79: Chapter 79: Method to Run Two Dungeons Within 72 Hours

After figuring it out, Su Wan couldn't help but complain: "That is truly unfair."

The dungeon experience for the rich and the poor are two completely different worlds. Flying items, magic scrolls, infinite consumables, and professional equipment—each of these things can significantly improve clearance efficiency, but each one requires real money.

Without this financial support, ordinary people can only rely on their own two feet, taking it step by step, using sweat and time to bridge the gap created by money.

Lin Rui didn't have many complaints about this, because the rise of the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad began when they started "paying to win" within their means, which allowed them to gradually stand out among their many classmates. The handgun he was using now, which cost 15,000 credits, wasn't that also a form of "paying to win"?

Lin Rui accepted the logic that higher-tier "pay-to-win" capabilities led to higher-tier clearance efficiency; it was just that his current reality made him feel a bit powerless.

It wasn't that he didn't want to pay, but that he couldn't afford it. Neither his nor Su Wan's parents were the type of wealthy Professionals; they had more than enough to get by in this world, but when it came to giving them a boost to the next level, they were powerless to help.

Regarding this situation, Hu Jinsi felt that the two of them were looking at it the wrong way. He told them to focus their attention back on the matter at hand.

"You two shouldn't be thinking about all that other nonsense," he said. "The reason everyone struggles in dungeons is primarily to gain Professional Experience to raise their Professional Level. As for equipment and such, while certainly important, it is merely scenery on the road to leveling up."

He paused, then continued: "And for most Professions, raising one's Professional Level requires experience, exploration, and mastery of one's own power system. This part is where 'paying to win' helps the least."

Hu Jinsi used Su Wan's profession as an example: "Su Wan, for you, or for the Bard profession, adventure itself is a part of your job. So, if you use these types of flying items to turn an adventure that is inherently full of challenges into a simple trip to an amusement park, how much do you think you can gain from this dungeon? How much Professional Experience can be fed back into your own profession?"

Su Wan thought about it thoughtfully and didn't reply to Hu Jinsi immediately, but her expression showed that she had already figured out part of it.

"This method of relying on 'paying to win' to quickly skip stages," Hu Jinsi continued, "only means it's possible to farm the bosses of these dungeons at a higher frequency, thereby increasing the probability of equipment drops by fighting bosses more often. But apart from a very small number of professions that can gain Professional Experience this way, most professions find that this method actually yields less experience than doing things the honest, grounded way."

"There are many smart people in this world," he said. "People like us are only of average talent; none of us even has an Intelligence of 15. There are far more people smarter than us. If one could really use 'pay-to-win' methods to quickly solidify one's strength at this stage, I think most wealthy people wouldn't mind doing it."

"Look at someone like Sun Yao. When we were pinching pennies over a few hundred credits, she wouldn't even blink at spending tens of thousands. Yet she still honestly teams up with classmates from other classes in school to level up. Doesn't that just prove this situation?"

"With her family's strength, they could easily have fully equipped her with a full set of skills and top-tier gear when she was Level 1, but in reality, her family didn't do that."

Lin Rui raised his own question at this point: "After saying all that, what improvement plans do we have? Or rather, methods to improve efficiency?"

"There are quite a few," Hu Jinsi said. "Whether it's the Longstrider or Spider Climb we talked about at noon today, both are methods that can increase movement speed or improve efficiency when traversing complex terrain."

"Besides, you forgot that last semester we were always riding bicycles inside the dungeons. Although the terrain of this dungeon doesn't allow us to continue riding bicycles, we can consider other means of transport to replace the effect of the bicycles, which would help save stamina."

"And have you forgotten the all-terrain vehicle Lin Rui's father mentioned?" Hu Jinsi continued, "With it, whether it's the underground karst cave in the 4th stage, or the beach and uphill paths in this current stage, we could save a massive amount of time and stamina."

