet Snowball had become a history to the universe. Everyone in the universe including all the explorers gasped at what had happened. The huge planet was gone without a trace. The previous location of that planet was empty of anything. Nothing can be found there. The citizens of Planet Snowball that managed to escape from the planet were crying as their birth planet was gone from existence. They had no home they can went back to. On the other hand, everyone in the universe was on high alert following the disappearance of Planet Snowball. Upon the disappearance of Planet Snowball, Ice Star Sector Alliance immediately sent people there to investigate what had happened. They lost one of their planets without a trace and that planet was the fifth biggest planet in their star sector and it was a huge lost. They regretted not listening to the system warning and did not hear the plea of Snowball''s citizens. Now, they lost their planet. Due to their greed, they lost more than they gain¡­ No! they lost more without gaining anything. They not only lost the planet but also explorers on Planet Snowball. There were three S grade explorers on that planet and none of them came back. All of them vanished. S grade explorers were deemed national treasure and they lost three of them in a few hours. Other than learning their lesson of listening to the system warning, they gained nothing. Other than the black-gold mist, the planet disappearance and the loss of communication with the planet, there was no more information they had of what had happened on the planet. Everyone was talking about what had happened. It was the biggest news ever in the history of mankind. Bigger than the dungeon first time appearance. Bigger than the lucky girl. Bigger than the war for the puzzle pieces. Bigger than everything. There were no explosions, black hole or anything else. It was only the mist and the planet silently disappeared. Cade was on the bus at the moment and he was still browsing through the internet reading the news about Planet Snowball. Not only him, everyone on the bus was the same. Some of them had a look of worried and concerned. Some were discussing among themselves about what had happened. Some were angry with Snowball''s government and said they deserved it and some were quietly listening and viewing the discussion of others. Cade sighed while he overheard an angry woman blaming everything to the planet''s government. Cade actually agreed with her. If they had taken action when the dungeon appeared, it was possible that everything will be fine but instead, they waited to see what will happen. They did not listen to the warning the system gave and they paid the consequences by losing their planet. They reap what they sow. Every government on the universe had started releasing an announcement asking the citizen to report if they found any time limit dungeon. That dungeon had just become the biggest threat to humanity and they needed to give more attention towards it. Thanks to the stupidity of snowball, they had zero information about the dungeon. They did not even know how the dungeon looked inside. They did not know what to expect with the dungeon other than if the time limit ended. Cade arrived at his college and went to his class like usual. For the past few days, he had been visiting the government website for limit entry dungeon license but it was to no avail. There were none available. The big guild swept every new dungeon immediately after their appearance. There was nothing Cade can do. "How is it working with that guild?" suddenly Cade heard a girl talking nearby. He was in his class. Cade looked at the direction of the voice and a group of girls were talking with each other. Cade recognized one of the girls because that girl had just awakened a few days ago during class and everyone knew her since that day. Her name was Sera. She had a beautiful red hair and her face was beautiful too. However, she was a bit wild and act like boys. No boys dared getting neared her because she will usually beat them. When she awakened, she got a special skill called fire manipulation. The name of the skill said it all about what the skill was capable of. With that skill, she can easily control any fire she can find without much effort. Her potential growth was A grade and with the special skill, she already had the potential to stay at the top of A grade explorers. When the big guilds caught wind of the news about Sera, they went full force to recruit her. However, most of them went home disappointed when Sera decided to join the Aqua Crane Guild. Aqua Crane Guild was the number one guild in Dineon. They had a lot of achievement in Dineon for completing a lot of high level and high-grade dungeon that appeared on the planet. They rarely went to recruit anyone but they made an exception to Sera due to her special skill. Sera did not want to waste the opportunity and decided to join them. She went exploring a dungeon with her guild mate a few days ago and just came back. Her friends were curious with her adventure and asked her. "Hmm~ how to say this¡­ It was too easy," said Sera with her face looked up. She was bragging that the dungeon she went to was not a challenge to her. Her friends were in awed with what Sera had said and they continued their questions and Sera kept bragging about herself. Cade frowned when he was looking at Sera bragging. He knew that she might act like that because she was with her friends and hoped that she did not mean that. Many explorers lost their life while exploring the dungeon because they were careless and think too high of themselves. Cade went through that moment a bit in the slime dungeon and learned his lesson went he was ambushed by the slime. Luckily, he did not lose his life. Cade decided to move to another seat as the girls had gotten too excited and it became too noisy. Sera saw Cade was moving and she recognized him as fellow explorers. News of Cade becoming an explorer were known to everyone in his class but they did not hear any story from Cade because Cade like to keep it to himself. They knew Cade was the type of person that did not talk much and they never tried to ask him anything. They also knew that Cade''s potential was E grade and there was nothing special about him. Since Cade awakened at his home, no one knew his link growth skill and thus no one even bothered to ask him because of his grade. However, they did not know that Cade was not an E grade anymore. He had already advanced to D grade and possibly higher in the future and it was all thanks to his link growth skill. Sera was staring at Cade and she suddenly felt annoyed at Cade. She took out a lighter from her storage and light it up. Her friends looked at her with a questioned face. With the fire from the lighter, Sera manipulated the fire and moving it to form a fireball on her palm. "Is she showing off her skill?" her friends and everyone in the class thought. Suddenly, they were all shocked when Sera shot the fireball towards Cade. Cade did not see the fireball coming at him and suddenly he heard voices from his classmates, "Cade! Behind you!" screamed his classmates. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Cade looked behind him and a fireball was on his face. The fireball blew on his face and Cade was sent flying backwards. He broke some tables and chairs around and fell on the floor. "Sera!! What are you doing?! Why are you attacking Cade?" asked one of her friends. However, before Sera can answer her friends, an arrow flew straight towards Sera. 16 Chapter 16 Noticing the coming arrow, Sera manipulates the fire to form a small shield made of fire to protect herself from the arrow. However, the arrow emitted cyan aura and easily passed through the shield of fire and shocked Sera. Sera immediately moved to dodge the arrow and she succeed¡­ Is what she thought when another arrow was coming fast at her. Instead of making another shield of fire, Sera coated her fist with fire and caught the incoming arrow. To her surprise, the arrow was not moving normally, it was spinning fast. Sera needed to use more power to catch it but she failed and the arrow hit the floor. She looked at the direction of the arrow and saw a guy with black hair wielding a bow. That guy stared at Sera fiercely as he was mad with Sera''s attitude. Sera recognized that guy instantly as he was one of the few explorers in her class. He became an explorer much earlier than her and Cade. It meant that he had more experience in fighting compared to Cade and Sera. "No matter how high the grade of your growth potential, if you are too arrogant and look down on people too much, you won''t survive long as an explorer," said the black hair guy while staring at Sera. Sera clenched her teeth as she felt pressured by the black hair guy. It looked like that guy was far stronger than her. It was fine for her to looked down on Cade as he was weaker than her but Rico was on a different level compared to her. The black hair guy was Rico. He was well known among their classmates to be the strongest explorers in their class. All the other explorers were nowhere neared his level. Rico came from a prestigious family but he was totally different compared to others of the same status as him. He had his own pride but not arrogant. He hated fighting and had a huge sense of justice. Looking at Cade being bullied by Sera; he cannot stand it and thus the attack on Sera happened. He needed to teach Sera a lesson of not being arrogant. Sera extinguished her fire and stared at Rico. She knew she cannot beat him and decided to leave the class. Before she left, she looked at Cade that was still lying on the floor with disdain. Once she left, the class calmed down. Most of them did not know what to do when Sera suddenly attacked Cade. They were all normal humans and there was no way they can stop an explorer. Luckily, Rico was there to stop whatever Sera was trying to do to Cade. Looking at Cade that was unconscious on the floor, some of them came closer to brought him to the infirmary. However, before they can get to him, another girl was already beside him. She was Cynthia, their class most beautiful girl. Her golden long hair, her soft and white skin with her beautiful golden eyes will make anyone who saw her fall in love with her. She was the most beautiful girl in their class and unknown to them, she was actually the most beautiful girl in their college. Not only them in the same class, other boys and even girls from other classes knew of her beauty and fall in love with her. Cynthia stood beside the unconscious Cade and she showed her beautiful smile at Cade. "You can stop pretending. Sera already left," said Cynthia while looking at Cade and beaming him with her beautiful and dazzling smile. When the others heard Cynthia, they blinked their eyes. There was no way Cade was conscious after an attack from an A grade explorer. However, to their surprised, Cade slowly opened his eyes and stared at Cynthia. Cynthia was looking at Cade and her face was shining like sunlight in the eyes of others but to Cade, he was unaffected by her beauty. Cade lifted his body and sat on the floor. He looked at Cynthia and asked, "How do you know I am fine?" "I saw you took out something to block the fire and you jumped voluntarily backwards to made it looked like you were blown by the fireball," said Cynthia and again showing her dazzling smile. "Rico knew too," said Cynthia and she directed her face towards Rico who had already went back to his seat without a care about Cade. Cade looked at Rico and saw him calmly sat on his seat reading a book. Cade sighed and he stood up and arranged back the chair and table blown away by his fall. It was not really a surprised for them to be able to see through his acting as both of them were explorers with lots of experience. While he was arranging the table and chair, he realized that Cynthia was staring at him. Cade looked at her and asked, "Is¡­ something wrong?" Cynthia did not answer him and instead she smiled. Cade awkwardly smiled back at Cynthia as he did not know what she wanted from him. "This girl is a problem too," thought Cade. Cynthia origin was unknown to everyone in their class. No one knew her family and she never talked about it too. She was not born in Dineon and it was not weird for foreigners to come study at another planet but her identity did not look that simple. Everyone knew for sure that she was not a commoner and she probably came from a really prestigious family by the way she acted. However, many boys searched her identity on internet and they found none. Usually, people from big, prestigious and wealthy family had some of their information on the internet no matter how small and insignificant that person was but that was not the case for Cynthia. There was none about her. There was no data about Cade too on the internet due to his family not registering him in their family. Cade thought that maybe she was in the same situation as him but that was unlikely. The reason was because her eyes were bright. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Her eyes had no inches of sadness in it. It looked like she lived her life happily. Cade had been living his life without much happiness and he can easily recognize someone with happy life. Cynthia''s eyes had a lot of happiness, no it was filled with happiness to the brimmed. After Cynthia smiled at Cade, she left him alone. Cade then continued what he had been doing. A few minutes later, the professor arrived and class started as usual. At the time where Cade was busy focusing in class, new news about the time limit dungeon surfaced. At the moment, another three, time limit dungeon appeared that shook the universe. The first dungeon was located in Planet Desktra at Roum Star Sector. The dungeon had a time limit of one week with level limit of level 70 to level 80. Roum Star Sector Alliance at the moment was moving fast to gather as many level 70 to level 80 explorers to close the dungeon. They were on high alert as they did not want Planet Desktra to vanished like Planet Snowball. Besides, their dungeon at the moment had much higher, level limit compared to the dungeon in Planet Snowball. That meant, their dungeon was harder compared to the time limit dungeon that appeared on Planet Snowball. Apparently, they decided to give huge incentives to explorers that gave many contributions towards closing the time limit dungeon to attract many explorers joining the exploration. The second dungeon was located in Planet Lapto at Techan Star Sector. The time limit for this dungeon was three days with the level limit of level 20 to level 30. Just like what Roum Star Sector''s Alliance had done to attract many explorers joining the exploration to close their time limit dungeon, Techan Star Sector''s Alliance did the same. Their incentives were a bit smaller because their dungeon was of lower level. There was no need to give much but what they decided to give was more than enough to attract explorers of level 20 to level 30. The last dungeon that appeared had shockingly appeared in Planet White Snow of Ice Star Sector. The news was too shocking because Planet White Snow was located next to Planet Snowball. Not only that, it was only a few days ago that Planet Snowball vanished and now, its neighbor was next. This inflicted extreme feared amongst the citizen of Ice Star Sector. "Will another planet of this star sector vanish?" said one of the citizens. "Are we all going to die soon?" said another. "Mom, let''s move to another star sector!" "I am going to quit my job and move to another star sector." "I hope we can close this dungeon." "I am sure we will not make the same mistake as few days ago!" "We can do it! Let''s cheer for the explorers to succeed!" Ice Star Sector did not want to make the same mistake and they decided to offered a huge incentive. However, before they even announced the incentives, all the guilds and explorers who met the level limit started moving towards Planet White Snow voluntarily. 17 Chapter 17 Cade finished his classes for the day and went home. On the way home, he found out about the three new time limit dungeons. The news about them were all over the internet. The most news was about the dungeon at Planet White Snow. It was the second time limit dungeon that appeared at the Ice Star Sector. The first was a total disaster and less than a week, another one appeared. The ex-snowball citizen did not yet recover from their shocked and suddenly another one appeared. Not only that, the ones that escaped to Planet White Snow were blamed to bring their bad luck there. They were blamed and hated by the citizen of Planet White Snow. It was understandable for them to do that because there were high chance that they will also lose their planet. Thinking of that, they needed someone to blame. Other than that, the space area was jammed packed with spaceship coming out of the planet with many humans evacuating the planet. Explorers were travelling in another spaceship entering the planet with the mission of closing the time limit dungeon. The explorers from Ice Star Sector were shown to have united to close the dungeon in Planet Snow White. Those guilds that had enmity against each other decided to let them go at the moment and worked together by sending their explorers for the mission of closing the time limit dungeon. Many huge name explorers from the Ice Star Sector were seen on their way to Planet White Snow. Many were there either participating or escorting the ones that will be participating. It was a weird view for everyone when so many strong and popular explorers were seen together at the same place. Usually, they decided to stay away from each other to avoid fighting but at the moment, they were all together due to the threat of the time limit dungeon. Up until that day, no one knew what actually happened to Planet Snowball. No hints were left. It was a dead end for the investigator that went to the scene. Cade was watching the news and he frowned too. He also felt worried with the current situation. He also wondered if the dungeon that appeared on Planet White Snow was the same dungeon that appeared on Planet Snowball. It was too weird for suddenly another time limit dungeon appeared right at the next planet after Planet Snowball. Cade was not the only one that thought of that. Many people had the same thoughts too. However, there was no way for them to know anything due to insufficient information. Even the system did not give them any more information other than the time limit and level limit. There was no grade and no species of monsters mentioned by the system. Usually, when a dungeon appeared, the system will let out the grade of the dungeon, the levels of the monsters inside, the floor of the dungeon and the species of the monsters inside. With only a few information available, many explorers speculate that the dungeon were mixed with monsters and grade. Only their level will be within the limit. However, no one can confirm that speculation because there was zero information about the inside of the dungeon. Cade decided to stop reading the news about the time limit dungeon and went to Dineon''s government website to check if there will be any limit entry license available. Upon opening the website, there was an announcement from the government in urgent need of scientist. They were to recruit a lot of them. They also wrote why they wanted to hire scientist. Dineon''s government wanted to do researched on making an item or equipment that can lock someone''s level at certain level. Reading the announcement, Cade knew what they were trying to do. The threat of the time limit dungeon was huge and it had level limit too. If they can create an item or equipment that allowed someone to change their level, it was possible to send high level explorers to enter the time limit dungeon. With that item or equipment, the risk of failing will be lowered because the high-level explorers were obviously stronger than lower level explorers. Cade agreed with what they were trying to do. He liked it that the government was taking the initiatives to do something that will benefit many people. Cade clicked the announcement and there were so many people applying for that. It looked like they knew how important the project that the government was pursuing. At the moment, everyone knew the highly dangerous time limit dungeon. If there were someone that knew nothing about it, that meant that person was either in a comma or vegetable. Cade went back to the main page and click on the limit entry license page. To his surprise, there were a lot of limit entry license available. "Are they changing their policy?" Cade wondered but he knew the real reason for this. They wanted to prepare every explorer in the planet for who knows when the time limit dungeon appeared in Dineon. Cade immediately scrolling down the page to looked for a suitable dungeon. He found a few dungeons that interest him. The first dungeon was the level 10 horn rabbit dungeon. It had 5 floors like the slime dungeon and all the monsters inside were horn rabbits. The second dungeon was the level 10 big wing butterfly dungeon. It had the same floors as the horn rabbit dungeon. The third dungeon was the level 10 big tongue toad dungeon. This dungeon had 10 floors. The horn rabbit was a monster with horn on any part of their body. Most of them had horn on their head but there were some of them with horn on their arms, legs, tail and others. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. There was also some horn rabbit with variations to their horn like a drill horn, a horn made of diamond, a branching horn and many more. The horn rabbit was an interesting species. The big wing butterfly was quite the same as the horn rabbit too. All of the big wing butterfly possessed wing twice or bigger than an original butterfly. Other than that, some of them had more pair of wings and some with different patterns on their wings. The big tongue toad was the most boring species out of the three. They all looked the same and had big and long tongue. The tongue was their main weapon and combined it with their strong jump and thick skin, they were quite a formidable monster. The big tongue toad was inferior in appearance compared to the horn rabbit and big wing butterfly but their strength was far superior than the other two. The tongue can deliver a strong attack, the jump made their attack had more variations and their thick skin can receive a lot of attack and protected them properly. If it was someone else, they will surely choose either the horn rabbit or big wing butterfly. However, Cade decided to go to the big tongue toad dungeon. With the universe currently in chaos, Cade needed to challenge something harder if he wanted to grow stronger. The big tongue toad was enough for him at the moment to give him some challenge. He did not know how he will fare against the toad but he will do his best. Once he made his decision, Cade applied for the license. It will take a few days for him to get the license and he started making his preparations. Thanks to his previous explorations, Cade had quite a good amount of money. He decided to buy an armor and many potions. The toad was strong and it can attack from afar. With his current stats, it was quite hard for him to endure any attack that landed on him. So, he needed the assistance of an armor to protect himself. An armor can prove to be important to him as it had help him a lot when he was exploring the slime dungeon. As for potions, Cade learned from his experience to know how important it was to him and how he survive the army of slime thanks to them. He decided to buy a lot of them. Cade shopped online for his armor and potions. He was too lazy to go out and bought it himself. It was the age of technology and everything was easier than before especially when someone wanted to buy something. Everyone possessed the shipping teleporter. This teleporter was a cheaper version of normal teleporter and it was exclusively used for teleporting non-living things. Due to its function of only teleporting non-living things, it was cheaper and easier to produce compare to a normal teleporter that can teleport all things, living and non-living things. Due to the shipping teleporter, online shopping had become easier and explorers used them a lot when they were selling their drop item. The shipping teleporter was used widely in the universe because it had a lot of safety features to prevent scam, damaged products and many more. It did not take him long before he found what he wanted to buy. 18 Chapter 18 Cade preparations for the big tongue toad dungeon finished without much problem. He bought an armor, many potions and also an emergency teleport badge. Cade actually had almost forgot about the emergency badge and almost spent all of his money on potions. Luckily, he passed through the badge while viewing other items. After Cade had finished his preparations, to his surprise, he got the limit entry license. Usually, it took a few days but he got it in a few hours. "They must have taken this seriously," thought Cade. With the threat of the time limit dungeon, everyone was increasing their efficiency. Dineon needed to increase their strength and issuing the limit entry dungeon fast will help the explorers on the planet becoming stronger faster. Cade will need to travel for about 7 hours with train to get to the dungeon. He decided to take the midnight train and will arrive at the dungeon in the morning. With everything done, Cade spent his time for the rest of the day with playing games on his geniusphone. When it was time for him to take the train, he left his apartment and went to the train station. Just like he thought, it was empty¡­ was what Cade thought. "Why are there so many people?" To Cade surprise, there were quite a lot of people in the train station. Cade recognized that some of them were explorers based on their attire and posture. Maybe all of them were explorers. "Are they travelling to a dungeon too?" thought Cade. He thought that maybe they all got a waking call with what had happened to Planet Snowball. There were a lot of explorers but most of them decided to stop exploring at some point. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. There were many reasons and one of them was fear of death. Explorer was a dangerous career. Life was always on the line and they can lose their life in a mere second after they stepped inside a dungeon. Everyone was scared of death and that was normal to human. The ones that got too scared will quit but the one that had more courage will usually go on as explorers. Another reason was money. Explorers were usually thought to be rich but that was not true at all. Those that got rich was thanks to their luck and they got lots of drop items. However, most explorers did not have that kind of luck and rarely got a drop item. With every exploration, they needed to buy potions, equipment, foods and many other things and most of them were super expensive especially equipment. Without much gains from the dungeon, they needed to spend more for their equipment and that costed them a lot, that many explorers declared their bankruptcy after five or six explorations and quits the career altogether. Looking at the scene of the train station, Cade knew that most of them were returner explorers after they quit at some point before as he can see the nervousness in their eyes. They must had come back due to the looming threat of the time limit dungeon. While looking at all the explorers around him, suddenly, someone tapped Cade''s shoulder. Cade looked beside him and a beautiful girl with golden hair was smiling dazzlingly at him. The girl was Cynthia and Cade stared blankly at her without knowing how he should react to her sudden appearance. "Are you going to a dungeon too?" asked Cynthia with her beautiful and dazzling smile. Cade did not know why but he felt like he might go blind if she kept smiling dazzlingly at him like that. "Yes, I am but¡­ Urm~ Can you stop smiling like that. I don''t know why but you kind of emit some kind of light when you smile and my eyes hurt," said Cade bluntly. He cannot help it and said it like that because his eyes cannot take it. "Is he openly flirting with that pretty girl," some explorers who overheard that whispered to his companion. "Lol, that sentence sounds lame," said another explorer nearby and there was also some chuckling as they thought it was funny. Upon hearing Cade''s words, Cynthia looked around her and she was under a lamp and moved a bit from the lamp. "How is it now? Does your eyes still hurt?" asked Cynthia and she continued, "I am sorry that I hurt your eyes. I have a special skill that enhances light and I did not have full control over it yet. So, my own mood sometimes passively effects the light around me." The other explorers around them that were laughing at him suddenly fell silent. "¡­" "So, he was not flirting," said one of the explorers around them. "Ah, could it be that in class last time too?" asked Cade. No wonder that when Cynthia smiled at him before in class, her smile was weirdly dazzling. Now, it all makes sense. "Ehehe~ I am sorry. That''s why you are kind of not responding to me at that time," said Cynthia while she smiled innocently at Cade. "So, which dungeon are you heading to?" asked Cynthia. She kind of curious to see which dungeon Cade had chosen. There was no other reason other than her curiosity. "¡­" Cade felt like not answering her but it will be rude since she asked nicely. "Big tongue toad dungeon," said Cade. "What a coincidence! I am heading there too~" said Cynthia happily and again she smiled while at the same time, the light nearby went brighter. The explorers around them had their mouth opened as they finally knew what Cade was feeling earlier. This time the light was brighter and it affected them too. "The girl must have felt much happier than earlier¡­ the light is freaking bright!" "My eyes~" said an explorer and he covered his eyes with his hand. "Where is my sunglasses," said another explorer while rummaging through his storage. "I am going to wait a bit further from her," said another explorer while he walked further than Cade and Cynthia. Cade on the other hand got affected the most by the light because Cynthia was in front of him. The bright light made it hard for him to see her. "Err¡­ Cynthia, your light is too bright," said Cade while he also moved his hand to cover his eyes. "Ahh!! I am sorry again," said Cynthia and she tried to control her emotions. Her face blushed a bit as she felt like she was incompetent in controlling her own skill. "It is fine¡­ I can understand that," said Cade while he awkwardly smiled. He saw that Cynthia was embarrassed at what had happened and decided to continue their talk earlier. "Are you going alone there?" asked Cade to divert the topic of her skill. "Huh? Y-yeah. What a coincidence right?" said Cynthia and she smiled again but the light was not as bright as before. Cynthia did her best to control her emotion. "Aren''t you in a guild? Where are the other members?" asked Cade again. He knew that all explorers in his class had joined a guild including Cynthia. He also remembered that Cynthia joined quite a popular guild too and she was recruited by them personally. He found it weird that she was by herself. "Oh, that¡­ I quit the guild," said Cynthia while pouting her lips a bit. It looked like something happened between her and that guild. Cade did not want to pry further but Cynthia continued with her talk. "They recruited me because of my status as a princess and all that flowery talk they said to me before were all lies," said Cynthia and she looked pissed thinking about that. However, Cade heard something weird from what she said¡­ "Princess?" asked Cade while staring at Cynthia. "Yes, I am the sixth princess of the Golden Dragon Star Sector''s Royal Family," said Cynthia while smiling at Cade. She looked a bit proud of herself too but not arrogant. Cade however was totally speechless and not only him but everyone else around him were the same as him. They were all looking at Cynthia like they saw a ghost¡­ no, an angel. "You are joking right? That was a good joke you made there and I almost got fooled by you," said Cade. He refused to believe that. There was no way a princess from that kind of family came to a weak planet like Dineon. There were a lot of other better planets in the universe that was 100 times better than Dineon with 100 times better college too and she chose Dineon? She was obviously just playing around. When others around Cade heard him, they also came to their senses and realized that Cynthia might be joking around. Cade believed she was joking for a reason. No one was able to find out anything about her and it was possible that she was a princess but how can when no one was able to find out anything about her but that guild knew about it? It did not make any sense at all. 19 Chapter 19 The Golden Dragon Royal Family was one of the top 4 strongest family in the universe. Anyone from that family can be considered a monster with their strength. The family had many S grade explorers in their rank and there were even rumors that they also had someone in their family who had a grade beyond S. The family was feared and revered by many people due to their strength and anyone that tried to pick a fight with them had never survived. All of them were insanely strong. Added to that, they were in control of an entire star sector and named the star sector after their family name, Golden Dragon Star Sector. The Golden Dragon Star Sector was the biggest star sector in the universe with 200 planets in them and all 200 planets were under the control of Golden Dragon Royal Family. When Cynthia claimed that she was a princess from the Golden Dragon Royal Family, it was shocking but at the same time unbelievable because that family was super popular and their basic information was all over the internet. However, there was none about Cynthia and that can only mean that either the family hide her data or she was just a commoner and lying about herself. It was also weird that the guild she joined before knew about her when if Cade was not mistaken, that guild was not a top guild. It was impossible for that kind of guild to get any information about her if her family was hiding her information. Besides, it was also weird that she easily told others about her identity when her family was hiding it. Cade was unable to believe her words. "I am telling the truth and I know what you were thinking. There is a reason why you cannot find any information about me on the internet and the guild master of the guild I left recognize my face when he visited Golden Dragon Star Sector in the past. So, he used that knowledge to rope me in to his guild," explained Cynthia. "¡­" Cade did not know how to reply to her explanation. "And, you are the first person that I tell this in person," said Cynthia. She looked a bit annoyed but she still smiled a bit. She did feel a bit annoyed at Cade''s reaction when he thought she was joking. Cynthia had never once intended to keep her identity as a princess a secret but since no one was asking her about her family, she never tried to say anything. There was a reason why no one was asking her. They knew that she came from some kind of a big family and seeing that they were keeping it a secret, there must be a reason for that. Asking something that was meant as secret was really dangerous especially if the secret came from a big and powerful family. "You said that there is a reason your information is not on the internet, why is that?" asked Cade. Even if she said that, that did not explain anything about her being the princess because there was no evidence. "An idiot in my family got himself a weird skill book named data blocker. The skill can block any data and information about something on the internet¡­ forever. That idiot learned the skill and tested it with my information and resulted in everything related to me was wiped out forever from the internet," said Cynthia and she got more annoyed when thinking of that. "Now, whatever information related to me will be deleted automatically when it reaches the internet. So, you won''t be able to find anything about me from the internet," said Cynthia and she looked a bit sad as well as annoyed when thinking about it. Looking at Cynthia''s face, Cade sighed and decided to not pursuing it further and tried to believe whatever she said. It was not actually his business if she tried to hide it or not or if it was true or not. They were not friends, only acquaintance. No matter who she was, it had nothing to do with him but he still felt curious as to why she came studying at Planet Dineon. "If you are really a princess, why do you come here for your studies? I am sure that there are many other better colleges all around the universe and your family has their own university too," asked Cade. She was a princess and if he was not mistaken, the Golden Dragon Royal Family had their own university. The university was one of the top universities in the universe and outsiders will have a hard time of getting in but a member of the royal family will always be admitted to that university. At the beginning, the university was founded for the member of the family but as time passed by, they started accepting outsiders too. However, only the best of the best outsiders was allowed to attend the university. There was a reason why they did that. It was to procure the partner for their family member. In better words, the ones chosen as students for their university will marry the member of the Golden Dragon Family. All the students that were not parts of the Golden Dragon Family had been approved by the family to marry a member of the family. They did not want their family member to marry useless people and thus, they did that. Only talented people were allowed to be part of the family. "I don''t know the real reason but a fortune teller in my family said that I should attend this college," said Cynthia. She did not mind studying on Planet Dineon because she was happy that she got to travel outside Golden Dragon Star System. "Even the fortune teller herself did not know the reason but she said it was important for me to come here. It has something to do with the future of our universe," continued Cynthia. "Future of our universe? Does it have something to do with the time limit dungeon?" thought Cade. He did not say it out loud but everyone who overheard their conversation had the same thought. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. At the moment, the time limit dungeon was the biggest threat the universe had ever met. Everyone was extremely nervous with how their future will be. "So, Cynthia is some kind of important with what will happen? I wonder what her role will be?" thought Cade more but he decided to stop thinking about it too deep. It was not related to him anyway. "So, where is your guard?" asked Cade. There was no way they will let their princess went to a faraway planet without any guard. "Guard? Why would I need a guard?" asked Cynthia back with a questioned face. "First of all, you are a princess and second, you said it is important for you to be here. That means it is also important for you to be safe and alive. If something bad happen to you, then, our future will be dark," said Cade. The others around him that have been eavesdropping nodded their head. What Cade said made sense. She needed to be safe for their future to be bright since she said it was important for her to be there in their planet. "This star sector is the safest star sector in the universe, so there is no need for a guard. Everyone here is nice and there is no one bad and strong enough that will threaten my life," said Cynthia with her smile equipped with the dazzling light, again. Everyone who heard her including Cade did not know what to feel. They felt a bit conflicted at her statement. She blatantly said that everyone on the star sector was weak but with a compliment that everyone was nice. She was not wrong though because the strongest explorer in Biscuit Star Sector was an A grade. There was no S grade explorer in their star sector. Besides, everyone living in Biscuit Star Sector was peace loving and hated conflict. That was why there was no war between planets happening in Biscuit Star Sector. Everyone who heard her cannot help but smiled awkwardly. It was like another waking call to them after the disappearance of Planet Snowball. "If there is someone trying to harm me, I have with me an item that will instantly teleport the strongest member of my family here to deal with the threat," said Cynthia with more dazzling light. The light however did not feel warm because it sounded like a threat. "Try to sneak attack me and you will die," was what everyone heard including Cade. Cade sighed and he looked at Cynthia and said, "Well, whatever your mission is in this planet, I wish you luck." Cade then tried to leave her alone when Cynthia suddenly held his arm. Cade was stunned with Cynthia''s action. "W-w-w-what are you doing?" Cade stuttered when he said that because this was the first time a girl held his arm. He was nervous. "Why do you think I tell you everything about me?" said Cynthia with a sinister smile. "????????" Cade''s mind was filled with question mark and he smells trouble. 20 Chapter 20 Cade was sitting on a seat inside the train and on his way to the big tongue toad dungeon. He was frowning while looking at the view outside the train. The reason for that was because of Cynthia who was currently sleeping on a seat beside him. A few hours ago, Cynthia told him the reason she told about her identity to him. It was in order to gain trust from Cade. Why would she need Cade''s trust? She wanted to recruit him to join her party. Cynthia had been planning to find people to form a party with her when she was told to go to Dineon. Having a party will surely help her a lot in doing her important mission or role that the fortune teller had predicted. When the guild she joined before invited her, she thought it will be a good opportunity to form a party. However, she dislikes all of them. They did not blatantly do anything bad to her and she did not hate them but Cynthia felt no synergy with them. Other than that, they were flaunting their grade every time but unable to give the result of someone at that grade. They were really not explorers that Cynthia wanted as her party member. Later, she also found out that after she joined the guild, the guild had somehow used her name to made some kind of shady deals here and there. That deals made her decided to leave the guild. They tried to persuade her to stay but they failed. Cynthia was not a girl that they can use as they want and she hated it when someone used her name for something without her knowledge. After she left the guild, she decided to recruit people by herself. Her first target area in searching for her party member was her college. She had been observing many explorers there and finally she found someone and that person was Cade. There was nothing special about him but Cynthia felt like he was a great choice. Her minds tried to be rational but her heart tells her that he was the right choice. She did not know if she should follow her mind or her heart but she decided to follow her heart when she saw Cade was attacked by Sera. Something about Cade''s action drew her in but she did not know what. In the end, there she was by Cade''s side trying to persuade him to join her party. When Cynthia made her offer to Cade, to her surprise, Cade immediately say no without much thought. Cynthia was shocked by Cade''s answer. She thought that Cade will agree after he listened to her and knew about her real identity but he did not even care about that. To Cade, getting involved with someone that high in society like a royalty was a hassle. They had a lot of problems hovering around them and he did not want to get involve in any of them and thus his quick rejection towards Cynthia''s offer. Other than that, Cade did not want to get involve in the important matter that Cynthia will face in the future. Cynthia however did not want to give up and decided to cling on Cade for the rest of the journey to the big tongue toad dungeon. There was also a reason why Cynthia''s chosen dungeon this time was the same as Cade. She spied on him and decided to go to the same dungeon as him. At the time when she chose the dungeon, she assumed that he will agree and for convenience it was easier for them to go to the same dungeon. Unfortunately, not everything happened as she wanted. Luckily, she chose the same dungeon. She can cling on him until he agreed. Even if she was unsuccessful in roping him in after they finished exploring the dungeon, they were classmates and she can try again there and maybe followed him again to another dungeon. "I should quickly run away from her after the train arrive," thought Cade while he was intently watching the night view through the train''s window. As time passed by, Cade felt sleepier and ended up falling asleep. A few hours later, the train arrived and Cade woke up from his sleep and to his surprise, Cynthia was sleeping while hugging his arm. Cade massaged his head as he suddenly felt like he will get an extreme headache during his exploration this time. Cade tried to silently removed his arm from Cynthia and after a hard work, he succeeds without her waking up. Cade immediately left his seat and out of the train. The train then leave the station¡­ with Cynthia still sleeping inside. Cade felt a bit guilty doing this but he needed his peace time. Cade then bought some breakfast on the train station before he took a cab to the big tongue toad dungeon. Upon reaching the dungeon, to Cade surprise it was bustling with explorers. There were tents everywhere from tents for resting to tents selling things like food, equipment, potions and many more. The happening was common on every dungeon but this was the first time Cade saw this with his own eyes. His first dungeon was a super unpopular dungeon and thus there was no people there. Cade did not go straight inside the dungeon but sightseeing around the shops available there. There was nothing that interest him and thus he did not buy anything. Cade then took out all his linked equipment and equipped them. He wore his white t-shirt inside and black hoodie outside and also his black jeans. All of them had magic defense stats. Since there were variations among the big tongue toad, it was possible that some of them can use magic skills. Having equipment with magic defense will be helpful to him. At the moment, all his linked equipment had reached their limit level until Cade leveled up more and at their level, they were all equivalent to a D grade equipment. Cade''s equipment had the possibility of going beyond that if he did not need to increase their durability. With two stats needed to be increase and only 10 stat points per magic crystal, that was as far as his equipment can go. Cade had a theory that he did not yet test and he hoped it worked. The last time he leveled up his equipment, he had been using E grade magic crystal. What if he used D grade magic crystal? Will he get more stat points to increase his equipment stats? Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. He wanted to try that and that was why he came to the toad dungeon. This dungeon had yellow portal and that meant it was D grade. Yes, Cade chose a D grade dungeon for his second explorations. Even if the dungeon''s grade was D, not all of them were D grade. There will be many E grade monsters too that can be found. So, Cade can still farm for E grade magic crystal to increase his physical resistance skill. His potential growth grade was currently at D grade. Cade had upgraded it before from E grade but the magic crystal it needed now was a whooping 10 000 Level 1 D grade magic crystal. The amount almost made him vomited blood. He needed to killed thousands of D grade monsters to upgrade his growth potential to C. Cade wondered how much magic crystals he will need when he reached C grade. Thinking about that made him sighed and had a slight headache. "You can''t enter?" suddenly Cade overheard some explorers talking nearby. "No, my level passes the limit," said the explorers while sighing. He was totally disappointed that he cannot enter the dungeon. "Level passes the limit?" Cade wondered what they were talking about. The toad dungeon was low level but everyone regardless of level can enter but that explorers said that he passed the level limit? The toad dungeon was not a time limit dungeon where it also limited the level ranged. "Sigh, I will head back home and ask for refund from the government and find some other dungeon within my level," said that explorer who cannot enter the dungeon. He looked totally disappointed. "All these changes happened because of the time limit dungeon. Since the tragedy of Planet Snowball, everything is changing," said another explorer with worried face. "Even we who live in this peaceful star sector do not feel the peace anymore. We can all die if the time limit dungeon appears on this planet. Now, everyone is rushing to become stronger to protect ourselves and our family," that explorer continue. "Changes? The dungeon is changing?" Cade was shocked with what he had heard. He immediately took out his geniusphone from his storage and went online. Cade searched about the changing that was happening to the dungeon and to his surprise, there were many changes happening to the dungeon after the appearance of the time limit dungeon. It did not get much attention because of what was happening to the planets where the time limit dungeon appeared but the changes was really huge. 21 Chapter 21 The first changes that was happening to all the dungeons was the level limit. If the dungeon had level 10 monsters, only explorers at level 10 and below can enter the dungeon. No matter what all the explorers did, they cannot enter the dungeon if their level exceeded the level of the monsters. Only those at the level limit was allowed to enter. However, if an explorer leveled up inside the dungeon and passed the level limit, he or she will be fine. They will not get kick out of the dungeon. They can continue their explorations until they themselves stepped out of the dungeon. Once they stepped out of the dungeon, they will be unable to get back inside. The second changes were happening to the monsters. Before the changes happened, all the monsters that were killed will die forever and the monster inside the dungeon will depleted and when all of them died, the dungeon will disappear. However, the new changes were truly shocking. The monsters can respawn. If the monster died, they will respawn someplace inside the dungeon. At the beginning of the changes, no one realized this but they soon found out that the number of monsters shown by the system did not decrease. They stayed the same even after they killed some of them. No matter how hard the explorers tried to eliminate all of the monsters, there will still be the same amount of them inside the dungeon. The third changes were the dungeon floor. Usually, the first floor will be the biggest floor out of all the floor the dungeon possessed. The new change however made it that all the floor was the same size as the first floor. All of them were huge. If an explorer took five days to explore the entirety of the first floor without fighting the monsters, he will take almost the same amount time on another floor too. The fourth changes were related to the dungeon floor too. Before the changes happened, explorers can only find the dungeon boss on the top floor but after the changes happened to the dungeon, all floor had a boss. The explorers called them the floor boss. The floor boss can only be found at the end of the dungeon in an enclosed room. Unlike the boss before the changes, the floor boss will not roam around the dungeon. It will only stay in that room. In order to enter the next floor, explorers needed to defeat the floor boss once. Everyone participated in defeating the floor boss can go to the next floor. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The floor boss also was said to always dropped an item either the magic crystals, equipment or skill book. The chance of getting an equipment and skill book was higher by defeating the floor boss. However, they can only defeat the floor boss once and after that, no matter what they tried, they will be unable to fight the floor boss again. The fifth change was the weirdest changes ever. If the floor boss at the top floor was defeated, a new floor will be added and the level limit of the dungeon will increase. For example, if someone defeated the big tongue toad boss at the tenth floor, eleventh floor will appear and the level limit of the dungeon will increase from 10 to 11. When Cade was reading this, he gasped. He was shock at that. That meant that the dungeon had now becomes permanent. It will keep increasing its floor and level limit whenever someone defeated the top floor boss for the first time instead of disappearing like before. The last change was the most groundbreaking and heaven defying changes ever. No one can die inside the dungeon. Whenever an explorer died inside the dungeon, they will revive outside the dungeon and the system notified him or her that they will be forbidden of entering any dungeon for some period of time. Other than that, they will also lose a level and all the equipment they were using. Cade did not know how to react at the last changes. It was too much of a change. Explorers had been losing their lives most of the time when they entered the dungeon. The dungeon had now become like the dungeon in games. Respawning monsters, floor boss, reviving¡­ all of them were something common in games. It was not as threatening as before. "This is weird¡­ this is too similar to games. Are the dungeons created by humans?" Cade wondered. If it was something that appeared naturally, the changes won''t be this drastic. It will happen slowly like how animals evolved taking thousands to millions of years. The changes were too similar to games that humans had been making all these years and it looked like the permanent dungeon was helping humans by not killing them permanently. "This is totally suspicious. It is much more suspicious that this change happens after we lost a lot of humans¡­ no, explorers on Planet Snowball. The creator of the dungeon seems to want to reduce the casualty among the explorers," thought Cade. He was not the only one suspicious of this. Everyone who smart enough were thinking the same. At the time Cade was reading the information about the changes happening to the dungeon, all the powerful families had started their researched regarding the creator of the dungeon. Some theories said that the system and the dungeon was created by the same person or there were two of them collaborating together to make the system and the dungeon. However, it did not make any sense that the creator of the dungeon created the destructive time limit dungeon and at the same time making changes to the dungeons that were already available in the universe by not killing anyone. The time limit dungeon killing rates were higher compared to the permanent dungeon. Even the system warned everyone about the time limit dungeon and never once warned about the other dungeon even after the appearance of the time limit dungeon. That meant that the creator of the system and the creator of the dungeon were still on the good terms but then, was the creator of the time limit dungeon was a different person? Did the time limit dungeon creator love destruction and created the time limit dungeon to destroy planets in the universe? Or was he or she enemies of the system creator and dungeon creator? If what they thought was right, they needed to find that person and stopped him or her from creating more of the time limit dungeon. However, this theory was unlikely. The power of the system and the dungeon were not something a human from 10 000 years ago can achieve. Even after 10 000 years had passed, no one was able to recreate the system and dungeon. Another theory was that the system and the dungeon was created by a higher being to help humans becoming stronger. Maybe the time limit dungeon was created by a demon king or something and that higher being had predicted it will happen in the future and prepared humans by creating the system and the dungeon. This was possible because there were so many things unknown to human even after they got the system, the dungeon appearance and the monsters. Cade was reading every information about the changes happening to the dungeon and he sighed. He took out his emergency teleport badge and frowned. Now that he won''t die even if he was killed inside the dungeon, there was no need for the badge. It might be helpful to those that use normal kind of equipment but to Cade, his equipment was linked to him and there was no way he will lose it. Losing a level was nothing much to him. He did not mind losing a level if he can stay alive. He can gain that level back. Once Cade made sure of the changes that had happened to the dungeon, it was time for him to start his second explorations. Cade did not want to waste any more time as he was afraid that Cynthia will find him. Now that there was a level limit to the dungeon, it was possible that she cannot enter. She had been an explorer for a quite a while and her level must be higher than 10. In order for Cade to not meet her, the best place to hide was inside the dungeon. Cade took out his cardboard mouth mask and wore it. He lifted his hoodie and covered his head. With the mask and hoodie, no one will be able to recognize to him. Cade took out his cardboard round shield and cardboard short sword. He tightened the round shield on his right arm and held his short sword on his left arm. It had been a while since he wore his cardboard equipment. He blushed as he felt totally embarrassed at his appearance. No matter how much he had gotten used to the cardboard equipment, it still felt embarrassing. Added to that, this time with a lot of people nearby. 22 Chapter 22 "So, you can''t enter this dungeon? The news is true?" asked Raja, an explorer who quit a few years ago after he almost died exploring a dungeon for his second time. Due to him quitting early, his level was low. He was not the only one, his friend that was coming with him to the big tongue toad dungeon quit around the same time as him. As a result, his friend was low level too. After Planet Snowball vanished, they both decided to become an explorer again just like everyone else. Not for money or fame but for safety. "Yeah¡­ I am only one level above the limit and I cannot enter this dungeon," said Deury, Raja''s friend. Both Raja and Deury decided to explore the big tongue toad dungeon together but unfortunately for Deury, he cannot enter due the new level limit rule applied to the dungeon. They did not know if they should separate or choose another dungeon. While contemplating what they should do, they saw a man with black hoodie and a cardboard shield strapped on his left arm passed them. "Pfft~ What is that? Is he playing around?" said Deury while pointing his finger at Cade. Not only him, everyone around who saw Cade were laughing or snickering. "Is that guy going inside the dungeon with that cardboard? He wears ordinary clothes too," said Raja while he was observing Cade. "That guy must either be too poor or there is some problem with his brain," said Deury while covering his mouth holding his laugh. "Is no one going to stop him? Going in like that is suicide," said Raja. He was not laughing and showed a bit of concern at Cade. "Well~ there is no need to worry about him. The dungeon''s new rules will make sure no one dies inside the dungeon. Even if he died, he will be revived outside the dungeon," said Deury. Raja nodded as he remembered that the dungeon''s rules had changed. Everyone was basically safe inside the dungeon. If they died, other than their level decreased and they lost all their equipment, they will still have their life. While Raja and Deury were talking about Cade, they saw someone approaching Cade. It looked like that person tried to stop Cade from entering the dungeon with his equipment. However, from a far, Raja and Deury saw Cade shakes his hand and made some gesture that he was fine and continued walking forward towards the dungeon entrance. The guy who approached Cade also shakes his head with a disappointed face. Raja and Deury''s face frown. "Someone did try to stop him but he still went forward. There is no need to worry about that guy," said Deury while looking at Raja. "You are right," Raja sighed and lightly shakes his head. He continued, "he will learn it by himself how dangerous the dungeon is." Then, they continued their discussion about their plan to enter the dungeon. In the end, Raja decided to join someone else''s party and Deury went to applied the license for another dungeon within his level limit. As they were discussing abut what they should do, the explorers around them were betting on how long Cade can survive inside the dungeon. Many of them betted that he will revive outside the dungeon in less than ten minutes. While others considering that there will be many other explorers inside that will help him somehow and he will last at most 30 minutes. There were also explorers that just wanted to be different than others and bet that Cade will survive inside the dungeon. Before Deury left the area, he also put in some bet for fun. He was just like everyone else betting that Cade will revive outside the dungeon in less than ten minutes. Deury did not wait for the results however and left the area. Raja on the other hand found a party that allowed him to join. All the explorers that made their bet was waiting patiently while looking at the entrance of the dungeon. A few explorers were revived outside the dungeon. That meant they died. However, looking at all the explorers that revived, someone suddenly thought on something. All the explorers that died inside the dungeon and was revived lost all their equipment including their clothes and underwear. That meant, they were naked. How in the world will they be able to recognize Cade? They did not know how Cade looked like and all they knew about him was the cardboard. Everyone looked at each other and they all sighed. They should have realized it earlier. Before they took back their money, someone volunteered to get inside and followed Cade. Everyone was clapping their hands and cheering to that guy. After that, the explorer who volunteered immediately went inside the dungeon. He kept asking about Cade to the explorers he met inside and luckily, they all saw him. There was no way they did not notice him. The cardboard attracted too much attention. That explorers followed the direction of the explorers that saw Cade. *** On a train station far away from the big tongue toad dungeon, a beautiful girl with golden hair sat on a seat pouting with an annoyed face. Everyone who saw her was attracted by her beauty but none of them dared to get neared her because she looked annoyed. However, even with that face, she was really beautiful. All the guys and some girls who saw her were mesmerized by her beauty. There were also girls that got jealous looking at that beautiful girl but did not dare get neared the beautiful hair. The beautiful golden hair girl was emitting some kind of aura that made everyone scared at her. There were also other explorers nearby and they all can feel how strong that beautiful girl was. That beautiful golden hair girl was actually Cynthia. She was angry and annoyed that Cade did not wake her up when they arrived at the train station nearby the big tongue toad dungeon. She woke up when the train stopped at the fifth station after the station she was supposed to get off. Cynthia actually woke up in the middle of the night and saw Cade was sleeping. She knew that Cade did not want to join her and afraid that he will leave her when she was sleeping. Due to that, she decided to sleep while holding Cade''s arm. If Cade tried to wiggle out of her arm, she will feel it and woke up. To her disappointment, she did not wake up and Cade left her by herself in the train. She wondered how in the world that Cade managed to get away without her realizing. Unknown to her, it was her own fault. She was sleeping too soundly and when Cade tried to let her go of his arm, she was annoyed that someone was disturbing her sleeping and pushed Cade''s arm away. Cade did not waste the chance he got and left her sleeping by herself. He did not worry about her safety because first, Cynthia was strong. Cade can feel it when she hugged his arm. Cade did not know Cynthia''s potential growth but he was sure that it was at least A grade. Secondly, Cynthia was a princess and she did say that she had an item that will teleport the strongest explorer in her family to her instantly when she was in danger. If someone tried to do anything to her while she was sleeping, the item will activate by itself. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Thirdly, Cade did not believe that she had no guard at all. She was a princess and there was surely a guard or two guarding her in the shadow. She might tell the truth that there was no guard around her but maybe that was because she was unaware of it. Even if she said that people in Biscuit Star Sector was nice and peace loving, that was the majority of them not everyone. No matter where it was, there were surely some scum that cause trouble and problem. There were no such things as people with 100% kindness. That was delusion. Cynthia was waiting for a train that went back to the station nearby the big tongue toad dungeon. She was grumbling and complaining about Cade not being nice enough to her. She also vowed that when she found Cade, she wanted to kick him once. "He was not a gentleman at all!! How can he just leave a girl sleeping by herself in the train!! I thought he was nice but he was not nice at all!!" said Cynthia. "Cade, just let me kick you once! Just once!" said Cynthia with her sinister smile but to others, her smile was angelic and she was more beautiful with her smile. A flame was ignited inside Cynthia. She wanted to kick Cade once and also wanted him to agree joining her party. She will never let Cade go. Cade was walking inside the dungeon and he suddenly felt chill. 23 Chapter 23 "What is with this chill?" thought Cade while he was hugging his shoulder from the sudden chill. Cade looked around him but other than the nearby explorers who was looking at him weirdly, there was nothing dangerous that made him felt the chill. Cade slightly tilted his head and continued walking further inside the dungeon. Everywhere he went, there will be explorers around and they all looked at him weirdly. He expected them to stare at him but he still felt totally embarrassed. Fortunately, his mouth mask and hoodie covered his face. No one knew his real face and he did not need to worry about people laughing at him when he walked around without his linked equipment. When Cade entered the dungeon earlier, he did not know if there were any changes to the dungeon layout too as he only had one experience going inside the dungeon. However, looking at the explorers nearby, it looked like there was some changes happened to the dungeon''s layout. He did not know what changes occurred to the layout but he can guess it. Looking at the explorers drawing and taking pictures of the dungeon, it was possible that the dungeon had turned to a maze. Before this, it was common knowledge that the dungeon was quite linear. There might be some with one or two different paths but they were all lead to the end of the floor. Cade did not know how complicated the maze was but it was possible that it was just a simple maze as the explorers around him did not look that concerned about it. Cade did not mind about it either but he did get worried that there were too many explorers inside the dungeon. Cade tried to find some big tongue toad but unfortunately, when he found one, a party of explorers were fighting it. It was unethical to steal kill and he did not try to do that. It was fine to do that when the party was in danger but they all looked at ease fighting the monsters. Cade kept walking and he found none. They were all taken by someone. Cade sighed. In the end, he decided to go deeper into the dungeon''s first floor and hopefully to find a toad on the way. The deeper Cade went, the lesser the explorers he found and after about 30 minutes of walking, He finally found his target. A lone big tongue toad. It was a big as an adult human but the height was much lower compared to human. Cade checked his system to see the toad''s grade. On the first floor, only level 1 toad can be found but since the dungeon was that of D grade, there were E grade and D grade toad to be found there. Cade did not want to fight a D grade toad yet. He felt that he was still not fully prepared for that. Once he checked the system, the toad he found was E grade. Cade sighed in relieved. He took out his cardboard short sword from his storage and equipped it. Cade took a deep breath and rushed towards the toad from behind the monsters. The toad sat there yawning as he was bored that there was no one around. The toad decided to find another toad but when he turned around, a brown sword was coming at his face. The toad was shocked but he instinctively jumped backwards immediately. