89: Chapter 89 Freelancing in Dungeons

Lin Muyang checked the newly awakened bloodline skill of Succubus Maiden Elabess:

【Shadow Shield】: Consumes a large amount of mana to condense a tough shadow energy shield on herself or a designated friendly target. The shield can absorb magic damage equivalent to up to 1000% of the target's maximum health. While the Shadow Shield is active, the target is immune to all negative status effects (stun, slow, silence, fear, etc.).

【Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.】

Upon seeing this skill description, Lin Muyang couldn't help but recall a classic skill from the LOL game in his previous life.

"Isn't this just an enhanced version of 'Dark Shield'?" he pondered inwardly. "And this one is even stronger, capable of absorbing ten times the health in magic damage, and it also comes with a purification effect. Once a shield is applied, it's equivalent to having ten extra magical lives, which can turn the tide of battle at critical moments."

As expected of the Succubus race from the Abyss, their bloodline skills are quite practical and powerful.

Furthermore, when he previously used tears of the angel to raise Elabess's talent from SS-grade to SSS-grade, her original bloodline skills were also significantly enhanced:

The base damage bonuses of 【Dark Arrow】 and 【Dark Surge】 were directly doubled.

The duration of 【Dark Deprivation】 (depriving the target of buffs and transferring them to oneself) was extended from 60 seconds to 120 seconds.

The effects of 【Shadow Shelter】 (stealth and evasion) were also additionally improved.

It is evident that the improvement in core talent grade provides comprehensive and huge bonuses to their respective initial racial or bloodline skills.

After taking the ladies to enjoy a sumptuous breakfast carefully prepared by Elena, Lin Muyang decided to take little Feng Ling to level up first. He planned to only bring Elabess and Feng Ling, find a suitable Dungeon or secret realm, quickly raise Feng Ling to level 20, and see what conditions were needed for "growth." This should only take one or two Dungeons and wouldn't require going too far.

He did not leave Zhongnan City, but flew directly above the Tianqi Tower building of Shen Yanshan, quickly browsed the distribution map of secret realms updated today, randomly selected a level 48, 8-player epic-grade secret realm, and entered it while invisible with the two ladies.

For the current Elabess, solo clearing a diamond-grade secret realm of this level was as easy as pie.

What surprised Lin Muyang even more was that little Feng Ling was not without combat capability. Her "Casual Fire Breath" and "Serious Fire Breath" skills actually carried a special effect called 【Nirvana Fire】—causing continuous magic damage to the target based on a percentage of its maximum health, initially at 10% per second!

This percentage-based damage is not reduced by conventional "magic defense" attributes and is only related to the target's "fire resistance." This meant that as long as the target's fire resistance was not high enough, even if little Feng Ling was only level 1, she could burn a thick-skinned diamond-grade mob to death in just ten seconds with "Casual Fire Breath"!

Of course, this was in a diamond-grade secret realm where monsters generally did not have high fire resistance. If she encountered a high-grade, high-fire-resistance BOSS, the effect of her continuous damage would be greatly reduced. But don't forget, these were just two initial skills of the Phoenix Heavenly Maiden! With just this, at level 1, she already possessed the potential to threaten high-level targets.

Inside the secret realm, Elabess was like an elegant reaper, her shadow staff tapping lightly, executing various skills with ease.

【Black Hole Vortex】 for gathering monsters and crowd control.

【Shadow Erosion】 for continuous defense-breaking and damage.

【Dark Surge】 for area-of-effect impact.

【Dark Star Fall】 for bombardment like a meteor shower.

Skills were released alternately, flowing like clouds and water, and wherever she passed, monsters fell in droves, almost all instantly killed. Occasionally encountering slightly stronger elites or BOSSes, little Feng Ling would excitedly crowd over, puffing her cheeks to "whoosh" and spray a small golden flame. Although the single-hit damage was not high, the attached 【Nirvana Fire】 continuous burning effect was enough to make the BOSS miserable.

The battle process was like a hot knife through butter.

In just seven minutes, the final BOSS of the secret realm fell to the ground wailing under Elabess's shadow storm and little Feng Ling's persistent "fire breathing" assistance.

