18: Chapter 18 Before the Evacuation

Lin Yan took off the iron bone breastplate he had been wearing. The moment it left his body, it automatically shrank into a fist-sized white sphere of light, hovering in his palm.

Inside the sphere of light, one could vaguely see the outline of the breastplate, layered with mottled bite and claw marks. The left shoulder strap still bore rust spots corroded by the acid of the elite Queen Ant, and on the right rib area was a scratch torn by the elite Wolf Leader, extending from the front of the breastplate all the way to the side.

All the traces of battle were perfectly preserved within the sphere of light, like a crystal in which time had frozen.

He handed the sphere of light to He Ming.

He Ming was stunned for two seconds, still holding that round shield, and didn't react for a moment: "For... for me?"

"Yeah. My defense is enough now, I don't need this anymore. You're using a shield, but your HP isn't high enough to tank damage. This piece adds HP and physical defense, which perfectly covers your shortcomings."

He Ming took the sphere of light, his Adam's apple bobbing.

He knew the significance of this breastplate to Lin Yan; it was the first proper piece of equipment Lin Yan had obtained after entering the Dungeon, personally opened from a common resource point.

It had been with him for three days, tanking countless attacks.

"Big Boss, this—"

"Put it on." Lin Yan didn't give him a chance to refuse.

He Ming didn't say anything else. He took off his standard-issue breastplate, and the moment his fingers touched the surface of the sphere of light, it automatically expanded, and the iron bone breastplate reformed and automatically equipped itself.

The breastplate was much heavier than his original standard-issue one, but it fit very well. He fastened the shoulder straps, gripped the round shield, looked up at Lin Yan, and nodded vigorously.

Zheng Tong patted He Ming on the shoulder from the side: "Now you're also someone who has worn the Big Boss's 'original' equipment. Remember to treat us to a meal after we get out."

"You pay." He Ming said without looking back.

"Why should I pay? You took the Big Boss's equipment, shouldn't you be the one to treat?"

"You took the crystals the Big Boss distributed."

"That's not the same."

Chen Qi pushed up his glasses, not participating in their bickering.

Su Wan was walking at the very back of the team, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up.

The group proceeded in a north-northwesterly direction along the route Chen Qi had scouted. The three golden pillars of light still stood quietly on the horizon, shining a bit brighter than they had in the early morning.

"One hundred and fifty meters straight ahead, a common resource point." Chen Qi suddenly raised a hand. "The energy fluctuation is very weak, it shouldn't have been opened by anyone. The rune stone is embedded in the ruins of a half-collapsed tower, with no monsters around."

"You guys open it." Lin Yan said. "Split the items from the common resource point among yourselves; I'm going to look around."

Zheng Tong agreed, and led He Ming toward the tower ruins. A few minutes later, He Ming's shout came from the direction of the tower: "Three more intermediate health potions! And a white bracer! Our luck is pretty good today!"

Lin Yan walked forward along the edge of the ruins, but he didn't have the sensory abilities like Chen Qi, so he could only rely on his naked eye and experience to judge the surrounding environment.

Chen Qi jogged to catch up, raising his hand to push his glasses. He pointed to the right front: "Boss, I also discovered something at the nine o'clock direction, about 800 meters away. There is an energy reaction much larger than that of a normal monster, right on that collapsed concrete platform. It's a Level 5 elite, with energy fluctuations leaning toward earth-attribute, and it's quite large."

"I'll go handle it. Follow me once you finish opening the resource point."

Lin Yan walked toward the direction Chen Qi pointed, passing through two broken concrete pillars, and a platform covered in rubble appeared in the ruins ahead.

In the center of the platform crouched a monster with a size close to an adult rhinoceros. Its back was covered in a dark gray stone carapace, the surface of which was covered in turtle-like cracks, with a faint earthy-yellow light flowing through the cracks.

Its limbs were thick, short, and powerful, with claws embedded into the concrete leaving deep scratch marks. The end of its tail was a bone tumor-like structure, somewhat similar to the Burrowers he had fought before, but smaller in size and with weaker energy fluctuations.

[Monster: Stone-Armored Lizard · Elite]

[Level: 5]

[HP: 5500]

[Physical Attack: 120]

[Physical Defense: 200]

[Magic Defense: 100]

[Type: Elite Mob, possesses passive skill "Hardened Skin" — fixed reduction of 60 points when taking physical damage.]

