126: Chapter 126 Advancing to the Top 32

The moment the second battle ended, he didn't linger in the arena, returning directly to the preparation bench instead.

He had only consumed 2 points of Chi in the previous battle.

Although it wasn't much, it was always good to replenish it before the next match started.

After all, every bit of condition in the elimination tournament could be the key to victory or defeat.

As expected, the opponent dawdled for nearly twenty minutes again before sending a yokai onto the arena.

The atmosphere in the waiting area was dull and oppressive, with only those semi-transparent projected spectators still making faint, intermittent clamor.

The one walking onto the arena was the Vampire Yokai from the opposing squad.

Although the prototype of this dungeon came from a certain hot-blooded fighting anime, the vampire's appearance before him was completely different from its traditional image in its original source.

It followed a pale, handsome humanoid style.

A black leather trench coat was wrapped around its body; its figure was light and slender, and its temperament was gloomy and eerie.

If you ignored its face, it could at least pass for a second or third male lead in other anime.

Unfortunately, that face was a mess of sharp beak and fangs.

Hu Jinsi had seen the introduction of this guy in the data and felt it was a bit troublesome.

This Vampire Yokai could etherealize its body, entering a semi-transparent state.

In this state, its immunity to physical attacks was as high as 90%.

For a purely physical attack profession, this was almost an insurmountable barrier.

But that was referring to Hu Jinsi before level 16.

After level 16, Hu Jinsi had already acquired the [Vacuum Claw] specialty.

His hands were already considered magic weapons in attack calculations.

Therefore, when he saw the opponent was this Vampire Yokai, his expression was hard to keep straight.

The general direction of the opposing squad's prediction was actually not wrong; using an enemy with extremely high physical immunity to deal with a physical profession was a standard tactical approach.

But what they hadn't expected was that Hu Jinsi's personal ability was too outstanding, causing this originally reasonable tactical judgment to eventually turn into an awkward mismatch.

90% physical immunity was as good as nothing in front of a magic weapon.

The third battle began.

Hu Jinsi originally wanted to put on an act, pretending he had no way to deal with this Vampire Yokai.

But he thought again that the first two matches had been dragged out by these people until now, and it was almost ten o'clock at night.

So he decided not to waste any more time and finish it quickly.

He kicked off the ground, activated [Chi Torpedo], and his body shot forward with the explosive force, instantly arriving in front of the Vampire Yokai.

Immediately after, he used the effect of the [Vacuum Claw] specialty, formed his hand into a claw shape, and grabbed straight at the opponent's face.

As soon as that Vampire Yokai entered combat mode, it confidently activated its body's semi-transparent etherealization.

Its figure became hazy and semi-transparent in the air, losing its solid texture.

This was the defensive measure it was famous for, which had once left countless physical professionals helpless.

But this time, its confidence lasted less than half a second.

Hu Jinsi's claw strike penetrated that layer of semi-transparent barrier and landed solidly on its face.

Five dark red bloodstains appeared on the Vampire Yokai's cheek, and it let out a shrill scream.

Before it could react, Hu Jinsi followed up with a [Flurry of Blows], striking its exposed skin three times in a row.

The claw shadows cut through the darkness with a sharp whistling sound, each strike bringing up a string of dark red blood droplets.

Hu Jinsi was preparing to press the attack and finish it off while the opponent was in a panic. Just then, the dungeon's prompt sounded in his mind.

"Since the opponent has surrendered, Hu Jinsi wins the third battle."

"Since this match is a best-of-five series, Hu Jinsi's squad has achieved three victories. Congratulations on advancing to the Top 32."

This news came too suddenly, and Hu Jinsi froze on the spot, his raised right hand still maintaining the clawing posture.

He slowly lowered his arm, feeling a bit dumbfounded.

These yokai projections actually had a surrender mechanism; this development left him a bit confused.

In his understanding, the projections in the dungeon should fight until death; he hadn't expected them to voluntarily forfeit.