Massive amounts of experience flooded in, and the light of leveling up shone continuously on Feng Ling.

When everything calmed down, her level stopped steadily at—level 20!

Lin Muyang did not rush to activate the 【Loot Extraction】 Aura to collect the spoils, but instead checked little Feng Ling's attribute panel immediately.

【summon Partner: Phoenix Heavenly Maiden · Feng Ling】

【Current Level: 20】

【Strength: 201】【Physique: 212】【Agility: 207】【Spirit: 426】

(Note: Every 20 levels, Nirvana Growth will be triggered, and base total attributes will be doubled.)

【Growth Status: Can undergo the first Nirvana Growth.】

【Growth Requirement: Fire Element Essence (epic-grade) × 25】

"The first growth requires 25 epic-grade fire element essences?" Lin Muyang frowned slightly.

Element Essence is a basic forging material obtained by decomposing equipment with corresponding attributes or special materials, used to add or strengthen specific elemental attributes to equipment. For example, by adding fire element essence, the forged equipment is more likely to have affixes such as fire damage bonus and fire resistance. Such materials are very important in mid-to-late game high-level equipment crafting and targeted Dungeon clearing.

If it were common, fine, or rare fire element essence, the eliminated equipment in Lin Muyang's storage bracelet would be enough to decompose hundreds or thousands of them without a problem.

But epic-grade fire element essence... this thing can only be obtained by decomposing epic-grade equipment!

"I do have some legendary-grade equipment on me, but I really don't have any epic-grade ones." Lin Muyang felt it was a bit tricky.

Buying directly from the market? The difficulty is huge. The output of epic-grade equipment itself is low, and the vast majority are digested internally by major forces or used as strategic reserves, rarely flowing into the open market. Even if it occasionally appears, the price is astronomical. A piece of epic-grade equipment with ordinary attributes could start at 30-40 billion magic crystals! And it is often unavailable despite the high price.

To gather 25 pieces of epic-grade equipment to decompose into essence, it would cost at least nearly a trillion magic crystals! Even Lin Muyang, who is now holding hundreds of billions in cash, cannot afford it at all.

The most direct solution is to clear an Emperor Level or epic-grade Dungeon/secret realm. With his efficiency, clearing one trip to harvest dozens of epic-grade equipment is not a problem, and decomposing 25 fire element essences would be more than enough.

But the problem arises: he is only level 46 now. Emperor Level or higher Dungeons/secret realms have a level requirement of at least 65. If the level gap is too large (usually more than 3 levels above the Dungeon level), not only will there be no experience after entering, but even equipment will not drop! Unless there is a teammate who meets the level requirement, and that teammate completes the final blow to the monsters, or participates in enough damage output throughout the process.

"Let a teammate who meets the level requirement lead the monster killing?" Lin Muyang shook his head. "That efficiency is too slow, and it's impossible for me to take action personally to kill monsters in seconds... In that case, tomorrow's news of 'Level 46 Summoner instantly killing Emperor Level secret realm' could hit the national headlines."

He didn't want to expose his true combat power so high-profile for the time being.

Just when Lin Muyang felt a headache, he suddenly remembered the scene that 【Divine Sight】 accidentally scanned last night—

Su Qingyue seemed to be worried about lacking people for a "Level 71 Emperor Level secret realm · Molten Abyss" at 12:00 noon today. At that time, she also said she would contact her old friends.

"Molten Abyss... just the name sounds like a fire-attribute-dominated secret realm!" Lin Muyang's eyes lit up.

Right! Isn't this a ready-made opportunity?

He could hitch a ride on Su Qingyue's secret realm run. Just like when he helped Shen Yanshan clear the Sovereign-rank secret realm last time, he just needed to follow while invisible, and after Su Qingyue's team cleared the monsters, he would quietly activate the 【Loot Extraction】 Aura in the back to pick up the equipment. Easy, hidden, and he could solve Feng Ling's growth material problem by the way!

Of course, which identity to use to "hitch a ride" needs careful consideration.

