Chapter 50: European Emperor
The moment Lu Yunxi crossed the threshold into the dungeon, the world shifted.
From the outside, the cave appeared cramped and shallow, ending almost as soon as it began. Once inside the instance, however, the narrow passage expanded into a long, winding stone corridor. Torches were mounted at regular intervals along the damp walls, their steady flames illuminating the path ahead with eerie clarity.
Recalling the snippets of the strategy guide she’d managed to read, she knew the initial waves were composed of mere fodder. All she had to do was unleash a relentless offensive.
She moved quickly, clearing the empty passage until she reached a wide, cavernous hall teeming with movement. Looking up, she saw bright red floating text hovering above the clusters of men: [Bandit Minion].
Yunxi let out a breath of relief. Only twenty of them, and they’re barely Level 10.
Against her current stats, even thirty would have been child’s play. No wonder the forums described this opening stage as a breeze. She raised her bow, her gaze sharpening as she notched an arrow.
She had already pushed her Lu Family Archery to the advanced tier, unlocking the powerful area-of-effect move: [Ten Thousand Arrows]. When triggered, a single physical shot would manifest thousands of magical arrows condensed from pure energy, raining down destruction on every enemy within a ten-meter radius.
However, before she could even test the true destructive potential of the skill, the first group of minions had already been cut down by her standard shots. As they dissolved into pixels, the floor was suddenly littered with copper coins and basic equipment.
Yunxi was surprised and delighted. She had entered the dungeon primarily to grind experience points; she hadn’t expected the solo-clear drop rate to be this generous. Granted, the items were all “Blank” quality gear with no stats, but she methodically gathered every piece and tossed them into her spatial inventory before moving deeper into the cave.
The second wave proved slightly more challenging. A group of ten [Ordinary Bandits] materialized, their levels ranging from 15 to 20.
Yunxi immediately backpedaled, creating a tactical distance. “Ten Thousand Arrows!” she commanded.
Thousands of shimmering projectiles cascaded from the ceiling, saturating the bandit squad. They were wiped out in a single, devastating move.
Yunxi was overjoyed. It had been an agonizing struggle to break through to the intermediate level of her family’s martial arts, but after the elixir from Miss Gu had evolved it into an advanced technique, this ultimate move was truly transformative!
“And the strategy guide said this part was difficult?” she mused, taking a seat to recover. Her mana bar was nearly drained, so she pulled out several vegetable buns to rapidly restore her energy.
Once her mana was replenished, she reached the third level. Here, only five enemies stood in her path: the [Bandit Cadres]. According to the forums, their average level usually fluctuated between 25 and 30.
She looked at the five men, each with a solid ‘Level 30’ hovering over their heads, and her eyelid twitched. Rumor had it that spawning a full squad of Level 30s was an extremely rare and lethal event. So far, only one notoriously unlucky player team had encountered this specific configuration; they had been wiped out instantly, leading to a massive wave of complaints on the community boards.
Well, whatever! she thought. For a weaker party, a stronger opponent meant a trip to the graveyard. But for her, it just meant more experience points. She would ensure they never saw the light of day.
Yunxi put significant distance between herself and the cadres before unleashing a barrage of thousands of arrows. When their health bars hit the halfway mark, she triggered the move a second time, draining their remaining vitality. The five men vanished into pillars of light.
After gathering the spoils, she jogged toward the final chamber.
It was time for the Boss.
Lu Yunxi watched the crimson light pulsing around the body of the [Bandit Leader]. The man was Level 35. She took a wary step back, her mind racing. Since she hadn’t paid to unlock the boss mechanics in the guide, she was going in blind.
She watched his movement patterns for a moment, then loosed a tentative exploratory arrow.
To her shock, the “insurmountable” boss wasn’t nearly as difficult as the players had described. After a few well-placed poisonous arrows, the leader collapsed, his body bursting into a spectacular fountain of loot that covered the entire floor.
Lu Yunxi: …
Aside from a scripted heavy attack he unleashed when his health dropped to the one-third mark, he was entirely mediocre. She couldn’t understand why the forums were filled with people crying about how impossible he was to defeat.
If the player base had heard her thoughts, they would have vomited blood from sheer indignation.
Easy?! Are you kidding?!
The Bandit Leader possessed a defense-piercing strike and astronomical attack power. His ultimate move featured a guaranteed double-critical strike that was hard-locked onto the target, making it impossible to dodge; the entire party would take the hit simultaneously. Because of this, every team was forced to bring a “Meat Shield” tank to soak the damage and a dedicated “Nurse” healer to restore health.
However, offensive skills were common, while combat-viable recovery spells were incredibly rare—to say nothing of actual healing classes! Lacking a healer, players had to spam expensive health and mana potions just to survive, fighting until they were on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
But as a master chef, Lu Yunxi could restore her health with a meat bun and her mana with a vegetable bun. She didn’t have to suffer through the exhaustion of potion-chugging; she just had to eat.
She casually gathered the loot, planning to run the dungeon a few more times to see what else might drop before evening. However, as she stepped out of the instance, a sudden, brilliant fireworks effect erupted in front of her eyes.
Yunxi froze in her tracks.
[Ding! Congratulations on achieving the hidden achievement ‘Solo Dungeon Clear’ and breaking the server record for the fastest clearance time. Would you like to announce your achievement to the world?]
She didn’t hesitate. She immediately selected [No].
The next second, however, the surrounding players erupted into an absolute uproar.
“Look at the system ticker! Someone just shattered the clearance record! My god—our team took a full hour, and this person did it in five minutes!”
Yunxi’s eye twitched. The system lied to me! It had promised not to tell the world, yet here was a global announcement!
“It’s a shame the party leader hid their name, otherwise we’d know which god-tier player did it!”
“Is it the number one person on the leaderboards? I need to track them down and beg to be their disciple!”
“That’s insane! I want to be that person’s leg ornament!”
“Hmph! Big deal. Once I level up, I’ll clear it in one minute, not five!”
As the players whispered and speculated, Yunxi’s heart sank. Great. She had already been hounded by NPCs in the capital until she had no private life left; she had no desire to be scrutinized by thousands of players as well.
Blending into the crowd, she ran the dungeon several more times, maintaining a low profile. By nightfall, she retreated to a secure cave to browse the community forums.
The dungeon was the talk of the Star Network. Every kingdom had similar bandit instances, and aside from pure “Life Class” players, almost everyone had tried their hand at it. The boards were flooded with people showing off their loot.
What kind of goodies did you guys get? My luck was trash, I only got a set of Blue gear!
[Stop complaining, Blue gear is a massive win! My squad worked our asses off and only walked away with two Greens!]
[Haha! You guys are just cursed. I won big and pulled an AoE skill book!]
[An AoE move?! That’s the first I’ve heard of one dropping! Let us bask in your luck!]
Lu Yunxi read the threads in silence. It turned out that group-attack skills were incredibly rare for players. She made a mental note: Never use Ten Thousand Arrows in front of players again. Otherwise, she’d be chased across the map by people wanting to be her apprentice.
The thought alone terrified her.
She opened her own spatial inventory to check her haul from the day’s solo runs, only to gasp.
A complete set of Purple-tier equipment, a Purple skill book, and a mountain of Purple-quality medicinal herbs and rare ingredients.
My god… so I really am the European Emperor?!
