I chose Nightmare difficulty because Nightmare is the highest difficulty level available.
"Wang Meng, Li Feng, stop talking." Chen Hongwei shook his head. "This is indeed my dereliction of duty."
He should have followed Lin Yuan to the Dungeon entrance to help him select the difficulty.
That way, he could have prevented the two of them from choosing the Nightmare difficulty on an impulse.
More importantly, they were two S-rank Professionals. Looking at the entire Xia Kingdom, or even Blue Star, those with S-rank talents or higher are extremely rare.
And today, of all things, two died at once.
Sentencing him to ten years of service on the front lines was already a very light punishment.
Captain Tian Ye of the Third Squad was a relatively reasonable person; he didn't pay attention to the two teachers' words, nor did he urge Chen Hongwei.
"You have one hour to pack your luggage." Captain Tian glanced at the time. "Don't think about running away; you should know the methods of the Law Enforcement Team."
"Of course I know." Chen Hongwei gave a bitter smile.
The minimum threshold for a member of the Law Enforcement Team is a Professional who is level 20 or above and has completed their Class Transfer Mission.
As the captain of the Third Squad, Captain Tian's level was as high as 37.
Chen Hongwei was only level 17; there was no way he could escape.
"There's no need to pack. I'll go with you now." Chen Hongwei was very carefree.
Since he was going to serve, those worldly possessions at home were useless anyway.
He would replace them with new ones when he returned, if he could return at all.
...
Just as the Law Enforcement Team was about to take Chen Hongwei away, a notification sound suddenly echoed throughout the entire plaza,
【Congratulations to Lin Yuan and Sun Xu's team for conquering the Nightmare difficulty Golden Tooth Ruins. Time taken: 42 minutes】
?????
The first to react was Captain Tian. They actually cleared it? Great, the higher-ups were going to have a headache again.
The second to react was Chen Hongwei. His face was full of wild joy. Great, now he didn't have to go to the Insect Nest Fortress. He might even be able to become the Dean of Students.
The rest of the people had the same thought: Two people actually cleared the Nightmare difficulty? How did they do it!
"Oh my god, they actually cleared the Nightmare difficulty? Am I hallucinating?" Luo Qingqing's teammates' mouths opened into O-shapes, clearly shocked beyond measure.
Luo Qingqing herself was no exception. Nightmare difficulty—she had never even considered it. Because that simply wasn't something for ordinary people to challenge.
Unless one could assemble a team of five S-rank talent Professionals, it was only possible to succeed.
Yet Lin Yuan, a Summoner, and Sun Xu, a Priest, actually cleared the Nightmare difficulty Golden Tooth Ruins, and it took them 3 minutes less than the Novice difficulty. It was unbelievable.
Coming out of the Dungeon, Lin Yuan faced the final tally.
【Cleared Golden Tooth Ruins (Nightmare difficulty), evolution points + 1600】
【This Dungeon kill: Security Technician Silver Tooth (Tier 3 Elite), evolution points + 500; Combat Robot Annihilator 4000 (Tier 3 Elite), evolution points + 500; Kobold Leader Golden Tooth (Tier 3 Elite), evolution points + 500】
【Combat time 42 minutes, perfect clear, evolution points + 500】
【Final reward for this Dungeon: evolution points + 3600, EXP + 10000】
The massive amount of EXP leveled Lin Yuan up to level 9 (7400/8000). He was just a tiny bit of experience away from level 10, which felt incredibly annoying no matter how he looked at it.
Lin Yuan originally thought the notifications had ended here, but he didn't expect there was more,
【Triggered perfect clear, Golden Tooth Ruins derivative Dungeon: Plains Mine opened】
With a rumble, a second Teleportation Gate appeared at the entrance of the Golden Tooth Ruins Dungeon,
"Not good, an unknown Dungeon has appeared! Evacuate all teachers and students immediately!" Captain Tian's reaction speed was fast; he arrived at the Dungeon entrance in an instant to prevent any monsters from appearing.
"Don't be nervous, this is just a resource Dungeon; no monsters will appear." Lin Yuan looked up and said to Captain Tian,
"This is the Plains Mine. It contains two hundred million tons of iron ore."
"How much?" Captain Tian was momentarily stunned. "Two... hundred million tons!"
Captain Tian approached the Dungeon entrance half-doubtingly, then his face filled with wild joy, and he immediately reported the matter to his superior, the Commander-in-Chief of the Tianfeng City Law Enforcement Team, Liao Chen.
"Hello, Boss. Someone at No. 1 High School just perfectly cleared the Nightmare difficulty Golden Tooth Ruins, and a derivative secret realm has appeared."
"Yes, it's iron ore, two hundred million tons."
"It's absolutely true. Why would I lie to you?"
Hanging up the phone, Captain Tian's eyes were bright as he stared straight at Lin Yuan and Sun Xu. "Let me introduce myself; I am Captain Tian, the captain of the Third Squad of the Tianfeng City Law Enforcement Team."
"Very pleased to meet you both."
After a brief handshake with Captain Tian, Lin Yuan asked in surprise, "Captain Tian, doesn't the Law Enforcement Team only handle criminal cases involving Professionals? Why did you come to No. 1 High School?"
This question left Captain Tian speechless. Why did he come? Wasn't it all because of the two of them?
Because the two of them had taken it upon themselves to choose the Nightmare difficulty, which led to a potential incident where two S-rank Professionals might have died.
Their Chen Hongwei was almost dragged off to serve in the Insect Nest Fortress.
After simply explaining the sequence of events to Lin Yuan and Sun Xu, Lin Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry,
"Just because of this, you were going to drag Old Chen off to serve?"
"You think this is a small matter?" Captain Tian rolled his eyes at Lin Yuan. "You two didn't even say a word before choosing. At the very least, you should have let people prepare themselves mentally."
At this, an inexplicable smile appeared in Lin Yuan's eyes. "Captain Tian, do you think if I told the school I wanted to choose the Nightmare difficulty, the school would agree?"
"This..." Captain Tian showed a hesitant expression. "Probably not."
"It's definitely not." Lin Yuan said decisively. "A Summoner with a sewer-tier class like me, plus a Priest with zero attack power—no matter how you think about it, it's impossible to clear the Nightmare difficulty Golden Tooth Ruins."
"If I had told the school in advance that I wanted to choose the Nightmare difficulty, I would definitely have been forbidden from entering the Dungeon. Am I right?"
Captain Tian was speechless. Because Lin Yuan was right. If Captain Tian were the principal, he would have done the same thing.
"The reason I didn't say anything wasn't because I wanted to hide anything, but because I felt it wasn't necessary."
"Nightmare difficulty is like a chasm to others, but to me, it's just like returning to my own home."
"Do you need to notify anyone when you go back to your own home?"
Sun Xu took over the conversation from the side and added,
"Others choose the normal difficulty after clearing the novice difficulty because they can only challenge the normal difficulty."
"My Brother Lin chooses the Nightmare difficulty because nightmare is the highest difficulty available."
"Captain Tian, you should understand, right?"
Understand? Understand my ass.
Captain Tian maintained a smile on his face while mentally ranting like crazy. Look at that, is that even human talk?
Entering a Nightmare difficulty Dungeon is just like going home, and why choose Nightmare difficulty? Because nightmare is the highest difficulty.
Damn it, these two kids are more pretentious than the other. Why couldn't I come up with such pretentious lines back in the day?