20: Chapter 20 Return

As the golden light of the teleportation faded away, Lin Yan's feet once again touched the stone slabs of the Awakening Plaza.

Beneath his feet were the familiar white stone slabs, and above him was the off-white alloy dome of the Seventh Safe Zone.

The three days of slaughter in the Dungeon seemed to have been extracted from his body by that golden light, leaving behind only a lingering fatigue deep in his muscles to remind him that all of it had been real.

Lin Yan subconsciously clenched his fist and looked down; sure enough, it had shrunk.

It wasn't an illusion; the change was visible to the naked eye. In the Dungeon, he had grown to two point three meters, his fingers as thick as steel bars, his knuckles protruding when he made a fist, and his veins standing out like ropes.

Now, however, his hands had returned to the size they were before entering the Dungeon—clearly defined but not exaggerated, and the veins beneath his skin were no longer bulging and distended like before.

He looked down at his body; his shoulders were still there, but that oppressive feeling of straining against his clothes had vanished.

The four pieces of green gear—the iron scale legguards, ant bone bracers, bone tumor breastplate, and fire scale boots—were still on him, clinging to his body's contours without loosening despite his reduced size; the equipment automatically adapted to the wearer's physique.

He touched his arms; the muscle definition was still there, even more rugged than before entering the Dungeon, but he was no longer the massive figure that made people look up in awe.

He opened his attribute panel.

Then, his pupils contracted sharply.

[Current Level: 10]

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

[Current Health Points: 30535 / 30535]

[Physical Defense: 200]

[Magic Defense: 160]

His Health Points had actually been fully retained!

Over thirty thousand Health Points, and the over twenty-six thousand stacks of Health Points from Heartsteel—not a single digit was missing.

These attributes had completely integrated into his body, becoming a part of himself, and the hextech system would not take them away.

Lin Yan felt ecstatic, and the corners of his mouth curled up, unable to be suppressed.

So that was it; when evacuating the Dungeon, the hextech system would remove the temporary effects brought by the hextech itself.

His previous increase in size was due to the special effect of Heartsteel, which was cleared after leaving the Dungeon.

But the base attribute stacking generated by Heartsteel during those countless "Steel" sounds was added directly to his Health Points; these were permanent numerical increases.

The hextech was a tool, and the results forged by that tool belonged to him.

As for those purely effect-based ones like lifesteal, shields, and cooldown reduction, they were only useful inside the Dungeon and were cleared upon exiting.

"In the future, when choosing hextech, I must prioritize those that can stack base attributes," he silently noted this principle in his heart.

Suddenly, a wave of regret hit him; if only he had known, he would have "Steeled" a few more times in the Dungeon, though he didn't know if he would be able to choose it again in the future.

Lin Yan shook his head; forget it, no use thinking about it, there would be plenty of opportunities in the future.

People on the plaza were returning one after another.

Lin Yan looked around; some simple medical tents had been set up.

A boy crouching on the steps was covering his face and crying, while his companion patted his back without saying a word.

Another girl was leaning against a pillar, her uniform sleeve torn off halfway, her arm wrapped in several layers of bandages; she had no expression on her face, just staring straight ahead at the ground as if looking at something others couldn't see.

The air was filled with the mixed scent of blood, sweat, and medical liquid; everyone bore the marks left behind by the Dungeon.

Another golden light of teleportation burst in the corner of the plaza, and three people walked out; their standard-issue uniforms were torn in several places, but their spirits were significantly better than the people slumped on the ground around them.

The leading youth was tall and thin with a cold expression, a short blade still dripping with blood hanging from his waist, and the auras of his two companions behind him were equally composed.

Lin Yan knew clearly that they, like him, were people who had scavenged resources in the Dungeon until the very last moment before evacuating.

Those who could survive until the very last moment would not be lacking in strength.

The youth also happened to look over. Their gazes collided in mid-air, and they nodded at each other.

Lin Yan took a step and walked toward the verification desk.

Just a few steps in, someone nearby recognized him.

A boy with a face full of exhaustion tugged at his companion's arm, his voice neither loud nor soft, but clear enough for those around to hear: "Isn't that Lin Yan?"

"Which Lin Yan?"

