91: Chapter 91: Work Over, Back to School

The sky hadn't fully brightened yet; the east was just beginning to flush with a pale gray, and a few morning stars still hung sparsely in the sky.

Hu Jinsi was already awake. He sat up from his bunk, stretched his stiff neck, chewed on some dry rations, gulped down some cold water, and stepped out of the supply ship's cabin with his pack on his back. His vacation time was limited, and he wanted to accumulate as many points as possible; he couldn't afford the slightest bit of slacking off.

The morning sea breeze brushed against his face, carrying a salty, fishy scent that dispelled the last traces of sleepiness.

Who would have thought that less than five minutes after stepping onto the island, he would sense that something was wrong.

The terrain before him was completely different from his memory of yesterday. When he had advanced in this direction yesterday, this place had been a low-lying thicket with intertwined branches and leaves, the ground covered in thick, rotting leaves that felt soft underfoot. But now, beneath his feet was an endless sea of sand.

Large dunes undulated in the morning breeze, and the golden sand grains flowed like ripples of water. On the distant horizon, a few dead cacti stood crookedly, like some absurd decorations. Several stone statues that should have been standing in the thicket were now half-buried in the sand, with only the vague outlines of their heads visible.

The terrain had changed.

Hu Jinsi's heart tightened, and his brain stalled for a moment; he had encountered a low-probability event. This meant that all the information he had explored yesterday—the safe routes, dangerous areas, landmarks, and the simple map he had drawn by hand—was now void. Even more troublesome was that the buildings on the island with special functions would also shift in location and function, or perhaps even disappear entirely.

Sure enough, the sound of rustling footsteps came from not far away.

Hu Jinsi quickly lowered his body, hid behind a weathered rock, and held his breath. He saw several figures slowly walking over the dunes; they were not the lizardmen he had seen yesterday, but some bipedal murlocs.

These murlocs had trunks similar to humans, long limbs with distinct joint structures, were draped in simple linen cloth, and had bone daggers hanging at their waists.

But their heads were completely fish-like, with blue-gray scales covering their entire cheeks and moving gill slits on both sides, filtering moisture from the air with every opening and closing. Their bulging eyes protruded from their sockets, blinking incessantly in the dry air, covered by a layer of murky film.

Murlocs living in the desert.

Hu Jinsi's mouth twitched; he didn't know where to start complaining. Shouldn't Wonderful Adventure follow some basic rules? There should be some logic to biological evolution, right? Shouldn't murlocs stay by the water? What was the meaning of dumping them in a desert? Could anyone explain how these gill-breathing creatures survived in an arid environment?

However, in the many dungeon worlds, he had indeed seen all kinds of murlocs.

There were the Azeroth-style murlocs with heads that made up two-thirds of their body size, rushing forward while screeching, their numbers as vast as the tide; there were also the murlocs from Dragon King Warrior I whose jumping ability was even faster than a frog's, leaping three zhang high to smash down from above, their teeth as sharp as saw blades. He had even seen a deep-sea variety in class that was slimy all over and could spray ink.

But this variety that lived in the desert, with a body shape similar to a human's and just a fish head, once again pushed the limits of Hu Jinsi's perception.

He didn't want to deal with these murlocs.

From the time he became a monk until now, he had only learned how to beat up murlocs, never how to chat with them. He wasn't some Beifeng, capable of barrier-free in-depth communication with every species. He was just an ordinary monk; he should leave diplomatic matters to the professionals who were destined for it.

Hu Jinsi lowered his posture and crept forward along the edge of the dunes. The sandy ground was harder to walk on than he had imagined; every step would sink in by half a chi, and pulling his foot out took a lot of effort. Fortunately, his footwork was agile, and he tried to step on exposed rocky areas, doing his best not to disturb the patrol of murlocs wandering in the desert.

Those murlocs seemed to be adapting to the new environment as well; their movements were clumsy, and they occasionally made strange gurgling noises, as if complaining to each other about something.

---

The process of crossing the desert could be described as torture.

In over three hours, he had drunk nearly seven liters of water, but he still felt parched, and his lips were peeling and cracked. As soon as the moisture entered his body, it evaporated through sweat at an alarming rate; it simply couldn't be retained.

The sunlight grew increasingly scorching, baking the sand surface until it was hot; he could feel that searing heat even through his boots. The air temperature was absurdly high, and every breath felt like swallowing flames; his nasal cavity was so dry it felt like it was about to smoke.

Hu Jinsi covered his mouth and nose with a damp cloth, slightly alleviating the onslaught of the heatwave.