What Hu Jinsi didn't know was that in its original world, this Vampire Yokai was a guy with an extremely small heart and extreme fear of battle.

Whenever it encountered an opponent whose strength obviously crushed its own, it would often directly forfeit and run away, without any will to fight.

Therefore, even after being projected into this dungeon, its core behavioral pattern remained the same.

It was just that when previous squads encountered it, most had no way to break its body's etherealization effect, so they couldn't reach the level where it would judge them as "strength crushing."

But Hu Jinsi broke its etherealization right from the start of the battle and caused serious damage within a few seconds.

After a brief calculation, this projection judged that if it didn't forfeit within 20 seconds, it would die immediately. So it chose to surrender without hesitation.

After the victory, Hu Jinsi did not choose to continue fighting. It was almost ten o'clock at night, and he hadn't intended to finish all the elimination matches in one day.

He chose to teleport back to the preparation room, ready to get a good rest.

Back in the preparation room, Hu Jinsi took a shower using the shower facilities inside.

The hot water washed away the sweat and grass debris from his body, relaxing his tense nerves quite a bit.

He dried his body, put on clean clothes, and went to the bedroom area.

He sat cross-legged on the bedroom floor and began his daily routine of meditation.

Chi circulated through his meridians within his body, rising from the Dantian, sinking into the Sea of Chi, and then dispersing to his limbs.

The night outside was deep, and the preparation room was so quiet that he could only hear his own breathing.

As for the Direwolf Cub, it seemed extremely depressed because there was no TV in the preparation room.

It had hoped to lie on the sofa and watch TV programs for a while, just like at home. But there was nothing here.

The Dire Wolf whined discontentedly, curled up on the sofa, and buried its head into its iron-gray tail.

Not long after, its breathing became long and even; the cub had fallen asleep.

Hu Jinsi sensed its state during meditation, and the corners of his mouth relaxed as well.

The next morning, Hu Jinsi woke up from his meditation.

There were no windows in the preparation room; he checked the system time, and it was already past eight in the morning.

He walked into the kitchen area and took out his gas stove and ingredients from his backpack.

He first pan-fried a lamb chop for the Dire Wolf.

The fat sizzled at the bottom of the pan, emitting a rich aroma.

The Dire Wolf smelled the scent, immediately jumped off the sofa, circled around Hu Jinsi, its tail tip trembling gently.

After frying the Dire Wolf's lamb chop, Hu Jinsi fried a few slices of ham, two eggs, and two slices of bread for himself.

A simple breakfast was spread out on the small dining table in the preparation room, and the man and the wolf sat facing each other, eating quietly.

After finishing breakfast, Hu Jinsi did not delay. The Top 32 to Top 16 match was waiting for him.

He did a final check of his long staff and equipment, confirmed his condition was correct, and then silently thought: Start match.

This match, Hu Jinsi fought for nearly three hours.

It wasn't that the enemies were dawdling, nor that the enemies were particularly strong. It was simply that the opponents were very tough, tougher than usual.

The opponent's team was called the Five Beast God Squad, a yokai team composed of five savage beasts from the Demon Realm.

These guys didn't have any flashy spell abilities, but their physical bodies were extremely tough, and their recovery ability was also ridiculously strong.

Their combat style was simple and direct: pure brute force, trading injury for injury.

Every attack carried immense force, and the stone on the arena was smashed into shallow pits by their fist wind and hoof strikes.

Hu Jinsi didn't want to get injured; he didn't want to leave any hidden injuries here that couldn't be healed for a while.

Therefore, he could only keep maneuvering on the arena, constantly looking for opportunities to strike.

Every attack had to be precise and cautious, withdrawing immediately after hitting the opponent's vital points, not giving them a chance to counterattack.

This fighting style was extremely draining on patience and stamina.

What was even more disgusting was that Hu Jinsi drew a gauntlet match.

This meant he had to face five thick-skinned enemies in a row, with no rest time in between.