Lin Rui did a quick calculation in his head and said to Hu Jinsi: "Although your method can improve efficiency somewhat, it's still not enough to let us clear this dungeon twice within 72 hours."

"Even if the all-terrain vehicle can save us 8-10 hours of stamina consumption, the time wasted on the Ghost Ship section is the biggest culprit, unless we can skip that part. So, this level of 'pay-to-win' doesn't mean much for improving efficiency."

"Without flying items, we can't skip it," Hu Jinsi admitted frankly, "but we can optimize."

Hu Jinsi was pleased to hear Lin Rui mention this; at least Lin Rui was starting to use his brain to calculate the time issue. Meanwhile, Su Wan on the side was clearly still in a daze.

"Actually, as you pointed out, the most time-consuming section is on that Ghost Ship," Hu Jinsi explained. "Let's imagine this: since the karst cave in the fourth stage is almost completely dark throughout, why don't we, after finishing the third stage, immediately proceed into the fourth stage karst cave?"

"We can pass through the cave quickly using an all-terrain vehicle or other transport, and then spend the night on the Ghost Ship in the fifth stage. In this way, one night's time allows the Ghost Ship to slowly reach the scene of the sixth stage, and at the same time, we won't waste so much time during the day."

Lin Rui retorted immediately: "Spend the night on the ship? What about Su Wan? And the mobs on that ship come in wave after wave; it's impossible to sleep soundly."

Su Wan said at this moment: "If I take motion sickness medicine, that won't be a problem. At least I should be able to endure the night resting on the ship. Besides, strong motion sickness medicine can make me no different from a normal person for the duration of the medicine's effect. The medicine itself isn't expensive either; a few hundred credits can get enough for over 20 doses."

Hu Jinsi slapped his forehead and said to Lin Rui: "If we want to clear this twice in 72 hours, we definitely need to expand our squad. For maximum efficiency, we can have 5 people run this dungeon. Then, on the Ghost Ship, one group can keep watch for the first half of the night, and another group can keep watch for the second half."

"Anyway, you know the skeletons and murlocs on the Ghost Ship; their strength is limited, and two or three people are enough to deal with that batch of monsters. If we arrange it this way, under the condition that everything goes smoothly, we might even be able to appear on the mountaintop where we fought the Golden Minotaur today, just 24 hours after entering the dungeon."

"In this way, clearing this dungeon once every 36 hours is more than enough time, and we might even have about four hours left over in the middle to catch up on the sleep missed due to insufficient rest on the Ghost Ship."

Su Wan understood Hu Jinsi's plan and couldn't help but feel surprised by this bold idea.

But she also raised her own question: "Jinsi, I only have 6 spell slots right now. Even if everything goes smoothly and I level up to 13 after leaving the dungeon, I can only swap out one spell. I can only choose either Longstrider or Spider Climb. This one spell is clearly not enough to simultaneously improve our clearance efficiency and safety in the third stage."

"Regarding the third stage, it is actually the beginning of the action plan I envisioned," Hu Jinsi said. "The difficulty of the third stage is mainly divided into two parts. The first part is the ridge road ahead; the path is not only dangerous but also narrow, which is clearly difficult for general transport to handle. The second part is that suspension bridge."

"For the suspension bridge," he continued, "next time we enter the dungeon, I will bring a set of zipline equipment directly. When we rush across the bridge, we'll secure the zipline at both ends. Since there is a height difference between the two ends of the suspension bridge, you can just use safety clips to attach to the line and slide over one by one."

"As for Lin Rui, have him take off his full set of equipment, hang him on the zipline, have him close his eyes, and he'll be over in ten seconds or so. If that doesn't work, you can just knock him unconscious."

Su Wan couldn't help but laugh. Hu Jinsi was accustomed to their reaction and didn't say anything more.

"As for the ridge section ahead," Hu Jinsi said, "if we want to save on expenses, we can just add another spellcaster. You and another spellcaster can have one person use Longstrider and the other use Spider Climb, buffing everyone simultaneously."