Fortunately, he had finally made it through.

The compass needle in his palm, pointing toward the missing person, no longer swayed left and right but pointed straight in one direction; the metal surface was even slightly warm. This meant the target was very close, close enough for the compass to pinpoint the location.

Hu Jinsi perked up and walked quickly in the direction of the needle. The dunes gradually thinned out, the ground turned into dry rock, and the terrain transitioned from pure sand to a sandstone Gobi desert. He climbed over a low stone ridge, and the scene before him made him freeze.

It wasn't the abandoned campsite mentioned in the guide, but a cave.

The cave entrance was about three zhang high and wide, pitch-black, as if it were a bottomless mouth. The cave walls were covered with damp water stains and moss, which were completely out of place in the surrounding arid environment.

Hu Jinsi couldn't help but sigh; the frequency with which he had been entering caves in dungeons lately was simply too high. He had thought that in this island dungeon, he would finally not have to crawl into caves, but it turned out he still couldn't escape it.

The difference was that this time, the enemies in the cave were not green-skinned orcs, but some bizarre hybrid monsters.

They had thick, sturdy trunks and limbs like crocodiles, covered in dark green scales, but on their backs grew dinosaur-like spikes, standing in rows like sharp blades. Their heads were like those of rats magnified several times over, with sharp fangs and teeth, and drool constantly dripping from the corners of their mouths.

These mutants wandered deep in the cave, making low hissing sounds, their eyes glowing with a ghostly green light in the darkness.

Fortunately, they did not ultimately fall outside the category of conventional creatures.

They could be hacked to death, smashed to pieces, and slowly worn down by physical attacks. Hu Jinsi took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and stepped deeper into the cave step by step.

The first monster lunged from the side with astonishing speed.

Hu Jinsi dodged to the side, slid his foot, and the long staff slammed into the monster's flank. The scales were as hard as iron, but the force of the staff vibrated through the scales to the internal organs; the monster let out a miserable howl and crashed into the stone wall. Before it could crawl up, Hu Jinsi had already pressed in, striking the same spot on its head with three consecutive staff blows, the sound of bones shattering clearly audible.

The subsequent fighting became easier and easier.

He discovered that although these monsters had hard shells, their joints were weak points. Moreover, they seemed to have poor eyesight, relying mainly on smell and hearing for positioning. Hu Jinsi used the stone pillars and rock crevices in the cave as cover, defeating them one by one; wherever the staff wind reached, the monsters fell to the ground.

About a quarter of an hour later, silence returned to the cave.

Hu Jinsi wiped the sweat from his forehead and stopped beside a pile of white bones in the deepest part of the cave. The pile of bones was scattered in a mess on the ground, some human-shaped, others non-human, mixed together and impossible to distinguish. Some bones had already weathered and turned yellow, crumbling into dust at the slightest touch; others still had traces of dark red, as if they had died not long ago.

Hu Jinsi squatted down, trying to identify which were the remains of the missing explorers.

But after looking for a long time, he could only distinguish which bones belonged to humans; the shape of the skull, the proportions of the limbs, and the curvature of the spine were all different from those of the monsters. Going any deeper, such as judging gender, age, or time of death through skeletal features, was really too much for him.

Thanks to watching the entire season of "Bones" in his past life, but that was as far as it went.

He simply gave up on identifying them, found a large cloth, and carefully packed all the human-shaped bones on the ground into his backpack. In any case, some of them had to be the target characters of the mission; he would take them all back to complete the task, and if there were any extras, he would let them return to the sea when the time came. As for those non-human monster bones, he didn't even touch them, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten the treasure map and the three shovels that came with the mission.

Although the terrain marked on this map was pure desert, he couldn't distinguish exactly which dune the treasure was buried under. There were too few landmarks in the desert; one dune looked almost exactly the same as another, without even a reference point. But fortunately, this mission did not mandate digging up the treasure; at worst, he could just give it up. Getting fewer points was better than wandering aimlessly in the desert.

Perhaps when the terrain changed again tomorrow, the pattern on the treasure map would change from a desert back to a jungle or other landscape, making it easier to find. Hu Jinsi folded the treasure map and stuffed it into his pocket, checked the cave carefully once more to ensure nothing was missed, and then turned to walk out of the cave.

---

In the time that followed, Hu Jinsi rushed around in the dungeon with maximum efficiency.

One round of missions after another was quickly completed by him, and the point total kept jumping and rising. Gathering rare herbs, escorting indigenous messengers, cleaning polluted springs, defeating rampaging beasts... He was like a tireless machine, shuttling back and forth on the island.

