97: You don’t know what you’re going to encounter, right?

Most of the Secret Realm consists of trial stages, but Ye Ze hasn't discovered them yet.

He activated his Eye of Insight, only to find no other Professional nearby.

“Hmm? Has no one entered the dungeon yet?”

“Or is the Secret Realm too vast, separating everyone too far apart?”

At least for now, it seems the Secret Realm, like the 'Ancient Battlefield', randomly places Professionals.

Ye Ze's luck, whether good or bad, led to a monster appearing right before him!

It was a giant humanoid rock several meters tall, or rather, a rock-like giant!

【Great Stone Man (Lv.50)】

Type: Excellent Grade Secret Realm Monster

————

As an Excellent Grade Secret Realm Monster, his attributes weren't particularly high.

But he possessed two special innate skills: Defense increased by 500%...

And, after the Great Stone Man dies, he will split into several 'Stone Men'; after the Stone Men die, they will split into several 'Small Stone Men'!

Double nesting dolls!

If it truly came down to it, the number of Small Stone Men would be unimaginable!

For other pioneering teams, this would likely be an extra headache; working so hard only to see 'Small Stone Men' at the end would probably cause them to lose their composure.

Fortunately, the Mantis almost perfectly counters this monster.

The +5 enhancement of his armblades allows him to ignore 100% defense; the effect of 'Death Verdict' ignores splitting, resurrection, and so on...

Thus, the Mantis unleashed an 'Annihilation' slash.

The Level 50 Great Stone Man was instantly swallowed by nothingness...

At the same time, the Reaper effect triggered, restoring his mana and resetting 'Annihilation's' cooldown.

【Killed Great Stone Man, gained experience +5000 (+100%)!】

Compared to the Demon Wormhole dungeon, the experience here was incredibly generous!

Simultaneously, after the Great Stone Man died, he left a small patch of pinkish-white lotus petal on the spot...

The Squirrel Shadow Clone immediately ran over and helped Ye Ze retrieve it.

This was no ordinary lotus petal, but rather... a lotus petal.

【lotus petal: An important item in the Secret Realm...】

This small lotus petal had a description spanning over a dozen lines!

Only then did Ye Ze understand... this was the crucial item for progressing through the Secret Realm and even exchanging for treasures!

In short—

Effect One: lotus petals are like points. When the number of petals places a Professional among the top ten in the Secret Realm, they can enter a deeper layer of the Secret Realm!

Effect Two: The Secret Realm has three layers, each with corresponding treasures and rewards that require lotus petals for exchange.

The only thing to note is that if too many items are exchanged, consuming too many petals...

Causing the number of petals to drop out of the top ten, then one cannot enter the next layer of the Secret Realm.

A choice must be made between exchanging items and maintaining rank to enter the next layer of the Secret Realm.

However, at this moment, Ye Ze looked at the pinkish-white lotus petal in his hand, lost in thought...

“Secret Realm... lotus...”

After a moment of contemplation, he shook his head, “In any case, I'll find enough lotus petals first!”

As long as there are enough lotus petals, he won't have to consider whether to exchange for items or maintain his rank to enter the next layer...

I want it all!

But at this very moment.

Ye Ze suddenly sensed a person nearby!

It was a Professional, a Professional who had just been randomly teleported by the Secret Realm!

“I actually ran into a person from N/A first! Hehe!”

Following the sound, he saw that the person had also spotted Ye Ze and was surprisingly excited:

“It's actually you!?”

The man before him had one eye covered by an eyepatch; he was clearly a member of the Free Empire whom Ye Ze had encountered before entering the Secret Realm!

Seeing Ye Ze, he chuckled, “You should be glad you entered the Secret Realm early!”

“You probably don't know what your N/A has suffered yet, do you?!”

The one-eyed man's tone was somewhat gloating, almost mocking.

Upon hearing this, Ye Ze was slightly stunned, but his smile returned in the next moment:

“You probably don't know what you're about to suffer, do you?”

The one-eyed man froze.

The next moment, a black and white figure, as soon as he was summoned, moved with lightning speed, flashing beside the opponent.

The one-eyed man's heart stopped, and his entire nervous system sent out a danger warning!

He was a Fourth-Tier rare Professional, the Sea King. Although he was on a mountain at the moment, his crisis pre-warning ability was still very strong.

But even so, when the crisis warning appeared, that Panda had already reached him!

His speed was ridiculously fast!

The one-eyed man instinctively retreated in time, wanting to immediately pull off his eyepatch and reveal his other eye, displaying his full strength.

But it was already too late.

'Martial Saint Domain', activate!

'Martial Saint Aura'! 'Martial Arts Mastery'!

'Aggressive as Fire'! 'moving like thunder'!

To ensure the opponent was crippled in one blow, the Panda opened his domain upon meeting... causing the one-eyed man's movements to become sluggish.

Immediately after, a heavy bear paw, like a clap of thunder, slammed down, hitting the one-eyed man's fragile head...

Blood splattered, and a section of his skull was caved in.

The one eye that the one-eyed man had kept covered to hide his strength was completely blinded by this blow.

However, for him, he didn't need to worry too much about this eye, as he wouldn't live much longer anyway.

The one-eyed man was knocked unconscious to the ground, critically wounded and on the verge of death.

Seeing this, Ye Ze was not surprised.

He had previously thought that Fourth-Tier opponents were harder to deal with... which was somewhat due to lingering factors from the Ancient Battlefield.

He subconsciously treated his opponents as Fourth-Tier teams of five or more.

Facing a team would be more troublesome.

But you came alone now...

Isn't that just seeking death?

The Martial Saint Domain closed. With the Panda's single strike, the one-eyed man was left with only one breath.

As a Martial Saint, his control over strength was quite precise; there was no mistake of killing him directly...

【Absolute Domination】!

A powerful mental force emanated from Ye Ze, directly controlling the one-eyed man.

In his current state, the latter had no ability to resist whatsoever.

“What happened outside after I entered the Secret Realm?”

What the one-eyed man had said earlier had somewhat surprised Ye Ze.

Although the one-eyed man's body was severely injured, he still used his last bit of strength to intermittently explain what had happened outside...

Then his mental support gave out, and he fainted.

“The Lionheart Kingdom and the Free Empire have allied?”

“Only 6 from N/A entered, while 34 from the other two countries entered?”

Hearing this news, for some reason, Ye Ze even felt a bit excited...

“How much equipment can I plunder from this?!”

I wonder if it's enough for five Summoned Beasts to each wear a Legendary Set?

Ye Ze's lips couldn't help but curl upwards.

Looking at the unconscious one-eyed man, he didn't let him off easily.

“Super Enhance - Treasure Plunder...”