Chapter 29 It's better to enjoy this kind of thing on a small scale

"Steeran, I heard from others that your strength seems to have increased a lot, is it true?"

At Steeran's house, the members of Morning Wind Team gathered, all rushing over after hearing that Steeran was troubled by some thugs on the street.

Upon seeing that Steeran was unharmed and even radiant, everyone visibly relaxed.

Steeran displayed a reassuring smile, pleased to see everyone caring for her.

"Just now, I went to fix those thugs and gave them a beating, and indeed, they were strong," Huynh inquired, "They were probably on par with you, but bystanders said you killed the guy in a second, what happened?"

"Actually, I encountered something magical when I was in the Sain Dungeon,"

Steeran narrated her experiences in the dungeon, and naturally, everyone's faces showed astonishment after listening.

Summoning Hook Finger Medicine? Friendly Assistants and enemy fighters? Hound Step? Upgrading by campfire and sitting fire?

All these unheard events greatly broadened their horizons.

"What does Summoning Hook Finger Medicine look like, and was the person who helped you alive?"

"I'm more curious about the campfire you mentioned..."

"Right, right, killing monsters and then... uh, how do you say that word, 'level up' in the 'panel'? What is a panel again?"

As Steeran expected, everyone was most interested in the campfire.

For adventurers, strength is everything, and now with something that can strengthen them quickly, everyone paid great attention.

"It's about killing monsters to collect souls, and using these souls to level up at the campfire,"

"Soul!?" Magician Ellie's expression changed, "Using souls to get stronger is a desecration only performed by Undead Mages,"

"Ah, the soul we are talking about is not the same kind you are thinking of," Steeran didn't know how to explain and simply said, "Just decide whether you're going to use this campfire or not,"

"…I'll use it,"

"There you go,"

She stood up, clapped her hands, "Talking won't help, I'll take you to witness it yourselves tomorrow,"

The next day, everyone arrived early at the entrance of the Sain Dungeon.

The surface construction of the Sain Dungeon was an ancient city with collapsed ruins, not very large, and overgrown with vines and moss, making one wonder what had happened in the past, why the ancient city was destroyed, and where had the residents gone.

Now, due to the arrival of many adventurers, the city was bustling with noise, some businesses even invested money to repair buildings and set up shops, attracting more foot traffic than the commercial streets of Bed City, including various small vendors unrelated to the dungeon, attracting nearby residents as well.

Many idle people liked to gather here, critiquing adventurers entering and exiting the dungeon, so some business-minded individuals opened pubs nearby, flourishing profitably.

Under the morning sun's rays, the lost ancient city was revived with vigorous vitality.

"Is it my imagination, or does it feel like there are more people here now?" Ellie looked around, feeling that the number definitely increased.

"Most of them are miners," Danya said, "Count Philip sent double the miners, which just managed to match the Blood Essence output before the mutation,"

"Doesn't that mean a loss?" Huynh said.

"No," Steeran shook her head; "every few days miners would bring out rare purple Blood Essences, just one small piece is worth the investment of the Bed Family,"

"Oh..." Huynh nodded, though it was unclear if he truly understood.

Despite the doubling of miners, the number of adventurers didn't grow much compared to before, because the increased difficulty of the Sain Dungeon deterred a large group. However, new adventurers who heard the news from other places filled the void, with the reduction of 'handicapped parties' and the addition of 'pro players,' the number of adventurers was bound to increase.

The real entrance to the Sain Dungeon in the ancient city was a Teleportation Gate at the city's edge. To enter, one must queue and pay attention to the time interval between each person's entry.

If the entry time interval is within two minutes, then it is possible to explore the dungeon together. Beyond two minutes, they would not meet and each would explore individually, without affecting each other.

Queueing is one of the most distasteful experiences in life, even more disgusting than the poison marshes of the Sain Dungeon.

After a long and tedious wait, the Morning Wind Team finally entered the dungeon.

Steeran was already familiar with the route in the upper area and led everyone quickly through the swamp area. When they reached the Sick Village area, she took down the Big Shield she was carrying on her back.

Huynh twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Although I've been wanting to ask why you're carrying a Big Shield, surely you aren't planning to use it here, are you?"

"Why not?"

Steeran shrugged, set up her Big Shield and long spear, and walked at the forefront alone, battling Monsters while not forgetting to look back and say:

"Why not give it a try? I guarantee you'll fall in love with them,"

Huynh hesitated for a moment but refused.

There was no need to mention Danya and Ellie; their strengths were even lower.

However, people's thoughts can change.

After watching several of Steeran's battles, Huynh suddenly said:

"Why not... let me give it a try?"

Remembering what Gong Qiying had once said, Steeran smiled and replied: "Want to learn? I'll teach you,"

A moment later.

"Shield Stab is really fun!"

Not long after, the adventurers defeated the Giant Curse Frog, lit the bonfire, and with Steeran, who had cleared the stage once before, leading them, they suffered some injuries but no fatalities.

However, the frights were inevitable.

The various sinister and disgusting traps exhausted their spiritual power as much as losing one or two people would!

And Shield Stab isn't omnipotent; when faced with unsolvable issues, they still had to switch back to their usual weapons honestly.

As soon as they sat by the bonfire, the other three immediately started exclaiming; they finally understood what the interface actually looked like.

The last time Steeran was here, Gong Qiying had her handle most of the Monsters, which is why she had amassed a few thousand souls.

But this time with more people, everyone had killed Monsters, thus the soul amount they acquired was distributed, with Danya and Ellie having a few hundred, and Huynh over two thousand.

Danya said, "I need about four hundred souls to level up,"

"Eh? I only need two hundred," Ellie said in surprise.

"..." Huynh fell silent for a moment "I need a thousand to level up,"

The initial data on everyone's panel is 1, but it seems that the required soul amount to level up differs from person to person.

Probably, the stronger the person, the more souls needed to level up!

The Giant Curse Frog also dropped an item [Soul of the Giant Curse Frog], but there was only one.

After some discussion, everyone decided to give it to Huynh, since he exerted the most effort in the battle.

Steeran, on the other hand, found that she could no longer use [Soul of the Giant Curse Frog] at the bonfire to enhance her physique; she could only crush it for a soul upgrade, indicating that there are limits to special effects for each person.

"Strength, I can feel the strength surging up,"

Huynh allocated all his souls into strength and immediately got excited, "Oh, oh, oh," only a golden special effect away from becoming a Super Saiyan.

Danya invested in one level of agility, and Ellie in one level of intelligence; the mere one level increase wasn't very noticeable, but the growth in strength still left them both pleasantly surprised.

"With this thing, even becoming a Gold Level adventurer isn't a problem!" Ellie's eyes were full of dreams for the future.

"That's hard to say; once others learn about this place, they might level up faster than us," Steeran said.

Danya, thoughtful, looked up and asked, "Besides you, has anyone else discovered this place?"

"I don't know; I haven't heard of anyone clearing this level, why do you ask?"

"I think,"

Danya stared intently at the bonfire and slowly said,

"Such things are better enjoyed within a small circle..."