Before the first seventy-two hours were about to end, Hu Jinsi had farmed his points to nearly eight hundred.

It looked like a lot, but the things that could actually be redeemed were still mediocre.

This Wonderful Adventure dungeon had absorbed too much information from other world fragments, causing the prize pool to be severely polluted, with all sorts of messy things mixed together. When he had over five hundred points, Hu Jinsi had actually discovered kunai and military ration pills in the redemption list; clearly, a world fragment from some ninja village war had also merged into this dungeon.

Thinking of this, Hu Jinsi couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.

It was fortunate that he hadn't encountered that group of evil ninjas fighting over eyes. If he had run into a team of Sharingan wielders during his exploration, it was hard to say whether he could have escaped unscathed with his current strength. The abilities of those eyes were too bizarre—copying, hypnosis, arson—it was simply unreasonable.

Once his points reached the eight-hundred level, it wasn't completely useless.

At the very least, Hu Jinsi had discovered a Corgi-like pet in the redemption list of one of the sponsors, Royal Avalon, with fluffy short legs and a round bottom, which could help its owner find valuable items. Although it couldn't be counted on for combat power, it was quite suitable as a treasure-hunting assistant.

As for the Taishi Mansion's redemption list, it contained a powerful item called the Bagua Mirror, made of bronze, with a Taiji Bagua diagram engraved on the back, possessing the effects of exorcism and curse prevention. The holder could gain additional protection when facing undead and evil creatures, and could also reflect some negative status effects.

Unfortunately, the Bagua Mirror was not a specialty or skill to enhance combat ability, so Hu Jinsi hesitated again and again and decided to save up more. His priority now was to strengthen his own combat power, not to increase defensive means.

But another item was listed by him in his must-buy list without hesitation—[Rebirth Scroll].

The Taishi Mansion sold this type of scroll at the eight-hundred-point level; it looked like a roll of yellowed rice paper, covered with complex talismans drawn in cinnabar, and it could directly resurrect an ally who had died within three minutes. Although a person could only use it once in their life, trading one life for a second chance was worth it.

When the next seventy-two hours ended, regardless of the result, Hu Jinsi would definitely redeem one to take with him. It wasn't that he didn't want to redeem more, but the limit was strictly one per person; there was no way to buy more even if he wanted to.

He planned to share this information with Su Wan, Lin Rui, and other familiar friends after returning, believing that they would also take the time to farm this dungeon. With this kind of life-saving item, having one more person with it meant one more layer of protection.

After the first seventy-two-hour dungeon trip ended, Hu Jinsi didn't rest for a moment and turned to step into the second round of the seventy-two-hour dungeon.

This time his luck wasn't as good.

The terrain upon entering had changed from highlands to a sea area dotted with archipelagos; small islands were scattered on the azure sea surface, and one could only travel between them by paid ships, which cost dozens of credit points per trip. The initial mission had also changed to finding rare and exotic beasts; he needed to find them first, then figure out how to deal with them, combining fighting and capturing, which was very troublesome.

When Hu Jinsi finally found the rare and exotic beast hidden deep in the cave after much difficulty, he recognized its identity.

Ankylosaurus.

A troublesome existence that had been heavily introduced in the guide. It had a massive body, six meters in length and nearly two meters in height, armored all over, like a moving small mountain.

This creature might be considered friendly to ranged professionals; they could just keep their distance and slowly grind down its health, as it couldn't catch them anyway. But for a melee professional like Hu Jinsi, the Ankylosaurus was simply a nightmare.

Its armor was ridiculously high, covered all over with thick, bony plates, layered one upon another, which swords and blades could hardly damage. Hu Jinsi tried to strike it with a punch, but his fist felt like it had hit a steel plate, vibrating his arm until it went numb, and only a faint white mark was left on the Ankylosaurus's shell.

What was even more disgusting was its combat characteristic: defensive counterattack.

If you attacked it, there was a high probability of being countered. The Ankylosaurus's tail was like a giant mace; when it swung, it brought with it a whistling wind, and if it struck you, the result would be at least a bruise, or at worst, a fractured bone.

Moreover, every time he attacked the Ankylosaurus, he would suffer a slight recoil damage effect, like some kind of rebounding force. Although the damage value wasn't high—only a few points per hit—the pain was real; accumulating punch by punch, there wasn't a single spot on his body that didn't hurt.

Hu Jinsi used all his strength to finally subdue the Ankylosaurus.

