Chapter 63: Level 20! Auction House Opens

After grinding for so long, everyone has basically adapted to the puppets' attack rhythm, so we still have time to chat a bit.

About another hour has passed, and this huge castle passage is finally nearing its end; the second big gate can be seen ahead.

"Finally, it's almost here."

Seeing that gate, everyone felt a surge of emotion.

On the contrary, Su Sheng felt fine; he needed to level up anyway, and grinding anywhere is grinding, and these monsters aren't too much pressure for him.

Others felt it was hard to endure, mainly because the monsters' strength was a bit high, making gains not worth the effort; if not for helping Li Wenwan with her quest, they definitely wouldn't be grinding here now.

Moreover, although these puppets don't drop gold coins or equipment, they give a lot of experience; with experience distributed by contribution, after grinding this long, Su Sheng, who was already close to level 20's experience, is about to level up.

Looking at the final stretch of the passage, Su Sheng felt that after killing these few monsters he could level up, with no need to wait for the final boss.

The facts proved Su Sheng's calculation was correct.

When only four or five puppet monsters remained.

Accompanied by a golden light.

Level 20!

The golden light drew everyone's attention.

"Ah Sheng leveled up?" Lin Huan looked at Su Sheng with some surprise.

Li Xiao silently checked the team info: Mo Wen, Qian Chen, level: 20.

Reached level 20.

Opening the level ranking list again, Chairman Shen Wang was still level 18.

But at the same time, Shen Wang's level data jumped to 19.

Even so, he was still a full level behind Su Sheng.

Ding~

At the same time, golden large-text barrage floated by.

Server announcement: The first level‑20 player has appeared, the system auction house is open, players can list items for sale anonymously, and the auction house takes a five percent transaction fee.

Server announcement:....

The golden announcement text appeared three times in total.

Everyone's gaze turned to Su Sheng, the first level‑20 player, who thus appeared before them in a daze.

The whole server boiled over, everyone discussing it.

The whole server isn't just the domestic server; it's the true whole server, including the foreign server.

Each server has a level ranking list.

Many foreign server players, seeing that their own ranking list's top hasn't reached level 20, know that this first level‑20 player didn't appear on their server.

On other servers' ranking lists, there are indeed players with hidden nicknames, but only Huaxia has a hidden‑nickname holder at the top.

Thus, everything became clear at once.

The first level‑20 player is precisely the top‑ranked hidden‑nickname holder on Huaxia's level ranking list.

Although foreign server players can't see Huaxia's level ranking list in the game, that doesn't mean they have no other way to find out.

System notification: Congratulations on reaching level 20.

System notification: Reaching level 20 triggers the skill‑career quest trial "Lion's Roar".

Quest description: Defeat 100 units without taking damage, not lower than same‑level targets.

While leveling up, Su Sheng also heard the system notification.

Defeat 100 units without taking damage.

Su Sheng glanced at the puppets on the ground and the remaining four or five inactive ones, feeling a bit regretful; if he had started this quest earlier, he could have finished it by now.

We'll talk about it later.

Although the number is also a hundred, this time it requires a flawless kill; few melee classes can pull it off, and ordinary players would likely take a long time, needing to carefully employ various methods to complete it.

But for Su Sheng, this is no problem.

"Level 20, we can update our gear, right, and there's a new class skill." Lin Huan looked at Su Sheng.

"Hmm, but the stuff is all in the warehouse."

Su Sheng nodded; when the group gathered, he detoured to the warehouse—though his chance of being killed was low, anything carries risk, so for safety he stored his items.

"Let's keep doing the quest; we have just over an hour of game time left."

"Going back and forth would make us too late."

Su Sheng spoke up.

"That's right."

…

Afterward, everyone cleared the last few demon‑energy puppets.

Crack~

Again, a somewhat familiar scene.

But this time, open the door first.

Then a vast number of black tendrils spread out from the gate, entwining the puppets' remains throughout the passage, and retracted back into the gate.

The whole scene was like a cut‑scene; Su Sheng and the others could only watch, unable to stop any of it.

As the last wisp of black‑energy tendril retracted into the gate, the area fell silent.

"Let's go, I'll take the lead this time." Su Sheng raised his Dragon Scale Shield and spoke.

I guess this should be the final stage; I don't know what kind of map this castle is, but it feels oddly like a dungeon.

Huan Yu Hao Tian glanced at Su Sheng's Dragon Scale Shield, full of envy.

A good Shield is absolutely the ultimate pursuit of knight players.

When the official announced the Dragon Scale Shield's attributes on the forum, who knows how many knight players were drooling.

Everyone passed through this gate and entered a spacious hall.

Based on the earlier shape of the castle, this should be the castle's exact center.

The castle's structure is simple, with corridors encircling it—exactly where Su Sheng's group just cleared monsters.

The center point is this hall.

The entire hall is spacious, cylindrical, with countless massive black pillars densely erected along the walls.

However, the gaps between those pillars are only about a fist wide, making a "King Qin circling the pillar" approach to fight the boss unrealistic.

In the very center of the hall, a huge mass of black aura hovers.

Within the black aura, countless puppet fragments float up and down.

As the crowd entered, the entire mass of black aura quickly writhed.

Crack crack crack...

The black aura, mixed with those puppet fragments, rapidly assembled amid a grating sound into a huge puppet about seven to eight meters tall.

The puppet exudes waves of black aura; its left hand is a massive hook claw, its right hand a heavy giant crossbow.

Huff...

Huff...

As the huge puppet formed, its right hand rose.

"Watch out!"

Su Sheng used Shield Raise to block at the front.

Swish~

The puppet's right hand fired its giant crossbow bolt!

Boom!

Su Sheng blocked it precisely.

But under the tremendous impact, Su Sheng couldn't fully dissipate the force, and his defensive state collapsed entirely.

Block check! Block failed! Damage reduction ineffective!

-1371!

The huge damage popped up above Su Sheng's head!

After reaching Level 20 and allocating points, Su Sheng's dual defense reached 387; plus Huang Mingxin's encouragement buff, his dual defense is now around 400.

But this crossbow shot directly took more than half of Su Sheng's health.

Seeing the massive damage above Su Sheng's head, Huan Yu Hao Tian's pupils contracted sharply.

His total HP is only 1400+, and he doesn't have a Dragon Scale Shield—meaning if it were him, this bolt would likely insta-kill him.