By the end, his arms began to ache, and the long staff in his hand trembled slightly.

When fighting the third enemy, Hu Jinsi's calf was grazed by the opponent's claw wind, leaving a shallow bloodstain.

He retreated two steps and cast a [Renewing Mist] on himself; the green mist lingered around the wound, and the bleeding stopped quickly.

He didn't stop, continuing to maneuver and attack.

In the end, these five Demon Realm beasts were almost all bled to death by Hu Jinsi.

He didn't choose to clash head-on, but rather utilized the flexibility of his long staff and the cutting ability of [Vacuum Claw] to create a large number of wounds on the opponents.

Once they had bled enough, their movements would naturally slow down.

After the battle ended, Hu Jinsi leaned against the railing in the waiting area, panting heavily.

He began to seriously consider a question: should he learn some ranged attack methods?

Although the enemies this time were tough and hard, at least he could still damage them.

If he encountered enemies in the future who were covered in heavy armor from head to toe, it would become a real war of attrition.

He might have to run around the opponent for several hours just to find a gap in the armor to strike. This fighting style was too inefficient.

Actually, if the strength of these enemies today had been slightly weaker, Hu Jinsi could have completely chosen to take a few hits from the opponents, then quickly end the battle by trading injury for injury.

But the problem was that the strength of this group of Demon Realm beasts was astonishingly great.

Hu Jinsi was afraid that if he took one punch, it would cause a fracture or similar injury.

These physical injuries caused by pure brute force were not easily healed quickly through healing spells. It would easily affect his condition for the following matches.

After finishing the Top 32 to Top 16 match, the time was approaching eleven o'clock in the morning.

Although he met the dungeon's requirement of fighting at least one match within half a day, the second match was definitely out of the question.

After three consecutive hours of fighting, even if his stamina was still okay, he couldn't handle it mentally.

He helplessly led the Dire Wolf out of the dungeon.

The sunlight outside was a bit blinding; he squinted his eyes to adjust to the light.

The Dire Wolf followed at his heels, its iron-gray fur shimmering with a soft luster in the sunlight.

Returning to the preparation room and having to cook for both the Dire Wolf and himself, Hu Jinsi was truly too tired and couldn't be bothered.

He still had finished food items dropped from other dungeons in his backpack, so getting by would be no problem.

But the Dire Wolf was a hassle.

Deep down, Hu Jinsi did not want this cub to keep eating raw meat.

Although raw meat was good for maintaining a certain level of wildness, if the Dire Wolf planned to walk the path of a professional in the future, those so-called wildness enhancements were actually optional.

On the way to this dungeon, Hu Jinsi actually held some expectations for the job templates of these monsters.

After all, in the traditional culture of his past life, some monsters were even synonymous with great sages, and could even declare themselves "Great Sages."

But the monster jobs in this dungeon were truly too lame.

According to the information Hu Jinsi gathered from the forums, for creatures in beast or magical beast form, the fixed abilities from levels 1 to 5 of this job template could only increase basic intelligence.

And the cap for the increase was only 9 points.

The Dire Wolf's own intelligence already exceeded this value, which meant that for the first 5 levels, the Dire Wolf received no substantial bonuses other than a random skill that relied on luck.

Not until level 6 could this job provide a transformation in physique.

It strengthened claws and teeth, making them sharper, while also allowing running, climbing, and jumping abilities to exceed those of its peers.

But for the Dire Wolf, these were just icing on the cake.

Not until level 11 could it master the basic energy system of monsters: Demon Qi.

And only at level 16 could it learn the semi-upright state, which meant it could walk on its hind legs for a period of time and use items with its front paws.

Overall, the strength of this job was not high.

It was more suitable for ordinary beasts whose initial intelligence was not high enough, rather than magical beasts like the Dire Wolf, which had intelligence almost indistinguishable from humans.

At least, it was far from the great monster template in Hu Jinsi's mind.

Therefore, Hu Jinsi did not intend to continue accumulating dungeon points.