Lin Yan didn't pause and walked straight over. The Stone-Armored Lizard sensed the threat, let out a low hiss from its throat, dug its limbs into the ground, and charged fiercely toward Lin Yan.

The Heartsteel mark fell silently, and three seconds later, a point of light lit up at the junction of the carapace on the Stone-Armored Lizard's front left leg.

Lin Yan dodged the charge by sidestepping, and his right fist, carrying the critical damage and the additional damage from Heavy Hitter, smashed fiercely into that point of light.

With a dull cracking sound, a fist-sized crack was smashed into the junction of the Stone-Armored Lizard's carapace, its entire body was knocked over sideways, crashing into the broken concrete wall behind it, sending rubble flying.

The Stone-Armored Lizard struggled to turn over, its tail sweeping horizontally, the bone tumor smashing into Lin Yan's calf. Lin Yan didn't dodge or evade, taking the hit head-on, his HP bar barely changing.

The Heartsteel cooldown hadn't finished yet, but he didn't need Heartsteel now to deal considerable damage. 5% of nearly 30,000 HP was nearly 1,000 extra physical damage; even without a critical point, a single punch could deal significant damage.

But he still waited for the Heartsteel cooldown to finish, then threw the second punch. The Stone-Armored Lizard's hissing stopped abruptly, and its massive body collapsed to the ground with a thud.

[Ding! Successfully killed Level 5 Elite Stone-Armored Lizard, gained EXP: 250!]

[Level up: Level 9 → Level 10!]

Lin Yan bent down to check the loot: 50 low-rank dimensional crystals, 3 Stone-Armored Lizard carapace fragments, and a skill book glowing with a pale green luster.

[Obtained passive skill book: Hardened Skin]

[Quality: Green Excellent]

[Skill Effect: When taking physical damage, fixed reduction of damage equal to 20% of your own physical defense.]

[Learning Requirements: Level > 5, Constitution ≥ 8]

Fixed reduction—this was a term he had heard instructors mention in class. Fixed reduction is a fixed value subtracted at the very end, after all damage calculations are completed and before HP is deducted.

In other words, no matter how high the opponent's attack power or how much armor penetration they have, as long as it's not true damage, this fixed value will be subtracted after all formulas are applied. He currently has 160 points of physical defense, so 20% is 32 points. If a monster's attack damage against him is lower than 32, subtracting 32 will bring it directly to zero, failing to break his defense. Facing elite monsters, this fixed reduction can also tangibly reduce damage taken.

He is currently Level 9 with 9 points in Constitution, so he meets the learning requirements. Lin Yan touched the skill book directly, and the green light merged into his body. A steady and heavy feeling permeated through his blood vessels to the surface of his skin. He could clearly feel as if an invisible horny layer had formed under his skin, similar to the texture of the cracked carapace on the back of the Stone-Armored Lizard, but thinner and more fitted to his body.

[Skill Slot: Hardened Skin (Reduction 32 points)]

"Big Boss!" He Ming's voice came from behind. The group jogged to catch up to him, and when they ran to the side of the Stone-Armored Lizard's corpse, their footsteps suddenly halted. "You killed another elite monster so fast? We only opened one resource point—what did it drop?"

"A passive skill book, Hardened Skin. I've already learned it." Lin Yan put the carapace fragments into his storage space.

"The fixed reduction one?"

"What are the effects?" Zheng Tong asked.

"When taking physical damage, it subtracts 20% of my physical defense at the end. I have 160 defense right now, so it's a fixed reduction of 32 points."

"Great skill, it goes well with your high HP and high defense. The reduction value is tied to your physical defense, so the higher your defense becomes in the future, the more it will reduce."

He Ming calculated his own physical defense and silently tightened the shoulder straps of his iron bone breastplate even more.

In the next two-plus hours, Chen Qi scouted out two more common resource points and the location of one elite monster. Every time they encountered a common resource point, Lin Yan let his teammates open it, while he followed Chen Qi's guidance to find the elite monsters. The second elite monster was a snake-like monster nearly four meters long, its bright red scales particularly eye-catching among the ruins.

[Monster: Fire-Pattern Python · Elite]

[Level: 6]

[HP: 6800]

[Physical Attack: 120]

[Magic Attack: 200]

[Physical Defense: 130]

[Magic Defense: 200]

[Type: Elite Mob, possesses skill "Flame Breath" — deals 300 magic damage in a cone-shaped area in front.]

