82: Chapter 82 [Sigon Saber] and Sigon Full Steel Armor

After Lin Rui and Su Wan left, the room fell silent again.

Hu Jinsi glanced at the remaining medicinal ingredients on the table; there was enough for about a dozen more portions. He rolled up his sleeves, sat back down in front of the medicine furnace, and continued his unfinished work. The flames in the furnace licked the bottom of the pot, emitting a faint "crackling" sound that seemed especially distinct in the quiet room.

He weighed the licorice, angelica, and white peony root one by one, adding them into the furnace in the order specified by the recipe.

The moment the herbs entered the furnace, a sharp, bitter fragrance rose up and permeated the entire room. He carefully controlled the heat; this was the most critical step in alchemy. If the temperature was too high, the herbs would scorch; if it was too low, the effective components wouldn't be extracted.

Ingredient after ingredient, portion after portion.

Hemostatic Powder, Detoxification Pills, Basic Defense Potions... The small porcelain bottles beside the furnace gradually lined up in a row.

When he looked up again, the sunlight outside the window had shifted from the piercing brightness of noon to the lazy, warm yellow of the afternoon, slanting through the gaps in the curtains and casting a long streak of light on the floor. The sound of cicadas began to rise and fall, as if it were the eternal background noise of summer.

He glanced at the time on his terminal; it was a little past 4:00 PM.

Lin Rui hadn't been idle. The message box contained the final model and detailed parameter table of the all-terrain vehicle he had sent, densely listed over several pages, with descriptions ranging from engine power to tire tread patterns.

Hu Jinsi scanned it, circled a few key data points, and replied with a "Let's chat in detail at school tomorrow" sticker. Since it was in stock and could be ordered at any time, there was no rush.

He put down his terminal, walked to the window, and pushed it open to let in some air.

A cool breeze mixed with the summer heat blew in, carrying the scent of damp earth from the newly watered lawn downstairs. In the shade of the plane trees downstairs, two familiar figures were taking turns riding that [ practice flying broom ] back and forth at low altitude.

It was the two little girls, Su Qing and Su Yu, each taking a turn flying, arguing delightfully. The tail of the broom swept back and forth in the air less than a meter off the ground, looking like two dragonflies hovering at low altitude. When Su Yu flew, she deliberately lowered her body, putting on a posture of diving, scaring Su Qing into shouting "Watch out for the tree!" from the side.

A circle of other children from the neighborhood gathered around, all with their necks craned, eyes full of envy, wishing they could get on and ride a lap themselves.

"I want to ride that..."

"Is that a magic broom? So cool!"

"Which class are they from? How do they have this kind of equipment?"

The parents nearby were sitting on benches chatting with peace of mind. In their eyes, this thing didn't fly high or run fast, so it was essentially no different from the electric rocking chairs in the park.

One middle-aged woman even smiled and said: "This thing is quite good, safer than a skateboard. It's slow and leisurely; I'll buy one for my kid when I get back."

Watching this scene full of life downstairs, Hu Jinsi couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction.

He simply leaned against the windowsill and watched quietly for a while. Sunlight leaked through the leaves, creating dancing spots of light on the ground. In the distance, residents were cooking, and the aroma of stir-fried green peppers and meat drifted through the air, making one's stomach growl. Someone was playing music, which drifted over faintly—it was a very old song.

(This kind of life...)

He squinted his eyes and smiled unconsciously.

(It's not bad.)

Withdrawing his gaze, he ordered takeout. While waiting, he scrolled through the class group chat and found that the gossip content today was unusually low. It seemed everyone had just returned from the dungeon, exhausted and too tired to type complaints. There were only a few scattered messages, mostly asking things like "Are we going to that dungeon again next week?"

However, one topic was flooding the screen.

The reviews for [ Dragon King Warrior I ] were severely polarized. The first two levels were called "newbie-friendly," with people saying "you can pass by just playing casually"; the later levels were wildly boycotted, with some even declaring they wouldn't enter this dungeon again next week even if they died, preferring to start from scratch in other dungeons.