"This way, the number of spell castings will be sufficient, and everyone can quickly pass through the first half of the third stage. Even if we don't go down the vertical cliff, Spider Climb can keep you stable on the ridge, so there won't be a risk of falling. If we can't recruit a suitable magic-class professional, we'll have to consider buying equipment to make up for the deficiency."

"Of course," he concluded, "it's only the first week of school, and this plan still has many shortcomings. We don't need to rush to execute it next week; we can first run through the rest using the conventional method to see if the time can be reduced. With solid data, it will be easier to convince future teammates to purchase the corresponding equipment."

The two readily agreed with this point made by Hu Jinsi. After all, the all-terrain vehicle was already in the future purchase plans of both Hu Jinsi and Su Wan; it just wasn't urgent, so they hadn't bought it immediately.

But after experiencing this dungeon, everyone felt that this matter could be put on the agenda for next week. Even if purchasing this all-terrain vehicle wasn't enough to allow them to clear the dungeon twice in this cycle, as long as they didn't have to climb mountains for a whole day like they did today, it would be a relief for everyone.

As for Lin Rui, he naturally wouldn't object. Although his carry capacity was high and the all-terrain vehicle didn't mean much to him, an overall increase in the squad's efficiency was also beneficial to him.

Considering that Lin Rui and Su Wan had overexerted their stamina today, Hu Jinsi didn't continue the in-depth discussion. He told the two to go rest first, while he set up simple warning devices on the perimeter and began meditating throughout the night.

---

The next morning, Lin Rui and Su Wan slept until eight o'clock. Since there was plenty of time, Hu Jinsi didn't wake them up early, but instead quietly boiled milk and prepared compressed biscuits.

It was mainly because there really wasn't any other convenient food left.

The stamina consumption in this dungeon was significantly higher than usual, and the squad's food consumption was 50% more than usual. The simple calorie-replenishing food they usually had had been mostly eaten by Su Wan and Lin Rui on the road climbing the mountain yesterday.

What was left in Hu Jinsi's backpack was not very convenient to cook; you couldn't exactly wake up early in the morning and eat egg fried rice inside a dungeon, could you?

He thought about it carefully again; it seemed it wasn't impossible. But at this point, he couldn't be bothered to change breakfast, so he just let them eat this today. Egg fried rice could wait until the next time they entered the dungeon.

Lin Rui and Su Wan finally finished getting ready and started eating breakfast. While eating, they verified the basic information about today's final boss.

Since both of their mouths were occupied, the explanation this time was conducted by Hu Jinsi.

He cleared his throat: "The final boss is the Cyclops. Of course, similar to the other bosses in the dungeon, this Cyclops projection is also a cut-down version. Currently, it appears to only have two attack abilities: throwing rocks and punching."

"Throwing rocks is the Cyclops' signature ability. It is said that it will gouge rocks from the roofs of buildings and throw them at the target with the most aggro." Hu Jinsi looked at Lin Rui, "You need to pay attention to this; always keep one charge of Tactical Roll available. After all, getting hit by a rock weighing over a hundred pounds won't be pleasant for you or your shield. There's no need to leave the dungeon today covered in injuries."

Lin Rui, his mouth stuffed with compressed biscuits, could only nod continuously to indicate that he had received the relevant reminder.

His eyes, however, were exceptionally serious. Although the physical fatigue had not yet completely faded, his mental state had already been adjusted to its best for the upcoming final battle.

"As for the Cyclops' other skill, punching, it has two forms," Hu Jinsi continued. "One form is it smashing down in a circle from above while staying in place, and the other form is the Cyclops sliding forward to unleash a punch."

"The motions for both of these punching styles are quite obvious when throwing the punch. Because the Cyclops is 4m tall, its punches are all delivered from top to bottom, so as long as you keep a certain distance, it's not hard to dodge."

