After a brief dizziness, Richard found himself standing in an underground maze, with a deep, dark passage ahead and a spiral staircase to the side.
Richard knew the test dungeon had five floors, and you could go up and down by the stairs; the deeper you go, the stronger the monsters.
At the bottom of the dungeon are level 10 monsters!
Richard had come to the test dungeon a few times, but only dealt with some level 0 monsters on the first floor, and often got chased like a dog.
Several times he left the dungeon by dying.
Now, he did not hesitate and rushed toward the deepest part.
Richard reached the fifth underground floor; the stairs had come to an end here.
He walked toward the dark opening ahead, and after passing a long corridor.
Richard's view suddenly opened up; it was a rather dim forest, with dead branches and leaves all around that rustled underfoot, and the sunlight was blocked by the leaves high above, leaving only patches of golden light.
As Richard appeared.
Rustle rustle.
The sound of trees around being pushed aside.
Then a group of green-skinned monsters in tattered leather armor came out.
You could see the muscles on each of them, and they had vicious fangs.
"Elite Goblins?"
"Classic level 10 monsters."
Richard raised an eyebrow; as a top student, he saw at a glance what these monsters were.
Elite Goblins are a kind of monster that gives new players a hard time.
On average, only one out of 100 Goblins becomes such a strengthened individual.
They often master strong martial skills, and a few can sense elements and cast magic.
If they are melee-type Elite Goblins, it is not so bad; a few players can beat them together.
If they can use magic, their damage goes up a lot.
Only groups of seven or more players dare to take them on easily.
Richard knew that every year countless new players die at the hands of Elite Goblins.
Facing this famed strong enemy, he instinctively felt a bit afraid.
Richard had not had real combat before; the level 0 monsters he challenged at least did not look this tough...
"Jibber-jabber!"
"Jibber-jabber!"
He was still thinking.
The Elite Goblins would not wait.
They roared wildly at once and lunged forward!
Several monsters swung very vicious spiked clubs in their hands, moving very brutal.
In the back, a few more Elite Goblins slowly gathered power, as if about to cast a skill.
Richard was also a bit stunned.
Is the fifth floor this hard?
More than ten monsters right away?
At this moment, the Elite Goblins were almost in his face, and Richard had no time to think, so he quickly waved his hand.
Extinction Flame, activate!
At once, he felt his energy being drained like a tide!
Richard grew a bit nervous, and his control had serious mistakes.
Facing the enemy, he went all out.
In normal cases, playing like this was stupid for someone like Richard; a small slip would make his energy fail to recover, he could not keep using his talent, and he would be surrounded and beaten to death.
As a top student, Richard also thought of this and could only sigh to himself.
He would have to queue for the test dungeon again; this time he would likely die to get out.
Only...
Boom!!
Around him, like a blooming rose!
Ash-blue and pure black flames burst out!!
They swept out in all directions.
First, the more than ten Elite Goblins lunging at him were burned to ash!
Then, several Goblins in the back who still wanted to cast spells were also swept by the flames in a very miserable way!!
The monsters still stood where they were, movements stiff, but their bodies made crackling sounds in the blaze!
Their skin burned away, leaving only a skeleton in the fire, snapping again and again.
The damage of Extinction Flame was about what Richard predicted, even a bit stronger, equal to a gray-quality skill used by a level 10 player.
But for others to get this effect and damage with a gray-quality skill, it has to be single-target, while Richard's Extinction Flame is a group attack!
Where the flames passed, all things perished!
Even a level 10 player's gray skill is not enough to kill any Elite Goblin in one hit.
But Extinction Flame has never been just pure damage.
From the Azure Flame Empress comes the trait High Heat, which adds extra damage.
Another trait, Smelting, can largely ignore defense.
And last, a trait from the God-Tier talent.
execute!
The Elite Goblins were left at low health by the burst of Extinction Flame.
Then execute triggered, and they were wiped out!
As for Richard himself, he was half kneeling on the ground, a bit drained, with stabbing pain in his head.
He had just overdrawn his energy and struck with full power.
So-called energy can be understood as the "blue bar" converted from the Spirit stat.
The result Richard got was nice, but if even one Elite Goblin had lived, it would have been enough to knock the now weak Richard dead with one swing.
Because in reality, when the "blue bar" runs out, it is extremely painful!
Luckily, Richard not only did not die, he was instead full of excitement.