Hu Jinsi raised an eyebrow and read the complaints one by one.

"Is that hillside in the third level meant for people to walk on? I almost tumbled down three times!"

"The cave in the fourth level is pitch black; torches are useless!"

"That ghost ship in the fifth level made me vomit twice. I never want to ride a boat again in my life."

"I climbed until I collapsed in the sixth level. I suggest renaming it 'Mountain Climbing Simulator'."

He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

That was because they hadn't experienced the torture of [ Ragefire Chasm ]. You had to drink a bottle of water after walking two steps in 50-degree heat, there wasn't even a place to sit by the lava pool, and the floor was hot enough to fry an egg. Compared to that, this dungeon, aside from being tiring, really wasn't too anti-human.

The takeout arrived quickly. While shoveling down the fried rice from his box, he quickly browsed other messages. There was nothing important, and there were no new notices from the school. On his social feed, someone was showing off their loot from today's dungeon: a dagger glowing with blue light, with the caption "Finally got a drop," and the comment section was full of people "soaking up the luck."

After finishing the takeout, he tidied up the medicinal residue on the table, cleaned the medicine furnace, and checked the refined potions again: thirty bottles of Basic Healing Potion, sixteen bottles of Detoxification Pills, eighteen portions of Hemostatic Powder, fourteen bottles of Basic Defense Potion, and fifteen portions of Qi Circulation Powder. They were neatly arranged in the cabinet like a row of small trophies.

Only then did he sit cross-legged on the meditation cushion and slowly close his eyes.

Qi flowed through his meridians, and the fragrance of medicine, not yet dissipated, lingered at the tip of his nose, making him feel exceptionally peaceful.

The cicadas outside the window gradually faded away, and his consciousness became clear and empty.

---

The next morning, the three members of the squad went to school together.

The turmoil from yesterday's dungeon seemed to have passed, and everyone had returned to their daily rhythm.

Before class, Hu Jinsi first handed over most of the miscellaneous materials to the class monitor. The monitor sighed while counting: "Your squad's efficiency is something else; you always have surplus stock, while other groups are still worrying about not having enough materials."

"Just good luck." Hu Jinsi smiled and turned to leave.

Just as he reached the corner of the corridor, he saw the three members of the Gunpowder Squad had already arrived. Zhou Hao was leaning against the railing scrolling through his terminal, while Li Hao and Chen Yu were arguing about something, their voices quite loud.

"Gunpowder Squad." Lin Rui called out, "Come over here, I have something to tell you."

The six of them found a corner and formed a circle. Zhou Hao put away his terminal, and Li Hao and Chen Yu stopped arguing, looking over curiously.

As partners who always exchanged information, the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad did not hide anything this time and told them directly:

"Actually, we have already cleared this dungeon."

The three members of the Gunpowder Squad were stunned.

"Holy crap, for real?" Li Hao's eyes widened, his voice raising an octave.

"Real." Su Wan nodded, "But the clearing experience wasn't very good. The situation is like this..."

She repeated the same explanation she had given to the Pear Garden Squad: the sixth level took a day and a half to climb, and their legs were almost broken; the ghost ship swayed slowly on the sea, wasting a lot of time; the terrain was extremely unfriendly to non-agility classes, and mages like Zhou Wen were basically unable to move; the drops were also unsatisfactory, with the six bosses having almost no equipment suitable for Hu Jinsi and Su Wan.

Hu Jinsi continued to add a few questions that the Gunpowder Squad might be more concerned about:

"Speaking of drops, we analyzed based on the attributes of these bosses, and your squad's class composition might not be able to get a single suitable piece of equipment in this dungeon."

He brought up a few pictures on his terminal, not official data from the school, but photos of the bosses they had taken themselves before the battle. The humanoid monsters were almost all shirtless, without even armor, and their weapons were all heavy weapons; as for the non-humanoid monsters, there was no need to count on them.

"Your Gunpowder Squad has a firearms expert, a mech warrior, and an alchemist—who could use this kind of equipment?"

Zhou Hao stared at the screen for a long time. The equipment in those photos was heavier than the last, completely at the opposite extreme from their squad's combat style. Then he silently gave Hu Jinsi a thumbs up.