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Cade''s sword hit the ground but he was not surprised. Instead of waiting, Cade immediately followed up with another slash with his sword. Seeing the next attack coming, the toad got serious. Instead of attacking Cade, the toad jumped backwards once more but his jumped this time was stronger than before. Due to that, the toad kept his distance from Cade immediately. Cade missed his second attack and he looked at the toad that was already quite far from him to make another slash. Cade tried to run towards the toad but before he was abled to do that, the toad opened his mouth and a big, thick and slimy tongue launched at him fast. Cade immediately put out his shield to block the attack. However, once the tongue hit the shield, he regretted it. He should have evaded the attack. Cade was sent flying backwards and he fell rolling on the ground. He immediately tried to get up as another attack was coming at him. However, he was too late. The only thing he can do was blocked it again with his shield. He was once again sent flying by the tongue attack. Once Cade was on the ground again, he tried to stand up. His body was shivering from pain. He was not in pain because of the attack but because he was falling on the ground. The toad attack did not seem to exceed the defense his shield provided as his shield was totally fine. Its durability went down a bit but that was all. Looking at the situation, Cade knew that his equipment will do well inside the dungeon but he himself was not up to standard. Other than his luck, all his other stats were slightly better compared to normal humans. However, that was not enough to fare well against a monster especially a strong monster like the toad. Monsters inside the dungeon had level and grade but there was one more thing that the system did not stated in their evaluation. Upon more and deeper researched, humans found out that each species of monsters had different amount of stat even if they were of the same grade and level. Humans assumed that they all had the same stats and the only difference about them was their skill and the way they were fighting. However, researched showed that different species of monsters had different amount of total stat points. Thus, humans started putting another parameter for the monsters, difficulty. The slime dungeon that Cade completed before was of difficulty 1. The lowest difficulty ever. All the monsters with difficulty 1 had maximum of 10 stat points in each of their stat at level 1 E grade. The maximum amount will increase by 10 for each increase in level. If the monsters had difficulty of 2, the stats will be twice of difficulty 1. All higher difficulty followed the same rules. The big tongue toad dungeon had the difficulty of 3. That meant, the toad had three times more stats than what the system predicted with their levels and grade. The toad that Cade was fighting can have a maximum of 30 stat points in each of its stat. With the attack that Cade had receive earlier, Cade knew that the toad''s strength surpassed his. Other than his luck, all of his stats were below thirty and only his vitality stat and endurance stat were above 20. Cade did not suffer from any injuries but he still felt pain all over his body. The toad retracted his tongue back but he did not stand still while his tongue was retracted. The toad took a big jump forward to close in to Cade. Cade was out of his tongue range at the moment. If he wanted to kill Cade, he needed to close the distance. Cade saw the big jump the toad made but instead of retreating, Cade went forward. Their distance closed in fast. The toad tongue fully retracted. The toad was still in the air and he launched another attack with his tongue as Cade was now in his tongue''s range. Cade did not stop his advanced and he kept moving forward while the tongue was coming closer and closer towards him. Cade tried to block the tongue again but instead of straightforwardly blocking the tongue, Cade tilted his shield a bit to his side, to change the direction of the tongue. The tongue hit his shield and it was misdirected to his side and hit the ground. His parry worked but he was halved succeed in his plan as he was pushed aside quite a bit by the recoil of the tongue attack. Due to the recoil, Cade lose his footing and he fell on the ground. He quickly stood and evaded the tongue that was swiping the ground towards him. Cade successfully evade the tongue and the toad also successfully landed on the ground and the toad retracted his tongue back. "So, he can only attack twice every time he uses his tongue," Cade saw that the toad will retract back his tongue every time it attacked using it twice. At the beginning, he thought that they were too far away. It was true that they were far away and it was evident when the toad jumped forward to close the distance. The second time the tongue was launched, it attacked twice and was retracted even when their distance was not far from each other. How many times the tongue can attack was not really a concern to Cade as he planned to do something else. He saw a lot of other explorers did the same and he knew he can do it too. 24 Chapter 24 The tongue attack from the toad kept coming and every time it reached Cade, he will parry it using his shield. He had been parrying the attack for many times now. At the beginning, he was always pushed aside by the tongue but bit by bit, he had gotten used to it and his parried had became better and better. "It is time," said Cade and his face became serious. He parried another attack and evade the second attack. The toad retracted back his tongue and launched another attack immediately. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The toad was really annoyed with Cade kept parrying his attack. He had lost count on how many attacks he had made. It was not like monsters had unlimited energy and the toad had starting to get tired. The toad wanted to end the fight immediately but he did not know how. The toad frowned but he still kept attacking Cade. Another tongue attack came directly towards Cade. Cade raised his shield and perfectly parried it but he did not waste the opportunity and slashed the tongue with his sword. The sword perfectly cut the tongue to two and blood started gushing out of it. The toad saw his tongue was cut and pained rushed through his body. The toad was in pain and immediately retracted his tongue back. He felt like crying but the pain was too much that his tears did not come out. Cade did not rest. He saw the toad pulled back its tongue and ran forward towards the toad. The toad was in pain and did not realize that Cade was coming at him. Once the toad fully retracted his tongue, he moved his hand and inspected his tongue. The toad''s tongue was not as beautiful (in his perspective) as before and it was dyed in blood. The toad was thinking how he can restore it back. While the toad was focusing on his tongue, he got careless and forgot about Cade. Cade was coming at him fast and when the toad finally realized that Cade was coming, it was too late. Cade was already in front of his face. Cade slashed his sword at the toad''s face. The toad did not have much time to react and was slashed by the sword. The toad was slashed to two. "Sigh~" Cade sighed. He felt a bit frustrated not because he failed to kill the toad but because he wasted too much time to practice his parried. Cade''s cardboard short sword was equivalent to a D grade weapon of the same level and a level 1 toad won''t be able to withstand its attack no matter how high the toad''s difficulty was. The toad was evaporating and it dropped an E grade level 1 endurance crystal. Cade picked up the magic crystal and stored it into his storage. Instead of continuing forward, Cade decided to rest for a bit. The toad was not an easy opponent. He did go through quite a bit of difficulty but once he was abled to parry the attack properly, the toad was not that hard to defeat. Cade took out a bottle of mineral water and drank it. While drinking the water, a few explorers passed through him. Since they already saw Cade''s earlier, they did not mind him much but they were surprised to see that Cade was fine. However, there was someone else that was much more surprised than others. He was not only surprised but spooked at how Cade was fine. He was hiding at a corner nearby Cade. That guy was the guy who volunteered to find Cade in the dungeon due to the betting. His name was Shihoon. Shihoon was looking for Cade and he finally found him but at the time, Cade was fighting the toad. He was surprised to see that Cade was doing quite well fighting the toad with only his cardboard. However, his surprised turned to spook when Cade cut the toad''s tongue with the cardboard sword. It got spookier when the cardboard sword cut the thick skin toad easily and killed the toad in one attack. When he thought back when Cade was parrying the tongue with the cardboard shield, it got spookiest. He felt goosebumps all over his body. "That cardboard is not a normal cardboard! It must be an equipment," thought Shihoon. "That''s right, when I think properly, there is no one stupid enough to use a cardboard in a dungeon." "I''ve never heard or saw someone selling this kind of equipment. Usually, equipment like weapons and armor is made of metal," Shihoon tried to remember if there were any equipment that looked as silly as the cardboard but to his memory, there were none. "The kid looks interesting too. He is obviously a beginner but his equipment is high grade considering that it can kill the toad in one attack. Is he from a powerful family? I doubt that. His clothes¡­ is totally cheap clothes." "Those from powerful family will usually wear expensive clothes. No way in hell they will touch cheap things but that cardboard is totally unusual. The best possible scenario is that he got it from monster drop." "He looks interesting, I want to see more of what he can do with that cardboard," Shihoon decided to follow Cade to observe him. After he saw Cade fighting the toad, he already forgot his purpose of finding Cade. He already forgot about the bets and felt more interested in Cade¡­ Cade''s equipment. Cade was resting and he realized that he should take a longer rest. He checked the time and it was 10 in the morning. He took quite a while fighting a toad but he learned to parry. Cade looked at his stats and he sighed. He did not know when he will level up. Fighting a level 1 monsters will not help him much in levelling up. He was level 9 and the experience he got fighting level 1 monster was small. At his pace, it will take a long time for him to level up to 10. Without levelling up, he won''t be able to strengthen his equipment. Not only that, he needed to kill as many monsters as possible to farm magic crystals. Magic crystals was the most important ingredient to strengthen his equipment and skill. Cade skill at the moment needed the magic crystal the most. He had never once got hit directly by the toad, so, he did not know how effective his physical resistance was but he knew that the skill will save him in a lot of situation. Cade did not want to try the skill''s effectiveness because his stats were low. Even with the resistance, it was possible for him to die in one attack. Cade decided to rest for 15 minutes before he continued his exploration. *** A train arrived at the train station nearby the big tongue toad dungeon. The train door opened and a beautiful girl with golden hair walked out of the train. The morning sunlight bath her and she shone like an angel. Everyone at the station was staring at her. She saw a little boy staring at her and she smiled at him. With her smile, she shone more and everyone''s mouth opened wide. They were all mesmerized by the dazzling beautiful girl that they saw. The beautiful girl walked and left the station. She headed towards the big tongue toad dungeon. She took out her geniusphone and opened the image folder. "I better ask around if they saw Cade. With my smile, they will surely help me," said Cynthia and he found Cade''s picture. She took it secretly in class after she decided to recruit Cade. "Urm~ I feel like a stalker¡­ A princess like me is doing something like this¡­" Cynthia felt like crying. She did not want to give up though. So, she steeled her heart and resolution. With Cade rejection, she felt more fired up to recruit him. She knew it that Cade was clearly unwilling but that unwillingness was what drew her more. If she told others about her identity and asked them to join her party, they will all agree immediately but not Cade. With Cade refusal, it was enough for her to know that Cade was not someone who was greedy and fame seeker. She will not have to worry much about his loyalty if he joined her party and she felt like they will work together well. With Cade''s picture on her geniusphone, she asked around the tents for Cade. After an hour of asking and walking around the tents, unfortunately for her, no one saw him. "I guess I need to search for him inside the dungeon," said Cynthia and she decided to search for him inside the dungeon. Cynthia stood in front of the dungeon''s portal and walked forward. When she was reaching the portal, she was suddenly blocked by something. "??? What is happening?" Cynthia wondered. She put her hand on the portal and some kind of barrier was blocking her. "Miss, if you are over level 10 you cannot enter the dungeon. The dungeon now has level limit," an explorer beside her said to her. Cynthia stared blankly at that explorer trying to process what he said, "...¡­. WHAT!" 25 Chapter 25 Three days had passed since Cade entered the big tongue toad dungeon. At the moment, Cade was at the end of the first floor. He still had not level up to 10 and thanks to his luck, he farmed quite a lot of magic crystals and at the same time found a problem that came with his high luck. Cade felt no need of equipment drop. However, his high luck made him getting a lot of equipment drop. It was not as much as the magic crystal but there were still quite a lot of them. Cade had no need for any equipment because he had his linked equipment. What he needed the most was the magic crystal. The magic crystals were widely used in strengthening his equipment, skill and growth potential. However, due to his high luck, the magic crystal that he wanted did not appear and instead he got the equipment. It was fine if it was the E grade but he needed the D grade magic crystals the most to increase his growth potential. All the D grade toad that he killed dropped equipment or something else. He was totally frustrated at his fortune. He knew he can sell the equipment for a lot of money but that was not what he needed at the moment. Other than that, Cade also got himself about five skill books. Four of them were the big tongue skill and one was the toad skin skill. The big tongue skill was a skill that let the user to increase the size of their tongue based on the skill level. Since the skill was level 1, it can only increase the tongue twice the normal size. Since skill cannot be upgraded or leveled up, it was fixed like that. In other words, the big tongue skill was useless unless the person has some kind of fetishes to tongue, they might feel like the skill was useful. The toad skin skill let the user to turn their skin to that of a big tongue toad. It will increase their defense. However, Cade felt like the skill will be unpopular because the toad''s skin was ugly. It was useful but when someone used it, they will turn ugly. Maybe those that did not mind that might buy it but it was a level 1 skill, so it was possible that no one wanted it. "This can still fetch me some money, but I wonder how much will I get for this," Cade was looking at the pile of raw materials he got from killing a lot of big tongue toad monsters. Apparently, there was also something else that changed. Before the changes happened, only magic crystal, equipment, skill book and puzzle pieces will drop. However, after the changes happened, a new type of drop was added. Material drops. The chance of getting material drops were higher compare to magic crystal. The material drops made Cade much more frustrated compare to the equipment drop. The material drops took more of his magic crystal drop compare to the equipment drop. Cade storage was now filled with material drops of the big tongue toad. Their tongue, skin, eyes, heart, liver, legs, arms and many more. They were totally grossed. If girls saw that, they will scream ''kya~ kya~'' disgusted at that. Cade wanted to throw them away but he did not know if it will be useful and maybe it had some value. In games, materials like the eyes, heart and liver were either being used as the ingredients for potions or as food. The legs and arms were either used as food or making some kind of equipment. The skin will usually be used as ingredients for clothes or something similar. However, that was all games. This was reality. Maybe it will be useless but since this was new, maybe there will be people who wanted to researched the materials. Due to that, Cade kept them all. However, looking at all of them piling up in his storage, he cannot help but wanted to vomit. He did not know if anyone wanted to buy all of them. There were too many of them in his storage. Even with all that thought, Cade knew that the materials can be used for something because when it was stored in his storage, the storage can appraise the materials. The materials had stats of their own. Normal things like food, normal clothes and normal equipment cannot be appraised by the storage and they had no stats. The things that can be appraised by the storage can be used against the monsters. So, the materials might have its uses. Maybe this time, explorers need not to worry about equipment drop as the material can possibly be used to make equipment. Cade was currently resting outside the boss room. At the moment, there were many explorers resting there too. They were all waiting for their turn to fight the boss. From what Cade heard from the conversations of the explorers near him, the boss was not that hard to deal with. The boss was a big toad with the same skill set as all the other toad they found on the first floor. The only difference was the size. That was it. Due to its big size, it was easy to defeat it as it was an easy target to hit. The big size also restricted some of its movement and it was slower too. According to some of them, there were one party of explorers who fought the boss toad and the boss toad tried to jump high but it hit the dungeon''s ceiling. It embarrassingly dropped on the ground and got a headache as well as hurt itself giving chance for the explorers to easily killed the boss toad. When Cade heard that, he cannot help but chuckled at it. Cade thought that the toad was somehow an intelligent monster much like the slime. The difference between them was that the slime was nice but the toad was aggressive. It will attack anyone it found without mercy. There was not once Cade met a toad that ran away from a fight. They all will attack him once they saw him. Due to their aggressive nature, Cade felt no pity killing them. Cade felt guilty killing the slime but not the toad. If the toad that he found ran away from him, he might consider letting that toad go but if it was attacking him, no mercy. While Cade rested there, he recognized a few familiar faces. Not like he was acquaintance to them but he just saw them passing by when he was exploring the dungeon. As for them knowing Cade, everyone knew him because of his cardboard equipment. He sticks out like sore thumb wherever he went because of his cardboard. Some of them already realized that the cardboard was not normal. Some of them even realized that the normal clothes Cade wore was not normal too. Those that realized that all saw Cade fighting the toad while they were passing by. They were all shocked to see Cade slashed the toad with a cardboard. Cade looked ridiculous in their eyes because of the cardboard at first but once they saw what that cardboard can do, all those thought ridiculing Cade was gone. They all respected him¡­ not because he was good in fighting or something similar but it was because Cade endure the humiliation of equipping something silly like the cardboard. From what they saw the way Cade was fighting, they all knew he was a beginner. Not like they were any better but they had watched strong explorers fought before and knew how a beginner fought. From all of that crowd, Cade saw the most familiar face he had saw while he was exploring the dungeon. Cade stared at that man and that man was aware of the stare tried to pretend to not aware of it. That man was Shihoon. The guy who had decided to follow (stalking) Cade. He was true to his words and had been following Cade since he decided to do that. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. He had also secretly taken pictures of Cade fighting the toad using the cardboard. He had quite a lot of collection of that. Every time Cade stopped to rest, he will check his genius phone and organized the picture he took. Cade realized about him being followed a day after he entered the toad dungeon. He saw the same man over and over again most of the time nearby. He was wary at first but after a while, he realized that the man did not intend to do anything bad to him. He was curious why he was following him but every time he tried to approach that man, that man ran somewhere. Since the man had no intention of doing something bad to him, Cade decided to not pursue it further. He did wonder why Shihoon was following him. Since Shihoon sat in the crowd and did not seem to want to go somewhere else, Cade decided to talk to him. 26 Chapter 26 Trying to pretend that he did not aware of Cade watching him, Shihoon was unaware of Cade approaching him. When he realized it, Cade held his shoulder to stop him from running away. Shihoon tried to stay calm and he moved his head and looked at Cade. Shihoon smiled at Cade calmly, "Is there something you need?" said Shihoon with calm voice. His heart was definitely not calm. It was beating fast and he even tried to held his sweat from coming out. He was nervous. It was not like he was scared of Cade but he knew he had been stalking Cade for the past few days and he even took many pictures of Cade¡­ He felt guilty and embarrassed of his behavior. "Why are you following me for the past few days?" Cade just went straight to what he wanted to know. He was not the type to love making long conversations. He loves going straight to the topic. Cade''s voice was not low and since they were all in a cave, his voice was magnified and that attracted the attention of everyone neared them. Cade asked the question loudly because he did not want Shihoon to run away. With a lot of people watching, Shihoon will be unable to run away. Everyone nearby was watching them. Their eyes fell on both of them. Cade was somehow used to people staring and watching him thanks to his cardboard equipment besides, no one had seen his face, so, he was fine. For Shihoon on the other hand, it was the first for him. With all the eyes staring at him, he started sweating. His calm act earlier had started to crumble. "I- I- am a photographer," said Shihoon stuttered a bit with his words. He continued, "I think you look cool and handsome with this-," Shihoon pointed his finger on Cade''s cardboard shield, "-cardboard thing you have." "I stalked you for the past few days to capture pictures of you with your cardboard thing," said Shihoon. His eyes were trembling a bit and he did not plan to said that. What he said came automatically from his mouth due to his nervousness. He had intended to lie or denied what Cade was asking but due to so many eyes were staring at him, he blurted that out automatically. Everyone who heard that including Cade were blinking their eyes at Shihoon and then, they all looked at Shihoon weirdly. Cade who were holding Shihoon''s shoulder instinctively let go of Shihoon. He took a step back and he made a dry laugh. "I hope you did not do that again¡­" said Cade surprised by Shihoon''s answer. He stopped talking for a bit before he continued, "Or I will report this to the police." Then, Cade left him alone but he came back to Shihoon, "Please delete my picture¡­" and then leave Shihoon immediately. Everyone who heard that looked weirdly at Shihoon. They thought that Cade was weird but there was someone weirder who thought that the cardboard looked cool. However, to those that had seen what the cardboard can do, can somehow understand Shihoon''s feeling. It looked ridiculous but the effect of something ridiculous abled to do something amazing can make anyone felt it was cool. But to them, it was not to the point that they want to stalk Cade. They all sighed and shakes their head at how ridiculous Shihoon was. Shihoon on the other hand had red face from being too embarrassed. He was hiding his face from embarrassment. He did not know why he said that. He followed Cade because he found him interesting¡­ no, his cardboard equipment was interesting. He only wanted to know and curious what the cardboard was capable of doing. He did not know why he blurted that. Shihoon decided to leave the dungeon. He cannot stand the embarrassment. He did not blame Cade as he knew it was his own fault by saying that. "Is he my fan?" thought Cade. He felt bad if that was the truth but he still disliked someone taking his photos secretly. He stalked him too. When he looked at the direction of Shihoon, he saw him leaving. When he thought properly, it did not look like he was his fan so he did not feel guilty. He hoped that he did not meet him again. Cade continue waiting for his turns to enter the floor boss room. Once it was his turns, he entered the boss room. Everyone who were waiting saw Cade entered by himself and most them wondered if he can survive the boss with his lousy cardboard. Only those that had seen the cardboard capability knew that Cade will be fine, possibly. They saw themselves how strong the cardboard was and they had no doubts about its capability. The door closed and Cade continued forward and came into a huge empty room. A magic circle appeared on the ground and the toad boss appeared. It was big. As big as a two storey house. The size did make Cade felt intimidate but it did not look like it was powerful. The boss toad launched its tongue and it was huge. Cade did not parry that attack but evaded it. Parrying or blocking that huge tongue was suicide. Even normal tongue attack from the big tongue toad was powerful and that huge tongue was for sure powerful too. The tongue hit the ground and left quite a crater there. Cade did what he was used to do to defeat the normal toad, slashed the tongue. His attack landed on the tongue and blood spluttered out of it. The boss toad screamed in pain and from that scream, Cade can confirm that it was really a monster. Cade followed up his attack with few more slashes against the tongue. The boss toad retracted its tongue back and decided to use its arm to attack Cade. "That was new," said Cade. The toad he had met had never used their arms. They either use their tongue or jumped around and kicked their opponent. The arm smashed the ground but Cade easily evaded it. The other explorers were right. The boss toad was too slow. Cade slashed that arm. The toad tried to retreat but it was too slow. Since it cannot jump, the boss toad loss most of its mobility. Cade moved neared the toad and slashed its body. The boss toad tried attacking but Cade had no problem of evading all of its attack. The fight between them continued with Cade slashing the toad and the boss toad attacking Cade but Cade evaded the attack. The fight did not last long. It was around five minutes and Cade succeeded in killing the boss toad. The boss toad dropped a skill book. It was the toad skin book but it was the boss version. It was a D grade level 1 skill. The effect of the skill was stronger than a normal toad skin skill. Unfortunately for Cade, he did not level up. He thought he will level up if he defeated the boss but that did not happen. The teleporter to the second floor appeared. Cade took the teleporter and went to the second floor. His explorations on the second floor was not that much different compare to the first floor. It took him a bit longer to reach the end of the second floor due to the toad getting a bit trickier and smarter in their attack. However, it did not pose much problem to Cade. Cade fought two variant toads on the second floor. The variant toad looked the same as normal toad but they had blue tongue. Their tongue was cold as ice. Whatever was hit by that tongue, a bit of ice will form. The freezing was not that strong as the toad were low level but Cade felt like it will be troublesome when they were higher level. Cade wished that he got a skill book from that variant but unfortunately, they only drop an endurance crystal. There was nothing he can do with that drop. It was random and he cannot control it. Cade defeated the boss of the second floor as easily as the first floor. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Again, Cade was unable to level up. He had been fighting lots of toads but he was still not levelling up. He felt a bit frustrated and annoyed but there was again nothing he can do about it. He can only keep fighting until he leveled up. He took a total of 5 days to complete the second floor. At the time he was on the second floor, he ran out of food. Cade did not want to get out of the dungeon and remembered about the materials drop. He had a lot of toad''s meat. The storage appraisal said it was edible. Cade steeled his heart and decided to eat that meat. To his surprise, it was not bad. He decided to continue his explorations with the toad''s meat as his source of food. 27 Chapter 27 3rd Floor ''Slash!'' Another big blue tongue toad was killed. However, before Cade can take a breath, another two of them was coming at him. Excluding the two big blue tongue toad that was coming at him, Cade had been fighting eight of them nonstop. Cade had been on the third floor for two days but he never once fought the big blue tongue toad this many. They were usually by themselves and Cade never once met a group of them. He might be in the same situation as the slime dungeon when the slime decided to fight in a group after too many of them were killed. Cade was actually happy fighting a lot of them but the big blue tongue toad was stronger than the big tongue toad and their tongue ability to slightly freeze things they touched was annoying. Cade''s sword and shield had become quite heavy from the accumulated ice formed on them when they touched the blue tongue. The increased weight of the ice reduced his speed a lot. It was getting harder and harder for Cade to evade the attack because he was getting slower. With his puny stats, without his strong linked equipment, he was nothing. The big blue tongue toad''s difficulty was 3.5 and that meant they were 3.5 much stronger compare to the monster with difficulty 1 of the same level. Comparing it to the monsters of difficulty 1, their stats was estimated to roughly reach a maximum of 100 stat points per stat and that was for an E grade blue tongue toad. D grade was much stronger. Comparing that to Cade''s stats, he was far too weak to defeat them even if he was level 9. The level meant nothing if his stats were low. His linked equipment was the one that was helping him a lot fighting against his opponent. His fight against the two blue tongue toads continued but, he was losing. Cade was getting tired with the increase weight and longer fights. Cade did not know if he should use the emergency badge. The potion he had can heal his wounds but it cannot heal his fatigue. The army of slime was easier for Cade to defeat compare to the big blue tongue toad. His fight against the toad had surpassed the time he fought the army of slime plus the boss slime. Cade was not the type that exercise a lot and his stamina was low. With his stats that was slightly higher than a normal human, he cannot fight for long. He was at his limit. Cade decided to use his emergency badge. However, before he can even use his badge, another him suddenly appeared and attack the toad. Cade was surprised by the appearance of someone that looked like him but he immediately knew that it might be someone else''s skill. With the help of another him, Cade was abled to fight the big blue tongue toad and killed one of the two while another him killed the other toad. To Cade surprise, he leveled up to 10 and gained 20 stat points thanks to his D grade growth potential. The toad that was killed by him dropped a skill book while the toad that was killed by another him did not drop anything. Cade took the skill book and it was the blue tongue skill. The skill had the same effect as the blue tongue toad. Cade looked at another him and that guy disappeared. Cade looked around and he saw someone familiar. "You are¡­ the stalker," said Cade to the familiar man. He was Shihoon, his stalker. He had not met him once since they separated on the first floor. "Urm~ Please stop that, I am not your stalker anymore. This is totally a coincidence," said Shihoon with a bit of panic face. It was really a pure coincidence that he met Cade. "¡­What is the skill that you use?" asked Cade. He was curious with the skill that Shihoon used. "Picture Come to Live. I can summon anything I want from a picture for few seconds but the picture will disappear when I use this skill," said Shihoon happily revealing his skill. It was not much of a secret because many people knew about that skill. It was a common skill. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "¡­I thought I asked you to delete my picture," said Cade while staring at Shihoon. Shihoon suddenly realized he should not say that to Cade. "Ahaha¡­" Shihoon laughed awkwardly. "Don''t worry, I keep it because it is useful with my skill," said Shihoon making excuses. "You saw it yourself just now how good it was." Cade looked at Shihoon and decided to let it go. Shihoon did not look like a bad person and he did save his life. Well, he was a bit creepy with the stalking but Cade knew that he had not been following him since they separated on the first floor. "I thought you left the dungeon?" asked Cade. He did remember that Shihoon immediately left from the embarrassment he got. If he went out and came in later, he won''t be able to reach the third floor this fast. If he did reach the third floor this fast, he must be strong. "Well~ I did intend to leave the dungeon but I realized that it will be a waste of time going back since I am already at the end of the first floor. I wait for you to left the first floor and then, I continue my exploration¡­ without any stalking," said Shihoon. Shihoon was telling the truth. It took them three days to travel to the end of the first floor and going back without defeating the boss was a waste. With the new dungeon''s rules, once someone had defeated a floor boss of a dungeon, they can just skip that floor to the next floor when they entered the dungeon again in the future. If Shihoon did not defeat the first-floor boss before he came out of the dungeon, he needed to travel three to four days again to reach the end of the first floor. "Is that so. Hmm¡­ then, this is for you," Cade throw the skill book, blue tongue to Shihoon. Shihoon caught the book and blankly stared at it. He looked at Cade with blank expression. "As thank you for saving my life," said Cade. He actually smiled a bit but Shihoon cannot see that because of the mouth mask. Cade felt a bit uncomfortable with Shihoon but he did feel thankful to him for saving his life gave him the skill book. Cade got quite a lot of skill book during his time exploring the toad dungeon and giving one of them to Shihoon was not really a lost to him. His life was much more precious compare to the skill book. "Are you really giving this to me?" asked Shihoon with an unbelievable face. Skill book was precious and super rare. Whenever someone got their hands on it, they will either learned them or sell it. Even the weakest of the skill can sell for quite a lot of money. And here was Cade who casually gave Shihoon a skill book. Shihoon looked at the skill book and he was much more surprise because the blue tongue skill book was rare. Out of the three skill books that can be gained from the big blue tongue toad, the blue tongue skill book was the rarest. "I cannot accept this. This is too expensive for a small help I give you," said Shihoon while he tried giving the skill book to Cade. Cade stopped him and he took out something from his storage. He took out two books from his storage and Shihoon instantly recognized the two books. They were skill books. Cade showed Shihoon the titled of the book and Shihoon blankly staring at it. "Blue tongue¡­" Shihoon sighed. "Then, I will take this. I forgot that you got quite lucky with the item drop." "How high is your luck that you usually got a drop¡­ you even got two blue tongue skill books," asked Shihoon. He had been following Cade before and he knew how much drops Cade got. For every ten toad Cade killed, seven of them will drop something. Rarely did Shihoon saw Cade got nothing from killing the toad. Shihoon assumed that Cade''s luck must be really high. Cade did not answer Shihoon''s question and he left him to find a place to rest. He was extremely tired from fighting the toad. He needed to rest. Shihoon saw Cade leaving and he decided to leave too. He took a different path from Cade because he did not want Cade to misunderstand him as a stalker anymore. After a few minutes of walking, Cade found a place to rest. He decided to stop exploring for the day and started setting up his resting place. It was just a simple portable fireplace for him to cook some food. Once he finished cooking, Cade checked his stats and he had 20 stat points he can use to increase his stats. He contemplated on which stat he should increase. 28 Chapter 28 While eating his food, Cade was thinking deeply of where he should use his 20 stat points. If he followed his earlier plan, he will increase his luck. However, his situation at the moment suggested that he should raise his other stats. Cade really wanted to increase his luck but he also felt like the toad was becoming harder and harder for him to handle. Since he arrived on the third floor, he never once fought a D grade big blue tongue toad. All the ones he fought was E grade. The E grade already gave him a lot of troubles and the toad had started fighting in group too. If he met a group of D grade big blue tongue toad in the future, he will die. He will immediately be killed and revived outside the dungeon. He did not want to feel the feeling of dying. Even thinking about that gave him chilled and a lot of fear. "Emm¡­ Should I raise other stats? But I really want to have higher luck. Right now, I get many materials and magic crystals. I have lots of equipment too and quite a few of skill book thanks to my high luck," said Cade while he was considering what stat he should raise. "But I still never once got my hands on any puzzle piece. If I can complete a puzzle, I might be able to raise my stats with it and I don''t need to worry much of increasing my growth potential because I can rely on the puzzle," said Cade. Cade continued eating his food and he stared at his stats. After having a few chews on the toad meat he cooked, Cade made his decision. Cade had gotten used to eating the toad meat. It was a bit hard to eat at the beginning but now, he had no problem eating them as long as they were cooked properly. That feeling was the same when he first ate a sushi. He vomited the sushi but once he ate sushi the second time, he kind of like the taste and got used to it as he ate more of them. Once he made his decision, Cade poured all of the 20 stat points on one of his stat. Cade checked his stats. Name: Cade Age: 20 Lifespan: 70 Potential: D [0 / 10 000 D grade level 1 magic crystal] Level: 10 Stat Points: 0 Vitality: 20 Strength: 13 Endurance: 23 Dexterity: 13 Wisdom: 15 Luck: 91 Due to Cade leveling up to 10, his lifespan increased by 10. It was normal for the lifespan to increase for every 10 level an explorer gained. When Cade''s level reached 20, his lifespan will increase by 20 and at 30, it will increase by 30. Cade decided to follow his plan by increasing his luck. With 20 stat points, he increased his luck to 91. His luck far exceeded the lucky girl. He can now be called the lucky boy if people knew about his luck. At the moment, only Shihoon had somehow kind of knew that Cade had high luck but it did not look like he will tell others about it. He had no idea how much Cade luck were but he knew it was high. Though Cade feared a bit that he might not survive further into the dungeon, he still hopes that he will get the puzzle piece to increase his stat. "Now it is time for me to increase my linked equipment," said Cade and he opened his storage to increase his linked equipment level. When Cade opened his storage, to his surprise, an empty slot with blue light appeared besides his linked equipment. The empty slot had the same color as his linked equipment slot. "Could it be?" Cade immediately tried to put something on the empty slot and immediately after that, the system asked him if he wanted to link with what he put on that slot. Cade remembered the time he just blatantly agreed to link the other equipment without knowing about it. He had so many regrets before but he was quite happy now. Cade obviously said no and the thing he put on the slot were immediately put back on its earlier slot. "What should I link next?" Cade thought for a bit and he suddenly came up with an idea. Luckily for him, there were some unused cardboard boxes in his storage. When he was preparing for his exploration for the big tongue toad dungeon, he bought a lot of things and they came with box. Cade was lazy, so, he did not throw away the boxes and stored them in his storage. Since Cade decided to take on the character of using the cardboard, he decided to properly went through that. He even put his nickname on his explorer license, ''The Cardboard''. He should properly embrace that nickname. Cade decided to make an armor of cardboard. Cade finished his food and took out the cardboard boxes. Cade started making his cardboard armor. It took him about an hour to finish making the armor. It was just a simple body armor to cover his body. Cade stared at it and thought that he will look sillier with the armor. However, no matter how sillier he looked, he decided to do it. With the finished cardboard armor, Cade put it on the blue slot in his storage. The system asked if Cade wanted to link with it and Cade said yes. Nothing magical or mystical happening. Only that the cardboard armor was now on the blue slot permanently. Cade took out the armor and wore it. He did look sillier. Cade put it back on his storage and started using the magic crystals he had collected since he got into the dungeon to strengthened his linked equipment. Cade actually wanted to test on something. The system said that in order for Cade to strengthen his equipment, he needed to use the level 1 magic crystal. The sentence was a bit different compared to when he wanted to increase his growth potential and increase the level of his skill. There was no mention of grade. When Cade used the E grade level 1 vitality crystal, the stat increase by 10. Cade wanted to test if his linked equipment will get more stat points if he used a higher-grade magic crystal. Cade used a D grade level 1 endurance crystal on his cardboard armor. However, to his disappointment, it only increased the stat by 10. "So, it is fix¡­" Cade felt a bit disappointed. He decided to save his D grade magic crystal for his growth potential. He will only use the E grade magic crystal to strengthen his linked equipment. Cade increased all of his linked equipment to level 10 including his newly made cardboard armor. They were all roughly had a stat of 250 in their stats. With his newly added linked equipment, Cade felt like his choice of increasing his luck was right. He did not need to worry being attack on his body anymore thanks to his cardboard armor. With all of his equipment finished upgrading, Cade decided to level up his physical resistance skill. However, before he wanted to close his storage, he realized something weird were happening to his linked equipment. All the slots where the linked equipment was located in the storage were blinking. It was not a fast blinking like an emergency happened but a really slow blinking. The blue color slowly dimmed and then, became bright again. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Cade touched the cardboard round shield slot and a new notification appeared from the system. [Add anything on the equipment to upgrade] "¡­ Upgrade? Aren''t I upgrading it all this time?" Cade wondered what actually happened but he thought that it might be something good. He decided to add something on his cardboard round shield. Cade remembered the iron round shield he had before in the beginning collecting dust in his storage. Cade moved the iron shield and put it on his cardboard round shield. A new notification from the system appeared. [Added the material?] asked the system. Cade said yes. Immediately after he confirmed his choice, the iron round shield disappeared from his storage. The cardboard round shield on his arm also disappeared and entered his storage. The blinking slot of the cardboard round shield stopped blinking and a meter bar with percentage of 0% appeared on that slot. Cade stared at it and the percentage increased to 1% and then 2% and 3% and go on. It looked like it will take a while for the meter bar to fill. Cade decided to increase his skill level while waiting for the upgrade to finish. At the moment, Cade''s physical resistance skill was at level 3 with the effect of lowering physical damage done by the E grade opponent by 30%. Cade poured all of his leftover E grade magic crystal on his skill and increased the level to 5 with damage reduced by 50%. Cade smiled. Half the damage will help him a lot. Cade checked his upgraded shield and it was at 98%. The percentage increase to 99% and then 100%. [Choose the new stat to add?] [1. Def2] [2. Iron] 29 Chapter 29 "So, the upgrade let me put a new stat on my linked equipment. Def2? I wonder what this will do? Will I get to increase more of my shield''s defense every time I use a magic crystal on it?" thought Cade. "And iron? If I choose this, will my cardboard turn to iron?" thought Cade again. It might not be a bad idea to turn his cardboard to iron. It will help him a lot especially if he was dealing with fire or water. Cade made his decision and choose to add the iron stat. The system immediately acknowledged his choice and a new stat was added to his cardboard round shield. Cade checked his new cardboard round shield''s stat. Name: Cardboard Round Shield (iron) Level: 10 Durability: 250 Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Defense: 250 Iron: 0 [1 iron magic crystal] Upon opening the stat of his upgraded cardboard round shield, ''iron'' stat was added to the shield. "There is not much change from this upgrade other than the iron stat," said Cade. "I wonder what this iron stat will do? To increase the iron stat, I need the iron magic crystal¡­ They are quite expensive compare to the magic crystal related to stats," said Cade. Cade did not know what the iron stat can do. He just assumed that it will turn his shield to an iron the higher the iron stat was. After Cade was done inspecting the stats of his shield, it was time to see his new shield. He closed the stat and saw the picture of his new shield. He can see that his shield had change color. Maybe it was not a cardboard anymore. Cade took out the shield from his storage and to his surprise, there were quite a change happening to his cardboard round shield. The most obvious changes were the color of the shield. Cade''s shield was usually brown in color, the color of a cardboard. From a far, it was obvious that it was a cardboard. The shield''s color had now turned from brown to gray. It did not look like an iron but it just changes its color to gray. Cade thought that the shield''s composition will change to iron but that did not happen. The shield was still a cardboard but instead of brown cardboard, it was now a gray cardboard. It did not turn heavier and it was light as usual. It also still had the foamy characteristics of a cardboard. The composition was totally the same as before. Thanks to the changes in color, the cardboard looked like it was made from a slightly expensive cardboard. Other than color, the shape of the shield had changed a bit. The shield had now turned slightly larger compared to before. Before the upgrade, the cardboard round shield was flat. It was just a circle shape of cardboard. It was no wonder people were laughing at Cade and even Cade himself knew how ridiculous the shield looked. After the upgrade however, the cardboard was not flat. It was now slightly concaved like a real round shield. It still looked obviously like a cardboard but it had better shape now. "This looks better than before," said Cade while smiling. He was happy that his cardboard round shield looked much more reliable compared to before. Even Cade himself sometimes had doubts that his shield can last longer during a fight. "I should start upgrading my other linked equipment," said Cade and he started inspecting his storage for other things he can use to upgrade his other linked equipment. Cade decided to use the iron short sword he used on the slime dungeon and the iron body armor he had been using since entering the dungeon to upgrade his cardboard short sword and cardboard body armor respectively. There was a reason why Cade upgraded them using the iron equipment. He wanted to give his cardboard linked equipment the iron stat. While inspecting his new cardboard round shield, Cade found out that it resisted water and fire better than before. It was still a cardboard but it can resist water like a normal equipment made of iron. His cardboard main weaknesses were water and fire. Whenever water or fire were involved in a fight, his cardboard equipment''s durability will decrease like water flowing out of a bottle. It was really fast. Fire was much more severe as it will easily burn his cardboard because it was just a stack of paper. The waiting for the upgrade to finish continued for few minutes. After the waiting had ended, Cade choose the iron stat to be added to his sword and body armor. For his body armor, the choice of stat was the same as the shield but the sword was slightly different. There were three choices, two were different to the shield and body armor. One of them was the iron stat that Cade had decided to choose. The other one was the atk2 stat. The last one was the sharpness stat. The sharpness stat was a totally new stat that Cade had never heard of it before. Cade can guess what it can do based on the stat name. As Cade had aimed earlier to choose the iron stat, he ignored the sharpness stat. If he can upgrade his equipment again, he will surely choose the sharpness stat. Since he can upgrade his equipment at level 10, Cade deduced that it was possible for him to upgrade his linked equipment one more time when he reached level 20. He was still far from level 20 and thus he chose to upgrade his equipment to cover the equipment weaknesses. Cade checked his upgraded cardboard short sword and cardboard body armor stat and all of them was the same as the cardboard round shield. All of them needed the iron magic crystal to increase the iron stat. Cade did not need to worry much about buying the iron magic crystal because he had many skill books that he can sell to get enough money to buy lots of them. Cade wanted to farm the iron magic crystal by himself but unfortunately, from his knowledge, there was no dungeon in Biscuit Star System that dropped the iron magic crystal. He needed to travel to another star sector to be able to farm the iron magic crystal. To Cade, it will be a waste of time to travel that far when he can farm lots of skill book for more money and then use the money to buy the iron magic crystal online. Cade took out both his newly upgraded cardboard short sword and cardboard body armor to see their new appearances. Just like the cardboard shield, the cardboard sword was flat too. It had a cross shape and that was it. After the upgrade, it was not flat. The flat cardboard short sword had now changed its thickness to that of a normal sword. It took the appearance of the sword used as its material to upgrade. The handle was easier and comfortable to hold. It looked like a proper sword and was gray in color. However, it still looked like a cardboard but with better craftmanship applied on it. Cade''s cardboard body armor new appearance however made him gasped. It had totally changed. Cade sloppily made the body armor but the upgrade fixed that completely. When Cade made the body armor, it was just two big rectangle pieces of cardboard joined by a strip of cardboard on the shoulder. It looked totally hideous and silly but after the upgrade, all of that had change. Just like the shield and sword, the color turned to gray. It still made of cardboard but the appearance of the armor was totally amazing. It took the shape of the armor Cade used as the material to upgrade the body armor. It was not rectangle and had a nice shape. When Cade wore it, it fit perfectly and he kind of look cool with it. The craftmanship applied to the cardboard body armor was extremely higher than the sword and shield. Cade was totally happy with the new shape of his body armor. He was not creative enough to craft the cardboard properly and just made do with it as long as it can link and be useful to him. "With this, it will not be too embarrassing," said Cade while smiling. Compare to the rectangle armor he made, the upgraded body armor was like heaven and earth. With Cade fully equipped with his upgraded linked equipment, he looked cooler than before. Cade tried to get used to his upgraded linked equipment. There was nothing much he can test with his shield and body armor. He just tried to slam the shield and his body equipped with the body armor on the wall to test their durability and they were much more durable than before. As for his sword, he tried to slash on air to get used to the new shape of his sword. It was still as light as before so Cade had not much concern on the weight of the sword. Cade tried to slash the sword at the wall and he can feel it was better than before. After a few more tests with them, Cade sat on the ground again and checked his other linked equipment. 30 Chapter 30 Cade checked his storage again to choose something that he can use as material to upgrade his other linked equipment, the hoodie, mouth mask, white t-shirt and jeans. He decided to hold on upgrading his mouth mask because he had his own plan on it after he saw that the body armor changed shape after the upgrade. Cade wanted to change the mouth mask''s shape too and he had an idea on what he can use as material to upgrade it. At the moment, Cade had lots of endurance crystals, skill books and other equipment. If he used the endurance crystal, it was possible for him to put the endurance stat on his equipment. It will greatly help him in his explorations since his endurance was low. However, looking at his newly iron stat, the new stat will be zero. It will not be able to help him at the moment. He put that idea away. For skill books, he thought that maybe his equipment will acquire skill if he used them as the upgrade material. However, none of the skill book in his possession was something that he like. He dismissed the idea completely. As for the other equipment, they were either weapons or armors. Cade did not get any clothes equipment he can use. He can use the weapons or armors but looking at his upgraded cardboard equipment, Cade was afraid that the clothes will be hard and uncomfortable to wear. He did think that that won''t happen if he used the cardboard equipment as example. Even after it turned to iron it still had the cardboard textures. However, he did not want to try it. The upgrade was irreversible and if he messed up his linked equipment, it will affect him a lot. Cade was basically dependent on them as normal clothes. He did have normal clothes with him but he rarely used them in the dungeon because they cannot provide him with any protection against monster attacks. When his clothes linked equipment started smelling bad, that was when he will wear normal clothes. Since Cade''s linked equipment cannot be destroyed forever, he did not wash the clothes, he burned them and then wait for it to restore itself to new and wore it again. He had been doing that a lot since he started exploring the big tongue toad dungeon. There were many people passing by and if he smelled bad, people will start talking about it and he might gain another kind of fame. Cade was already popular with his cardboard, if he got popular for smelling bad too, he did not know where to hide his face. He might not be able to get a girlfriend too if he had the smelling bad fame. Cade did pass by some explorers that smells bad and he did not want to be like them. "What should I do? The skill book is totally a no. Using the weapon or armor is a no too. Endurance crystal? That is the best choice now. Or should I just wait until I get out of this dungeon?" Cade thought properly of what he should do. In the end, he decided to wait until he got out of the dungeon. He will buy some clothes equipment he likes and use them as the upgrade material once he got out of the dungeon. "I guess that''s it," said Cade and he closed his system and decided to rest for the day. He did not want to continue exploring the dungeon for the day. *** Big Tongue Toad Dungeon, 4th Floor. "Leader! Leader! Hold on! Don''t close your eyes! Stay with me!" a dark skin man was running while carrying an injured man on his back while shouting at him to stay awake. The dark skin man was Raja. After he separated with his friend, Deury, he joined a small party of explorers to explore the big tongue toad dungeon. "Ra-ja¡­" said the Nick. The man that Raja was carrying was the leader of the party he joined. He was heavily injured and blood was everywhere on his body. With tears, Nick said, "Le-t me d-own¡­ You¡­ sh-ould¡­ run a-nd warn o-ther expl-orer about t-hat thin-g." Raja was running as fast as he can and he was injured too but not as much as Nick. He was running to the best of his ability because he wanted to save Nick. Nick continued, "Wh-en you ge-t out o-f th-is pl-ace, pl-ea-se tell my f-ami-ly that I am so-rry. I love th¡­" After saying that, Nick''s eyes turned cold. He died. "No! No! Noooo!!!! Leader! Nick! Wake up! Please, please wake up! Please!! Nick!!!" Raja was begging Nick to stay awake, however, Nick died. No matter what he said, there was nothing he can do to prevent Nick''s death. Raja''s step stopped. He put Nick''s body on the ground and stared at him. Raja''s eyes started gleaming with tears and he cried while hugging Nick''s body. Supposedly, with the new dungeon rules, anyone who died inside the dungeon will evaporate and revived outside the dungeon. However, Nick''s body did not evaporate. Not only Nick''s body, everyone in Raja''s party went through the same things. They all died but they did not evaporate and revived outside the dungeon. ''Klak! Klak! Klak!'' footsteps can be heard from further in the direction where Raja came from. When Raja heard that, shivered ran through his whole body and he looked at that direction. Raja gritted his teeth and he looked at Nick''s body. "I will pass your last words to your family. I am sorry leader. I need to leave you here," said Raja and he wiped his tears. His journey with his new party was short but he got closed with them easily in a span of few days. Raja treated them like his own family and the same went to Nick and his other party members. After saying his last words to Nick, Raja stood up and continued running leaving Nick''s body there. A few minutes after Raja left Nick, three humans'' figure were walking towards Nick''s body. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Hoh~ Look who we found here. The monkey that ran away earlier," one of the human figures said. The other two stayed silent. He raised his leg and stomp on Nick''s body. A small explosion happened and Nick''s body exploded to pieces. "Heh," that human figure was satisfied with what he had done. The three of them continued walking. "Let''s chase that other monkey," said the human figure that stomp on Nick''s body. The other nodded in agreement to that suggestion. The three of them lowered their body and jumped forwards. Their jump was so strong that the ground break. *** A day later. A long blue tongue was launched at Cade at high speed. Cade used his shield and easily parried that tongue. Without wasting any more time, he cut the tongue to two. It was the same strategy he had been using in fighting the big tongue toad all this time but after he upgrade his linked equipment, the killed had become so much easier. Cade launched forward and slashed the big blue tongue toad to two easily with his newly cardboard short sword. The toad evaporated and drop an item. Cade stared at the item and "YES!!!!" he screamed and jumped in joy because the toad dropped a puzzle piece. It was the fifth puzzle piece that Cade got for the day. However, he was happier this time because he got a different part of the puzzle. After Cade increased his luck to 91, he rarely got nothing when he killed a monster. They will always drop something. His probability of getting the skill book had increased and he got quite a lot of them including the rarely blue tongue skill book. The first four puzzle piece that Cade got were all the same one. They were the E grade big blue tongue toad''s limbs. The puzzle piece that he just got earlier was the E grade big blue tongue toad''s head. According to the system, there were 4 part of puzzle for the toad. Cade had currently in possession of two of the four parts. If he found the body and blue tongue puzzle piece, he will be able to complete one of the puzzles and used them to increase his stats. The thought of getting more stat points made him feel so happy. He cannot help but wanted to kill more big blue tongue toad. Cade was closed to the boss floor room of the third floor. However, he decided to wander around more until he got the body and blue tongue puzzle piece. While wondering around and killing the tens of toads, Cade finally got himself his third puzzle piece. It was the E grade big blue tongue toad''s head. All that was left was the blue tongue puzzle piece. Cade continued his killing and suddenly, he met a familiar face again. It was Shihoon. Both of them were surprised to see each other. While Cade was looking at Shihoon suspiciously, Shihoon looked the other way like he was guilty of something. 31 Chapter 31 "You¡­ you were stalking me again, right?" asked Cade. Shihoon had history of stalking Cade and looking at his guilty face, that was the only thing that came to Cade''s mind. Shihoon immediately moved both of his hands forward and with his head, he shook violently meaning no, he did not stalk him. "No! No! This is a coincidence! Totally a coincidence!" said Shihoon denying what Cade was asking. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. However, Cade did not buy that. Shihoon looked really suspicious. Immediately, he drew his sword, took a fighting stance and dashed forward. Shihoon was shocked that Cade suddenly attacked him. He took out a picture and used ''picture come to life'' skill. The picture shone and then disintegrated immediately. After that, a magic circle appeared in front of Shihoon and a man in hoodie with gray cardboard equipment came out of it. That man was another Cade, with his newly upgraded linked equipment. "Stop him!!" ordered Shihoon as Cade was coming fast at him. However, he was surprised when Cade suddenly passed through him and attacked something behind him. Shihoon looked behind him and saw a big blue tongue toad was injured by Cade. The toad did not die because it succeeded in jumping backwards before the attack landed, reducing its injury. After that one slash, Cade followed up with another dash towards the toad and slashed it again with his sword. This time, his attack landed perfectly on the toad and the toad died. Shihoon was staring at the situation blankly. The Cade he summoned just stood there motionlessly beside him. Cade stared at Shihoon and said, "I thought you said this is a coincidence? What is that?" Cade pointed his finger to another him that was standing beside Shihoon. "Ahaha¡­" Shihoon dryly laughed. He looked straight to Cade''s eyes and with determination, he immediately got on his knees and kowtowed to Cade. Cade was totally surprised with Shihoon''s action. "Boss! I am sorry! I saw you yesterday and you look cooler than before with that new cardboard you have. I cannot help it~ I got curious and¡­ stalking you again. Forgive me boss!" said Shihoon. He was telling the truth. Shihoon coincidentally saw Cade the day before and was attracted by the new look Cade donned. He did not want to stalk Cade at first but after seeing him in action with the new equipment, he cannot help it. "You¡­" Cade suddenly got a headache. He was not a celebrity or anyone famous at all but now, he needed to deal with a stalker¡­ fan? Cade did not know if Shihoon was his fan or purely a stalker. "Boss, you won''t kill me, right? You even save me just now!" Shihoon begged Cade. He was already almost at the end of the third floor. If Cade killed him, he needed to restart the third floor again. "Stop calling me boss. I am not your boss and I am not a cruel person that kill everyone I dislike," said Cade and he sighed. He suddenly felt extremely tired. "You had no intention of harming me so I don''t think you deserve to be killed," said Cade and he decided to left Shihoon alone. "Let''s explore this dungeon together!" Suddenly Shihoon suggested that they explored the dungeon together. "I prefer to be by myself," said Cade and he took the item drop he got from the toad he killed earlier. "You know, you cannot survive by yourself in the dungeon. It is okay in the lower floor, but the higher you go, the harder it is to fight by yourself. You even need my help before," said Shihoon. Shihoon was right. He had experience going to higher floor before and even if the dungeon was low level, the monster was usually stronger than the explorer. No matter how high the grade of the explorer, they all needed to team up when they reached higher floor of a dungeon. The stubborn ones who preferred to work alone usually died earlier than the ones who decided to party with others. No matter what the explorer did, the monsters will usually be stronger than them at the same level. Cade stopped on his track when he heard that. He knew it in his heart that he cannot work alone forever. He already went through two situations where he needed to have someone else by his side to survive. The first time was in the top floor of the slime dungeon. If the army of slime did not decide to betray their boss, he had no chance of surviving the dungeon. The second time was fighting the group of the big blue tongue toad. If Shihoon did not appear and helped him, he might have needed to start exploring the third floor again. Cade knew all of that but he still stubbornly did not want to team up with anyone. His reason was his high luck. If many people knew about it, they will want to used him. Cade did not want to be used by anyone. "I will be fine by myself," said Cade and he continued walking leaving Shihoon by himself. "Sigh, the kid is quite stubborn. Even with his new equipment, I can see he was struggling fighting a group of that toad," said Shihoon and he decided to follow Cade from behind. Shihoon cannot help himself to stay away from Cade. All the time he was stalking Cade, he was getting fonder and fonder towards Cade. If he can help Cade, he will do his best to do that. He had a feeling that Cade might need his help soon and decided to stay closed to him. He will try to persuade Cade again to party with him. "I feel like I am becoming more and more like those maniac fan who wanted to get close to their idol and do everything to get their attention," Shihoon realized that he was slowly going that way though he was pretty sure that it was not like that. Cade on the other hand felt a bit of pressure with Shihoon following him from behind. He minded it a lot but he cannot chase Shihoon away because at the moment there was only one path forward. Shihoon did not take any of Cade''s picture but he just followed him quietly and watching him fighting every monster they met. He also sometimes fighting the toad that came from behind them. After spending a few hours together, Cade had gotten used to Shihoon''s presence. He was feeling the pressure of someone watching him earlier but now, he felt nothing. Continuing forward, Cade met another big blue tongue toad. He killed the toad but unfortunately there was still no puzzle piece for the blue tongue part. Luckily, on the third floor, the big blue tongue toad was common. The normal big tongue toad can only be found at the beginning of the third floor. After that, Cade found none of them. Moving forward more, Cade finally arrived at the boss room. There were many other explorers waiting for their turn to enter the boss room. "This is weird," a voice came from behind Cade. The voice belonged to Shihoon. "What is weird?" asked Cade. He did not find it weird that many explorers were there. It was not that much different compare to the first floor. "The amount of people here is quite the same as when we were waiting at the first floor," said Shihoon. "Maybe all the people on the first floor that wait with us arrive here at the same time as us," said Cade. Both of them had somehow naturally be able to talk to each other like there was nothing happened between them. "Ugh~ Kid, are you stupid? Do you think that everyone waiting on the first floor with us succeeded in defeating the boss? And, do you think that everyone here waiting with us is the same one we met on the first floor?" asked Shihoon. "Well¡­ I still don''t see what is weird with this situation¡­" Cade still did not know what was the weird thing that Shihoon meant. "I said just now that not everyone that fought the boss can defeat the boss. Let say, there are 20 people that wait their turn to fight the boss on the first floor. After 20 of them fight the boss, only half of them succeed and went to the second floor." "At the second floor, 10 of them fight the boss again and only 5 of them succeed," said Shihoon. Cade looked at Shihoon and he still did not get what was weird with it. "Sigh, what I want to say is, the higher we go the less explorer we will meet but the one waiting here is as many as when we are at the first floor," explained Shihoon to the still not understand Cade. "What is so weird with this? There are many explorers after that that will pass the boss and fill the place of the one who fail," said Cade. "There, you said it yourself, ''many explorers''," said Shihoon. "Don''t you find it weird that suddenly many explorers came here?" 32 Chapter 32 "You mean¡­ something happened outside that made more explorers went inside a dungeon?" asked Cade. There must be something happened that urged many of the explorers to flock the dungeon more. "I think that is the only explanation. We have been inside this dungeon for eleven days and we don''t know what is happening outside. Maybe something big like another planet disappear and that really opened the eyes of many more explorers to start entering the dungeon to train themselves," said Shihoon. Cade frowned. It was possible for that to happen but Cade felt like that was unlikely. What happened to Planet Snowball was because of human''s stupidity but their stupidity woke up many people. If Planet Snowball''s government took action at that time, it was possible that nothing will happen. The time limit dungeon had become everyone main priority and they will put a lot of effort in closing the dungeon. Failing seemed unlikely unless something unexpected happened and it was possible to happen because no one knew what was inside the time limit dungeon. Cade remembered before he got inside the big tongue toad dungeon. The news said that, Planet White Snow, Planet Desktra and Planet Lapto had send hundreds of experienced explorers inside the time limit dungeon to close them. With that many explorers, Cade cannot imagine them to fail. Cade did not want them to fail either. This concerns the future of their universe. "Let''s hope nothing like that is happening," Cade sighed. He did not want to think negatively and hoped for the best of them. "There is something happening that made explorers flocking the dungeon," suddenly, a voice came from behind them. Cade and Shihoon turned back and saw a big bulky man were standing behind them. He wore a full body blue armor with a huge blue shield and huge blade on his back. He looked totally cool with his armor. Cade saw the armor and his mouth were opened from awed. Shihoon on the other hand, took out his camera and started snapping pictures. "I am sorry for interrupting your conversations. I am Jonathan," said Jonathan while extending his hand to Cade and Shihoon for a handshake. However, both of them were busy. Cade was in awe staring at the cool armor and Shihoon was with his own antics taking lots of pictures. "Ahaha¡­" Jonathan lightly laughed looking at the reaction of Cade and Shihoon. Cade snapped back to reality and saw Jonathan''s hand. He immediately grabbed Jonathan''s hand for the handshake. "I am Cade," said Cade. "Is your armor a full set equipment?" asked Cade. Sometimes but rarely, monsters can drop a full set equipment. It was usually comprised of a full body armor or clothes and a weapon that will work well with the armor or clothes. A full set equipment was stronger than a collection of equipment forming a full set equipment. A full set equipment was much much more expensive than buying an equipment one by one to form a full set of them. The full set equipment was also usually sold at an auction rather than in a shop. So, only rich people can buy them. Jonathan might be someone from an influential family. "My armor and this big ass shield," said Jonathan while pointing at his shield and he smiled. He then looked at Shihoon taking his pictures and awkwardly smiled at Cade. Shihoon stopped taking Jonathan''s pictures after he felt like he had enough pictures. He stored his camera back and introduced himself to Jonathan. After that Shihoon asked if Jonathan was part of a powerful family. Only those riches will usually wear the full set equipment. Without much surprise, Jonathan did come from a powerful family. He came from the Armored Bear family. Although they were powerful family, it was only in the Biscuit Star System. Compared to other powerful family from another star sector, they were not that powerful. Jonathan wore the blue bear equipment set. One of his family members got the drop from the blue bear dungeon that appeared a year ago and gifted it to him when he awakened a few months ago. He had a C grade growth potential but his family liked him a lot and thus gifted him the blue bear equipment set. The equipment set was just an E grade equipment. When Jonathan introduced more about himself, to both Cade and Shihoon surprise, he was only 16 years old, a high schooler. His body build and face looked like he was in his late 20s. "I thought you were older than me¡­" said Shihoon totally surprised with Jonathan''s age. Jonathan awkwardly laughed at them. He got that a lot from everyone he met. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "A high schooler with a cool full set equipment and here I am a 20-year-old college student with cardboard equipment," thought Cade while looking at Jonathan''s cool blue armor. It came to his mind that if he was accepted by his family, will he be treated like Jonathan? Cade sighed. It will be nice if that really happened but his family was not as nice as Jonathan''s family. "Are you here alone?" asked Shihoon. Jonathan was a high schooler and added to that, he was from a powerful family. There was no way he was by himself. "I came here alone. This dungeon is low risk, so, my family sent me here to test me if I can survive in this dungeon by myself," said Jonathan. "So, you did not join any party?" asked Shihoon. "No. My family said that I need to do this by myself," said Jonathan with determined face. "¡­ You won''t be able to survive longer in this dungeon if you are by yourself. You should join a party. I am saying this from experience," advised Shihoon. "Hmm¡­ but my family want me to do this by myself," said Jonathan. He did not want to disobey his family and hesitated if he should join a party. Jonathan himself knew that it was harder and harder in killing the toad. He experienced it himself and he was also considered it himself if he should advance further without joining a party. "How about joining our party?" offered Shihoon. "At the moment, there are only me and Cade here. Oh, don''t mind his equipment''s appearance, they are not useless," said Shihoon while pointing at Cade''s cardboard body armor. When Cade heard Shihoon, he frowned, "When did I agreed joining your party?" asked Cade. He never once agreed of joining Shihoon. He did get used to Shihoon''s presence but that did not mean they were a party. "Jonathan, stop listening to him. He is a tsundere. He kept saying no but see now, he did not mind me staying with him," said Shihoon while smiling at Jonathan. "I am not a tsundere," retorted Cade. "And about your family''s test. I am sure that they did not mean for you to do this alone and wanted you to realize that forming a party is important. If you look around here, you can see that everyone forms a party including me and Cade," said Shihoon while he pointed his finger at everyone around them. "But still¡­" Jonathan did not know if he should join Shihoon or not. He still hesitated a bit and thought for a bit. After thinking for a while, he made his decision. Even if he can revive after dying in the dungeon, he did not want to die. He did not want to go through that situation. Jonathan agreed to join Shihoon''s party and Shihoon was happy that his party grew. With this party, it was possible for them to survive at the higher floor of the dungeon. "You said earlier that something did happened outside, what happened?" asked Cade. Cade remembered that when Jonathan was talking to them earlier, he said something about the reason the explorers flocking the dungeon. "Ah, since you guys enter this dungeon earlier, you might not know that other than the three, time limit dungeons that appeared at Planet White Snow, Planet Desktra and Planet Lapto, another five of them appeared at different planets a day after that," said Jonathan. Upon hearing that, both Cade and Shihoon were shocked. Three of them were already a lot and now another five appeared. That meant, there were eight time limit dungeons appeared at the moment. No, they were inside the dungeon for few days already and it was possible that more of them had appeared and the earlier time limit dungeon that appeared before might have already been closed or finished their time limit. "And, one of the five dungeon that appeared was located on this star system," said Jonathan with serious face. Cade and Shihoon''s face changed. "Which planet?" asked Shihoon. He hoped that it was not the planet where his family were. "Planet Chocoky, Planet Dineon''s neighbor," said Jonathan. Shihoon sighed in relieved because his family was on another planet. Luckily, it did not appear on his home planet. Cade wondered if anyone succeed in closing the time limit dungeon. He was inside the dungeon and there was no way for him to get any news about what happened outside. 33 Chapter 33 Cade, Shihoon and Jonathan was still waiting for their turn to enter the 3rd floor boss toad room. The line was quite long and it looked like it will take a while before their turn arrived. Cade felt a bit bored waiting. Looking around, from a far, Cade saw a big blue tongue toad jumping around leisurely. "Since this stalker force me to join his party, I guess it is fine to let him wait in the line here," thought Cade and he felt like it was a good idea. "Stalker, I am going to hunt some toads nearby," said Cade to Shihoon. "I am not a¡­ Don''t go too far," said Shihoon. He wanted to retort that he was not a stalker but he was. He himself realized it. "Then, can I come with you?" asked Jonathan with a smile. He took off his helmet, so, his face was visible. Although he looked older than he was supposed to, he still emitted the teens aura. "I am bored waiting like this and the line is still quite long," said Jonathan. Jonathan did not only feel bored, he also wanted to move around a bit. Cade looked at Jonathan and he thought of something. "Okay, you can come with me," said Cade. He preferred to go alone but he thought it was not bad to let Shihoon by himself. Let him got bored waiting alone. Other than that, Cade wanted to see the blue bear full set equipment in action. The equipment looked cool and he cannot help it but wanted to see it in action. "Wait, you guys want to let me wait here by myself?" asked Shihoon. He himself felt bored waiting. Cade left without answering Shihoon. Jonathan just smile at Shihoon and said that one of them needed to wait there in line. Since, Shihoon was the one that proposed (forced) the idea of teaming up, he can at least stand in line and wait for their turn. Jonathan followed Cade from behind. "You must be displeased that brother Shihoon forcing you to form a party," said Jonathan. He can feel it that Cade did not like the idea of forming a party. "You are right but he was not wrong about the monsters getting stronger and stronger¡­ I cannot fight alone anymore," said Cade. Even if he was forced to join Shihoon, he knew it himself that Shihoon was right. "I hope that I did not fail with this test made by my family," said Jonathan still worrying about the test by his family that wanted him to explore the dungeon by himself. "I think I agree with what stalker said earlier. Your family must have wanted you to realize this yourself. When I see you, Jonathan, you look a bit na?ve and followed whatever your family said," said Cade. "They must have done this to make sure you learn this yourself and not following their order blindly like this. As I said earlier, even I myself that stubbornly wanted to do this by myself knew that I need to work with someone else so, I am sure your family thought the same," said Cade. "Hmm¡­" Jonathan thought about what Shihoon and Cade said properly and deeply. "Thank you, brother Cade for telling this to me," he still did not buy the idea of the test by his family was for him to realize about forming a party but he still thanked Cade for his words. "You know, we are not that far in age¡­ it felt weird for you to call me brother. Just Cade is fine," said Cade. Since Cade usually stayed away from people, he never once got so closed to someone younger than him. Having someone calling him brother felt a bit awkward and weird. He was not used to that title and besides, Jonathan was not in a huge age gap with him. "Okay¡­ Cade," said Jonathan. Jonathan was taught to address everyone older than him properly and he had quite a hard time to call Cade by his name but since Cade was older than him, he followed what Cade had wanted. "Oh, there is two of them. I take the one on the left, you can take the one on the right," said Cade while pointing at the two big blue tongue toad that wandered around there. Jonathan nodded and he wore his helmet back. He ran towards the big blue tongue toad on the right to fight it. Once he got neared the toad, Jonathan drew the great sword and shield he was carrying on his back and took a battle stance. Cade looked at Jonathan and he can feel the fighting aura coming from Jonathan. "He looks really cool with that armor," said Cade while he was staring at Jonathan. The toad saw Jonathan and just like how other toads were in the dungeon, it started launching its big blue tongue towards Jonathan. Jonathan moved forward and he blocked the tongue attack straightforwardly with his shield. However, he was not been forced back even by a step. Jonathan completely stopped the tongue attack. The toad was shocked but Cade was impressed with Jonathan. If Cade tried to block that, he will be sent flying. Jonathan moved closer to the toad while blocking the tongue but the toad kept jumping backwards to create a distance between them. However, the toad ran to a corner and had no way else to run away. The opportunity arrived and Jonathan did not waste any more time, "Armored Bear Soul, activate!" said Jonathan with serious voice. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. A silhouette of a bear made of energy with armor all over its body appeared behind Jonathan and, "Roar!!!" it roared. The energy of the bear flowed towards Jonathan and he was enveloped by the energy. With that energy enveloping Jonathan, Cade can feel that Jonathan''s stats were increasing. With the increased of stats, Jonathan did not waste any more time and slashed the cornered toad with his great sword. In one slash, the toad was cut to two and died instantly. Jonathan deactivated his skill and stored his shield and great sword back to his back. The toad evaporated and a skill book was dropped. Jonathan stared at it weirdly. It was the first time he ever got a skill book as a drop. His luck was not that high and he had only once got himself an equipment drop. Looking at the skill book, Cade knew that his luck was the one responsible for that. After seeing Jonathan in action, Cade felt a bit bitter with himself especially when he saw the skill used by Jonathan. Cade shakes his head to let go the bitter thought and he looked at his target. Cade was used to fighting a single toad by himself and he just ran forwards without thinking. Just like the toad that Jonathan fought, the toad that Cade targeted also launched its tongue to attack Cade. He was not capable of blocking the attack and Cade skillfully parried the tongue attack without much problem. Followed up with that parried, Cade slashed the tongue to two and rushed to that toad. When he got in front of the toad, Cade slashed it with his cardboard sword and the toad died. Looking at Cade fighting, Jonathan was shocked to see that Cade''s cardboard equipment was capable of killing the toad. He remembered Shihoon''s words earlier about not minding Cade''s equipment''s appearance. It was better that it looked. Watching Cade in action, he finally knew how good Cade and his equipment were. Cade finished the toad faster than Jonathan because Jonathan''s armor and huge weapon and shield slowed him down. Cade''s cardboard equipment did not weight him much and thus did not slow him down. The toad evaporated and to Cade surprise, the toad dropped a puzzle piece. Looking at the puzzle piece, Cade was overjoyed that it was the last piece he had been looking for the past hour, the blue tongue puzzle piece. Cade clenched his fist as he was happy that he completed a puzzle. He can now used them to get free stat points. Jonathan came close to Cade and was surprised to see the puzzle piece. He had only heard and saw picture about them but this was the first time he saw the puzzle with his own eyes. "Whoa~ this is my first time seeing a puzzle piece¡­ Cade, you need to hide it fast or someone else will try to snatch it from you," said Jonathan worried that someone will snatch it. He knew how valuable the puzzle piece was. Cade took the blue tongue puzzle piece and the system let out a notification. [Grade E Big Blue Tongue Toad all puzzle pieces found] after the system said that, the other three puzzle piece that Cade found earlier automatically came out of his storage. All the four puzzle pieces moved by itself and they combined by themselves. It took a second and a small complete replica of the big blue tongue toad appeared. It shone brightly and entered Cade''s body. [Gain 35 stat points] 34 Chapter 34 Once the complete puzzle of the big blue tongue toad entered his body, the system notified Cade that he got 35 stat points. Cade immediately opened his stats and he had free 35 stat points. Without any hesitation Cade used all of them on his luck. However, to his surprise, only 10 stat points were used. A notification from the system appeared. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. [Luck reach maximum.] Cade took a look at his Luck stat and word ''max'' appeared beside his luck stat points. Looking at his luck stat points, Cade felt a bit weird with the max limit of his luck. He thought that the maximum luck will be 100 stat points but apparently, the maximum luck was 101 stat points. His luck reached maximum at 101 stat points. Since he cannot compare it with anyone else, that meant it was indeed the maximum amount of luck that a human can have. "I did not know you had all the other puzzle pieces too," said Jonathan who was looking at Cade absorbing the complete puzzle earlier. "Well¡­ Can you keep this a secret?" asked Cade. Looking at Jonathan that was loyal to his family, it was possible that he was loyal to his comrade too. Cade can trust him in keeping his secret. "About the puzzle pieces? You already absorbed it, what was it that I should keep a secret?" asked Jonathan. Even if people knew about Cade in possession of the complete puzzle, there was nothing they can do because Cade had already used the complete puzzle. "Don''t you find it weird that I have all the puzzle pieces?" asked Cade. Cade did not want to say it, he hoped that Jonathan can catch what he was trying to say. Jonathan stared at Cade and thought about what Cade meant. Upon thinking properly, he finally understands everything. "Okay, don''t worry about it," said Jonathan. "Thank you, as thanks, do you want a few skill books?" asked Cade. Although he said it was as thanks, Cade actually wanted to bribe Jonathan. "Well, if you want to give me some, I will gladly accept it," said Jonathan while smiling and he knew why Cade wanted to give him some skill books. Without hesitation, Cade took out a few skill books from his storage and gave them to Jonathan. Jonathan was shocked to see that many skill books but he just took it without much question. They both smiled at each other. "I don''t think it is our turns yet, so, let''s killed a few more toads," asked Cade. Jonathan agreed and they went around looking for other toads. However, before they continued their hunting, Cade decided to put the leftover 25 stat points he got from the complete puzzle to his vitality increasing it from 20 to 45. With his luck at maximum, Cade can pour all his stat points to his other stats. A few minutes of walking, they found a big blue tongue toad wondering by itself. Since there was only one toad, Cade and Jonathan decided to try fighting it together. Jonathan decided to take on the role of a tank and started luring the toad. Since he did not have a provoke related skills, he can only make some noise to attract the attention of the toad. He had low expectations but to his surprise, the toad took the bait. Cade told Jonathan earlier that the toad in the dungeon was aggressive. A simple noise like that can easily get their attention. Jonathan got the toad''s attention and the toad started rushing towards him. He readied his shield to block the tongue attack of the toad. The toad launched his tongue and it hit the shield but Jonathan completely blocked the attack. Cade did not waste his chance and slashed the tongue. After that, he charged towards the toad and killed it like usual. It all went down perfectly but since there was only one opponent, it was too easy. "I guess if there is only one monster, there is no need for us to work together to defeat it," said Jonathan and he realized that Cade did not listening to him. He saw Cade was staring at something in the air. Cade was actually staring at his system because after he killed the toad, a notification appeared. Cade was really surprise with that notification because it asked Cade to choose his own drop. [Choose drop. 1. Materials. 2. Magic Crystals. 3. Equipment. 4. Skill Book. 5. Puzzle Piece] When Cade choose one of them, another notification appeared with the list of drops that he can choose. When Cade choose the material drop, the list of the big blue tongue toad''s body parts appeared. Cade went back and choose magic crystals and a list of magic crystals appeared. There was only one magic crystal that Cade can recognize, the endurance crystal. However, there were a few other magic crystals on the list that Cade had never once heard before. They were the toad crystal and tongue crystal. Other than the two crystal, another one that Cade had heard was the ice crystal. However, the ice crystal was not something that can be gained from the big blue tongue toad. There were two of that unknown magic crystal too. Cade moved on to check on the equipment drop. Once he chose the equipment drop, he can choose between many different types of weapon like swords, bow, arrow and so on. However, when he chose one of them, he will get a random of what he chose. He did not want that and he went back and checked the skill book. Disappointingly, there was nothing new on the skill book that he can get. He can choose between three skill books that he had previously collected lots of them. The big tongue skill, toad skin skill and blue tongue skill. Cade then choose the puzzle piece. To his surprise, other than the toad figure puzzle, there were a few more he can get. Cade can recognize some of them but the others was completely new to him. The one that he can recognize was the puzzle for the bloodline skill ¨C blue tongue of the big blue tongue toad. He needed 10 puzzle pieces to complete one of the skill books. Bloodline skills was one of the most sought-after skill books. When one of them appeared in the market, it will be for an astronomically high price. The was a reason for that. Since it was the bloodline skill, the children of the possessors of the skill can inherit part of the bloodline skill and it will go on to their grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on. Not only that, with the bloodline skill, their descendants will have 90% increased chance of awakening and when they awakened, they will have 95% chance of getting a bloodline skill. The bloodline skill was also the based foundation of most of the powerful and prestigious family that can be found all throughout the universe. For example, the blue phoenix family where Cade was part of, the golden dragon family where Cynthia came from and the armored bear family where Jonathan came from. The name of the family was all took from the bloodline of the skill their founder had. The Blue Phoenix family''s founder had the full bloodline skill of the blue phoenix monster. The same went to the founder of the Golden Dragon family. The founder of the family also possessed the full bloodline skill of the golden dragon monster. The Armored Bear family unfortunately only in possession of two armored bear bloodline skill. One of them was the skill Jonathan used earlier, the armored bear soul. Cade felt bitter when Jonathan used the skill because he was part of the blue phoenix family but he did not inherit any blue phoenix skill when he awakened. Other than the blue tongue bloodline skill, there were also the toad skin and big tongue skill and they were all bloodline skill. All of them needed 10 puzzle pieces to complete the skill book. The puzzle pieces of the skill comprised of the cover page for the front and back for one puzzle piece and the other nine were the content pages of the bloodline skill. Unfortunately, there were no full bloodline skill puzzle piece that Cade can get from the list of the puzzle piece. Cade did not know why there was no full bloodline skill he can get from the big blue tongue toad but he thought that maybe the one he killed were too weak. Jonathan was looking at Cade who were staring at something. Looking at him concentrate on that, he assumed that he was looking at his system and something must have happened. There was a reason he can think of that because the corpses of the big blue tongue toad that they killed were still there. It did not evaporate. It must be related to Cade looking at his system. Jonathan decided to not disturb Cade but he kept his eyes around to make sure that no one saw what happened to Cade and the corpse of the big blue tongue toad. 35 Chapter 35 Other than the three bloodline skills, there was another two bloodline skills that he had never once heard before. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. One was the Big Blue Tongue Toad Leader bloodline skill. Since there was no description for the skill available, it was impossible to know what it can do. Cade can only assume that it was a superior skill because it needed 20 puzzle pieces to complete the skill book. The other one was the big blue tongue toad language bloodline skill. The skill also needed 20 puzzle pieces to complete the skill book. From the name of the skill, Cade can assume that it was the language skill to communicate with the big blue tongue toad monsters. Cade did not know what was good about being able to talk to an aggressive monster like the toad and he thought that the skill was not that good. Moving on from the bloodline skill, there were few more new kinds of puzzle pieces that Cade had never once heard before. One of them was a puzzle piece for the big blue tongue toad essence. Looking at the amount of puzzle needed to complete them, Cade blankly staring at it. "Hu-Hundred of them?" said Cade surprised at the amount of puzzle pieces needed to complete the big blue tongue toad essence puzzle pieces. There were too many of them and Cade frowned at that amount. With that amount, Cade can only assume that the essence must be something really good. Collecting even one puzzle pieces were a total pain but the essence had 100 of them. Cade sighed and looked at the other puzzle piece and the system only said it was the big blue tongue toad key and just like the essence, it had 100 puzzle pieces. "If it was a key, that means it can be used to open something," thought Cade. There was nothing that came to mind and Cade moved on to the next puzzle. Lastly, it was the big blue tongue toad core. This one however had a whopping 1000 puzzle pieces to be collected to complete. Cade scratched his head looking at the amount needed to complete the puzzle. "This must be something really really big," thought Cade. With all the choices in front of him, Cade did not know what to choose. Thinking deeply about that, Cade remembered that he had quite a few incomplete big blue tongue toad figures in his storage. He decided to complete them and got himself a few more stat points. With his choice, Cade got another puzzle piece for the big blue tongue toad figure. Jonathan who saw that was not surprise anymore. "Cade, are you done? You took quite a while of getting that," said Jonathan. "Oh, sorry. Thanks for guarding around," Cade thanked Jonathan for keeping guard when he was choosing his drop. "Should we continue?" asked Jonathan. He wanted to continue hunting for more but since he was with Cade and Cade was older than him, he asked for Cade''s opinion. "Yeah. I think it is not yet time for our turn," said Cade and they both decided to find another toad nearby to hunt. Cade was not sure how he was able to choose his drop but he figured that maybe it was due to his max luck. This happened after he maxed his luck stat. Cade and Jonathan continued their hunt and every time Cade killed a toad; he can choose his drop. Cade can confirm that it was due to his luck. He cannot think of another reason. His latest killed net him the last piece of puzzle to complete another big blue tongue toad figure. He completed another one and he can get another 35 stat points. However, to Cade surprise¡­ [Unable to absorb. Host already absorb one E grade Big Blue Tongue Toad figure] Looking at the notification, Cade stared at it blankly. He cannot use the complete puzzle because he already used one before. "I never heard of this¡­" said Cade. He was still unable to believe that he cannot absorb the complete puzzle. "Cade, why are you not absorbing it? Hurry up! If people saw this light, it will be extremely bad," said Jonathan. He was again keeping guard when Cade was busy with his business. "I cannot absorb this because I already absorb one. You should take this," said Cade while he handed the complete puzzle to Jonathan to absorb. Jonathan looked at Cade blankly. He cannot believe that Cade easily gave him the complete puzzle. "Is it okay for you to give me this?" asked Jonathan as he hesitated to take it. "I told you I cannot use this. You better absorb this fast before someone comes here," said Cade. He knew it will be total chaos if the explorers found out about the complete puzzle. He can simply put the complete puzzle inside his storage but keeping the complete puzzle was too dangerous. Since Jonathan was a good kid and they decided to work together in the dungeon, why not give the complete puzzle to him? They puzzle can help Jonathan becoming stronger and at the same time increased their party chance to survive inside the dungeon. They suddenly heard footsteps coming towards them. Jonathan stopped hesitating and took the complete puzzle from Cade''s hand. He got the same notification as Cade from the system and absorbed the complete puzzle. The absorption was an easy process and it only take a second. Both Cade and Jonathan immediately evacuated the area and hide nearby. Just like they thought, a few explorers arrived. They did not look strong but there were quite a few of them. Fighting human was different than fighting monster. Monster had set of skill human can anticipate but human mixed their skills and it was totally impossible to predict what skill they will use unless they had seen it once. "The light gone?" said one of the explorers. "Is it some kind of treasure?" said another one of them. "What if it was a strong monster?" said another one. They all looked at each other and they decided to retreat from the area immediately. If it was a strong monster, it will be hard for them to survive. It was better to run than encounter it. All the explorers left the area. Cade and Jonathan who saw everything sighed in relieved. Luckily, they were a bunch of normal explorers. Their thought process was that of a normal people too. If they were from powerful family, they will try to search every nook and cranny for that light because they were usually greedy and they usually had enough power to counter whatever danger they found. "Have you heard about something like this, Jonathan?" asked Cade about the limit of only absorbing one complete puzzle of the same kind. Jonathan shook his head lightly as he had never heard or read it once about that. "Maybe no one knew about this because the puzzle is super rare after all," said Jonathan. Cade agreed with Jonathan. He was a bit abnormal because of his max luck that allowed him to choose whatever drop he wanted and got himself two of the same complete puzzles. "Well, I guess your high luck kind of rub on me a bit because I got myself free stat points without doing much. Thanks, Cade," said Jonathan smiling while he was distributing his stat points. "I would not give it to you if you are a bad guy and having the complete puzzle is too dangerous when I am too weak to protect myself," said Cade with disappointed face. He thought that he will be able to spam himself with many complete puzzles to increase his stat but apparently it won''t be happening soon. If he wanted to get more stat points, he needed to get himself another complete puzzle. Maybe a D grade big blue tongue toad since he got himself the E grade one. He can also get himself the complete puzzle of the E grade and D grade big tongue toad but he might need to travel back to the beginning of the third floor to find some of them. However, he did not want to waste time going back and dismissed the idea. Maybe if he can find the D grade big blue tongue toad, he will be able to get one more complete puzzle. "With the appearance of the light from the complete puzzle, I don''t think it is a good idea to continue hunting for more puzzle," said Cade. "Let''s go back to brother Shihoon," said Jonathan and Cade agreed. Both of them came out of their hiding and walked back towards the area outside the floor boss room. While going to their destination, they met a few big blue tongue toad and Cade and Jonathan killed them. However, Cade did not choose the puzzle pieces as drop, he chose the magic crystal drop. He can easily choose not to get anything but he wanted to get himself the new magic crystal. If he sold those, he will get quite a lot of money because researchers will want to know what it can do. 36 Chapter 36 "Hmm~ These two magic crystals are totally something new. I don''t think I ever saw my family or anyone else having these crystals. I wonder what it can do?" said Jonathan while his hand was holding two different magic crystals. One of the magic crystals was colorless and had the shape of a toad. That was the toad magic crystal that Cade can choose from the list of magic crystal drop. The other magic crystal was red but it had the shape of a tongue. That was the tongue magic crystal. He got two tongue magic crystals and two toad crystals. Cade thought that Jonathan will be able to recognize them but it looked like it was his first time to see the two crystals too. Since none of them knew what it can do, it was better to sell them and let the professionals do their job. Assuming that the two magic crystals was a completely new type of magic crystals, it was possible that it was due to the new changes happening to the dungeon. Maybe the two magic crystals were like a new feature in a game that had not yet been revealed but their data can be found inside the game with hacking and datamined. With Cade newfound ability of choosing his own drop, he gained access to the new drops earlier than other people. Maybe the new bloodline skills, the essence, key and core were something new added to the monsters and had yet to be released by the maker of the dungeon. Cade kept the magic crystals back into his storage and continued walking with Jonathan towards the waiting area for the floor boss. While walking, other than talking about the magic crystals, Jonathan told Cade a bit about himself, his family and everything else related to him. There was nothing abnormal about Jonathan. His life was the same as normal people that was not part of the powerful family. He also said that his family doted on him a lot because he was the youngest in his family and the most well-behaved child. When he was found to have the potential growth of C grade, he was treated coldly by his family but not as bad as Cade. His parents and siblings still love him, only his uncles, aunties and cousins were looking down on him. However, that soon changed because Jonathan was a good child and well-behaved. Everyone started liking him bit by bit and they all ended up doting him a lot. Jonathan did not try to gain his family''s attention or anything by behaving well but that was part of his nature. It was not a fake act and that was what gained him the love of his family. Hearing Jonathan''s story about himself, Cade did not hate or felt jealous of him or anything because his life was not the same as him but he was happy to hear that. Cade always thought that everyone from the powerful family will treat their child with low talent badly just like his family but apparently that was not the case. There were some good family like the Armored Bear family around. He also thought that maybe Jonathan will be in the same situation as him if he was not a good boy but Jonathan said that even before they started to like him, he was not treated badly. There was no bullying, hitting or sneering came from his family. They did talk behind him but it was nothing extreme. They were just like villagers talking and whispering bad about each other. Jonathan also wanted to know a bit about Cade but Cade just said that he was an orphan and he did not know who his parents were. Jonathan also did not want to pry further and their conversation moved on to where they were studying, girlfriend and anything common like that. After that, they arrived and Shihoon looked seriously bored waiting by himself. There were three to four more party in front of them but it will not be a long wait. Shihoon complained a bit about them leaving him alone there for too long but Cade ignored him. However, the good boy Jonathan patiently listened and tried to console him. More and more explorers reached the area and looking at the long line, they all sighed. They all needed to wait a long time before they can enter the boss room. After half an hour of waiting, it was finally time for Cade, Shihoon and Jonathan''s turn to enter the boss room. Just like the two boss rooms on the first and second floor, the third-floor room was the same as them. Nothing special in it. It was just a huge empty room. The boss appeared and it was the same huge big tongue toad boss they fought on the first and second floor. Maybe it will be stronger than the first and second floor boss and that was it. The toad boss opened its mouth and they saw blue tongue, "Big blue tongue toad, no wonder there are so many of them in this floor," said Shihoon. "I''ll attract the boss attention and hold him while Cade and brother Shihoon should focus on dealing damage to the boss," said Jonathan. He had been increasing his endurance a lot and will be able to hold the boss well. Even the 35 stat points he got from the complete puzzle Cade gave him were put on his endurance. He felt like he needed good defense if he wanted to survive inside the dungeon. Endurance affected defense and stamina. Increasing endurance meant increased in defense and stamina. With his full set equipment that focused on defense, he decided to go that route. Cade already knew what role Jonathan wanted to take and he nodded. Shihoon just agreed without thinking much because he knew that Jonathan will be good at that. With that all set, Jonathan moved forward and called the boss to attract its attention. The boss was not that much different to the normal toad in their aggressiveness and thus, Jonathan easily got its attention. "Mute," said Shihoon and sound around him and Cade disappeared. Cade was surprised to see that Shihoon learned a sound-based skill. "I wonder what his first skill actually is," Cade wondered. The first skill Shihoon showed him before was picture come to life and now mute. Both of this skill was unrelated to each other. Explorers usually focused on getting skills related to the first skill they got. For example, if the first skill they got when they awakened was fireball, they will usually get a skill that was related or complimented to the fireball. There were some that learn something else entirely and they regretted it later. They can delete the skill they learned but skill was expensive and they wasted a lot of money. The toad boss started attacking Jonathan and he easily blocked the attack. Cade and Shihoon spread and went to the side of the toad. With mute masking the sound they made; the toad boss was totally unaware of them arriving on its side. Shihoon took out a picture of a mole monster with huge claw and used picture come to life to summon the mole. Shihoon ordered the mole to start digging the toad boss'' body. The mole followed the order and immediately started digging into the toad boss with its huge claw. At the same time the mole digging into the toad, Cade was slashing the toad boss with his sword. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The toad boss was screaming in pain with the two attacks coming from its side. Its attention towards Jonathan moved to Cade. Jonathan tried to attract the attention of the toad boss by screaming at it but he was unable to do that. Since Cade was dealing much more damage than the mole, he got the attention of the toad boss. However, when Cade got the attention of the toad boss, Jonathan did not waste the chance and started using his great sword to attack the toad boss too. The toad boss ended up getting confused on who it should attack first and died before it can make any decision. Cade did not get the notification of choosing the drop and that meant he was not the one that killed the toad boss. The toad boss evaporated and a skill book was left on the ground. It was the toad skin skill of the boss version. That meant it was much more powerful compare to the normal one. Since Cade was not the one killing the toad boss, he decided to give the skill book to Shihoon and Jonathan. Jonathan flatly refused the skill because he got a lot of them already thanks to Cade and Shihoon decided to take it. Cade had a feeling that Shihoon was the one dealing the most damage to the toad boss because he was attacking inside the toad with his mole. When Cade asked why he learned two contradicting skills, Shihoon said it was easier to take picture without anyone notice¡­ 37 Chapter 37 As the toad boss was killed, a magic circle to the fourth floor appeared. Without wasting more time, Cade, Shihoon and Jonathan entered the magic circle to the fourth floor. It only took a second before they arrived at the fourth floor. When they started seeing the fourth floor, suddenly something fast was coming at them. Instinctively, all three of them dodged the incoming things. That thing smashed into the wall behind them and they saw what was that. They were shocked to see that it was an explorer. His body was soaked with blood and he looked lifeless. He died. Cade, Shihoon and Jonathan looked in front and there were many explorers around fighting something. There were many explosions happening and it was a total chaos. Everyone wore a desperate face. Feared, sadness, anger, desperation and many more were shown on their face. "HEAL!!!" someone screaming asking for healers to heal him. The guy that was screaming lost a hand and he held an axe with his other arm. A healer girl immediately casted heal to heal the guy asking for her healing. She looked totally worn out. It looked like she had been using heal too much. Tears were flowing down on her face too. She was crying. Around them, Cade, Shihoon and Jonathan can see many corpses. There were many dead explorers lying lifelessly on the ground. Most of them had their body smashed by something and their inside were splattered everywhere. The ground was soaked with their blood. There were also many that cannot move anymore either they were dead tired or they lost their limbs or they lost their will to fight. The trio did not know what were happening and they were totally in shocked at the gruesome scene in front of them. The fight against something was still happening and the trio cannot determine what were they fighting. They were also confused and shocked and they did not know what to think. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Suddenly, something appeared in front of the healer girl and the guy that was in the process of healing. It was a humanoid figure but looking at the appearance of that thing, the trio knew it was not human. The humanoid monster had toad''s head, arm and leg. It wore tattered clothes but it looked like clothes that humans normally wore. From the expression of the toad, the trio knew it was pissed, extremely pissed. Its toad''s eyes were red and they can see it clenching its teeth. The toad''s arm was raised high like it wanted to slap the healer girl. Both the guy in healing and the healer girl were stunned by the appearance of the toad. The healing girl face went white but the guy with one arm moved its arm holding the axe and slashed at the toad. The toad slapped the axe and the guy''s arm holding the axe were instantly broken. "Argh!!!" the guy screamed in pain but his screamed was cut short when the toad stomped the guy. The stomp made a small explosion and the guy''s body explode in pieces. His inside splattered around and some of them hit the healer girl. The healer girl was paralyzed by the scene that was happening in front of her. Her mind blanked. She did not know what she should do. She was a healer and she did not have anything she can do to protect herself. The toad raised its arm again and this time it wanted to kill the healer girl. The healer girl blankly staring at the toad. The toad swung its arm. However, before its arm reached the healer girl, a dark-skinned man suddenly appeared fast and punched the toad with his glowing fist. At the same time the dark-skinned man appeared, "Picture come to life," Shihoon held a picture of pitch-black raven and summoned it. A black raven appeared and it flew fast towards the healer girl. The toad blocked the punch from the dark-skinned man with its arm and was send flying. The raven appeared by the healer girl side and pulled it away from the toad. The dark-skinned man ran toward the toad to continue fighting it. The raven with the healer girl in towed arrived at Cade and his party side. The raven disappeared and Shihoon had already left Cade and Jonathan by themselves and joined the dark-skinned man to fight the toad. Shihoon was acting fast as he knew something bad was happening and he instinctively acted on his own. Cade and Jonathan on the other hand was still dazed by what was happening. However, they came to their senses when the raven left the healer girl with them. Jonathan took out a potion from his storage and fed the healer girl. "Th-thank you," said the healer girl. She healed some of her energy but fatigue and shocked made her unable to move. "What happen here?" asked Cade wanting to know the situation. Jonathan had already erected his huge shield to protect them from unwanted attack from the humanoid toad. "I don''t know what actually happen but when I arrive at this floor, it already like this. There were three of those humanoid toads and they were all strong. However, with our combined efforts, we managed to kill one of them," said the healer girl and tears started flowing down her face. "After the death of one of the humanoid toads, the other two suddenly got angry and they became much stronger and this massacre happened," said the healer girl. "And, what is this corpse?" asked Jonathan at all the corpses around them. To his knowledge, the new rules made it that anyone who died inside the dungeon will be revived outside the dungeon. Before they were revived, their body will evaporate much like the monsters and they will appear outside the dungeon. However, the corpses there did not evaporate. "Mister Raja said that if they were killed by the humanoid toad, they permanently died. He did not know why but it happened to his party," said the healer girl. Cade and Jonathan were shocked to hear that. "Then, why weren''t you all running away with the emergency badge?" asked Cade. It was obvious that the humanoid toad was strong and they should have run away from them with the badge. "It is not working¡­ We don''t know why but it is not working," said the healer girl with helpless face. Cade immediately took out his badge and tried using it and just like the healer girl said, it was not working. While they were talking, suddenly a huge explosion happened at the direction where the many explorers fought one of the toads. Dust covered that area and Cade and Jonathan was unable to see what was happening inside that dust. Suddenly, a figure came out of the dust and it was the humanoid toad. Jonathan and Cade''s face tensed while the healer girl started shivering. It looked like the explorers fighting that toad was defeated or killed. Cade looked at the healer girl and said, "You should-" his speech stopped when he saw the teleporter to the third floor was gone. He wanted the healer girl to retreat to the third floor but that was not an option now. "It looks like the humanoid toad is an anomaly in this dungeon," said Cade as he prepared to fight the toad. ''Can I survive this fight?'' thought Cade. Escape was not an option. Even if he tried to escape deeper into the dungeon, with the speed of the humanoid toad he saw fighting Raja and Shihoon, it was impossible. "Its coming!" shouted Jonathan. The toad bended its body and launched forward in high speed. Jonathan gritted his teeth and blocked the humanoid toad. The humanoid toad slammed the blue bear shield with strong attack but Jonathan was only pushed back a bit. Shocked can be seen on the toad''s face. "I can do this!" thought Jonathan. He thought he will be unable to block much of the humanoid toad''s attack but it looked like that will not be a problem. Cade did not want to waste the chance that Jonathan had created when he saw the shocked face of the humanoid toad, Cade moved his cardboard sword and slashed the humanoid toad. However, to his surprise, the humanoid toad easily dodged that slash. "You damn monkey!" said the humanoid toad. Cade, Jonathan and the healer girl was shocked to hear that. "It can talk!!" The humanoid toad slapped Jonathan''s shield and Jonathan''s face changed when he was pushed a meter back from the force of the slap. The earlier attack from the humanoid toad''s attack was not its full power. Cade was shocked to see Jonathan was pushed by that seemingly simple slap. The earlier attack looked much stronger. He can block the earlier attack but that simple attack pushed him back a lot. However, while his attention was on Jonathan, the humanoid toad launched another slap with its other arm towards Cade. Cade''s immediately blocked the slap with his shield but to his horror, ''Crack!'' and he was sent flying fast towards the wall of the dungeon. 38 Chapter 38 Raja concentrated his mana on his fists and kept punching the humanoid toad. Some of the punches hit while some of them were dodged by the humanoid toad. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Annoyed and angered, the humanoid toad used its strong leg and launched itself upward into the air. The humanoid toad was really fast and Raja was unable to stop him from launching upward. The humanoid toad reached the ceiling of the dungeon and gained his footing on it to launched himself once more towards Raja. However, before he can depart, a big spider shot a sticky thread towards him and "Loud!" Shihoon activated his skill ''loud'' and he started screaming towards the humanoid toad. The loud skill can amplify loudness to a certain degree. The higher the level of the skill, the higher the amplification. The humanoid toad wanted to evade the sticky thread by launching himself towards Raja but Shihoon''s screaming halted his movement for a bit and he ended up being hit by the sticky thread. Although he was hit with the sticky thread and Shihoon''s screaming, the humanoid toad was still barely able to launched himself to attack Raja. However, to his surprise, Raja was not at that location anymore. The humanoid toad was almost reaching the ground when suddenly, someone appeared out of nowhere beside him. Raja can silently appear there was thanks to Shihoon''s mute. With mana concentrated on his fist and the humanoid toad was in front of him, Raja punched the toad with everything he can. The humanoid toad was unable to defend himself from the punch and was sent one more time flying. Raja did not want to waste more time and launched himself towards the flying humanoid toad. However, while he was approaching the humanoid toad, a big tongue appeared out of nowhere to hit him. The tongue belonged to the humanoid toad. But, a more surprising thing happened. A man with cardboard equipment appeared out of nowhere neared the tongue and easily slashed the tongue. "Picture come to life," said Shihoon as he used the picture of Cade. "I knew you would use your tongue." "Arrghhhh!!!! STUPID MONKEY!!!" The humanoid toad was in pain as his tongue was cut, he was punched by Raja and at the same time, his body was getting sticky thanks to the sticky thread. "Stupid toad, you are too loud!" said Shihoon as he was annoyed with the humanoid toad and then, he himself screamed with his loud skill to shut the annoying enemy. Shihoon can use his mute to shut the humanoid toad but then, his enemy won''t be in pain. Shihoon was angry looking at the corpses of many explorers lying around and he wanted the humanoid toad to feel the same too. "ARRGGHHHH!!!" The humanoid toad screamed in pain as he was hit by the loud screaming from Shihoon. He hit the dungeon wall hard and started bleeding. "YOU!!!! MONKEY!!! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" the humanoid toad screamed at the top of his lung in rage of getting beat up by Raja and Shihoon. ''That loud monkey is the real problem! That dark monkey cannot land a hit on me before but now, because of that loud monkey, I am in this state! I need to think of something,'' thought the humanoid toad. He planned to do something but then, Raja again appeared in front of him. "You kill my party! My friends! MY FAMILY!" Raja was angered and with his fist concentrated with mana, he kept punching the toad without stopping. The humanoid toad was unable to do anything as he was heavily injured by the attack he received earlier and the sticky thread halted his movement too. He was stick to the ground and was unable to run away. All he can do was lying there and accepted the beating until he died. "That monster is strong and fast but it really has weak defense¡­ It can talk too¡­" said Shihoon as he was looking at Raja punching the toad. "ARRGGGHHHH!!!!" Suddenly, Shihoon heard a screaming coming from the direction of Cade and Jonathan. Looking at that direction, Shihoon was shocked to see that Cade was on the wall of the dungeon unmoving. "Cade!!!" Shihoon screamed and he ran towards Cade. Jonathan on the other hand was busy defending himself and the healer girl from the attack of the humanoid toad in front of him. He was unable to check if Cade was okay but the healer girl was able to see that Cade was in a really bad condition. She needed to heal Cade or else, he will die. Cade was lying motionlessly on the wall of the dungeon. He was coughing out blood and the pain was too much but he cannot scream from the pain anymore as he had no energy left in his body. Cade stared at the direction of Jonathan that kept trying to keep up with the movement of the humanoid toad and defended himself and the healer girl from the humanoid toad. ''I guess, this is what I get from raising too much of my luck and neglected my other stats. My cardboard is fine but my body cannot stand the recoil of that toad attack,'' thought Cade while he was staring weakly at Jonathan. The equipment that explorers wore did not work like inside the game. In game, when a player wore an equipment, for example a shield that raised defense by 20 points, that player overall defense stat will increase by 20. However, the equipment that the explorer wore did not work like that. A shield with 20 defenses will not be added to the explorer''s stat. Only the shield will have that defense. That shield can block an attack but if the explorer that use the shield was hit directly, only his body defense that will count. Cade''s cardboard shield was able to hold the slap of the humanoid toad but that attack was too strong and his body was unable to hold the shield that was holding the attack. In the end, he was sent flying and smashed himself on the wall of the dungeon. The impact of that smash was in no way damaging his equipment but his weak body was easily damaged by the impact. ''I wonder if my maximum luck will save my life¡­'' Cade was thinking this but slowly and steadily, his sight was getting dimmer and dimmer. His eyes were slowly closing and a few seconds later, he lost consciousness. Jonathan was worried about Cade and he wanted to send healer girl to Cade but he was busy dealing with the humanoid toad in front of him. "Kacha!" Jonathan and healer girl suddenly heard a weird sound and Jonathan saw that Shihoon was nearby taking pictures of the healer girl. ''I don''t need to worry anymore,'' Jonathan smiled as he knew Shihoon will do something to save Cade. Now, he can fully focus on defeating the enemy in front of him. The humanoid toad kept attacking Jonathan but Jonathan always managed to defend from that attack. "This shield is annoying!" The humanoid toad opened his mouth and let out his tongue. The tongue immediately wrapped the shield and it wanted to throw the shield away. Jonathan saw what the humanoid toad was trying to do, "Armored Bear Soul Activate!" an energy silhouette of an armored bear appeared and wrapped Jonathan. Jonathan can feel his strength and endurance increased. He held his shield strongly so that the humanoid toad was unable to throw it away. "What!!" The humanoid toad was shocked to see that the shield won''t budge and decided to stop what he wanted to do. However, to his surprise, the shield suddenly moved forward fast and bashed him. The humanoid toad crossed his arm to protect himself from the attack and he was sent flying. To more of his shock, before he stopped from being sent flying, something hit him from behind. He can feel that the hit was packed with so much power. "Crack!!" That unknown hit plus the momentum of him flying caused his backbones to break, "ARGHHHH!!!" and he screamed in pain with blood coming out of his mouth. The hit on his back sent him flying again towards Jonathan. Jonathan did not want to lose this chance. With his increased in strength from his bloodline skill, he put his great sword forward and the humanoid toad was impaled by it. "Kuhakk!!!" The humanoid toad coughed up more blood but Jonathan did not stop there. He moved his great sword upwards and cut the humanoid toad to two. The humanoid toad instantly died. Looking at the dead humanoid toad and around him and saw no more of that toad, Jonathan sighed in relieved. He was dead tired from all the dangers he felt earlier and he fell on the ground. He remembered the healer girl that he was protecting and he looked behind him but she was gone. When Jonathan looked around, he saw two of her was healing the unconscious Cade. Jonathan knew that one of them was the real healer girl and the other one was Shihoon''s summon. 39 Chapter 39 After he saw that the last humanoid toad was killed, Raja walked around to see if he can find any survivors among the explorers. Raja found a few that was still alive but without any treatment, they will die. He moved them one by one to healer girl so that she can at least gave them first aid treatment. Seeing Raja doing that, Jonathan also got up and searched for any other survivor. Shihoon focused himself in summoning another healer girl to help the real healer girl to heal the survivor. His ''picture come to life'' skill might sound powerful but unfortunately, he can only summon one at a time. Until the previous summon was gone, he cannot summon another one. His summon can only use a part the original power. The higher the level of the skill, the more power it can use based on the original owner of the summon. Shihoon was busy printing lots of healer girl picture so that he can summon without stopping. His skill level only allowed him to summon the picture for 10 seconds. Because healer girl wanted to reserve as much of her energy as possible, she only gave Cade an emergency treatment so that he did not die. Once she was done with Cade, she moved on to the other explorers that needed immediate treatment. Jonathan and Raja went around to find more survivor and once they confirmed that there were no more survivors, they started collecting the dead explorers'' body. The body that was in almost perfect condition were put together in one side. The ones that were crushed and ripped apart were collected and put on another side. It was a really gruesome work as collecting the organs, meats and bones were not really a pleasant experience. Not one or two but many of them. There were only 20 explorers survived including Cade, Shihoon, Jonathan, Raja and healer girl. Almost hundred of them lost their life fighting the three humanoid toads. Shihoon and healer girl was busy healing the survivors while Jonathan and Raja was staring at the corpses lying in front of them. "I am Jonathan. What should we do with all these dead bodies?" asked Jonathan. He did not have any experience in dealing with this many dead bodies. Heck, he never once met a dead body in his life. His exploration in a dungeon since he awakened had always been successful without any death happening to any member of his party. Even his newly party members, Shihoon and Cade survived. Cade was in a near death state earlier but he survived. "Raja¡­ Maybe we should bury them," said Raja saying his name while he solemnly looked at all the explorers'' body in front of him. "Here? Isn''t it better if we bring them out?" asked Jonathan. He wanted to pass the body to their family. "There are too many of them and there is only a handful of us that can move around. We need to bring the injured out too," said Raja calmly. He himself wanted to bring all of them out but he knew himself that it was impossible. "How about we put them in our storage?" asked Jonathan. Humans cannot enter the storage but it was possible for dead bodies to be put inside the storage. If they put the dead bodies in their storage, they can bring all of the dead bodies out of the dungeon. "That do not look proper. They used to be alive. They used to be human. Putting them in the storage like they are some kind of things is not proper," said Raja refused to do that. Jonathan understand what Raja meant and he dismissed that idea. If he cannot come with any other ideas, the only thing they can do was buried them inside the dungeon. "How about sending them using the emergency badge? If we group them up together and use the badge, it was possible to send them out of the dungeon," suggested Jonathan. "The limit of the emergency badge is 5 explorers per badge. We do not have that many emergency badges with us and besides, it does not work with dead explorers," said Raja. Jonathan fell silent as he did not know what he should do. He actually had a lot of emergency badge but he did not know that it only worked on living explorers. "Let''s clean the face of the one that has their face alright and I will take their picture. Collect their belonging and group it up with their picture. After that, we can give their belonging to their family," a voice came from nearby and it was Shihoon. "For the one that unfortunately cannot be identified, just get their belonging. We will put all of their belonging outside the dungeon and let their family collect it themselves. As for their bodies, lets bury them. There is no way for us to bring them outside." said Shihoon. "And besides, it will be really cruel of us if we bring them outside with their conditions like that," said Shihoon. "How about one of us teleport outside and ask everyone outside to help us moving the corpse?" suggested Jonathan again. It might be cruel but he wanted their family to be able to see them for the last time. "We ourselves needed more than ten days to arrive here and are we going to let their body rot here while waiting for them to arrive?" said Shihoon as he thought that Jonathan was too hung up on bringing the intact body outside. "Let''s follow your idea and collect their belonging¡­ We will need to dig out a huge hole but how do we do that?" asked Raja. He agreed to follow Shihoon''s idea as he thought that will be the best. "No need to worry about that. I have a picture of a monster that is really good at digging. Just leave that to me," said Shihoon. As Jonathan cannot think of any more ideas, he silently followed Raja and started collecting the explorers belonging. They can only collect what was outside their body. Anything that was inside their storage was not accessible to Jonathan and Raja. Shihoon on the other hand move from one person to another and clean their face with clean water and took their picture. He printed them and put it next to the dead''s belonging. Healer girl did not help them and she only looked from a far as she was really tired from healing all of the injured explorers. She needed to rest or she will collapse immediately. It took them around an hour to sort out everything. At that time, a few parties of explorers that came from the third floor got to the fourth floor and was shocked to see everything that happened there. After the explanation from the healer girl, they also helped Shihoon, Raja and Jonathan in collecting the belonging of the dead explorers. After all of that was done, it was time to dig the hole to buried them. Luckily, there was an explorer that can use ground magic and there was no need for Shihoon to dig the hole by himself. That explorer made a huge hole and the other explorers around helped moving the dead bodies and properly put them in the hole. After they all finished moving the dead bodies in the hole, the ground mage explorer closed the hole. They did not know if the bodies or the dungeon will disappear in the future but they still put a sign that the fallen explorers were all buried there. Although there were explorers that came from the third floor, there were only about ten of them. Two of them were healers and thanks to them, the injured got more healing. Not many of the explorers from the third floor arrived at the fourth floor because they failed in defeating the third-floor boss. They all made some discussions and the newly arrived explorers decided to head out of the dungeon following Raja, Shihoon, Jonathan and healer girl. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. They needed to report about the humanoid toad and were afraid too that there might be more of them inside. They decided to stop their explorations inside the big tongue toad dungeon. They also decided to help carried the injured outside while they used their emergency badge. They choose the one they wanted to brought outside and after all of that was done, it was time to escape the dungeon. Weirdly, the humanoid toad bodies did not evaporate and they decided to bring the bodies outside. If they handed them to the authority, they will be able to find out what were they. That humanoid monsters were really dangerous and weirder thing were that none of the big tongue toad on the fourth floor came near them. The explorer did saw a few toads on the fourth floor jumping around nearby. They wanted to come to them but weirdly enough, once they saw the bodies of the humanoid toad, they shivered in fear and ran away. 40 Chapter 40 Cade slowly opened his eyes and all he saw was a ceiling of a room. He tried to move his body but he felt pain but it was bearable. Once he saw what was at his side, he knew he was in a hospital. There were few other beds around with patients and there were also nurse around. "Ah, you woke up. I will call the doctor to check on you," said the nurse as she went out of the ward to call for a doctor to check on Cade. "So¡­ I survive. I wonder how long have I been unconscious?" said Cade while he was looking at the other patients. "I wonder how the others are doing? Seeing that I am alive, that meant they defeated the humanoid toad," thought Cade. He turned his head and looked outside the window. The weather was nice and it was peaceful outside. "Cade! You woke up! Nice~," suddenly a voice came from the direction of the ward''s door. It was a familiar voice but at the same time, annoying. Cade recognized the voice and when he looked at the voice''s owner, true enough, it was someone he knew. "You¡­ I prefer Jonathan to be here," said Cade. The voice''s owner was actually Shihoon. He was not fond of Shihoon and likes Jonathan more. "That is mean~ Do you know who save you?" said Shihoon pouting as Cade did not appreciate him came to visit. "Isn''t that healer girl that save me?" asked Cade. The only one at that time that can save him was the healer girl. "I can do that too you know~ by using the picture of the healer girl¡­ by the way, her name is Viola. I took Viola picture and summon another her to save you. If not because of me, hmph! Don''t even dream of staying alive," said Shihoon pouting. He was just playing around and did not feel angry that Cade did not believe him. He was not a healer after all. However, after what had happened with the humanoid toad, Shihoon had started collecting pictures of many things that can help him in the dungeon. "¡­Oh, thank you for saving me," said Cade. He did not know if Shihoon really save him but it was possible for him to be able to do what he said and it was right for him to thank Shihoon¡­ but thanking his stalker still felt a bit weird. "How long have I been unconscious?" asked Cade. "Not long, five days," said Shihoon. "¡­ Five days is long¡­" Cade suddenly did not know what else to talk with Shihoon. Looking at Cade that went silent, Shihoon said, "It is really a surprise when I took off your mask. Who would have known that you are quite a handsome man?" Shihoon smiled while he looked at Cade from head to toe. Cade looked at Shihoon weirdly and said, "I don''t swing that way¡­" Upon hearing that, Shihoon was laughing so hard that everyone in the ward was looking at them. The doctor and nurse came to check on Cade and they scolded Shihoon for disturbing other patients. They checked on Cade and he had no other problem. He just needed to rest for a few days. The doctor said that if not because of the emergency treatment by Shihoon and Viola, Cade might have lost his life or he might end up paralyzed. When the doctor said that, Cade saw Shihoon puffing his chest proud as if he was the only one responsible for saving Cade. Cade felt a bit annoyed at him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. He had broken and fracture bones all over his body but once he arrived at the hospital, the doctor that was a healer immediately healed him. Broken bones and damaged organs can nowadays be easily healed with healing skills. Only disease or sickness like cancer, epidemic and everything similar to them were needed the help of doctor and technology. Regenerating limbs or something similar was also possible with healing skill but that skill was super rare and only a select few have them. However, current technology was also capable of regenerating limbs but that treatment was super expensive. Once the doctor finished checking up everything, they left Cade to rest and he glared at Shihoon to not cause anymore disturbance. Shihoon awkwardly nodded as the doctor had quite a temper and he was scared to get scolded by him. With all of that done, Cade felt hungry and wanted to eat something. He asked Shihoon for help to buy him some food. "Oh, I already ask your friend to buy some for you," said Shihoon. "Friend? Who?" Other than Shihoon and Jonathan, he did not think he was close to anyone else. He might consider Jonathan as his friend because he was a really good boy. As for Shihoon, he was merely his acquaintance. "Cynthia. I have been coming here once and this is my second time but she had been taking care of you since you got out of the dungeon," said Shihoon. Hearing Cynthia''s name, Cade blanked. "How did she know I got injured?" asked Cade after he came to his sense. He was really shocked to hear that Cynthia had been taking care of him every day in the hospital. "She said she was looking for you all this time. She wanted to enter the dungeon but her level passed the limit and ended up waiting outside all the time while you were inside the dungeon," said Shihoon. "She¡­ really did that?" asked Cade still cannot believe what Shihoon was saying. He was inside the dungeon for more than ten days and she waited outside the dungeon all that time? Unbelievable. Cade also remembered that he left her alone on the train and he knew she must have been really mad at Cade but she waited that long? "I think she-" Shihoon wanted to say something but Cade stopped him as he knew what Shihoon wanted to say. Cade knew Cynthia''s identity and there was no way she will feel that way. "Uwu~ She is going to steal you from me~" said Shihoon pouting and then he laughed. Cade was really annoyed with Shihoon but he cannot chase him away as he came there to visit him. And Cade realized something about Shihoon. As he had spent quite some time with him, the way Shihoon acted at the time was quite different than before. It looked like he forced himself. Cade stared at Shihoon and Shihoon realized that Cade was staring at him. "Hmm? Why are you staring at me? Are you FALLING for me?" and he laughed again. Once he had enough laugh, he stopped and decided to buy some drinks for Cade. Looking at Shihoon''s behavior, he knew something was wrong. Once Shihoon was out of the ward, he stopped his step and stared blankly in the air. He did not look happy as when he was with Cade earlier. After about 15 seconds staring in the distance, he started to walk again. Cade wanted to ask Shihoon but he felt like it might be something personal and he did not want to ask something like that to Shihoon. Cade decided to check on his geniusphone for the news. He had been out of touch with the news since he got inside the dungeon. The last news he heard was that from Jonathan about another five time-limit dungeons appeared after the earlier three. Many days had passed since then and he wondered what happened. Did the explorers succeeded in closing the dungeon or did they end up like Planet Snowball? Cade was curious about that. He opened his system to access his storage and something was different about the system. Usually, the screen of the system was green but the screen in front of Cade was blue. Other than that, there were other functions that was added to the system that was not there before. "What happen? Did the system went through changes the same as the dungeon?" Cade wondered. From the list of the functions available there, only three of them were the old ones. The other functions were all new to him. The three old functions were the stats view, the storage and the skill list. Before awakening, only the stats and storage were available but after awakening, the skill list was added to the system. The new functions that Cade saw on the system screen were the equipment list, mapping and appraisal. Looking at the new functions, Cade wondered if the old functions had some kind of new features available. Cade wanted to check them one by one. Trusting the system, all the new functions will possibly be really helpful in his exploration. Cade first chose the stat view to see if there will be any difference to the old ones. Once the stats appeared, unfortunately for Cade, there was nothing new added there. He looked at his stats and saw his 101 maximum luck and he sighed. 41 Chapter 41 Cade finally knew that he was too stubborn, reckless and maybe greedy of increasing his luck that it almost costed him his life. With his puny stats, he cannot even stand one simple attack from that humanoid toad. One hit and he was out. He was really useless during that fight. No, he was not only useless but he contributed nothing to the fight. Jonathan who was 4 years younger than him was more useful than him. He did not know the details of the fight after he lose consciousness but he was sure that Jonathan must have contributed more than him. "A teenager is more useful than an adult like me¡­ no I am not that much different to a child¡­ playing with cardboard at my age¡­" Cade sighed when he thought of all of that. However, now that he achieved what he had wanted, he can now focus on increasing his other stat. He did not know if he was too late on that but he wanted to do his best. If Cade wanted to get more stat points without relying on the leveled up stat points, he can collect many kinds of puzzle. With his ability to choose his drop, he can easily collect a lot of different kinds of puzzle. It was all thanks to his luck. Cade looked at his 101 luck stats and he wondered if the 1 point he thought was extra was the one responsible for his ability to choose the drop he wanted. It was a really good ability. He felt a bit of regret of being useless but he also thought positively that due to his maximum luck, he had created more chance for himself to become stronger. Cade tried touching his luck stat on the system screen but accidentally touched his wisdom stat. To his surprised something appeared at the side of his wisdom stat. Apparently, there was now a limit of stat on the list. It was never there and everyone thought that there was no limit to the stats but there was now a limit. Cade checked on all his stats and other than luck that was already maxed, all his other stats had a limit of 200. Cade did not know if the limit can be increased and will ask Shihoon about it when he came back. Once he had enough of checking his stats, Cade moved on to his storage. There was nothing new with them. All his linked equipment was there and he wondered how they got inside. He was knock out with them still equipped on his body. Was it another ability of his linked equipment? Other than restoring itself after destroyed, it will enter the storage back when their owner was knocked unconscious? There was no way for Cade to test it. He did not want to get knock out again¡­ especially in one hit. He checked his other spoiled of the battle in the big tongue toad dungeon and all of them were there in his storage untouched. Looking at all of them, Cade was sure to become rich when he sold all of them especially the equipment, skill book and his incomplete puzzle piece. Cade had no plan of selling his magic crystal as he had lots of uses with them. He will sell the toad and tongue crystal as he did not know it uses. He can use them for his linked equipment but he wanted to know their value first. All magic crystals had their uses and he believed that the two new crystals had their uses too. As for the loads of toad material he got from the dungeon, Cade decided to sell them for cheap. Looking at them, he felt really tired. He remembered that he ate lots of them because he ran out of food. He did not bring much food because he did not know about the changes happening in the dungeon and the long time spent inside. He really regretted not bringing more food. Now that he had more experienced, when he decided on his next dungeon explorations, he will buy ton of food to bring to the dungeon. Once he sold all of his drop, he will be rich and food will not be a problem. Cade then moved on to his skill list and unsurprisingly, there was nothing new on them. At the moment, he only had two skills. The first was his first ever skill and the most useful skill he had that contributed a lot to his strength, the link growth skill. His second skill was his physical resistance that he got from the skill book dropped by a slime. "Now that I think properly, maybe my physical resistance skill help me a bit when I was hit by that powerful toad," thought Cade. However, he dismissed that idea completely because he was sure that the humanoid toad must be of higher grade and his physical resistance at the moment was only useful for E grade opponent. Cade had lots of E grade magic crystals and decided to pour all of them on his physical resistance skill. The skill level increase to 8 and it can reduce 80% physical damage done by E grade opponents. With all of that done, it was time to check on the new functions. Cade first checked the equipment functions. It was empty and there was nothing there. Cade moved his cardboard short sword on a slot there and the system asked where he wanted to assign the sword. Since Cade was used to his sword on his left hand, he assigned it there. After assigning, Cade did not know why but he suddenly got a knowledge on what he should do next. Using that knowledge, he thought of the sword and his cardboard short sword suddenly appeared on his left hand. "Whoa~ so, I can easily summon any equipment I assign on the equipment function," said Cade. He stored the sword back. After that, Cade assigned all of his linked equipment in the equipment function so that it was easier for him to equip them. Once he was done with the equipment function, Cade tried the appraisal function. Disappointingly, it was the same as the appraisal from the storage. He tried appraised everyone around him but there was nothing much shown by the appraisal. It was the same as when the system appraised the monster in the dungeon. Cade tried the mapping function next and the function surprised him a lot. The function showed every place that he had went to before including the big tongue toad dungeon in 3D. When Cade minimized the map, Planet Dineon was shown but the neighboring planet was not shown because Cade had never once gone there. Not only that, the mapping function also shown everyone that was within 500 meters around him. The blue dot was him and green dot was everyone else around him. Yellow dot was someone he knew as when he touched that dot, it shown the name of Shihoon. Suddenly, a new color dot appeared and it entered the hospital. It was orange. Cade touched the orange color dot and to his surprised, that was Cynthia. "Why is her color orange?" Cade wondered. He nodded as he was satisfied with the function but he wondered what the orange dot meant. The dot showed that Cynthia and Shihoon met each other and they walked together towards Cade''s ward. Cade fiddled around with the mapping function to get used to it and once he was satisfied with it, he took out his genius phone from his storage. Unfortunately, it was out of battery. Cade took out his phone charger and charged his genius phone. Since he was unable to see the news, he decided to wait for Shihoon and Cynthia to arrive. Cade tried to make a small talk with the other patients beside his bed and when he checked his mapping function, their green dot turned yellow with their name shown when Cade touched it. Now, Cade had more understanding of the mapping function. However, the doctor and nurse that came to check on him earlier was not on the list of yellow dots. Cade can only conclude that since he did not know their names, their dot did not turn yellow. With the small talk made with everyone around him, Cade accidentally found out about the matter regarding the time limit dungeon. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. When Cade heard the news, he was stunned and shocked. His mind went blank and he was speechless. His brain started processing everything they had said and he still cannot believe what they had said. "Cade! You really woke up," a sweet voice called for him snapping him from his dazed state. When Cade looked at that direction, he squinted his eyes a bit as it was bright. Cade knew instantly that the sweet voice belonged to Cynthia. Beside Cynthia was Shihoon with sunglasses. Cynthia smiled at Cade as she was happy that Cade had woke up but Cade felt like her happiness was for a different reason. True enough, when she stood beside Cade, she raised her leg and kicked Cade! 42 Chapter 42 Cade fell on the floor after he was kicked by Cynthia. It was just a light kick and Cade fell because his body was still weak. "??? What was that for???" Cade was surprised and clueless as to why Cynthia did that. He stared at Cynthia waiting for answer. Shihoon was also shocked to see that Cade was kicked by Cynthia. He remembered that Cynthia looked really worried when they brought Cade out of the dungeon and out of nowhere, she kicked him. "You must have done something wrong if your girlfriend kick you like that. Did you cheat on her?" said a man on a bed nearby. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "We-we are not like that," said Cade quickly retorted that man. He also did not want to say something carelessly like that because Cynthia was a princess. Not just a normal princess but a princess from a super powerful family. If the Golden Dragon Family caught wind of that kind of story happening between him and Cynthia, they might kill him. He was not only abandoned by his family but he also being an explorer wearing cardboard as equipment. That would be unbefitting of someone who wanted to have a romantic relationship with a member from a royal family. They will lose face. "That is payback for what you did before," said Cynthia and she pouted. As there were many people around, she did not want to give too much detail. She was really mad that Cade left her alone on the train. She actually planned on kicking Cade harder when he came out of the dungeon but Cade was heavily injured and she was worried about him. However, she still wanted to kick him and that light kick was the result. Shihoon walked on Cade''s side to help him up. While he was helping Cade, he stared at Cade with a playful smile. Looking at that, Cade knew what he was thinking but decided to not say anything at that. "Ehem! Well¡­ I am sorry about that. I just want to be by myself at that time," said Cade apologizing to Cynthia. "Here, your food. Eat it while it is still hot," Cynthia did not say if she accepted his apology or not but handed the food to Cade. Cade took the food and looked inside. It was packed in a container and Cade cannot see what was inside but the smell was good. His stomach growled. However, rather than eating, he had something more important he wanted to know. Cade looked at Shihoon and immediately asked him to lend him his geniusphone. Cade wanted to check the news. He wanted to confirm the story he heard from everyone in the ward. "I know what you want to know. I cannot lend you my phone because it has lots of private things," said Shihoon. He led Cade to his bed to tell him everything he wanted to know. Cynthia just followed them to Cade''s bed and pulled out a small chair to sit. She did not only brought food but also some fruits for Cade. She took out an apple and peeled it for Cade while Shihoon told Cade everything he wanted to know. When Cade heard from Shihoon everything that had happened in the universe when they were inside the dungeon, he was extremely shock. It was too unbelievable. According to Shihoon, no one had succeeded in closing the time limit dungeon. All the planets that the time limit dungeon appeared on were vanished completely just like Planet Snowball. The three planets where the time limit dungeon appeared before Cade went inside the big tongue toad dungeon, Planet White Snow, Planet Desktra and Planet Lapto, all gone. They all failed. The five planets that Jonathan told them before also gone and since one of the five was Planet Dineon''s neighbor, Planet Chocoky, that planet also vanished. Not only that, there were many more time limit dungeon appeared after that and no one was able to close them. They all gone. There were also many other time limit dungeons that were still ongoing. The universe was now in chaotic. Millions of people had died because of the time limit dungeon and among them were precious explorers. A lot of powerful and highly talented explorers vanished together with the planets. Up until the day Cade woke up, none were able to know what happened inside the time limit dungeon. Not even one explorer that went inside the time limit dungeon came out. They all gone. War between planets, countries and everything else stopped completely as everyone prepared themselves for the arrival of the time limit dungeon on their planet. Biscuit Star System contained ten planets and out of ten, two had vanished. Planet no 7, Planet Chocoky and Planet no 8, Planet Chochipsi were gone. When Cade heard of Planet Chochipsi, he was stunned because that planet was where the Armored Bear family situated. "Then¡­ Jonathan''s family¡­" Cade was worried about Jonathan. "You don''t need to worry about him. Other than the ones that enter the dungeon, everyone else from his family evacuated the planet and thus they are all safe," said Shihoon. "Jonathan is with his family at the moment. He called me a few days ago and said that his parents and siblings luckily was not in the level limit of the dungeon and thus they were all fine," Shihoon continued. Cade sighed in relieved that the Armored Bear family did not get completely annihilated. They lost many other members but that was better than when everyone was gone. And Shihoon also told Cade that he lost his girlfriend too. His girlfriend decided to enter the time limit dungeon to protect their star system but she vanished alongside the planet. Shihoon and his girlfriend were out of touch since he was inside the dungeon and he was really regretful about it. Shihoon also told Cade that he will go back home to protect his family. He came to visit Cade that day to say goodbye. He never thought that Cade will wake up that day. It was better that Cade woke up because he can properly say his goodbye. They did not know when they will meet again. With the time limit dungeon appearing without warning, any one of them can suddenly gone with the time limit dungeon. Cade might have not like Shihoon a lot but he knew that Shihoon was not that bad of a person. He might be a bit too much with the stalking but that did not mean he was bad. They exchanged their phone number so that they can keep contacting each other. Shihoon also left Cade with Jonathan''s number as he knew that Cade was worried about him. Other than that, Shihoon also gave the phone numbers of all the explorers that help them with the humanoid toad to Cade including Raja and Viola because he wanted Cade to thank them. The least Cade can do was thanked them. After saying his goodbye, Shihoon left Cade and Cynthia alone with a cheeky smile on his face. Cade did not say anything to that and he just smile. "Kacha!" Cade looked at the direction of Shihoon and saw he took Cade''s picture with Cynthia with sinister smile on his face. He left after that and Cade sighed. With Shihoon gone, Cade was left alone with Cynthia. Cynthia passed the apples she peeled to Cade and Cade did not know why but he felt really awkward. "¡­" Cade wanted to start a conversation but he did not know what to say. He felt guilty of leaving her alone before and also thankful to her for staying with him when he was unconscious. ''I should apologize again and thanked her¡­ This is awkward¡­ or maybe is it just me?'' Cade was thinking what he should do. After some thought, he made his decision. "Cynthia¡­ I am sorry about before and I heard from Shihoon that you took care of me all this time when I am in this hospital," said Cade. "I already kicked you earlier so you don''t need to apologize anymore and I took care of you because you are an orphan and no one to take care of you," said Cynthia. She assumed that Cade was an orphan but he can be considered one because his family abandoned him. "Since you are fine now, I guess we will part ways now. You look like you really opposed of forming a party with me and I don''t want to force you anymore," said Cynthia and she smiled. Just like before, it was too bright. Cade stared at Cynthia with squinted eyes and he nodded, "Thank you for understanding. I prefer to work alone," said Cade. He felt relieved that Cynthia decided to not asking him to join her anymore. "¡­" Cynthia did not say anything. Her body suddenly shivered and her face became red and the bright light became brighter and it was a bit hurtful too. "C-Cynthia?" Cade called Cynthia as he did not know why Cynthia suddenly emitted that strong light. "Oh~ boy. Aren''t you too clueless?" said the man next to his bed¡­ with sunglasses on his face. 43 Chapter 43 Cade finally knew why Cynthia was like that. She was angry that her plan did not work. She thought that if she forced Cade, he will not agree and thus, she decided to gain his pity by saying it was fine for him to not join her party. Cynthia knew that Cade was a good man and he might join her if she said that. She waited for him outside the dungeon, she took care of him when he was unconscious and she even said that with a regretful smile. Unfortunately for her, Cade did not see her ''regretful smile'' because she was too bright and he cannot see her properly. People in the ward had gotten used to Cynthia and prepared themselves with sunglasses and they can clearly see Cynthia''s regretful smile. Looking at Cynthia like that, Cade panicked until the man on the bed beside him told him what actually had happened. However, to everyone surprise, even when Cade already knew why Cynthia like that, he still refused to form a party with her. Cynthia left the ward with sad face. Looking at her, Cade did feel a bit bad refusing her. Maybe he should reconsider joining her. After Cynthia left, everyone around him in the ward joked about Cade refusing Cynthia and Cynthia will broke up with him because Cade did not want to form a party with her. Cade did not say anything and just went along with their joke. Once his geniusphone fully charged, Cade checked the internet and 95% of the news was related to the time limit dungeon. Everyone was talking about it and fear can be seen among everyone on the social media. The top ten trending topic on most site was about the time limit dungeon. Celebrity gossip and everything else were drowned by the time limit dungeon news. It was understandable because it pertained to the future of the universe. Highest authorities from every star sector decided to convene a conference to discuss and planned the best counter for the time limit dungeon. Cade forgot about asking Shihoon about the changed in the system but fortunately for him, he found about it online. Apparently, the changes happened around the time Cade met the humanoid toad. He remembered that the system was still the same when he met the humanoid toad and that meant it happened after that. He also wanted to know what happened to the humanoid toad but loses his chance of asking Shihoon about it. He decided to give Shihoon a call later. Calling Jonathan at the moment might not be a good idea because of what happened to his home planet. Cade then started calling all the phone numbers that he got from Shihoon and thanking them one by one for saving him. He also did not need to call Shihoon about the humanoid toad because one of the explorers he called told him about the toad. Cade was surprised to hear that the humanoid toad did not evaporate after it was killed. That explorer also said that they handed the humanoid toad''s corpses to the authority as they suspected that the humanoid toad might have some connection to the time limit dungeon. The reason they believed that was because the system changed immediately after the humanoid toad was killed. The dungeon started changing before because of the appearance of the time limit dungeon and it was possible that the system was like that too. News about the humanoid toad did not get online as they believed that the government was the one blocking the news from getting online. The reason was unknown. The big tongue toad dungeon was also closed by Dineon''s government as they feared that more of the humanoid toad was inside. What happened to the humanoid toad''s corpses were also unknown. They tried to ask the government about it but they did not get anything and decided to just leave it to the government. If the humanoid toad was related to time limit dungeon and the government messed up with the corpses they got, they said the explorers will take action against the government. The explorers did not want to end up like Planet Snowball. Other than the changes Cade had known about the system when he was inspecting it himself, he also found out another shocking changes to the system. Due to his link growth skill, he did not find anything new happened to the skill function. However, to his surprise, the changes was so big. Before the system change, skill cannot increase in level. The level of the skill depended on the level of the monster it came from. The same goes for their grade. However, after the system change, all skill turned to level 1 of their respective grade and with frequent used or training with it will increase their mastery. Once the mastery reached 100%, the skill will level up. "It is similar to what my link growth is capable of doing except, I need to use the magic crystal¡­ I wonder if my mastery can increase without the use of magic crystal?" thought Cade. Other than that, there were also rumors that equipment can be further enhanced to become stronger with the right materials but that was just rumors. Another news was that, it was also possible to increase stat by training or doing something repeatedly. The news was not rumor as many explorers had tested it and it worked. However, it was really hard to achieve even one point. Cade stayed in the hospital for few more days for further check up and during the duration he was in the hospital, he was reading a lot of news and new information about the time limit dungeon. He also started planning on what he should do next. Entering another dungeon was not a bad thing but getting disconnected from outside world was a huge problem not only to him but everyone else. Other than that, he started surveying online for equipment he can use to upgrade his clothes equipment as well as his mouth mask. He found a few good one but it cost quite a lot. He did have enough money and he will have more, once he sold everything, he got from the big tongue toad dungeon. However, since he was in the hospital, he cannot sell or buy anything online. He will do that once he got home. Cynthia had been visiting Cade everyday since he woke up even when Cade had refused joining her party. However, after that day, Cynthia had never once mentioned anything about the party. She came to see Cade and only talk about something else but it was mostly about their college. Due to many students and lecturers got worried about their loved ones, most of them went home and the college decided to close until the issue about the time limit dungeon became stable. So, Cade had more time he can spend to increase his strength. The last day Cade in the hospital, he got a shocking news from Cynthia. Cynthia decided to go home as apparently, the Golden Dragon Star System was also going through the same predicament as everywhere else. A time limit dungeon appeared on one of the planets there and she was in the level limit of the time limit dungeon. She came to meet Cade in the morning as she needed to depart as fast as she can. "It is nice of knowing you Cade and it is regretful that we cannot party up together. Take care of your health well and I hope we can meet again in the future," said Cynthia as she was smiling sweetly. In her eyes though, Cade can see that she was scared and even though she was smiling sweetly, the bright light was not present as usual but she needed to go. She was not order by her family to enter the dungeon but she felt like it was her obligation as part of the royal family to enter the dungeon. "Are you really leaving?" asked Cade. Cade did not know why, but he felt a bit heavy of letting her entered the time limit dungeon. He understands her reasoning but if she went inside the time limit dungeon, the chance of her not coming back was high. Compare to Shihoon and Jonathan, Cade had spent much more time with Cynthia. He also got to know a lot more about Cynthia and they had gotten quite close with each other since he got injured. He had already considered Cynthia as his friend. "How about the important role that you should be doing here?" asked Cade. Cynthia came to Dineon because a fortune teller told her that she will have an important role to play in the planet pertaining their future. "That- It was just something predicted by a fortune teller. It did not mean that everything the fortune teller said was right," said Cynthia. She stood up from her sit as it was time for her to go. "Goodbye," said Cynthia as she left Cade with a smile. Cade blankly stared at her leaving figure. "I pray you to be safe¡­" Cade refused to say goodbye. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. 44 Chapter 44 Planet Draor, Golden Dragon Star System. Cynthia stood in a crowd of people and among them were many with the same hair color as her. They were all related to her. All of them was her stepsiblings and cousins. They all looked focused and they did not talk with each other unlike the other explorers around them chatting and everything. Cynthia was also preparing herself with her equipment and everything else. Thanks to the newly updated system, it was easier to equip herself with the equipment. With the equipment function, all she needed to do was think about the equipment she wanted to wear and it will automatically be equipped on herself. Cynthia wore a white robe and it looked really plain. It did not look as grand as the equipment wore by her step siblings and cousins. However, considering her identity as a princess, there was no way the robe was a low-level equipment. While she was checking her system for everything she might needed in this exploration, suddenly a loud shout was heard. Looking in that direction, a young man with full set silver armor stood in front of all the explorers. His golden hair was enough to tell which family he came from. That young man was the 7th prince of the Golden Dragon Family, Glenn. He will be the one leading the exploration in closing the time limit dungeon that appeared a few hours ago on Planet Draor. Since Cynthia had too many siblings, she was not close with all of them and Glenn was not one of her siblings that she was close to. He was two years older than her. Glenn had raked in a lot of achievement for the past few years and he was really popular among many people especially girls. He was by no means a playboy but he was engaged to four girls and from rumor that Cynthia heard, the fifth one will be soon. It was not a political marriage too and he was the one that made his decision to engage with them. Knowing about the strict selection in his family about the ones they were marrying, Glenn worked hard to make sure that they were all competent. He gave a briefing on many things for a few minutes and then it was time to enter the time limit dungeon. Looking at the dungeon portal, Cynthia''s heart was beating fast. She was nervous as well as scared too that she will not be able to come back. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Explorers started getting inside the portal. They had a really determined face as they wanted to save their planet. Looking at the portal, the time limit of 4 days 15 hours was shown in their system with the level limit of level 20 to level 30. Cynthia entered the dungeon and suddenly, her environment instantly changed. Cynthia looked around and no one was around her and the portal she came in earlier disappeared. Cynthia did not panic and looked around but she was really surprised at what she saw. *** Since the matter regarding the time limit dungeon was important, a live stream of every time limit dungeon in the universe can be seen online. Cade was in his apartment and he was watching the live stream for the time limit dungeon in Planet Draor, the one that Cynthia decided to enter. He watched the live stream to see if he can see Cynthia but unfortunately, there were too many explorers and it was hard to spot her. Cade was actually really worried about her. He was really hoping that they will be the first one who succeed to close the time limit dungeon and Cynthia will be among the explorers that survived the dungeon. After all the explorers gone inside the dungeon, there was nothing else to see. Cade can only wait the result in four days. Cade closed the live stream and he went online to see if what he put online were bought by people. To Cade surprise, most of the things he put online were immediately bought by others. The skill books were sold out, some of the equipment was still there as well as the materials. As for his leftover puzzle piece, Cade decided to put them on auction online. He decided to not put all at once because it might lower their price. Since everything was done automatically, all Cade needed to do was put the puzzle piece online and wait until the auction for it was done. He also decided to do the same with the toad and tongue magic crystals. Cade searched online and at the moment, no one had started selling that kind of magic crystal. While waiting for the auction to be done, Cade went to the shop website online that he had surveyed earlier in the hospital to buy the material to upgrade his linked equipment. Cade had a lot of money and thus, he decided to buy high grade equipment if possible. However, to Cade surprise, they were really expensive. He remembered that they were not that expensive a few days ago. He checked on the comment section and found out that the demand for equipment skyrocketed due to the time limit dungeon and the equipment price was raised high. Cade then came to the realizations that he sold his equipment drop at normal price. He immediately went back to change the price but he was too late and they were all sold out. "I should have expected that earlier¡­" Cade was a bit regretful that he was unable to raise the price of his equipment. Cade continued shopping for everything else. After he was done with buying everything, Cade checked his puzzle piece and the price had gone up a lot. He was not surprise by this because they were super rare after all. He let it continue and went to his bed. Cade sat on his bed with few equipment around him. They were all the ones he bought earlier to be used as the material to upgrade his linked equipment. First, Cade decided to use a trouser that had magic defense stat on it as the material to upgrade his jeans. Once Cade made the decision, the system processed the upgrade. Just like before, Cade needed to wait for a while before the upgrade finished. As to not wasting more time, Cade proceed to upgrade the white t-shirt. He bought a t-shirt equipment but that equipment was a bit special. It had skill imbued on it. Equipment with skill was not rare. There was many equipment with skill on them and the best example was the blue bear full set equipment Jonathan had. Cade had never seen Jonathan used the equipment skill but it was common knowledge that full set equipment had them. As for how strong the skill will be, it was quite the same as normal skill learned from skill book. However, the only different was that, equipment skill had cooldown time and used user''s energy while normal skill depended only on how much energies the user had. The t-shirt equipment had the skill of cooling. It was a simple common skill and it was used to cool down the body of the user. Cade found out that wearing the t-shirt, hoodie and body armor increase his body temperature and it was too hot. It was quite a torture to him when he was inside the big tongue toad dungeon especially when he was fighting. Cade used the t-shirt with cooling skill as the upgrade material and he hoped that he can choose the skill as the new stat for his t-shirt. Cade moved on to his hoodie. Cade actually wanted to buy a robe with a skill that can conceal his presence but that robe was sold out. He kind of got that idea because of Shihoon''s mute skill. When he searched it on another store online, their price had unfortunately gone too high and over his budget. Cade did not know what he should buy. After long consideration, he bought a clothes equipment with another magic defense on it and wanted to upgrade his hoodie magic defense to magic defense 2. Cade move on to his last linked equipment, the mouth mask. Looking at his cardboard mouth mask, it was too sloppy. He only used it to cover his face from embarrassment wearing the cardboard equipment. The mouth mask had been his most useless linked equipment. It had the defense stat and can protect his mouth from physical attack but that was it. At the moment, Cade had never once fought an enemy that went for his mouth. So, the defense that the mouth mask provided was useless. Other than that, because he did not poke small holes on the mouth mask before it was linked, it was quite stifling wearing the mouth mask. When he fought a hard battle, there was not much exchange of air happening because of the mouth mask and that sometimes created a lot of disadvantages to Cade. When he found out about the possible change of design to his cardboard equipment after an upgrade, he was so happy about it and an idea of changing the shape of his mouth mask immediately came to his mind. Cade wanted to upgrade the mouth mask by using a gas mask as the material. 45 Chapter 45 With the gas mask on hand, Cade used it to upgrade his mouth mask. All he needed to do now was wait until the upgrade completed. It will take quite some time. While waiting for his linked equipment to complete upgrading, Cade went online to read any latest news. Just like usual, everything was mostly about the time limit dungeon. Cade checked the news about the time limit dungeon in Planet Draor, the one Cynthia went and there was no new update about them. Looking back at the many recording when the explorers entered the dungeon, Cade still cannot find Cynthia. It was weird because Cynthia was usually glowing and she will for sure attracted the attention of the media. Suddenly, Cade remembered that Cynthia said before that any information about her will never appear on the internet because one of her family members used a skill that block any information about her on the internet. Cade sighed at the thought that he won''t be able to get any news about Cynthia online. Due to searching any news about Cynthia was impossible, Cade decided to search for a dungeon he can explore next. While scrolling on the list of dungeons that appeared on Planet Dineon, Cade found out that the government had waived the license matter. At the moment, no more license will be issued to any explorers. They can enter any dungeon they wanted without applying for license. The only thing they needed to do was paying tax later after their explorations. Cade was actually happy about it because applying for license was a waste of time. Cade saw comments complaining that there might be some guild that will try to monopolize the dungeon even without the license but the government said that they will put guard on every dungeon to make sure that won''t happen. Moving on to that, Cade found out that a new slime dungeon had appeared nearby his apartment. Cade checked the dungeon and to his surprise, there were quite a lot of explorers went inside. The reason for that was for the material that the slime dropped. Apparently, the fluid that the slime dropped had medicinal properties and were highly sought after by medicine company at the moment. Everyone went there to get some of the material to sell to the medicine company. The dungeon was that of E grade and it had the level limit of 1 to 10 but the limit had already increased to level 15. The slime was not strong and it was easy to reach the 10th floor, beat the boss and increased the level limit. Cade checked the comments and to his surprise, the explorers that went inside said that the slime was not as friendly as before and they were all hostile. Whenever they saw an explorer nearby, they will attack. Everyone said that it was fine to kill them now that they were hostile and even if they killed them, they will revive back so they did not feel guilty about killing them now. Cade suddenly thought on something. He wanted to know why the slime suddenly hostile towards human and he remembered that the toad had a toad language bloodline skill. He wondered if the slime had one too. If the slime had one, he will be able to communicate with them when he learned the skill. At the moment, Cade had three more empty slots to learn new skill and he can learn that skill so that he can asked the slime why they suddenly not friendly anymore. Cade made his decision to enter the slime dungeon that newly appeared near his apartment. With that confirmed, Cade decided to buy some food to prepare for this new exploration. He decided to explore the dungeon for a day or two because he wanted to know the progression of the time limit dungeon that Cynthia entered. Entering the dungeon meant cutting communication to the outside world and that was really inconvenience and dangerous. He hoped that someone created something that will help them to connect to the outside world. While Cade bought supplies that he needed for his explorations inside the slime dungeon, the system notified him that the upgrade of his linked equipment had finished. Cade checked his linked equipment and the first one he checked was the white t-shirt. The system let Cade chose a new stat to add to the t-shirt. While looking at the choices, Cade scratched his head. The stat he can choose was not what he wanted. He needed to choose between magic defense 2 or cool stat. Apparently, the t-shirt cannot learn the cooling skill. Cade asked the system if he can undo the upgrade but the system was unresponsive as usual and that meant he can''t. Cade sighed and decided to choose the cool stat. Cade did not check the t-shirt and move on to the jeans and black hoodie. Since he did not use any special equipment on them, he can only choose one stat and that was magic defense 2. Moving on to the mouth mask, Cade can choose between defense 2, silicon or air filter. Cade had quite the hard time of choosing because they all looked useful but, in the end, Cade chose silicon as the new stat because wearing cardboard on his face was uncomfortable. With all of that was done, it was time to see the upgraded linked equipment. Cade checked the black hoodie and jeans and there were no new changes physically happened to them. Their new stat was not magic defense anymore but magic defense 2. Cade did not know how the new stat was different compared to before but he was sure that it will be good because it was an upgrade. As for his plain white t-shirt, it was not plain white anymore. On the white t-shirt was many small snowflakes pattern. It covered the whole t-shirt and it looked quite good. When Cade wore it, he did not feel anything from it. Cade frowned. He thought he will feel cooler or something. He checked the stat and the cool stat was zero. Cade needed 1 ice crystal to increase the cool stat. He wondered if it was because the stat was zero. However, his shield, sword and body armor all had zero iron stat but they had iron properties on them. Cade decided to let it go and moved on to his last upgraded linked equipment. The mouth mask equipment had changed its name to full-face gas mask and the silicon stat was added as its new stat. When Cade took out the gas mask, it was still as light as a cardboard and it still looked like a cardboard but this time, it was black and Cade can feel that it was sturdier than before. Maybe because it was now a silicon cardboard. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Luckily the eyepiece was made of plastic and it was transparent. Cade was afraid that it will be a cardboard too. It looked like the system was not stupid. Unfortunately for Cade, it was not a full-fledged gas mask because it did not have any filter cartridge. At the mouth part of the mask did have the shape of the filter but it was empty. It was just shaped like that with holes on it so that air can exchange. Cade deduced that if he chose the air filter stat, it was possible that there will be the filter cartridge. He was a bit disappointed at that but he was happy nonetheless that his mouth mask was much cooler than before and he can fully hide his face. If Cade intended to do any bad things, no one will know his real identity. His face was fully covered by the gas mask. With all of that was done, Cade went online again and buy some magic crystal to increase the stat of the newly added stat. Cade bought the iron magic crystals for his shield, sword and body armor, ice magic crystals for his t-shirt and silicon magic crystals for his gas mask. Iron magic crystal and ice magic crystal was quite common but their prices were different. Ice magic crystal was much more expensive compared to the iron magic crystal because it had many uses. As for silicon magic crystal, they were quite rare and it did not have many uses yet to be found and it was much more expensive compared to the ice magic crystal. Cade only bought a few of them. They cost a lot of money and though Cade had more than enough money to buy them, he did not want to waste the money as preparations for emergency. With the right magic crystal bought, it was time for Cade to increase the stat of his newly upgraded linked equipment. However, to Cade surprise, he cannot increase any of the stat. "What happen?" Cade wondered why he was unable to use them and he suddenly came to a realization. "Could it be that I can only use them in the same way as I have been increasing the stat of my linked equipment?" 46 Chapter 46 Since Cade was unable to increase the new stat of his equipment using the magic crystals, he deduced that he needed to level up to be able to do that. Every level, Cade can use any level 1 magic crystal to increase the stats of his linked equipment. He can use up to 5 level 1 magic crystal to level up his linked equipment. If he used a level 5 magic crystal, it was counted as 5 level 1 magic crystal. Cade had confirmed it once before that no matter the grade of the magic crystal, they will all will only be able to increase the stat by 10 points. So, for every leveled up, Cade can only put 50 stat points to his linked equipment. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. With nothing else to do at the moment, Cade checked the puzzle piece he auctioned earlier and it was successfully auction at a high price. Cade put on the next puzzle piece for auction and disconnected from the internet. With all of that done, Cade decided to rest for the day. He will enter the slime dungeon the next day early in the morning. The dungeon was nearby and he will only need a few minutes of walking to arrive at the dungeon. *** Meanwhile, at Planet Draor, in front of the time limit dungeon, a few people stood there. They were guarding the dungeon portal so that they will be able to know any new changes that happened to the dungeon immediately. There were live cameras too but the camera had limited capability. It might be able to record everything but there were many things it won''t be able to do. A lot of equipment were there too to measure the energy changes happened to the portal and everything else that happened so that they can act immediately. At the moment, no one that went in had come out. Many people had concluded that anyone that go in won''t be able to come out and maybe after they completed the dungeon that they will be able to come out. None of the explorers that went inside the time limit dungeon had came out and thus, there were zero information about the inside of the time limit dungeon. As the guard were guarding the dungeon portal, suddenly the system sent out a new notification to them. As they read the notification, they immediately reported it to their superior. Apparently, only the guard that stood near the portal got the notification. When the superior got the report, he was shocked because the system told the guards to find more people to enter the dungeon immediately especially those with strong fire skills. The superior asked the other guard if they got the same notification and they said they got the same one. "The system had never done this before. The new dungeon rules, the new updated system and now the system gave this kind of notification," said the superior. He did not know if he should follow what the system said as he was a bit doubtful about it but he still reported it to someone higher than him. As his superior got the news, he was shocked too and he was thinking of something and he decided to follow what the system asked. With that, a new news appeared and it shocked the whole universe. Golden Dragon Family was looking to hire explorers with fire skills in between level 20 to level 30 to enter the time limit dungeon. They offered to pay high amount of money and to take care of their family if they were to lose their life inside the time limit dungeon. Many people started applying for that because the Golden Dragon Family was known to have never broken their promise. To all the authorities on other planets however, thought that it was weird that they suddenly asked for something that specific. Explorers with fire skills. Did they find out something new about the time limit dungeon? They all wondered about that and decided to send some people to Planet Draor to spy on them. Any new information about the time limit dungeon was super valuable as it pertained the fate of the universe. None of them had ever once closed the time limit dungeon and they all lost their planet when the time limit dungeon appeared on their planet. The Golden Dragon Family wanted to release the news about the system notification but decided to hold on to that because they cannot confirm anything regarding the notification. If that notification was a trap, it will be super dangerous but they had faith in the system and decided to believe the system. With all the application came, they only chose those of A grade and above explorers. The Golden Dragon Family did not specify the grade of the explorers they wanted because they wanted to see how many will applied. Luckily for them, a lot of A grade and S grade with fire skills applied and they chose all of them. Everyone that was chosen were allowed to use the teleporter and the cost of that will be paid by the Golden Dragon Family. News of the recruitment were trending on social media as people were discussing the sudden moved made by the Golden Dragon Family. Not only the authorities of other planets but people around the internet had also thought that the family had found something new about the time limit dungeon. Some of them tried to press the Golden Dragon Family for clarification but they ignored them. At the moment, the most important thing was to follow what the system wanted. Many strong explorers with fire skills gathered in front of the time limit dungeon on Planet Draor and after a short briefing from the Golden Dragon Family''s representative, they started entering the dungeon. *** Cade woke up early as he wanted to enter the slime dungeon as early as possible. He ate a simple breakfast and saw the trending news about Golden Dragon Family. Cade did not think much of that but he was happy if they really did find out something and took the initiative to complete the dungeon, the chance of Cynthia to survive the dungeon will increase. He prayed that whatever they were trying to do, they will succeed. He was worried about Cynthia but he was also worried about the fate of their universe. Two planets of his star system had vanished and with only eight planets left on the star system, it will not take long before it was Planet Dineon''s turn next. If the Golden Dragon Family succeed, there will be more information about the time limit dungeon will be found and that will increase the chance of everyone to succeed in closing more of the time limit dungeon. The Golden Dragon Family was the first one that had ever made this move to deal with the time limit dungeon and that gave a slight hope to humanity to succeed in closing the time limit dungeon. As Cade were reading about the news, he finished his breakfast and it was time to enter the slime dungeon. Cade had two goals of entering the slime dungeon and leveled up was not one of them. He will loiter around the first floor to complete the slime language bloodline skill puzzle pieces to communicate with the slime if the skill really existed. He wanted to know why the slime suddenly turned hostile towards human and he hoped to find out the reason. He quite like the slime he met before and he knew that they were a peace-loving creature. Suddenly turned hostile meant something must have had happened and he wanted to know the reason. If it was human''s fault, he thought he will try to apologize or do something about it. However, if it had something to do with something else like they were possessed or something, he will try his best to cure them. That was his first goal. His second goal was simply to complete the figure puzzle pieces of the slime and got himself a few free stat points. He was in urgent need of them as the state of the universe was too dangerous. He was too weak and he did not want to end up like before when he was knocked out in one hit. When he thought of that, he did not get any news about the humanoid toad. He wondered if the government found out something about the humanoid toad. If they did find something, they should share it with them because that humanoid toad was too dangerous and everyone needed to know about them for their safety. If they entered the big tongue toad dungeon and met another of that toad, without any preparations, they can immediately lose their lives. Cade had experienced with that and he knew how scary it was. He made plenty of preparations to enter the slime dungeon as he was afraid that there will suddenly appear a humanoid slime in the dungeon. Who knows? Anything can happen now with all the things that was happening in the universe. 47 Chapter 47 "There is quite a lot of people around even at this time¡­" said Cade as he was walking from his apartment to the slime dungeon. He checked the time and it was only 5:10 am. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. On the way there, Cade passed through quite a lot of people. He never once came out at that time and he thought maybe it was normal that people woke up that early every day. "Urm, I guess not," said Cade immediately as he found out the real reason for that many people. Cade finally saw the slime dungeon''s portal. It was located in a small children park and it looked like kids had been block from entering the area. To Cade surprise, there were a lot of explorers there and the slime dungeon was supposed to be the most unpopular dungeon in the universe but looked at all the explorers around. As Cade got closer to the portal, to his surprise, the level limit of the dungeon had increased to 20 and that meant there will be 20 floors for this slime dungeon. "That was fast. How in the world did they managed to add another five floors in a night? Did the explorers bulldoze the slime to reach the boss floor?" said Cade as he was surprise to see the level limit of 15 had increased to 20 overnight. As he was looking at the dungeon portal, suddenly the level limit increased to 21. Cade''s mouth was wide opened. He wondered how strong everyone there that they cleared a floor that fast. "I feel bad for the slime because they were easily killed by the explorers¡­ I need to get that language skill fast and ask them what is actually happening," said Cade. There was nothing much to do outside as Cade had already prepared everything and he will only wander around on the first floor for two days max. Cade entered the slime dungeon. Nothing surprised Cade when he entered the dungeon. It had quite the same feeling as the big tongue toad dungeon. It did not look like the dungeon made any change after he got out of the big tongue toad dungeon. Looking around, Cade went to find some slime to kill. He wanted to know if they really became hostile as what the other explorers said. They might turn out like that when many of them were killed just like what he had encountered before. He wondered if it was the same. As Cade walked around, something caught his eyes and it was not a slime. Cade stared at what he saw and he walked to the direction of that thing. Once Cade arrived to the thing, he stood there staring at it. On the ground, there were something bulging out of it¡­ no, something grew on it. Cade remembered the system had the new appraisal function after the new update. Cade appraised that thing on the ground and he was not surprise by it. The reason was because it might have something to do with the dungeon changing. Nothing about the dungeon changing surprised him anymore. The system appraised the thing on the ground as iron ore. Other than the name, there was no other info shown. There was never once an ore can be found inside the dungeon. When the dungeon appeared for the past 10 000 years, other than the drops from the monster, there was nothing else can be gained from the dungeon. Something like ore and herbs were inexistent in the dungeon. All explorers will get were the magic crystal, random equipment, skill book and puzzle piece. The dungeon had apparently changed and materials like part of the monster body can be get from drop, more different type of magic crystal (only for Cade at the moment from Cade''s knowledge) can be found. Cade still did not find out any news about the uses of the materials. No one had said anything about them and he was sure that they were researching it. Cade can confirm one thing about the material drop he got; they can be eaten. It will taste better if they know how to cook them. Cade took out his cardboard short sword and dug the iron ore out. It was quite easy to dug out that ore as if it was just recently planted there. Cade held the iron ore and to his surprise, the appraisal function of the system updated the info about the iron ore. Name: Iron Ore Stats: Attack, Defense, Iron As Cade stared at the iron ore, he put it inside his storage. There was nothing he can do to the ore and decided to sell it once he got out of the dungeon. If he found more of them, he will just dig them out and sell them later. Cade continued walking inside the dungeon and he was thinking if the ore or materials he found can be used to upgrade his linked equipment when they can be upgraded once more in the future? Cade found more and more iron ore laying around and that confirmed his thought earlier that this was part of the changes happening to the dungeon. With all these resources around, Cade found it weird that contrary to the bustling of explorers outside, there were not many of them inside the dungeon. At the moment, Cade had never once met another explorer. He wore his cardboard equipment and the only time he was stared at was when he was outside the dungeon. He can feel that no one was staring at him at the moment inside the dungeon and that meant no explorers were around. Cade thought that maybe the slime was too easy for them and decided to let only the weaker or beginner member of their party to handle them while they wait outside. As Cade was collecting the iron ore, his pace had slowed down. He was not that far into the dungeon and while he was collecting the iron ore, he saw a slime jumping around towards him. Looking at the slime''s face, Cade knew it was hostile and confirmed what the other explorers had been saying. The slime came to him fast and Cade saw the slime stat thanks to the system''s appraisal. Just like the iron ore, only the name of the slime was shown. "Hmm¡­" Cade was thinking of something and when he saw the slime had taken a position to attack, Cade did not do anything as the first floor of the dungeon only contained level 1 monsters. The slime attack and Cade had quite a bit of experience killing a slime and he easily slashed the slime''s core and immediately killed the slime. The notification to choose his drop appeared and he checked them one by one to see what the slime can offer. There were three materials can be gained from the slime. The slime''s core, the slime''s jelly body and the slime''s fluid. Cade knew about the medicinal properties of the slime fluid but did not know the other two materials uses. He ignored them as that was not the reason he came to the slime dungeon. Moving on to the magic crystal list, there were three of them. The first magic crystal was the vitality crystal and that was what the slime usually dropped. The second magic crystal was the slime crystal. There was no picture shown but Cade can guess the appearance thanks to him obtaining the toad crystal. The third was the null crystal. Null crystal was quite common but it uses was quite limited and due to that, it did not fetch for quite a lot of money. Looking at the last magic crystal, Cade can somehow see a pattern there. The big blue tongue toad had the last magic crystal being the ice crystal and the slime had the null crystal. "Hmm~ is the last crystal indicating their elemental?" thought Cade. Cade moved on to the equipment and nothing special from them and he quickly checked the skill book. There were two of them. First being the physical resistance that Cade had already learned and the second being fluid body skill. Cade had never heard of the fluid body skill and thought that it must be a new skill for the slime or maybe it was that hard to get. Cade had no intention of getting the skill book and he moved on to the puzzle list. The first was the figure puzzle that will give free stat points when completed. The slime figure only needed two puzzle pieces. It will be too easy for Cade to complete one. Since he can only use one, so, he will not need to farm them. He might collect a complete few of them for maybe Jonathan¡­ and Cynthia too as thanks for taking care of him for his duration in the hospital if she survived the time limit dungeon¡­ Cade sighed when he thought of Cynthia. Just like the big blue tongue toad, the next of the puzzle were the bloodline skill. It comprised of the physical resistance and fluid body with another one being another leader skill and Cade smile when he saw the language bloodline skill. 