"The one with the F-Rank Weak Constitution! The one the whole school laughed at during the Awakening!"

"He actually came back alive? He must have clung to someone powerful. Anyway, as long as you find the Evacuation Point in the Dungeon, you can come back; who doesn't know how to hide for three days?"

"Can you get such good gear just by hiding for three days?" a girl nearby retorted, her gaze sweeping over the bone tumor breastplate and ant bone bracers on Lin Yan. "Look at the gear he's wearing; the quality is definitely not low. And he doesn't have any injuries; he didn't hide his way through—he fought his way through."

The boy who had made the snide remark opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.

Lin Yan glanced at him—just one glance.

The boy subconsciously took half a step back, not because he was scared by the look, but because he was pressured by the aura of that full set of equipment.

A person who had worn a full set of green gear in the Dungeon and had just killed their way out of a sea of blood carried an indescribable sense of oppression.

That wasn't something a Talent rank could give; it was built up by piles of monster corpses.

Lin Yan withdrew his gaze without pausing his steps. He wouldn't keep a low profile; keeping a low profile had no benefits. The Federation wanted people who could fight, and the school wanted people who could produce results.

If he wanted to get more resources, better equipment, and access permissions for higher-level Dungeons, he had to let them see clearly how much he was worth investing in. Those who keep a low profile eat grass; those who draw their swords eat meat.

There was a short line in front of the verification desk, where the Awakened stepped up one by one to place their palms on the stone desk. The system automatically read the Dungeon clearance data, synchronized it to the Federation central database, and simultaneously displayed the rating grade above the desk.

The colors that lit up on the stone desk were mostly white for D-rank, occasionally flashing with a light yellow for C-rank. Those who got C-rank breathed a sigh of relief; those who got D-rank looked ugly, but at least they had returned alive. Occasionally, when a B-rank appeared, the gazes of those queuing nearby would linger for a few extra seconds.

It was Lin Yan's turn.

The person in front hadn't gone far; when they looked back and saw it was him, their pace slowed down unconsciously. Lin Yan stepped forward and placed his palm on the rune markings of the verification desk. A cold sensation seeped in from his palm, very similar to the feeling of touching the Awakening Stone three days ago.

The stone desk vibrated slightly, and the rune markings changed from light blue to deep blue, then from deep blue to a glaring red. A brilliant red beam of light shot up from the stone desk, and two concise yet glaring characters appeared in the center of the beam of light—

[Rating: S+]

The beam of light slowly dissipated, and the information bracelet on Lin Yan's wrist vibrated gently. He raised his wrist and tapped the clasp, and a floating light screen expanded. The Federation system's confirmation message had already been pushed: Rating Grade S+, Dungeon data successfully synchronized and uploaded to the Federation central database, signed by the Federation Awakened Management Bureau, Seventh Safe Zone Branch.

The air in the plaza seemed to be sucked dry for a full three seconds.

"S? He's an S?" A student who had just received a B-rank rating had their voice change. "But he has an F-rank Talent! Did he break the rating system?"

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" another youth queuing in line was almost screaming. "I just came out of the Dungeon alive; do you know how hard it is to kill a Rift Wolf? Do you know how terrifying elite monsters are? I risked my life to get a B-rank; how could an F-rank like him get an S?"

"He's Level 10," someone nearby said coldly. "What level are you?"

The youth froze for a moment, looked down at the level display on his own panel, his lips moved twice, but he couldn't say anything.

"So what if he's Level 10? Maybe he just got lucky and picked up some hidden resources, that's why his level rose so fast!" someone else interjected, unconvinced.

"Can hidden resources give you an S rating? Go check the criteria for an S rating yourself; kill count, damage dealt, resource point exploration, BOSS kills, etc., are hard conditions—don't even think about it if you're missing one. Show me how your 'good luck' gets you one?"

Those who had previously said Lin Yan was "clinging to powerful people" or "hiding in a corner" were now more silent than ever. Some quietly shrank half a step back into the crowd, others lowered their heads, pretending to look at the information on their bracelets; no one dared to look in Lin Yan's direction again.

Lin Yan didn't turn back to look at anyone's expression. After confirming from the teacher at the verification desk that the rating upload was complete, he turned and walked out of the plaza.