Chapter 23-Cleared The Dungeon—Jackpot!
Li Yao was completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world.
At this moment, he was sitting cross-legged in front of the dungeon vortex, examining his rewards.
A Goblin King's loot chest, a level-up, a first-clear reward pack, and a title reward.
What a haul!
No doubt, this was a Nightmare-level dungeon.
The level-up was applied to Li Yao directly, pushing him from level 14 (93%) to level 15 (93%), just a step away from level 16.
At the same time, the hedge fund reward also landed in his inventory.
Unfortunately, not even the Goblin King had dropped any gold coins.
The dungeon description mentioned that defeating high-level monsters had a chance to yield gold, but exactly how strong did a monster have to be?
Li Yao wasn't too concerned—what was meant to come would come.
His eyes turned to the three chests in front of him.
First up—the Goblin King's loot.
A flash of light, and inside the chest lay a single item.
Li Yao touched his face.
"Am I just unlucky?"
[King's Cloak (Accessory)]
[Rarity: Platinum]
[Requirement: Level 15]
[Attribute 1: +120 Spirit, +40 Endurance]
[Attribute 2: Sanctuary (Active) – Grants a protective energy shield to a designated target, reducing incoming damage by 70%, up to a total of 20,000 damage. Lasts 60 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.]
[Attribute 3: King's Authority (Passive) – As a sovereign, none can intimidate you. Control effects on you are reduced by 50%.]
[Royal Authority Set: 1/3]
[Durability: 200/200]
"Holy…" Li Yao took a sharp breath.
A Platinum-grade item—and part of a set!
This wasn't bad luck—this was a jackpot!
"Could this Sanctuary ability be the same one the Goblin King used?"
Li Yao had suffered from that skill firsthand—he knew how ridiculously powerful it was.
Judging from the description, it even seemed stronger than the version the Goblin King had used.
A standard level 20 knight-class character with full endurance allocation and decent gear would barely have 10,000 HP, and breaking 20,000 was extremely rare.
This was like getting an extra knight's worth of HP for free.
And that wasn't even considering the 70% damage reduction on top of it.
"This thing is an absolute fortress!"
Li Yao sighed in amazement.
At this stage of the game, breaking through that kind of shield would be nearly impossible.
If he cast it on his Void Mantis, he could already imagine how unstoppable it would be.
"Wait… it's part of a set?"
Li Yao suddenly thought of the King's Scepter he got from the first-kill reward.
He quickly took it out from his storage ring.
[King's Scepter (Weapon)]
[Rarity: Platinum]
[Requirement: Level 15, 200 Spirit]
[Attribute 1: Increase any chosen attribute by 200 (24-hour cooldown).]
[Attribute 2: Royal Guards (Active) – Enhances four summoned creatures, increasing their primary attribute by (wearer's level × 5) for 20 seconds. Cooldown: 40 seconds.]
[Attribute 3: King's Authority (Passive) – As a sovereign, none can intimidate you. Control effects on you are reduced by 50%.]
[Royal Authority Set: 1/3]
[Durability: 200/200]
Its attributes weren't as flashy as the King's Cloak,
but the fact that it also had King's Authority made Li Yao very interested.
However, the control resistance didn't stack additively—it multiplied instead.
For example, if he were hit with a 10-second control effect,
• The first 50% reduction would bring it down to 5 seconds.
• The second 50% reduction would further cut it to 2.5 seconds.
Even just this one passive made it worthy of being Platinum-grade,
not to mention—it was part of the Royal Authority set.
Li Yao was more than satisfied.
Feeling lucky after this "opening streak",
he immediately opened the First-Clear Chest.
[Opening First-Clear Chest (Goblin Nest – Nightmare)]
[Adjusting rewards based on player's level…]
[Adjustment complete!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained the S-rank Summon Skill: Azure Bird.]
"Oh?"
"An S-rank skill book?"
Li Yao was pleasantly surprised.
It wasn't a utility-type skill book, which was a bit of a pity.
But still—getting an S-rank summoned creature for free saved a ton of gold on star upgrades.
Not a bad deal.
After briefly glancing at the summoned beast's stats,
he learned the skill immediately.
"Finally—a summoned piece with AoE damage!"
[Azure Bird]
[Level: 15]
[Rank: S]
[Bond: Elementalist – Polar]
[Star Level: 1-Star (S-rank summons require 40 gold to upgrade)]
[HP: 3300/3300]
[Strength: 43]
[Spirit: 214 (Primary Attribute)]
[Agility: 31]
[Endurance: 66]
[Skill 1: Glacier Storm]
• Summons a powerful storm of ice and hail over a target area.
• The storm expands over 1.5 seconds.
• Each second deals 80% magic damage.
• Consumes 100 MP per second.
• Cooldown: 3 seconds.
[Skill 2: Frost (Passive)]
• Unique to gifted Azure Birds.
• Glacier Storm now applies Frost, reducing enemy attack and movement speed by 30%.
[Skill 3: Bone-Chilling Cold]
• Blasts enemies with a freezing wind, dealing 150% magic damage.
• If the enemy is slowed, damage is doubled.
• Cooldown: 6 seconds.
Li Yao spent 50 MP to summon the Azure Bird.
Mana wasn't displayed on the status panel—it was a hidden stat.
Its calculation was similar to HP: Spirit × 50.
After all, this wasn't a game.
Unlike HP, which was absolute—when it hit zero, you died.
Mana was different.
In a world like this, there were always extraordinary individuals with unyielding willpower.
Even after depleting their mana, they could burn their own essence to cast spells.
As the Azure Bird appeared, the air around Li Yao grew noticeably colder.
It was about the size of a normal raptor,
with a crystal crown atop its head,
blue feathers,
and a long, elegant tail emitting wisps of frost.
"Judging by the skill description, at full power, this thing can sustain Glacier Storm for 100 seconds."
Li Yao muttered to himself.
"But I wonder—just how much will the storm's range expand in that time?"
Being an S-rank summon,
it had to be strong.
Finally, Li Yao turned his attention to his last reward.
[Title: Abyssal Lone Walker (Unique)]
[Description: A warrior who dares to face fear itself. A recognition of your courage.]
[Effect 1: Courage – All attributes +50.]
[Effect 2: Courage Ascension – Each time you clear a Nightmare-level (or higher) dungeon solo for the first time, 'Courage' increases by +50.]
Titles were mostly unique and didn't take up equipment slots.
Each one was a permanent power boost.
The more, the better.
Li Yao took a deep breath.
The Nightmare rewards were all accounted for.
After equipping his new gear,
his stats were worlds apart from when he first entered the dungeon.
"Time to go."
He pulled out a Black Iron Mask from his storage ring and put it on.
While he didn't mind being famous,he had no patience for annoying strangers buzzing around like flies.
Then, he stepped into the dungeon vortex.