17

Zhongqing returned to her seat, holding a small cup of yogurt that the cafeteria provided after meals. She logged back in and noticed that only about half the names in her party were lit up, estimating it would take another ten to twenty minutes for everyone to gather. She decided to browse through the dungeon completion cooldown records for the Wheel of Reincarnation guild in God's Domain.

The records for the Eternal Spring dungeon from the previous weeks showed that the first to third teams had completed it. Since not all elite teams can have every member present, some names in the logs were from substitutes stepping in for the later teams. She noted a few players in her current group who had experience completing the dungeon, which reassured her before closing the panel.

While remembering these names might not be particularly useful, she was accustomed to being thoroughly prepared, so she figured there was no harm in noting them down.

The first boss in the Eternal Spring dungeon was relatively easy to deal with. This boss was an elf archer, and defeating it required simply arranging the buffs correctly. Once the elf received the Guard Buff, they would need to use a Armor Breaking formation to dispel it.

Zhongqing obediently positioned herself at the range buff reception point. However, to maximize her output, she volunteered to take the Wind Ball, which meant she would need to go through the formation, but as long as she focused on casting while moving during that phase, there wouldn't be much output loss. The damage boost from the Wind Ball was substantial.

The team leader, speaking in slightly unrefined Mandarin with a hint of a Xiang accent, directed the main tank (T) and the off-tank (OT) to clear aggro as they transitioned between phases. Zhongqing faintly heard someone shouting in the background about a reminder to renew their current position.

"Is the team leader at an internet café?" she asked, stabilizing her position while finishing the last formation before rejoining the damage output team. Without hesitation, she unleashed Thunderstorm followed by Blazing Meteor, casually asking the guy next to her, who was also participating in the dungeon.

Her question coincided with a moment when the team leader was not directing, allowing those nearby to hear her clearly.

"Yeah, he's been the team leader for two weeks. So far, he seems decent. The guild leader said if we can keep pushing through this week, he'll officially take over the fifth elite team," he replied.

Zhongqing responded with an "oh," indicating she was listening.

The boss soon entered its weakened state, and the team quickly whittled down its health to the red zone. The new round of buffing and dispelling its newly acquired invincibility status went smoothly since it was just a gatekeeper boss; if that posed a problem, they wouldn't really qualify as an elite team.

The elf, armed with a cyan-green longbow, was reduced to ashes in the flames, leaving behind a golden treasure chest. The team leader rubbed his hands together in anticipation of looting the chest, while the vice-leader posted the team's damage statistics in the chat to ensure they weren't lost among the next output stats, making it easier to record contribution points.

"Wow, this elemental mage's damage is really high," someone remarked.

"Sure, she's benefitting from the Wind Ball, but even then, it's still impressive. Her gear is definitely good, but I don't think even the artillery from the previous team hit such staggering numbers," another added.

Zhongqing flexed her fingers; for her, this speed was barely even a warm-up, yet it was clear the team leader had noticed that her skills were on par with her impressive gear.

When they reached the second boss, the task of clearing the floating monsters on the moving formations was assigned to her. The elemental mage navigated gracefully between the aerial formations, sending out ice shards and fireballs that precisely struck the green orb monsters. The fewer monsters there were, the less damage reduction the boss would have.

Of course, she didn't forget to land a few finishing blows on the boss as well.

As the second boss fell, Zhongqing received a private message.

[Xiaojing's CP absolutely won't be BE] "This might be a bit odd, but do you know an elemental mage named She Xin Ling Po?"

She placed her hands back on the keyboard and typed two characters: [Wulan] "Shaoguang?"

[Xiaojing's CP absolutely won't be BE] "Whoa, sister, how did you end up in an elite team?"

[Wulan] "I forgot to mention, I went to interview for a summer internship in the guild department at the Wheel of Reincarnation club today..."

[Xiaojing's CP absolutely won't be BE] "?????? The Six Realms will be so jealous. Did you meet Vice-Captain Jiang?"

[Wulan] "I saw him during lunch, but I didn't get a word in. The guild department doesn't really interact with the main team, so there's no need to envy me."

As she chatted with Shaoguang, she also skillfully controlled her character to navigate through the vines and jump across the chasms.

They were now standing in front of the third boss, and it had been nearly two hours since they began tackling the boss after lunch. However, this time frame marked the best performance from the fifth team so far, and aside from a rogue who had to log off due to parental debuffs, the team hadn't lost any members.

"Everyone, take ten minutes to adjust. When there's one minute left, make sure to apply buffs. I'll go pay for my internet," the team leader said, buoyed by the smooth progress in the dungeon, and his tone had gained a bit more confidence.

However, given the overall skill level of this team, Zhongqing had reservations about his sudden confidence. Especially since she had noticed that the tank, who had rushed his skills earlier in the first two bosses, still wasn't performing optimally.

Although his speed was impressive, as a main tank, it wasn't enough just to maintain aggro. Clearly, he didn't have a deep understanding of skills, often relying on skill frequency to stabilize aggro instead of using strong taunt skills to reinforce the state of maintaining aggro.

Zhongqing thought for a moment and decided to seek out Gudi.

Occasionally able to slack off without dealing with some troublesome kids in the ninth district, Gudi was playing a marksman and had become a lazy fish on the table during the break.

She reached out and poked at this dreamless guild leader from the new district.

"Can I get a mic sequence?"

"That tank seems a bit off. I'm worried about a potential wipe; if necessary, I can use my damage to take over as the tank," she said.

Gudi wouldn't refuse such a request. If not for the fear of being found out that he was also in this party, he had wanted to show off when the damage stats came out after the first two bosses. This powerful girl was someone he had recruited into the guild, so there was no problem giving her a role to speak up.

After receiving what she wanted, Zhongqing returned to her position.

In front of her stood the third boss, a pair of twins—one an elf mage, and the other an elf swordsman.

It seemed the developers loved to implement twin bosses, usually featuring one dying and the other either greatly reducing damage or massively increasing attack. This pair would generate a resonance when they were close together, reflecting damage back to the players.

Of course, their skills went beyond that; the mage's formation would absorb mana, while the swordsman's formation would absorb health. Both bosses would constantly stack debuffs that increased damage received, and if it became too high, it could lead to instant death. Moreover, the elf mage's random cast suppression and the swordsman's rapid thrust seals combined with a field full of sword formations would leave a hundred-person team unsure where to stand, not to mention that targets knocked back by the swordsman would suffer additional damage from the mage's chain pull, making it no surprise that previous attempts had stalled here.

"Main tank, off tank, and substitute tanks, get in position. Main tank pull the mage, off tank pull the swordsman, substitute tank first swap with the main tank, then rotate. If everyone's ready, engage."

The main tank charged toward the elf mage.

A light blue formation quickly spread across the arena.

Author's Note: The dungeon draws references from Sword 3's Wind Hall and Tian Dao, although I've made some modifications to the boss skills.