Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead

Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Reward Settlement

As the blood-red resentment of old Anderson dissipated, a clinking sound emerged from the tip of the Demon-Breaking Crossbow Arrow, and a pendant appeared out of thin air, hanging from the arrowhead.

The pendant’s chain was simple and unadorned, iron-gray in color, with a circular plate featuring a groove hanging in the middle of the chain.

Upon closer inspection, it was found that the layout of the plate was a miniature version of the Demon-Breaking Array.

Not only was the placement of the Magic Stone Slab in the Demon-Breaking Array identical, but the spell on it was intricately carved in a one-to-one miniature scale.

In the center of the groove formed by the small Magic Stone Slabs stood a Golden Spike.

Wu Chang found the size of the groove familiar, took out the Eye of the Evil God, and placed it above the groove. The Eye of the Evil God smoothly slid into place, fitting perfectly as if the two were meant to be one.

「Item Name: Mortal Poison」

「Artifact Level: ?」

「Item Skills: ?」

「Skill Description: ?」

「Note: The highest masterpiece of the Secret Magic Knight Order, due to the overly complex technique, it’s only a semi-finished product. Old Anderson’s lingering soul spent centuries filling in the technique’s flaws. Once a Master Level mysticism craftsman is found to repair it and sufficient Energy Source is loaded, it can become a completed whole.」

Mortal Poison, from its combination with the Eye of the Evil God to the item’s name and note, is evidently a high-level product.

Unfortunately, because it is a semi-finished product, the Artifact Level and Item Skills are not displayed.

But one point worth noting is that the type of Dungeon Item label originally marked on the Eye of the Evil God has vanished!

This means he can successfully take Mortal Poison out of the dungeon!

However, it will take some effort to make it effective.

Based on his past gaming experience, he could easily guess that finding a Master Level mysticism craftsman would not be easy, and it might lead to a series of troublesome quests.

For instance, in some poorly made games, a series of prerequisite quests were unavoidable to pad the plot’s duration before the repair.

Quests like finding X amounts of fuel for the craftsman, searching for X amounts of raw materials, and if the duration is insufficient, there might be a need to repair the furnace first and then search the forest for lost tools.

In some worse game plots, one might even need to settle matters for the craftsman, either escaping pursuers or fighting against a major organization.

In short, Mortal Poison is unlikely to become a source of combat power in the short term.

With the vanishing of old Anderson’s resentment and the emergence of Mortal Poison, the barely perceptible air wall outside the sanatorium shattered like glass.

The collapsing air wall condensed and congealed into a grape-sized black sphere in the air, which slowly descended into Wu Chang’s hand.

The black sphere had an unusual texture, feeling neither weight nor temperature. Its exterior was a transparent shell, with a deep black vortex inside, resembling a black hole in sci-fi movies.

「Item Name: Erosion Core」

「Item Description: Spring of Power」

Looking at the brief item description, Wu Chang appeared perplexed.

Spring of Power, what’s that supposed to mean?

Curse those cryptic people!

But just by its appearance, it’s clear that the Erosion Core is extraordinary, so putting it away for now seemed wise.

With less than half an hour left before being forcibly teleported out of the dungeon, exploring White Stone Town was evidently impossible.

He looked up at the full moon, now visible as the clouds dispersed, basking in its gentle light, and opened his Attribute Panel to choose to leave the plane.

Just before leaving, he scratched his head and whispered, ”Did I forget something?”

Meanwhile, in the underground pharmacy’s secret altar of the Moonlight Sanatorium.

As Wu Chang was about to leave, the eye pattern on the shrine shattered, and an eye entirely composed of energy floated out from it.

It possessed a fully-dead zombie’s body, quickly got up from the ground, and said fiercely:

”Damn ant, you have successfully angered a god! Even if I have to forcibly project at the cost of my original source, I will make you understand what divine wrath means!”

Leman raised his finger, pointing through the air at Wu Chang above, just about to act when suddenly a voice came from behind.

”Stop.”

”Who?”

With a whoosh.

A machete pierced through Leman, with the blade tip appearing out of Leman’s chest.

The machete lifted, slicing Leman in half.

”As a god, failure is already disgraceful enough, don’t further tarnish the dignity of a god.”

