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Two streaks of golden light flashed, indicating they had finally reached Level 21! Starmew also leveled up directly to Level 20.

As the system messages popped up, Starmew’s body began to change dramatically. Originally no larger than an arm, the Frostfang Tiger’s body suddenly swelled in size, its power surging at an astonishing rate. In the blink of an eye, it had grown to the size of half an adult.

Its once adorable baby fangs transformed into sharp, menacing sabers. The soft, youthful look on its face faded away, replaced by a fiercer countenance. At that moment, Starmew truly resembled a young king of the mountain.

‘Let’s check the attribute panel again.’

Its HP was already nearing 10,000! Both attack stats were in the high hundreds, and its defense was significantly stronger than that of an average player. Moreover, it now had three active skills.

Starmew’s Magic Defense had reached an impressive 120. In this early stage of the game, when magic-resistant gear was still rare, having Starmew around meant even a Thunderburst Cannon would barely be a threat!

At last, the true strength of a Unique pet began to reveal itself.

But just a few seconds later, the system sent out another alert.

‘It’s collapsing!? Didn’t we stop the self-destruction? Why is this happening?!’ Zane had no time to think. The entire hidden dungeon began to shake violently, like a disaster-class earthquake!

‘At the very least, we need to grab the loot!’

Starry scooped up the dropped items in one swift motion, but there were still dozens of gold coins left on the ground. There was no more time, the ceiling was already crumbling, massive chunks falling from above. If they didn’t run now, it would be too late!

Heart aching, Zane crushed a Return Scroll, and just moments before the hidden dungeon was completely obliterated, he released his transformation and vanished from the spot.

**Whooosh—**

A ghostly wind blew through from some unknown place, scattering the remains of the Demon King Statue, turning its corpse into fragments of stone. But the core that had once resided inside the statue’s body was now gone.

“It’s been taken?” A vague, ethereal voice echoed within the ruined dungeon. Though faint, it carried an unmistakable trace of surprise…and fury.

***

“Whew.” Seeing the familiar streets again, Zane finally breathed a sigh of relief. If he had been even a second later, he would’ve lost his life, and dropped back down to Level 20.

“Emberveil! Stardust!” Duskwraith’s excited voice rang out from behind.

They had already been blasted out of the battlefield by the Thunderburst Cannon, so now, seeing the two of them return alive brought immense joy, because both were now Level 21!

What did that mean? The two of them—no, to be precise, Starry alone—had taken down a Level 25 Epic-tier Boss!

‘How terrifying! She is on a whole ‘nother level. Although… just now, I thought he heard a young girl’s voice, was that just my imagination?’

“You arrived just in time.” Zane turned and saw it was indeed their group.

“After we defeated the boss, the hidden dungeon collapsed. Everything happened so quickly that we only managed to grab whatever was in plain sight, no idea if we missed any equipment.” Zane said with some regret. “Now that everyone’s here, let’s split the loot. As agreed before, we’ll pick one item first, and the rest will be divided by need.”

“…” Duskwraith shook his head. “No… we honestly didn’t contribute anything to that fight. I don’t have the face to claim a share of someone else’s victory.” Though it clearly stung, that was the truth. Against that broken-tier stone statue, they had been utterly useless.

“You’re wrong. Without the coordinates you provided, we wouldn’t have had a chance to challenge the boss at all. And without the intel you gave your lives to obtain, we would’ve been blasted to death by the laser before the fight even began.”

Had they not prepared in advance, that laser would’ve instantly killed Starry. And a Wishkeeper going solo against that boss? Not even close…without healing skills, he’d have been worn down and defeated in just a few strikes.

That’s why Nether Dawn’s help had been critical. Zane had no intention of changing the agreed-upon loot distribution. If he had, he’d have felt ashamed of himself.

“There’s no need to argue. You’ve helped me before. No need to be so polite,” Zane said seriously.

“…” Duskwraith hadn’t expected such loyalty. “Alright! Just for those words, from this day forward, Nether Dawn will always stand as your steadfast ally!”

“Even better.” Starry smiled faintly, and Duskwraith found himself instinctively staring, unable to look away.

“Ahem!” Zane coughed. “Enough talk. Let’s divvy up the loot!”

Starry opened her inventory and examined a few newly added items. The first was a fire-red robe that looked like it was designed for mages.

Magewind Cloak? Clearly custom-made for mages. Never mind the high stat bonuses, the special skill Mana Amplify alone fully justified its Epic-grade classification.

Just imagine, a mage wearing this cloak, triggering Mana Amplify, then casting Flameburst. Who could possibly withstand that? Not to mention that after Level 20, new skills would become available, some possibly stronger than Flameburst!

And the cooldown was only 1 minute, which meant it could easily be used to bait and turn the tide with a surprise counterattack.

Though the gear suited Zane quite well, he chose to hold back for now. After all, in the eyes of others, he was merely a leecher, what would he be doing with mage equipment?

Next up: a sleek, intimidating black polearm.

Thunderburst Cannon!!

Good grief, even the boss’ signature skill dropped! Zane almost turned to stone. He knew all too well how powerful that move was, if Starry had hesitated even a moment back then, she’d have been annihilated on the spot!

Although a halberd wasn’t exactly a mainstream weapon, Swordsmen and Knights could both use it, which meant Starry could equip it too. Compared to the original boss version, this was clearly a nerfed version, but it didn’t stop Starry from keeping the weapon in her inventory as a hidden trump card!

At this stage, special-skill weapons were extremely rare. Having just one Thunderburst Cannon was more than enough to be game-changing.