20: Chapter 20 Dragon Palace Dungeon

Upon reaching Level 15, Tang Mo's various attributes all broke past the 100 mark. Naturally, his Endurance was the highest; with the bonus from Source Poison, it had already surpassed 200 points.

After encountering Level 40 monsters, Tang Mo stopped venturing deeper into the jungle.

Mainly, higher-level ferocious beasts not only had ridiculously high Endurance but also possessed very high resistance to poison.

It became extremely difficult for Tang Mo to kill them.

After Level 40, ferocious beasts have a certain chance to awaken their bloodline power and master its strength.

Ferocious beasts possessing this bloodline power were even more savage.

During the recent beast tide in Jiangkou City, there were many beasts that had awakened their bloodline power. It seemed that all the beasts capable of breaking through to the city walls were those with awakened bloodlines.

The one that left the deepest impression on Tang Mo was that Two-Headed Giant Rhino; even though its body was pierced by a giant ballista bolt, it remained incredibly powerful.

Tang Mo asked himself: if his current self encountered a bloodline-awakened beast, he might not necessarily be able to win.

Although Tang Mo's poison damage had doubled after a day of hunting beasts—reaching over 20,000 damage per second for every stack of poison—

He could no longer achieve instant kills when facing thick-skinned Level 40 ferocious beasts.

Compared to Level 30 beasts, the overall attributes of Level 40 beasts were significantly higher.

"Since there are Level 40 beasts here, I might as well just wander around this area for now." As he spoke, Tang Mo checked the experience points needed to level up. "I might end up staying around here for the rest of the day."

After wandering through the jungle for an unknown amount of time, Tang Mo's experience reached 50% of Level 15.

"Sigh! I didn't expect leveling up after Level 15 to be this slow. I've lost track of how many Level 40 beasts I've killed, yet my experience only went up by 50%."

"It seems Level 20 really isn't that easy to reach. Xiafu University is indeed not that easy to get into."

Tang Mo remembered that back then, after his sister Tang Yuyan changed her class, she was hardly ever home. Only then did she manage to reach Level 20 by the time of the national exam.

Only now did Tang Mo personally experience just how much effort his sister had put in to get into Xiafu University.

Following an old forest path, Tang Mo eventually arrived at the shore of a lake.

At a glance, the vast lake seemed boundless. The water was pitch black, and the air emitted waves of foul stench.

Dayang Lake was originally one of the largest inland lakes in the Great Xia Dragon Country. However, after the beast invasion, it became a paradise for ferocious beasts and was ruined like this.

But even though Dayang Lake had turned black and smelly, it remained an important source of freshwater for nearby cities.

(It could still be used after layers of processing and filtration.)

Otherwise, if Tang Mo were to poison the lake directly, he estimated he could reach Level 20 just by poisoning the beasts in the lake to death.

Since it involved the water supply for tens of millions of people, Tang Mo wouldn't dare do it even if he were twice as bold.

However, there was a Level 20 dungeon near Dayang Lake called the Dayang Dragon Palace Dungeon.

Just like the Undead Mountain Dungeon, one needed to be at least Level 15 to enter.

Tang Mo's level happened to meet the requirement.

After searching for a while, Tang Mo quickly found the Dayang Dragon Palace Dungeon.

He saw that the front of the dungeon was already crowded with Professionals preparing to enter.

"Dragon Palace, Normal Difficulty, three looking for two! Need a Healer and a Warrior!"

"Dragon Palace, Normal Difficulty, four looking for one! Need a strong DPS!"

"Dragon Palace, Hard Difficulty. Have Shield Warrior, Mage, and Berserker. Need Healer and Guardian Support."

"Nightmare Difficulty. Need Warrior and Mage. One looking for four!!"

...

At the dungeon entrance, many Professionals were shouting loudly, trying to recruit powerful teammates.

There were also many people who seemed to have just come out of the dungeon, sitting to the side and resting.

Seeing Tang Mo arrive alone, several people immediately came forward to strike up a conversation, asking if he was willing to join a party.

To all of them, Tang Mo gave a refusal.

Unlike the Novice dungeon, experience in wild dungeons was not fixed; entering as a party would actually provide more bonus experience.

But Tang Mo wasn't familiar with these people, and he understood the principle that one must always be wary of others.

In front of the dungeon entrance, Boss Hai and his group looked like they had seen a ghost when they spotted Tang Mo.

"Boss, that kid is actually still alive?"

"Yeah, he didn't get eaten by beasts. How strange."

"Hmph! He must have overheard our conversation and escaped through another path while we weren't looking!"

"Right, it must be that. Who knew this kid was so slippery!"

"Keep a close eye on him this time. I'll see how he runs once we're in a deserted place."

"Boss Hai, you mean... we're going to make a move on him?"

In the team, a scrawny Assassin made a throat-slitting gesture.

"Since he won't cooperate, we'll just have to do it ourselves."

Boss Hai said as a cruel smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The dungeon area was noisy, so Tang Mo naturally couldn't hear what Boss Hai and his men were saying.

He went straight to the dungeon entrance. After checking the dungeon information, Tang Mo directly chose Purgatory Difficulty.

[Please confirm if you wish to select Purgatory Difficulty.]

"Confirm!"

As a faint glow flashed at the dungeon entrance, Tang Mo's figure vanished from the spot.

"He entered the dungeon alone?"

"Yeah, it looks that way."

"No way, he looks so young and he wants to solo it? He's too arrogant!"

"Exactly. I think he's just a high schooler who just changed classes and knows nothing. Truly a newborn calf that doesn't fear the tiger."

"Good thing I didn't invite him to my party just now. It would be disastrous to bring along such a reckless rookie."

"You can't say that for sure. What if he actually has the strength? It's not like no one has ever soloed a dungeon before."

"Did you see his level and class?"

"No, he must be wearing a professional badge."

"Let's just wait and see if he can walk out of that dungeon alive."

Outside the dungeon, many Professionals had expressions of schadenfreude, while others felt pity for Tang Mo.

Such a fine young man, throwing his life away in a dungeon just like that.

Every year, there are always some arrogant Professionals who choose to solo dungeons; most of them end up dying inside.

"Boss Hai, that kid went into the dungeon by himself!"

"Ugh, I saw! He's really seeking death. He might as well have benefited us brothers instead!"

Boss Hai said with a look of resentment.

"What do we do then? Boss, we haven't finished our mission for today."

Hearing his subordinate say this, Boss Hai replied impatiently,

"What else can we do? With so many people here, we can always find some lone wolves. We can still turn in the mission the same way."

Hearing Boss Hai lose his temper, the subordinate who asked didn't dare to speak again, fearing he might become a prop for completing the mission himself.

"Let's go. We haven't entered a dungeon in a while ourselves. Let's go in and level up a bit.

We'll look for a new hunting target when we come out."

With that, Boss Hai led his subordinates to the dungeon entrance, chose Normal Difficulty, and entered.