11: Chapter 11, Level 5, Boss: Tree Demon

Inside the observation room, several powerhouses exchanged glances, and sparks seemed to silently splash in the air.

This was a golden legendary-tier Talent!

If Lu Yang truly possessed such a Talent, none of the factions present could possibly remain indifferent.

Everyone wanted to bring such a Genius into their fold!

"Ahem... Well, I need to use the restroom, you guys watch for a moment." Robert cleared his throat, tossed out the words casually, and walked towards the door while whistling.

A middle-aged man wearing metallic battle armor grinned, "I need to take a dump, I am going too."

"Can you not find a decent excuse? Each of you is at least a Tier 4 expert, do you still need to shit and piss?" A hot-tempered old man unceremoniously exposed them, "Just say it if you want to go report up."

Before his voice fell, he himself got up and strode out after them.

The rest looked at each other, silently dispersed to various corners of the room, opened their personal terminals, and began contacting the upper echelons of their respective factions.

After all, a sapling who very likely possessed a golden legendary-tier Soul Talent was simply too rare!

They had to apply to higher-ups for higher-spec invitation permissions.

Otherwise, with the conditions they could currently offer, it would be utterly impossible to invite Lu Yang!

Even Feng Lide was no exception.

The Professionals Association itself also had multiple direct subordinate forces under its jurisdiction.

For example, the law enforcement regiment that hunted down wanted Professionals, and the pioneer teams responsible for exploring high-end dungeons, etc.

Feng Lide naturally didn't want to miss out on such a Genius.

In the entire observation room, only Advisor Jiang Lan did not move.

She was the executive advisor and didn't deal with recruitment matters; the reason she appeared here was originally to provide reference opinions to Feng Lide and the others.

With her arms crossed in front of her chest and her legs leaning lightly against the edge of the table, her gaze fell straight onto the stone tablet.

Lu Yang's kill count was still shooting upward.

What shocked and somewhat puzzled Advisor Jiang Lan was that as Lu Yang advanced to Rank 4, his monster-killing efficiency seemed to have improved significantly once again.

This was quite strange, and could even be said to be somewhat unreasonable.

Judging by the information she currently mastered, even with a golden legendary-tier Soul Talent, the magnitude of improvement brought by each Rank up shouldn't be this obvious.

Could it be because he killed that boss monster, dropped some extremely rare equipment or skill book, and his combat power therefore surged by a chunk?

Advisor Jiang Lan's gaze flashed slightly, and she decided to observe for a while longer.

Before long, Feng Lide and the others returned one after another.

Everyone tacitly stopped mentioning the matter of going out to communicate with the higher-ups just now, as if that episode had never happened.

After all, they were going to start fighting over people later, and no one was willing to lay their trump cards on the table in advance.

Even Robert, who looked flippant, rarely kept his mouth shut quietly.

Just at this moment, the kill count behind Lu Yang changed again.

The boss kill count became 2.

This meant that within a short period of time, Lu Yang had killed another boss-level monster!

However, having already experienced it the first time, this time it didn't exceed everyone's expectations once again.

Not long after Lu Yang killed another boss, the rankings of Shen Qingci and Rebecca Parker also suddenly surged upward by a chunk, directly leaping to second and third place.

This instantly drew the attention of Advisor Jiang Lan and the others over.

Soon they discovered that in the kill records of Shen Qingci and Rebecca, a boss had likewise been added.

"The equipment of Shen Qingci and Rebecca is quite good, plus the two of them have the courage to directly challenge the nightmare dungeon... Their Talents must be at least Legendary-tier." Advisor Jiang Lan commented in a calm tone.

Regarding their ability to kill bosses, no one present felt surprised.

"Looking at this way, the top three can basically be locked in advance." Robert shrugged.

Even Zhu Changye, who was always taciturn and cold, nodded: "The rankings are actually already set. Shen Qingci and Rebecca cannot catch up to Lu Yang."

Hearing this, the crowd nodded one after another.

After all, Lu Yang's current performance was too strong.

He seemed to have completely no need to stop and rest; whether elite monsters or boss monsters, handling them made almost no difference to him.