"We were originally planning to use the speed advantage of our transforming motorcycles to try this dungeon." Zhou Hao sighed, "Since the drops are so unsuitable for us, there's really no need to try it in the short term. It would be a waste of time and getting nothing, which isn't worth the loss."

"A wise choice." Hu Jinsi patted his shoulder.

Next, the topic turned to the Gunpowder Squad's exploration over the past few days.

Speaking of [ The Cathedral ] dungeon, the Gunpowder Squad had only one word to describe it: big.

"Unusually big." Zhou Hao gestured, his hands drawing a huge circle in the air, "Even with the help of vehicles, we only explored three areas this week: the Dark Forest, Black Marsh, and the Tamoe Highlands. We reached the outer corridor of The Cathedral at the furthest point and activated the teleportation array there; we didn't have time to go any deeper."

The enemy types hadn't changed much, still the same classic monsters as before, just slightly strengthened.

"But the further we went, the higher the proportion of ranged enemies." Chen Yu added, his expression somewhat depressed, "There are a large number of skeleton archers ambushing everywhere in the wild on the Tamoe Highlands. They'll shoot an arrow at you out of nowhere; it's very annoying. Just when you dodge one wave, another wave pops out from behind a rock."

"There are no Underground Caves in the Dark Forest," Li Hao said, "but there is a group of Giant Beast-type elite monsters. They look like oversized brown bears, and their size is astonishing. We didn't get close to test them; we just rode our motorcycles and kited them to death from a distance, so we don't really know what skills they have. I guess they wouldn't be easy to deal with in close quarters."

"There are two places worth noting in the Black Marsh." Zhou Hao pulled up the map and pointed to the markings on it, "One is the entrance to an Underground Cave, and the other is a huge black tower. We only explored the Underground Cave this week; there were quite a few monsters inside, but the path wasn't too complicated. We plan to explore the black tower next week. As for the Tamoe Highlands, we didn't find any Underground Caves."

While the Gunpowder Squad was talking, they scratched their heads a bit embarrassedly: "It was the first week of exploring the dungeon, so we didn't get much, and there wasn't much new information, not as fierce as you guys, clearing the dungeon in one week."

"Exploration is the priority, no rush." Lin Rui comforted, "A dungeon of the scale of [ The Cathedral ] can't be explored in four or five weeks. Your progress is already considered fast."

"But we didn't come away completely empty-handed." Zhou Hao suddenly smiled mysteriously and pulled a long, strip-shaped package from his backpack, unwrapping it layer by layer.

It was a greatsword.

The three members of the squad leaned over to take a look.

Regardless of Lin Rui and Su Wan's reactions, the moment Hu Jinsi saw that sword, he froze.

A familiar feeling rushed into his heart.

( sigons set... )

The sword lay quietly in Zhou Hao's hands.

The sword body was about three feet long, tapering evenly from the hilt to the tip, and the whole body was a dull iron-gray. On the surface of the blade near the hilt, large areas of original forging marks remained, as if it had just been taken out of the blacksmith's shop. But as one's gaze moved toward the tip, those forging marks were gradually replaced by dense horizontal scratches and rust spots of varying depths.

There was a very shallow blood groove in the center of the spine, which was less like it had been deliberately carved and more like a depression formed by repeated wear after countless slashes. The groove was filled with dried, blackened grime, making its original color indistinguishable.

The entire sword gave off a sense of age—not sharp or mighty, but heavy, worn, and bearing the flavor of something repeatedly used and carelessly treated. It was like some old veteran, face weathered, silently recounting the past.

The moment Hu Jinsi's fingertips touched the blade, the attribute panel popped up.

[sigons saber]

[Type: Set / One-handed Heavy Sword]

[Damage: 10-20]

[Effect 1: Increases attack speed by 25%.]

[Effect 2: Slightly (+2) increases hit chance.]

[Effect 3: 25% chance to trigger an additional 50% damage on hit.]

[Effect 4: Indestructible.]

