Chapter 194: The Last Dungeon Trial

Chapter 194: The Last Dungeon Trial

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I grabbed the Vitality Heart Crystal and absorbed it right away. It was a red jewel with the shape of a heart. It was... quite the reference to a certain game franchise where you get more lives by finding these crystals around the world.

[You have absorbed the [Vitality Heart Crystal (A+ Rank)]!]

[Your Health and Vitality have increased by +500 each.]

The crystal dissipated into small particles of red light that were imbued into my body. I felt slightly... stronger? No, more like tougher. Also, it was like I could breathe much more easily. This sensation is definitely when my Health increases. You just feel healthier.

And about the Jester’s item... I think I know why he gave that to me. And it is an amazing item in the right hands at the right moment. Thank you so much for sponsoring me!

“I think it’s ready.” Said Baihe, taking out the skewers with juicy roasted Martial Beast meat. “Let me add some soy sauce and sweet sauce.” She seasoned them generously as I took out a big bottle of cola to share with everyone.

“Hmm, it looks sho good!” Annabelle was already drooling as she grabbed the skewer and gave the meat a good bite. “Hmm! It’s more tender than I imagined! And it so flavorful and juicy! Oooh, nom, nom, nom, nom!” She wolfed down the entire skewer in just a couple of seconds. “More please!”

“You eat way too fast, Annabelle! You have to eat slowly and enjoy the flavors.” Kevin reprimanded her. “Hm?! Oh, this shit’s good! Nom, nom, nom!” He ended up eating it really fast.

“Enjoy the flavors you say?” I laughed.

I tasted the meat myself, and yeah. This was good meat. As tender was wagyu, with an even stronger meaty flavor. The flames gave it a really nice grilled aftertaste, and the soy sauce and sweet sauce made everything even more amazing. After eating half of the meat chunks, I drank some cola.

“Phew! This is good! I never imagined we could just chill inside a dungeon like this~” I giggled.

“Yeah, it’s amazingly tasty. But above all, I’m impressed you were able to give us such a clean chunk of their meat without the blood and all.” Baihe said.

“Ah, that’s my Gathering Skill! I can dismantle corpses I gather.” I explained. “I was able to dismantle the corpse from the meat, innards, bones, and blood! All neatly separated.”

“That’s such a useful Skill...” Kevin sighed. “I wish I had it! Is there a monster core that can give you such a Skill?”

“I doubt it. Gathering seems like a Skill you can only get when you Awaken or are gifted by a Constellation...” Baihe said. “Monster Skills are usually all offensive or passive buffs for the body. It's very rare to find something that has so much utility like that. Healing Skills, Buffing Skills, and Protection Skills are also very rare amongst what you can get from monsters.”

“Yeah, I mean...” I said. “I could teach the skill to you guys, I do have something called [Jack of All Trades], but it’ll take a while. And it will be a much weaker version of it.”

The Gathering Skill I taught the demons didn’t have the Rank Up Bonus for gathered materials, and the Inventory was much smaller, only having five slots per level instead of the hundred slots per level that mine has. But that’s also good, so I can keep my own unique ability while they get something that can be useful in its own right.

“Wait, you can do that?!” Kevin gasped. “P-Please Anna, teach it to me! It would be so useful to gather materials, dismantle them, and then have an inventory! My bag is already full of stuff; it barely has space for anything else.”

“Sure, I’ll teach it to you guys... For a price. Getting a skill as useful as that one costs money, you know?” I smiled.

“Y-You... seriously?” Kevin sighed. “Fine, I’ll pay...”

“I’ll also pay! I got my own savings.” Annabelle nodded.

“I... Well, I’ve also been accumulating a small sum of money selling monster materials.” Baihe said. “I’ll gladly pay you if you could teach me that useful Skill, Anna. I think its so useful it could be considered priceless.”

Gathering is a Skill that felt kind of lame when I got it because of what it could do, but it ended up becoming incredibly useful for Dungeon Delving. Indeed, experienced hunters will easily recognize its immense value.