"But the Cyclops is different from the Minotaur," he added. "Its base Agility stat is actually not bad; it only seems clumsy because its body is too huge. In reality, its Agility is higher than Su Wan's."

"The boss skill introduction ends here. Regarding the combat strategy, I suggest we follow the plan we established at the beginning of the week," Hu Jinsi said. "We have plenty of time, so there's absolutely no need to rush. We can grind it down slowly over an hour or more."

"Lin Rui, you go straight into Gun-Shield mode. But just in case, it's best to keep the Tower Shield in front of you and the riot shield on your back," he said, laying out the tactics. "Combat flow: You use your pistol to pull the aggro, and fire the first few S-rounds quickly to establish threat."

"Su Wan," he turned to look at her, "after Lin Rui pulls, apply the [Faerie Fire] debuff to the Cyclops. Later, see if [Plucking·Initial Movement] can be triggered; if so, try to slightly hinder the boss's movements. Keep two [Healing Word] spells for emergencies, and use the rest as [Shattering Sonic Wave] at appropriate moments."

"As for me," Hu Jinsi said, "after Lin Rui has established aggro, I will output a round of damage during every opening when the boss is recovering from its punch. Based on our estimates of the boss's health, even if we take it slow, we can finish this in 15 minutes."

"Everyone, be careful not to rush the damage; just take it slow. Lin Rui, focus on dodging and try your best not to tank the skills head-on," he said in conclusion. "After all, this is just a castrated projection in the dungeon, not the full-form Cyclops. Just stay safe. That's all from me. Eat well, drink well, pack your things, and we'll head upstairs to find the Cyclops and finish this dungeon run."

After packing up, the three of them made their way up the spiraling stairs. The stairs ascended in a helix, each step covered in a thin layer of dust, with occasional marks left by predecessors visible on the walls. The three of them pushed open the doors to the rooftop hall, and a gust of cold wind rushed in from outside.

The Cyclops was already standing before them.

It was completely naked, wearing only a crude animal hide wrapped around its waist. Its skin was thick and dark yellow-brown, densely covered with old scars and embedded stone chips, its muscles knotted like solid granite. Its head was disproportionately large, and a single amber circular eye in the center of its forehead rotated slowly, revealing undisguised malice as it locked onto its enemies, its mouth pulling into a silent, sinister grin.

Hu Jinsi took a look at the Cyclops and turned to Lin Rui and Su Wan. "I've found another advantage to the [Burning Village] dungeon; at least the bosses in that dungeon are all properly equipped, and the loot includes all sorts of gear from head to toe."

"Look at this dungeon again. First of all, half of them aren't even humanoid bosses, so there's no proper gear to drop. As for the other humanoid bosses, the Tauren only had three pieces of equipment, including his weapon. Now, this Cyclops is even worse; it doesn't even have a weapon in its hand. Aside from that thing around its waist that could be called a belt, I don't see any potential for any equipment drops."

Su Wan said, "Jinsi, you should take a closer look; there are also bracers, greaves, and a pair of earrings."

Hu Jinsi rolled his eyes at her. "Do you think any of the bracers, greaves, or earrings on that Cyclops are something I could possibly wear? I can't wear any of them. So, for me, the only thing that might be useful is the belt. That's why that's the only thing in my eyes; even if it's just a piece of rag, I wouldn't mind. I can just get Mother Su to help me alter its appearance."

Su Wan was helpless against Hu Jinsi's sophistry.

Ending their pre-battle banter, the three began their final preparations.

Hu Jinsi warmed up alone in the corner, while Lin Rui took the opportunity to switch the [MS-15 "Steel Spike" Heavy Pistol] to S-round mode. Beside them, Su Wan did a few simple vocal exercises while taking a sip of water to moisten her throat.

The coordination between the three had become increasingly tacit; they didn't need much verbal communication to complete their respective pre-battle preparations.

Everything was ready. Lin Rui walked near the Cyclops and fired an S-round, initiating the battle.

