13: Chapter 13 [Protecting the Abandoned Factory], a mysterious dungeon in the black market!

[Whirlwind Sword Slash] (excellence)

Consumes 80 Mana. Slashes out 6 waves of Sword Qi in a frontal fan-shaped area, each dealing 70% of Attack Power as damage.

Cooldown: 30 seconds.

After reading the skill's effects, Zhang Jian was overjoyed.

This skill not only has high damage and a wide range, but its cooldown isn't long either.

It could be considered a masterpiece among excellence-grade skills.

For him, the mana consumption was also just within usable limits.

One could say it was a great item that would immediately boost his strength!

He immediately grabbed Wang Dong's hand and said gratefully, "Thank you, Brother Dong. This must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Wang Dong waved his hand.

"The main issue was that Swordsman-class skill books are too rare and hard to find. The price was okay, 550,000. We can talk about it later."

Zhang Jian nodded.

This was truly a timely help; he would remember this favor.

However, just as he was preparing to learn it...

"Maximum number of usable skills exceeded."

Only then did Zhang Jian remember.

Before Rank 10, a Professional can only learn 3 skills.

Afterward, they can learn 2 more for every 10 Ranks.

Before the second job advancement, the limit for all Professionals is 9 skills.

Unless...

One uses some extremely rare items that can increase the learning limit.

But those items are almost always Legendary-grade or higher; ordinary people have never even seen them.

Just as he was feeling a bit troubled...

A faint light flashed across the scabbard in his arms.

"Multiple skills can be learned and converted into Skill Affixes, but currently usable skills are limited by Rank cap."

"Once the number of active skills is selected, it cannot be changed for 8 hours."

Zhang Jian realized what was happening.

He learned it without hesitation.

Within the attributes of [Whirlwind Sword Slash], the effects enhanced by the affix appeared.

[Basic Enhancement]:

Sword Qi quantity +2

Fan-shaped area range increased by 20%

Each wave of Sword Qi has a 10% chance to apply [Sword Mark] status (Movement speed reduced by 20% for 3 seconds)

[Upgrade Condition: Kill a certain number of monsters no lower than your own Rank]

[Special Enhancement]:

Skill damage converted to Sword Qi attribute damage

Zhang Jian took a deep breath.

This boost was powerful enough!

Isn't it just a Rank 10 dungeon? Let's do it!

...

On the edge of the city, there was once an abandoned fortification.

Now, it had become part of the black market's jurisdiction.

In front of a clanking gate, Zhang Jian and the others met up.

Under Wang Dong's contact, a sneaky-looking short man appeared.

He looked around, and after confirming no one else was there, he spoke in a low voice.

"You know the rules, right?"

"A normal entry is 50,000 per time."

"Since your brother here is overdue, according to the rules, it's 100,000 per time. After all, it consumes our maintenance quota."

His expression softened only after seeing that Wang Dong and the others' expressions didn't change.

"I'll say the ugly words first."

"The monsters inside get stronger with each wave. If you can't hold on, exit in time. Don't die in there."

"And..."

He paused.

"If you want to make money, you have to survive at least 5 waves. Otherwise, if you come out without even recovering your capital, it's just your own lack of strength. Don't blame me for not warning you!"

Wang Dong nodded.

"We understand. Sorry for the trouble, Brother Hu!"

The short man nodded with satisfaction and patted his shoulder.

"Good!"

He fiddled with the terminal in front of the dungeon for a while before gesturing for them to go over.

"The three of you, right? Get in quickly."

Wang Dong took a step back. "The two of them will go together. I'm not going in."

The short man's eyes widened.

"Two little kids are playing such a high-difficulty dungeon?"

He shook his head.

"Truly newborn calves who don't fear tigers."

Seeing Wang Fei's nervousness, he seemed to realize something and immediately put on a smile.

"Little brother, don't be afraid."

"You two look like you have outstanding talent. Who knows, maybe you'll get some good drops. Good luck!"

Ignoring his fake kindness, Zhang Jian and Wang Fei nodded at each other and entered the dungeon together.

The surrounding environment was suddenly that of an empty factory.

The only thing in front of them was a roaring cylindrical machine emitting faint smoke.

Several lines of text appeared in the air.

[Old District · Protect the Abandoned Factory]

Monster Rank: 1st Advancement Rank 10 - 1st Advancement Rank 25

Attack Waves: 30 Waves

Duration: 5 Hours

Next Wave Arrival: 1 minute

After the text slowly disappeared...

Wang Fei looked around curiously; everything was very novel to him.

