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After lunch, Zane prepared to log in.

He suddenly recalled the disgusted expression Zina had shown earlier when he asked her about it. What was wrong with her? Ever since they were little, she had always been obedient.

*Sigh, girls really do change once they grow up.* Zane lamented inwardly, and before he knew it, his wandering thoughts had already carried him into the world of Dreamscape.

Compared to yesterday, the goblin camp had undergone major changes. The crude wooden fences from before had now been replaced with sturdier piles of stone. Even though they still looked fragile overall, it had to be said that the place looked far more presentable now.

The tents inside remained untouched, but outside the stone barricades, heaps of sand and gravel had been piled up, while bundles of timber were stacked on the other side.

Groups of goblins and gray wolves continuously came and went together, returning with wild game and gathered resources. After experiencing the previous battle, their levels had all risen considerably, and several had even advanced into higher ranks.

It seemed that as long as they were given enough time, they would eventually develop into a force of respectable scale.

Zane swept his gaze around the camp but failed to spot Lyra or Yalu. They were probably busy dealing with something.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t returned to the city for an entire day. The durability of his equipment had already dropped into the red, practically turning purple. Thinking back on it now, choosing not to slowly grind Gorath to death yesterday had truly been a wise decision.

Crushing a Return Scroll in his hand, he finally returned to Wynwater City after a long absence.

**Bang!**

A passerby who wasn’t paying attention slammed straight into Zane.

“Sorry, bro! I’m in a hurry!”

“It’s fine.” Zane shook his head. When he looked up, he was instantly stunned. ‘My god… the streets are absolutely packed with players. Since when has Wynwater City become this crowded?’

“Recruiting for Frostcrystal Giant Dungeon! Five healers, still missing one! Strong tank only! Join now and we leave immediately!” Someone had outright started shouting recruitment ads beside the teleportation point.

“Five healers? Count me in! Level 25 Knight here, the very definition of an unkillable tank!”

“Brother, do you think I’m blind?” the recruiter replied disdainfully. “You’ve got the level, sure, but your gear’s complete trash. You probably don’t even have a single Rare piece, right?”

“How is that possible?!” The knight looked deeply insulted. He immediately removed the iron necklace around his neck and displayed it proudly. “Isn’t this a genuine Rare equipment piece?!”

“Damn it, a Level 5 Rare piece isn’t even as good as high level Common gear. Go, go, stop bothering me.”

The knight left in dejection while even more players crowded forward, terrified of missing this opportunity. Scenes like this could be seen everywhere throughout the city.

Originally, the ratio between healers and damage dealers had already been unbalanced. Now, with this bizarre team composition meta, forming parties had become even harder.

After listening to the noisy chatter for a while, Zane roughly figured out the situation. The monsters in the new dungeon possessed extremely high attack power and multiple AoE attacks. For ordinary players, the safest setup was five healers and one tank. As long as the knight stayed alive, the priests could rotate healing and slowly wear the monsters down.

As a result, a massive number of melee classes had been completely neglected. Though honestly, that had nothing to do with him.

Opening the adventure party’s private voice channel, he was immediately greeted by heated commotion inside.

“Yoyo, heal me! Hurry hurry hurry!” Endless Sea shouted anxiously.

Half a second later came YoyoPink’s flustered voice. “O-Okay… Electrob—”

Before she could finish speaking, Endless Sea’s avatar instantly turned gray. Not only that, but because their only tank had fallen, Dukeette, Shiu, and Yoyo’s avatar also darkened one after another.

“F̲u̲c̲k̲, another team wipe!” Endless Sea cursed loudly.
“It’s all my fault…” YoyoPink said guiltily.
“The problem isn’t you…” He took a deep breath before continuing, “Stupid Orange, you stay there and keep buffing. You’re not allowed to move anywhere!”
“Eh? But I thought the monster was about to hit me…”
“Big sis, I still had Taunt ready…”
“Ahaha… really?” DumbCitrus pretended to act dumb.

The atmosphere honestly sounded pretty lively.

“Brothers! Your main carry has returned! Happy? Excited?” Zane shouted into the voice channel dramatically.

“…”

The entire voice channel suddenly became much quieter. But three seconds later, it exploded with noise again.

“Holy s̲h̲i̲t̲, Emberveil, you’re finally out! You have no idea how miserable our dungeon progression has been…”
“Haha, I can tell.”
“Zanny, where did you go yesterday? Why weren’t you replying at all?” Zaria asked.
“Ran into a little accident. I’ll explain after I get there. Oh right, send me the coordinates for the Frostcrystal Mine.”

“Don’t rush over yet,” Nangong added. “We’re almost out of potions. Buy some on the way.”
“Got it!” Zane nodded.
“Oh right, did Starry come too?”
“Yep.” Zane controlled Starry as he replied. For some reason, her actual consciousness had disappeared again. Lately, she had been absent more and more often.

***

Carrying a bag stuffed full of red and blue potions, along with a portion of Heartsteady Pills, Zane headed toward the dungeon coordinates.

Incidentally, Heartsteady Pills were no longer considered rare on the market. Cragstone Rise had produced quite a large supply over the past few days, and with gold continuing to depreciate in value, buying several stacks for personal use was no longer an issue.

“Zane, over here!” Shiu waved and shouted from a corner near the mine entrance.

“Coming!” Zane replied.

Nangong and the others had also exited the dungeon, which clearly showed that their progress had not been going well.

While distributing the potions, Endless Sea said, “Now that you two are here, we finally have twelve people. We can split into two parties and won’t need to recruit randoms anymore.”

“Okay, how are we splitting the teams?”

“One team just needs an extra…” He suddenly paused. “Wait… Stardust probably works better together with Emberveil. I’ll head to the other team instead. That side happens to be missing a tank anyway.”

“So this is the awareness of a third wheel…” Dukeette sighed emotionally.

Everyone immediately burst into knowing laughter while Endless Sea’s face darkened. “Can you all stop bringing that up already?!”

***

Once everything was prepared, Shiu, acting as party leader, selected the option to enter the dungeon. In an instant, all the surrounding players disappeared, as they had entered an isolated dungeon instance.

“It started already?” Zane asked.

“Yeah. Once we pass through this small tunnel, the dungeon officially begins.” Shiu nodded.

“Let me explain the strategy first, otherwise later you guys might—” Shiu stared dumbfounded as Zane and Starry walked straight inside one after another before he could finish speaking.

The girls quickly followed behind them as well.

“Seriously… wait for me!”

The moment they passed through the tunnel entrance, the system notification sounded right on cue.

There was only a single short notification. It seemed most of the dungeon mechanics would have to be figured out by the players themselves.

“ROOOAR—!” Suddenly, a spine-chilling roar echoed from ahead. Blue radiance burst forth as rows of Frostcrystals lining both sides of the pathway lit up one after another.

Although the three girls had already entered this dungeon many times before, they still could not help but clench their fists nervously.

“Once we reach the end of this path, the monsters should spawn,” Shiu explained after catching up. “There are two ways to handle them. One is having the tank block the tunnel exit and fight there. The other is kiting while fighting. This corridor should be long enough for that.”

“Got it.” Zane nodded.

The five continued advancing down the path. Just as they were about to reach the end, a strange fluctuation suddenly erupted. Deep blue light flared from within the depths of the cavern entrance. At a glance, there were at least five enemies approaching.