48 Chapter 48 "It is here, so I guess all monsters can drop the puzzle pieces for language bloodline skill," said Cade as he was happy with his discovery. The language skill needed 20 puzzle pieces just like the language skill from the toad. Cade smiled because it won''t take long for him to get twenty of them. When Cade looked at the leader skill, he wondered about what it can do. He saw the same one from the big blue tongue toad but that leader skill was for the big blue tongue toad and the one he can get from the slime was for the slime. By the name of the skill, Cade wondered if he can be a leader of a group of slime if he were to learn the skill? Looking at more of the list of the puzzle, Cade found another familiar puzzle. The slime essence, slime key and slime core. The essence and key needed 100 puzzle pieces while the core needed 1000 puzzle pieces. "They must be something really big. Since slime is easy to defeat, should I collect them all and see what I can do with them?" thought Cade. As he had finished looking at the list of drops, Cade chose to get the first part of the figure puzzle to increase his stat. With all of that done, it was time for Cade to continue hunting the slime and he suddenly realized how stupid he was. He opened the system and chose the map function. He completely forgot about it. When the map opened, Cade can see everything lurking around him. Apparently, just like he thought, no one was around him. He can see a few red dots around though and when he touched the dot, the system said it was slime. "So, red mean they are hostile," said Cade as this was his first time seeing the red dot. Actually, that was his second time using the mapping function. He had totally forgot about it. With the mapping function, it made it easier for Cade to know the direction and then came to his realization about the reason the level limit increased that fast. Maybe the explorers were using the mapping function to locate the slime and find the right way to the floor boss room. Cade went to the slime he detected through the map and when he arrived at the location, he appraised the slime and to his surprise, the appraisal showed more information about the slime. Name: Slime Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Grade: E Level: 1 Max Stat: 10 per stat Total Stat Points: 10 "Whoa~ what with this sudden information about the slime? Is it because I kill one? That''s right, this happen to the iron ore too. Before I dug the ore, the system only showed me the name of the ore but after I dug the ore, more information can be seen," said Cade. Cade deduced that it was because Cade obtained the ore and killed the slime that more information about them were available. Looking at the slime information, it was a bit different from the past. When the system appraised the monsters before the update, all it shown were the name, grade and level but now, Cade can see the maximum amount of stat it can have as well as the total stat they had. Cade got curious of other monsters'' stat. Once he had enough looking at the data, Cade went and attack the slime. Just like before, one hit to the core and the slime was killed. Cade chose the second part of the puzzle and complete a figure of the slime. Cade absorbed the puzzle and he was a bit disappointed at the amount of stat he got. He only got 10 stat points. Compared to the 35 stat points he got from the toad, that was too low. He used all ten stat points on his endurance stat increasing it to 33 points. Cade wanted to raise his vitality and endurance stat first before he considered raising other stat. His reason was because he wanted to last longer in a fight. He felt really soured when he lost the fight against the humanoid toad that quickly. He did not contribute anything to the fight and he even needed the help from others to save him. He was too useless and he hated that feeling. He was abandoned because he was deemed useless and at his current stat, his family proved to be right. As for other stats, he can rely on his equipment especially strength because his weapon was far stronger and more than enough to deal with monsters up to level 20 if they were grade D or below. Cade had completed one of his objectives and it was time for Cade to continue to complete what he came there for. The slime language bloodline skill. With the mapping function, Cade breezed through the dungeon towards the slime he found and killed them. Since they were hostile, he did not feel guilty killing them. All the killed he made; Cade choose the language skill puzzle piece as his drop. Thanks to the mapping function, it was easy for Cade to locate the slime and his hunting had become faster than when he was in the big tongue toad dungeon. He just needed to walked a bit and the map will locate the slime, he headed to them, killed them and got himself his chosen drop. It only took Cade about half an hour to kill 20 slimes and collected all 20 pieces of puzzle for the slime language bloodline skill. Cade was elated as that was his first time completing a 20 pieces puzzle or maybe he was the first in the universe. From his knowledge, the highest amount of puzzle that was completed was 12 pieces and that puzzle needed 15 years to complete. However, Cade knew that that was untrue because the normal bloodline skill needed 10 puzzle pieces and many founders of the big family had the full bloodline skill that Cade cannot found once in any of the monsters he killed. Imagine if the normal skill needed 10 puzzle pieces, the full skill will surely need more than that. It just that they never publicize it. Normal human won''t even know about the amount of puzzle pieces need and the same goes for explorers too. Cade was lucky to get his link growth skill and was able to increase his luck and by chance knew more about the puzzle pieces. If not, he will be as clueless as everyone else. Now that he had all the puzzle pieces for the slime language bloodline skill book, the system asked him if he wanted to combine them and Cade said yes. Bright light shone but it did not last long. Only a few seconds. Completely different compared to the complete figure puzzle. He remembered that time when he was with Jonathan and he cannot absorb the complete puzzle and it kept shone without stopping until Jonathan absorbed the complete puzzle. The skill book for the slime language bloodline skill was on his hand. The skill book was thicker than normal skill book. [Learn the slime bloodline skill ¨C slime language?] asked the system. Cade said yes. [Are you sure?] asked the system again. Cade said yes again. [Really?] asked the system one more time. "??? Yes¡­ Why is the system asking me three times?" said Cade one more time and the skill book disintegrated into lights and it entered Cade''s body. Cade felt like something was happening to his body. He can feel it. Usually, when learning a skill from the skill book, nothing will happen. The system asked if they wanted to learn the skill and boom, the skill will be in the list of skill. That was it. However, Cade can feel something changing in his body and he did not know why. "Is this because this is a bloodline skill?" Cade wondered. The changes happened for 10 minutes when it suddenly stopped. After that, Cade felt like usual like nothing had changed. Cade checked his body and nothing was changing. He actually felt a bit scared that he will turn into a slime or something because the skill name was bloodline though everyone knew that the skill was named like that because of its ability to be passed down to the next generation. Once he confirmed that nothing was changing in his body, he sighed in relieved. When he felt something was changing inside himself, he was scared shitless but he tried to maintain his calm demeanor. Cade wanted to try checking his skill when suddenly the system let out another notification. [Your body now contain the gene of the slime. Due to this, your body is unsuitable to learn another monster skill as well as getting another monster bloodline skill. Fret not, you will be fine] Cade stared blankly at the notifications. Once he came to his senses, instead of talking or thinking, he immediately went to his skill list and saw the slime language skill. Cade immediately touched the skill and wanted to delete it, however¡­ [The skill is permanent] said the system. "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" 50 Chapter 50 "*tt*ck *v*r*on*," was what Cade had been hearing from the slime all this time after his mastery of the slime language slightly increase. He knew instantly that they were saying ''attack everyone'' all the time. That sentence made the slime looked like they were not peace-loving monster at all. When Cade monitored one of the slimes, he found out that the slime was not as intelligent as the slime in the slime dungeon he completed before. He fought a lot of them and he knew how intelligent they were. They did not straightforwardly attack him like the slime he fought in the new slime dungeon too. They did attack like that in the beginning too but that slowly changed. "Why are the slime like this?" Cade questioned himself as he wanted to know what happened to them. The peace-loving creature was now love attacking everyone. Cade continue his hunt and he usually stalled for time to hear the slime talking so that he can increase the mastery of the slime language. The more he stalled for time, the more he heard the slime talking but they were all only talking two words, ''attack everyone''. The same words were said over and over again until Cade decided to just kill them immediately as he cannot get more from them. He even tried to talk in slime language but the slime seemed to not responding to his words. One thing Cade can deduce was that they were controlled by something or someone. He also cannot deny that maybe it was part of the changes happened to the dungeon. However, he remembered that the big tongue toad was not like the slime at all. The dungeon had been changing since the time he went to the toad dungeon and the toad were actually intelligent albeit them being aggressive but that was the nature of the big tongue toad. They had always been like that even in another dungeon. It did not make sense that the slime suddenly became like this. They used to be cute and Cade felt guilty killing them but now, they were not cute at all and quite annoying too especially when he can understand them talking. Where was the intelligence the slime shown to him before when they started mutiny and one of them even knew human language and can write them properly too? "I need to find out about this. If they are control by someone¡­ hmm~ if that someone is strong, it might be a bad idea to fight him or her at my current stat. Yeah, lets drop the matter of the slime for a moment and continue collecting the puzzle pieces," said Cade. He wanted to know what happened to the slime and wanted to solve it for them. However, if the slime was controlled by someone strong, he won''t be able to win and might ended up dead. He remembered how he almost died by the humanoid toad because he was too weak and he was still weak. Even after he healed from the injury, he did not make much progress to his stat. He got a measly 10 stat points from the slime figure complete puzzle and he also messed up with the bloodline matter. He had stopped progressing from increasing his growth potential too. His plan was all over the place. He was too weak to fight someone that can control all the slime in the dungeon. If he found that person he will surely die. No doubt about it. "But I don''t think the one who control the slime is inside this dungeon because the other explorers at the top floor is progressing smoothly through this dungeon. The level limit has increase to 22 too¡­" while saying that, Cade thought that maybe he should just explore the slime dungeon like every other dungeon. He can buy lots of emergency badge and teleport outside once he advanced to the next floor. He had no problem of getting lots of the emergency badge as he got quite a lot of money now. Because the dungeon was closed to his apartment, he had no problem of going back home every day too if he were to explore the slime dungeon. However, after he had collected all the puzzle pieces, other than collecting the slime crystal, there was nothing else he can do in the dungeon. The matter of the slime being controlled by someone needed to be hold for a while because Cade had no confident in solving it. "Let''s think about that later," said Cade and he continued his hunt and continued collecting all the puzzle pieces. *** Planet Draor, 5 hours after the explorers with fire skill entered the time limit dungeon. A young man who was in his mid-20s stood in front of the time limit dungeon''s portal. His name was Aidan. He was actually one of the many guards that were tasked in guarding the portal. He was also one of the few guards that got the notification from the system asking them to send the explorers with fire skills inside the dungeon. Aidan yawned as he was bored guarding in front of the time limit dungeon. When he was asked to guard the portal, he really did not want to do it because he wanted to evacuate the planet with his family. Unfortunately for him, the order came from the royal family and if he tried to run away from his task, he was asking for his family to be killed. He was really unhappy with what happened but, in the end, he gave up and decided to follow whatever order were given to him. He already asked his family to evacuate the planet without him and if he were to die, he knew that the Golden Dragon Family will take care of his family. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. It was better if he died alone rather than his whole family. He had no hope that the exploration this time will be successful because there was no one that was able to do anything to the time limit dungeon. All the one that enter the dungeon vanished alongside their planet. No matter how strong they were, whatever their grade was, whatever legendary equipment they wore, whatever strong skills they had and whatever strong bloodline they possessed, they all perished forever. No one survived and that was the fate of everyone that enter the time limit dungeon. Many famous and super strong explorers at their level died when they entered the time limit dungeon. Their name was talked a lot by other people but that will not change anything as they lose their life to the time limit dungeon. Their power cannot be compared to the power the time limit dungeon possessed. The dungeon killed millions of people and consumed many planets without much problem. It even nice enough to give a time limit for humans to retaliate or maybe that time limit was actually given to human to run away and let them consumed the planet peacefully. All of this was what Aidan thought. He was just there waiting to die. He even had the thought of killing himself but too scared to do that and decided to just let himself died alongside the planet. It looked much more honorable as it looked like he died while protecting his country and planet. While he was yawning one more time, he heard a commotion from his coworker. He looked at them and they were pointing at something. No, they were pointing at the portal. Aidan looked at the portal and he thought, "Is it time already? I don''t think so," but there was actually nothing happened at the portal. "What are they pointing at?" thought Aidan and he realized that they were actually pointing at their system. The system of someone else cannot be seen by others and that was why Aidan saw them pointing at something. Seeing that they were looking at the portal. Something must have happened at the portal and can only be seen with the system. One of them started running around to a communicator stationed in one of the small tents nearby. Aidan looked at the portal and he appraised with his system. Once the system showed him what had happened to the portal, his mouth was opened wide. He was shocked, surprise and words cannot come out from his mouth. [7 days 20 hours and 33 minutes] said the system. "The- the- the lime limit! The time limits! What happen to the time limit?! Why is it increasing?!!" Aidan was screaming loudly as he was shocked to see the time limit had increased. This had never happened even once before in other time limit dungeon. He was totally shocked. He knew instantly that something good must have had happened inside the time limit dungeon that increased the time limit. The explorers inside must have done something fruitful and able to increase the time limit. They succeeded in something. From shocked, Aiden started to smile. He was happy that there were finally hope and it happened in front of him. He started smiling and he screamed in joy. Not only him but everyone around him did the same. They were all happy that there was finally some hope. Humanity finally made some progression on the time limit dungeon. 51 Chapter 51 The news about the time limit dungeon on Planet Draor had an increased in time limit shocked everyone in the universe. Since the time limit of the dungeon can be seen by everyone in the universe through a video recording, everyone saw that the time limit did increased. Some people were happy about the new progress while some were a bit skeptical about it. Even if the time limit increased, it did not mean that they can close the time limit dungeon. They merely increased the time for the inevitable to happen. However, many people were angry at the senseless comment made by these people. Even if they fail, what happened was a progress for humanity no matter how small. Most people were really hoping that the explorers that participated in the time limit dungeon on Planet Draor, succeeded in closing the dungeon. The new progress on the time limit dungeon made headlines for every news network in the universe. Not only that, it was no 1 trending on all social media site. They were all talking about Planet Draor. That was how big the news was. *** While everyone was talking about Planet Draor, Cade was inside the first floor of the slime dungeon hacking every slime he found and collected more and more puzzle pieces. A few hours ago, Cade got himself his next slime bloodline skill, the fluid body skill. The skill was quite a really good one especially it was good as an emergency skill. The skill let the user gained immunity to physical attacks for 1 seconds and it had the cooldown time of 1 day. Cade was really happy about this skill as it really was good to save himself from pinch. It had cooldown time but that really not matter much. Due to the usefulness of the skill, Cade decided to increase the level of the skill for a bit before he continued collecting the other puzzle pieces. As that happened, Cade managed to increased the slime fluid skill''s level to 3 and increased the amount of time he can get physical immunity to 3 seconds. The time he can use it was a measly 3 seconds but that three seconds can decide the end of the battle and it will be really good as a trump card. As he was doing that, Cade also increased his physical resistance skill''s level to 10 and the skill reached maximum level. Cade thought that the skill level will continue rising but apparently the level limit was 10. At level 10, Cade''s physical resistance will resist 100% physical attack from Grade E opponent and that included the explorers too. Cade was a bit skeptical about the 100% resistance as that can also meant that he was immune to physical attack. However, the system did not say that he was immune to all Grade E opponent''s physical attacks unlike the fluid body skill. As the skill reached the maximum level, Cade found out that he can increase the grade of the skill from E to D by using the Grade D slime crystal. He did not know if it was part of the new system update or it was the work of his link growth. Alas, he was happy he can increase its grade. However, the problem was that, the slime dungeon he was currently in was Grade E. If he wanted to increase the grade of his physical resistance, he needed to go to a Grade D slime dungeon and collected the slime crystals there. Cade got bored collecting the slime crystal and he started collecting puzzle pieces again. He was collecting the puzzle pieces for the leader skill. The leader skill was an unknown skill for Cade. He never heard of anyone with that skill and he also saw the same skill on the big blue tongue toad. He wondered what the skill can do? As Cade kept his explorations forward, he finally arrived at the end of the first floor. In front of him was the boss room. There was no one else there as the slime dungeon was not popular at all. Cade decided to enter the boss room and advanced to the second floor. He remembered how long he needed before when he first fought in the slime dungeon but now, at his current power, he easily arrived at the end of the first floor in a few hours. The speed of the explorers at the top floor was fast too as the level limit increased to 24 and that meant there were 24 floors on the slime dungeon. When Cade thought properly, it might not be a bad idea if he continues forward to the top floor because the higher floor slime can give him experience to level up. Cade had been stuck at level 10 for quite a while and he was not happy about it as he cannot strengthened himself as well as his linked equipment too. He thought he will be able to advance steadily on the big tongue toad dungeon but unfortunately, the humanoid toad ruined his plan completely. Not only he was unable to advance further, he almost lost his life too. However, once he had collected all the puzzle pieces as well as maxing out his skills, there will be nothing else he can do in this slime dungeon other than increasing his level. Slime can be said to be unfortunate as there were only one species of slime and that was the slime that Cade had been fighting all the time. He did not know the reason why but maybe because they were too weak and thus, they were unable to evolve or mutate to a different species of slime. It was different for other monsters as they all have some kind of variations to them indicating them mutating like the big blue tongue toad. It was the big tongue toad but mutation made it had the blue tongue and thus it was called the big blue tongue toad. Slime was colorless and that was the only slime that can be found. Their core was floating inside their body and it was easy to spot and attack too. Cade entered the boss room and he met the same kind of big slime he met before on the previous slime dungeon. However, it looked weirdly weak. Much weaker than the one he fought before. "That''s right, maybe this one can be considered a different species¡­ but all boss had bigger size than the normal one and they are basically the same as the normal ones except for the size," said Cade while he was looking at the huge slime. Cade moved forward and fought the slime boss and it did not take him long to finished it. Around two minutes and he was done. It took longer than usual because the slime boss kept moving its core around its big body and Cade had a harder time to hit that especially when he was using the sword. Reflecting back on his fight against this boss slime, Cade realized how useful will it be if he had magic skills like fireball, thunder spear or any other offensive magic skills, however, all of that were dreams because he cannot learn any of that due to his slime bloodline. The only skill the slime had were the one he can choose from item drop. No other skills. That meant, Cade was unable to learn any magic skill. The fluid body skill can be considered magic skill but it was not offensive. Cade sighed and he moved to second floor. On second floor, there was not much different compared to the first floor and Cade wondered if the level 2 slime crystal will be count as two crystals similar to his linked equipment? Cade tried to kill a slime and got himself the level 2 slime crystal. He used it to increase his fluid body skill and unfortunately for Cade, it was the same as the level 1 crystal. One crystal was counted as one. He sighed and wondered why it was like that? Was it because it was bloodline skill? However, Cade can only wonder about it because if he wanted to know more, he needed to ask others about it. He was inside the dungeon and he had not met many explorers inside the dungeon. Cade continued forward and collected the leader skill puzzle pieces. A few minutes later, Cade finally collected all 20 puzzle pieces of the leader skill. "The last bloodline skill that I can learn," said Cade while he was holding the completed skill book of the leader skill. Cade took a deep breath and he looked at the skill book. He sighed as that will be the last skill, he will be able to learn. The system asked Cade if he wanted to learn it and Cade said yes. The skill book disintegrated and entered his body and a new notification came from the system. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. [Learned the Slime Bloodline ¨C Slime Leader skill] [Slime Leader skill is compatible to the Link Growth skill. Do you want to upgrade the skill?] "What?" 52 Chapter 52 "The leader skill is compatible to my link growth skill?" Cade was surprised about the skill upgrade. He had never expected it and he did not know what the leader skill can do too. However, the skill was compatible to his link growth. Did that mean that the leader skill was somehow similar to link growth skill? An upgrade meant that it will be a better skill and thus, Cade agreed to upgrade the skill. With his permission, the system started upgrading the skill and Cade needed to wait for bit. As he needed to wait, Cade decided to find a spot to rest. It was noon and he did not have his lunch yet and this was a good time to rest. The slime was a weak creature and thus, Cade did not use many of his linked equipment. He only uses the clothes equipment with the cardboard sword and shield. He did not wear the body armor and gas mask. Cade found a good spot and sat there. He took out his lunch that he had prepared before and started eating it. He did not have anything else to do other than looking around while eating. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. As he finished eating his lunch, the skill upgrade finished too. Cade cannot wait to see what the leader skill can do especially after the upgrade thanks to the link growth skill. Cade was happy about the upgrade because anything related to link growth will surely resulted in something good. Cade checked his skill list and the leader skill name had changed. It was still name as leader skill but there were some added words on it. Cade chose the skill to see what it can do. Name: Slime Bloodline ¨C Slime Leader ¨C Soldier Growth Grade: Special Level: - Mastery: - Effect: Can recruit slime and link them to user. The linked slime can be upgraded. Recruit: 3 (max) Cade stared blankly at it, "Wow~" was the only word that came out of his mouth. Cade was surprised and at the same time happy about the skill. He was extremely happy with the new skill he got. "I can have my own soldier. That mean, I can make my own party with¡­ slime. Hmm~ it does sound good but slime is not that strong. I can upgrade them and looking at this part, this must be what the upgrade is about," said Cade as he was looking at the skill. Suddenly he realized about two words on the descriptions about the effect of the skill, "Linked slime? Linked equipment and linked slime¡­" Cade kept repeating this for a few times and his smiled became big. "No way! Will they act the same was as the linked equipment? If they were to die, is it possible for them to revive back like my linked equipment?" Cade wondered if it will work like that. If that was the case, the skill will be extremely helpful in his explorations in the dungeon. Cade saw a slime bouncing around nearby and he decided to test the skill on that slime. Cade immediately went to that slime. As if he knew how the skill work, he pointed his right palm forward and shouted, "Slime Leader skill activate!!" he was extremely excited and made that shout. [Skill activation failed] said the system. [Possible slime to recruit. 1. Slime (10th floor) 2. Slime (10th floor) 3. Slime (10th floor)] "¡­" Cade stared blankly at the notification he got from the system. The slime that Cade shouted at got angry and attacked Cade. Cade killed the slime easily with one hit to the core. "That is embarrassing¡­ luckily no one is around," said Cade while he was looking around to make sure that no one saw him acting like an idiot. His face was red too. Shouting like that excitedly and failed to activate his skill was so embarrassing. Looking at the notification, Cade said, "So, I cannot recruit any slime I met? Why are these three slimes possible for me to recruit? I wonder if there is some kind of condition?" Cade sighed because now, he really needed to climb the dungeon to the 10th floor so that he can recruit the three slimes. They will be a great asset to his fighting power. Cade closed his system and started choosing his item drop. He clicked on the puzzle pieces list and to his surprise, something had changed in the list. The leader skill was gone. It was not in the list anymore and new skill was added in its place. "So, the leader skill is a one-time thing? I didn''t know that there is a skill like that and this new skill¡­" said Cade. "This is the skill that the powerful family frequently had," said Cade while looking at the new skill. "So, there is some kind of condition to be met for this skill to appear?" Cade had been wondering why he cannot find the skill at the list of the item drop and it was actually hidden and he needed to do something for it to appear. Cade did not know if it was because he learned the leader skill but he remembered that from his knowledge, there was no one from the powerful family that had recruit a monster and used them in battle. So, the chance for them to possess the leader skill was nil. The leader skill was a good skill as they were able to recruit monsters to fight alongside them and they will surely use the skill as it will help them in fighting their opponent. "Hmm¡­ I wonder how this skill appear? Maybe I was right but at the time they were collecting the bloodline skill, it was possible that there never been any leader skill. This skill might be a new skill because the dungeon had changed," said Cade. "Ugh¡­ Whatever, I better focus on myself than other people," said Cade as he looked back at the skill. The skill that Cade was looking at was the transformation skill. It was the most common skill inherited by descendants of the one in possessions of the full bloodline skill. The skill simply let the user transform into the monster they had their bloodline in. Not a full transformation but half. More like the werewolf kind of transformation. It was a really popular skill among the member of the powerful family as many of them inherited it. With the activation of the skill, not only their appearance change, their stat will undergo some changes too. They will increase and will usually double their stats with the transformation skill. The transformation skill however, had the negative effects when used. Due to the sudden change in their body mass, composition and everything else, once the skill was deactivated, the user''s stats will get a debuff and their body will undergo pain. The pain and debuff will continue for a while based on how long they used the skill. The one that Cade knew was that for I minute of used, the negative effect will go on for 1 day. 2 minutes for 2 days and so on. Other than the transform skill, there was one more skill that Cade had not yet found and maybe it was hidden too. The skill that Cade meant was the soul skill similar to the skill that Jonathan had used before. The soul skill however, was the better skill. There was no negative effect when used but the stat and amount that it can increase was dependent on the type of monster. Taking Jonathan as example, his armored bear soul bloodline skill will increase his strength and endurance when used. That was because the armored bear was known to have high strength and endurance and they were really difficult to defeat. Other than the transform and soul skill, Cade had also wondered if the full bloodline skill was hidden too. There was nothing special about the full bloodline skill. It was just that the one who got the full bloodline skill will possess all the bloodline skill that the monster can use and it only took a single spot on their skill list. Due to that single spot on the skill list, the explorers can learn many other skills without using many of their skill slot for a bloodline skill. Cade choose the transform bloodline skill puzzle piece as his drop. Once he got the puzzle piece, he put it on his storage. When he opened his storage, he saw that there were three empty slots on his storage with green line on its side much like the blue line on his linked equipment. "So, this is where my linked slime will be¡­ wait, so I can put them on my storage too? That will be quite cruel to the slime," said Cade as he put the puzzle piece in his storage but he put that thought away as he did not recruit any of the slime yet and there was no need to worry about it. After that, Cade continued killing the slime to collect the transform bloodline skill puzzle pieces. 53 Chapter 53 It was evening and Cade decided to stop for the day. Cade completed the puzzle pieces of the transform bloodline skill and just like what he thought, the soul bloodline skill appeared after that. The transform bloodline skill needed 30 puzzle pieces while the soul bloodline skill needed 50 puzzle pieces. Cade managed to collect all of them. However, he was unable to learn them as he did not have any empty skill slot. In order for Cade to get another skill slot, he needed to level up to level 15. However, it will take a while before he can reach that level because he had always been on the lower floor of the dungeon fighting low level monsters. If Cade wanted to level up fast, he needed to fight monsters of the same or higher level than him. However, monsters at that level will usually be at the higher floor. He needed to get to higher floor first before he can grind for level. Rather than going to the other dungeon, Cade decided to focus on the slime dungeon that he was currently in. At the moment, someone at the highest floor had been steadily defeated the slime and increase the level limit as well as the floor of the dungeon. The slime dungeon currently had the level limit of 30 with 30 floors as each floor for each level. If Cade were suddenly to start going to another dungeon, he will need to start from the first floor and that meant he will need more time to level up. He found more purposed of going inside the slime dungeon. He wanted to recruit the three slimes listed by the system, he wanted to figure out the reason why the slime was like that which he decided to hold on that and he wanted to level up too. Cade was currently at the third floor and he used the emergency badge to teleport outside the dungeon. When he arrived there, the explorers he saw in the morning was still there outside the dungeon as well as more explorers were waiting outside too. Cade wondered why they did not get in but that was not his business and he walked back home. As he was out of touch with the news for a day, Cade took his geniusphone from his storage. As he opened it, he saw a lot of missed call from Jonathan. "Why is he calling me? Is something going on?" Cade wondered. Cade tried calling Jonathan but it looked like he switched off his phone. "I wonder what he wants?" as Jonathan was switching off his phone, there was nothing he can do. He did not know anyone who was closed to Jonathan to ask why he called him, so he decided to call again later. Cade was online and he finally saw the news about the increased in time for the time limit dungeon on Planet Draor. Cade was happy to see the news and he was just like the majority of people seeing hope that they might be able to close the dungeon. Even if that dungeon was doing well, Cade saw that the other time limit dungeon on other planets had no change. Two of them even reached the time limit and the planets vanished. Cade arrived at his home, took a shower, had his dinner and went on his bed. He surfed the internet for a while to check the auction for the puzzle pieces and they gave him a lot of money. With that money, Cade had no worry about money anymore. He used that money to buy many emergency badges as he will use them a lot. After that, he checked his storage and smiled when he saw the completed skill book for the transform and soul skill. He was happy that he got almost all the bloodline skill he can get in one day and that was all thanks to his luck. Weirdly, even after getting all the bloodline skill from the slime, he still cannot find the full bloodline skill. Cade wondered where he can find it. It did not matter much to him as he already collected all of the slime bloodline skill but he still wanted to know how the founder of the powerful families got their hands on the full bloodline skill. It was just out of curiosity. Next in his storage beside the soul bloodline skill were the essence puzzle pieces. Cade did not know what it can do and that essence needed 100 puzzle pieces to be completed. With Cade''s ability to choose his own drop, it will not take much time to collect them all. He might even be able to collect the 100 puzzle pieces of the key in just a day in the slime dungeon. Cade really wanted to know what the function of the essence and the key. Looking at that high amount of puzzle, they probably can do something really big. After Cade was done with everything he wanted, he decided to sleep. Cade closed his eyes and slowly and steadily, he fell asleep. As Cade was tired, he deeply fell asleep. A few minutes after Cade fell asleep, the system sent out a notification, in bright red. [WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! A TIME LIMIT DUNGEON APPEAR ON YOUR PLANET! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!] the notification even came with sound. However, due to fatigue and comfort of home, Cade was deeply asleep unaware of the warning by the system. *** "Sera! Now!" said a young man who was holding a huge shield while blocking a bull monster with it. He was sweating a lot while blocking the bull. Sera, with fire floating around her, controlled that fire and shot the bull with it. The bull was engulfed by that fire and it started screeching in pain and slowly, it died. Looking at the scorched bull evaporated, "That was easy," said Sera proudly. Her party members looking at her weirdly and they shook their head as Sera was too arrogant. "When will she start to tone down that arrogance?" whispered one of the party members. "Maybe when she lost to a monster¡­ but that might take a long time because¡­ I don''t want to admit it, but she is strong," said another of her party member. Sera was inside a dungeon with her guildmates and they have been inside the dungeon for almost 30 days now. They were doing well and at the moment had not encountered any problem. While they decided to take a rest for the day, suddenly their system was blaring with warning notification from the system. Everyone was shocked including Sera. "Let''s get out now. Use your emergency badge," said the leader of the party. Everyone in the party including Sera used the emergency badge and teleport outside. When they came out of the dungeon, they saw everyone was restless. They checked online to see if there will be any video about that time limit dungeon and there were a lot of them. Looking at the video, some of them sighed disappointed while some got serious. Sera and her party member got serious while looking at the time limit dungeon. "Level limit of 10 to 20¡­ Grade C," said the leader of the party. "This will be our next destination, if any of you do not want to get in, you can go and evacuate with your family," said the leader. They all looked at their leader and everyone said they wanted to enter the time limit dungeon. They did not want to run away and that include Sera too. "Prepare yourself, tell your family about you going in and we will meet in front of that dungeon immediately," said the leader. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Yes!" answered everyone in the party and they immediately left the party to call their family and stocking for provisions and everything else. *** In a big apartment in one of the big cities in Planet Dineon stood a young man with black hair looking at his geniusphone about the new time limit dungeon that appeared on Planet Dineon. That man was Rico. Behind her was a beautiful maid silently looking at her. Rico closed his geniusphone and he looked at the maid. "Young master, are you going?" asked the maid. "This is not our planet so it is fine if you are not going," said the maid. "Even if this is not our planet, I study on this planet so, I am going," said Rico. "Evacuate all the maid out of this planet and I will tell father about this by myself." The maid did not want her young master to go but there was nothing she can do to stop him. She knew all too well how her young master was. She nodded and left Rico''s room. Rico called his father about him going to the time limit dungeon. His father hesitated a bit but he agreed in the end. Rico ended the call and started preparing himself to head to the time limit dungeon. The news about the time limit dungeon appeared on Planet Dineon shocked everyone on Biscuit Star Sector but that news was not as big as what happened with Planet Draor. As a result, only residents of Biscuit Star Sector knew about it. 54 Chapter 54 It was morning and Cade''s alarm clock rang. He turned off the alarm and woke up with disheveled hair. He looked at the time and it was 5am in the morning. Cade scratched his head and he yawned as he felt sleepy. He got up from his bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. After that, he prepared some simple breakfast and started having a peaceful breakfast. Cade took out his geniusphone and there were again many missed calls but this time from many people including Jonathan, Shihoon, Viola and everyone else he was in contact with since the incident in the big tongue toad dungeon. Cade wondered why all of them were calling him. He wanted to call them back and saw they left a message too. Reading the message, Cade was extremely shocked. He immediately went online to check what they had said and to his surprise, what they said was right. A time limit dungeon had appeared on Planet Dineon. Looking at the video of the dungeon, Cade can see all the info of the dungeon with warning sign from the system. [2 days 15 hours 27 minutes. Grade C level 10 to 20] Cade went to his apartment window to look outside and he saw many spaceships flying around and they all headed towards space. They were evacuating the planet. Cade looked below and the road was a mess with garbage around but there was no human in sight. No one was walking around the streets. Cade read more messages from his friends and acquaintances. Shihoon asked Cade if he wanted to come to his home planet if he decided to evacuate the planet. Viola and Jonathan on the other hand decided to enter the dungeon and when Cade tried to call them, unfortunately, the call was not connected. The others also either asking Cade to come with them evacuating the planets or joining them entering the dungeon. Looking at the situation, Cade decided to enter the dungeon. His level was within the level limit. He had been living on Planet Dineon his whole life and it was a given that he will do his best to protect the planet. Cade gave the call to everyone that asked him to join them evacuating the planet to decline their offer and apologized for not answering their calls. As for the one asking him to join their party, none of them answered his call and when he checked, everyone had entered the time limit dungeon. Cade wanted to enter the dungeon immediately but he knew it will be suicide if he got in now. His stat was too low and he might die immediately inside the dungeon. That dungeon was C grade too. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Cade opened the government site to see the list of dungeons available nearby his apartment. Cade decided to collect a lot of the figure puzzle pieces to get himself some free stat points. Looking at the list, there were not many dungeons nearby and they were mostly of high grade but that was what he was looking for. Once he got himself the list of the dungeons, Cade immediately took off to his destinations. Since everyone had started to evacuate the planet, the road was clear and there were many cars around Cade can use. Unfortunately for Cade, he was unable to hijack any car as he did not have any knowledge on doing that. He found a bicycle and decided to use that. He cycled as fast as he can and, in few minutes, he arrived at his first target dungeon. Cade''s aim was the figure puzzle piece and it will take him only a few minutes to get a complete of them. In front of Cade was the portal to a B grade winged rabbit. In this dungeon, Cade can find a rabbit with wings on their back. Since the dungeon grade was B, Cade will be able to find the C grade, D grade and E grade winged rabbit too. With all of that, Cade will be able to get four complete figures of them. However, that will all be a dream because on the first floor, the most explorers can find were the E grade winged rabbit. Cade needed to move fast and he did not want to spend too much time inside the dungeon. Cade entered the dungeon with all of his linked equipment fully equipped. He activated the system mapping function and started running around for a winged rabbit. A few seconds of running, a winged rabbit was detected on the map. Cade immediately went to that direction and saw an E grade rabbit flying around. The system appraised the rabbit and it had a limit of 10 stat points on each of its stat and it had a total of 20 stat points altogether on its stats. Cade did not waste his time and attacked the winged rabbit. The winged rabbit however, easily maneuvered itself in the air and dodged Cade''s attack. Since Cade had no long-ranged attack, all he can do was run around with his sword to kill the rabbit. The rabbit was level 1 and it will be super easy for Cade to kill it but that rabbit was quick and gave Cade quite a trouble attacking it. After a few minutes fighting (chasing), Cade finally landed his attack and killed the rabbit. He did not look at the list an immediately choose the figure puzzle piece. The winged rabbit surprisingly needed quite a lot of puzzle pieces. A complete figure needed 5 puzzle pieces. Cade needed to find 4 more E grade winged rabbit to complete a figure of the rabbit. Cade ran around and found another winged rabbit, however, this one was D grade. He never thought that he will find a D grade early in the dungeon. Cade decided to let it go but he soon found another one D grade winged rabbit. Cade thought for a moment and decided to kill all winged rabbit he can find. He did not care anymore. Since the rabbit was fast, Cade had quite a hard time in killing them but he soon got himself a complete figure of the winged rabbit. An E grade winged rabbit figure complete puzzle. The complete puzzle gave Cade 20 stat points. It was a small amount but Cade was happy nonetheless. He used all of them on his endurance and increased it to 53. He only needed one more D grade puzzle piece of the winged rabbit and he will complete his second winged rabbit figure. He continued running around and his map detected another winged rabbit, however, it was E grade. Cade ignored that rabbit and searched for another one. A few minutes of running around, Cade finally found a D grade winged rabbit. No matter how high the grade of that monster was, as long as they were level 1, they stood no chance against Cade. Cade killed the D grade winged rabbit and finally complete another winged rabbit puzzle. The D grade winged rabbit figure complete puzzle gave twice the amount of stat of the E grade. Cade got himself 40 stat points and again he used it all on his endurance increasing it to 93 points. As Cade was pressed for time, he decided to left the dungeon using the emergency badge and headed for another dungeon nearby. Since no one was around, it was easier for Cade to move around. He arrived at the next dungeon in 15 minutes. The dungeon in front of Cade was the D grade goblin dungeon. They were slightly stronger compare to the big tongue toad but the level 1 goblin will not be that dangerous to Cade. Cade entered the dungeon and started killing the goblin. They were really a cunning monster and Cade needed more time to defeat them. About 30 minutes later, Cade got himself the E grade and D grade goblin figure complete puzzle. To Cade surprised, the figure gave him quite a lot of stats. The E grade figure gave him 40 stat points and the D grade gave him twice stat points of that of the E grade figure. All in all, Cade got 120 stat points from the two goblin figures. He used 107 of that points and maxed out his endurance stat and the leftover stat points on his vitality stat. His endurance reached the limit at 200 points while his vitality stat increased to 58 stat points. Cade finished his business on the goblin dungeon and moved on to the next dungeon, the B grade colored butterfly dungeon. The butterfly in the dungeon had many different colors and that difference in color was the variations of the butterfly. With that many variations, Cade will be able to farm many figures of that colored butterfly. They were not strong too and it will be easy to kill them. The only difficulty of killing them was that they were small and explorers tend to miss their target. Cade had no time to spare and he continued his hunt on the butterfly for more figure. 57 Chapter 57 Cade finished reading every mission stated by the system. With nothing else to do, he decided to explore the forest. He did not know his location nor he knew others'' location. If he moved around, the mapping function will record every place he had gone to and that will help him a lot in exploring the World Dungeon. Cade opened his map and to his surprise a red dot was shown on his map and it was right beside him (from the map perspective). Cade was totally shocked and he immediately jumped forward out of the bushes and ''boom!!!'' a small explosion happened. Cade rolled on the ground a few times before he stopped and when he looked at the direction of the small explosion, dusts had covered the area. "That is a strong attack and¡­ that small explosion is similar to that the humanoid toad can do," thought Cade. Cade remembered how strong the humanoid toad was. A simple slap from the humanoid toad can form a small explosion like that. "I should run away," thought Cade as he immediately stood and wanted to run away when suddenly a voice came from the dust. "Another hairless monkey. Don''t think about running away, monkey!!" said that voice and the dust suddenly parted and Cade saw the owner of the voice. "!!!!" Cade was shocked to see the owner of that voice. He was a humanoid boar. He stood on two legs, with hairy body, had two arms with five fingers much like a human, a boar head and he was huge. The humanoid boar looked like a boar version of werewolf. He was in a stance with his leg bent and both his arms were opened wide to his side. It looked like the dust parted because the humanoid boar blew it away with his arms. Looking at the humanoid boar, Cade reminded himself to the humanoid toad and how the toad easily blasted him before. Fear started to creep and Cade was almost frozen from fear when the humanoid boar suddenly launched itself towards Cade. The humanoid boar did not have any weapon with him and he was bare handed but he was clad with broken full body iron armor. It looked like he was attack by something and it can clearly be seen by the state of his armor. Cade instinctively raised his shield and the humanoid boar punched the shield. "Bang!" Cade was forced backward a bit however, he managed to stop the attack from the humanoid bear. "Urgh! This monster is strong! But," thought Cade and the fear he felt just now immediately disappeared because he can bear the attack of the humanoid boar. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The humanoid boar was shocked to see that Cade managed to block his attack perfectly and his eyes were wide opened from surprise. He remembered that Cade wore weak looking equipment and that surprised him a lot. With his fear gone, Cade pushed the boar''s fist that was on his shield to the side and he swung his sword towards the humanoid boar. The humanoid boar saw the straight forward attack and easily evaded it. However, Cade did not stop there and he shoved his sword forward to stab the boar. The boar again saw the simple attack from Cade and he jumped backwards to create a distance between them. He looked at Cade and he was mad. "First the archer monkey and now a weak looking monkey like you!!! How dare all of you inferior monkey tried to kill me!!!" the humanoid boar was pissed and its brown fur all over its body shone lightly. Looking at the light, Cade knew instantly that that was a skill. The humanoid boar was using a skill. The manner of which the light shone; Cade knew it must be some kind of enhancement skill. "Attack? Defense? I wonder which enhancement he is using?" thought Cade but when he was thinking that, he launched himself towards the humanoid boar to kill it before he successfully activated the skill. The humanoid boar saw Cade approaching and he roared, "ROAR!!!" "Damn it!!! A skill!!" thought Cade as he was suddenly stopped on his track by the roar but he immediately able to continue again a second later. The humanoid boar was again shocked to see Cade able to withstand his attack and he gritted his teeth, "His endurance must be high," and he also finished activating his enhancement skill and prepared to receive Cade''s attack. Cade slashed the humanoid boar but the humanoid boar did not evade the attack but instead, he grinned and tried to stop Cade''s slash with bare hand. "Defense enhancement huh? But you are mistaken about something," thought Cade as his sword continue and it slashed the boar''s hand that tried to block Cade''s slash. Cade''s cardboard sword met the palm of the boar. The boar smiled as he was confident that he will be able to catch the sword but then, his smile disappeared instantly. The sword easily sliced his palm like it was tofu and blood spluttered out of his palm. "Arrghhhh!!!!" the humanoid boar screamed in pain. "You are much more stupid than me. You clearly had high strength but you choose to enhance your defense," said Cade with a smile but the humanoid boar cannot see it because Cade wore his gas mask. Cade did not want to lose his chance and he immediately swung his sword towards the neck of the humanoid boar and his head was severed from his body. "Impossible!" thought the humanoid boar and then, it died. [Level up to level 11] the system notified Cade. Cade ignored the notification and he looked at the humanoid boar''s corpse and it did not evaporate. "The corpse did not evaporate like usual¡­ just like the humanoid toad," said Cade while looking at the corpse of the humanoid boar. He wanted to inspect the humanoid boar more but decided to just stored the corpse to his storage when he heard many footsteps coming to his direction. Cade opened his maps and he can see five red dots coming fast towards him. With the aid of the map, Cade fled the area. Although he can kill the humanoid boar, it did not mean he can fight five of them. The humanoid boar he had just killed had high strength and he deduced that all of their species had high strength too. That was how it was usually with the monsters. Fighting one of them that was already been injured by someone was already quite hard for Cade and he considered himself to be lucky that his enemy was stupid and cocky enough to receive his attack like that. If not, he might need more time to kill the humanoid boar. Looking at how easy his cardboard sword cut the boar, Cade deduced that they had low endurance. Compare to Cade''s 200 endurance, the humanoid boar he had just killed might have about less than 100 endurance. Endurance stat affected stamina and defense. The higher the endurance stat, the higher the stamina and defense of someone. Cade''s high endurance meant he had high stamina and defense. While Cade fled the area, he can feel that he was not as tired as before and he knew it was thanks to his high endurance stat. Not only that, he can hold himself well against the attack of the humanoid boar earlier and that was also thanks to his endurance stat. Cade was happy that he finally made the right decision. Raising his endurance really was a good choice. His body was now comparable to the stats of his cardboard round shield. Cade kept running and he made sure that he won''t encountered any more of the boar using the really useful mapping function though he considered it more towards a radar than a map. Cade found a huge tree and he decided to climb that tree. The tree was huge and tall and it also was lushes with leaves. He can easily hide there without any of the boar noticing. Cade decided to rest there before he continued his explorations for the accompanying core as well as finding other explorers. When he fled earlier, unfortunately, he did not detect any explorers nearby. It will be easier if he can work together with someone else. The humanoid boar was intelligent compare to the monster and it was similar to human intelligence. Fighting them by himself might not be a good idea. He remembered that the Boarman World Dungeon was C grade and that meant he can find up to C grade humanoid boar. He did not know the grade of the humanoid boar he had just killed earlier and if perhaps that boar was E grade, Cade knew he will be in trouble if he met the C grade. The system only shown him before that the humanoid boar was the Boarman it mentioned earlier when Cade just entered the dungeon. Other than that, the grade and level of the Boarman was not shown. Cade knew why that happened. It was because he had yet to kill the Boarman and the system did not have their data. The same thing happened to all the monsters he killed in the dungeon after the system went through update. 58 Chapter 58 Cade hid on the tree and he sighed. He thought he will be staying inside the dungeon for three days and thus, he only brought three days'' worth of food. He never thought that the time inside the dungeon was different. He will be inside the dungeon for more than a month and that was a huge problem. He needed to eat and he did not know what he should eat. The Boarman looked a lot like human and it will be disgusting eating them. Cade remembered that the system asked to collect herbs and plants and he thought maybe he can eat those things. However, plants and meat were different. Cade loves eating meat and it will be a torture to him without any meat he can eat. He knew he can live well even without meat but he was not use to that. While Cade was worrying about his food, he saw birds flying around. He stared at them without blinking and then he realized something. The World Dungeon was totally different compare to the normal dungeon. Normal dungeon was just a plain, empty boring cave but there were trees, sky, cloud, wind and many more in the World Dungeon. The world dungeon was like a normal planet that humans live. That meant there will be lots of resources lying around and that include meat. Cade remembered the many gathering mission from the system and he skipped most of them. He checked again and there were indeed missions of gathering animals. Looking at that, Cade sighed in relieved. He did not need to worry about food anymore. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Cade still did not know the real reason the system gave the mission to gather everything in the world dungeon but he thought maybe he will do it for the system. The system was the one responsible for giving human the power to fight monsters and he thought why not helping the system for once. Cade had made his decision and then he remembered that he had leveled up. "That boarman must be higher level than me," thought Cade. That meant he had free stat points he can use on his stats. He can also strengthen his equipment too. Cade opened his stats and he found out that the limit of his stats had increased. From 200 to 220. Cade nodded. He did not need to worry about the limit on his stat. It will increase when he leveled up. However, when Cade looked at his luck, he was surprised that the limit had increased too. The limit was not 101 anymore but 110. "Why is the luck limit increase???" Cade did not know what happened. He thought that the luck stat limit was 101 but now it had increased to 110. "Is it because I level up after the system updated?" Cade wondered. He thought that maybe the luck limit can be increased now when he leveled up and it was thanks to the system update before. Cade stared at his luck and he had 20 stat points he can use to increase his stat. "Should I increase my luck?... No, no! This place is dangerous and I better increase my endurance and vitality stat!" "If I increase my luck this time, I might end up like before with the humanoid toad. I don''t want to die yet!" said Cade as he tried his best to stop his urged of increasing his luck. "¡­but I have a good feeling about this. My endurance is good enough at the moment to help me going through this dungeon and I only need 9 stat points to max my luck. I will have another 11 extra points I can use on my other stat," said Cade trying to give himself reason to max his luck. Cade moved his hand slowly to distribute his stat points on his luck. His hand was shaking as he was nervous if he made the right decision. His mind said no but his heart said yes. In the end, he decided to follow his heart. In the end, he used 9 stat points and maxed his luck and the other 11 stat points on his vitality. Cade sighed in relief as he had finally done what he wanted. He cannot reverse it anymore. And then, Cade suddenly smiled. There was a reason for his smile. Cade had actually a few complete colored butterfly figures he had not yet used and now that he leveled up, he can use one of them. He took out a blue butterfly complete figure and it was D grade. Cade did not want to absorb E grade figure anymore as it was a waste. He had a limit on how much he can absorb and it was better to absorb the best one. Cade absorbed the D grade blue butterfly complete figure and got himself another 40 stat points. Cade put 20 stat points on his endurance maxing it to 220 and another 20 on his vitality increasing it to 209. "That is my last D grade complete figure I have," said Cade as he had no more supply of D grade complete figure he can use. The Boarman did not drop anything and there was nothing he can do. He cannot get magic crystals, equipment, skill books and puzzle. He cannot get anything from the Boarman. Luckily, he supplied himself with lots of magic crystal so that he can strengthen his linked equipment. Though, there was not many of them. Now that he was unable to get any magic crystal, Cade needed to plan well on how he should strengthen his linked equipment. After careful consideration, Cade decided to strengthen his cardboard round shield, cardboard short sword and cardboard body armor. Until he can find a way of getting magic crystal in the World Dungeon, he decided to prioritize the three linked equipment. Cade also wanted to try increasing the iron stat. He had lots of iron magic crystal but he was unable to use them due to the level limit. Cade used one iron magic crystal and increased the iron stat of his cardboard sword. The iron stat did increase and he thought it will increase by ten like the other stat but unfortunately, one iron magic crystal only increased the iron stat by one point. Cade used a level 5 iron magic crystal but the level was useless. It was still count as one iron magic crystal. However, something else surprised him. Not only his iron stat increased, the attack and durability of the sword also increased but not by 1 stat point like the iron stat but 10 stat points. Cade almost screamed with joy but refrained himself from making any noise as he was afraid that he will attract unwanted attention. "This iron stat is really great. Luckily, I choose this stat to add to my linked equipment," said Cade happily. He decided to use four more iron magic crystal to his cardboard short sword and its level increased to 11. With that level increased, Cade was unable to use more magic crystal to strengthen his sword. Cade took out his cardboard sword and realized something and he gulped. "I should not increase more of the iron stat after this until I increase more of my strength," said Cade while he lifted his cardboard sword. He lightly swung the sword and he can feel that the sword was slightly heavier than before. "This is really a problem. Not only this but there is other problem too," said Cade. Cade had realized something a while ago after he put the iron stat on his cardboard equipment. His cardboard equipment did become sturdier than before and he thought that its weakness with water and fire had gone too but they were still there. His cardboard equipment did not become immune to water and fire. They did resist them better than before but his cardboard was still a cardboard. He realized that his newly upgraded cardboard equipment became heavier and heavier the more he killed the monsters. Cade later realized that the equipment had been slowly absorbing the blood of the monster and in turn became heavier and at some point, the durability of his cardboard equipment started decreasing too. Cade did some test and their weakness to water and fire was still there. Cade thought that the properties of iron had applied to his cardboard but it did not work like that. "One of the best things about my cardboard is that they are light but with its weakness to water and fire is still there and now it can become heavier¡­ that is bad," thought Cade and he sighed. He made it possible for his cardboard equipment to resist water and fire better but he added more weakness if he increased the iron stat. Cade scratched his head as he got a headache now. "I wonder if I increase more of the iron stat, will my cardboard become iron?" thought Cade but he decided to dismiss that idea as he feared that it won''t work like that. 59 Chapter 59 As Cade made his decision to not increase the iron stat too much, he only increased the shield and the body armor the same as the sword. After this, he decided to not increase more of the iron stat unless he increased his strength. He was afraid that when the equipment became heavier it will affect his fighting performance. "There are lots of things I lack and everything I do now will effect other things," said Cade and he sighed. After Cade finished strengthening his linked equipment, he got to thinking about everything that had happened so far. "The humanoid boar is called boarman by the system. The one I met is certainly intelligent and he is at the level of human. The humanoid toad must be something similar to the boarman. Perhaps the toadman race?" thought Cade. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Are the two of them perhaps the beastman? They do look like one but beastman is not a monster¡­ according to fantasy comics," thought Cade more. "And¡­ it does not like that the system like them. They are totally hated by the system and it is totally apparent from the mission given by the system," said Cade while he was scrolling through the cruel missions issued by the system. "They are certainly different than a common monster. They are totally on a different league compare to monsters I had fought before. Where do they come from?" "Luckily, the one I killed just now was stupid and someone-" suddenly Cade stopped and he remembered what the boarman said before. The boarman mentioned that he fought the ''archer monkey'' and he kept saying that Cade was a monkey, "That boarman fought a human before! Someone is nearby! I need to look for him¡­ if he was still alive," said Cade as he got happy thinking about that. However, before he can move, he heard something below the tree. When he looked down, he saw a group of boarman with a complete unscratched full body armor were there looking for him. Looking at them, Cade felt totally different than meeting the injured boarman earlier. Though he felt like he can still kill one of them in a one on one fight, the boarman did look intimidating. Cade did not move from his position and he silently watching them from above. The boarman were talking to each other for a while and then, left the area. Cade looked through his map and they disappeared from the detection of the map. "That was scary," thought Cade. There were about 15 boarman in that group and Cade was not that strong that he will be able to kill 15 of them at the same time. Thanks to his earlier kill, he managed to appraise their power and they all above level 13 with the highest level being 17. He was level 11 with so many inferior stat. He stood no chance of defeating them. "I need to find other humans fast," thought Cade but he had no idea where to search for them. In the end, Cade decided to rest for the day because it was getting darker. It will be too dangerous to search for them at night. Cade opened his storage to take out some food to eat and he saw the corpse of the boarman. "What should I do with this corpse?" thought Cade while his hand touched the slot of the corpse. [Do you want to extract essence from this boarman corpse?] the system suddenly let out a notification. Cade stared blankly at it. There was no notification earlier when he took the corpse and now, the system suddenly sent out this notification. "My luck," thought Cade. His luck must be the reason. He can choose his drop when his luck was at 101 but that only applied to the monsters in the normal dungeon but the World Dungeon was different. The monster or race inside the World Dungeon did not drop anything (their equipment can be collected from them) and his newly 110 luck must be responsible for what currently happening. "Essence¡­ There are puzzle pieces for essence and is this he same thing?" thought Cade. Cade said yes to the system and the system suddenly let out another notification. [Stat essence, Bloodline essence or Skill essence?] asked the system. "There are three types of essence?" Cade was in deep thought as what he should choose. Cade tried to choose the bloodline essence as it looked like the best one as bloodline related thing was the hardest to find. [Your bloodline is not compatible with this and it is also not awakened. Do you still want to choose the bloodline essence?] asked the system. "¡­ My slime bloodline is not awakened?" Cade was shocked when he read the notification from the system. He had no clue that the bloodline can be awakened and he wondered if everyone with bloodline knew about this too. He was not surprise that he was incompatible with the boarman bloodline as he had slime bloodline in him. However, the awakened bloodline part was the most shocking to him. Since Cade had no use for the boarman bloodline, he decided to choose other thing. When he chose the skill essence, the same kind of notification came from the system saying that Cade had no skill he can use the essence on. In the end, he decided to choose the stat essence and he can choose five stat essence. Cade did not know what the essence can do and he decided to choose the strength essence. A meter bar from the system appeared to show that the essence extraction was in progress. Looking at the meter, Cade knew that it will take a few hours for the extraction to finish. "If this essence is useful, I wonder how the others can extract this?" thought Cade. He did not know what the essence can do but considering that it needed more luck than item drop to be able to extract it, the essence must be something extremely good. [Only those with the same bloodline can extract the essence manually. You are special so you can do this. There is someone nearby with boar bloodline. Help him with the essence to awaken his true bloodline and everyone chance of surviving this dungeon will increase tremendously] the system suddenly sent out a notification and that shook Cade to the core. "I knew it! You have your own will! System, tell me more about this dungeon and the boarman race. What are they?" asked Cade excitedly however, there was no reply from the system. Cade wait for a while for reply from the system but unfortunately, no matter how long Cade wait, the system did not respond to him. Cade sighed as he was disappointed that the system did not respond to him. He wondered why the system was like that. Was not it better if it just tells everything to everyone and then, everyone can live a happy life? Cade had nothing to do and he plucked a few leaves from the trees and poke a hole on it while waiting for the essence extraction to finish. He wanted to play with his geniusphone but the light from the phone might attract unwanted attention and he refrained himself from doing that. A few hours later, the system sent out a notification saying the extraction was finished. Cade opened his storage and the boarman corpse was gone and in its place was a pill. Cade took out the pill and the system appraised it. [E grade Strength essence. With this essence, anyone can gain strength stat with passing time or while training manually] appraised by the system. "Gain strength stat with passing time or while training manually?" said Cade. "What does that mean?" Cade decided to try it himself and then he will know what it meant. Cade ate the strength essence pill and he suddenly felt a large amount of mana coursing through his body and the system let out another notification. [Strength essence consumed. You will gain 1 strength stat for every hour for 3 hours or gained more by training your strength manually during the three hours] "What!!" Cade was shocked. He was really shocked with what the system told him. He can gain 1 stat point for every hour for 3 hours and that mean he can get 3 strength stat points without doing anything. He can get more than 3 stat points if he trained his strength manually. Cade did not want to lose this chance but he did not know how he can train his strength. There was no dumbbell or big boulder around for him to train his strength and he did not know what to do now. This was a great chance for him to gain more strength stat. [Strength not only affect your ability to carry things (strength), it also affects your ability to destroy things (attack)] said the system. Cade stared at the new notification sent by the system and he nodded. He knew what the system meant. Since Cade was on a big tree, he looked at the tree trunk and he smiled. 