“Alright, alright, we’ll do that once we’re done here.” I said. “Now let’s enjoy the rest of the meat, it’s really tasty.”

We spent the next ten minutes feasting on the roasted meat. We ended up eating almost an entire Golden Bull and Golden Turtle; both were three-meter-big monsters, mind you. So yeah, Hunter’s body metabolism is really fast, and he can easily digest food and convert it into energy.

[You and your party have defeated [Various Martial Beasts (B Rank)] x26]

[You earned 260.000 EXP]

[EXP has been saved until your next Rank Up.]

[You have collected [Various Martial Beasts Corpses (B Rank)] x26]

How can they do that? By invading another world and filling it with their monsters, they slowly terraform the world as they kill the original inhabitants while draining away their life force and mana to feed themselves and grow larger.

Luring unsuspecting challengers inside and telling them this is all a great trial to inherit a big shot’s powers is all part of the show! Of course, it is a special dungeon even then, as it is being managed by a Constellation.

But Constellation or not, I bet he benefits from it as well; after all, he’ll gain power from all the fools that enter and die inside. The very reason why the Will is so angry is because it wanted us to die already so it could feed off our Life Force, Ki, and even the Mana it sealed away from us.

But we were not playing along with their stupid “rules” anyway.

“Huh? This is a small room.” Kevin looked around.

“It’s an elevator, actually.” I looked up; the ceiling was incredibly high, leading to a blue sky.

“Wait, what?” My friends had all the same reaction as the elevator rumbled, quickly beginning to move upwards.

In a few seconds, we found ourselves standing above the ceiling of Murim’s Abandoned Temple. There was a beautiful blue sky, white clouds, and mountains in the surroundings. A calm and cold breeze washed over our faces, and the sunlight was warm and comfortable.

“T-This is insane! A Dungeon can be this big?!” Kevin asked.

“It is sure impressive, but yes, they’re very big, Kevin; don’t you remember the dungeons we’ve entered before?” Baihe sighed.

“I mean... I thought it was a Labyrinth-type dungeon that has closed spaces, usually not as big as the others...” Said Kevin. “But I guess it makes sense...”

“Dungeons are fragments of worlds, isn’t it?” Annabelle wondered. “So I guess it makes sense that they’re so big! But we were being trapped down there, so we were unable to see all the beautiful views here!”

“Yeah...” I nodded. I looked in front of us; there was our challenge right there.

A hundred golden statues resembling Chinese terracotta soldiers were facing us with their empty eyes, all of them wielding big shields and long spears. And behind them, there was a golden throne, where a cultivator sat down, also made of gold. He had long hair, sharp eyes, and a colorful crown.

The moment we took a single step forward, the soldiers started moving. Their bodies were overflowing with Auras full of Ki. They were definitely some sort of golem that had Martial Souls inside.

“So you’ve reached the last challenge! Good. Welcome, warriors from another world. Your lives will become the nourishment for this Dungeon.” The man sitting above the throne laughed. “I thank you deeply for your sacrifice.”

[The Fifth Challenge: {Challenge of War}, will now begin.]

[You’ve reached the last challenge; you stand in front of an army of a hundred soldiers of Murim, led by their Golden Emperor! You must now defeat them all using only Ki and the Martial Arts you’ve learned along the way.]

[The Golden Emperor is an arrogant and powerful Cultivator; he will send all his troops before he fights himself. Make sure to save your Ki to confront him at the end!]

[Or maybe risk going through his one hundred soldiers to behead him first? It’s all up to you, challenger!]

[Good luck!]

[Dungeon Restrictions: Mana and Magic are sealed. Fighting and Offensive-type Skills cannot be used. Sense-type Skills cannot be used.]

[Dungeon Effects: None.]

The Dungeon Effects were gone, and the restrictions became even worse than before.

This Golden Sun bastard really loves his restrictions, huh?

Well, sadly for him, there was nothing saying that Cosmic Energy was not allowed, right?

“{Cosmic Transcendent Arts}: {Constellation’s Aura}”

FLASH!

It's time to break the fifth challenge too.

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