Chapter 4
In the era of keyboards, landing critical hits relied solely on probability and luck, but in the age of holograms, one could depend on real-world skills. Interstellar powerhouses were everywhere; those who were strong in reality would also excel in the game. They could directly enhance their damage through combat techniques, achieving critical hits with every strike.
It was easy to imagine that this free combat mode would become the mainstream for interstellar players.
Yet Ye Bai... chose to simply turn it off and set her pain sensitivity to a mere 1%.
Ye Bai swung her sword at the tree once more.
This time, it was markedly different. As the thought of ‘attack’ crossed her mind, her body seemed to be guided by some unseen force, and she delivered a perfectly standard, unremarkable strike.
‘-5, -5, -5...’
Until the tree fell with a thud, the damage remained stable, devoid of any lucky critical hits, yet also free from any erratic performance.
In this non-free mode, Ye Bai’s consciousness transformed into a different kind of keyboard, while her body faithfully executed the commands.
Setting pain sensitivity to 1% was to prevent any injuries or bleeding during combat from affecting her thoughts.
Any ambitious interstellar player would never configure it this way, as the holographic game felt more like a collective journey through time. The skills mastered in reality could be fully utilized in the game, not to mention that this was a realm that could enhance one’s mental strength—“Wan Jie” (万界, "Ten Thousand Realms"). Interstellar powerhouses viewed this as a significant opportunity, pouring all their efforts into improving their strength; only a fool would ‘cripple themselves.’
But Ye Bai was different. This level of control was a tremendous advantage for her, a creator who could maximize the game’s rules.
After all, the fundamental difference between a game and reality is that the rules are devoid of variables and surprises. Mastering the rules equates to foreseeing the outcome.
Ye Bai took out the dungeon key from her backpack.
【Please select the challenge level for the alternate dimension: Normal, Hard, Elite, Nightmare】
“Nightmare.”
---
**Chapter 3**
Ye Bai stood inside a cave, with a dead end behind her and only one path leading deeper into the cave ahead. The stone walls were dotted with glowing ores, illuminating the dark surroundings.
Seeing this familiar scene, she felt a wave of relief wash over her.
Compared to the myriad of interstellar players, Ye Bai’s only advantage now was her understanding of the game.
As a crucial element of the game, this dungeon was not complex in structure; one simply had to fight their way through to the BOSS. However, that didn’t mean it was easy, as the strength of the monsters in the dungeon was generated based on the player’s level. Especially the BOSS, even at the same level, its health and damage were far beyond what players could handle.
Moreover, in a normal-level dungeon, monsters matched the player’s level; in hard mode, they started five levels higher, in elite mode, ten levels higher, and in nightmare mode, a full twenty levels higher!
Ye Bai, at level 0, directly entered the dungeon—not only because she was pressed for time, but also because the BOSS corresponding to the nightmare difficulty was exactly level 20. Monsters above level 20, like players who had undergone a job change, would experience a transformation in strength, representing the true ‘nightmare’ for untransformed players.
“Ding, ding, ding...”
Ye Bai didn’t rush into the cave immediately. Instead, she took her wooden sword and began tapping on the surrounding stone walls, mining the glowing ores.
One of the core features of “Wan Jie” is that ‘all scenes are destructible.’ Not only can players mine ores, but if their stamina is sufficient, they could even dig through the cave walls—though all dungeons are set as independent ‘alternate dimensions’ from the main world. Hitting the edge of a dungeon would expose players to chaotic time and space; those below level 100 would die upon contact, and monsters killed using this method wouldn’t yield experience or drops.
Ye Bai had previously used her wooden sword to chop trees, and now she could also mine, though using a weapon would double the durability consumption and affect the quality of the output compared to using specialized tools.
To prevent players from running out of weapon durability in a dungeon and having to abandon it, dungeons, as ‘alternate dimensions,’ do not consume durability for any weapons or tools, except for consumable items. This was one of the rules Ye Bai intended to exploit to clear the dungeon.
Of course, for balance reasons, the resources available for collection in dungeons were often not precious.
“Clang!”
With a sound, a piece of glowing ore fell, and Ye Bai picked it up and added it to her backpack.
【Fluorescent Stone Fragment】
Attributes: Ore Fragment
Level: Crude
Resources collected through violent means, like attacking with a weapon, are always in a damaged state, and their quality automatically drops one level from the original until it can’t drop any further, which is the current crude level.