The Cyclops had clearly been observing the three people entering the hall for a long time, but due to dungeon rules, it couldn't attack immediately. However, as soon as Lin Rui's gunshot rang out, it jumped up, gouged a giant rock from the ceiling, and hurled it at Lin Rui.

Su Wan also began chanting the moment the battle started. A few seconds later, the [Faerie Fire] debuff landed on the Cyclops, and dark red flames leaped and burned on its skin.

Lin Rui, who was at the center of the battle, first performed a [Tactical Roll], dodging the Cyclops's first wave of rock throwing.

He immediately followed up by firing an S-round to counterattack. Because the Cyclops was massive, S-rounds often caused multiple wounds on such a huge enemy.

[-12] [-14] [-10]

The Cyclops, suffering from intense pain, faced Lin Rui not far in front of it, slid forward, and swung its fist down.

The three had already grasped the Cyclops's attack patterns. Seeing the Cyclops swing its fist, Lin Rui hurriedly dodged to the side. The giant fist grazed the edge of the Tower Shield, [-15], causing some damage to Lin Rui, but it wasn't serious.

Hu Jinsi, who was behind the Cyclops, took advantage of the recovery time during its punch to unleash a [Flurry of Blows], landing a three-hit combo with fists and kicks, [-10] [-11] [-10]. After that, he didn't get greedy and quickly retreated from the area behind the Cyclops.

After finishing its punch, the Cyclops casually threw an elbow backward, only to find no enemies there.

The bug-like guy who had been causing trouble behind it earlier had already moved far away. Discovering that the enemy had escaped, the Cyclops jumped lightly again, gouged another giant rock from the ceiling, but this time, the rock wasn't thrown at Lin Rui; instead, it was thrown directly at Hu Jinsi in the distance.

The giant rock was the size of a millstone, spinning as it flew through the air, creating a shrill whistling sound.

Hu Jinsi noticed the Cyclops's movement. He didn't choose to Block with his long staff; no normal person would choose to Block a rock of that weight.

He immediately activated [Parkour], his figure sticking to the ceiling of the hall like a gecko. The giant rock whizzed past under his feet and smashed into the stone pillar opposite, snapping the half-meter diameter pillar in half, sending stone fragments flying.

Seeing this, Lin Rui didn't panic; instead, he picked up his pistol and fired another S-round at the Cyclops's broad back.

[-16] [-11] [-13]

The good news was that there was no jamming sound after this shot, meaning there was an opportunity for a fourth shot. Taking advantage of the fact that the Cyclops hadn't recovered yet, Lin Rui quickly fired the fourth S-round. After this shot, that familiar jamming sound finally rang out again.

Returning to a few seconds ago, facing the incoming giant rock, Hu Jinsi directly used [Parkour] to run along the ceiling and get above the Cyclops.

Taking advantage of the recovery period after the Cyclops threw the rock, Hu Jinsi swung his long staff directly at the Cyclops's single eye. The Cyclops had no choice but to hurriedly use both hands to Block, which left ample time for Lin Rui's previous shots.

Failing to land the hit, Hu Jinsi didn't continue attacking but jumped down from the ceiling while the Cyclops was blocking, escaping the attack range.

In the distance, Su Wan also finally completed her second spell chant.

A [Shattering Sonic Wave] boomed directly toward the Cyclops's head. The massive sound wave echoed in the hall, shaking the debris on the ceiling and causing it to fall.

The Cyclops was forced to cover its ears with the hands that had just left its eyes. The amber eye squinted tightly in pain, and a low roar emanated from its throat.

"It's effective!" Su Wan shouted. "Its hearing is more sensitive than we imagined!"

Hu Jinsi immediately adjusted the tactics. "Su Wan, prioritize using [Shattering Sonic Wave]! Its ears are the weak point!"

This series of attacks gave Lin Rui plenty of time, and miraculously, he managed to repair the jammed firearm during this period.