He adopted a guerrilla tactic, using the terrain in the cave to circle around, attacking the Ankylosaurus's weak spots at its joints and abdomen. He was struck by its tail three times, the recoil damage accumulated to over twenty points, the bruises on his body were shocking, and blood was seeping from the corners of his mouth. Finally, the Ankylosaurus exhausted its stamina and crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Hu Jinsi leaned against the stone wall, panting heavily, feeling as if his bones were about to fall apart.

After completing this task, he unluckily received a new quest to find an orchid.

This orchid grows on remote cliffs and waterfalls; it has light purple petals and is said to possess certain medicinal properties.

While searching for the orchid, Hu Jinsi passed by a seemingly ordinary rock face carved with a faint rune.

Curious, he reached out to touch it, only for the rune to instantly erupt in a blinding light, enveloping him in a wave of spatial energy.

After a dizzying spin, he found himself standing on a different island.

Unlike the fantasy-Victorian hybrid islands in "Wonderful Adventure," this island was clearly a fragment of an otherworldly dimension that the dungeon hadn't fully assimilated.

The air was thick with an unfamiliar atmosphere, carrying the scent of gunpowder and blood.

The island was littered with Japanese-style dwellings—wooden structures with paper sliding doors.

Some houses remained exactly as they were when inhabited: bowls and chopsticks sat on the tables, and clothes hung on the walls, as if the residents had only stepped out for a moment and could return at any time.

Beside some sun-bleached bones, Hu Jinsi discovered items resembling ninja headbands.

The metal headbands were engraved with a uniform emblem.

Unfortunately, he only remembered which village the leaf-shaped one belonged to from when he read manga; he had almost no memory of the other shapes.

The patterns looked familiar, but for the life of him, he couldn't recall the names of the corresponding ninja villages.

He had initially intended to explore the island and the village further.

It was rare to reach such an unexplored area; finding something valuable would make the trip worthwhile.

The houses might contain ninjutsu scrolls, special items, or even weapons.

But he hadn't taken more than a few steps before he froze.

Standing in the clearing in front of the village were several white-faced figures.

But these white-faced figures were different from those he had seen in the archives.

They wore ninja headbands, deep blue tactical vests, scroll pouches at their waists, and short blades strapped to their backs—it was unmistakably the attire of ninjas.

Judging by the symbols on their headbands, they were at least Jonin-level beings.

Their white masks swayed gently in the breeze, revealing the hollow eye sockets beneath.

Without a word, Hu Jinsi turned and fled.

Every strategy guide emphasized that unless you had sufficient strength, you should stay far away from the white-faced figures.

Furthermore, their condition was contagious; once infected, one would gradually lose their sense of self and become one of them.

He was still young, with a long and happy life ahead of him; he wasn't willing to gamble his life on unreliable odds of immunity.

Although Hu Jinsi had aced his probability and statistics course in his previous life, he knew that on a real battlefield, only 100% and 0% were reliable.

He sprinted all the way to the edge of the island, found a hidden rock crevice, and ducked inside.

Twenty-four hours.

For twenty-four whole hours, he huddled in that narrow rock crevice, afraid to close his eyes, light a fire, or even breathe too loudly.

When hungry, he gnawed on dry rations; when thirsty, he took tiny sips of water, terrified of making the slightest sound.

Occasionally, the sound of the white-faced figures moving drifted from afar, accompanied by low, guttural roars—each noise made his heart skip a beat.

Finally, the portal reopened, and a beam of light pulled him back to the spot where he had first entered the other world.

Although he had wasted an entire day and felt frustrated, there was nothing he could do—he only had his own itchy hands to blame for touching that teleportation rune.

Due to the lost time, by the time he finished the orchid quest, there wasn't enough time left to complete the next stage.

Hu Jinsi returned to the supply ship, resigned to using the remaining time to carefully study what items to redeem.

But life often throws surprising twists.

When he opened the points redemption list, he was surprised to find a new column added, in addition to the original three major sponsors.

The contents were clearly related to his personal experience; it was because he had set foot on that fragmented island with the white-faced village that this hidden redemption branch had been triggered.

There weren't many items, but every one was a gem.

[Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique: Creates a thick fog to obscure vision.] — 1,000 points.

[Water Release: Water Walking Technique: Allows for high-speed gliding across water surfaces.] — 1,000 points.

[Water Release: Water Spitting: Spits water from the mouth, used for distraction or short-range attacks.] — 1,000 points.

[Underwater Breathing: Recycles air for a certain period, allowing for extended stays underwater.] — 1,000 points.