[— — Sigon's Steel Armor Set — — 1/6

sigons saber √

Sigon's Visor X

Sigon's Armor X

Sigon's Gauntlets X

Sigon's Boots X

Sigon's Belt X]

Hu Jinsi looked at this set list, memories surging in his heart.

(Sigon's set... Back in the day, no matter how many times he farmed, he could never complete the set. In the end, he only managed to complete it using a mod. He never expected to see these familiar names again after transmigrating to this world.)

Looking at the attributes alone, this sword wasn't particularly outstanding. There were no flashy special effects, just simple stat bonuses: attack speed, hit chance, critical hit probability, and a plain "Indestructible" trait. It was slightly better than the white-tier heavy sword Lin Rui was currently using, but not by an outrageous margin.

But the strongest point of this sword was written in its set attributes.

It was part of the six-piece "Sigon's Steel" set. The weapon itself listed the names of the other five pieces: Visor, Armor, Gauntlets, Boots, and Belt. Obviously, this was a complete heavy armor set, covering every equipment slot from head to toe.

The three members of the Gunpowder Squad obviously couldn't wear this kind of heavy armor, which is why they were selling it.

Lin Rui stared at the sword, his eyes slightly glazed.

His current go-to melee weapon was still a white-tier heavy sword dropped from [Burning Village], plus the [Tide-Raiding Harpoon] he had just obtained; those were all his melee belongings.

Although opportunities to use melee weapons in boss fights had become increasingly rare recently—after all, pistols and rifles had higher output efficiency—as a melee class, having a decent weapon in hand was always more reassuring.

Seeing Lin Rui's tempted look, Hu Jinsi spoke up on his behalf:

"How much do you want for it?"

"Let's get this straight first, don't try to gouge us. I know the attributes say it's a set, but you know the drop rate for sets better than anyone. It's highly unlikely we'll even be able to collect three pieces by the end of this semester. There's a high chance we'll just be using this one piece all semester without ever getting the set effect."

Zhou Hao shrugged, his expression very candid: "We know this thing isn't outstanding in terms of attributes alone, so we aren't planning to rip you off. We'll sell it at a normal price. The only condition is that if you guys get any equipment suitable for us in the future, you sell it to us at a fair price too. Mutual help, right?"

"Deal."

Lin Rui transferred 6,000 credits without hesitation and took the heavy sword from the Gunpowder Squad.

As soon as he held the sword, he felt its heavy weight—the center of gravity was clearly shifted forward, with a dragging sensation at the tip of the blade, requiring a certain amount of strength to handle when swinging. The blade had no inscriptions, emblems, or any decorative carvings, only the marks left by actual combat. Scratches, rust spots, dried dark stains, and a grip blackened by sweat from long-term use.

This was an old partner that had been polished repeatedly. Silent, heavy, reliable.

Lin Rui tried swinging it in the air twice, and the wind whistled. Although he wasn't used to the forward-leaning center of gravity, the solid feel made him very satisfied.

"Not bad." He grinned.

After the two sides finished exchanging information, the class bell rang. The six people returned to their respective classrooms, sat in their seats, and waited for the teacher to start the lecture.

This class was a dungeon review session. Since most students had chosen [Dragon King Warrior I], the teacher's explanation focused on this dungeon, especially strategies for dealing with complex terrain. For example, how to safely pass the steep hillside in the third stage, movement techniques on the trestle bridge, stamina allocation plans for the sixth stage, and so on.

While listening, Hu Jinsi silently complained in his heart that these strategies were all "ideal scenarios." Once actually inside the dungeon, the terrain changed unpredictably; where were there so many standard answers? But on the surface, he pretended to take notes, nodding from time to time, looking "greatly enlightened."

Su Wan, sitting next to him, wanted to laugh.

During the break, the three of them were stopped by the class monitor.

"Teacher Fan wants you to go to the office."

The three of them knew exactly what was up—what was bound to come would come.

Fortunately, they had prepared themselves mentally long ago. Hu Jinsi gave Lin Rui and Su Wan a wink, and the three of them straightened their clothes, pretending to be calm as they walked toward the teacher's office building.

