Chapter 331 - Trip To China (1)

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You've killed a mythical being.

EXP: +500,000

First Mythical King killed:

EXP: +10,000,000

First Chieftain giant killed.

EXP: +6,000,000

Dungeon EXP multiplier activated. Total EXP gained: 33,000,000.

<Current EXP in storage: 469,804,596>

<EXP required to level up: 1,500,000>

<You can use the EXP to level up your main class>

<Your subclasses have already been maxed out.>

Dungeon Stat bonus activated. The stat points you'll gain while inside the dungeon would directly influence your growth. While inside the dungeon, all previous rules related to stat increase are revoked.

You've earned 50 stat points for all your stats by killing the Chieftain Giant.

Current STRENGTH (STR) : 1201[+85] (due to the gears)

Current DEFENSE (DEF): 626[+226] (due to the gears)

Current STAMINA (STA) : 693

Current INTELLIGENCE (INT) : 944

Current AGILITY (AGI) : 506

Current EVADE (EVD) : 527

Current MYSTIC (MYS): 837

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Arnold was standing over the corpse of the so-called dungeon boss, The Chieftain Giant. It took him a little over a minute to slay the B-rank cosmic being. It took him that long not because it was difficult to kill the boss but because the chieftain started running for his life the moment Arnold severed 2 of his 4 arms with a single shot. Arnold wanted a challenge to test his strength out. But even the dungeon boss catastrophically failed to be a challenge for him.

The only thing about the dungeon that surprised him was the astronomical increase in his stats. He didn't know what was wrong with the insane amount of stats he had gained but he was pretty sure that he was the strongest being on the planet. No one even came close to being his level before all this happened and now the gap between him and the other Vassals or Paladins was like heaven and hell.

"If I can clear this dungeon on my own a couple of times, I don't think even the gods would pose a big threat to me any longer..." Arnold mumbled as he and his summons were teleported back to his domain.

___

Stat bonus limit reached. The user has reached the limit to absorb stat points.

The user won't be able to gain more stats points even after repeating the dungeon. However, Exp gain will remain the same.

The dungeon will now be closed till reset.

Time for reset: 3 months.

Hope you enjoyed your time training.

See you again after reset!

___

"Of course, you just had to impose a limit on my growth, didn't you?" Arnold sighed as the red portal turned grey.

Arnold wanted to see if the dungeon was genuinely closed or not. He reached out and touched the portal with his bionic arm and the next moment he got zapped, hard. He did not feel a thing but it was enough to confirm that the dungeon was closed and wouldn't allow entry to anyone, let alone him.

With the dungeon being closed. Arnold called his elite summons for a meeting. He wanted to assess their levels after the dungeon run. To his surprise, Talos and Grock had already managed to break through Cosmic C rank and were now ranked Cosmic B. The rest of them, however, were still stuck in their previous ranks.

Tiamut had also gained some experience but it wasn't even 5% of the total EXP she needed for her rank breakthrough. In fact, she needed a humongous amount of 5 million exp to level up once. It was a similar case with his other summons as well.

'Do I have a cheat or something? Why is there such a drastic difference between the amount of EXP I and my summons need to level up?' 

Arnold wasn't complaining that he got to enjoy these perks. He just wanted to know the reason behind it because he was feeling uneasy... or to be precise he was a bit worried about his excessive strength. Especially with his volcano-like rage.

Even before unlocking his true potential with the help of beast crystals, his strength was enough to cause nationwide destruction... but now he was afraid he could blow up entire continents if he d.e.s.i.r.ed, or if he was enraged beyond reasoning. The more concerning thing was System-sama's silence on the matter.

No matter how many times Arnold asked the system about the EXP issue, System-sama remained silent. Before Arnold could brainstorm about the reasons himself, his train of thoughts was interrupted by Talos.

"Master, can I have a moment with you?" Talos requested.

"Sure. Is something wrong?"

"You can say that. Around 1200 automatons got destroyed during the dungeon run."

"That's... quite a number. We'll have to improve them somehow."

"Yes, master. But that's not what I wanted to talk with you about. The thing is, we don't have enough resources to repair all of them." Talos finally dropped the bombshell on Arnold, "Even if we were to completely exhaust our reserved resources, we'll only be able to fix about half of them." 

"Now that is... a problem," Arnold mumbled while scratching his chin.

Arnold had gained a large number of Mystic points while clearing the dungeon, thus the number of his summons like the hounds and golem had increased by 500. Thus it wouldn't affect him much even if all of the automatons weren't repaired. However, he was worried about the lack of resources he was facing now.

Previously Arnold didn't have to worry about these things as he had a contract with the syndicate to provide him with the materials he required in exchange for the beast crystals. But now since he no longer had an affiliation with them, he could no longer enjoy those benefits. Well, technically he could, since they were afraid of him, but he didn't want to abuse them with an iron fist.

He could still trade resources at the trade centre in exchange for beast crystals they earned from the dungeon run they completed just now. But these crystals were needed by Devon and Talos to keep the domain running as the electricity and the types of equipment they were producing were all dependent on the beast crystals.

He could also sell a couple of frost giant corpses to get some money and then use that money to buy the resources to repair the automatons. But then he'll have to divulge the information about where he got those from.

On the other hand, he could try and sell them in the black market with a different identity... but he didn't want the world to know about the frost giants yet, especially since they could be used to make illegal weapons which would then most likely be used to spill innocent blood. Moreover, he wanted to use the corpses to make better gears for his summons as a reward for their hard work within the dungeon.

At last, he could also ask the Blacks for help. Arnold had no doubts that his former family would help him if he asked for it. Even if they refused, he could ask Nicole or Nina to help him out but his self-respect wouldn't allow him to do that. In his mind, there were only two things he could do now.

First, go berserk and clear as many dungeons as he could and slowly replenish his reserve. Or he could take back what was rightfully his from his beloved uncle. Without thinking for a moment, he decided to do the second thing. Why? Because it was easier to take over his father's business and become a billionaire in one sweep rather than endlessly clearing dungeons for a couple of weeks.

Talos noticed his master's sadist smile and knew something was going inside his head.

"Master, something's in your head. Isn't it?" He asked Arnold.

"Oh, there is..." Arnold replied, while his grin grew into a smile that stretched from ear to ear, "A while ago, I wanted to visit my homeland to repay my uncle's kindness by teaching him some manners. But now I think I should go a step further. Pack your bags people, we're going to wreck a filthy basta*d."