Chapter 240

Yan Da's breakfast offers a wide variety, cheap and delicious.

After spending fifteen yuan, Qin Chuan held two big meat buns, a cup of soy milk, and a large bone with plenty of meat, then found a seat to sit down.

The last item, as breakfast, is somewhat strange; in fact, the stall originally sold large bone noodle soup.

But Shui Hua eyed the big bone in the soup, feeling greedy, and made the request "Let me have a taste," which Qin Chuan could not refuse no matter what.

Fortunately, the bone had meat on it.

Using the dipping dish beside him, he bit off the meat on the bone in one mouthful; as Qin Chuan chewed, he heard Shui Hua's cheers in his mind, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

Besides, this kind of experience is still quite novel.

As long as Qin Chuan wants, he can at any time shield Shui Hua's perception, but unless necessary, Qin Chuan does not intend to do so.

He wants Shui Hua, who can only live in the Dream World, to follow him more and experience things that are novel to her in reality.

Waiting for the ice cream and Silver Horn's affection to reach 100%, the same applies.

After the breakfast, aside from not being too fond of the soy milk, both the meat buns and the large bone received Shui Hua's praise.

After finishing the last soy milk and setting down the empty bowl, Qin Chuan and Shui Hua still felt a bit unsatisfied when suddenly a cry rang out in the cafeteria.

"S-rank dungeon refreshed!"

Qin Chuan's relaxed expression quickly tightened.

Has it come again? He glanced toward the source of the sound, then opened the dungeon list.

As the time reached 8:30, today's first refresh ended, and above the numerous A-rank dungeons, a brand-new dungeon stood out prominently.

【Dungeon: Warren Sik Maze Tower (S)】 【Available for challenge】

【Recommended Player Level: Epic】

【Participant limit: 1】

【Lateral difficulty rating: ★】

【Dungeon remaining challenge time: 71:59:47】

Good news, it's only one-star difficulty.

Bad news, the participant limit is 1.

Qin Chuan's expression grew solemn.

Dungeons limited to one person are not all ominous dungeons.

But ominous dungeons are all limited to one person.

So, the risk of 'winning' is not low.

While he was observing, the status of this newly refreshed secret realm changed from 【Available for challenge】 to 【Being challenged】, and after just two seconds it reverted to 【Available for challenge】.

Long Ji's phone rang after a moment, and the voice on the other end sounded somewhat solemn.

"Confirmed, it's an ominous dungeon."

Qin Chuan understood.

Just now, a member of the Special Affairs Group used up today's challenge count and checked the dungeon description by instantly exiting the dungeon.

This is a method the Special Affairs Group devised to confirm ominous dungeons; aside from costing some challenge attempts, there's nothing wrong with it.

So, we really 'won'.

"Ji Huai advanced to Hall of Fame player last night." Long Ji said in a low voice, "but he currently has an equally important task and can't get away for now."

"Is that the B-rank dungeon that will Descent at 10:30?" Qin Chuan understood.

"That's right." Long Ji nodded, "No matter where that dungeon appears, the Special Affairs Group will arrive at the scene immediately, with Ji Huai leading the team to try to destroy the passage."

Originally the Special Affairs Group planned to seek Qin Chuan's help, but after Ji Huai's breakthrough they intend to handle it themselves, trying not to bother Qin Chuan as much as possible.

"Leave that S-rank dungeon to me." Qin Chuan exhaled a turbid breath. He really wouldn't feel at ease leaving it to others.

After all, it's not just an S-rank dungeon, but also an ominous dungeon.

If a weak player enters, the consequences could be quite severe.

"Be careful in everything." Long Ji said solemnly, "If you feel you can't cope, definitely don't push yourself; withdraw decisively while you're still conscious, then think of other ways later."

"Don't worry." Qin Chuan smiled, "I cherish my life very much."

After hanging up, he put his phone in his pocket, and Shui Hua's call surfaced in his mind.

His smile grew a bit richer.

"Yeah, I'm not fighting alone." —

"Pa!"

In the absolutely still world, on the huge monster whose form was ferocious and twisted, a tiny water droplet dragged out an azure line; as the monster's illusory water patterns faded, its massive body was instantly split in two.

Moon·Severing Void Mist Flow Slash.

The still world resumed motion, the monster lunging at him crashed to the ground, Qin Chuan lowered his hand that had snapped his fingers, and lines of text appeared before his eyes.

【Congratulations player for meeting advanced challenge requirements: eliminate the product of the rebellious experiment, dungeon challenge rating upgraded to: SSS】

This is an A-rank 2-star difficulty dungeon.

After breakfast, with still over an hour until his meeting with Hongye, Qin Chuan, thinking 'idle is idle,' picked an A-rank dungeon with the least remaining challenge time to play a round.

Just right, to test Shui Hua's ability after breaking through to Epic.

After a round of testing, his strength increased noticeably.

With his increased extraordinary value and Shui Hua's further enhanced skills combining strongly, Qin Chuan now exceeds the average strength of A-rank dungeon bosses by a margin.

The boss Storm Fiend·Dailai of that strength might be unbeatable, but a weaker one he can already defeat without using Time Stop.

For example, the current dungeon's boss that matches the lowest challenge standard does not consume Qin Chuan's Time Stop; if not for the appearance of a rare 'second boss,' Qin Chuan could have obtained an SSS rating without using Time Stop.

Of course, being able to kill and being able to instant-kill are still different; at present Qin Chuan lacks confidence to sustain combat when facing successive A-rank dungeon bosses.

To quickly farm Time Stop, just to be safe he still needs to bring Hongye.

Besides the encouraging increase in strength, Qin Chuan also discovered something interesting.

That is, Shui Hua can clearly perceive his use of superhuman abilities.

Superhuman power comes from the contracted spirit beasts in the Dream World, but the two are essentially different—one is for humans, the other for spirit beasts.

Once Shui Hua senses the difference, it can communicate with Qin Chuan, and together they compare and summarize the similarities and differences of the two powers.

This process reminded Qin Chuan of the ultimate secret.

To truly use Spirit Descent, the final requirement is for the player and spirit beast to jointly comprehend the ultimate secret.

Ji Huai had previously pointed this out to him: the so-called ultimate secret is for the player and contracted spirit beast to find the key of their mutual compatibility, jointly developing an ability that belongs to neither alone and can only be unleashed through their cooperation.

Isn't the key of their mutual compatibility simply the common point of their abilities?

Realizing that this communication might help him truly grasp the ultimate secret, Qin Chuan tried to frequently discuss abilities with Shui Hua during the recent dungeon run.

What's more, he really felt as if he had grasped something.

However, this feeling is still vague and needs more battles to become clear.

After claiming the reward and selecting 【Exit Dungeon】, Qin Chuan appeared in reality and soon saw a short-haired girl standing at the entrance of the student activity center, looking left and right.

A hint of a smile appeared on his face.

A battle that can both earn Time Stop and comprehend the ultimate secret—hasn't it arrived?

(End of chapter)