The corridor was so quiet that they could hear their own footsteps. At the office door, Hu Jinsi knocked three times.

"Come in."

Pushing the door open, Teacher Fan was sitting behind his desk, holding a cup of tea, looking at the three of them. The sunlight outside the window shone on his graying hair, making him look a bit kinder than usual, but the three of them knew this was just an appearance.

"Sit."

The three of them sat down on the chairs opposite in turn, their expressions as obedient as three kittens waiting to be fed.

Teacher Fan put down his teacup, swept his gaze over the three faces, and spoke slowly: "Do you have anything you want to tell me?"

Hu Jinsi represented the three of them in playing dumb, blinked, and said with feigned innocence: "Nothing to say, Teacher Fan. Did you call us here to arrange something?"

Teacher Fan raised his eyebrows, his eyes sharpening a bit: "About the progress of the [Dragon King Warrior I] dungeon, don't you have anything to say?"

"This matter?" Hu Jinsi scratched his head, his expression a bit troubled, "Didn't you just let us leave when we were halfway through talking last time?"

Upon hearing this, Teacher Fan almost slammed his teacup on the table, making a gesture of getting angry. His face flushed red, and his lips trembled twice.

Su Wan quickly spoke up before the teacher could get angry, her voice soft, carrying a hint of grievance:

"Teacher Fan, the thing is, last time we really did talk about the ghost ship, and as we were talking, you started explaining things to us, and then you let us leave after you finished. We really hadn't had a chance to tell you about the sixth stage and what we saw."

Teacher Fan was stunned for a moment.

His brain rapidly replayed the scene from a few days ago...

It seemed... that was indeed the case?

He remembered that when the three were halfway through, he had interrupted to explain the situation of the ghost ship, saying things like "the ghost ship is a special mechanism, not an ordinary sailing ship." And then he said "you guys go back first"...

(No!)

Teacher Fan suddenly came to his senses.

(These three brats are playing tricks! They could have told me where they reached the very first sentence they saw me, but they deliberately talked about the difficulties they encountered first, making me interrupt the topic myself, and then they took the opportunity to leave. This is psychological warfare! They are guiding my attention!)

He took a deep breath, adjusted his expression, and tried hard to show a kind smile, but the corners of his mouth twitched twice, clearly not very successful.

"Then can you tell me now," he said word by word, "where exactly did you reach?"

Su Wan put on an innocent expression and blinked: "We cleared the dungeon 5 minutes before it closed. It's just that the process of clearing was quite arduous, and the harvest was not very good."

Teacher Fan's expression froze for a moment, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

"...Cleared it?"

"Yes." Su Wan nodded, her expression looking serious enough that it didn't seem like she was lying.

"Then why didn't you brag about it in class? And I haven't seen you share this news with other students?" Teacher Fan's tone carried a bit of suspicion, "According to your style last semester, shouldn't the whole class know if you cleared a dungeon?"

Lin Rui took over the conversation at this point, his expression a bit dull:

"Teacher Fan, this dungeon... how should I put it, we didn't have a very pleasant time clearing it, and the harvest was not good. Like Hu Jinsi, he barely got any equipment, and everyone was very unhappy in the dungeon."

"And during the clearance process, we consumed quite a few of the consumables we had saved up. Overall, we didn't gain much benefit or improvement from this dungeon."

He paused, then continued: "We didn't share it after leaving the dungeon. As soon as we share it, others will ask us what we gained, but our harvest was really not worth showing off. You also know that Hu Jinsi and the others didn't get a single piece of usable equipment; it would be so embarrassing to say that out loud."

"But we didn't completely say nothing. We quietly shared the strategy with the Pear Garden Squad and the Gunpowder Squad, since we have a good relationship. As for the other classmates, I guess we will tell them in the next two days."

"And you also know," Lin Rui spread his hands, "there's not much point in talking about this dungeon. The difficulty isn't actually in how hard it is to fight monsters, but in how torturous it is to travel during the level progression. Sharing the strategy just means telling everyone 'bring more food, prepare transportation,' there's no technical content."

