13: Chapter 13: Level Soars, Breaking Through Level 9

The moment the Rift Queen Ant crawled completely out of the fissure, the acrid, rotting stench in the air felt thick enough to solidify.

Its crimson carapace reflected a wet sheen under the dim light; the ends of its six legs were as sharp as spears, and its mandibles were half a meter long, with dripping mucus corroding the ground into wisps of white smoke.

Lin Yan didn't waste any words; the Heartsteel mark fell silently.

Three seconds later, a pale red light point lit up at the seam of the Rift Queen Ant's dorsal carapace.

The Rift Queen Ant attacked first, its abdomen contracting sharply as a stream of emerald green acid, as thick as a fist, shot straight at Lin Yan's chest.

The acid slammed solidly into his iron bone breastplate, causing the metal surface to immediately emit a fine hissing sound, and a burning sensation seeped through the breastplate to his skin.

His health bar dropped a chunk, losing over a hundred points.

It was alright; his total health was now over twenty-two thousand.

Although his current health was just over two thousand, this hit was less than one percent, so he could take it.

Su Wan's healing spell lit up in the rear, and a gentle white light fell upon Lin Yan, causing the wounds just corroded by the acid to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Steel!"

Lin Yan stepped forward, his right fist carrying the true damage of Heartsteel, smashing heavily into that pale red light point.

The Rift Queen Ant let out a sharp hiss, a crack appearing at the seam of its carapace as crimson body fluid gushed out.

In pain, it retaliated, its mandibles snapping toward Lin Yan's waist, only to be blocked and parried by his left arm.

The thirty-second cooldown finished, and the second Heartsteel strike was ready.

"Steel!"

His fist smashed into the same crack, and the true damage pierced through the carapace.

The Rift Queen Ant's hissing came to an abrupt halt, and its massive body collapsed to the ground with a boom.

[Ding! Successfully killed the Level 5 Elite Rift Queen Ant, gained Experience: 250 points!]

[Level Up: 3 → 4!]

[Level Up: 4 → 5!]

[Level Up: 8 → 9!]

[Attribute Points + 4]

[Attribute Points + 5]

[Attribute Points + 9]

A series of level-up notification sounds exploded densely in his mind, and waves of warmth swept through his entire body, one after another.

From entering the ant nest to clear out the Rift Ants, to crushing countless soldier ants and worker ants, and finally killing the Rift Queen Ant with two punches, the experience points gained had pushed him directly from Level 3 to Level 9.

Lin Yan stood in place and summoned his attribute panel.

[Current Level: 9]

[Current Attributes: Constitution 9, Strength 1, Agility 1, Spirit 1, Luck 1]

[Current Health: 2567 / 23632]

[Current Mana: 100]

[Physical Attack: 20]

[Magic Attack: 10]

[Physical Defense: 55]

[Magic Defense: 40]

[Speed: 10]

[Talent: F-Rank Weak Constitution]

[Skills: None]

[Equipment: iron bone breastplate (Level 1), standard issue dagger, Standard Set (excluding breastplate)]

[Current Experience: 50 / 1000]

[Free Attribute Points: 39]

[Items: intermediate health potion × 9, Intermediate Mana Potion × 2, Some Food, low-rank dimensional crystal: 240, Rift Wolf Skin Fragment × 12, Green Skill Book: Rend, iron scale legguards (Level 5, Unworn), Broken Officer's Nameplate × 1 (Used)]

[Hextech: Heartsteel (22532 stacks), Heavy Hitter]

23,632 Health, 22,532 stacks of Heartsteel, 39 free attribute points.

Lin Yan looked at the numbers on the panel, an indescribable sense of security welling up in his heart.

From the 300 health points when he entered the Dungeon, to breaking through 23,000 points now; from 0 stacks of Heartsteel to over twenty-two thousand stacks; from Level 0 to Level 9, all of this had taken less than three days.

He didn't plan to add the 39 free attribute points for now. With his current stats, he was already enough to crush any monster in a one-star Dungeon, so there was no need to rush the allocation.

It wouldn't be too late to decide on the allocation direction after leaving the Dungeon, based on the Hextech situation of the next Dungeon and the attribute requirements of any obtained skills.

After the Rift Queen Ant died, the remaining Rift Ants were quickly wiped out.

Lin Yan didn't take action against the remaining Rift Ants; he just held the line for them, letting them have a taste of the spoils.

At the bottom of the fissure where the Rift Queen Ant had crawled out, Lin Yan discovered a pale gold rune stone—a high-rank resource point, embedded openly in the very center of the nest.

[Resource Point Discovered: Rift Queen Ant Hatchery]

[Grade: Elite]

A metal chest rose from beside the rune stone, and Lin Yan lifted the lid.

[Obtained Equipment: ant bone bracers (Level 5)]

[Quality: Green Excellent]

[Effect: Max Health + 600, Physical Defense + 30, Magic Defense + 30, Attack Speed + 10%]

[Wear Condition: Level ≥ 5]

[Obtained Item: low-rank dimensional crystal × 80]

[Obtained Item: Rift Queen Ant Acid Gland × 1]

[Obtained Item: Rift Ant Egg × 5]

Lin Yan took the items out one by one.

The acid gland was still pulsating slightly, covered by a layer of translucent membrane.

The ant eggs were only the size of a fingernail, milky white all over.

"This gland is a rare material." Chen Qi pushed up his glasses and leaned in to take a closer look.

"I've seen something similar in my school equipment class. Acid glands can be used to make corrosive weapons; quenching a blade with it can corrode monster carapaces. The market resale price is at least 200 Star Coins. The ant eggs can be cultivated into juvenile contract beasts, worth 100 Star Coins each."

Lin Yan stored the bracers, acid gland, and ant eggs into his backpack.

The ant bone bracers and the previously obtained iron scale legguards were both Level 5 equipment; now that he had reached Level 9, he could wear both.

He put on the equipment.

The dark green scale-like patterns formed a sharp contrast with the bone-white of the bracers.

With both green pieces of equipment activated simultaneously, a gentle yet tenacious power surged into his limbs and bones.

He could clearly feel the numbers on the attribute panel jumping; his health had risen by another chunk, his physical defense had broken into three digits, and his movement speed had also increased a notch.

Coupled with the over twenty thousand health stacked from Heartsteel and the percentage-based additional damage from Heavy Hitter, he was now a bona fide humanoid monster in this Dungeon.

[Health: 25132]

[Physical Defense: 130]

[Magic Defense: 70]

[Speed: 11.5]

Regarding the remaining low-rank dimensional crystals and common materials, he looked at Zheng Tong: "How should we split these things?"

Zheng Tong hurriedly waved his hand: "Don't ask me. The credit is all yours; you killed the Rift Queen Ant by yourself. We only brought you to the nest and cleared a few small monsters on the periphery. You decide how to split it."

Lin Yan did not decline.

He took 400 of the nearly 800 low-rank dimensional crystals, divided them into 4 portions, about 100 each, and let them take what they needed from the common materials.