When Lin Yan found it, the Fire-Pattern Python was coiled on a broken concrete pillar. The surroundings were covered in charred marks; it seemed some Awakened had already encountered it.

The moment it saw Lin Yan, the Fire-Pattern Python suddenly raised its upper body, a ball of crimson fire lit up deep in its throat, and a stream of scorching flames gushed out, enveloping Lin Yan completely.

The burning sensation of the flames penetrated the bone tumor breastplate and seeped into his skin, his HP bar sliding down by over two hundred points. Acceptable; he forced his way through the flames and charged to the front of the Fire-Pattern Python. The Heartsteel mark was applied, and three seconds later, a pale red point of light lit up at the seven-inch mark on the snake's neck.

He threw the first punch, and the Fire-Pattern Python's entire front half was knocked violently askew, its hissing sharp and ear-piercing. It retaliated with a tail whip, the thick snake tail striking Lin Yan's waist. The impact made him step back half a step, but the damage was only a few points, as the fixed reduction from Hardened Skin had blocked quite a bit.

The Heartsteel cooldown finished, and he smashed the second punch directly into the same spot. The Fire-Pattern Python's body stiffened for a moment, then collapsed to the ground, pressing onto the pile of rubble and moving no more.

[Ding! Successfully killed Level 6 Elite Fire-Pattern Python, gained EXP: 300!]

The Fire-Pattern Python's loot was a bit richer than the Stone-Armored Lizard's: 60 low-rank dimensional crystals, 3 Fire-Pattern Python scales, and a green sphere of light.

Lin Yan reached out to touch it, the sphere of light expanded, and it was a pair of boots. The surface of the boots was covered with a layer of fine, dark red scale patterns, exactly the same as the scales of the Fire-Pattern Python. The soles were at least twice as light as standard-issue boots, and the whole thing was surprisingly light.

[Obtained equipment: Fire Scale Boots · Level 5]

[Quality: Green Excellent]

[Effect: Max HP +500, Physical Defense +40, Magic Defense +50, Movement Speed +25%]

[Wear Requirements: Level ≥ 5]

Lin Yan took off his standard-issue boots; the boots shrank into a white sphere of light, which he casually tucked into his carapace belt. He picked up the green sphere of light for the Fire Scale Boots, and the moment it touched his ankles, it automatically expanded and fit perfectly.

A light and warm power surged in from the soles of his feet. Stepping on the rubble beneath his feet felt like stepping on a cushion, his pace was noticeably much lighter, and the data on his panel jumped accordingly.

[Current Level: 10]

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

[Current HP: 30535 / 30535]

[Current Mana: 100 / 100]

[Physical Attack: 20]

[Magic Attack: 10]

[Physical Defense: 200]

[Magic Defense: 160]

[Speed: 14]

[Talent: F-Rank Weak Constitution]

[Skill: Hardened Skin (Fixed reduction of 40 points of physical damage)]

[Equipment: standard issue dagger, standard issue set (excluding breastplate), iron scale legguards · Level 5, ant bone bracers · Level 5, bone tumor breastplate · Level 5, Fire Scale Boots · Level 5]

[Current EXP: 300 / 5000]

[Free Attribute Points: 52]

[Items: intermediate health potion ×9, intermediate mana potion ×2, some food, low-rank dimensional crystal: 1130, Queen Ant acid gland ×1, Rift Ant egg ×5, Stone-Armored Lizard carapace fragments ×3, Fire-Pattern Python scales ×3, Burrower carapace fragments ×5, Burrower giant jaw ×1, Burrower bone tumor fragments ×5, BOSS-level material Rift Core fragment ×1, some common monster materials, green skill book · Rend, burrowers grasp · Level 5, broken officer nameplate ×1 (used)]

[Hex: Heartsteel (26735 stacks), Heavy Hitter]

30,000 HP, magic defense also boosted to 160, movement speed significantly increased, plus an additional passive skill for fixed damage reduction. Now, in this Dungeon, he was truly a human fortress in every sense of the word.

When the last resource point was opened, the sky had already begun to darken, and the three golden pillars of light looked particularly striking against the darkening gray-yellow sky.

Lin Yan stood on the remains of a broken overpass and closed the panel.

"Let's go, to the Evacuation Point."