After listening, Teacher Fan was silent for a moment.

As a teacher, the information he possessed at this stage was indeed more than the students. The information Lin Rui mentioned basically matched the dungeon situation he understood. The class composition of the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad was indeed not advantageous in this dungeon, their mobility was average, and they couldn't get any benefits from the drops. Hu Jinsi's Monk class and Su Wan's Bard, in this dungeon crowded with power-type bosses, really couldn't get any advantages.

It was likely over eighty percent true.

Teacher Fan sighed, waved his hand: "Alright, you guys go back. Next time there is important progress, report it immediately, don't let me hear news about you from other people's mouths again."

"Yes."

The three of them got up obediently and filed out. When closing the door, Su Wan thoughtfully closed it gently, making a soft "click" sound.

Leaving the office, the three of them walked to the corner of the corridor and finally let out a long breath.

"Phew—we passed." Lin Rui wiped the non-existent sweat on his forehead; his back was actually soaked.

"Almost gave it away." Su Wan said in a low voice, patting her chest, "Teacher Fan almost remembered, that was close. The look on his face changed like a color palette."

"Three people working together, invincible in the world." Hu Jinsi made a gesture, a smug smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.

In fact, they weren't completely lying. After all, Hu Jinsi and Su Wan really didn't have much harvest, and although Lin Rui got equipment, it couldn't be considered a "valuable harvest." As for the Orc bloodline they got... that thing was strictly speaking a consumable, not equipment.

(Didn't lie, just told half the truth. This is called the art of language. Good kids don't lie.)

The three exchanged a smile that only they understood, bumped shoulders, and walked toward the training ground.

The afternoon courses were mainly practical training.

The three of them pulled Zhou Wen to the school's special simulation training ground and began to practice the new configuration. The weather today was nice, and the sunlight shone through the transparent roof of the training ground, making the whole venue bright and transparent.

This practice was not focused on combat; by the end of the last semester, the four of them already had a considerable degree of tacit understanding in combat. Although Zhou Wen was a mage, he was not the main damage dealer himself, but rather focused on control and support. So today's focus was on coordinated advancement under complex terrain.

The school was clearly well-prepared. The usually flat training ground had been partially transformed this week into various steep and complex terrains, simulating hillsides, cliffs, narrow bridges, gravel beaches, and even a small patch of artificial marsh. The edges of the field were filled with marker flags, with different colors representing different terrain difficulties.

As soon as Su Wan and Zhou Wen's [practice flying broom] made its appearance, it immediately drew a crowd of surrounding students.

"Is that... a flying broom?!"

"For real? Does the mall already have this kind of equipment?"

"It looks so cool! I want to ride one too!"

"Isn't that Su Wan? And that is... Zhou Wen?"

Everyone crowded around, chattering away—some curious, some envious, and some skeptical.

But some raised doubts:

"The speed is as slow as a stroll; what's the use of this thing in a dungeon?"

"Exactly, it's as slow as walking, not even as fast as running."

"It looks like a toy..."

Before the doubts could fade, Su Wan and Zhou Wen exchanged a glance and each recited a spell.

[Longstrider]!

[Spider Climb]!

Two rays of magical light landed on the two magic brooms. The next second, the brooms, which had been hovering leisurely in mid-air, suddenly accelerated and shot out like two arrows released from a bowstring!

"Whoosh—"

Su Wan sped along the simulated mountain road, the tail of the broom leaving an afterimage as it traced a graceful arc along the path. She deliberately performed a sharp turn, tilting the broom until it was almost touching the ground, then pulled it up steadily, drawing a gasp from the surrounding crowd.

Zhou Wen was even more dramatic. He maneuvered his broom to fly right along the edge of the field, gliding at high speed along the fence for a lap before flying straight up to the ceiling of the indoor arena. He did a lap while hanging upside down, then landed steadily, without even a wrinkle in his clothes.

"Holy crap!"

"It can even fly upside down?!"

"It's this fast after the buff?!"

The watching students all let out gasps of "Wow!", their jaws hitting the floor. Some even pulled out their terminals to take photos and videos, ready to post on their social media.