If she had used a pickaxe, she would not only have obtained a complete ore but might have also mined a higher quality one.
However, for Ye Bai at this moment, just having enough was sufficient.
After knocking down all the surrounding fluorescent stones, the environment turned dark, and only then did she begin to advance, not missing any piece of glowing stone she encountered along the way.
As she delved deeper, the number of fluorescent stones gradually decreased. After turning a corner, the passage widened, and with the last piece of glowing stone illuminating her path, she could see ahead into a dimly lit cavern, devoid of any glowing stones, shrouded in an aura of danger.
Ye Bai didn’t mine the only glowing stone nearby; instead, she slowed her pace, inching closer to the cavern. As she took her fourth step, two red dots lit up in the darkness.
Like flipping a switch, pairs of red dots began to illuminate one after another, eight pairs of red eyes silently fixated on Ye Bai, unblinking.
Indeed, there were a total of eight **Cave Bats**.
Ye Bai took a step back, and the eight red eyes inside the cavern flickered out one by one, as if extinguished by a gust of wind.
Six meters was the warning range for the Cave Bats. As a nightmare-level dungeon, with a level difference of 20, these ‘normal monsters’ could deal 50 points of damage with a single attack to Ye Bai, who had no armor. Moreover, they had group aggro; if one bat was provoked, all eight would attack together.
If she had taken one more step forward, Ye Bai, with only 100 health, would have been finished after just two bites.
However, no dungeon is unsolvable. If it were truly unsolvable, it would be a failure on the part of the creator. Ye Bai, as the creator, certainly had the ‘official’ optimal strategy in mind.
Ye Bai opened her backpack, where she had already collected 13 fluorescent stone fragments.
【Would you like to spend 4 ‘Fluorescent Stone Fragments’ to synthesize?】
【Yes】
This synthesis of basic ores could be done directly in the backpack, consuming a bit of stamina. Soon, Ye Bai’s backpack transformed into 3 complete fluorescent stones and 1 fluorescent stone fragment.
【Fluorescent Stone】
Attributes: Raw material for luminous ore
Level: Crude
Ye Bai stowed her shield, gripped her wooden sword with her right hand, and approached the cavern once more... seven meters, six meters, and the pairs of red eyes in the cave lit up again.
In critical moments, Ye Bai’s mind always remained calm.
She took the final step.
“Whoosh...”
In an instant, the sound of flapping wings erupted, and the eight level 20 bats surged forward.
1, 2... Counting the bats’ flight speed in her mind, Ye Bai swung her sword perfectly into the darkness.
‘-5’
The first Cave Bat, charging at the forefront, took the hit from Ye Bai’s sword, momentarily halting its momentum, but this damage was merely a drop in the bucket against its current 200 health. It would take 40 hits to bring it down, and the bats behind it, untouched by Ye Bai’s attack, surged forward.
In the next moment, with a thought, a complete glowing fluorescent stone appeared in her empty left hand.
In reality, retrieving items from her backpack required a motion, but in the game, the backpack was like a spatial ring from a novel, allowing for instant retrieval and storage.
The complete fluorescent stone shone brighter than the unmined ones on the walls, illuminating the surrounding area like a small light bulb.
“Eek—!”
The bat swarm emitted a sharp cry, and the bats that hadn’t yet attacked Ye Bai quickly flapped their wings and retreated, while the bat that had just been struck lagged behind.
Cave Bats possess the trait of **Light Aversion**, which is their top priority in all actions. Observant players can easily notice this, as the bat swarm only resides in areas devoid of glowing stones.
Ordinary players could exploit this by throwing a fluorescent stone to light the way, scaring the entire Cave Bat swarm away, but Ye Bai certainly wouldn’t take such a shortcut; the experience from level 20 monsters was quite substantial.
Just as the first bat lagged behind, she swung her sword once more.
‘-5’
At the same time, the fluorescent stone in her left hand was stowed back into her backpack, the light vanishing instantly, plunging her surroundings into darkness once more.
“Whoosh...”
The bat that had been hit immediately flapped its wings, baring its sharp teeth at Ye Bai, who had just struck it twice. The bats that had been scared off also turned back upon seeing their companion attacked.
Then, the fluorescent stone that had been stowed away was once again retrieved by Ye Bai.
Table of Contents