Below this was a small note: The actual effects of the above skills will adapt to the learner's class; they are available for your current class.

Seeing these four skill scrolls, Hu Jinsi instantly understood that the island must have been a stronghold of the Hidden Mist Village, or perhaps a fragment of the world that had originally been part of it.

Those white-faced figures wearing Hidden Mist headbands were likely ninjas from the Hidden Mist Village who had been transformed by the infection.

None of the skills were high-level, and some were merely basic courses from the ninja academy.

But for Hu Jinsi, each one was appealing.

The first, [Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique], Hu Jinsi intuitively knew would have some synergy with his Mistweaver School.

While the mist obscured vision, his Mistweaver School's Qi energy could silently permeate the fog, but the synergy was unknown and the risks uncontrollable, so he set it aside as a backup.

The second, [Water Release: Water Walking Technique], was essentially an extended version of the ninja ability to walk on water and treetops.

Hu Jinsi already possessed the simplified ability [Parkour]; obtaining this skill should significantly enhance his mobility on water and increase his duration.

The third, [Water Release: Water Spitting], was the one Hu Jinsi felt least likely to choose.

From any angle, the damage wouldn't be very high, and spitting water from his mouth... it didn't look very dignified and would easily invite mockery.

A dignified monk spitting water like a fountain during battle—the image was too absurd to contemplate.

The fourth, [Underwater Breathing], would supplement his underwater survival, but it only provided the ability to breathe, without any accompanying underwater maneuverability.

Without swimming speed boosts or underwater combat techniques, the ability to simply breathe was quite limited.

Since he had only completed two tasks during the second seventy-two-hour period, Hu Jinsi only had about 1,100 points, meaning he could only take one skill.

Beyond that, the list included many locked items shrouded in shadow.

Hu Jinsi guessed these might be extensions or advanced versions of the Hidden Mist Village skills, such as the Great Waterfall Technique or Silent Killing Technique, but they required more points to unlock.

Fortunately, there were still many public holidays in the second semester, so he would have chances to return and grind for them.

After careful consideration, Hu Jinsi chose [Water Release: Water Walking Technique].

In this round of the dungeon's archipelago terrain, he had to rely on paid boats to travel between islands, which was both time-consuming and a drain on his credits—it was a huge headache.

Although he could now use [Parkour] to walk on water, that skill only lasted for three breaths, nowhere near enough to support traveling between islands.

[Water Release: Water Walking Technique] perfectly filled this gap.

He spent 1,000 points to acquire the skill scroll, another 100 points for the only [Rebirth Scroll], and the remaining few dozen points on some charms for dealing with evil spirits, instantly spending almost all of them until only a single digit remained.

Taking advantage of the remaining time in the dungeon, Hu Jinsi planned to learn the new skill immediately.

He submerged his consciousness into the skill scroll, and lines of prompt text appeared in his field of vision:

"Detected similar skills in character class: Parkour, Unarmored Movement."

"Comparing with target skill: Water Release: Water Walking Technique."

"Assessment result: Both rely on similar life energy systems for operation, and their underlying mechanisms are highly similar. No energy conflicts or meridian rejection phenomena detected."

"Learning of Water Release: Water Walking Technique permitted. Please select the skill to fuse with Water Release: Water Walking Technique: Parkour? Unarmored Movement?"

Hu Jinsi chose [Unarmored Movement] without hesitation.

The duration of [Parkour] was too short—only three breaths—and it had gradually evolved into a displacement skill geared towards burst combat, making it unsuitable for prolonged, continuous use.

[Unarmored Movement] was different; it was a basic passive movement enhancement that had higher compatibility with the Water Walking Technique. The effect after fusion should be better.

"Fuse with Unarmored Movement."

A few minutes later, a new prompt appeared.

"Fusion complete. Water Release: Water Walking Technique has been fused into Unarmored Movement. New effect: Spend 1 Qi to gain the ability to move or stand on non-solid surfaces, such as water or treetops, for the next fifteen minutes."

Hu Jinsi couldn't wait to jump off the boat and test the effect on the nearby water.

It felt completely different from the [Parkour] method of relying on raw strength to briefly borrow force from the water.

Now, it felt as if there was an invisible air cushion beneath his feet, steadily supporting his body on the surface of the water without letting him sink.

The water's surface tension seemed to be reinforced by some power, its load-bearing capacity significantly increased; stepping on it felt as solid as walking on a soft mattress.

He tried walking a few steps; it was very stable, like walking on flat ground.