Knowing is one thing, but imitating it is unrealistic.

After all, this effect could only be achieved by two caster classes working together—one to buff movement speed, and one to provide terrain adaptability.

The number of awakened casters is far smaller than other classes, and it's hard for a normal squad to scrape together two or more casters. Most teams don't even have one mage, let alone two who happen to have learned different auxiliary spells.

"It's not without its drawbacks." Su Wan jumped off the broom and brushed the dust off her skirt. "Even with the buff, this thing can't travel on water. You'll just fall straight through, just like on normal ground."

"Otherwise, I'd really want to try flying straight across the water to the sixth level, instead of having to take that slow-moving boat."

As for Lin Rui, the all-terrain vehicle hadn't arrived yet, so the main task for today was to finalize which vehicle to buy with Hu Jinsi.

The two found a bench in the corner of the field and sat down, analyzing the data Lin Rui had collected item by item. After investigating, Lin Rui had listed three alternatives, each corresponding to different usage scenarios.

[Wild Antelope (Light Recon Vehicle)] [Type: Large Object / General Vehicle] [Vehicle Space: 1 medium-sized rider] [Speed: 65 km/h (Paved) / 45 km/h (Off-road)] [Max Payload: 200 kg (including driver and personal equipment)] [Feature: Extremely lightweight body, has an advantage when traveling in woodland/hilly terrain.]

[Rockhorn Ox (Heavy Transport Vehicle)] [Type: Large Object / General Vehicle] [Vehicle Space: 2 medium-sized passengers + cargo bed] [Speed: 40 km/h (Paved) / 25 km/h (Off-road)] [Max Payload: 650 kg (including driver and personal equipment)] [Feature: No extra movement cost when moving in difficult terrain (swamp, gravel, steep slopes).]

[Sand Fox (Fast Patrol Vehicle)] [Type: Large Object / General Vehicle] [Vehicle Space: 2 medium-sized passengers (side-by-side seating)] [Speed: 55 km/h (Paved) / 38 km/h (Off-road)] [Max Payload: 350 kg (including driver and personal equipment)] [Feature: Standard mount reserved at the rear of the vehicle, can fix one medium-sized weapon (such as a ballista or light artillery).]

The prices for the three vehicles were 4,600, 6,900, and 10,500 credits, respectively.

Hu Jinsi ruled out the [Sand Fox] at first glance; that mount was for fixing medium-sized weapons, and the three-person squad clearly didn't need that feature. Buying it would be a waste of money.

That left the [Wild Antelope] and the [Rockhorn Ox], one a light recon vehicle and the other a heavy transport vehicle. The former had the advantage of speed and agility, with bonuses in woodland and hilly areas; the latter could carry two people and had additional advantages in difficult terrain.

"I think the Antelope is fine." Hu Jinsi said, tapping the screen with his finger. "Our main needs are to improve mobility and save stamina, not load capacity. You're riding it alone, so speed is more important. Plus, the price is only 4,600, less than half the price of the Rockhorn Ox."

"Alright, then the Antelope it is."

But before placing the order, Hu Jinsi suddenly thought of a question.

"Wait." He frowned. "The Antelope's payload limit is 200 kg... how much do you weigh after adding your equipment?"

Lin Rui scratched his head: "I haven't weighed it."

"Let's go, let's go to the infirmary and weigh it."

The two arrived at the school infirmary and stepped onto the scale.

The result came out, and it could only be said that it barely passed. Lin Rui's total weight fully armed was still a short safe distance from 200 kg, but not by much—there was probably only about a dozen kilograms of margin left.

Hu Jinsi hadn't expected all of Lin Rui's scattered equipment to add up to so much weight. Usually, he only noticed the weight of his shield and armor, but had never paid attention to the weapon he carried.

Just that [Sigon's Sword-Breaker] weighed dozens of catties, not to mention the spare weapons, ammunition, various consumables, tool kits...

"You're basically a walking hunk of iron." Hu Jinsi sighed. "No wonder you were so tired climbing the mountain last time; carrying such heavy stuff for a day and a half would exhaust anyone."