Before leaving the dungeon, he exchanged all the points from the first two knockout rounds for general experience.

Anyway, there was nothing he truly needed in this dungeon's point shop.

After exiting the dungeon, Hu Jinsi noticed that the flow of people outside had significantly increased today.

Quite a few students had gathered near the dungeon entrance, the number roughly approaching one-third of what he usually saw when running dungeons at school.

It seemed quite a few people were taking advantage of the May Day holiday to grind in the dungeons.

After all, holidays were different from being at school; students could pull relatives with similar levels from home to enter dungeons together, and sparring with each other was better than listening to parents talk about other people's children at the dinner table.

Due to the increased flow of people, the businesses at the dungeon entrance also began to recover.

Several snack stalls had been set up, and the air was filled with the aroma of various foods.

Hu Jinsi couldn't be bothered to walk to the distant commercial street, so he took the Dire Wolf and solved his lunch at the snack stalls at the entrance.

His plan was to take a couple of bites at each stall, visit a few more, until he was full.

Anyway, there were many types of snack stalls, and eating a little from each could make a hearty lunch.

For the first snack, Hu Jinsi chose a portion of Oyster Omelet.

He ordered two portions directly; although he wasn't sure if the Dire Wolf could eat this kind of thing, if the Dire Wolf didn't eat it, it would be no problem for him to eat two or three portions himself.

Immediately after, he ordered six portions of grilled oysters, two skewers of deep-fried giant squid, and one portion of chilled seafood in sauce at the neighboring stalls.

Finally, he bought a portion of sea worm rice bowl to finish off.

After ordering everything, he came to an empty table set up next to the snack stalls and sat down, waiting for the owners to bring the prepared food.

The Dire Wolf lay at his feet, its amber eyes staring at the plate of Oyster Omelet that had just been served.

In the gap while waiting, Hu Jinsi boredly scrolled through his communication terminal.

But there were no messages from any of his acquaintances.

Lin Rui, Su Wan, Pear Garden Squad, and Zhen Jin had only entered the dungeons yesterday, and those dungeons couldn't be cleared in under 72 hours.

Instead, Zhou Wen sent him a few messages.

Zhou Wen said he planned to visit the [Double Dragon III] dungeon during the May Day holiday.

But he wasn't doing it for the skills or equipment in that dungeon.

Zhou Wen was more interested in the hieroglyphs inside the pyramid on the fifth level of that dungeon.

Unlike the pyramid hieroglyphs in the real world of Water Blue Star, those characters in the dungeon belonged to a completely different writing system.

Zhou Wen originally intended to use the photos everyone took inside the dungeon to learn those characters on his own.

But he found that these photos were taken too sporadically, and no one had systematically organized this information.

This made him unable to decide whether to use his talent's innate ability to forcibly learn this writing system.

After all, that ability had a limited number of uses, and the scattered data made him unable to determine the value of these characters, which could very likely waste a precious opportunity.

Therefore, he finally decided to go in himself, and make plans after seeing the real thing.

Regarding this point, Hu Jinsi really couldn't provide much help.

He could only send all the digital photos he had taken when running the dungeon previously from his terminal to Zhou Wen.

Hoping it would be of some use to Zhou Wen's research.

Besides that, he also told Zhou Wen some tips he had figured out in the dungeon previously.

Where to take shortcuts, where to slack off, saving energy wherever possible.

As for the rest, he would have to wait until Zhou Wen went in to see for himself before deciding.

However, given the length of the levels in the [Double Dragon III] dungeon, Hu Jinsi estimated that it would be tough for Zhou Wen to reach the fifth level during the May Day holiday.

The enemy density in that dungeon was not low, so the progress speed would not be very fast.

If Zhou Wen couldn't reach the fifth level before the holiday ended, Hu Jinsi planned to help him out later.

Anyway, the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad had already achieved its short-term goal in [Lakeside Town], and there were no special plans recently.