Advisor Jiang Lan's gaze flickered slightly, and she slowly spoke: "The only question now is whether Lu Yang can kill a hero-tier boss."

As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes became sharp, their gazes nailed tightly onto the stone tablet.

Feng Lide said in a deep voice: "If he can truly kill a hero-tier boss, then his Talent can be confirmed; it has definitely reached the legendary-tier!"

Everyone nodded in unison.

Advisor Jiang Lan did not reply.

She silently added a sentence in her heart: 'Or perhaps it might even be higher...'

But this thought, she did not say out loud.

This speculation was too shocking.

...

Inside the Withered Forest.

Lu Yang had already penetrated quite deep inside.

The gray skylight overhead was cut finer and finer by layers of interlaced withered branches, and all around was so quiet that only the faint sound of his own footsteps on the dry, hard soil remained, along with the crackling bursting sound emitted by the withered wood as the Flame Aura continued to scorch it.

He himself couldn't remember how many elite monsters he had killed, but the number of bosses had always been counted very clearly: it was already four by now.

Except for the first one, the drops contributed to him by the remaining three boss-level Withered Treants were also quite bountiful.

[Withered Bark Leggings (Fine)]: Defense +7, Strength +2, Endurance +2, Required Rank: 3

[Withered Bark Bracers (Fine)]: Defense +7, Strength +3, Endurance +2, Required Rank: 4

[Withered Branch (Fine)]: Attack +15, Strength +4, Endurance +2, Required Rank: 4

[withered bark boots (Excellent)]: Defense +5, Agility +2, Required Rank: 4

The four pieces of fine and excellent-tier equipment happened to be things he could currently wear.

Among them, the "Withered Branch" was a longsword with quite powerful attack power, and its attached attributes were also extremely awesome.

In addition to equipment, a skill book also dropped, but unfortunately it was something Lu Yang could not use.

[Withered Curse (Fine)]: Learns the Withered Curse skill upon use. Learning condition: Mage-class profession.

Lu Yang looked at this skill book, a trace of small depression rising in his heart.

Up to now, he didn't even have a single skill yet.

Relying on the bountiful EXP provided by a large number of elite monsters and the other three bosses, his Rank had already reached Rank 5, being only a step away from Rank 6.

The Rank 5 Soul Talent that Lu Yang obtained was relatively ordinary.

All three were white, which could be called his worst time so far.

Two were Enhanced Defense, and one was Enhanced Health.

Lu Yang chose [Enhanced Health].

[Enhanced Health (White Common)]: Health value increased by 10%.

He currently had a counterattack Talent like Thorn Skin on him; the higher the defense, the lower the damage received, and conversely the weaker the recoil damage effect.

Clearly, the cost-performance ratio brought by Health to Lu Yang was somewhat higher.

Changing into the new equipment piece by piece, and superimposing the attribute growth brought by leveling up, Lu Yang's overall strength had a visible improvement once again.

His Health reached 187, his Attack reached 41 points, and his Defense also reached 45 points.

Whether survivability or output capability, compared to when he first entered the dungeon, there was a qualitative improvement!

Most importantly, after his Attack reached 41 points, the damage brought by the Flame Aura also rose accordingly.

41 points of fire damage per second—even Rank 5 elite monsters couldn't last 10 seconds!

This also made Lu Yang's monster-grinding efficiency faster and faster.

Just as Lu Yang was excitedly grinding monsters, the area ahead suddenly became open.

The overlapping withered trees simultaneously retreated, revealing an unusually wide open space.

Lu Yang's eyes lit up, knowing this was the rhythm of a boss spawning.

However, very soon, he found that something was wrong.

This open space was much larger than the location where any previous boss was situated.

Right in the center of the open space stood an outrageously huge tree!

This huge tree was pitch black all over, just like it had been burned by fire.

The main trunk was fully two to three meters wide and thick, and the huge crown spread out in the gray midair, resembling a canopy that blocked out the sky and sun.

Compared to those previous boss-level Withered Treants, the volume of this tree was completely not on the same order of magnitude.

Lu Yang's breathing tightened slightly, but his heartbeat suddenly skipped half a beat faster.

Boss!

After searching for so long, he finally found the boss!