Lin Rui, however, didn't care. His strength attribute had reached the critical point of 20 points after getting the [Giant's Waistband], which was the peak strength for a normal human. This gear, which looked outrageously heavy to others, felt no different from normal clothes to him; he could lift it with a wave of his hand.

However, to "cherish" Hu Jinsi's little car, he promised to keep his weapons in his backpack during travel and take them out when getting off.

"Don't worry, I won't crush your car." Lin Rui said with a smile.

After the discussion, Hu Jinsi placed the order on his terminal right there. It was expected that the vehicle would be delivered to his building by the time he got home from school.

The terrain test on Su Wan and Zhou Wen's side had also concluded.

Conclusion: The [practice flying broom] had basically no major problems with passing through complex terrain. It could smoothly pass through gravel beaches, steep slopes, and narrow bridges; it just needed to detour around some particularly tall rocks.

But with the buff of [Spider Climb], the two could completely fly along the outside of the rock wall without having to jump off the broom to walk, so it wasn't too much trouble.

The only problem was that turning in narrow spaces was a bit difficult; the broom's turning radius was larger than walking, and in particularly narrow passages, it required a bit more maneuvering to change direction.

"Overall, the pros outweigh the cons." Zhou Wen summarized. "It's much better than walking on my own."

There was still some time before school ended, so the three squad members pulled Zhou Wen back to the classroom.

The three sat in a circle at their seats and began explaining the skills and characteristics of the bosses in each level to Zhou Wen. Lin Rui was responsible for explaining the attack patterns of melee bosses, Hu Jinsi added tactical points, and Su Wan shared her perspective as a Bard.

Neither Lin Rui nor Hu Jinsi were true caster classes, so it wasn't appropriate to directly interfere with Zhou Wen's spell selection. They just objectively described each boss's attack methods, weaknesses, and things to watch out for, letting Zhou Wen filter and prepare for himself.

Talking through one boss after another, Zhou Wen listened attentively, making notes on his terminal from time to time.

The specific choices could be discussed after entering the dungeon; that wasn't a big problem.

After hearing the three's description, Zhou Wen pondered for a moment and quickly made a decision.

"I chose the Divination School when I was level 11." He said. "Therefore, compared to before, my combat power hasn't improved much. This school mostly strengthens auxiliary abilities in the early stages, such as sensing danger in advance, increasing teammates' hit rate, and so on."

"Since what the squad lacks in this dungeon isn't damage output, I can convert all my spell slots into an auxiliary direction."

"When pushing forward, I'll switch everything to safety spells like [Longstrider], [Spider Climb], and [Feather Fall]. This ensures the team can pass quickly through sections with complex terrain and avoid accidental casualties."

"During boss fights, I'll switch to crowd control spells, similar to [Tashas Hideous Laughter], adding more control to the boss and providing an extra layer of insurance. This gives Lin Rui more room to deal damage and allows Jinsi to position himself more flexibly."

"As for damage... the Divination School doesn't have much of a bonus for second-circle spells, so it's better to just use zero-circle cantrips like [Ray of Frost] or [Shocking Arc], which is faster-paced and won't waste high-circle spell slots."

He paused and looked at the three: "What do you think?"

The three squad members readily agreed to this plan.

After all, the tricky part of this dungeon was never how hard the monsters were to fight, but how torturous the travel was. Zhou Wen's willingness to actively sacrifice damage output and devote himself fully to support was a godsend for the squad.

With his [Longstrider] and [Spider Climb] buffs, plus the two magic brooms, the entire squad's mobility would be elevated to a new level. The mountain road on the sixth level, which used to take a day and a half to finish, might now be handled in half a day. The third-level cliff, which used to make people tremble with fear, could now be calmly flown over on a broom.

"Then it's settled." Hu Jinsi reached out.

The four stacked their hands together and gave a light squeeze.

"Next week's dungeon," Hu Jinsi said, "we sprint to clear it."

"Sprint to clear!"

He had already imagined the scene of success in his mind.

(Clearing the dungeon twice in 72 hours is not a dream.)