Besides Zhou Wen's messages, Chen Yu of the Gunpowder Squad also sent a few messages to Hu Jinsi.

But unlike discussing the dungeon with Zhou Wen, Chen Yu asked about something else.

Chen Yu asked Hu Jinsi if he had received any special arrangements from the school before May Day.

Hu Jinsi looked at this message, somewhat confused.

"Special arrangements? What special arrangements?"

Facing Hu Jinsi's follow-up question, Chen Yu explained that there seemed to be rumors spreading now.

Before May Day, every high school in Wei City, in addition to providing one-on-one consulting and guidance with Shanxi University for high school seniors, had also arranged a special meeting for a group of 'promising and hopeful' elite high school sophomores at each school.

As for the specific content of the meeting, Chen Yu and the others didn't know yet.

Because those involved were all keeping their mouths shut and refusing to reveal a single word.

So Chen Yu and the others could only ask around to see if anyone nearby had participated in this matter.

Hu Jinsi typed a reply on his terminal, writing in a relaxed tone: "Just look at our squad's job combination, and you'll know that we definitely don't belong to that 'promising and hopeful' group."

"If you are really curious and insist on finding 'promising and hopeful' people, you might as well find someone to pull strings and ask that pair of S-rank twins at No. 3 High School."

Chen Yu quickly replied that it was precisely because they already knew that the pair of S-rank twins had definitely participated in this meeting, but they were also keeping their mouths shut.

So Chen Yu and the others wanted to ask other students who might have participated.

Hu Jinsi continued typing his reply: "Then you've asked the wrong person."

"At our No. 1 High School, I think you could ask that rich squad."

"Maybe someone among them received an invitation."

"After all, they have good equipment, fast progress, and act in a high-profile manner; they are much more conspicuous than our civilian squads."

After the chat ended, Hu Jinsi didn't take this matter to heart.

Since he was little, he had heard too many stories like this where people acted on rumors.

From elementary school, he heard about someone being secretly discovered due to special talent, only to find out in middle school that it was all just a rumor passed from person to person.

Even if these things were true, Hu Jinsi believed that with the level of sophistication of students in this age group, they couldn't keep any secrets at all.

Moreover, as someone who had been through it in his past life, he knew too well what so-called secret arrangements meant.

It was nothing more than special bonus points for targeted admissions.

Once laid out, it wasn't mysterious at all; it was essentially just a means of resource allocation.

Hu Jinsi shook his head and put his terminal into his pocket.

The snack stall owners successively brought up the ordered food.

The Oyster Omelet was golden and crispy, the grilled oysters were sizzling with oil, the sauce of the deep-fried giant squid was rich, and the chilled seafood in sauce was sour, spicy, and appetizing.

Hu Jinsi picked up his chopsticks and began to eat with his head down.

The Dire Wolf seemed uninterested in the Oyster Omelet; it sniffed it and turned its head away.

But it showed great enthusiasm for the grilled oysters and squid, stretching its tongue to lick the plates clean.

As for the sea worm rice bowl, Hu Jinsi only gave the Dire Wolf less than a quarter of the portion, under the pretext that this food had too much salt and wasn't suitable for a wolf to eat.

He didn't notice at all that the Dire Wolf was looking at him with a look of contempt.

After being full and satisfied, Hu Jinsi leaned back on the plastic chair and let out a burp.

The afternoon sunlight was a bit blinding; he squinted his eyes, looking at the swirling blue vortex at the dungeon entrance.

He looked down at the Dire Wolf; the cub was lying at his feet, its tail hanging listlessly, obviously it was also time for a nap.

Hu Jinsi thought for a moment and decided to go back and take a nap first.

After he had regained his energy, he would consider the next knockout round.

He paid the bill and led the Dire Wolf toward the dungeon entrance.

As for the afternoon's arrangements, he would decide after waking up.

Although there was another mandatory match in the afternoon, finishing it early meant peace of mind early.

But rest was also important.