Although the firearm manual stated that, if things went smoothly, it could be repaired in just 6 seconds, to be honest, this was the first time Lin Rui had completed a repair during combat. It was mainly because his teammates were so capable, delaying the Cyclops for so long.

Having completed the repair, Lin Rui fired three more shots, bang, bang, bang, at the Cyclops's back. Although every shot meant a significant loss of credits, the satisfaction of hitting a living target dummy made him somewhat addicted. It was just a pity that it jammed again after these three shots, as expected.

This time, the Cyclops didn't give Lin Rui any time to repair. This series of continuous heavy blows made the Cyclops realize who was causing it the most damage, and it turned around and smashed another downward heavy punch at Lin Rui.

With the firearm in his hand temporarily unable to counterattack, Lin Rui could only perform a [Tactical Roll] to leave the Cyclops's attack range, while switching the weapon in his hand from the pistol to a rifle he hadn't used in a long time.

Hu Jinsi, not far away, took advantage of the Cyclops's attack recovery time to rush in again, unleashing another [Flurry of Blows] on the Cyclops's ankle. This time, the attack position was exactly the same as the last time, consistently battering the Cyclops's left ankle.

This was the tactic Hu Jinsi and Su Wan had discussed before the battle. Because, facing the Cyclops's immense weight, Su Wan suspected that her [Plucking·Initial Movement] might not be able to affect the Cyclops.

However, Hu Jinsi felt that if he continuously attacked one side of the Cyclops's limbs, the control over that limb would weaken, giving Su Wan's skill a chance.

Sure enough, after Hu Jinsi dealt damage and retreated again, Su Wan attempted to activate [Plucking·Initial Movement].

This time, although it still couldn't affect the Cyclops's overall movement, the skill clearly affected the wound, causing the Cyclops to be just a fraction of a beat slower on its left side while chasing Lin Rui.

The battle remained under the control of the three's rhythm. They didn't try to finish off the Cyclops quickly but maintained this unhurried pace, wearing it down.

Although this tactic didn't look exciting, it was the safest method. Facing a 4-meter-tall Cyclops, any recklessness could bring unpredictable risks.

As the damage to the Cyclops's left ankle deepened, Lin Rui clearly sensed that the Cyclops's movement speed had slowed down significantly, and the frequency of its sliding punches had also decreased noticeably.

Most of the time now, it just punched and threw rocks from where it stood; it didn't even jump up to throw rocks anymore, but instead pulled a stone directly from the surrounding pillars and threw it at Lin Rui.

The Cyclops's massive body began to tilt slightly, and every movement seemed somewhat limping. It didn't dare to fully plant its left foot, only touching the ground lightly, using its right foot to bear most of its weight.

This imbalance greatly reduced its accuracy when punching; several times its fists smashed into empty air, leaving deep craters on the stone floor of the hall.

The battle had been going on for 10 minutes now. It was perceptible that the current Cyclops was much weaker than before the battle started; it didn't throw as far as before, and the speed of its throws wasn't as fast as before.

It panted heavily, and for the first time, fear appeared in its single amber eye. It probably never imagined that three such tiny humans could force it into this state.

Sensing the change, Lin Rui hurriedly reminded Su Wan. "Go all out now!"

Su Wan was already poised and ready, her wand held high as she chanted the final incantation.

Her voice was clear and firm, echoing in the hall. These were her last two spell slots in this battle, and also the ultimate move she had saved for this fight.

Su Wan immediately turned the remaining two spell slots into [Shattering Sonic Wave] and released them one by one at the Cyclops.

And Lin Rui, through a [Tactical Roll], switched the rifle in his hand to the [Tide-Raiding Harpoon] dropped earlier in this dungeon. After a brief charge, he threw the spear, piercing directly through the Cyclops's injured left ankle.

The Cyclops, in intense pain, bent down for the first time.

Su Wan's two [Shattering Sonic Wave] spells also landed on the Cyclops shortly after.

The Cyclops finally fell.