If he used the identity of the solo clearing genius... he had no contact with Su Qingyue, and suddenly appearing to say he wanted to hitch a ride was too abrupt and easily aroused suspicion. Moreover, that identity is currently too involved with the official side, and Lin Muyang didn't want these two identities to have an obvious connection for the time being.

"It seems I can only use my real identity." Lin Muyang quickly made a decision.

He checked the time. It was past eight in the morning, and there were nearly four hours until twelve noon, which was plenty of time.

He took out his phone, found Su Qingyue's number, and dialed it.

The call connected quickly, and Su Qingyue's capable yet slightly puzzled voice came through: "Hello? Lin Muyang? So early, is something up?"

"Teacher Su, good morning." Lin Muyang said naturally, "It's like this, I heard you are going to organize an Emperor Level secret realm at noon today?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, seemingly surprised by Lin Muyang's source of information, but Su Qingyue did not press for details, just gave an "hmm": "It's the level 71 'Molten Abyss', what's the matter?"

"It's like this, Teacher Su." Lin Muyang had already prepared his excuse. "That Elf Maiden partner I summoned recently, Lilia, she learned a very good Origin Skill support skill that needs a lot of actual combat to improve her level. I want to ask if we can go to that secret realm with you? Don't worry, Lilia's support ability is very strong, she is very good at healing, buffing, and purifying, and she will definitely not hold us back! And I have two... well, friends, who are also mages, with good output and crowd control abilities, and can help together!"

He deliberately blurred the identities of the "two friends," including Elabess and another one who might be needed (such as Ao Qingyan or Vivian).

On the other end of the phone, Su Qingyue held the phone, feeling a bit dazed.

This student of hers... wants to join her secret realm run? And it's a level 71 Emperor Level secret realm?

She subconsciously wanted to refuse. After all, the level gap was too large, and if the monsters in the secret realm touched them, it might cost the lives of Lin Muyang's low-level summons and friends. But on second thought, the "mysterious background" behind Lin Muyang, and the magical healing ability that the Elf Maiden had shown before, which far exceeded her level...

Perhaps he really had some special means to ensure safety in high-level secret realms? Perhaps his proposal itself was instructed or hinted at by the "big shot" behind him?

Su Qingyue's thoughts raced. She was indeed lacking a powerful support, especially one who could deal with the high fire damage and continuous burning effects of "Molten Abyss." If Lilia's ability was really as strong as Lin Muyang said, maybe it was worth a try?

"Lin Muyang, this is no joke." Su Qingyue's tone became serious. "Molten Abyss is a level 71 Emperor Level Dungeon, the monsters inside deal extremely high fire damage, and there are various burning and igniting effects. The level suppression is also very severe. Do your summons and friends really have the ability to protect themselves? If something happens..."

"Don't worry, Teacher Su!" Lin Muyang said with certainty. "We have special life-saving means and will never be a burden. Lilia's healing and purification abilities are especially effective against fire damage and burning effects. We just need a chance to enter the secret realm to help Lilia improve her skill level. We can take less or even no loot; we mainly want to hitch a ride for experience."

Lin Muyang lowered his posture, and the reason was reasonable. Improving the Origin Skill level made the balance in Su Qingyue's heart tilt a little more.

She thought for a moment, thinking that she was indeed in urgent need of support, and the "water" behind Lin Muyang was very deep; this cooperation might also be an opportunity to learn more. As long as the risks were explained in advance and a plan was made...

"Alright." Su Qingyue finally made a decision, her voice returning to her usual calm. "Since you are so persistent and confident, then we will meet at the entrance of the 'Molten Abyss' secret realm in the eastern suburbs of Zhongnan City at 11:45 AM. I will explain the situation to the other team members. Remember, safety first. Once you feel something is wrong, exit immediately, understand?"

"Understood! Thank you, Teacher Su!" Lin Muyang agreed immediately, secretly happy in his heart.

Done!

Hanging up the phone, a smile appeared on Lin Muyang's face. The secret realm trip at noon would not only solve the problem of Feng Ling's growth materials, but maybe there would be other unexpected gains.

"Emperor Level secret realm... I hope it drops some good stuff." He glanced at little Feng Ling, who was looking at him eagerly, and Elabess, who was standing quietly aside with a smile on her face.