Zhang Jian placed his hand on the machine, and a screen popped up.

[Power Furnace on the Verge of Scrapping]

Durability (HP) Cap: 10,000/10,000

Enhanceable: 0/10

(Points required for next level: 50)

Exchange Points: 0

Current Difficulty Exchangeable Items:

Instant HP Recovery Potion (20 Points)

Instant Mana Recovery Potion (30 Points)

Random Common~fine Grade Skill Book (100 Points)

Random Quality Class-Specific Weapon (200 Points)

Random fine~rare Grade Skill Book (300 Points)

(The first 10 waves are Normal difficulty; rare-grade items can be exchanged at most)

After reading the exchange list, Zhang Jian gained some understanding.

It seemed...

The gameplay of this dungeon was to accumulate points by resisting more waves.

Either...

Use them to increase the furnace's HP so it can hold out longer.

Or...

Exchange them for items he could use to increase his strength.

To better kill the monsters.

However...

Even the cheapest HP potion required 20 points to exchange.

It likely wouldn't be too easy to achieve.

He composed himself and prepared for battle.

Since it was a small-scale combat environment, Zhang Jian had already equipped [Whirlwind Sword Slash] as his affix skill, replacing [Sprinting Sword].

[Sword Qi Slash] and [Sword Qi Body Protection] remained unchanged.

Wang Fei also took on a serious expression after understanding the situation, entering a battle-ready state.

With a wave of his hands, a beam of light rose from the ground.

"Teammate [Wang Fei] cast skill [Iron Wall] on you; your Defense increased by 10% for 60 seconds."

"Teammate [Wang Fei] cast skill [Concentration] on you; your Mana recovery speed increased by 20% for 60 seconds."

This was the only rare-grade support skill he had learned, [All-Around Buff].

It contained the two types of buffs just cast, applied to a single teammate.

The only thing it lacked was a skill to increase attack power, which was why he had been abandoned by his previous team.

Feeling the statuses on his body, Zhang Jian was somewhat speechless.

"What's the rush? The monsters haven't even come out yet."

Wang Fei chuckled.

"Just making preparations in advance."

Zhang Jian instructed, "Save your mana!"

"Besides, no need to buff my defense. The mana recovery one is somewhat useful, though."

As the two spoke...

A rustling sound came from the darkness not far away.

The first wave of monsters had arrived!

It was a group of men wearing dark blue overalls with ferocious eyes, each carrying a steel pipe.

Once they were within range, the two also saw the opponents' attributes.

[Rioting Thug]

Rank: 10

HP: 1,800

Damage: 101

Defense: 20

"Hiss!"

Wang Fei's face turned a bit pale.

He had barely stumbled through the Hard-level trial dungeon before.

He thought Rank 10 monsters shouldn't be much stronger than Rank 5 ones.

With Zhang Jian, who could solo a dungeon and get an SS-Rank evaluation, there shouldn't be a big problem.

As it turned out...

These attributes directly frightened him.

The people in his previous team would definitely have fled upon seeing such monsters.

Even for an elite team like Ye Wenjie's, it would probably be a struggle to deal with just one of these monsters.

Yet, looking at the Thugs in front of them, there were at least a dozen.

His chubby little face crumpled into a ball, filled with worry.

How was Zhang Jian going to deal with this?

The next moment...

A dazzling sword light gave him the answer.

-77!

-77!

-77!

-130!

-77!

-77!

-77!

Waves of Sword Qi transformed into a whistling whirlwind, surging forward.

Damage numbers popped up simultaneously over the heads of the first two rows of men.

Wang Fei's eyes widened in surprise.

This damage!

It was much higher than the damage from the few DPS players in that previous team.

And this was area-of-effect damage!

Wang Fei was completely bewildered.

Doesn't everyone in the outside world say that a Swordsman's damage isn't that great?

While he was dazed...

Zhang Jian, taking advantage of the area skill's cooldown, had already rushed in front of the monsters.

Sword after sword, he stabbed fiercely at the Thugs in front of him.

He ignored the men raising their steel pipes.

"Watch out!"

Amidst Wang Fei's exclamation...

A shield composed of Sword Qi appeared.

In the flashing light, Zhang Jian's body remained unharmed.

Under Wang Fei's envious gaze, Zhang Jian completely ignored the enemy's attacks and focused solely on dealing damage.

The total damage of [Sword Qi Slash] was even higher than [Whirlwind Sword Slash].

After just a few strikes, the Thug at the very front collapsed.

Wang Fei looked at the System prompt and shouted in surprise.

"My god, this experience is simply amazing!"