He tried standing still; his body remained floating on the water, motionless, without even the slightest sinking.

Once he got used to it, sitting or even lying down shouldn't be a problem.

Moreover, the cost was only one point of Qi for fifteen minutes.

At his current movement speed, running at full tilt for an hour could cover dozens of kilometers; one point of Qi was enough to cross the seas between the islands directly.

For any greater distance, he could just take a boat—if he couldn't run dozens of kilometers, there was really no need to try.

Hu Jinsi nodded with satisfaction, pulled back his feet, and leaped lightly onto the deck.

He spent the remaining time meditating and resting on the boat.

After leaving the dungeon, he would have to take public transport back to Wei City immediately; school started tomorrow, and he needed to be well-rested.

--- The next morning, at the gate of Wei City No. 1 High School.

Hu Jinsi appeared in the crowd right on time.

After getting off public transport, he hadn't had time to go home and had rushed straight to school with his backpack.

Although he had changed into clean clothes, a trace of travel fatigue still lingered on his brow, and there were faint dark circles under his eyes.

Many classmates were already seated in the classroom.

Seeing Hu Jinsi, they greeted him one after another, asking where he had gone for the holidays.

Everyone was gathered in small groups, sharing their experiences: which food streets they'd visited, what delicious food they'd eaten, what movies they'd seen, and which amusement parks they'd gone to.

The conversation was entirely about food and entertainment; Hu Jinsi couldn't get a word in, so he just smiled, nodded, and offered a few casual responses.

That was until Lin Rui and Su Wan walked into the classroom.

The two spotted Hu Jinsi immediately and rushed over, sandwiching him between them.

"Tell us! How was the "Wonderful Adventure" dungeon?" Lin Rui pressed impatiently, looking like a curious gossip.

"Did you find anything fun? What cool treasures did you redeem with your points?" Su Wan leaned in, another curious spectator joining the fray.

Hu Jinsi had been eager to share, and with the two urging him, he began to recount his story vividly.

From landing on the island that first night, the mapping tasks, and the hardships of the magma terrain, to the pyramid treasure hunt during the day, the unexpected find of the Incense Burner of the Dead, and then the fish-men in the desert on the second day, the mutant monsters in the caves, accidentally stumbling into the Hidden Mist Village fragment, encountering the white-faced ninja, and his newly unlocked skills...

He became more and more engrossed as he spoke, his voice unconsciously rising.

Before he knew it, a large circle of classmates had gathered around, three deep, blocking the way.

Everyone urged him to continue, and some were holding up their terminals to record videos, saying they wanted to post them in the class group chat.

Seeing this, Hu Jinsi smiled helplessly and continued his story, while also sharing the photos he'd taken and the list of items he'd redeemed with his classmates.

In the photos, the fish-men in the desert, the stranded pirate ship, the towering pyramids, and the ruined walls of the Hidden Mist Village—each one drew gasps of amazement.

None of his classmates had been to this dungeon, and even if some had heard of it, they hadn't experienced it firsthand like Hu Jinsi.

Everyone listened with rapt attention, occasionally exclaiming, and some even took out notebooks to jot down key points.

Sun Yao raised her hand and asked, "Hu Jinsi, looking at the experience you shared, why didn't anyone use flying mounts or similar items? Wouldn't flying in the sky allow you to avoid all these dangers on the ground?"

As soon as she asked this, the surrounding students quieted down and looked at Hu Jinsi in unison.

Hu Jinsi shook his head and explained, "There are dangers in the sky in this dungeon, too.

Enemies are scattered randomly across the islands, and the sky is no exception—vultures, pterodactyls, and some have even reported seeing winged people."

"This isn't like the "Dragon King Warrior I" dungeon, where flying in the sky is safe.

On the contrary, it might be even more dangerous up there because toxic mists and gale-force winds can appear at any time, and you can't dodge them."

He paused, then continued, "Someone tried that method before, but they encountered extreme weather in the sky and nearly crashed.

Perhaps the dungeon has some sort of mechanism to limit it; it doesn't want things to be too easy for us."

"Plus, most tasks involve searching for targets on the islands.

If you fly too high, your compass malfunctions, and you won't be able to find the person or object you're looking for.

So, everyone defaults to land travel.

The buildings and events on the ground are part of the rewards, too; it would be a shame to miss them."

The crowd suddenly understood and nodded in agreement.

Hu Jinsi checked the time; the class bell was about to ring.

He put away his terminal and smiled at the students around him, "Alright, that's the end of the story. I'll share more next time."