Chapter 34: No cooldown time—how is that possible!

Night fell, Jiang Chen was in the midst of meditation when he suddenly sensed someone approaching him.

What level are you?

A familiar voice broke his meditation; he raised his head and saw Lu Qingyu.

Lu Qingyu's face was slightly stained with dust, and elemental energy still fluctuated on her body.

Obviously, she had just gone through a fierce battle; she must have just come out of an instance.

She stared at Jiang Chen, unwilling to accept defeat.

Jiang Chen calmly replied, "Level 14."

"What?!" Lu Qingyu exclaimed, incredulously asking, "How could you possibly be this fast?"

Lu Qingyu had previously run the Death Mine Dungeon on Normal Difficulty twice in a row with her teammates, leveling from 10 to 11, and was already exhausted.

She thought her leveling speed was already quite fast, but Jiang Chen was even faster, reaching Level 14.

Yes, Lu Qingyu also acknowledged that Jiang Chen's Necromancer Summoner class was extremely powerful and unique, but even so, everyone was still a newcomer—there's no way you could level that quickly...

She simply couldn't imagine how he managed it.

Lu Qingyu could never have guessed that Jiang Chen was actually clearing the Nightmare Difficulty instance, which is far harder than Normal Difficulty.

Jiang Chen didn't elaborate; he knew no explanation would help.

Lu Qingyu, this girl, has a strong competitive spirit; Jiang Chen sometimes wonders what kind of environment shaped her over the years...

Lu Qingyu understands him; she knows Jiang Chen would never lie.

Since he said he's Level 14, it must indeed be Level 14.

A feeling of unwillingness welled up in Lu Qingyu's heart; she felt

She could not lose to Jiang Chen.

Logically, the higher the level, the more experience required to level up, so of course progression slows as level increases.

She knew that on the first day in the Newbie Dungeon, Jiang Chen had reached Level 7, while she herself had reached Level 5 at that time.

The level gap between them was only two levels, and she had been training even harder these past few days.

Logically, the level gap should be shrinking, yet it's instead growing larger—Lu Qingyu truly couldn't understand why!

"Hmph, Jiang Chen, I will absolutely not lose to you!"

After saying that, she turned and left, leaving Jiang Chen watching her retreating figure.

How repetitive, always saying the same thing—this girl really has no originality.

Over the years, he has always been Lu Qingyu's rival, consistently staying ahead of her.

From his grades before job change to his level after, he has always been ahead.

Whether before a promising job change or after starting anew, this has always been the case.

And now, he has once again widened the gap between himself and Lu Qingyu, which she cannot accept.

No matter how hard she tries, the gap will only keep widening, because you have no idea how I level up inside the instance...

Lu Qingyu gritted her teeth, still determined to catch up to Jiang Chen through her own effort.

As he turned his head, Jiang Chen saw Lu Qingyu leading her party into the instance again.

"Strange, she just came out, didn't she?"

"How did she go back in so quickly?"

"Does the instance have no cooldown time?"

Jiang Chen widened his eyes, feeling incredulous.

He had tried the Nightmare Difficulty

and the Normal Difficulty instance; both have clear cooldown times.

Moreover, the cooldown times for the two are shared.

But now, how could Lu Qingyu enter the instance again so quickly?

Jiang Chen was certain that Lu Qingyu had just come out not long ago.

Her battle aura had not yet fully faded, and it still carried the presence of the Goblin King.

Jiang Chen knew these signs could not be deceived.

While meditating, he ordered the Skeleton Warrior to observe carefully.

Two hours later, Lu Qingyu's figure reappeared at the instance entrance.

As expected!

She had cleared an instance.

After coming out of the instance, Lu Qingyu still didn't forget to glance back at Jiang Chen,

Jiang Chen saw fatigue in her expression.

It was the exhaustion caused by continuous combat.

Shortly after, just ten or so minutes later, Lu Qingyu found another party and entered the instance again.

Jiang Chen noticed that before entering the instance, she seemed to have used an item.

At that moment, a faint light flowed over her body.

Jiang Chen guessed that this item was what allowed Lu Qingyu to ignore the instance's cooldown.

"If there's a chance, I could ask."

Jiang Chen thought to himself, then re-entered the meditative state.

His Spiritual Power gradually recovered.

As his level increased, the Spiritual Power attribute became more prominent.

Now his base Spiritual Power has reached 700, far surpassing his other attributes.

This is also a trait of the Mage Class, with extremely high Spiritual Power.

In return, its other attributes are extremely poor.

There is no balance to speak of.

Every profession has its own traits; Jiang Chen chooses to accept it.

After several hours, a somewhat heavy footstep sounded near the ear.

Lu Qingyu, exhausted all over, walked over to Jiang Chen and sat down.

Even without cooldown limits, she couldn't continuously

run instances nonstop.

Her body can't take it.

"I'm exhausted to death."

Lu Qingyu lay collapsed on the ground, utterly unsightly.

She wasn't the slightest bit afraid of the Skeleton Warrior beside Jiang Chen.

No matter what, Jiang Chen is her classmate, so there's nothing to fear or worry about.

After resting a while and catching her breath, Lu Qingyu regained a bit of spirit: "I'm already Level 12, I'll catch up to you soon."

At Level 12, if you team up to run normal instances, you need to run them at least three to four times to level up once.

Wanting to catch up to him is difficult.

Jiang Chen looked at the exhausted Lu Qingyu and asked, "Aren't you tired?"

Lu Qingyu snorted, "Tired, how could I not be? I don't even want to move a finger right now."

"Why?"

Lu Qingyu gave an annoyed look, "Why? You still have the nerve to ask why? After being suppressed by you for so many years, I will definitely surpass you."

"Just because of that?"

Jiang Chen never expected Lu Qingyu's resentment to be so deep; if he had known, he would have let her win first place in some exam.

Lu Qingyu gazed at the sky, "Of course it's not just that. I want to get into Shenlong University, and you also want to get into Shenlong University, right? So you should understand."

To get into Shenlong University, you need at least Level 14, preferably Level 15, safest at Level 16.

With a little over two days left, Jiang Chen thought Lu Qingyu could at most reach Level 14; getting to Level 15 would be difficult.

Unless.

Jiang Chen whispered, "You should run the nightmare-level instance; that would level you up faster."

"What are you joking about? Elite teams are hard to find. Those elite teams only want 16th or 17th level professionals; I'm only Level 12, nobody wants me."

Lu Qingyu gave Jiang Chen a disdainful look.

, as if saying, "Do you even understand or not?"

Looking at the elite teams waving flags and shouting for recruits at the instance doorway, besides having requirements for level and profession, they also have equipment requirements.

Unless you are a Healer Support, in which case the requirements can be appropriately lowered.

For DPS classes like Lu Qingyu, the requirements are actually the highest.

Seeing Jiang Chen silent, Lu Qingyu said to herself, "So I guess I'll just run a few more normal-level instances; Level 14 should be no problem, and with some effort Level 15 is also possible."

Jiang Chen listened to her words and finally asked, "Why can you ignore cooldown time?"

This is exactly what Jiang Chen had been wondering about and most wanted to know.