"Damn! My talent is way too strong!"
"Rayna, thank you!"
He summed up two points.
To pull off such a strong move, first, he relied on his own outstanding awaken God-Tier talent; second, he thanked Rayna for giving him such a perfect damage-type talent feedback.
As for the crappy system?
Better not mention it!
Richard was in a good mood, but he was still gritting his teeth; he lay limp on the ground for nearly five minutes before he got back up.
Originally, after testing the damage output of Extinction Flame,
he was going to leave the dungeon.
But Richard suddenly saw something off ahead: a magic orb flashing with a strange light kept flickering.
"What is this?"
He was stunned.
There are no drops in the test dungeon; the monsters here are not real monsters, just simulated phantoms.
By the rules of the world today, anyone who kills a monster can immediately become a player.
If a monster can produce drops, it means it is real.
Then Richard should already have been promoted to an official player just now!
That's an iron law!
What the hell is going on??
But if a drop appears and you don't pick it up, you'd be a fool.
Richard rushed forward and touched the light orb; in an instant, the orb cracked apart.
It finally formed a skill book in his hand.
Richard was not a player yet and could not view the detailed panel of an item, but luckily he had the system, which could also probe item information.
[Heart of Smelting]
[Quality: White (Upgradeable)]
[Category: Skill Book]
[Description: When flames with the Smelting trait kill a large number of monsters in one go (minimum requirement is monsters level 20 and above), it may consume all loot to create this skill book. Extremely rare.]
[Effect: With this skill, you can fuse any fire-type skill of white quality or lower (including white quality) into your fire-type talent.]
[Tip: By killing a large number of level 50+ monsters in one go, you can obtain a Green-quality Heart of Smelting to upgrade this skill.]
[Tip: As a Contractor, you can gift this skill to a contract beast to gain feedback and learn this skill as well.]
"This system is sometimes pretty reliable, giving info this detailed?"
Richard muttered a complaint.
Then he looked at the description of the newly acquired skill book, and joy grew bit by bit in his eyes.
At first Richard was only excited that he seemed to have easily gotten one of the materials for cultivating Rayna.
Then he was shocked by the effect of Heart of Smelting; this was practically a skill tailor-made for Rayna!
Oh, no.
Now it's even tailor-made for Richard!
The strength of Extinction Flame is high, but it has a not-quite-a-weakness: under this talent, all fire-type skills become meaningless!
Casting ordinary fire skills just wastes energy; it's better to trigger the talent a few more times to kill the enemy.
But Heart of Smelting can actually merge various fire skills into the talent?
That's ruthless!
Simply put, Richard can layer various fire skills onto Extinction Flame when he casts it; the power will definitely be stronger than using the talent alone!
When Richard uses Extinction Flame, normally he can only deal damage.
But some fire skills have utility, for example, Repelling Fire has a stun control effect.
Summon Fire Sprite can create an auxiliary unit.
Flame of Life can restore health by creating warm firelight.
After you fuse these special powers with Heart of Smelting, their effects will rise a lot!
Imagine this: if Extinction Flame casts Repelling Fire, how strong would that be? The enemy would not only be controlled, but might also take very high damage!
How strong would the fire sprite made by Extinction Flame be? It would surely push the summon's strength up several notches!
How could this not make Richard excited!
You know, most people become players and then rely on luck, just learning some skills they can use, while Richard only ran a test dungeon, and a key skill dropped that was tailor-made for his talent!
He won big!
What excited Richard even more was that this skill book could not only let Rayna learn it and boost her power, but also be used for the girl's first talent training.
And in the end, through feedback, it could come back to him too!
Three gains at once!
...
Richard soon left the Adventurers' Association in a good mood.
But he did not know that after he left the dungeon, a male player in leather armor suddenly made his way to the spot where Richard killed the Goblins.
"Young Master Joseph... please don't let anything happen to you, or we will all be buried with you!"
"Damn it, why did the dungeon go wrong now!"
The player looked bitter, and his eyes were full of despair.
The dungeon mutated, the mirror spaces linked up, and the raging level-10 Goblin groups were sure to slaughter like crazy the unlucky ones who entered the dungeon...
That Young Master Joseph, even with a life-saving item, still couldn't make it out alive!
But then, this player suddenly looked ahead, and he froze.
Right then...
His pupils shrank!