27: Chapter 27 Two-Star Dungeon: Zombie Frenzy

On the evening of the seventh day, the assembly bell rang out for the final time in the apartment complex.

Instructor Meng Yuan stood at the very front of the line. "Seven days of training. How much you've absorbed depends on yourselves. Now, it is time for the test."

His gaze swept across everyone.

"The higher the Dungeon star rating, the higher the potential, and the difficulty doubles, but the score will also be higher. Choose which one, decide for yourselves."

The line was quiet for a few seconds as everyone made their own calculations. 1-Star was safe; you could return alive without losing your rating. 2-Star had a higher potential, but the difficulty was higher, and it was more dangerous.

Qin Chuan whispered to Shen Xin next to him, asking what she was choosing, and Shen Xin said 2-Star. Qin Chuan then asked Lin Yan, and Lin Yan gave the same answer.

Qin Chuan was silent for a moment, took a deep breath, and chose 2-Star.

It wasn't just the three of them; over at First Awakening Middle School, Jiang Ruoxue chose 2-Star, and most people chose 2-Star as well.

Instructor Meng Yuan didn't have much of a reaction to the result of everyone choosing 2-Star; this kind of result was within his expectations.

"The rules and clearance conditions for every Dungeon are different. The first thing to do after landing is to read the system prompts clearly. Don't die at the starting line."

After selecting the Dungeon difficulty on the system panel, a white light of teleportation descended from the ceiling, shrouding everyone one after another.

Lin Yan closed his eyes. The dizziness of teleportation lasted less than a second.

When he opened his eyes, the ground beneath his feet was no longer the shock-absorbing mat of the Training Center. Cracked asphalt stretched out in all directions from his feet. Dark red liquid seeped from every crack, mostly dried up, yet it still emitted a rusty, fishy stench. A blood-red setting sun hung on the horizon, dyeing the ruins of the entire city a dark red.

On both sides of the street were abandoned shops, glass display windows shattered all over the ground, and dark brown handprints hung on the rolling metal doors. In the distance, several wrecked cars lay across the intersection, their doors wide open, with stains of unrecognizable original color remaining on the seats.

Looking further into the distance, several figures were moving slowly, with stiff gaits and lowered heads, as if they were looking for something on the ground.

Then he heard the sound—hoarse, low roars surging out simultaneously from the end of the street, the depths of the shops, and the entrance to the underground parking lot. They mixed and overlapped, like an old radio playing dozens of different channels of noise at the same time.

[Welcome to the 2-Star Random Dungeon — Zombie Tide.]

[Dungeon Type: Survival and Clearance]

[Dungeon Rules: Dungeon duration is 96 hours. Once the cumulative kill count of zombies reaches 500, the Evacuation Point will automatically activate. The Evacuation Point only allows use by the person who activated it.]

[Additional Tip: Those who do not meet the clearance conditions after the 96 hours conclude will be judged as having failed the Dungeon.]

2-Star Dungeon. He went over the system prompts in his mind. The rules were very clear, with no gray areas.

The numerical advantage of ordinary zombies, the special skills of mutated zombies, and the high attributes of lord zombies—the three types of threats progressed layer by layer. Time was not exactly generous, but compared to the three-day random exploration of the novice Dungeon, this time at least there was a clear goal.

In his mind, a second cold, mechanical voice that only he could hear rang out.

[Detected host entering a new Dungeon, hextech system selection has been triggered.]

[Current hextech system quality: Silver Tier!]

Three light screens glowing with silver light appeared out of thin air before his eyes.

[No. 1 hextech system: Physical to Magic — Converts physical attack power into spell attack power and gains a 15% spell attack power bonus.]

[No. 2 hextech system: Dexterity — Increases agility by 60%.]

[No. 3 hextech system: Attributes! — Obtain two Attribute Forgers. Each Attribute Forger will randomly draw three attributes, and the host can choose one to keep from each.]

Lin Yan's gaze stopped on the third option.

Attribute Forger. Previously, the description for Heartsteel stated "permanently increases maximum health limit," so the health bar stacked up was carried away.

An Attribute Forger can forge three types of attributes: Silver Tier, Gold Tier, and Prismatic Tier. Just like the hextech system talent selection, the higher the level, the more exaggerated the attributes obtained. It's considered a gambler's hextech system. Regardless of the tier, as long as the forged attributes can be retained, it wouldn't be a loss.

