Originally, it was supposed to be a battle between the Necromancer and the Shadow Dancer.
In the end, however, it turned into Chen Zijin's personal home field.
From beginning to end, it was practically Chen Zijin fighting alone.
And Zhang Yue's role was simply to keep provoking her, to stabilize Chen Zijin's aggro value.
Because only when her rage was stable could Chen Zijin unleash such terrifying destructive power.
Whether they could complete a hundred Level 9 missions all depended on Chen Zijin.
Under Zhang Yue's "effective sustained output," Chen Zijin's rage was basically held steady at around 400%–500%.
The damage output she unleashed was enough to instantly kill level-230 monsters.
So no matter where they went, she was one-shotting heaven, earth, and even the air itself.
Combining her own power with that of the Shadow Legion, she slaughtered entire maps.
And by the time they moved to the next map, she could use the rage accumulated from the previous map to unleash the forbidden spell Wrath of Thunder, clearing everything in an instant.
With this kind of meat-and-vegetable pairing, on average they could finish one map every 2–3 minutes.
So, in just one afternoon, by around five in the evening, Zhang Yue and Chen Zijin had each finished over a hundred missions.
Through this insane slaughter, Zhang Yue's level had already risen to 210.
Just by killing monsters, he'd managed to level up ten times in a row.
When the last mission was finally completed, Zhang Yue let out a long sigh of relief.
"It's over!"
Lifting his head, he said to Chen Zijin's back in front of him, "Good work, we can go back now."
But as soon as he finished speaking, Chen Zijin turned around, her eyes full of murderous intent, and snapped at him, "Scumbag!"
Zhang Yue: "???"
"Didn't we agree not to hold grudges afterward?"
And yet, he could still feel the overwhelming killing intent radiating from Chen Zijin.
She stomped angrily up to him, speaking in an irritated tone, "No way, no way, at this pace, I'll live at least thirty years less! Even if the monsters don't kill me, you'll drive me to death!"
"I'm leaving first, goodbye!"
With that, Chen Zijin turned and ran off without a backward glance.
One had to admit, women really are mysterious creatures.
Even knowing full well that every word out of Zhang Yue's mouth was just to rile her up… Chen Zijin still couldn't help but get angry.
["Liyue, tell me, why is that?"], Zhang Yue asked across the voice channel.
Liyue replied, ["Because she cares. That's why a single word or action of yours can stir up her emotions!"]
After a pause, Liyue added, ["But you really maxed out Sister Zijin's anger bar this afternoon. I suggest you hurry after her and coax her, otherwise you might lose a girlfriend who cares about you this much!"]
Just as Zhang Yue was about to explain the real relationship between him and Chen Zijin… Liyue, seeing the mission was already over, cut the call.
Watching Chen Zijin gradually disappear into the distance, Zhang Yue couldn't help but smile and shake his head, "Isn't there a return-to-city scroll? Why insist on walking back? Silly but cute."
As he spoke, Zhang Yue pulled out a return-to-city scroll and crushed it.
In an instant, he was back in the Light Nation.
Once he returned, Zhang Yue immediately went to the city NPCs and turned in all the Level 9 missions he had picked up.
One pleasant system chime after another rang in his ears—
["Ding~ Congratulations on completing Level 9 mission [Exterminate the Bandits]. Reward: EXP +20 trillion, Energy +300 trillion. For your outstanding contribution in ridding the nation of harm, the citizens of the Light Nation's favorability toward you +1000!"]
["Ding~ Congratulations on completing Level 9 mission [Slay the Firebird]. Reward: EXP +20 trillion, Energy +300 trillion. For your outstanding contribution in ridding the nation of harm, the citizens of the Light Nation's favorability toward you +1000!"]
["Ding~ Congratulations on completing Level 9 mission [Purge the Demons]. Reward: EXP +20 trillion, Energy +300 trillion. For your outstanding contribution in ridding the nation of harm, the citizens of the Light Nation's favorability toward you +1000!"]
["Ding…"]
With the massive EXP rewards from over a hundred missions, streaks of golden light rained down over Zhang Yue's head one after another.
Before his very eyes, his level climbed from 210, rising again and again, finally skyrocketing to 222.
Only eight levels away from the peak level of the World 42.
But more importantly than levels was the promotion of his status rank.
["Ding~ Because you have gained over 100 favorability with the citizens of the Light Nation, congratulations, your status has risen from [Slave] to [Commoner]. Bonus EXP from killing monsters +5%. Next upgrade requires 1000 favorability!"]
["Ding~ Because you have gained over 1000 favorability with the citizens of the Light Nation, congratulations, your status has risen from [Commoner] to [Scholar]. Bonus EXP from killing monsters +12%. Next upgrade requires 5000 favorability!"]
[…]
["Ding~ Because you have gained over 100,000 favorability with the citizens of the Light Nation, congratulations, your status has risen from [Monarch] to [Emperor]. Bonus EXP from killing monsters +50%. The Light Nation's armory has been unlocked!"]
With the favorability rewards from a hundred Level 9 missions, Zhang Yue's status rank leapt all the way from the lowest slave to emperor, just one step below the highest God-King.
And once he reached [Emperor], there were no more prompts for further upgrades.
Only upon becoming a God-King could one have unlimited access to the armory's equipment to upgrade transcendent gear sets.
This gave Zhang Yue a headache.
At that moment, Zhang Yue recalled Ouyang Linger's strategy guide and opened it for a look.
Sure enough, within her notes, she had detailed the method for advancing from Emperor to God-King.
It turned out that to advance from Emperor to God-King, one could not rely on gaining favorability within the empire.
The final step required a unique promotion method.
The player had to enter the Death Territory of the World 42 and clear a dungeon called [Tomb of the Empire].
This dungeon could only be entered by those with a status rank of [Grand General] or higher.
The first player to clear the Tomb of the Empire would become the God-King.
That's right, across all five empires of the World 42, only one God-King could ever exist.
And so far, throughout the entire realm, not a single player had managed to clear [Tomb of the Empire].
"The dungeon difficulty is too high. Basically, everyone who enters never comes out alive. So becoming God-King is no easy task."
But to Zhang Yue, that actually meant opportunity.
If it were easy and someone else had already done it, it wouldn't be his turn.
It felt as if, by fate, this Tomb of the Empire was just waiting for Zhang Yue to uncover it.
At that moment, Chen Zijin came rushing back from the field.
Seeing her still looking upset, Zhang Yue quickly said first, "I'll treat you to dinner once we log off."
Unexpectedly, the moment he finished, the anger on Chen Zijin's face instantly melted into a bright smile, "Okay!"
Zhang Yue froze for a second.
"So easy to coax?"
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