Julie, holding the machete, stepped out from the shadows and said expressionlessly.

At this moment, Julie had already taken off her uniform and changed into a white nun’s robe with gold edges. Both the front and side of the robe were embroidered with a delicate golden horn.

Her face was icy, her eyes indifferent, exuding an aura of divine majesty that commanded awe.

With its body cleaved open, the energy eye projected by Leman flew out from the wound, its gaze filled with panic, attempting to re-enter the sacrificial symbol it had previously emerged from.

Julie took out a white mask, placed it on her face, and transformed the machete in her hand into a horn, swinging it forward to engulf Leman into the horn.

”Since you’re here, become nourishment for the awakening of my master.”

Having dealt with Leman, Julie walked out from underground, looked at the empty hall, and muttered to herself:

”Sean, we will meet again.”

”Julie!”

Wu Chang slapped his forehead, realizing what he had forgotten.

He had forgotten about Julie.

The two, at least on the surface, were teammates. Not warning Julie beforehand, leading her into a trap, and not confirming her survival after the battle was somewhat indefensible.

But whatever, they wouldn’t meet again anyway.

He shrugged and turned his attention back to the present.

Upon leaving the dungeon, he was transported to a white room.

A wall of televisions stood in front, playing various scenes of his performance in the dungeon.

According to the prompt that appeared, this place was called the Dungeon Settlement Space.

「Player ID 4444444, successfully completed the Trial Dungeon. The settlement process will now begin based on the player’s performance in the dungeon.」

「Player has completed Main Task One: Leave Moonlight Sanatorium.」

「Player has completed Main Task Two: Explore the secrets within Moonlight Sanatorium.」

「Player discovered the secrets of Moonlight Sanatorium, thwarted the Peace Church’s conspiracy, and successfully left the Moonlight Sanatorium.」

「Player aided the Secret Magic Knight Order in breaking free from the Evil God’s curse and protected the descendants of the Secret Magic Knight Order, Randy and Julie.」

「Player eliminated the projection of the Evil God Leman, helping the Kingdom completely rid itself of Leman’s threat.」

「Dungeon Completion: 100%!」

「Dungeon Rating: Perfect!」

「Player gained Experience: 6000.」

「Player gained Rotten Silver Coins: 15000.」

How much?!

Wu Chang was a bit stunned by the settlement’s experience points and Rotten Silver Coins.

He had expected substantial dungeon rewards since, as a novice, he had cleared a B-Level dungeon 15 levels above his own. If the experience and Game Coins weren’t substantial, he would have reported the value designer.

But this was too much!

He only needed 100 experience points to level up now!

experience points, how many levels would that raise him?

The experience and Rotten Silver Coin rewards were explosive, but the dungeon settlement was not yet over.

「Player’s dungeon rating reached S-Level, allowing the selection of one item from the current Dungeon World as a special drop reward. The item chosen must be one for which the player already has usage rights. Please make a selection.」

The list of items Wu Chang obtained in the Moonlight Sanatorium dungeon unfolded before him.

Special Medicine, Traveler’s Talisman, Demon-Breaking Crossbow Arrow, King’s Badge, Eye of the Evil God were all in the list, but items he touched in Randy’s office and books he read in the underground library were not visible.

It seems only items with displayed item information could be considered as having obtained usage rights.

Gazing at the Eye of the Evil God in the item list, Wu Chang was very curious if choosing it would make the game system pluck another eye from Leman for him.

Without a doubt, the Eye of the Evil God far surpassed the value of other items, and even if they didn’t pluck one from Leman, randomly obtaining an eye from a lucky Evil God would be great too.

Choose the Eye of the Evil God.

「There is an anomaly in item drop, detected that the Eye of the Evil God has fused with an unknown item to become Mortal Poison, and it cannot drop independently.」

「After calculation, a compensation plan of similar value to the Eye of the Evil God is proposed, please choose.」

「Compensation Plan One: Consume 150,000 experience, 500,000 Rotten Silver Coins to perfect and repair Mortal Poison.」

「Compensation Plan Two: Consume the Erosion Core to repair Mortal Poison.」

「Compensation Plan Three: Re-select an item as a special drop reward.」

「Please make a choice.」