Chapter 223: Exceeding the Two-ness Energy Limit

What is this value?! Has anyone cleared the new five-man dungeon? Need a guide!

Don't ask, can't you see the dungeon record is still empty? No one has cleared it yet!

What's going on? Did they add an extra zero to the boss's stats? We fought from start to finish and he never used a single skill—just kept spamming basic attacks and wiped us out in style.

If the five-man dungeon is this hard, I can't even imagine how brutal the fifty-man version will be!

Am I the only one curious about the boss's backstory? A sealed Dragon Demon Cultivator, with his cultivation power drained—sounds pretty interesting.

What's interesting about it? The game company probably just copied some random lore. If you can't make a proper long dragon, at least give us a Dragon King with a dragon head and human body! Why make it look like some bio-horror monster?

Exactly! It's obvious they originally planned for another class, but since sinofantasy's trending now, they slapped on a cultivation skin, stuck a "Dragon" label on the original monster, and called it a Demon Cultivator.

……

Three days have passed in-game; the forums have exploded over the boss's absurd difficulty. Normally, three days would be enough for the strategy guides team to fully map out a five-man dungeon, but now, not even half the boss's HP has been whittled down.

Though everyone knows the stats are probably just a joke, this level of difficulty still broke many players. The usual strategy guides team, who always challenge new bosses with old classes and previous-gen gear, have now unusually trained their current-class characters and farming gear dungeons just to figure out the boss's attack patterns.

Meanwhile, players' sudden focus on practicing "internal energy" has caused a drop in challenge frequency.

"Haa~ Not many people today?" Feng Xue yawned loudly, grabbing a handful of snacks from the tray Li Yunxi had brought and shoving them into his mouth. As if triggered by some signal, a white-haired, red-eyed figure suddenly flashed in:

"Are you bored? Newbie, wanna come with me to the human side? Give me a drop of blood, and I'll help you disguise yourself…"

Bi Gelei's words died in her throat, because right before her eyes, that newbie who looked like a bio-horror monster had just transformed into a sunny, handsome guy.

Except for his clothes, which didn't look like normal human attire.

"Little Xiao Lingdang, adjust my outfit style." Feng Xue glanced down at his white lab coat and gave the order immediately.

Little Xiao Lingdang, having left the massive belief network of her last world and now even lost access to the internet, looked like she was in withdrawal—listlessly murmuring a reply. But regardless of her mood, her AI core code still faithfully executed Feng Xue's command; in the blink of an eye, her adaptive lightweight exoskeleton had transformed into an adventurer's outfit fitting the era's setting.

"That's actually impressive! But moving around in the human world requires skill—I'll guide you, old senior!" Bi Gelei forced herself to save face. Feng Xue smiled inwardly and nodded:

"Then I'm counting on you, senior."

"No trouble at all! Just one drop of blood! Only one!" Bi Gelei instantly perked up, her ruby-red eyes gleaming.

Feng Xue felt a chill run down his spine, but quickly came up with an idea:

"I'm sorry, but I'm an energy being—I don't have blood. Of course, when I take human form, I do have human blood."

As he spoke, Feng Xue's devotional energy surged, transforming part of his hand into the shape of Monster X, then slicing open the "devotional energy cluster" with his sharp nails.

"How could this happen?" Bi Gelei stared in utter disappointment at the "dragon claw" that dripped not a single drop of blood, yet still forced herself to rally:

"Even if you don't have blood, a promise is a promise! Come on, senior will take you to see the human world! But you need to change your outfit—this adventurer gear is too easy to ignore. You need to look like nobility, at least like a rich person!"

"Oh oh!"

……

"Big bro, this game is way too hard!" The player, still dressed in a Daoist robe, wore a dazed expression. The young man beside him, dressed as a swordsman, patted his shoulder:

"This game works like this—you have to calculate skill cooldowns, your positioning, even your body posture. It's not like old games with preset animations. At launch, the top players were all real-life martial artists, but as everyone adapted to the game's high-performance characters, that gap gradually closed."

"But the Cultivator class is just so hard to play…"

The new player was about to complain further when he noticed all the other players suddenly rushing in one direction, muttering things like "My wife's here!" and "Go see my wife!"—he froze, confused—

"Bro, what are they doing…?"

"Oh, your wife's appeared! Come on, let's hurry, we'll miss her if we wait!" The veteran didn't waste words—he grabbed his little brother's arm and joined the crowd, hopping forward as he explained:

"The 'wife' is a hidden NPC who occasionally shows up in town. If you collect the materials she asks for, you get useful buffs. The real highlight is her model—it's just…"

"Holy shit! My wife!" Before he finished, his little brother screamed. The veteran instantly wore a "you get it" expression—but then looked up and saw…

"Wait, what? Where did this pretty boy come from?"

"Damn! My cyber wife got stolen by an NPC!"

……

Watching Bi Gelei accept all kinds of materials, items, and gifts from players, then casually apply buffs or return small trinkets clearly taken from other players, Feng Xue's eyebrow twitched slightly.

But then he thought: Taking advantage of players has always been standard in Fourth Catastrophe novels. If NPCs can do it, why can't monsters?

Still, just walking up and grabbing a player to hand out a quest would be too low-class. He thought for a moment, then had an idea.

He furrowed his brow, pointed two fingers like a sword, and casually slashed through the growing circle of surrounding players.

Instantly, an invisible force erupted, pushing the players aside and clearing a straight path ahead.

Before the players could react, Feng Xue looked at Bi Gelei with icy detachment and said calmly:

"Thank you for your help. I have other matters—farewell."

Bi Gelei was a drama queen; seeing Feng Xue understood perfectly, her eyes lit up immediately. She gracefully lifted her skirt and executed a perfect curtsey:

"You're too kind. I hope our paths cross again."

"Wahhh! Big bro, did you see that move? So cultivation-style!"

"Obviously! That's definitely the new Cultivator quest NPC! You're a Cultivator too—go ask if there's a quest!"

(End of Chapter)