60 Chapter 60 The sun rose and Cade was sleeping on top of the tree. He woke up by the sunlight as he did not set up his alarm. "I am tired¡­" said Cade while he yawned. Last night, he was punching the tree without stopping for 3 hours to get the extra strength stat from the strength essence. Cade considered it an exercise and he never did it that long in his whole life. The longest he had ever exercise was 20 minutes and that rarely happened. Cade looked at his fist and he sighed. His fist had healed from punching the tree but he can still feel the pain while looking at it. That pain was merely his imagination. Cade drank the healing potion and the injury as well as the pain on his fist had long gone. His imagination appeared because he had never trained and endured the pain that long. His endurance can actually prevent him from getting the injury and pain but unfortunately, the tree defense was higher. It was no wonder the tree was bigger than others around it and the reason for that was its high defense. Coincidentally, Cade also found out that the fruit of that tree was one of the missions that the system issued. After he finished his training for 3 hours, he got the system a few of those fruits. He did not know how he can give the fruit to the system but the system said to just put it on his storage. For the three hours of training, Cade got himself 12 strength stat points increasing his strength stat from 13 to 25. It was not much but Cade was happy nonetheless. He can actually get more if he knew the right way of gaining it but he realized it late. In order for Cade to earn more, he needed to train his strength by using it at full power. If he refrains his strength, he will gain less strength stat. Cade had his breakfast and it was time for him to search for others and maybe killing some lone boarman he can find, if possible. His map was activated all the time so that he can stop the boarman from ambushing him as well as detected if there were allies nearby. Cade decided to went back to the place he killed the boarman and see if he can trace the path the boarman took to reach him. Cade arrived at the location and he found the trace of the boarman. Cade followed the trace and a few hours of walking; he found the location where the battle had happened. Looking at the scene of the battle, Cade knew that the battle must be big. There was no corpse of human or boarman there so, Cade did not know which side won the battle. Cade tried looking around the battle scene to see if he can find any clue as to where the humans or boarman had ran to. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. After searching for half an hour, Cade had no idea where he should continue. He sighed and decided to just take whatever path he liked to find them. Cade decided to head to east. He continued his explorations to search for more humans. Along the way, Cade found a few animals he can eat and he did not waste that chance and hunted them. He also found a few things the system wanted and collected that too. It was noon and Cade decided to take a rest. He had been travelling for few hours and there was no sign of human. He did find a few battle scenes along the way but that was it. Cade kind of lost hope that he will find anyone in the world dungeon. The world dungeon was huge and he had no idea how to search any of them, the boarman included. "What is this? I am supposed to be rushing to destroy the core but here I am doing nothing," said Cade. Cade drank the mineral water he had prepared before and suddenly; he can hear some noise and felt the ground vibrating. Cade stood up, "Someone fighting!" said Cade and he climbed on the tree to see if he can see where the fight was happening. When he looked north of him, he saw a smoke from a far away. Cade jumped down the tree and rushed towards that direction. He was fully equipped and ready to strike when he arrived there. Cade ran as fast as he can. *** "Mr. Xing, behind you!!" screamed a young man with black hair to the small eyes man. Xing heard the warning from the young man and he swung his sword to his back and slashed the boarman that was trying to kill him. That boarman however, managed to dodge but he was soon hit by a tower of water coming out of nowhere. The boarman was trapped inside the water tower and tried it best to get out of it before he drowned. Xing saw what happened to the boarman and continued his fight against the biggest boarman there in front of him. His sword shone and he launched a barrage of sword slashed towards the huge boarman. The huge boarman held its huge axe in front of him to block the barrage of sword slash by Xing. However, unbeknownst to him, an arrow clad in cyan light was shot at him. The arrow hit the huge boarman on his left arm and part of his left arm was froze by the arrow. The huge boarman looked at the direction of where the arrow came from and saw a young man with black hair. "The archer monkey!!" the huge boarman screamed in anger as he remembered the report from his subordinates that the archer monkey was the biggest problem. While his attention was at the archer monkey, Xing did not lose the chance and he stabbed his sword forward but the sword suddenly slithered like a snake and stabbed the huge boarman. The huge boarman realized that he was stabbed and he got angrier but then an arrow was again shot by the archer monkey and it hit directly on the huge boarman''s head. The huge boarman''s head froze and Xing slashed the frozen boarman''s head and killed it. The boarman that got trapped by the water tower had also drowned. The other boarman that was busy fighting the other explorers saw their leader had died and they suddenly felt fear. "Retreat!!" one of the boarman shouted asking the other boarman to retreat now that their leader had been killed. However, before they can retreat, the other explorers were already retreated away from them. The boarman felt weird as to why the explorers retreating earlier than them but they soon know the reason as two lights, cyan and blue flew high in the air. Both lights blew and release a lot of arrow raining down towards the boarman. The cyan light released a lot of ice arrow while the blue light released a lot of water arrow. The Boarman tried their best to deflect the arrow but it was to no avail. One by one, they fell and in less than a minute, all the boarman in the battlefield lost their life. The explorers won the battle but none of them were smiling. On the battlefield, not only the corpse of the boarman can be found, the corpse of other explorers was there too. "Rico, Dianne, good job," said Xing as he looked at Rico dubbed as the archer monkey by the boarman and Dianne, the beautiful young woman with blonde hair. "¡­" Rico did not say anything as he clenched his teeth and fist looking at all the explorers they lost on the battlefield. Dianne also did not say anything as she moved towards a dead body of a female explorers with the same hair color as her and she put the dead body in her storage. "What should we do now, Mr. Xing?" asked Dianne to Xing. "What else? We need to destroy the accompanying core," said Xing with bitter smile. He actually did not feel like continuing this but in order for them to get out of the world dungeon, they needed to destroy the core within the time limit. He knew what happened if they passed that time limit. Xing looked at the other explorers collecting the dead body of their comrade and his bitter smile earlier disappeared immediately. "An explorer is coming here," said Rico while looking at his map. Xing and Dianne looked at their map too and they can see that a green dot was coming fast in their direction. However, Rico on the other hand saw a yellow dot, "He is someone I know," said Rico. "Then, I guess you can explain everything to him once he arrives here," said Xing as he went and helped the others collecting the dead body of their comrade. Dianne followed Xing too. Rico then headed towards the green dot. He knew it was Cade from the map but he was not happy to meet him. Meeting someone he knew inside the world dungeon meant that it was possible that he will see that person died. 61 Chapter 61 Rico waited near a tree where he assumed that Cade will come out from. He wore a serious expression but not on the same level as the serious face he shown every day. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. While he looked at the direction of the forest, suddenly someone coming out of the forest. Rico frowned as the one who came out wore normal looking clothes with cardboard all around his body. Looking at that person weirdly, "Cade?" said Rico as he was not sure if the person in front of him was Cade. The map shown that he was Cade but maybe it was different Cade than he thought? Rico had known a few different Cade in his life but the only Cade he knew on Planet Dineon was a student in the same class with him. From what he knew about his classmate Cade, he was not someone that like to play or looking as silly as the person in front of him. He knew Cade was a nice guy but he was not exactly the playful or loved playing around type. Looking at Rico''s face, Cade knew what he was thinking. He sighed and took off the gas mask to reveal his face. Once he took off his gas mask, Rico was finally abled to see him. "Rico, I never thought that the first person I met here is you," said Cade but he was not smiling. As he came out of the forest, he saw the battlefield filled with dead body. Even before he arrived, he already smells blood inside the forest. He was keeping a closed eye on his map and saw how the red and green dot in his map disappeared one by one indicating them dead. He was happy to see the red dot disappeared but not the green dot. Red dot meant enemy and green dot was human who he did not know. Since they were fellow human, it pained him to see them died even if they did not know each other. Rico looked at Cade and he looked him from up to down a few times as he was speechless. He never thought that Cade liked to play with cardboard. Cade saw Rico''s expression and he knew what he was thinking again. "I am not playing around," said Cade. His heart bleed a bit as someone he knew know that he was wearing silly thing on his body. "This¡­ this thing on your body¡­" said Rico while pointing on Cade''s cardboard equipment. Even if Cade said that he was not playing around, his attire said otherwise. "Don''t look down on my equipment," said Cade as he slashed the ground with his cardboard sword and the ground was cut cleanly by the cardboard sword. "These are real legit equipment," said Cade while he was slightly blushing from embarrassment. Luckily, he had upgraded them and they looked much better than before. Before he upgraded his linked equipment, he looked like someone with mental problem. All his cardboard equipment looked totally useless and silly. Rico had a surprised face when he saw Cade slashed the ground with the cardboard sword. He never thought that a weak looking cardboard like that was capable of slashing the ground easily. Looking at the performance of the cardboard, Rico immediately dismissed his thought that the cardboard looked useless. When he thought properly, there was no way someone like Cade will wear something silly like that in public. There must be a reason for that and the reason he saw was totally justified. "Welcome to our small group," said Rico. Cade nodded and he looked around to see many people had died and most of the explorers that were still alive were filled with injuries and fatigue. They looked like they had lost hope in surviving. Some of them were even holding their tears from coming out while they were looking at their comrade''s body. Cade also saw them collecting the dead explorers'' body and he frowned a bit. "Isn''t it better if they buried the body?" thought Cade. Rico saw Cade''s expression, "We need to collect their body as the boarman is really cruel. If you read all the mission involving the boarman, that was how cruel they were to us," said Rico with pained expression. "What do you mean?" asked Cade. "Hanging the boarman''s head on a stick. Mincing their meat and throw at their face. Cutting their limbs and play around with it and many more¡­" said Rico and he paused for a bit. "That all happening to the human who they called hairless monkey. Some of the survivors here were caught and brought to their camp before. They were tortured and saw many things happened to their comrades and that included the one the system asked us to do," said Rico while he gritted his teeth. Cade was shocked to hear that. He cannot believe that the boarman was that cruel. He did not see the scene by himself but he knew it must be really cruel that even the system issued a mission like that for revenge. They collected the dead body of the explorers because they did not want the boarman to use them as their plaything. "Then, how can they survive?" asked Cade because he found it weird that the captured explorers lived to tell the tale to them. If they were caught and tortured cruelly like that, the boarman will never let them live. "The boarman let them go to lure more of us out," said Rico and he looked extremely angry. Rico recalled back on his memory on how he found the released explorers. They looked like a walking corpse. They were bind by some kind of magic skill that prevented them from suicide and keeping track of their movement. Rico told Cade on everything that had happened on how they had been on constant fight against the boarman every day since they arrived inside the world dungeon. The released explorers begged the group to kill them as their location will always be known by the boarman if they were alive but no one wanted to do that. The resident of Biscuit Star Sector had usually lived peacefully and kindly towards each other and there was no way for them to kill their comrade. Cade was told that the boarman was killable but their strength was obviously stronger than human of the same level and growth potential. Rico also said that they had no clue on the location of the accompanying core as they had been constantly running away and fighting the boarman every day. Everyone was tired and many of them had started to give up on continuing their explorations. They had all lose hope because the boarman was strong and many of them had died. The boarman''s strength was top notch and the explorers were too weak. Most of the explorers around were that of D grade and the strongest among them was A grade. No matter how strong the A grade explorers were, all of them had a hard time even killing one of the boarman. They had more stats than the D grade explorers but fighting the boarman was still hard. Even the A grade explorers were depressed that they had a hard time killing even the E grade boarman. The boarman had a weirdly high stats considering their grade. Among the one in the group, only three people were abled to fight the boarman toe to toe and they were Xing, Dianne and Rico. All three of them were A grade explorers. However, that only applied to a D grade boarman. If the C grade boarman appeared, they did not know if they can handle even one of them. Hearing everything from Rico, Cade fell silent. Once they had all collected the dead body of the explorers, they also started collecting the boarman''s dead body. Cade helped them a bit and at the same time introducing himself to the group. They all looked at him weirdly especially after seeing what he wore. Cade cannot take the equipment off as they were in the enemy territory. He can die if he was not careful. He did explain to them that the cardboard equipment was an item drop. All of them just nodded their head as they knew that there was sometimes silly equipment dropped from the monsters. It was not common but not rare either. "By the way, did you throw away the dead body of the boarman you killed?" asked Cade. He saw them putting the boarman''s body on their storage but he thought maybe they will throw them away later. The boarman''s body was important for Cade to make the essence as the essence can not only be used by himself but other people too. He decided to make lots of the essence and gave it to the explorers to help them becoming stronger. Everyone was needed to fight against the boarman and it was better to strengthen them. The stronger they become, they higher the chance for them to survive the world dungeon. 63 Chapter 63 "Is this the essence pill you said?" asked Xing while he held the small essence pill on his hand. He inspected the pill and used the system appraisal to appraise the pill. After appraising, he looked at Cade as the system indeed appraised the pill as essence pill. "This is E grade endurance essence pill," said Cade and he continued, "With my skill, I can extract the stat essence pill that I choose excluding luck. I can choose whichever five stat I want to extract the essence of from the boarman." "At the moment, I think that endurance is the most important and thus I extract that but if you give me more boarman, I can extract the stat essence that you want," said Cade. He decided to explain more and continued, "I can also extract skill essence and bloodline essence. I don''t know what the skill essence can do and the bloodline essence is only usable by someone with boar bloodline in their body." "Can I test this essence pill first?" asked Xing. As a leader of the group, he needed to make sure that the pill worked just like what Cade said. It was better for him to test it first so that if anything happened, he will be able to tackle it properly. Cade knew they were still suspicious of him but he can understand Xing. Someone who wore cardboard on their body was not really trustable. Cade did not worry much about that suspicion because he had tested the essence pill before and it worked wonders. He did not need to worry about backlash from the pill or something else. Cade nodded to Xing agreed for him to test the essence pill. "Let''s just trust the system. Since the system said this is useful, I will just trust the system though this guy looks suspicious," thought Xing as he glanced slightly at Cade and then looked back at the essence pill. Dianne just stood there with Rico while looking at Xing. She did not show much reaction but she was happy if the essence pill can really strengthen them. "If the pill work, prepare yourself pig! I will kill you all," thought Dianne. She really hoped that the pill work so that she can avenge her comrades that fell in battle for the past few days. Xing gulped and he immediately put the endurance pill in his mouth. When he swallowed the pill, the system immediately gave him notification and he nodded. "How should I train myself?" asked Xing while he looked at Cade. "I only eat it once so I only know a bit. The one I ate before was the strength essence and I just punch something repeatedly during the time limit and my stat will increase," said Cade. "I found out accidentally that if I train myself with everything I got, the stat will increase faster. Don''t hold back and the stat can increase faster," said Cade. Xing held his chin as if he was thinking of something. He looked at Rico and Dianne and said, "Beat me!" Rico and Dianne looked at Xing weirdly. "The one I ate is the endurance pill. I need to train my endurance either through my stamina or defense. I think that stamina will not work so I will train my defense. Hit me with everything you have and I will be able to increase my endurance," said Xing. "If the others see us beating you, won''t it be bad?" said Rico. Dianne also agreed with Rico. "Then, lets explain everything to them and ask them to give the boarman''s body to Cade. It will take a while for you to extract it, right?" asked Xing and Cade nodded. "We need to move fast. The system acknowledges the pill and that mean the pill will be fine. We need to strengthen ourselves as fast as possible so that we can win against the boarman," said Xing with serious face. "I don''t want to see more of us die," said Xing and he took out a thick stick from his storage and decided to use the stick to beat himself to increase his endurance. Rico and Dianne decided to follow what Xing wanted. He did not say the wrong thing and they did indeed need to strengthen themselves. As they were considered to be high level in this world dungeon, they will have hard time to level up to get more stat points. If they can get free stat points like that, why not use it properly. They brought Cade with them and told everyone in the group about the essence. At the beginning, some of them did not believe what Rico and Dianne was saying but, in the end, they decided to not be difficult and followed what Rico and Dianne had said. Before Cade started his extraction, he asked them first on what essence they wanted. It was better if they chose themselves what they wanted to increase. They knew their stats more than others. Most of the explorers there asking for vitality and endurance pill. Cade can understand their choice because he knew that everyone there wanted to survive the dungeon. Cade started extracting the essence and he hoped that it will finish faster so that everyone can strengthen themselves fast. He did not know when they will start attacking them again. The boarman was totally different than the monster they had fought in the normal dungeon all this time. They were intelligent and strong and the system did not seem to acknowledge them as monsters but as a race. Cade wanted to know more about the boarman race but there was nothing he can do to learn more about them at the moment. After Cade finished setting up the extraction, he remembered one thing the system said to him before. Everyone chances to survive in the world dungeon will increase if he helped the explorer with boar bloodline with the boarman bloodline essence. Cade asked around and he finally met the one with the boar bloodline. However, the condition of that man was really bad. The man with the boar bloodline was called Ben. He was not part of the powerful family and he recently got himself the boar bloodline skill. What skill he had was unknown to Cade. Since he got the bloodline skill, Ben decided to start his own family because everyone with bloodline power did that except for Cade. While Cade was looking at Ben, he sighed as Ben had lost an arm and leg and he was barely able to survive. He cannot move and he could die in a few days without further treatment. Cade did not know if giving Ben the bloodline essence will help him at the moment. He was afraid that the bloodline essence will kill Ben. [He will be fine. Just give him the bloodline essence and he will awaken his true bloodline] the system suddenly sent out a notification. Cade was not surprise by that notification as he decided on himself to believe that the system had its own will even if the system did not acknowledge it. When the system used that kind of sentence, there was no way for anyone to not believe that the system was intelligent. Cade was the same. Cade had already prepared himself with the boarman bloodline essence earlier because the system did say that someone with boar bloodline was nearby before he met the group of explorers. He just assumed himself that the one the system mention was in the group because he cannot find anyone else nearby. "Mr. Ben, please take this. This will help you a lot," said Cade while he held the pill in front of Ben. Ben stared at Cade as he wondered who was Cade? Ben was with the injured and he had not meet Cade yet and thus he had no idea who Cade was. Out of nowhere, someone unknown came to him and asked him to eat something. That was totally suspicious. "Don''t worry. This will be good for you," said Cade while smiling. He knew that Ben was suspicious of him and he wondered if he should explain what he was trying to do. Cade scratched his head and decided to explain to Ben about the pill. Cade told Ben about the bloodline awakening and Ben was totally not believing what Cade was saying. He had never heard of such things before and he cannot trust a man who wore cardboard on his body. He thought that Cade was delusional and tried to play with him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Just go away! You think I will believe that nonsense? If there is something like bloodline awakening, the Golden Dragon family would have told me all of that," said Ben. Cade was surprised to hear about Ben mentioning the Golden Dragon family. What was that family had to do with what they were talking about? "I was recruited by them when I got my bloodline skill a few days ago and they never said anything about bloodline awakening," said Ben and Cade looked at Ben with squinted eye. "This man must be much more stupid than me," thought Cade. Cade was not sure if the Golden Dragon family knew about the bloodline awakening or not but there was no way for them to tell Ben about it when they just came to meet him to recruit him. 64 Chapter 64 "Mr. Ben, something this big, there is no way they will tell you. I know about this from the system and not someone else," said Cade as he tried to convince Ben to eat the bloodline essence. However, Ben did not buy that. He did not believe what Cade was saying. He thought that Cade was stupid to think that he will believe that nonsense. Cade decided to continue persuaded Ben as everyone''s chance of surviving the World Dungeon depended on Ben based on what the system told him before. However, to Cade frustration, the dying, stubborn and stupid Ben insisted on not believing him. Some of the explorers nearby saw the commotion between the two and decided to help Cade by telling Ben that Cade had been really helpful and he should believe in Cade. But no, he still did not want to budge an inch. Cade decided to tell the explorers about the system trying to help them by telling Cade to do this and when they heard that, they were shocked. Cade also told them about what the Golden Dragon family did before when they sent more explorers with fire skills inside the world dungeon on Planet Draor and the one responsible for that was the system. Cade did not know if the system really did something but he believed that the system did indeed responsible for that. They believed Cade immediately because they were desperate. Because it pertained to their survival in the world dungeon, everyone started trying to persuade Ben to eat the bloodline essence. However, none of them able to convince Ben. One of the explorers got fed up with Ben and he snatched the bloodline essence from Cade''s hand and shoved it into Ben''s mouth. Everyone was shocked with that including Cade. "Our survival in this dungeon depends on you! Don''t be selfish," said that explorer while his hand was covering Ben''s mouth with the bloodline essence in Ben''s mouth. Ben tried his best to not swallow the pill but he cannot hold himself anymore and ended up swallowing the pill. Ben was sweating from trying to resist swallowing the pill. Looking at Ben, Cade felt pity a bit at him but he thought that the explorer did the right thing. Ben was too stubborn and everyone there was desperate to survive. Suddenly, Ben''s body glowed in red. Everyone decided to take a step back from Ben. The light became brighter and brighter and suddenly, Ben exploded. "!!!" Everyone was shocked to see that. Blood, meat, bones, organs splattered everywhere and the one stood in front was covered with most of them. "W-wh-what is this?" Cade was shaken to see the scene. That was not what he imagined it to happen. Ben exploded after he ate the bloodline essence Cade''s produced. Ben died. "The system asks me to do this!" Cade was really shaken by what had happened. He killed a human. Ben died because of him. Everyone there were shocked too and they all looked at Cade. One of them suddenly became mad because he should not believe what Cade had said and decided to attack Cade. However, to their surprise, Ben''s exploded body parts shone once again with red light. All the blood, bones, meat and organs of Ben flew and they all grouped up together. All Ben''s blood splattered on the explorers'' body was not there anymore. The blood swirled around the body parts and they formed a huge red cocoon twice the size of a normal human. At the center of the red cocoon, everyone can see that something was forming. Looking at each other, the explorers then stared at Cade. Cade was shocked too and he did not know that this will happen. Everyone was silence. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "So, is Ben still alive?" one of the explorers break the silence. "I think so. Check your map and you will know that he is still alive," said another explorer. Hearing that, Cade immediately checked his map too and he saw the yellow dot of Ben and that meant he was still alive. However, the yellow dot was surrounded by red line. Cade assumed that Ben was undergoing the bloodline awakening process. Cade sighed in relieved. "I thought that I killed someone," thought Cade. He was really scared when Ben suddenly exploded. He blamed the system for not telling him that that will happen. [Normal bloodline awakening is not that brutal. He is undergoing the forceful bloodline awakening.] As if it knew what Cade was thinking, the system sent out a notification. "Forceful bloodline awakening?" Cade seriously had no idea that eating the bloodline essence pill will force Ben''s bloodline to awaken. "You should have told me about that earlier!" Cade was a bit angry at the system for not telling him that. [Read the notification about the bloodline essence again you idiot! Why in the world did I trust an idiot like you to do this!] the system suddenly sent that notification to Cade and Cade was dumbfounded when he read the notification. "You don''t need to be this angry at me. I really had no idea," said Cade but there was no response from the system. Cade wanted to check the past notification when Rico suddenly tapped his shoulder. Cade was a bit surprised by that and he saw Rico was staring at him. "Care to explain this?" said Rico while he pointed at the red cocoon. Cade explained everything to Rico about what the system wanted him to do and Rico sighed and told Cade that he should tell him first about that. Because Cade did all of that without consulting anyone, the incident happened. Luckily, Ben was still alive. If not, everyone there will kill Cade and thought that Cade was a spy sent by the boarman. When Cade said about the bloodline awakening to Rico, he looked really shocked about that. Rico was part of the powerful family was known to everyone and it was no secret that he possessed the bloodline skills. The shock shown by Rico was not of ''someone who knew about it beforehand and tried to keep it a secret'' shock but more of someone who had no idea about it. Cade did not know which family Rico was from as he never seen Rico used his bloodline skill but he felt like Rico''s family was not someone from lower tier powerful family like Jonathan. If he considered that Rico was from the upper tier of the powerful family and he had no idea about it, that meant that it was highly possible that no one knew about the bloodline awakening. It was only a possibility but the universe was big and it was possible that many people already knew about it but decided to keep it a secret. After Cade had explained everything to Rico, he left him alone before Rico stopped him. "Do you have any idea how long this awakening will happen?" asked Rico. "I am sorry, I really had no idea about it. I think that we need to wait for Ben to hatch from that cocoon," said Cade with apologized face. "I guess, we need to stay here until Ben awakened," said Rico. Rico left the area and went to search for Xing and Dianne. He needed to tell them about Ben and planned for what they should do. Cade also left the area and many explorers came to the red cocoon to see it from up close. They all was in awed looking at it. None of them had seen something like that in their life and they were all curious about it. Cade found a tree and sat below it. The essence pill he promised the explorers were not yet ready and thus he decided to rest under the tree as well as looking back at the past notification from the system. Looking back at the past notification one by one, Cade did not see anything that can tell him about the forceful bloodline awakening or a hint about it. "Which is it? Did the system messed up with me to cover his own fault?" thought Cade. Looking at how revengeful (based on the mission) the system was, it was possible the system will do that. While he was thinking that everything was the system fault, one of the notifications was blinking. Cade chose that notification and he read it. [Your bloodline is not compatible with this and it is also not awakened. Do you still want to choose the bloodline essence?] was what the system said before. Looking at it properly, Cade did not know if it really told him about the forceful bloodline awakening. Cade seriously had no idea. "If this notification really tells me about the forceful bloodline awakening and I did not realize it, I am really a fool¡­ Am I going to make this kind of mistake again?" thought Cade as he sighed. While Cade was racking his brain to understand that notification, the system sent a new notification to notify him that the extraction had finished. Cade decided to let it go and now that he knew about it, he would not make the same mistake again. 65 Chapter 65 Cade handed out the essence pills he had finished extracting to the explorers in the group. Under Xing''s order, only those that can move around were given the essence pill. He made that order because at the moment, the injured needed some rest and they will not be able to utilize the full capability of the essence if they were not training after eating the essence. Xing had a taste of what the essence can do and he was greatly shocked by it. He got himself more stat points than Cade because Cade told him how to easily get the stat points. While Cade was handing out the essence pills, he finally realized what the notification meant. First of all, only those that had the similar bloodline as the bloodline essence can use the essence. Cade did not know what will happen if someone incompatible tried it but he assumed it will be bad. He did not want to tried it. Second, the system reminded Cade that his slime bloodline did not awakened. That meant only someone with awakened bloodline can use the bloodline essence. If someone compatible with the bloodline essence but he or she had not yet awakened their bloodline and ate the essence, they will be forced to awakened and that was why Ben was going through the forceful bloodline awakening. "Ah¡­ it was that simple¡­" thought Cade while he handed out the essence pills to the explorers. Everyone who got the pills, immediately started training their body to get more stat points. However, they all soon found out more about the essence pills. First of all, the essence contained great energy and thus, only those that was healthy and had lot of energy can take it. If someone who was extremely tired or had some health problems, they cannot take the essence as the essence''s energy will damage their body. Due to that, whenever someone in bad conditions tried to take the essence, the system will give out notification forbidding them from taking the essence. If they disobeyed the warning from the system, they needed to handle the consequences by themselves. Secondly, everyone can only eat one essence per day and they cannot consume more than one at the same time. The system will again issue a warning that they cannot take two of the essence at the same time as well as the same day. Thirdly, there was a limit of how many stat points they can get from the E grade stat essence. Apparently, the highest stat points they can get while training their body after eating the essence was 10 excluding the stat points, they got for free every hour. No matter how hard they trained, they can only get maximum of 10 stat points per essence pills. Some of them were frustrated to know about it but in the end, they accepted it. No matter what the limit of the essence pill, they still got themselves some stat points added to their stats and they were happy nonetheless. As for Cade, after knowing about the essence limit, he thought that the complete figure was better as he did not need to train his body and can easily got many free stat points. With the matter of the essence pills done, Xing, Dianne and Rico announced to everyone that they will be camping there until Ben hatched from the cocoon. Some of them were a bit displeased by the decision made by the trio as they wanted to run away from the boarman but most of them agreed to that decision. All of them were tired from moving around and they needed some rest too. If the enemy was approaching, they had the map from the system to detect them. Even if the boarman attacked them, they did not mind it and will do their best to kill them all because all of them now needed more of the boarman due to the essence. With all of that done, they started setting up the camp and distributed the task they needed to do. Some scouts were sent to scout the surrounding area and if they were to find other explorers, they needed to bring them to join their group. Once in a while, there will be a small group of boarman attacking them but it was not that hard for them to kill the boarman. The explorers did suffer some damaged but it was not as much as before. Since Cade was new to the group, he did not know if the essence were responsible for them to be able to lower their damaged but if that was the case, he was happy to help. *** A young explorer with full body blue armor stood in front of a small cave in the world dungeon. Standing behind him were a small group of explorers and they all were staring at the cave. "Is the accompanying core really being inside this cave?" asked Jonathan to the explorer beside him. "Yes! I am sure of that. There are a few boarman guarding the core but we can handle them. It looked like they did not put many of them here as to not attract any unwanted attention. They want to disguise this cave as having nothing inside of it," said the explorer beside Jonathan. "What is the grade of the accompanying core?" asked Jonathan. "E grade," said the same explorer. Jonathan nodded and he took in a deep breath. "Let''s do this!" said Jonathan with determined face. He looked at everyone behind him and gave signal to them to enter the cave. *** Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. On an unknown place in the boarman world dungeon, a huge boarman sat on some kind of throne with his eyes closed. He was alone there and there were no other boarman around him. Suddenly, he smirked, "Ah~ Finally some of them dare to approach the accompanying core. That is how we should play this. I hope they succeed in destroying the accompanying core." "Being here alone is so boring. I need some fun and it will be nice if this batch of monkey destroyed all the accompanying core," said that huge boarman. "The last two batch of monkey were so useless and I cannot even get out of this boring place. This new batch of monkey is so interesting. There are a lot of them that I want to kill~" "The fire bitch monkey mage, the bear monkey, that archer that is so obviously holding many of his power and that monkey with the same aura as the boar," the huge boarman grinned. "Do your best monkeys! Make sure you all succeed and get much stronger so that I can get some fun~ kekeke," the huge boarman chuckled. *** It had been three days since Cade and the group of explorers were camping there. Two days ago, Ben hatched from the cocoon and he was extremely pissed with that explorers that forced him to eat the bloodline essence. He did smack that guy once but not too much as he did not want to injure the guy. Everyone was extremely in awed of the new Ben that came out of the cocoon. Not only his limbs and injuries were healed but he also emitted some kind of aura or energy. The aura was not strong but everyone knew that something changed in him and he had become stronger. Some of them had somehow see all the strong explorers with bloodline skills before but none of them emitted the same feeling as Ben. Ben felt seriously stronger than them just by sensing the aura. Everyone including Cade and Rico thought that he will look like the boarman when he hatched but he was still human with the addition of that aura. Cade and Rico as the only two in the group in possession of bloodline gene in their body can feel the difference the most. Everyone asked Ben what he gained from the awakening but he refused to tell anything because he wanted to keep it a secret. Ben had been looking at Rico and Cade a lot after he awakened and he gave a hint at them that he knew they had bloodline gene in them. Rico did not really care about Ben knew him in possession of bloodline skill as everyone knew about it. He did not keep it a secret. The only thing no one knew was what bloodline skill that Rico had. Cade on the other hand was surprised to know that Ben knew about him. Someone in possessions of the bloodline skill won''t be able to know if someone else possessed the bloodline skill too unless they used the bloodline skill. However, after awakened, Ben only needed to look at them once and he knew instantly that they were in possession of the bloodline skill. "That must be the perk of someone who awakened their bloodline," thought Cade and he was a bit jealous at that. "I want to awaken¡­" Cade stopped for a bit before he sighed and continued, "my slime bloodline too," thought Cade and he felt like crying because his slime bloodline was really the weakest of them all. Even if he awakened the bloodline, he did not know if he will be at the same level as Ben and many others in the future. 67 Chapter 67 The picture showed that many dead explorers'' body being used as a toy among the boarman. The boarman toy around with the dead body and laughing around mocking the dead body. Other than that, in front of the base, they put the heads of the explorers on a stick and used them as some kind of display to show their powers to other explorers that were still alive. There were many more bad things that were caught on picture by the scout and looking at all of them, everyone was fumed with anger. Everyone blood was boiled and they cannot wait to destroy the base. The report of the scout did not end there as Xing took out more pictures and everyone were shocked to see that a lot of explorers were still alive in the camp. They were used as slave and plaything for the bored boarman that did not want to play with the dead body. Man or woman, without considering their gender, they were all treated the same by the boarman. They were ****, tortured physically and mentally, forced to work without any rest and many more. The picture showed it all. "Our scout is this good huh, to be able to take this many pictures," said Dianne as she looked at all the pictures. Bringing some techs inside the dungeon like camera and phone were common among explorers. Though some of them were totally useless inside the dungeon like the phone and modern weapon, there were many that were useful too like camping gear, camera and many other things. The scout had a camera and portable printer with him and thus, he can take many pictures and possibly printed all of them. After 10 000 years had passed, camera had been so advanced that even an amateur scout will be able to use them well. After that, Xing started briefing on more information about the boarman base. Apparently, thanks to them luring many of the boarman to their camp and killed them, the number of boarman in that base had decreased a lot. However, even if their number had decreased, their number was still exceeded the number of explorers in the group. At the moment, even if the explorers in the group had been getting a boosted in their stat with the essence, they were still incapable of fighting the boarman one on one. That was considering if the boarman was E grade but the boarman in the base they found had not been only the E grade boarman but also D grade boarman. D grade boarman was still hard for the explorers to fight. Only a few people in the group can fight the D grade boarman toe to toe. Cade was one of the people in the group capable of defeating the D grade boarman thanks to his maxed endurance and linked equipment. He never fought any of the D grade boarman because when they appeared at the camp, the top explorers in the group were the one handling them. However, he was confident that he can do it as he found out that the E grade boarman did not pose him much challenge anymore maybe due to his physical resistance and high endurance. Though no one in the group thought that it was possible, Ben seemed to know that Cade can do that and that was the reason he said that Cade was as strong as him though no one actually convinced by that. Ben senses had sharpened a lot since he awakened his bloodline and he can sense that Cade was strong and he also knew that Cade had bloodline power too but he was the only one that knew that. Everyone else cannot see Cade as someone stronger and that was because of his linked equipment. Everyone was thankful of his contributions with the essence and considered him important in the group, however, that was it. Since Cade did not talk that much as well as did not try to show off his power much, no one had seen his real power. It was nothing impressive but he was better than most of them. Xing continued with the meeting and stated that the boarman in the base was more than twice the number of explorers in their group. "Their number are still more than us¡­ I don''t think it is possible for us to destroy their base," said one of the explorers as he was not confident in attacking the base head on. "Should we try to lower more of their number with the way we had been doing all this time?" asked another explorer. "That is not possible because of this," said Xing as he took out more pictures. Everyone looked at the picture with grimed face. The picture showed that the boarman was preparing themselves to attack something and it was possible that the preparation was to destroy everyone in their camp as they were sure that they were annoying to the boarman. "The scout overheard from the boarman that they plan to deal with us with full force. They might not send all of them, but it will be enough to annihilate all of us. Other than that, the scout heard that they will send many C grade boarman too," said Xing. "C grade?! They are in that base too?" asked one of the explorers shocked. Not only him but everyone else were shocked too. "Yes, and there are actually many of them. The scout did not know how many of them but they are hiding well in the camp," said Xing. The C grade boarman was actually the biggest threat for them to deal with. That was because the World Dungeon was graded as C and that meant the strongest monster in the dungeon will be C grade. Though there were a few A grade and B grade explorers in the group, they were still not much of a match fighting against the C grade boarman. After a few days of killing the boarman, everyone pretty much had the idea of how weirdly strong the boarman were. From the data of system appraisal, their stats were insanely high compare to the explorers. Even with the help of the essence, their total stat was nowhere near the total stat of the boarman. Due to that, everyone had been focusing on only increasing the stat that they deemed to be important with the essence. It did not make sense that a level 11 E grade boarman had a total stat of almost 400 and compare to the same level 11 E grade explorers with a total stat of 110, they were like night and day. Everyone finally knew the reason the changes done by the system in getting more stats by training because everyone assumed that the boarman was exercising a lot and thus they had higher stat. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. When everyone found out about the feature, no one really care to do that to increase their stats because it was too hard. However, with their current situations, they regretted not training their body that much. Now, even if they tried training their body to the hardest, their stat won''t increase to the level where they can fight on the same power as the boarman. Everyone was relying on the essence that Cade provided except for Ben where he can do it by himself. Luckily, Cade was not selfish. If Cade used all of the essence on himself, it was possible for him to become the strongest among them. "So, are we going to retreat? What is the point of you showing the picture of our dead comrade then?" Dianne was mad when she thought of that. She knew that they will not stand a chance against a C grade boarman but when she thought of running away, Dianne was extremely mad. "Even if we want to run away, we cannot do that because one of our main mission targets is in this base," said Xing. Everyone looked at him and they all had the idea of what Xing was talking about. "Which accompanying core?" asked Rico who had stayed silent all this time. He was angry but he stayed silent like Cade and had been observing all this time. The main reason he did not talk was because they were all older than him. "The scout did not know that. He did detect the core in the map and the system marked it as the accompanying core though without the grade," said Xing. "The E grade core was destroyed by someone and that left either the D grade or C grade. We did not know if this is their biggest base or there are bigger base so we cannot deduce the grade of the accompanying core," said Tyrren. "However, it is possible for this accompanying core to be C grade right, because there are many C grade boarman among them," said one of the explorers. "That is not necessarily true. It is possible that-" when Xing was talking, suddenly the system sent a notification. He looked at everyone and they all got one. Suddenly, they heard a loud roar coming out of their camp. No, it was not the roar from the boarman but the explorers. It was the roar of joy. Everyone in the tent read the system notification and they smiled. "We need to do our role too," said Xing. 68 Chapter 68 Somewhere inside the boarman world dungeon, the sky was red and smokes can be seen rising from below. The source of the smokes came from the huge base of boarman. This base of boarman was much larger compare to the base that Cade and his group found. If the base that neared Cade''s group can house 500 boarman, this huge base can house thrice the number of boarman. However, the base was currently engulfed in flames and many boarman was running away trying to safe themselves from the flame while most of them were burned by the flame. They were screaming in agony being burned by the flame and many of them had already turned to charcoal and lifelessly lying on the ground. "Who in the world that did-" one of the boarman was talking to himself when a flame suddenly flew towards him like it had its own life. Not only that boarman but other as well. Many that tried to run away all ended up burned in the same way. The flame was like a living thing where it chased and burned all the boarman nearby them. There were also flames that took some kind of shape like birds, cats, dogs, chairs, television and many more. They were moving and chasing all the boarman. Even if the boarman tried to run away, there was no way out. The whole base was covered with flame. Coming out of one of the burning building was a really huge boarman with huge hammer on his arm. He looked totally mad and scary when his whole body was currently being burned by the flame. He suddenly looked in a direction and squinted his eyes. "You damn monkey!!!" he shouted and suddenly, the flame that were burning him were extinguished and all of his surrounding turned white. The warm temperature due to the flame disappeared and it was slightly cold. Everything around that boar was froze by him. As the flame that were engulfing him disappeared, his appearance was revealed. The boarman that froze the area was totally different than the normal boarman. Normal boarman usually had brown fur but this one had white fur. He looked totally cool with that white fur. After that white boarman showed itself, more and more white boarman coming out of the building and they stopped most of the fire. However, no matter how much they tried, they were unable to stop most of the fire and in result unable to safe many of the normal boarman. Looking at many of his subordinate dying, the earlier white boarman roared intensely in anger and suddenly, all the boarman that was still alive stopped moving and their eyes turned red. Far away from that base, on a cliff stood two women watching everything that happened. One of them had red hair while the other had light green hair. Behind them stood a man with binocular on his hand spectating everything that was happening to the boarman base. The two women wore some kind of special sunglasses. That sunglasses can be commonly bought on many places. It acted the same as binocular and it was also possible to use them as telescope too though not recommended because the sunglasses might break easily. "Hmm~ That is a new boarman. I never thought that the boarman had variant like the monsters too," said the man in binocular. His name was Muruku. His skin was tanned and he was quite muscular too. "They are monsters! Though the system acknowledges them as a race, to me they are monsters," said Aera the woman with light green hair with serious face. "Though we manage to destroy the accompanying core this easily, that white boarman is not that easy to defeat. Look at the ice power it wields. It looks strong and what more, that roar is a buff. Maybe some kind of leader exclusive skill," said Muruku. "What? Are you scared?" said Sera with a mocking smile. She was the one that burned the base of the boarman. Though the fire belonged to her, it was not her work alone. Aera was actually the real contributor of this operation. Though Sera fire manipulation was strong, Aera had better controlled over her air manipulation. Aera also possessed the oxygen concentration skill and combined it with her air manipulation, she managed to make all those living fire by controlling the oxygen. Sera''s job was only to light the oxygen with her fire and that''s it. "Yeah, I know you are strong queen. So strong that you need my help," said Muruku mocking Sera. Sera stared at Muruku with intense hate. "Don''t call me that! I hate it," said Sera. "Didn''t you like being called that. I remember how you use many of us as your slave and you are not that much different compare to the boarman at that time though you did not kill us," said Muruku. Sera however, did not tried to retort that. She looked away from Muruku and decided to ignore him. She did not look as arrogant as she used to too. There was a reason for that. She used to be above everyone else in term of her power especially when she had the growth potential of A. With that A grade potential, she was already an elite in the Biscuit Star System. Due to that, her arrogance was above the cloud and especially turned worse after she awakened. No one dare to defy her as she was strong and only a few people were able to stop her and one of them was Rico. Her guildmates and everyone else around her always need to make sure she was happy or else she will throw her tantrums and that will be annoying as hell. Though she had friends, however, most of them flocked to her due to her being strong and strong people will usually be the one in power. That connection with strong people will benefit them in the future and thus they became her friends. However, all of her arrogance shattered after she was attack by a huge group of boarman. Most of the explorers that were tending her like a queen were killed and she almost died too. If not for Muruku saving her, she will not be alive right now. Not only died, she was actually almost being raped by the boarman but luckily, Muruku was nice enough and saved her. That experience of almost being raped and killed woke her up from her arrogance. After that incident, she hated being called queen as it reminded her of that experience. "Stop it you guys. Without me, both of you will die that day," said Aera with smirked on her face. Sera and Muruku looked at Aera and they both went silent. It was the truth, though Muruku tried to be a hero and saved the villainess queen, he stood no chance in surviving the boarman attack until Aera appeared out of nowhere saving everyone from the boarman attack. Looking at how strong Aera was at the time made Sera looked up to Aera so much. To Sera, though Muruku save her from being killed, Aera was actually her real savior. Muruku might be able to stop her from being killed for a few minutes but Aera stop her from being killed forever (at that time). However, she still felt thankful to Muruku for saving her. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Well then, what should we do now? Do we fight them head on? Looking at that white boarman, I don''t think our group can handle them," said Muruku as he was confident that they won''t be able to defeat the white boarman. "Why asking something that easy? We just need to give them the biggest bomb ever. I will make a huge area with concentrated oxygen as much as possible and Sera can light it up with fire once the boarman enter the area," said Aera. "Will that be fine? What if the explosion is too huge that we end up being victim of it too?" said Muruku as he was worried to get caught in the fire. "How dumb can you be? We evacuate everyone as far as possible from the explosion," said Sera. "What if that explosion cannot kill the white boarman too? He obviously has ice affinity and will have huge resistance against fire," said Muruku again doubting that the explosion can kill the white boarman. "Another dumb question. If the white boarman is still alive, we obviously run away. Our mission is to destroy the accompanying core and we succeed in doing that. There is no need to kill all the boarman. It is not like we get something from killing them." "We will use the same strategy when we find the last accompanying core and the main core. Destroy the core and run away," said Aera. "Ah¡­ you are right. In order for us to close this dungeon, all we need to do is destroying the core and not killing the boarman," said Muruku. "Well then, if you understand, move everyone away. I already start our plan," said Aera. Muruku nodded and he went back to their group to move them away from the area. "Now then all of you scum! You can die in this explosion," said Aera with sinister smile on her face. 69 Chapter 69 [The C grade accompanying core has been destroyed] the system sent out notification. Everyone who were doing their work at the camp stopped their work and they all stared at the notification from the system. Upon reading the notification, all of them smiled and they cheer in joy. They were all happy to find out that another accompanying core had been destroyed. Now, only one more accompanying core needed to be destroyed and the real core of the world dungeon will appear. "With the news from the system, it is confirmed that the accompanying core in this boarman''s base is D grade," said Xing. He smiled when he read the notification. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. His heart felt a bit at ease now that the second accompanying core had been destroyed. All that was left was one more accompanying core and their group had already found it. "Whoever destroyed the two accompanying cores must be someone powerful. I am glad that we have someone like that inside this world dungeon," said Dianne. "Let''s do our job too and destroy the last accompanying core. I want to close this dungeon as soon as possible," Dianne continued. She held her necklace while saying that. Dianne did not enter the world dungeon by herself. She came in with her younger sister who insisted on entering the dungeon with her. Dianne wanted her sister to evacuate the planet with their family but her sister did not want to do that. She wanted to enter the dungeon and helped Dianne closing it. She wanted to save the planet alongside Dianne though she knew she might die inside the dungeon and she did die by the hand of the boarman. Dianne was sad that her sister died but she steeled her heart and did not cry all. She was in the battlefield and she did not want her emotions to control her. After the battle ended, she stored her younger sister''s body in her storage and prayed that they will be able to close the dungeon so that she can give her sister a proper burial. No one in the camp knew that Dianne had a younger sister as she never talked about it and thus, they were unaware of what happened to her. The necklace that she wore was a present from her younger sister after she successfully complete her first dungeon. She never treasured the necklace much until she lost her sister. Now, the necklace was worth more than any treasure she can find. Nothing can beat the necklace. It had become her most treasured thing. "Are we going to attack them head-on or is there someone with some kind of plan?" asked Tyrren. He did not think that it was possible to fight that many boarman straightforwardly. They needed to plan something or else they might lose their chance of destroying the last accompanying core. "You know, the boarman might have tremendous strength but that''s it. Their defense and magic defense are pretty much crappy. As long as our attack land on their body, we can inflict lots of damage. So, I suggested that our magic user explorers to lead this attack," said one of the explorers while looking at Dianne. "You get that slightly wrong. Their magic defense is crappy but their physical defense is decent but I agree with you that the magic user in this group should lead this attack," said another explorer. "Even if us magic user want to lead the attack, our number is too low. We won''t be able to handle all of the boarman," said Dianne. Not only on their group, even in the whole universe, the number of magic users was lower than explorers with physical skills. There was a reason for that. Magic skills was extremely expensive compared to physical skills because they caused more damage and was usually much more flexible to use. Magic skills were those involving elements and purely made of energy. Something like fire skills, water skills, wind skills, ice skills and many more. All in all, there were about 16 identified elements in skills. The rarest amongst them were skills with time and space element. Skills that increase or decrease the performance of someone was also a magic skill, however, due to it supportive nature, it was considered a supportive skill. Only those that inflicts damage was called magic skills. "There is no need to plan that much. Let''s make this simple. We will attack them head-on and lure most of them to us. At the same time, some of us will infiltrate the base and destroy the core," said Xing. "Our mission is to destroy the core not the boarman. We had the mindset of killing every boarman because of the essence produce by Cade but let''s remember that our mission is the core," said Xing and everyone finally remembered their real target. After more discussion were made, they decided to send some people inside the base to destroy the core while most of them will attack the base from every direction to lure the boarman out of their base. The one tasked in destroying the core were those explorers with stealth skill or similar to that skill. That team will be led by Tyrren, the best assassin in their group who had killed more of the boarman than anyone else in the group due to his high speed. No one objected to it as everyone knew the capability of Tyrren. He was a bit hot headed for an assassin but he made sure he did his job well. With that settled, everyone started dividing the leftover member into four groups. Each group will attack from every direction of the base to divide the boarman''s attention and the core destroying group will sneak into the base to destroy the core. The four group will be led by Xing, Dianne, Rico and Ben. As for Cade, he was assigned to Join Dianne''s group. The group leader was chosen based on their fighting capabilities and contributions to the team. Though Cade made much more contributions due to his essence, he was not chosen as the leader because his fighting capabilities was subpar in their eyes. Cade did not mind about being a team leader because he preferred to work alone rather than leading people. Though he was in a group, it did not mean that they will fight together and their roles were only to lure the boarman away from the accompanying core. After everyone was assigned to their respective group, the team leader of each group gathered their member and discussed what they should do. Just like what Cade thought, he can fight by himself. Dianne and two more magic users with the archers in their group will support everyone attacking with their magic from behind and everyone else will charge forward to fight the boarman. "I can finally fight by myself," thought Cade. He did not mind fighting with others but he was unhappy that no one actually acknowledge his power because he never managed to show what he can do when working in a group. His roles were usually holding out the boarman and the others will finish the boarman. Though, to tell the truth, defending against the boarman''s attack was harder than killing them. However, everyone he had worked with never realized that and thought that they were the ones that did a lot when it was already known that the boarman''s defense and magic defense were low. Cade did feel a bit pissed at them for always thought that Cade took the easy job when Cade was the one who did the most difficult job. He had taken the role of pure tank when he can actually deal damage too though no one allowed him to do that. Since he needed to defend against the boarman''s strong attack, his cardboard shield had always been destroyed after fighting three to four boarman. Not that he minded that but it was annoying when he needed to wait for his shield to recover. It took hours too. Cade did think of just killing the boarman after he defended from the attack but he was ordered to not attack and he wanted to keep his relationship with others on a good term as they were the only ones he can rely while he was in the world dungeon. As a result, he cannot show what he can do. Due to this, Cade had decided to not show much of what he can do in front of others. He will only fight to the best of his ability when he was fighting by himself. With his cardboard equipment, if he used them right, he can easily kill the boarman in one strike. The maximum stat the boarman can have in one of their stats was the same as the explorers at the same level and grade. Since their defense was low, it meant that the boarman''s endurance will never be at the maximum number. The boarman''s attack was quite straightforward and it will be easy for Cade to kill them in one strike with his cardboard short sword''s high attack stat. 70 Chapter 70 After everything was planned, everyone that participated in the attack decided to move on the next day. Not everyone can participate in the fight because many were still injured. Thus, not everyone will go with the attack team. The injured and some of the explorers decided to stay at their camp to guard the injured and the camp. It was currently night and Cade sat under a tree to rest. He had his own tent but he decided to take some nice air before he went to sleep. Cade checked his stats, skill list and storage. While looking at his stats, he sighed as he was lacking in a lot of things. His endurance and vitality were high and his strength was ok but not that good. His dexterity and wisdom were seriously low. "Since I don''t have any magic skills, my wisdom is not that important. My equipment is good and enough to defend me and thus, without much speed, I can still defend myself against my opponent attack, so, I can ignore my dexterity for a while," thought Cade. Looking at his skill list, Cade sighed again. There was nothing much to say about his skills. He can only learn about two more skills before he will be unable to learn more skill. Due to his slime bloodline, Cade was stuck with low amount of skill the slime possessed. He cannot learn any other skill from any other monster and thus, he was stuck with less skill. Luckily, he can increase his skill grade which he recently found from Rico that others were unable to do so easily. They can actually increase their skill grade but it was not as easy as Cade with the magic stone. According to Rico, when their skill reach level 10, the system will send out notification on how they can increase the skill grade. From what he knew, the method of increasing the skill grade was different from skill to skill. However, the similar things about them was that they all needed to gather some kind of materials in order to raise the skill grade. Rico was also looking for the material. Thanks to the information from Rico, Cade finally found out one of the uses of the material drop. Increasing in skill grade was important as the higher the skill grade, the stronger it will be. Thus, the material drops value might increase if demand for it increased. However, material drop was not that rare and thus, its value might not increase that much. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "One more level and I can finally learn one of the slime skills," said Cade. He was currently at level 14 and when he reached level 15, he will be able to learn one more skill. Cade had long been in possession of the last two slime bloodline skill books, the transform skill and soul skill. He had them in his storage but he cannot learn them as he had reached his skill limit. When he was able to reach level 15, Cade decided to learn the soul skill first as the transform skill had some kind of demerit on using them and at his current situation, it was better for him to learn the skill without any backlash to him. Cade moved on and checked his storage. He sighed again because it was filled with lots of the boarman''s body that were undergoing the process of essence extraction. "Urgh¡­ I have seen this everyday but it still hard to get used to it. One or two is fine but many of them at the same time is still a bit too much for me¡­" thought Cade while he was looking at the pile of boarman''s body in his storage. Moving on from that pile of body, Cade saw the unused colored butterfly figure complete puzzle that he had collected before. Cade can used them but they were all E grade and won''t give him much stat points compare to the D grade. He cannot be too choosy at his current situation but he still decided to not take it. At the moment, he can survive the world dungeon with his current stat. There was no need to waste the limit he had for the figure complete puzzle. It was better for him to wait to get better complete puzzle. "I want to give this to Jonathan but I don''t know where he is. I wonder if he is still alive?" Thought Cade and he shook his head immediately and said, "No, I am sure he is still alive. Let''s not be negative," thought Cade. Since there was no way for him to contact Jonathan, Cade can only hope that he was fine. Not only Jonathan, Cade was worried about Viola too. Cade had only met Viola during the incident with the humanoid toad or possibly the toad race once and they never met again. However, they did talk to each other through phone many times after that. Cade also talked with many others through phone and some of them decided to enter the world dungeon too. He was worried about them too. However, to Cade, out of them all, Jonathan felt more important to him as he spent quite a lot of time with him and they were quite close too. Jonathan was Cade''s first closest friend. While looking at all the complete puzzle in his possessions, he thought that it will be a waste if he let it stayed in his storage like that for more time. "Hmm¡­ should I give this to Rico?" thought Cade. He and Rico had gotten quite closed with each other since they met in the world dungeon. Though he did not know much about Rico, he knew that Rico was a nice person. Thanks to them being classmate, it was easy for them to talk to each other while they were in the world dungeon. They can actually talk with other explorers but most of them were older than Cade and Rico and it was hard to talk to them. The difficulty of talking with someone older than them increased considering them not the type to talk a lot. They getting closed was also thanks to their personality of ''not talking much'' being the same. They felt like they can understand each other better because they have quite the same personality. "But Rico is part of a powerful family that no one here know which one and it will be a problem if he reports about me in possession of a lot of the complete puzzle to his family¡­ They are greedy after all," thought Cade. He scratched his head as he was not sure what he should do. "Should I give this to Mr. Ben? He is a bit annoying to talk to but he is not yet part of any family and he want to create his own family," said Cade. "Even if he manage to form his family in the future and becoming stronger, he won''t be able to mess around with me at the time because I will become stronger too¡­ and I am possibly to have my own family too at that time," thought Cade and he suddenly blushed by himself imagining himself in a happy family. "However, I think this puzzle is useless to Mr. Ben because he had awakened his bloodline. I don''t know what the awakened bloodline did to him but everyone here acknowledged it that he had become really strong compare to before he awakened," thought Cade. Cade closed his system and stared at all the explorers who were busy with preparations for the attack on the boarman''s base. Cade then stared at the sky and, "I hope everything will be happening as plan tomorrow." Cade yawned as he felt sleepy and he decided to get back to his tent to sleep. As he was walking towards his tent, he suddenly came up with an idea. "That''s right, I can do that too," said Cade and he immediately went to his tent to persecute the idea he just came up with. --- Rico was busy with the preparations and he finally finished it late at night that day. He walked back to his tent while massaging his shoulder. When he entered his tent, he saw that there was a weird bundle of clothes in his tent. "What is that? Is someone leaving a baby in my tent?" thought Rico because it looked like that bundle of clothes were covering something and he remembered seeing something similar when he read news about people abandoning their baby. He carefully got closer to that bundle of clothes and he did not hear a baby cries or anything similar to that. Then, he saw there was a note beside that bundle of clothes. Rico read the note, "Don''t tell anyone about this," and he looked at the bundle of clothes. He removed the clothes and suddenly light shone brightly at him and he immediately covered the light. "That is¡­" said Rico and he touched what inside without removing the clothes and he got a notification from the system. Reading the notification, Rico''s face turned serious. "Who gave me this?" said Rico. 71 Chapter 71 It was morning and everyone were getting ready to move towards the base of the boarman to destroy the core. Cade were standing in his group and just waiting for Dianne to give signal to move. He succeeded in giving the figure completed puzzle to Rico without anyone saw him. "I hope he use them because we really need the extra stat points to win against the boarman," thought Cade. As he thought of that, he looked around to see if Rico was around but he cannot see him. "I shouldn''t try looking for him or else he will figure it out that I was the one that gave him the complete puzzle," thought Cade and he decided to stop looking for Rico. Rico on the other hand were looking around suspiciously to find out who left the complete puzzle to him. He might not be that interested if it was one part of the puzzle, however, that person left the complete one. Not one completed figure but five of them. Rico was really shocked when the system asked him if he wanted to absorb the complete puzzle. He had never once saw a complete puzzle figure in all his life and he got himself five in one night. He knew how difficult it was to collect all of them. They were not only rare but everyone was seeking for it too and the competition for it were high. Many explorers died while searching for many others puzzle pieces and that was a general knowledge that everyone in the universe knew. If by some chance someone in the camp saw him in possession of that many completed figure, he might end up assassinated by someone. Luckily, everyone was busy with their preparation for the battle and did not know what happened to Rico. "Who give that to me? Why is that person giving that to me? Why he did not use it to himself?" thought Rico. These was all the questions that was playing around inside Rico''s head. Though Rico was thinking of all of that in his mind, he still absorbed the completed figure because he needed any extra stat points, he can get that might help him in the battle against the boarman. He also wanted to search the person who gave the completed figure to him because he wanted to know how that person got that many figures himself. As the thoughts were playing in his mind, Xing gave the signal that they will be moving. Everyone who participated in the battle started moving and leaving the camp. Their target was the boarman''s base. The explorers divided themselves into five groups with four groups distracted the boarman while one group sneak inside the base and destroyed the accompanying core. The group that sneak inside the base only consisted of five explorers with Tyrren leading them while the other four groups consisted of 15 to 20 explorers in their groups. The leftover explorers were at the camp guarding the camp and the injured explorers. It did not take them that long to reach the base of the boarman. It took them about two hours as they already know the location of the base from the scout. After walking for two hours, they finally reached near the base of the boarman. Weirdly, they did not meet any small group of the boarman while travelling to the base of the boarman. "They might be preparing to receive us," said Xing while looking at all the explorers around him. He cannot confirm anything but he somehow had a feeling that the boarman knew about them coming. "Well, it won''t change anything even if they knew. We will kill all of them anyway," said Ben with vicious look. Since Ben awakened his boar bloodline, he had been getting a bit vicious. When asked about that, he said it was because of the bloodline. Though it sounded concerning, Ben said the system assured him that everything was fine. It was part of the process of him awakening his bloodline. Though he became more vicious, he was not uncontrollable. He knew what he can and cannot do. He still strongly possessed his humanity. Ben''s bloodline was the long tusk boar bloodline. It was a boar monster with long tusk. Nothing special about the monster other than its loved in bulldozing their enemies straightforwardly. They were talking a bit more and the explorers started moving to their respective positions. The group will attack from four different part of the base, the north, east, south and west to separate the boarman and let the fifth group to be able to sneakily got inside the base. When the group was getting nearer and nearer towards the base, they finally saw the boarman''s base and their face changed instantly. To those explorers that already saw the picture, they did not react much to it though their hearts were burned with anger. However, those that had not yet seen the picture shuddered and some of them cannot help but puke on the spot. The view was too much for their hearts. Outside the gate of the boarman''s base were many dead explorers'' head were hanging on a stick to show the explorers what the boarman did to them. The scene was really gruesome. "I saw this in the picture but looking at it with my own eyes¡­ This anger me more," said Ben to his group of explorers. His group had already separated from the other group. Ben looked behind him and he saw some of the explorers had fear shown in their face. "That''s why we show them the picture but these guys refuse to see them," thought Ben while looking at them. To make sure that the explorers joining the battle prepared themselves from the scene they were currently looking, the leader of each group decided to show their members the pictures took by the scout. However, some of the explorers refuse to see the picture. When asked why, some answered that they were scared to see the picture though the point of seeing the picture was to get them got used to the scene to wash away their fear. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Some were saying that they wanted to see the scene live as it will help them get their battle spirit better. These explorers however, were puking left and right. "Some battle spirit they get here," thought Ben while looking at them. Ben can understand the one who give the reason of fear to get really scared looking at the scene, but the battle spirit explorers were totally making him speechless. All that bravado about them being tough guy and girl were instantly shattered by the scene in front of the boarman''s base. Xing''s group were looking at the scene and they all got pumped and wanted to slaughter the boarman just like what they did to human. His group did not suffer the same thing like Ben''s group. They were pretty much cooperative with Xing. Hearing from other and looking at the pictures was totally different compared to watching it live. They thought they prepared themselves, however, it was harsher than they thought. Not only Ben and Xing''s group, Rico and Dianne''s group felt the same too. There was nothing they can do for the fallen explorers other than slaughtering the boarman just like them slaughtering the human. "It is almost time. Everyone, get ready!" said Dianne to her group of explorers. As she said that, she activated her magic. Taking the south part of the base, Dianne launched her AOE skill, water arrow. Rico took the north part of the base and he pulled his bow. There was no arrow on his bow but when he pulled his bow, a cyan colored mana arrow formed and Rico let out the arrow towards the sky above the north part of the base. The boarman that guard the south gate and north gate saw blue colored light and cyan colored light flew above their head and they stared at it without moving. The two lights suddenly exploded and let out many water arrows on the south and ice arrows on the north. The boarman''s eye looked shocked and before it can do anything, the arrow pierced their body and many other boarman in the base. In their group, only Dianne and Rico had an AOE skill. The other did not have the skill. The skill was obviously good but they had their limit. They had cooldown time and the skill will attack anyone in their attack range no matter the enemy or allies. "That is the sign. ATTACK!!!" screamed Ben and his group came out of the forest and attack the base of the boarman on the east gate. On the west gate, Xing and his group of explorers also came out of the forest and attack the base. The same went to the south and north of the base. The boarman seemed to have anticipated the attack and they also rushed out of the base in full body armor to fight the explorers. Their body shone lightly and their speed suddenly increased. "They are buffing their speed. Then, it is time for me to use my awakening bloodline skill," said Ben while he grinned viciously towards the incoming boarman. 72 Chapter 72 Xing and his group members moved forward fast and they clashed with the boarman on the west part of the base. Xing easily defeated the E grade boarman that got neared him. One by one, the boarman was cut by Xing''s sword. Not only Xing but his group member was doing well too. They cannot defeat the boarman as fast as Xing but it was manageable. As Xing was plowing through the boarman in front of him, he finally reached a group of D grade boarman. They might give Xing a hard time but Xing knew that he can still defeat them if he fought properly. All of the D grade boarman wore full body armor with either axe or hammer in their hand. All of them rushed towards Xing and one of the boarman with hammer on his hand pounded on Xing. Xing looked at the incoming hammer and he easily moved his body slightly to the side and slashed the boarman on its neck. However, to Xing surprise, a hammer appeared out of nowhere and blocked his slashed. At the same time he was blocked, the hammer that Xing evaded pounded the ground and a small explosion occurred. Xing predicted the explosion and he used the explosion to create a distance between himself and the group of the D grade boarman. "The explosion is stronger than I thought. Strength buff," thought Xing. However, before he can create the safe distance between himself and the boarman, an axe flew straight at him. "Tch!" Xing pulled out his sword to block the axe as he cannot evade it. The axe and his sword clashed and Xing was surprised by the strength exerted by the axe but it was not something that he cannot handle. Xing misdirected the axe direction using his sword and successfully did it. However, another two axes flew towards him but this time, Xing had enough time to evade the axe. Xing successfully evaded the two axes but then, four punches suddenly came from four direction towards Xing. He was shocked by the incoming punches as four boarman had surrounded him. Xing clenched his teeth and put most of his strength on his leg and launched upwards to dodge the surprise attack by the four boarman. The four boarman missed their target and ended up punching each other. However, they did not suffer much damage thanks to their full body armor. Xing found his chance and activated his slithered stab skill to stab one of the four boarman. "Die!" thought Xing when he suddenly heard an explorer shouting ''left'' at him. He looked on his left and his eyes wide opened when he saw a huge fist going straight to his face. However, due to his battle experience, he immediately gained his composure and the slithered stab that was directed to the boarman below him were instantly directed towards the huge fist. He used a lot of his energy to do that. The huge fist and slithered stab hit each other and another small explosion occurred. However, Xing was sent flying backwards immediately and he fell on the ground and rolling for few times before he immediately used the rolling to get back up. Coming out of the explosion was a boarman that looked slightly different compared to the usual boarman Xing had fought before. That boarman did not wear any armor and it only wore normal plain clothes. Other than its clothes, the boarman''s arm were really huge. Twice the size of the regular boarman Xing usually fought. "A variant!" thought Xing. Xing used the appraisal and disappointingly, other than the species of the boarman, there was no other information. Name: Big Arm Boarman Race. "You are quite good but you will still die in my hands," said the big arm boarman as he walked forward with his menacingly muscular huge arm. "Thank you for the compliment but in your dream!" said Xing and he put most of his strength on his legs and launched forward towards the big arm boarman. Looking at the big arm boarman, he knew instantly that it was the biggest threat in this boarman''s base. In other words, he needed to eliminate it fast. Looking at the arm size of the boarman, Xing predicted that the boarman will have difficulty in moving and that meant, "He is slow," thought Xing. That thought did not come only because he saw the huge arm but also at the strategy the boarman used earlier. He was surprised that the boarman thought of fighting strategically like that but he realized that the strategy stopped after he was punched by the big arm boarman. That meant, Xing was cornered like that just so that the big arm boarman can land his attack on him. The big arm boarman cannot do it by himself because he was slow. He needed the help of other boarman to land a hit on a fast enemy like Xing. As Xing launched himself, he reached the big arm boarman instantly and Xing saw the surprised look on the big arm boarman''s face. Xing slashed the boarman and unfortunately, he was again blocked by the same hammer that blocked his attack earlier. "Damn it! You again?!" Xing got frustrated when he was again blocked by the same boarman twice and he immediately retreated away from the big arm boarman. Xing looked at that boarman and he squinted his eyes, "He looked quite ordinary but he might be the most troublesome boarman more that the big arm boarman. Weirdly, I cannot feel anything from him," thought Xing while looking at the boarman that blocked his attack twice. As he thought of that, Xing used his appraisal and to his surprise, that boarman was C grade. Xing immediately knew the real threat in front of him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Haa~ Focus," thought Xing. Suddenly, an arrow flew and hit the ground beside him. Xing saw there was a letter attached to the arrow and he carefully grabbed it. "We will support you," the letter said. Xing understand that they knew his situation. Xing was fighting alone there because the other members of his group was busy fighting the other boarman. They cannot spare any of their energy to help him at the moment. "Okay then, let''s go at it again," thought Xing. Xing again launched himself forward but this time, before he can get to the big arm boarman, he met a flying axe anticipating the same move from him. With slithered stab, Xing easily misdirected the axe and then another two axes coming at him. "The same strategy?" thought Xing and he decided to follow just like before but since he cannot evade the axes as he was launching himself forward fast, he used the slithered stab again to misdirect the two axes. Xing skillfully used the skill and misdirected the two axes and then a punch appeared in front of him and it was the punch from the big arm boarman. "So, they decided to not corner me from four direction?" thought Xing. As Xing had once felt what the punch like, he decided to not block it like last time. Instead of blocking, Xing used another one of his skill, barrage slash and slashed the fist that was in front of him. The punch however still moved forward. Instantly saw that the barrage of sword slash did not stop the fist, Xing squinted his already small eyes and focused the slash on one point of the fist. As the concentrated slash focused on one point, Xing''s sword met the big arm boarman''s fist. However, instead of the same explosion as before, Xing''s sword easily slashed the fist like it was tofu. With the momentum of the slash, Xing moved forward and cut that huge arm to two. "ARGHHHH!!!!!" the big arm boarman screamed in pain and blood was coming out of his arm like a river of water. "You damn monkey!!!" said the big arm boarman but then a sword was coming right at his face and cut his face to two. The big arm boarman was killed. "¡­that is easy. What happen to that C grade boarman?" thought Xing as he looked around and saw that boarman with the other four boarman that was supposed to corner him was busy dealing with the arrow attack from his group member. "Hah~ so that was why their strategy was cut short," thought Xing as he smiled looking at the busy boarman. Xing looked at the corpse of the big arm boarman and he smiled again. "You should have just use as many skills as you can or maybe it is better if you punch the ground to create small explosion and maybe, you should consider choosing your opponent better," said Xing. "You fought barehanded without any armor and you are slow and then you choose to fight an opponent with a weapon. You did not even utilize your greatest advantage, strength," said Xing again. "I thought you will be smarter. I guess all of you boarman are just plainly stupid," said Xing and he moved forward to continue fighting the boarman that was distracted by the archers. 73 Chapter 73 "Awaken!" Ben and his group of explorers marching forward to fight the boarman. Ben''s body was suddenly covered in purple fumes. He smiled menacingly towards the boarman that was coming fast towards him and the other explorers in his group. When Ben''s body was covered in purple fumes, the boarman that was marching forward suddenly stopped and they looked terrified and confused at Ben. Looking at the terrified boarman in front of him, Ben did not waste the chance, "Tackle," his body lightly shone and he tackle the boarman in front of him and also others behind that boarman too. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The explorers that was following behind Ben stopped their step as they were surprised at what had happened. Although, Ben was using tackle, it looked like he was bulldozing everything in his path. Everyone looked at Ben with awed. "Is this his awakened form?" said one of the explorers while looking at the flying boarman after being tackled by Ben. "This is my first time seeing him using it," said another explorer. "Wait, he never used this form before? Then, how in the world he was becoming stronger while fighting?" asked another explorer. "I don''t know, maybe it is the essence all this time but the what we are seeing in front of us right now might be the real awakened bloodline power," said the first explorer. "Are the boarman tackled by Ben dead?" asked another explorer. "They stop moving. Maybe?" said other explorers unsure of the state of the boarman. "To make sure of that, what are we waiting for? let''s cut their head." The explorers finally came to their senses and started moving to do their job. They went to every boarman that has fallen and cut their head. Most of them were unable to move but some of them were still strong enough to fight. The one incapable of moving was easily killed by the explorers while the one that can still fight, fought back against the explorers. On the other hand, the boarman were looking extremely confused at what had happened in front of them. It was not the scene of their comrade flying but the familiar feeling they felt from Ben. "Is that guy a traitor? Why is someone with the boar bloodline attacking their own kin in this fight?" said one of the boarman looking confused. "He is not one of us. Come back to your senses. That guy is seriously part of the monkey race¡­ However, why is the monkey having the bloodline of the boar?" This boarman realized that Ben was not a boarman but in possession of the boar bloodline. "Is that guy mom or dad being kidnapped by the monkey and born with parents from both sides? Did he have the bloodline of boar and monkey?" said one of the boarman that was eavesdropping the two boarman. "¡­ Didn''t you find it weird?" suddenly another boarman joined the conversation. Looking at his confused comrade, he continued, "The monkey that we are fighting right now, did not have the monkey bloodline." "If you tried to feel it properly, they actually have zero bloodline in their body. I mean they have no other trace of other bloodline. The only bloodline that we are feeling is that one," said that boarman while pointing at Ben indicating that Ben had the boar bloodline. They all looked at each other weirdly and then they looked at all the explorers in the battlefield. "Are they really the monkey race?" the boarman suddenly felt fear. "The last two fighting we had also been against the monkey without the monkey bloodline," said another boarman. "A monkey lookalike that is not actually a monkey race¡­ the myth!" said the boarman. "Did the bastard monkey race tricking us into this universe?!" said the boarman. "No way! This must be a coincidence. That myth is just a myth that our ancestor made to scare us," said one of the boarman. However, before another boarman can continued their conversation, Ben arrived in front of them and they were all tackled and sent flying by Ben. "Using the awakened power is quite overpower against the boarman. Who knows? Maybe I will be the one who will wiped out all the boarman in this base," thought Ben and his confidence level increased. While he kept marching forward while tackling the boarman, suddenly, he can feel a surge of mana coming from in front of him. Focusing his view in front of him, suddenly, a huge fist twice the size of the boarman appeared in front of Ben. Ben did not stop but instead, he met that fist head on with his tackle. A huge explosion occurred and dust were flying everywhere. The boarman and explorers looked in the direction of the explosion and stared at it. They cannot see anything as the flying dust blocked the view. As the dust quickly settled down, they can finally see Ben and that huge fist. The huge, no, gigantic fist belonged to a big arm boarman. That big arm boarman was using an enlargement skill to enlarge his fist to attack Ben. However, Ben was holding himself well against that gigantic fist. "This attack is nothing to me. You are too weak, pig!" said Ben as he lifted that fist that ended up lifting the big arm boarman. The big arm boarman was extremely surprised that Ben can lift his gigantic arm like it was nothing. Ben did not even break a sweat lifting the gigantic fist. Ben threw the big arm boarman in the air and he also launched himself towards the boarman and punched its face with an evil smile. That punched contained tremendous strength and the boarman''s head was instantly destroyed to pieces. Everyone looking at the scene were shocked by that. "Ben is unstoppable," said an explorer while the other explorers around him were speechless. They were beyond words at what they saw. They never seen an explorer below level 20 to be able to do something like that. Usually, those kinds of thing happened only to explorers above level 40. The boarman that saw the scene shuddered in fear and suddenly, one of them put down his weapon and fled the battlefield. His comrade saw what that boarman did and they were dumbfounded. "I don''t want to die like that! I don''t like this at all!" said that boarman who were trying to flee. However, he was soon met with a flying axe that cut his body to two. "Deserter deserve to die," suddenly, a menacing voice appeared from the base. Another big arm boarman appeared with huge hammer on both of his arm. "Monkey!!! I will kill you!!!" said that big arm boarman that suddenly covered in white light that grew bigger and bigger. The white light disappeared and the big arm boarman as well as his hammer turned gigantic. "¡­ That is a kaiju, right?" said one of the explorers. The other explorers nodded but they did not look scared at all at the gigantic big arm boarman. The reason for that was¡­ suddenly, something was shot right at the gigantic boarman. It was a magic attack. "Our mage can easily handle that kaiju," said another explorer and then he continued fighting the normal size boarman. With the help of the mage in the group, Ben fought the gigantic boarman. Ben was flying (jumping) around here and there to hit the boarman. The fight against that gigantic boarman continued. On the other side of the base. Rico was managing his group strategically. His strategy was simple, hit and run strategy. The closed range attacker of the group will attack the boarman and if they cannot handle it anymore, they will immediately retreat with the help of the mage and archer. His group might not be able to kill most of the boarman but their roles were not to kill the boarman but to distract them. As he did this strategy, none of his group member suffered any injury. He can see that the boarman was slightly annoyed by his strategy too but there was nothing they can do when the explorers ran away quickly. One of the important things the explorers found out about the boarman was that, they were physical attacker. They never once attack with energy-based attack. However, Rico had already dismissed that idea and kept his eyes focused when he saw a variant boarman, the big arm boarman in the battlefield. With the appearance of the variant, it was possible that there were boarman that were capable of using energy-based attack. "I hope they are not here in this base. I hope Tyrren team destroy the accompanying core fast so that we can end this battle immediately," thought Rico while he shot another ice arrow towards the boarman, helping the explorers that were retreating. The big arm boarman were getting annoyed and impatient. Looking at the retreating explorers, the big arm boarman became mad and rushed forward without thinking. However, an ice arrow was immediately shot at him and stopped him from his track. He looked at Rico and clenched his teeth. While Rico was focusing on the battlefield, he suddenly stopped and looked somewhere else. The mage and archer beside him saw that he was looking somewhere and asked. "What''s wrong?" asked the mage. 74 Chapter 74 "Rico, is something wrong?" asked a female mage beside Rico. However, Rico was not responding and he was staring somewhere far south of the base and then he frowned. Rico suddenly touched his chest and then clenched his fist, "This feeling¡­" thought Rico. He was thinking of something and suddenly he looked at the female mage and said. "I need to go to Dianne''s group. I think they are in trouble. You will take command starting from now," said Rico as he immediately left the group towards the south of the base where Dianne''s group was located. "Eh!! Wait, Rico!! You cannot just leave like that!!" shouted the female mage but Rico did not even look back and continued running towards Dianne''s group. "What should we do now?" asked an archer beside the female mage looking worried. That archer was afraid that without Rico, they will be in big trouble. "What else? We need to hold the fort for a while until he comes back¡­" said the female mage dejected. "I never thought that he will be this irresponsible," the female mage pouted. "Well, he is still young and you should know that young people tend to be reckless," said that archer as he can feel that the female mage was not in a good mood. "That still did not mean he can do this. He knew he held high position in our whole group. He knew his responsibility. He is abandoning his job here. That brat! I knew you are from the powerful family but you still cannot do this!" said the female mage while clenching her teeth. The archer looked at the female mage and he decided to not say anything. He was afraid that if he misspoke, he might end up putting oil in the fire and caused infighting between them. They were in foreign land and they needed to work together to succeed. If not, they will all die. He knew the consequences clearly and thus, he decided to stay quiet though the female mage was mumbling something in anger. At the south part of the base, Dianne was leading her group without much problem. With the mages in the group as the lead, they managed to kill a lot of the boarman. The boarman had high physical strength but their vitality and defense in physical and magic were not as high their strength. With that in mind, Dianne decided to use the mages as the lead while the physical attacker in the group will act as support to protect them from the boarman or dealt the finishing blow if possible. "We are lucky that we did not meet any variant," said Dianne to an explorer beside her. She was casting her skill skillfully and killed another boarman. A few minutes ago, a scout appeared and informed her about the appearance of the variant boarman, the big arm boarman. Dianne was ready to see how strong the big arm boarman will be but to her disappointment, none of the boarman her group was currently fighting was the big arm boarman. She did say they were lucky but, she actually wanted to test if her skill will work against the big arm boarman. What she said was just her way to make her group member feel at ease. "You are right. I don''t think we will encounter anything hard," said that explorer while his eyes were eyeing any free boarman he can fight. "They must think that we are the easiest to handle and send these small fries," said Dianne. She continued, "The scout said that they sent most of the boarman to Ben''s group. They must think that Ben is the strongest among all of us." "They are not really wrong though. Ben is strong," said that explorer. "You can hear the explosions happening at east side of the base." "Ben cannot explode things. Get your facts straight," said Dianne. "That explosion might be from the boarman. Seriously, why all of you thinks Ben is the strongest here?" said Dianne annoyed when she kept hearing Ben''s name. She was not fond of Ben because of his personality. She was really annoyed with Ben but tried to not show it much because she trusted Cade''s words about what the system said about Ben. However, she asked Cade about the exact words the system said about Ben. Dianne thought that Cade tried to give more hope to everyone there by saying Ben was their hope in surviving the world dungeon and thus she wanted to know what the system really said. When she heard that the system said that Ben was not the main person for their success in the world dungeon and his role was merely to give more chance to their survival, she sighed. She thought that the system did try to help but even the system did not know who will be the one that will be the key person in closing the world dungeon. However, Dianne decided to look at the situation that had been happening from wider view and she realized something that others had yet to realized. That key person had been by their side for a while already but no one realized it because of Ben. They all thought that Ben will play that huge role. "Do you mean you are the strongest here?" said that explorer with a smile. He said it in a joking manner. He knew Dianne was not really fond of Ben. He knew it just now when Dianne showed displeased towards Ben. He can feel the tension in the air and tried to make a joke out of it to lighter the mood. "There is no one among us is the strongest. We are all somehow or another at the same level. Plus, and minus every individual strengths and weaknesses, we are all the same," said Dianne. "Ah~ is that what you are trying to say?" said that explorer. He thought that Dianne wanted to brag about her own strength but he was wrong. "No. That was not it. Although I said that we are all the same, there is actually one person among us that is far above everyone else here," said Dianne with serious face. "So, is it you after all?" said that explorer playfully. Dianne stared at that explorer beside her. That explorer looked at her and he awkwardly smiled. "I don''t mean in terms of strength. Look at it at the bigger picture. If you remembered it back, before that guy joined our group, we had a really hard time fighting the boarman," said Dianne. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "¡­ Who?" the explorer had no idea who Dianne was talking about. "After he joined our group, thanks to him, he gave us hope in surviving this world dungeon, he helped in awakening Ben''s bloodline and he also helped everyone in our group becoming stronger." "¡­ ¡­ ¡­" That explorer fell silent as he knew immediately who Dianne was talking about. "Cade¡­ Now that I think about it, he is the one that change everything in our group." "Why did I not see that? You are right that he is somehow above everyone else in our group. He is the only one that got the message from the system. He is the only one capable of extracting the essence¡­ and he is the only one that is fighting the boarman¡­ with a cardboard¡­" "You can see yourself how amazing he is. He is a D rank explorer but if you properly see him, he is not D rank at all. His stats are above what a D rank can do. It might be because of the essence but still, the essence has a limit too," said Dianne with a smile. "Besides that, to be able to do something that others cannot do, that is more than enough to confirm his real ability. Heh, I am still amazed when I see him fighting with his cardboard equipment. He looked really flashy in a bad way," Dianne smirked. "Ah, I cannot deny that. He looks really ridiculous with that cardboard. What is he? A kid?... but I never heard about cardboard equipment drop¡­" said that explorer. "It might be something extremely rare or it is actually part of his skill," said Dianne with a smile. She was in a good mood when talking about Cade more than about Ben. "A skill huh? It is possible. There are many kinds of skill in the universe and that cardboard might be his skill. Maybe his first skill when he awakened? People rarely learned ridiculous skill like that," said that explorer. "Well~ now that you know that Cade is actually much more important than Ben, we need to do our best to make sure he is fine. I know when I said this, it sounds like I want to exploit what he can do but he is indeed the most important person in this world dungeon and we need to make sure he is safe," said Dianne. "Luckily, he decided to stay at the camp or else, he might be in danger here," said that explorer. "Cade is at the camp?!" suddenly, a voice came from behind Dianne and that explorer. Both of them were surprised by that and they almost attacked the owner of that voice but stop immediately when they saw who it was. "Rico?! What are you doing here?" asked Dianne as she was shocked to see Rico there. 76 Chapter 76 Looking at the panic face Rico was showing, Dianne and that explorer explained to Rico what happened. "You switched him with that girl?" asked Rico as he did not believe that they switched Cade with a useless girl like Lynn. Rico saw the way Lynn fought a few minutes ago and he knew immediately that she will die without the support of others. He had seen Cade fought before and knew that Cade was far stronger than most explorers in the camp so, them switching him for a weaker explorer was totally a bad decision. Rico wanted to complain more to Dianne but he decided to stop that as he had more pressing matter to attend to. He looked at Dianne and said, "I am going back to the camp. Send someone to my group and tell them about this." "Wait! Why are you suddenly going back to the camp? You have a group to lead," said Dianne as she tried to stop Rico from going back. She knew something must have happened for Rico to want to go back. However, she needed to hear the reason first. Rico was one of the group leaders. For a leader to left his group like that was not right. "I think something is happening at the camp. I need to head there fast¡­ No! we need to head there right now," said Rico and Dianne can see the panic look he had. "You thought? Why do you think that?" asked Dianne as she did not know why Rico was thinking that. She knew about a detection skill that was possible to know about something that was happening somewhere far but to her knowledge, Rico did not have that kind of skill. "It is just a feeling I have," said Rico as he did not want to explain more. "A feeling? I am sure everyone here is feeling anxious too but I am sure nothing is happening at the camp. All the boarman is here fighting us, so there is no need to worry about the camp," said Dianne as she tried to stop Rico from leaving. "You don''t understand anything I am feeling right now," said Rico as he suddenly disappeared from Dianne''s sight. He moved extremely fast. He was using all of his speed he can use to get back to the camp. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. While he was running at his highest speed towards the camp, he felt tremors on the ground. "I need to move faster! Cade, please be safe!" said Rico as he clenched his teeth and tried to run much faster. ~~~ Rico, 18 years old. Rico was in his room as he sat in front of his computer scrolling the list of college he needed to choose to attend after he finished his high school. "Not this¡­ not this one too¡­ hmm~ maybe this¡­ no, not this one too. Sigh~ which one should I choose?" said Rico as he did not know which college he wanted to attend after high school. He was not the only one in dilemma with this matter. Most of his friends was in the same situation as him. They did not know either to applied for college or not. For Rico, with his results, he can enter any college he wanted. However, he did not know which college was the best for him. Rico knew that all the college that offered him a spot there was one of the best colleges in the star system he lived in but he just had this feeling that none of them was the best choice for him. Rico was in no way the type who follow his feeling more than his reason but he did not know why he was feeling that way. "This feeling is suddenly getting stronger for the past few weeks like it knows that I am graduating high school," said Rico while he patted his chest. The truth was that Rico had been having the feeling that something was wrong since he was small but that feeling was not as strong as he was currently feeling. He did not know what happened and he did tell his parents about that but they said he was just anxious. However, that feeling continue all throughout his life and it was getting stronger as he was almost graduating from high school. "Still having problem in choosing? How about you just enter our family''s college?" suddenly a man''s voice came from behind Rico. He looked behind him and saw a familiar face. That voice belonged to his older brother, Rizian. Rizian was holding a baby on his arm. That baby was Rizian''s daughter. "I don''t know, it just feels wrong. So, I try to find a college that I feels right," said Rico as he tried playing with his niece''s small, soft and cute hand. "That feeling again? You never talk about it again for a long time and now it came back?" asked Rizian as he was surprised to hear that the feeling that Rico felt a long time ago was back. Rico stared at Rizian and said, "That feeling had never once disappear. It just that I never talk about it again. But that feeling had been getting stronger and stronger for the past few weeks," said Rico. Rizian was surprised to hear about that. He tried to remain calm as his mind was thinking of a lot of possibilities. "Maybe you are curse or something?" blurted Rizian. "I don''t think it is a curse. It is not painful or anything like that. It is more like a guidance or something. This feeling is trying to lead me to something," said Rico. "¡­" Rizian fell silent and said, "If it is a guidance, why didn''t it guide you to save Marco before?" said Rizian and then he continued, "I will talk this to father and grandfather and see if we can find out something about it," said Rizian as he left the room. Rico fell silent when he heard that. He saw Rizian left without looking back and he knew that Rizian was angry. Rico bit his lip as he felt frustrated when he thought about what happened to Marco, his twin brother years ago. Marco died when he was 10 years old. Someone kidnapped him and threatened Rico''s family for money. They tried to find the kidnapper and Marco but unable to do that. The kidnapper had some kind of concealing skill that prevented them from locating Marco. At that time, his family asked Rico if he can feel something about Marco but Rico failed to do that. Everyone was disappointed with Rico when that happened. After the appearance of the system and dungeon 10 000 years ago, a weird phenomenon happened to twins all around the world. Before this, some twins used to say they can feel some kind of connection with their twin. However, after the system appeared, all twin in the world felt strong connection with their twin. They can somehow feel the feeling of their twin and will know immediately if something had happened. Rico and Marco however were a bit different. Though they were twins, that connection they had with each other was not as strong as other twins. No one in the family knew why that happened. When they asked Rico to locate Marco, he failed to do that as his connection with Marco was not strong. Due to that, the family were late to give the money and resulted in the kidnapper killing Marco. Everyone blamed Rico about what had happened including his family and that made him started talking less and less. However, the blaming did not last long and everything went back to normal after some time passed though, in his heart, Rico was still blaming himself about what happened to Marco. Rico put his head on the desk and stared at a frame of picture on the desk. There were two young boys who looked similar to each other in that picture. It was the picture of him and Marco. Rico slowly moved his hand and picked the picture frame. He stared at the picture and his eyes started teary. Realizing that he was almost crying, he immediately lifted his head back and wiped his eyes. Rico looked at the picture back and said, "I am sorry Marco¡­ I led you to this fate. If only I can detect you at the time¡­ you will not end up dying¡­" Rico looked really sad while saying that. Though they did not have the twin strong connection between each other, they were closed with each other. Rico kept staring at the picture for few minutes and then continued searching for the college his feeling said was right. While scrolling all the college available in the star sector he was currently living, "Maybe I should try another star sector," said Rico as he moved on to another college in the different star sector. Rico moved on from a star sector to another and he kept scrolling one by one and then arrived at the site about Biscuit Star Sector''s list of college. Staring at it, he can feel that his feeling was saying, "Here~ Here~" Rico sighed as he clicked on it and a list of college appeared and he suddenly felt a strong feeling towards a college in the Biscuit Star Sector. "Dineon College¡­" said Rico. 78 Chapter 78 Some of the family members suggested that they killed Cade. However, many of them disagreed with that because, they were afraid that if Cade died, Rico will die too. Since they did not know what was the real nature of the connection and feeling, it was better to be safe. In the end, they did not come to a decision. They did however, kept their eyes on Cade especially his safety as they were worried that it will affect Rico too. When Rico found out that Cade was inside the world dungeon, he was shocked and uneasy. He thought that Cade will not enter the dungeon because Cade was known to him as a weakling but he was wrong. After he saw what Cade was capable of doing, he knew that he did not need to worry about his safety. His feeling was calm too and that meant Cade was fine in the world dungeon. ~~~ "The feeling is getting stronger. Cade! Hold on! I will come and save you," said Rico but then, he stopped when he saw a huge rock floating in the air above the camp location. "What¡­ is that?" Looking with his eyes, the huge rock looked ordinary but he knew it from the energy it emitted that the rock was extremely dangerous. The rock suddenly moved and fall to the camp site, "CADE!!!" screamed Rico and his heart was beating fast. Rico continued running towards the campsite but he stopped again when he realized that the huge rock fell but there were no tremors. "What happened?" thought Rico and when he looked at that direction back, he saw a huge toad holding the huge rock. "Another monster in this world dungeon?" thought Rico as he was sure that there were no other monsters beside the boarman in the world dungeon. However, that huge toad suddenly disappeared but before the rock fall more, another toad appeared and held the rock. After that, that second toad disappeared again but another one appeared and held the rock. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "What the-" Rico was shocked to see what had happened there and suddenly, he saw a blue light flew upwards towards the huge rock and slammed on it. The impact between the blue light and the huge rock cause a lot of winds and to Rico''s surprised, the huge rock shattered and exploded to pieces. After that, a few more explosions happened and then, it went quiet. "What? My heart¡­" Rico touched his chest and his heart was beating normally. The anxious and immediate feeling he had earlier had gone. "Cade!" he thought of Cade and continued running towards the campsite. He was not sure what actually happened and it was too quiet there. Rico ran and ran and he arrived at the campsite. Upon arriving there, he saw that the camp was a mess and boarman''s dead body was littered everywhere on the campsite. He saw that some of the explorers were fine but some of them had died. There were explorers he did not recognize in the camp. "Rico?! Why are you here? What happen to the mission?" asked one of the explorers there that recognized Rico. "Everything is fine with the mission. I come here because I feel that something wrong had happened and I was right," said Rico while he looked at all the explorers around him. There were too many new faces. "What happened here?" asked Rico to that explorer and he continued, "Where is Cade?" as he was worried about Cade wellbeing. The feeling had disappeared and it can only mean that Cade was fine or maybe he had died. "If you are looking for Cade, he is there," that explorer pointed at a tent. Rico immediately went to that tent with that explorer following behind him. Upon entering the tent, Rico saw Cade. Cade was slightly injured and he was currently being healed by a girl he had never seen before. The girl had short cyan hair and she looked a bit timid. Sat nearby them were two man. One with a full body blue armor and another one was tending to his camera. And then, Rico saw a familiar face. A red-haired girl, Sera was there too quietly sat on a corner of the tent with her eyes closed. Looking around the tent was a tanned skin muscular man with a light green haired beautiful woman. Cade saw someone entering the tent and he was surprised to see that it was actually Rico. "Rico? Why are you here? Is the mission going fine?" asked Cade. Everyone in that tent immediately looked at the direction of Rico. "Oh~ he looks fine so the mission must be going pretty well," said the man with the camera. He stood from ground and took Rico picture. "There is no notification from the system, so I guess the mission is still ongoing but seeing that he is here, is it possible that the mission fail?" asked the man in the blue armor. "Heh~~ What took you guys that long to destroy the D grade accompanying core? My group destroyed the C grade accompanying core in less than five minutes," said the light green hair woman. "C grade accompanying core?... She does not look that strong," thought Rico and then he said, "The mission is doing fine. It is still ongoing. I came here because I felt like something wrong had happened." "Cade, what happened?" asked Rico while looking at Cade. "You must be blind to ask something that obvious. If you look outside, you will know immediately that they were attacked by the boarman. I thought you were a smart guy," Sera suddenly started talking. "How can you guys be that stupid and left the camp with only a few people that can fight?" Sera continued. "Says an arrogant girl like you," Rico stared at Sera and he seriously disliked her especially when she suddenly attacked Cade before. However, he was surprised to see that Sera did not get angry at him when he said that. "I am just saying the truth," said Sera with calm voice. "You guys know each other? Ex-girlfriend?" asked the guy with the camera to Rico. He was smiling dirtily at them as though they really in that kind of relationship. "We are classmate¡­ Cade too in the same class as us," said Rico trying to explain the relationship between them. "Looking at you staying by Cade''s side, you guys must be friends. Sera once attack Cade without any reason," said Rico. "Cade, you got hit by a girl?" said the camera guy playfully. "Be careful, you might fall in love with her." Annoyed with the camera guy, Cade decided to left that tent and talked to Rico about what happened. "Wait Cade. I have not fully healed your injuries," said the healer girl. "It is fine Viola. I will talk to Rico first. Shihoon is disturbing us too much," said Cade while looking at Viola, the healer girl and then to Shihoon, the camera guy. "You guys should rest. Thank you for helping us," said Cade while bowing to them as thanks. Everyone inside the tent said that they were helping their fellow comrade so there was no need for thanks. After that, Cade led Rico outside and he started explaining to Rico what happened after they left. ~~~ "I should go scouting the area until they all comes back," thought Cade after the group left to the boarman''s base. After that, Cade prepared himself and went into the forest to make sure there will be no unwanted enemy lurking around. He did find one or two boarman lying around in hiding. After that, all those boarman hiding were killed by Cade. It was not an easy fight but not that hard either. He can handle it well by himself. As he was going around in the forest, he also found a few herbs, trees, fruits, vegetables and animals that the system listed in the mission. Because he had nothing better to do, he gathered all of them for the system. He completed quite a lot of the missions. Though there were no rewards, he did it with open heart. The system did help everyone a lot and doing something menial like gathering materials was nothing to him. He had a feeling that the system was planning something with all the things they were collecting. Though he had no idea what, he somehow had a feeling that it will be good for humanity. "Okay~ I get another one. This is for you, system," said Cade while he was holding the herb that he had just dug from the ground. He put the herb in his storage and a red line appeared on the slot. That red line indicated that the material was the system belonging. Once it was put there, it cannot be taken out without the system permission. It was possible to take it out if they asked the system first. Though the system did not give any answer ''yes'' or ''no'' but when asked, the red line will disappear. Everyone knew instantly that the system was letting them to use the material. As Cade was busy searching for materials in the forest, he suddenly saw a light appeared at the camp. "What is that?" 80 Chapter 80 Seeing two of their comrades fall easily at the hands of Cade, another Boarman nearby decided to fight Cade in a group. They increased their pace of fighting the other explorers and easily defeated them. As for Cade, he kept going from one Boarman to the other and killed them one by one. He did not fight with the help of other explorers but instead, he was the one helping them. "Protect the injured. I will handle the Boarman," said Cade to an explorer he just saved. After that, he moved on to the next Boarman nearby. As Cade worked harder to defeat the Boarman, the Boarman did the same. Cade killed the Boarman fast but the Boarman killed the other explorers faster. There were many explorers Cade was unable to save. He cannot do anything about that. While fighting a Boarman in front of him, suddenly he was attacked from his side. When he looked at his side, another Boarman was there. "2 vs 1¡­" thought Cade when another Boarman appeared at his other side that made the fight into 3 vs 1. Cade clenched his teeth and focused himself on the battle. One of the Boarman swung his axe sideways. Cade did not evade the attack but blocked it with his shield. However, another Boarman swung his axe vertically and Cade used his sword to block it. Cade managed to block the two attacks but another one came from his back. A Boarman with a hammer swung the hammer right at his back. As Cade was blocking the two attacks, he cannot block the third attack. As a result, the hammer landed on his back and he was sent flying forward. "Keh!!" Cade tried to hold the pain from that attack. He rolled on the ground a few times but immediately got back up once the roll lost its momentum. Cade looked at the three Boarman that was approaching him fast. "D grade! My physical resistance does not work on him," thought Cade while looking at the Boarman with the hammer that strikes him earlier. The back part of Cade''s cardboard body armor had a dent on it. The durability had lowered too. "That attack is strong. They have taken me seriously," thought Cade. "Tch! If only I knew a magic skill and this fight would be easy," thought Cade and he started regretting learning the slime bloodline skill before. The three Boarman arrived at Cade and the fight continued. The Boarman saw their strategy earlier worked on Cade and decided to use the same strategy again. However, Cade was not that stupid to do the same with the same strategy coming from the Boarman. Rather than blocking the coming ax, Cade dodged it but at the same time slashed that Boarman with his cardboard short sword. His attack hit the Boarman and managed to injure that Boarman. As another ax coming, Cade did the same. Evade and attack. It worked. Though he failed to kill the Boarman, he succeeded in injuring them. The hammer came and Cade evaded it again but his attack failed as the Boarman also evaded his attack. "A D grade is different," thought Cade but he did not stop there. Instead of retreating after failing to land his attack, Cade dashed forward to close the distance between him and that D grade Boarman. The Boarman was surprised to see Cade daring to get closer but he did not panic. Cade again attacked the Boarman with his sword but the Boarman easily blocked his attack. As the Boarman blocked the attack, Cade did not get discouraged and continued his attack without stopping. He needed to kill the Boarman and protected everyone no matter what. The two Boarman earlier that got injured by Cade joined the battle again. The trio tried to do the same strategy again but it was cleared that it would not work. While the two axes were slashing at Cade, the hammer the D grade Boarman held shone lightly. Cade saw that and he knew what was coming. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "A skill!! Damn it!" thought Cade. "I need to create a distance fast," and Cade immediately tried to move away from the two Boarman. "Too late monkey!" shouted the D grade, Boarman, as he hit the ground with the hammer. The hammer hit the ground but there was no explosion. However, Cade felt something like a wave hit him and he felt groggy. "What? What happened?" thought Cade and he suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground. He suddenly felt pain inside his body and started coughing out blood. "Is that a shockwave? This is the first time I saw the Boarman using this skill. I thought they all had the same set of skills." Not only Cade, everyone thought like that too because the Boarman usually used enhancement skills, physical axe or hammer skills. Never once they used magic or energy-based offensive skills. The D grade Boarman smirked at Cade as he felt proud that he was able to injure him. As Cade tried to think what had happened, the two Boarman earlier came to attack him again but this time, the D grade Boarman did not join the fight. "Why is the D grade Boarman not joining the fight?" thought Cade as he looked at that Boarman and he saw something. The D grade Boarman stood there without any movement. He was by no means dead but he stood there motionlessly. Cade smirked, "That''s it! So, there is some negative effect when they use that kind of skill." Cade and the D grade Boarman''s eyes met and the Boarman was surprised by that. "He figures it out!!" thought the Boarman and he clenched his teeth frustrated that he was found out. "This is my chance. I don''t know how long he will be in that condition but it is better to finish him fast," thought Cade but he cannot go to that Boarman without defeating the two Boarman in front of him. The Boarman also knew that Cade had figured it out about the backlash of the skill and they also tried to defeat Cade as fast as possible or maybe held him there until another Boarman arrived. However, their thought was cut short when suddenly a glass bottle flew to their face. "What?" they were surprised to see a glass bottle appeared out of nowhere but knew that Cade was responsible for that. Both of them wanted to ignore that bottle as it will not affect them much. However, they saw that the bottle contained some kind of blue liquid and that made them highly alert. They had no idea what the liquid was but considering that it came from Cade, it must be some kind of weapon. Afraid of that blue liquid, they tried to dodge the bottle. However, another bottle flew to their face. Looking at the situation, there was no way they would be able to dodge the second bottle. Instead of dodging the second bottle, they smashed it with their axe. Some of the blue liquid splattered on their arm and they shrieked in panic as they were scared of what the blue liquid will do but to their surprise, the liquid healed their wounds. "A potion?!" thought the Boarman but it was cut short when a sword slashed at their neck and instantly killed them. "Aghhh!!!! Those two idiots!!" thought the D grade, Boarman. He tried to move but it was to no avail. Cade was coming at him fast and there was nothing he could do. Cade slashed the D grade Boarman and that Boarman died. "Hah! Hah! Hah!" Cade was gasping for air as he was really tired but he needed to keep moving as there were still many Boarman around. Cade helped to kill a Boarman that was fighting an explorer and asked him how the Boarman appeared at the camp when their map can detect them. That explorer said that they teleported there. Cade was not surprised by that because he already saw a Boarman who can use magic skill so it was possible for others to be able to use them too. However, thinking of the backlash of that, Cade wondered how many of them currently unable to move at their base just so that they can teleport that many Boarman. Cade cleared his thought and continued killing more Boarman. The other Boarman tried to fight Cade in a group but Cade already knew that. Instead of waiting for them to form a group, Cade prevented them from doing that by blocking them from regrouping using the potion like earlier. They were scared of the potion though Cade knew that they were scared of the unknown blue liquid. Cade was happy that his trick worked and he continued killing more Boarman. However, suddenly, the ground started moving like a wave. "What the?" Cade was surprised to see the ground was moving up and down like water. "A skill! I don''t think anyone in this camp possesses something like this¡­ the Boarman?!" Cade looked around immediately and he was shocked to see a wave of soil coming straight at him. 81 Chapter 81 The wave of soil coming straight at Cade. With his low speed, Cade was unable to run away from it. Cade lifted his shield and blocked the incoming wave of soil. The soil hit Cade''s shield, "Urgh!!!" and he did his best to hold out. As a result, he was buried by the soil. The ground stopped moving. Everyone in the camp was shocked that the ground suddenly moved like that and they were worried about Cade that got buried by the soil. However, their worry disappeared when Cade dug out of the ground. With his gas mask on, his face was protected from the soil. "Who is it?" thought Cade while he looked around to find out the Boarman that use the skill. Since he became an explorer, he never once fought against that kind of skill. The skill that can change or control the field in any way the caster wanted. However, he knew that the skill would require a lot of mana and the caster would not use much of it. While he was looking for the caster of that skill, the other Boarman around attacked him. Cade was unable to locate that Boarman due to their interference. While the Boarman attacking him, suddenly, few small stones flew right at him. Cade saw the stones coming and blocked it with his shield. However, to Cade''s surprise, the stone punctured his shield. "What the?!!" as the stone passed through the shield, they hit Cade''s body. "Guh!!" Cade can feel the pain from the impact of the stones but he did not suffer any injuries. Cade wanted to check his body but he was currently busy fighting the Boarman and now, he needed to look out for that stone bullet. Cade concluded that it was the stone bullet skill based on the speed of the stone. It was a magic attack and thus, his cardboard shield with zero magic defense was unable to block it. There were two types of the stone bullet. A physical stone bullet and magic stone bullet. The difference between the two was that the physical stone bullet used stone from surrounding while the magic stone bullet created the stone with mana. A physical stone bullet was easier to use but since it was physical, it was easier to block. However, that did not mean it was weaker than the magic stone bullet. With enough speed and types of stone, the skill can be deadly. The magic stone bullet, on the other hand, was harder to use because the user needed to be able to control their mana properly to create the stone. However, equipment with defense stat stood no chance in blocking it. Luckily for Cade, his hoodie and jeans had a magic defense stat and protected him from the magic stone bullet. Though the stat was not as high as his cardboard round shield, it was enough to block the stone bullet. "The bullet did not have that much power," thought Cade while he blocked an attack from a Boarman and countered the Boarman with a slash using his cardboard short sword. Since Cade was unable to see the user of the stone bullet and he was incapable to keep an eye to his surroundings due to his lack of experience and skill, he decided to move around a lot while fighting. Cade made that decision because that was one of the easiest things to do to throw off the accuracy of the stone bullet if the user decided to use it again. "Tch! Stop moving around!" thought the Boarman in a brown robe who was hiding beside a tent nearby. He tried to kill Cade without showing himself but he needed to change that strategy as he cannot aim his stone bullet at Cade. Cade realized that there were no stone bullets shot at him again, "I made the right choice this time," thought Cade but he still being cautious and kept moving around. Due to the Boarman unable to kill Cade, more and more of them came to join the fight and Cade was greatly pressured by the many Boarman attacking him. He dodged, evaded, parried, slashed, tackled and many more but he was unable to kill even one of the Boarman in front of him. It was all because of them working together to attack Cade as well as defending their comrades from Cade''s attack. More than that, his movement was reduced greatly and the stone bullets had started coming again. He was lucky that his hoodie and jeans helped him a lot from blocking the stone bullets. However, his cardboard equipment was in bad shape. Cade''s shield, body armor, gas mask, and sword had lots of holes on it and their durability had decreased tremendously. A few more attacks from the stone bullets, he will lose his cardboard equipment. Not only that, though he did not suffer major injuries, he was bruised all over his body from the impact of the stone bullets. Other than that, his hoodie and jeans had also suffered some damaged thanks to the axe and hammer attacks from the Boarman. "This is bad! I cannot locate the Boarman with the stone bullet and ten Boarman are attacking me!" Cade started to panic especially when he can see that his equipment will soon be useless. He had spare equipment in his storage but there was no way he can equip them while fighting. He cannot divert even an ounce of his attention towards the system for other equipment because in front of him were enemies that wanted him to die. "What should I do now? Am I going to die here? Ugh! Idiot luck! I have maximum luck but I am not lucky at all. What is this? I almost died once and now; I am certain that I will die. There is no one else that can help me. I am alone right now!" thought Cade. Due to Cade 100% focusing on the fight in front of him, he did not know what happened to the other explorers. He assumed that many of them had died and the one still alive was also in the same situation as him. No one can help him and he needed to help himself but he had no idea what he should do now. Cade was getting tired physically and mentally. "My bloodline skill is useless. The physical resistance that I heavily relied on is useless. All the Boarman in front of me is D grade¡­ My equipment will soon be useless too¡­" While thinking of that, Cade started losing hope. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Due to that, his movement started getting sluggish and he started receiving more injuries from the Boarman. Not only that, but his cardboard short sword was also shot by stone bullets and turned completely unusable. His shield and body armor met the same fate too a few seconds later. Without the protection of his shield and body armor, his hoodie and jeans received physical damage and ended up tattered. "I don''t think I can survive even if I use fluid body¡­" thought Cade. The Boarman was looking at Cade''s sorry state and laughing at him. They stopped attacking Cade as they knew that Cade had no chance of surviving anymore. "Hahaha! Monkey! Your head will be a good decoration in my room," said one of the Boarman while laughing loudly. "What are you talking about? His head will be in my room," said another Boarman who wanted Cade''s head as his room decoration. "I will be fine if I can get one of his limbs," said another Boarman while eyeing Cade''s body. "Hahaha! Monkey, you can see that many of us want part of your body to decorate our room. That proves that you are strong. We honor the strength and you have that," said that loud Boarman again. "Maybe I can run away while they blabbered all this nonsense shit!" thought Cade. The Boarman was too busy talking that he thought it might be a good idea to run away from them. "But¡­ I cannot do that¡­ if I run away, that means I abandon everyone in this camp¡­ I know the feeling of that so, I cannot run away¡­" thought Cade while he stared at all the Boarman busily talking among themselves. "Hah! Did you guys finish too?" a Boarman that was not there earlier came to them. "How about you? Finish already?" asked another Boarman. "All the ones that can fight is already finished. We left the injured monkey alive to work as our slave," said that Boarman and he saw Cade. "Are you keeping this monkey alive too?" "Ha? No way? This monkey is the most dangerous one here. He needs to die. We are just discussing who will keep his head after this," said that Boarman. "No one will keep his head. We will display his body at the base. So no one is keeping any part of him," suddenly a Boarman in brown robe appeared. The Boarman was different compared to the normal Boarman Cade had met before. He was not as bulky and big as normal Boarman. His body proportion was similar to humans. If he did not have the head and fur of the boar, he can be passed by as a human. "So¡­ a variant Boarman¡­ this guy must be the one with the stone bullet skill," thought Cade. 82 Chapter 82 Cade stared at the Boarman wearing the brown robe. "If I kill this guy, maybe I will have a chance to survive and possibly save everyone else too," thought Cade. However, even if Cade wanted to do something, there was nothing he could do. He was extremely tired. His body was full of injuries. He had no energy left to fight. He can use a potion and healed himself but the Boarman would not allow that to happen. Even if he succeeded in healing himself, he stood no chance against the Boarman because there were too many of them. The only thing he could do was watch and wait for the Boarman to end his life. Cade sighed in his heart as he never thought he would die but he was happy that he can hold on that long. "Any last words?" said the Boarman with the brown robe. He admitted that Cade was strong and if not because of their numbers he was afraid that he cannot kill Cade. "Why are you guys attacking us?" asked Cade. If he were to die it was better if he at least knew the reason the Boarman was attacking humans. Not only the Boarman but also possibly the other race too. Cade had already resolved his heart and accepted that the humanoid toad might be from the toad race. It was highly likely that the other attacks on other planets were led by another race. Cade wanted to know why they were doing that. He was curious about that. When Cade asked that, the Boarman with the brown robe looked at him weirdly. Cade then remembered that he can appraise the Boarman with his system. Not like they can see the system so it was fine. Cade used the system''s appraisal and finally knew the Boarman variant in front of him. The Boarman with brown robe was a Boarman mage. Looking at his attire and the type of skill he used before, Cade concluded that the mage specialized in ground and rock skill. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. However, knowing that won''t change the situation in front of him. Cade stared at the Boarman mage waiting for an answer but he saw the mage looking at him weirdly. "Why is he looking at me like that?" thought Cade. "That face¡­ it is like he is saying ''you don''t know?''" "Monkey. Are you joking with us right now?" asked the Boarman mage and he frowned. Cade became much more puzzled by that sentence. "What did he mean by joking?" thought Cade. He was serious when he asked that and, in his condition, why in the world he was joking around. "Kill him!" said the Boarman mage. He was annoyed by Cade''s question and decided to not waste any more time. Hearing the order from the Boarman mage, one of the Boarman raised his axe and swung it straight to Cade''s neck. However, the sky suddenly turned dark. That Boarman stopped his axe and everyone looked up at the sky as they wondered what happened. The dark was not the type when it was almost rain but it was similar to something solid covering the sky. After everyone looked up, they were shocked to see something big was hovering in the sky. "Is this another Boarman?" thought Cade and the thing in the sky was huge. All the Boarman around was worried looking at that huge thing but Cade did not know why he was not feeling like them. He thought that maybe because he was at the end of his life, he was not scared of what he was seeing. However, he also felt a bit of familiarity with the thing that was hovering above their heads. While everyone was focusing on that thing, suddenly, someone tapping Cade''s shoulder. Cade was shocked when he saw a familiar face by his side. He tried to talk but that guy covered his mouth. That guy took out a piece of paper, no, upon closer look, it was a photo. The photo shone lightly and a huge gorilla monster appeared. At the same time the gorilla monster appeared, the thing floating in the air disappeared. All the Boarman presents were shocked and before they could react, the gorilla monster attacked them. "The monkey''s reinforcement!!" thought the Boarman mage. Everyone was sent flying by that gorilla monster''s attack. That was not all. When they looked at the other side of the camp, they saw more humans there and among them was a man clad in blue full body armor. That man in blue armor took out his greatsword and rushed forward to attack. Not only him, but all explorers with him also rushed forward too. The second battle started. However, this time the situation was flipped. Before the arrival of Jonathan, the Boarman was dominating the fight but now, the explorers dominated. "Why are you always in this state?" said Shihoon while he stopped Cade from standing. Cade looked at Shihoon weirdly as he was sure that Shihoon said he did not want to enter the world dungeon. "Why are you here? I remember you said you wanted to stay with your family," asked Cade as he was curious. He took out a potion from his storage and wanted to drink it when a delicate and white hand stopped him. Looking at the owner of the hand, Cade saw Viola. "I will heal you," said Viola while smiling. She started using her skill and healed Cade. "I do want to stay with my family but when the time limit of this dungeon increases, I just felt like I should go too. I want to know what is inside this dungeon and what changes happen here that made the time limit increase and I want to contribute in saving our star sector," said Shihoon. "For real? I don''t think you are that type of person," said Cade as he cannot believe what Shihoon was saying. "What do you mean? Be grateful that I am here. Do you know how many times I saved your ass? What is wrong with you always ended up in this kind of situation?" said Shihoon. "¡­ Well, thank you¡­ Miss Viola too," said Cade as he had indeed been saved by Shihoon a lot. He was not too fond of Shihoon but he did not hate him. "Luckily we arrive here right on time," said Viola while she was healing Cade. "Miss Viola, there is no need to heal everything. I can move now and I want to join the fight," said Cade. He wanted to join the fight and he was worried about Jonathan fighting by himself there though Jonathan was not alone. "No need to worry. He will be fine. Trust me. Someone who can destroy an accompanying core with only a small group of explorers won''t lose to the Boarman," said Viola with a smile. "¡­ Jonathan destroyed an accompanying core?!" Cade was shocked to hear that and at the same time disappointed with himself. Jonathan once again did something big. The toad and now the accompanying core but Cade had not yet made anything big like that. He was ashamed of himself. Looking at Jonathan killing the Boarman one by one. Cade''s confidence fell much more than before. Shihoon was staring at Cade and he knew what Cade was thinking. "Cade, stop comparing yourself with Jonathan. He is someone with bloodline power. It is common knowledge that everyone with bloodline power is strong," said Shihoon trying to console him. However, those words made him lose more of his confidence. He was someone with bloodline power but he was useless. "Why is he more disappointed than before?" thought Shihoon. He tried to console Cade but it looked like it did not work. While they were talking, they suddenly felt someone used a huge amount of mana. When they looked at the direction of the source of that mana, they saw the Boarman mage pumping out his mana. "He is going to use something big!!" said Shihoon and he got ready to summon a picture that can protect them. Suddenly, the sky turned dark and everyone was shocked to see a massively huge rock floating in the air. A second later, the rock fell. Shihoon immediately took out a picture and summoned it. What came out of the picture shocked everyone including the Boarman mage. A giant toad appeared and it held the falling huge rock with both of his arms. The ground was shaking and the ground below the giant toad was breaking from the massive pressure from the huge rock. Looking at the situation that might turn bad for the Boarman, the Boarman mage decided to retreat. However, before he could retreat, the air around him was moving weirdly and suddenly, a fire was shot at him. The Boarman mage tried to evade but what shocked him more was that, before even the fire reached him, it suddenly spread and became bigger. The fire immediately trapped him and he was unable to run away. However, he had more skills up his sleeves. The Boarman mage forcefully got out of that fire and he was fully clad in rock armor. At the same time the Boarman mage got out of the fire, Jonathan was yelling at Shihoon, "Mister Shihoon! Can you hold it much longer?!" 83 Chapter 83 Shihoon heard Jonathan and he nodded indicating that he could do it. The time limit for the giant frog ended and before it disappeared, Shihoon skillfully summoned another giant toad from a photo in his hand. The next giant toad summoned by Shihoon did well in holding the stone. As Cade was unable to fight anymore, He and Viola retreated away from the falling huge stone. The explorers that came with Jonathan did two things. They either fought the leftover Boarman or they were helping to evacuate the injured. Since the arrival of Shihoon and Jonathan, everything went well. Cade felt a bit regretful about what had happened. He somehow saved the injured but he was unable to save the ones fighting. "You did your best," Viola suddenly said that to Cade. Sensing that Cade was feeling down, Viola said that to encourage him. Cade looked at Viola and he stayed silent. He knew that Viola was trying to cheer him up. However, even with those words, Cade did not feel better. Many lives were lost in this battle and he did not feel good about it. While Cade was thinking about many things that had happened, a surge of mana can be felt coming out of Jonathan. Cade and Viola looked at Jonathan''s direction and saw him clad in blue mana and that mana was getting thicker and thicker. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. After a few seconds, Jonathan flowed the mana from his body to his greatsword. He looked at the huge stone currently being held by Shihoon''s summoned toad. Jonathan tightened his grip of the great sword and took a stance. After that, with all the strength he can muster, Jonathan leaped upwards towards the center of the huge rock. He pointed his great sword towards the huge stone and pierced it. The blue mana clad the great sword spread all over the huge stone and cracks started appearing. The cracks continued getting bigger and bigger and a few seconds later, the huge stone was smashed to pieces. "Jonathan has become much stronger than before," said Cade while looking at the stone being destroyed by Jonathan. The Boarman mage was shocked to see that they were able to destroy the huge stone he created. He thought that he could end them with that skill but he was wrong. "I need to retreat!" thought the Boarman mage. However, he was swamped by attacks from an unknown enemy. Whenever he wanted to move somewhere, the air distorted slightly like something was gathered there and then fire came and suddenly became bigger when it touched the distorted air. He knew that the distorted air was responsible for the fire to become stronger but he did not know why that happened. Fortunately, he was clad in rock armor and managed to defend himself from the fire. The attacks kept coming and bit by bit, the Boarman mage can feel that the fire was getting stronger and stronger. He could feel the heat even when he was protected by the rock armor. The rock armor had also been getting hotter and hotter. He could not wait anymore. He needed to retreat fast. If he continued getting hit by the fire, he might die. With that thought, the Boarman mage immediately thought out a plan. He got an idea. The Boarman mage put out his hand on the ground and then, a ground wall was made blocking the fire. With that ground wall, the fire could not reach him and he made his way and escaped the battlefield. "He runs away¡­" said a woman in light green hair. That woman was Aera. Her group met Jonathan group after they destroyed the accompanying core and had been traveling in search of the last core together. "Another one. I thought they were all brainless but there are some smart ones in the group," said Muruku. "The leader of the group is usually the smart one. The others will always be brainless," said Aera and she came out of the forest. On her right was Muruku and left was Sera. Sera was quiet the whole time and just did what she was supposed to do. "So many people die¡­ But for the camp this big, is this all of them?" said Aera as she found it weird that there were not many people in the camp. "You are right, there are not many of them here. Did they go somewhere? An internal fight maybe?" said Muruku while looking around. "How is the mage? Did you guys kill him?" said Jonathan and he approached them. Aera told Jonathan that he ran away. Jonathan did not say anything as they could not predict what will happen on the battlefield. "How many of them survive?" asked Aera to Jonathan. "Not many. One who can fight and a few others that are already injured for a while," said Jonathan and he continued, "Let''s meet them." Jonathan, Aera, Muruku, and Sera headed to Cade while the other explorers went around the camp collecting the explorers'' dead bodies to their storage. As for the Boarman''s body, they put it in a corner and will burn it later. "Miss Viola, how is Cade?" asked Jonathan while looking at Viola. Though he could see that Cade was fine, he still asked the expert. "He is fine now. It will not take long until I fully heal him," said Viola with a smile. "There is a small tent there. I think it is better if we move there," said Shihoon who came out of nowhere. Everyone looked at the small tent and decided to go there. Though the tent was small, it was not that small. It can fit about 10 people inside. If it was 10 thousand years ago, that kind of tent was considered to be big. However, time changed and now, that kind of tent was considered small. Once they got inside, Aera immediately asked Cade, "Cade, right? This is a big camp but I don''t see many people here." "Right now, they are at the nearby Boarman base to destroy the last accompanying core," said Cade with Viola at his side healing him. Cade saw Sera but decided to ignore her because they were not on good terms. "Really?! Then, I guess we don''t need to worry about finding the last accompanying core," said Muruku and he was happy to hear the news. "But what if they fail?" said Shihoon as he did not want to put too much hope. He just arrived inside the world dungeon and coincidentally met Jonathan a few hours ago. He had yet fought that many Boarman but he knew they were strong. "There is no need to worry. They will be fine. There are many strong people among them and they will do well," said Cade. He did not worry about them that much because he knew their capability. "¡­ Then, why are some of you here? Why didn''t you guys go too?" asked Muruku. "They are taking care of the injured. With this huge group of people, there will be many injured people. If all of them left, who would take care of them?" said Viola as she saw many injured people in a tent before she arrived at Cade''s side. Cade nodded meant that what she said was right. "I saw the explorers outside collecting the dead body. Don''t throw away the Boarman''s dead body. There is some use for them," said Cade. "Use? We can get something from the Boarman''s body?" asked Aera as per her knowledge, she did not know that they could get something from the Boarman''s body. "Only me and one other person in this camp can get something from the body. Other people won''t be able to do it," said Cade and he explained to them about the essence. Everyone was shocked to hear that the Boarman''s body had something like that. They were also shocked to hear that the bloodline power had an awakening. Everyone in the tent was discussing the essence and bloodline awakening and suddenly someone entered the camp and it was Rico. ~~~ "So, everyone else dies?" asked Rico. "Yeah. Other than me and the ones that were already injured long ago, everyone else dies," said Cade with a solemn look. When Cade thought about everyone that died, he was frustrated. He was too weak. Even after he got a lot of increase in a stat, he was not strong. If not because Jonathan and others arrived to help him, he will die too. He had too many weaknesses that he needed to cover. However, since he was trapped inside the world dungeon, he was unable to do much to cover that weakness. "Is everything going well at the base?" asked Cade. "When I left, everything was fine. I think there won''t be any problem," said Rico. "We should clean up the camp so that when everyone gets back, they will not get shocked," said Rico while smiling. He was relieved that Cade was safe. He did not care much about the other explorers but only Cade''s safety was important to him. He might sound cruel but there was nothing he could do. His strong connection and feeling towards Cade made him do that. 84 Chapter 84 The thing that everyone needed to clean was the dead body. All the new explorers joining the group helped clean the campsite. Cade managed to kill many Boarman but the Boarman also managed to kill many explorers. It was a huge loss to both sides. However, explorers lose more than Boarman. Rico told Cade to rest while he would handle the cleaning job because Cade had gone through a rough day. With the healing skills from Viola, Cade''s injuries healed fast. He only needed to rest to restore his stamina. Looking at all the people he knew was safe, Cade felt relieved. Cade was the most surprised by Shihoon. Shihoon said that he did not want to enter the world dungeon but he ended up inside the dungeon after he saw that there was a chance for them to close the world dungeon. However, Shihoon also said that he was surprised to find that there were many explorers who died for everyone to reach this point. Most of the explorers did not die during the fight of destroying the accompanying core but it was during the normal fight. It can be said that those that survived the normal fight were elites among the explorers. *** "Now, all we need to do is wait for the last accompanying core to be destroyed," thought Cade while he sat under a tree. With the arrival of Aera and Jonathan''s group, there were more people in the camp now. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Looking at the view of so many humans moving around in the camp, Cade felt calm and relieved. He was happy that many people were still alive though he only knew a few of them. Cade checked his stats and he smiled when he saw that he had leveled up. From level 14 to level 17. His level increased by 3. "Finally, I can learn another bloodline skill," thought Cade excitedly. He had been waiting to reach level 15 for a while because he wanted to learn the slime soul bloodline skill. Before he learned the slime soul skill, Cade used the stat points he got from leveling up to increase his dexterity stat. He finally decided to balance his stat a bit. He would still give priorities to vitality and endurance but he decided to make sure that other stats were not too low. In the current situation, Cade needed to make sure that he did not have a glaring weakness. Other than his lack of experience and skills and low speed, Cade was fine in other areas. After distributing the stat points, Cade upgraded his linked equipment with the remaining magic crystals he had. Due to the appearance of the variant Boarman with magic skills, Cade wanted to increase his equipment with magic defense stat. However, due to insufficient magic crystals, he decided to not do that. Even without high protection against the magic attack, Cade calculated that he will be fine. At the moment, Cade had only met one Boarman variant with magic skills. That meant that there were not many of them. The possibility of Cade meeting one was low and he concluded that it was fine to upgrade the other linked equipment. After Cade had finished upgrading everything, he took out a bloodline skill book from his storage. He held the skill book of the bloodline skill ¨C slime soul. Bloodline soul skill was a support skill. When used, a few of the user''s stat would increase to strengthen the user. Due to the skill not producing any backlash to the user, many explorers preferred to use the soul skill compared to the transform skill. The only disadvantage of the soul skill was the time limit. However, even with the time limit, the soul skill was considered to be more superior compared to the transform skill. Cade told the system he wanted to learn the slime soul skill but to Cade''s surprise, [Without the body of the slime, the soul cannot be used. Unable to learn the bloodline skill ¨C slime soul] the system sent out a notification. "What? Then, how can I learn the soul skill? I am not a slime and-" Cade suddenly stopped talking as he realized something. He wanted to protest to the system that he was a human and he did not have the body of the slime but he refrained from doing that. Cade wanted to ask the system too how in the world other people with bloodline skills learned the soul skill when they were humans but he already knew the answer to that. "Do I need to learn the transform skill first?" asked Cade. According to the notification from the system, he needed to have the body of the slime to learn the soul skill. If Cade learned the transform skill, he would be able to transform into slime and that meant he gained the body of slime. [Yes. Without the right vessel, the soul cannot be retained. The human body is different compared to the slime body and thus it cannot hold the slime soul.] said the system. "Sigh~" Cade sighed as he felt that the transform skill was useless to him at the moment. Transforming into a slime during a fight was not a good strategy because slime was weak. Other than that, the debuff after the transformation was bad too. If Cade was to transform into a slime, he would need to bear the consequence of lowered stat point after the transformation for 24 hours and that would be extremely bad especially when he was currently in a fight. "If I need to use the transform skill, it needed to be as a last resort," thought Cade while he looked at the skill book in his hand. Cade sighed again and looked at the camp. Cade took a deep breath and learned the slime bloodline skill ¨C slime transformation. His skill list updated and he could see what the skill could do. According to the skill description, he would transform to slime and some of his stat would increase during the transformation and the mastery of related slime skill would also increase faster upon use during transformation. "Oh~ the skill mastery effect is quite good but since I have my link growth skill, this is not that good to me," thought Cade. Even if his mastery would increase faster, he could increase them much faster with magic crystals. So, in other words, the transform skill was not something usable to Cade at the moment. If he used the skill, he would become the weakest monster in the universe and after he ended the transformation, he would get 24 hours debuff on all of his stats. "Even with the new skill, there is not much change in me. I am still weak and I cannot do much either," Cade was disappointed with this new development. He thought that he would be able to learn the soul skill which would increase his fighting power but he was unable to do so. Cade had already imagined how much stronger he would become with the soul skill and he was extremely disappointed that he could not learn the skill. With nothing else to do, Cade decided to help the others cleaning the camp. While cleaning the camp, the system suddenly sent out a notification. [The last accompanying core destroyed] said the system. [The main core will appear now] Everyone looked at each other and they all smiled. The same with Cade. He also sighed in relief that they successfully completed their mission. "Now, we just need to find the main core¡­" thought Cade but suddenly, the ground lightly shook. "An earthquake?!" said Cade while he looked around. At first, Cade and everyone in the camp thought that the earthquake would stop soon but the shaking became stronger and stronger. The ground shook too much. The trees around them swaying heavily like they were hit with the typhoon. Everyone tried to take cover but they were unable to move due to the shake. Those that could fly decided to rise from the ground to escape from the earthquake. "Damn it!" said Cade as he tried to stand up but he could not do that. Every time he tried to stand, he fell to the ground. There was nothing he could do and Cade summoned his linked equipment to protect himself. Cade looked around and he saw the ground breaking and splitting. Some people fell into the fissure but no one could save them because no one could move. Suddenly, Cade saw from afar that there was some ground that started leaving the ground and rose to the sky. "What the?" Cade was shocked to see that and the ground that he was on also suddenly rose to the sky. The process went on for 30 minutes before everything calmed down. Cade looked around but all he saw was the blue sky and some other explorers nearby. Cade made sure that the ground was stable before he stood up. When Cade stood, he could see that islands were floating around and the ground he stood on was a small floating island. Cade ran to the edge of the island and gasped at the view. "This is like a fantasy world!" 85 Chapter 85 The Boarman world dungeon had now turned to thousands of floating islands. Some of the islands were huge and some of them were small. The floating island did not move around and it stayed motionless at their current position. Floating islands in a fantasy world were moving around most of the time but the floating islands in front of Cade''s eyes were glued to their position. If someone stood on one of the floating islands without viewing other floating islands, they would feel that the islands stood there randomly. However, if they saw the other floating islands around them, they would be able to see that the floating islands were making something as their center of gravity. "They are pointing at that thing," said Cade while he was looking down. He realized that the floating islands were orbiting something and saw a single floating island with a huge orb floating above it. "That orb, is it the main core?" Suddenly, a voice came from behind Cade. He looked behind him and it was Rico with Jonathan and Shihoon following behind him. "Probably. We are too far from it so our map cannot detect it," said Cade while he was staring at the orb. "So, the main core we are targeting all this time is the planet''s core?" said Shihoon while he took out his spare camera from his storage and started taking pictures of the supposedly main core. "Planet''s core did not look like a mega huge pearl," said Cade trying to say that the planet''s core was entirely different compared to the main core they saw. "I know that but we are in the age of magic so, we should expect something like this. And it is totally obvious that the main core is the planet''s core because the floating islands are circling the core," said Shihoon and he snorted. "Should we go there now? We should not be delaying destroying the main core," said Jonathan who wanted to destroy the main core fast as he did not want to waste more time. While they were talking with each other, Rico drew his bow and an arrow of ice form. With great focus and precision, Rico shot the arrow towards the supposedly main core. Cade, Jonathan, and Shihoon were surprised to see a cyan colored projectile flew towards the main core and they all looked at Rico. "I agree with Jonathan. We should take action now but it is better to test the situation first. As everyone knows, this is the main core we are talking about and I doubt that it will be free like this," explained Rico. Rico looked at the main core and continued talking, "The accompanying core was guarded by the Boarman and I am sure that the Boarman is guarding this main core too. However, we are too far from the core and we cannot see clearly if the Boarman is guarding the core." "Then, will your arrow reach the core? We are too far from it anyway," said Shihoon while he was listening to Rico as well as busying himself taking pictures of the main core. "It will. I am worried about the island below the main core. I think there are Boarman there but we cannot see everything from here because the main core is blocking our view," said Rico while he squinted his eyes to see the island below the main core. "Let''s move there now," said Jonathan and he wanted to jump and reach the main core with the gravity emitted from the main core. However, Shihoon held Jonathan''s shoulder and stopped him from jumping. "Don''t rush. What he said is right. We need to be careful," said Shihoon while he stared at Jonathan. As the oldest there among the four of them, he needed to think everything maturely and he agreed with Rico. "Let''s gather everyone in the camp and we will attack the main core together," said Shihoon. Jonathan glanced at Shihoon and he decided to follow his suggestion. Rushing would not help them at all. As they were busy talking, the ice arrow reached the main core and to everyone''s surprise, it hit accurately on the main core. "What the?" Rico was shocked as he was sure that the Boarman would block the attack. However, there was no sign that someone was blocking the attack. "Could it be that we already kill all the Boarman?" said Shihoon because he was shocked too. The main core was the most important thing in the world dungeon but no one was guarding the main core. "What should we do now?" asked Jonathan while he looked at Shihoon and Rico. Rico was already drawing his bow one more time to shoot the main core. However, before he could shoot another ice arrow, something flew out of the floating islands below the main core towards a floating island nearby. "What is that?" thought Rico and others who saw it. That flying thing was green and whirling towards the nearby floating island. "I will tell everyone to prepare. I think that is the Boarman guarding the main core," said Shihoon while he went back to everyone and explained the situation. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "That green whirling thing must be a skill of a Boarman. Another variant," said Cade while he observed the green whirl. "It looks weak-" before Jonathan could continue, the green whirl reached an island and to everyone''s surprise, it tore the island to pieces immediately. The floating island was destroyed. They felt chill to their spine and Rico screamed, "Everyone! Prepare yourself immediately! If you don''t want to fight, run! This new Boarman is strong!" Everyone in the camp looked at Rico and upon hearing what Rico said, they got extremely scared. "Rico, you should not say that to them. It will freak them more," said Cade as he thought that what Rico did was wrong. "We cannot let them stay idle and they need to decide if they want to fight or run away. You saw yourself how strong the enemy is. Something that could destroy a huge thing like that island instantly is extremely dangerous," said Rico with a serious face. "But still, you can see that they are freaking out now. You should not scream like that," said Cade. "Guys, stop fighting. A second island destroyed," said Jonathan trying to stop Cade and Rico arguing. However, both of them did not hear Jonathan and kept arguing. "This is the first time I see Cade raising his voice like that," thought Jonathan while looking at Cade and Rico. Both of them were in a heated argument when suddenly, Rico felt his heart beating fast and he realized that Cade was currently really strong and it started affecting him. "I need to stop arguing with Cade or else this stupid feeling will affect me," thought Rico and he stopped talking while he patted his chest to calm his feeling though it depended on Cade. Looking at Rico refrained himself from arguing with him, Cade also stopped and he calmed down. At the same time, Rico''s feeling calmed too. "Phew¡­" Rico felt relieved. "We are really connected by something," thought Rico while he glanced at Cade. "You guys are immature. There is no need to argue like that," Shihoon walked towards them with few people following behind him. "These guys want to fight and the others get scared and decide to stay out of this fight," said Shihoon. He stopped for a few seconds and continued, "With this many people, our chance to win this fight is low," said Shihoon. "We are not going to fight that thing. Let''s focus on destroying the main core," said Rico and he continued, "Our mission is the main core, not the Boarman." "What you said sounds ideal but do you think that thing will let us easily destroy the core? Besides that, I think the main core will be hard to destroy too. It must have been hard¡­" said Shihoon and he immediately stopped when he felt a strong surge of mana. Not only him, Cade, Jonathan, Rico and others on the island too. They all went to the edge of the island and they saw on one of the floating islands, mana was concentrated there. Cade and Rico immediately knew who the mana belonged to. "Ben is fighting the green thing," said Rico and then, they could see and feel explosions happening on that island. "Ben? Someone you know?" asked Shihoon curious because he never felt something like that. The mana emitted by Ben was different than the mana he usually felt from other people. Not only him, but Jonathan was also curious too. "He is the one with bloodline awakening. According to Cade, he will be the key to our survival in this world dungeon," said Rico. Cade wanted to say something but he stopped because he felt the time was not suitable. "That is why I feel my blood is boiling," said Jonathan as he was someone with the bloodline power, he could feel a bit of connection with Ben''s power. Not only him, Rico and Cade could feel the same too. "Let''s let him deal with that green thing. We should focus on the main core," said Shihoon and everyone agreed. 86 Chapter 86 Everyone agreed to let Ben hold the green thing possibly a variant Boarman while they would be focusing on destroying the main core. None of them made a long preparation as they were afraid that they would take too long and Ben would not be able to hold the Boarman by himself. They had seen what the Boarman was capable of doing and it was dangerous and they needed to move fast. With all of that settled, all of them jumped off the floating island straight to the main core. "The main core is indeed the source of gravity holding the floating island," thought Cade as he fell straight towards the main core alongside Rico, Jonathan, Shihoon and a few other explorers who wanted to fight with them. Aera, Sera, Muruku, and Viola were not with them on the same floating island. They assumed that they were on a different floating island and would join them soon too. As they were falling, they passed through the island where the fight between Ben and the Boarman was happening. They could see that the fight was intense and while staring at them, Cade and everyone could see the appearance of the Boarman. The Boarman was muscular but he was not as big as a normal Boarman. Just like other Boarman, that Boarman had fur all over his body. However, he looked different compared to all the Boarman they fought before, especially his fur. Common Boarman had brown fur but that Boarman had green emerald fur. The fur was beautiful. It was sparkling when the sun hit the fur. It did not look like fur but crystal. That Boarman looked beautiful. Shihoon was entranced by the beauty of the crystal emerald fur of that variant Boarman and he instinctively took a picture of that Boarman while falling. Name: Emerald Boarman Cade appraised the Boarman from afar and he saw the species of the Boarman. It was an emerald Boarman. The emerald fur of that Boarman said it all about that Boarman. "He looks really strong," said one of the explorers following them. "Is he some kind of boss in this world dungeon?" said another explorer. "I bet he is. Look at the way he uses his skill and the impact of his skill. It is totally on a different level compared to all the Boarman we had fought all this time. Even that mage Boarman that uses ground magic earlier is not as strong as that Boarman," said another explorer. Cade looked at the fight and he could see that not only Ben, Xing, Dianne and everyone else were there too and to his surprise, Aera and Sera had joined the fight too. "Let''s not worry about them. We should focus on our target, the main core," said Rico and everyone else nodded. "If we fail to destroy the core, not only us, our planet is done too," everyone became serious when they heard that. "Rico is right. The fate of the planet depends on us," thought Cade and he focused on the main core. "Charge your skill at full strength. Let''s smash this thing to pieces in one go!" said Shihoon and he took out a picture and held it in his hand. The picture shone. Rico held his bow and aimed at the main core. He drew the string of the bow and a huge amount of mana could be felt concentrating on his bow. An ice arrow with high mana concentration formed. Jonathan activated his armored bear bloodline soul skill and mana in a shape of armored bear formed behind him and wrapped his body a few seconds later. After that, his full set blue bear armor shone with blue light. Jonathan was activating the full set armor skill. A strong surge of power could be felt coming from him. As for Cade, there was nothing he could use and all he needed to do was focus on the main core. He felt a bit embarrassed as he was the only one without any good skill. Even the other explorers coming with them had one kind of skill they were proud of and all of them were pouring all their mana into their skill. His strong feeling of embarrassment without him noticing affected Rico slightly. Rico could feel what Cade was feeling and he glanced at Cade and saw him not charging his mana. "Is Cade not possessing any strong skill?" thought Rico. Though he could feel what Cade was feeling, he was not able to know what Cade was capable of. Cade''s fighting style all this time was mostly relying on his linked equipment. If he was not careless and did not learn the slime bloodline skill, he would be able to learn good skills. It already happened and there was nothing he could do. Cade did regret it a lot though. If he was careful, he would not end up in his current situation. Luckily, he could rely on his linked equipment and his luck or else, he would not stand a chance to become an explorer. "That''s right, he is an orphan so he might not have enough money to buy any skill book," thought Rico and he continued, "Should I buy him a skill book? This feeling is a bit too much¡­" As they were all charging their power, everyone who was fighting the emerald Boarman could feel them including the emerald Boarman himself. "That-" said Xing before he was hit by a skill from the emerald Boarman. He was sent flying but he easily maneuvered himself and landed safely on the ground. He looked at the direction of the mana he felt and saw a group of explorers went straight towards the main core. "I will just pray that you guys succeed," said Xing as he charged forward towards the emerald Boarman. The emerald Boarman was completely different than the other Boarman they had encountered before. He was not only strong but fast and also possessed a good defensive skill. All of that made it hard for them to defeat the emerald Boarman. Their attack hit the emerald Boarman but the defensive skill the emerald Boarman used blocked all of their attacks. Out of all of them, only three people had managed to land a hit at the emerald Boarman. First was Ben. With his awakened long tusk boar bloodline, he broke the defense of the emerald Boarman with brute strength. The second was Aera. With her air manipulation skill, she was a natural enemy to the emerald Boarman because the Boarman used air magic. The emerald Boarman wind magic had zero effects on her because she could manipulate air. However, just as Aera was able to do that, the emerald Boarman was capable of doing that too. Luckily, she was better in the manipulation and thus, the emerald Boarman wind magic was useless against her but her wind magic, on the other hand, could hit the emerald Boarman. The third was Sera. With her fire manipulation skill, she reigned supreme against the emerald Boarman because the wind was a bad match against fire. With wind, her fire became much stronger than before and she easily tore down the emerald Boarman''s defense. Due to the three of them, the emerald Boarman was focusing more on fighting them compared to the other explorers. However, even with them able to hit the emerald Boarman, they were unable to defeat him. "Aera!" screamed Sera and she shot her fire straight towards the emerald Boarman. At the same time, Sera shot her fire, the air around the emerald Boarman contorted. Aera was using her oxygen concentration skill. The emerald Boarman realized what happened but he did not try to run away. The emerald Boarman glanced towards Sera and he slightly smiled and then, the fire shot by Sera hit the concentrated oxygen and a huge explosion occurred. "BOOM!!!!" Everyone was shielding and holding themselves from being blown away by that explosion. "Amazing!" one of the explorers said as she was amazed by the prowess shown by Aera and Sera. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Everyone was happy with that skill and they all thought that even if that skill could not kill the emerald Boarman, it would highly likely to injure him. However, their smile was gone when they could feel that the emerald Boarman was fine and it was the truth when the smoke from the explosion blew away by the wind created by the emerald Boarman. Nonetheless, they saw something fast shot towards the emerald Boarman. "Arrgghh!!!" Ben was screaming and launched himself straight towards the emerald Boarman. With his arm wide open, Ben wanted to smash the emerald Boarman with his fast tackle. The emerald Boarman moved his head and looked straight towards Ben and Ben felt chill all over his body. "Nice!" said the emerald Boarman and he smiled sinisterly at Ben and Ben knew something bad would happen soon and he was right. A few inches before he strokes the emerald Boarman, his body was shredded to pieces. "!!!!" everyone was shocked and terrified. The emerald Boarman was suddenly covered in the purple aura, "Time to get serious," said the emerald Boarman and he smiled menacingly towards everyone there. "Awakened bloodline!" said Dianne shocked. 87 Chapter 87 The purple aura signifies the awakened bloodline power fuming out of the emerald Boarman''s body. Everyone was horrified by the death of Ben and at the moment, they were stunned with what they saw. "¡­ Mister Ben was eliminated easily like that and now you are telling me that he has not yet used his full power?" uttered one of the explorers with fear could be seen clearly on his face. "This guy awakened bloodline feels much stronger than Mister Ben," said another explorer. "Can we even beat this guy?!" said another explorer while his feet were moving backward. Fear, shock, hopelessness could be seen on the face of everyone facing the emerald Boarman and that included Aera, Sera, Xing, Dianne, and Muruku. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Ben was hailed as their hope in conquering the Boarman world dungeon. However, he was killed easily by the emerald Boarman. Though the battle was hard, everyone was high in spirit earlier because of Ben, Sera, and Aera but now, their spirit was at an all-time low. Ben''s death affected many people while the power emanating from the emerald Boarman inflicted extreme fear towards the others too. The emerald Boarman saw the faces of everyone there and he could not help but laugh loudly, "Hahahahaha!!," the emerald Boarman was ecstatic with what he saw. The scene in front of him was what he wanted to see. Added to that, one of his targets that he deemed worthy to be his opponent was killed by him. "He is not as strong as me but it is fun fighting him anyway," said the emerald Boarman and he snickered and then his gaze landed on Sera and Aera. "The redhead is more than what I expected and the green head surprises me a lot," said the emerald Boarman while he was charging his power and his fist was enveloped with the concentrated wind. "Why are you not trying to stop them from destroying the main core?" Suddenly, Xing asked the emerald Boarman question. He did not know what he should do but he decided to buy some time for the others to destroy the main core. The emerald Boarman glanced at Xing and said, "There is nothing for me to worry about. The main core is not that easy to be destroyed and it is much more fun fighting everyone here," and he smiled. After the emerald Boarman said that, he immediately vanished and to Xing''s surprise, he could not feel his body and when he looked down, there were not there. "I know you are trying to buy time and it is annoying," a voice whispered to his ear and he recognized that voice, the emerald Boarman''s voice. Xing''s view slowly narrowed and everything went dark a few seconds later. No one expected for Xing to die that easily too and those that were full of fear earlier immediately tried to run away while everyone that still wanted to fight to charge their power and tried to defeat the emerald Boarman with everything they got. However, the emerald Boarman was too fast and strong for them and in a second, many explorers died instantly with their whole body shredded to pieces. No one knew what skill he used but everyone could guess that it must be something similar to wind knife or slash just with higher execution speed. Aera and Sera who had the chance of hitting the emerald Boarman earlier were helpless as the emerald Boarman''s speed was too high for them to catch up. They could only helplessly watch as everyone was killed. "Please! Whoever it is that is destroying the main core, do it fast or there will be more people dying," Dianne prayed in her heart when the emerald Boarman suddenly appeared in front of her. Dianne gasped and her body was shredded to pieces instantly, "Interesting!" said the emerald Boarman as he saw Dianne''s body turned to water. However, the next second, he appeared in front of someone else and killed them. He knew Dianne survived but he was fine with that as that made things much more interesting. While the battle between the explorers and the emerald Boarman was happening, Cade, Rico, Jonathan, Shihoon and others were getting closer with the main core and they had charged more than enough of their power to strike the main core. "Ready!" shouted Shihoon. They decided to launch their attack on a single point on the main core because they were afraid that the main core would not be destroyed. "Now" Shihoon shouted again and everyone launched their attack. All kinds of attacks were released. However, to everyone''s surprise, only one of the attacks landed on the main core and the main core shattered to pieces. "What?" everyone was shocked. How in the world were the main core this fragile? That was impossible. As the main target of the world dungeon, the main core should not be easily destroyed like that. Everyone landed on the island below the main core and they looked blankly at the shattered main core. "No notification from the system and that means, that is not the main core," said Cade snapping everyone back to reality. "Then¡­ where is the main core? The map doesn''t have any indicator of the main core," said Jonathan while he was checking the system''s mapping function. Everyone did not know what to say as they had no clue as to where the location of the main core was. Everyone looked around the island to find the main core or any clue related to it but no avail. "There is only one way to find," said Rico and he looked at the direction where the emerald Boarman was fighting. "You are right. Or maybe if we can find the other Boarman, we can ''ask'' them the location of the main core," said Shihoon while he looked at the other floating island to see if he could spot any Boarman. Asking the emerald Boarman was too big of a risk and it would be much more dangerous compared to the normal Boarman. If they could get the information from a normal Boarman, why risk their lives facing the emerald Boarman? "I don''t think we can find any other Boarman. First of all, there are too many floating islands and it will take too much time to find one. Second, weirdly, our map had not once detected them since this event happened," said Rico and everyone nodded acknowledging what he said. Rico was right, they did not even find one Boarman since the world Dungeon breaking into floating islands. The only Boarman they saw was the emerald, Boarman. The other Boarman seemed to have vanished. They could not confirm if they have truly vanished because they were pressed for time. Everyone sighed as they all decided to confront the emerald Boarman and asked him the location of the main core. They knew how strong the emerald Boarman was but there was nothing else they could do. They already realized that something bad had happened there as Ben''s power disappeared and newly awakened bloodline power could be felt. They could already guess that it belonged to the emerald Boarman. Without wasting much time, they decided to head to the emerald Boarman when suddenly, they saw a figure flew directly towards them. Shihoon immediately took out a picture and summoned a giant slime. That figure hit the giant slime and they saw who it was. "Sera!!" both Rico and Cade shouted at the same time. Both of them went to the giant slime and to help her as she was in a really bad condition. Cade had a stock of many potions he prepared before entering the world dungeon and used one of them immediately to Sera. Though they were not in a good relationship, at the moment, they were comrade and they needed to work together. Sera drank the potion and her body slowly healed though not much but she regained some of her energy. She looked at Rico and Cade and then, she asked, "The main core?" "That huge pearl is not the main core. We don''t know where the main core is," said Rico with a disappointed face. "That Boarman said the right thing¡­" said Sera and everyone showed a questioning face. "There is no way we will be able to destroy the main core," said Sera and she suddenly cried. Everyone there was stunned when she cried. Sera, the tomboyish and arrogant girl who always acted strong cried like how others were crying. "That Boarman is too strong, we don''t stand a chance against him. Everyone was killed instantly by him. Aera is currently holding that Boarman but she won''t last long," said Sera with tears flowing down her face uncontrollably. "He said that it is not that easy to destroy the main core and I have a hunch of what he meant but I cannot confirm it and now that I meet all of you, what I thought earlier is right," said Sera and she continued, "The main core is indeed hard to be destroyed." While they were talking, something fell on the island and they could feel the strong power emanating from that thing, the emerald Boarman arrived. "He¡­ is the main core," said Sera while looking at the emerald Boarman. The emerald Boarman grinned. 88 Chapter 88 When everyone heard what Sera said, they were stunned and that included Cade. The grin from the emerald Boarman confirmed everything. "That means, our mission to destroy the main core is defeating the emerald Boarman or the boss of this world dungeon," thought Cade while he looked at the emerald Boarman. The purple aura emitted by him made everyone tense. They could feel the power the emerald Boarman possessed. Though it was quite similar to Ben''s awakened bloodline aura, the emerald Boarman''s aura felt much stronger. No one knew how the aura worked because Ben kept it a secret but after meeting two individuals with the same bloodline, they could easily figure out or guess something. First, a different person might have had different strengths of aura. Second, it was possible that they could strengthen their aura. If the second guess was right, that meant the emerald Boarman had awakened much earlier compared to Ben and that meant he was much more used to the power and could control it well. The emerald Boarman immediately took a fighting stance and launched himself forward so fast that he vanished. Suddenly, an explosion happened and everyone saw that Jonathan blocked the emerald Boarman with his shield. "As I thought, you are good! You are not that strong but you have good perception and good defense," the emerald Boarman complimented Jonathan. "I don''t want to get compliments by my enemy," said Jonathan with a relaxed face. He did not look that tense blocking the attack from the emerald Boarman. While they were talking, suddenly, a knife was on the emerald Boarman neck. The emerald Boarman was shocked that there was someone who was able to sneak behind him. He immediately attacked behind him with his speed but no one was there and he shuddered. Jonathan saw his chance and he swung his greatsword at the emerald Boarman. However, Jonathan was slowed and the emerald Boarman easily dodged the attack but suddenly the emerald Boarman was soon met with an ice arrow right at his face. Rico saw a chance and immediately shot that ice arrow. The emerald Boarman''s eyes were wide open and since he was off the ground, he could not evade the ice arrow. Rather than avoiding it, the emerald Boarman used his arm and block the arrow. He was fast and easily blocked the arrow. To his surprise, the arrow exploded upon touch and froze everything in the 10 meters radius. The emerald Boarman was frozen by that attack but everyone knew at that moment that he was still alive. Shihoon suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind the emerald Boarman with a knife in his hand. He immediately stabbed the emerald Boarman but to his surprise, the emerald Boarman vanished. When they looked around, the emerald Boarman appeared further away from them gasping for breath but he could not rest when a huge fireball was shot right at him. The emerald Boarman gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. He then blew the fireball with his breath. A strong wind came out of his mouth and destroyed the fireball and the wind was shot at Rico. However, a blue armor appeared in front of Rico and blocked the strong wind. Jonathan was there with his high defense to block any attack coming at him. To Jonathan, no one in the world dungeon was able to penetrate his high defense. He already had the path he wanted to follow and that was as an impenetrable tank. He fought many Boarman and he could confirm it himself that his defense was too high for them to break. Even when he saw the emerald Boarman, he knew he could block most of the attack from the emerald Boarman. After that attack from the emerald Boarman, the fight stopped for a bit. Everyone there was stunned and they did not know what had happened. The fight that happened earlier was too fast for their eyes to follow and they were clueless as to what had happened. However, they knew immediately that Rico, Jonathan, Shihoon, and Sera were on a completely different level. "I can''t see anything. They are an elite among us here," said an explorer. "This is bad. If this is how the fight will be, we will just be a burden here," said another explorer. Cade was shocked and stunned too. He, just like everyone else, could not see what had happened. They were all on a different level. Cade was hit with the real truth. He was too weak. Compared to the four of them, he was too far below them. Even Jonathan that was not focusing on speed could see and follow what had transpired. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Sera who was arrogant could also see and follow what had happened and she had the right to be arrogant based on that alone. Rico, on the other hand, was well known to be strong in their university though no one had seen him in action for real. So, it was not a surprise to see him able to follow everything. "And seriously, how in the world Shihoon can do that too?" thought Cade and he looked at Shihoon weirdly and his mind was a mess. He never thought that Shihoon was capable of something like that. Cade thought that his stalker was at the same level as him but he was really surprised to see him on a different level. His view on him slightly changed. Cade did not want to admit that his stalker was stronger than him but, he saw him himself and it would be petty of him to not acknowledge it. "You monkeys are much stronger than I thought," said the emerald Boarman suddenly and he was smiling. It was not the mocking and confident smile he showed earlier but a forced smile. The emerald Boarman was surprised that he would almost die from their attack. He could see that they were not close friends or anything but their cooperation was shocking. The most shocking of all was Rico and Shihoon. He knew about Rico since the beginning and he was eager to fight him but Shihoon was someone he had never once noticed before. "A dark horse¡­ or maybe I just did not realize about him," thought the emerald, Boarman. He was shocked by an unknown talent like Shihoon but he was also shocked by how strong Rico was. "He had been hiding his real strength all this time. I wonder if he is hiding more?" thought the emerald, Boarman. Sera was not that much of a threat to him because her strength and ability were just like he estimated. For Jonathan, he knew the defense he possessed but it was not something he could not deal with. It would just be quite a nuisance due to the high defense but Jonathan was slightly similar to the Boarman in some way. They excelled in one stat but got a jarring weakness in other stats. "All of you can retreat first, we will handle him," said Rico as he kept his eyes on the emerald Boarman so that he could not sneak behind him. Though Rico could follow the emerald Boarman''s movement, he did not have the speed to chase after the Boarman. Rico was relying on his experience in fighting and predicted the movement of the Boarman. "That''s right, all of you should go. You will just be a hindrance here," said Shihoon and he looked extremely serious. He had never shown that face before. The enemy in front of him was not someone he could be laid back. He needed to take this seriously. "I will not be able to do this much longer. I need to finish this fast. I am at my limit," thought Shihoon. Shihoon was able to move like that earlier because of all the pictures he had taken all this time. He used them smartly to be able to sneak attack the emerald, Boarman. However, the picture comes to life skill has their limit. Though he could summon powerful beings from the picture, it would only appear for a few seconds. And there were rules to the skill only the skill user knew. However, they could not publicize the rules as that was part of the skill rules. Many people said the skill was too overpowered but only the owner of the skill knew the cost and rules of using the skill. At the moment, due to using the skill too much, Shihoon was at his limit. "Miss Sera, Brother Rico, I will take the roles of protecting both of you and all you need to do was focus on attacking the emerald Boarman," said Jonathan as he moved neared Sera and Rico. "Miss Sera is injured and I don''t know how long Brother Rico can fight. He might look fine but who knows, he might be hiding his exhaustion. He used a really strong skill earlier and that will cost much of his energy. Mister Shihoon is at his limit and I can see that. We need to finish this fast," thought Jonathan. "The archer monkey is my biggest threat. I need to finish him first," thought the emerald Boarman. 89 Chapter 89 The other explorers who heard the order from Rico immediately fled from the battlefield. They also knew that they stood no chance in defeating the emerald Boarman. Rather than staying there and being a hindrance, it was better for them to retreat. They did not want to be baggage and they did not want to die too. Everyone left except Cade. \"Brother Cade! Why aren''t you going?!\" asked Jonathan. Jonathan also realized that Cade could not follow the battle happening earlier and he thought that Cade should retreat too. \"I know everyone who can fight the emerald Boarman here personally and I cannot let all of you stay here and I run away. I will fight too,\" said Cade determined. Cade knew he stood no chance fighting the emerald Boarman but he could not let his friends fight them alone. He wanted to help too. \"Don''t think that I look silly, so I am weak. I am inexperienced but I am¡­ strong too,\" said Cade. He paused for a second before he said that he was strong because he knew he was not. However, he did not want to leave them. \"Then, your life is in your own hands. No one will go and try to save your ass because we all need to cover our own first,\" said Shihoon seriously. Cade and Jonathan were surprised to hear that from Shihoon. Shihoon used to be laid back and joke around a lot and he never was that serious. That was the first time they saw him like that. Rico and Sera did not say anything. As for Sera, she wanted to fight the emerald Boarman to the end. She wanted to revenge the death of Aera and Muruku. She was an arrogant and prideful girl but she respected and loved both Aera and Muruku because they saved her life. The scene of them being killed by the emerald Boarman in front of her eyes was etched in her memory and it kept playing itself repeatedly. This made Sera more fired up to kill the emerald Boarman. As for Rico, he did not agree with Cade staying there but he decided to not say anything as he was focusing on the emerald Boarman. His heart was beating hard implying that Cade was in extreme danger and he needed to save him. After everyone unrelated fled the island, the five of them who left on the island got serious. All of them were ready to battle the emerald Boarman in front of them. The emerald Boarman used his awakened bloodline power and purple aura coming out of his body and then, he suddenly vanished but appeared 50 meters to the left of the group when an ice arrow was on his face. A look of shock appeared on his face but he already expected that something like this would happen. He had already prepared himself and cast a wind barrier skill surrounding his body to protect himself. The ice arrow shattered after it hit the wind barrier but the pieces of ice exploded and created more ice. The emerald Boarman also expected something like that would happen and he had already retreated a few steps back from the arrow. However, he could not rest when suddenly, his wind barrier fused seamlessly with a fire. That fire belonged to Sera. Sera used this method many times earlier to break the emerald Boarman''s barrier. Due to the barrier made of wind, it was easy for Sera to turn that to her weapon. The emerald Boarman however, did not have any counter to that. All he could do was leave the barrier before he was consumed by the fire. He was strong and fast but his defense was not that high. He knew how strong the fire was and staying in the barrier meant suicide. After he got out of his barrier, he bumped into something. The emerald Boarman was surprised to see that he was blocked by a huge blue shield on his back and then, a cardboard shield on his left. \"What!? How can these two moved this fast?\" the emerald Boarman was surprised. From his experience fighting them earlier, Jonathan was slow and Cade could not even follow his movement but now, both of them were fast. While he was focusing on Jonathan and Cade, he realized that Shihoon had not yet attacked him and was more alert as Shihoon was an assassin. However, rather than Shihoon, a huge fire shot straight at him. The emerald Boarman was again shocked by what happened. He tried to run away but suddenly, he realized that his leg was glued to the ground. He immediately looked at his leg and his legs were buried in the ground. \"What the!? When did this happen!?\" He panicked and immediately let out a strong wind. The wind blew away Cade while Jonathan was pushed back a few meters, however, the wind was immediately consumed by Sera''s fire. \"Damn it!!!\" the emerald Boarman roared. Up until now, his advantage against his opponent was his speed but now, his speed was halted by several slow monkeys. Not only that, his wind was useless against Sera''s fire. The fire covered his whole body and then, a few ice arrows came from the sky and hit the ground surrounding the fire and exploded, creating a huge barrier of ice blocking the emerald Boarman from running away. The emerald Boarman was burned by the fire. He could not use his wind as that would make the fire stronger and he could not run away too due to the ice barrier. The emerald Boarman roared in pain and desperation, the emerald Boarman''s body shone. At the same time this happened, Shihoon approached Cade as Cade was blown away by the wind. \"Are you okay?\" asked Shihoon while extending his hand at Cade. Cade took his hand and stood up. \"I am fine but, you really can do anything as long as you have a picture with you,\" said Cade. Cade and Jonathan succeed in blocking the emerald Boarman because of Shihoon. Shihoon summoned a monster that could teleport and teleport both Cade and Jonathan behind the emerald Boarman. After that, he summoned another monster with ground power and buried the emerald Boarman''s legs in the ground to stop his movement. \"I am at my limit now. I can summon two or maybe three if I push myself and then, I am done. We need to finish this fast or else, we won''t stand a chance. There are not many people left that we know can fight this Boarman,\" said Shihoon. He continued, \"It will be nice if there are a few strong explorers still alive somewhere in this world dungeon. If not, we are the only one left. If we lose here, Planet Dineon will disappear too,\" said Shihoon. Cade stayed silent as he did not know what to say because Shihoon was right. They were the last line of defense for humans in this world dungeon and if they lose, everyone died. However, even if Cade knew it, he was powerless. He truly was useless in this battle. He had done nothing he could be proud of. While they were chatting, the ground suddenly shook and the floating island they were on suddenly broke apart. Due to that, the ice barrier blocking the emerald Boarman was broken and soon, a light shone inside the fire that was burning the emerald Boarman. Cade and Shihoon were separated from each other due to the broken ground. The same went to Jonathan, Rico, and Sera. All five of them were separated by the broken ground. Some of the broken ground suddenly flew towards the light in the scorching fire and due to that, the fire was extinguished shocking everyone. Once the fire disappeared, the broken ground flew away and revealed the shining emerald Boarman. His body was covered in burns and was heavily injured by the fire. \"I am the main core. This world dungeon is my world. No one can defeat me in my world!!\" shouted the emerald Boarman. He moved his hand and then, a floating island nearby started moving. The moving floating island slowly gained speed and it went straight towards Sera. Sera was shocked by what was currently happening but she immediately jumped from the ground she was on to evade the huge floating island coming towards her. However, to her surprise, when she was going to land on another broken ground, the ground evaded her. \"What!?\" without any footing to land on, Sera fell but soon, the floating island was in front of her. With nothing else she could do to run away, Sera created a huge fire and slammed that fire on the floating island, hoping to smash it to pieces. However, she failed to do that and was slammed by the floating island. The floating island pushed her away from the battlefield and then, without her realizing it, another floating island was coming at her. Sera had no way of protecting herself and both floating islands crashed with each other with Sera in the middle of them. Cade, Jonathan, Rico, and Shihoon were terrified with what had transpired.