12: Old man Chen's level soared, and King Qin circled the pillar!

Ding! You over-leveled and killed a Rotten Giant Rat Lv10, gaining 385 (additional +500%) experience points!

Ding! Your level has increased to 6, gaining 3 free attribute points!

Ding! The Skill - Lexical Entry Assignment talent has taken effect, granting you the Gold-grade lexical entry, Spell Split!

Spell Split: Gold Quality

Effect Description: When casting a skill, it can affect two additional targets, but the skill's base damage is reduced by 20%.

Note: For a single target, it only applies once. Only when there are multiple targets can two additional targets be chosen.

“Assign to Lightning Spell!”

Chen Beixuan glanced at it and immediately made a decision.

The Lightning Spell's damage was completely sufficient; even with a 20% reduction in base skill damage, it would still be 460%.

Trading a little damage for two additional lightning bolts was an absolute steal.

Developing it further would lead to a group Lightning Spell!

He pushed away a Rotten Giant Rat that had climbed onto his face and immediately tested the effect.

“Lightning Spell!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

-487, -234, -487, -234, -487, ...

Lucky Strike +1!

-487, -234, -487, ...

Ding! You over-leveled and killed a Rotten Giant Rat Lv10, gaining 330 (additional +400%) experience points! Copper coins +8!

Ding! You over-leveled and killed a Rotten Giant Rat Lv10, gaining...

...

Ding! Your level has increased to 7, gaining 3 free attribute points!

Ding! The Skill - Lexical Entry Assignment talent has taken effect, granting you the Gold-grade lexical entry, Spell Split!

“Hmm? Spell Split again?”

Chen Beixuan glanced at it, somewhat surprised.

However, he reconsidered.

It seemed no lexical entry was marked as unique, so duplication was normal.

“En... assign to Lightning Chain!”

One for each skill, spreading the benefits evenly.

“Lightning Chain!”

His staff tapped the ground again, and three purple lightning bolts continuously jumped among the rat swarm, with dense damage numbers floating up!

-86, -69, -52, -35, -18.

-86, -69, -52, ...

...

Just as Chen Beixuan was engrossed in grinding monsters.

Roma, hidden in the darkness, was no longer calm.

No, what was wrong with this old man!

Why wasn't he dead?

The imagined scene of a tragic death did not appear; instead, he had gained two levels!

Even with his eyesight, he couldn't quite understand the source of the old man's high damage.

Four lightning bolts per skill cast.

He thought that was already surprising enough.

But after leveling up, it actually became twelve lightning bolts!

And the damage hadn't changed much!

It was simply inconceivable...

And that blue magic circle was also quite miraculous.

The old man must have been able to hold on until now because of this magic circle.

After much thought, only one explanation seemed reasonable.

The old man was an absolute genius!

Possessing a top-tier talent!

This world never lacked geniuses.

They had excellent luck, extraordinary talent, and were natural protagonists.

And those who broke through from among them were worthy of being called absolute geniuses!

Such people would eventually reach the pinnacle of the world and become supreme beings.

But...

The talent matched, the skill... was still under observation...

Luck...

If you said he was lucky, his luck of 1 was truly nothing to commend.

If you said he was unlucky, he even took his divine artifact...

He couldn't quite figure out if the old man was lucky or if he himself was unlucky.

Finally, there was his appearance!

Sword-like eyebrows, starry eyes, and a resolute, tough demeanor were standard.

But this old man...

Roma frowned as he watched.

The only words he could think of were 'old and frail,' 'life force dwindling'...

He must have been overthinking it...

Although he had always been searching for true geniuses, the old man clearly wasn't one...

He collected his thoughts and continued to observe in secret.

Knowing that these giant rats couldn't do anything to the old man, he could only place his hopes on the monsters deeper inside.

He refused to believe that he could clear the dungeon...

...

Ding! You over-leveled and killed a Rotten Giant Rat Lv10, gaining 275 (additional +300%) experience points! Copper coins +10!

Ding! Your level has increased to 8, gaining 3 free attribute points!

Ding! Proficiency is full, Lightning Spell level has risen to 4 stars! Next level (3 / 1600)

Ding! The Skill - Lexical Entry Assignment talent has taken effect, granting you the Gold-grade lexical entry, Swift and Violent Storm!

Swift and Violent Storm: Gold Quality

Effect Description: For continuous damage skills, the damage interval is reduced by 50%.

Note: Taking Protective Flame as an example, the original 1 damage per second becomes 1 damage per 0.5 seconds.

Chen Beixuan pondered for a moment and then made a decision.

“Assign to Protective Flame!”

His only continuous damage skill was the 30% burning damage per second from Protective Flame.

After the interval reduction, it would deal damage every 0.5 seconds, essentially doubling it.

Quite good...

The Lightning Spell skill increased to 4 stars, with damage rising from 460% to 490%!

Output further increased!

He closed the panel.

Just as he was about to push through to level 10 in one go.

The ground suddenly vibrated, and then a roar came from deep within!

Roar—

The surrounding Rotten Giant Rats scattered like cats seeing a mouse, receding like a tide and quickly burrowing back into their holes.

Chen Beixuan's gaze sharpened slightly.

Was the BOSS about to appear already?

But after waiting for more than ten seconds, there was no more movement.

He couldn't resist and cautiously moved forward.

If he didn't find monsters soon, he would die from blood loss.

He hadn't added the attribute points gained from the recent level-up, so he opened the panel as he walked.

He added 5 points to Constitution to boost his HP, and the remaining 4 points were all put into Intelligence.

Although it went against his original intention of putting all points into Intelligence.

But at this moment, clearing the dungeon was clearly more important.

He only had 1 Novice Potion (Beginner Potion) and 1 Intermediate Life Potion (Intermediate Health Potion) on him, and he wouldn't use them unless absolutely necessary.

Passing through a narrow passage, the end was a huge, ancient stone door.

The stone door was ajar, emitting a faint blue glow.

Chen Beixuan steadied himself and slowly walked in.

After entering the door, the view suddenly opened up!

This was actually a huge palace!

Most striking were the four massive stone pillars and the dense glowstones above!

The visibility inside was good; he could see clearly even without the flame on his body.

The hall was built from dark green stone bricks, and the damp, musty smell wafted into his nostrils.

Two rows of guard statues in the middle flanked the innermost throne, upon which sat a skeleton.

He estimated the skeleton's height to be around 3 meters, truly a giant.

“To survive the rat swarm, you must have some skill, but... this is as far as you go!”

A deep voice echoed in the hall, and Chen Beixuan quickly locked onto his target.

It was the skeleton in the middle!

Two clusters of blue ghost fire ignited in its eye sockets, swaying rhythmically as if blinking.

Chen Beixuan was secretly wary, but then he realized the opponent hadn't gotten up.

Instead, the two statues closer to him suddenly shattered!

Two skeleton guards, holding long spears, awakened, their bodies creaking as if falling apart.

The skeletons turned their heads, locked onto him, and approached him step by step.

Chen Beixuan threw out a scout to check their attributes.

Skeleton Spearman: Level 10 Elite Monster

HP: 2400

Attack: 200

Defense: 50

Magic Resistance: 25

Skills: Stab, Sweep Across a Thousand Armies, Melee Block.

“Heh, watch me, Qin Wang Around the column (Qin King Circles the Pillar)!”

Chen Beixuan quickly moved towards the stone pillar to kite the monsters, raising his staff to cast a spell.

“Lightning Spell!”

...