But he couldn't be 100% sure. In all likelihood, the attributes drawn by the Attribute Forger wouldn't be wiped. Just like the health stacked up by Heartsteel, the hextech system itself is a tool. The tool is recovered after the Dungeon ends, but the results forged by the tool belong to him.

Taking a step back, even if he guessed wrong and the attributes added by the two Attribute Forgers only took effect in this Dungeon, it still wouldn't matter.

His current panel was more than enough to handle 500 zombies, but if he guessed right, these few attribute points could really be taken out of the Dungeon.

Then his understanding of the underlying rules of the hextech system would be completely confirmed: all choices that can stack base attributes will always have the highest priority.

This information itself was more valuable than the rating of any single Dungeon.

He didn't hesitate anymore. "The third one."

[Successfully selected Silver Tier hextech system: Attributes!]

[Generating Attribute Forgers...]

Three light screens glowing with silver light floated before his eyes.

[Attribute Forger (Silver Quality): Please choose one from the following three attributes.]

[Constitution Fragment: +1 Constitution]

[Spirit Fragment: +1 Spirit]

[Luck Fragment: +1 Luck]

Constitution directly adds health and dual defenses, perfectly aligning with his route. Spirit adds spell attack power and mana. His mana hasn't moved from start to finish; all his output relies on physical attacks and the additional damage converted from health. The benefit of the Spirit attribute was almost zero.

Luck doesn't have a large boost in the early stages, but this Dungeon requires killing at least 500 zombies. Every point of direct combat power is more practical than a soft attribute like Luck.

"Constitution."

The first ball of light turned into a warm current and surged into his body. He could feel his bones and muscle fibers being reorganized in an instant by some gentle yet solid power. It was very similar to the warm current when leveling up, but more concentrated and direct, as if someone had compressed the act of "becoming stronger" into a capsule and stuffed it directly into his cells.

[Attribute Forger (Silver Quality): Please choose one from the following three attributes to keep.]

[Agility Fragment: +1 Agility]

[Constitution Fragment: +1 Constitution]

[Luck Fragment: +1 Luck]

Without hesitation, he chose Constitution again.

He consumed another free point to add some attributes and then summoned his attribute panel.

[Current Level: 10]

[Current Attributes: Constitution 14, Strength 17, Agility 10, Spirit 1, Luck 10]

[Current Health: 32035/32035]

[Current Mana: 100/100]

[Physical Attack Power: 260]

[Spell Attack Power: 10]

[Physical Defense: 225]

[Spell Defense: 185]

[Speed: 140] (40% bonus)

[Talent: F-Rank Weak Constitution]

[Skills: Hardened Skin (Fixed reduction of 45 physical damage), Blood Burning Strike, Titan Strength (Increases physical attack by 160), Rend]

[Equipment: iron scale legguards Lv.5, ant bone bracers Lv.5, Carapace Belt Lv.5, bone tumor breastplate Lv.5, Fire Scale Boots Lv.5, blood rage ring Lv.10, burrowers grasp Lv.5]

[Current Experience: 300/5000]

[Free Attribute Points: 34]

[Items: intermediate health potion x9, intermediate mana potion x2, some food]

[hextech system: Attributes!]

Over thirty thousand health, 225 physical defense. Coupled with the fixed damage reduction from Hardened Skin and the attack power provided by the Titan Strength passive, he didn't need any fancy operations in this Dungeon; standing and fighting was enough.

It's just that whether the two points of Constitution given by these two Attribute Forgers can actually follow him out of this Dungeon still needs one final verification.

The system didn't write "permanent," nor did it write "only effective in the current Dungeon." The ambiguity of the wording itself was a clue. Following the underlying logic of the hextech system, if the health stacked by Heartsteel could be kept, the attributes forged by the Attribute Forger would most likely be kept too, but the final answer would have to wait until the extraction settlement to be certain.

He closed the panel and raised his eyes.

The roaring in the distance was approaching. The first zombie had already turned the corner. Its grayish-white eyeballs rolled irregularly in its sockets, its lips were mostly rotted away, revealing blackened gums.

Its gait was even slower than a Rift Rat, but it wasn't just one or two following behind it. Dense figures were surging out simultaneously from the end of the street, the depths of the shops, and the entrance to the underground parking lot, like puppets pulled by the same string.

[Monster: Zombie]

[Level: 6]

[Health: 800]

[Physical Attack Power: 130]

[Physical Defense: 40]

[Spell Defense: 40]

[Type: Ordinary mob, slow movement, but after an attack causes a wound, there is a chance to infect with zombie virus.]