Chapter 21: Reward Settlement

As Old Anderson's bloodthirsty resentment dissipated, the tip of the Devil-Slaying Crossbow bolt emitted a tinkling sound, and a pendant materialized out of thin air, hanging from the arrowhead.

The pendant's chain was plain and unadorned, uniformly iron-gray, with a circular plate bearing a groove suspended at its center.

Upon closer inspection, the layout of the circular plate was a miniature version of the Devil-Slaying Array.

Not only were the positions of the magical stone slabs within the Devil-Slaying Array identical, but the incantations had been microscopically engraved at a one-to-one scale.

At the center of the groove formed by the small magical stone slabs stood a golden spike.

Wu Chang felt the groove's size was familiar; he pulled out the Eye of the Demigod and held it above the groove—the Eye of the Demigod slid in smoothly, fitting perfectly, as if the two had always been one.

"Item Name: Poison of the Mortal"

"Item Rank:?"

"Item Skill:?"

"Skill Description:?"

"Note: The supreme masterpiece of the Secret Art Knights, this item remains an unfinished product due to the extreme complexity of its formula. Old Anderson's lingering soul, after centuries of study, has fully repaired the formula's flaws—only a Master-level Mystical Artisan needs to restore it and install a sufficient energy source to turn it into a complete form."

The Poison of the Mortal, whether viewed by its compatibility with the Eye of the Demigod, its item name, or its note, was clearly a high-tier artifact.

Unfortunately, as an unfinished product, its item rank and item skill were both undisplayed.

But one point was noteworthy: the original label indicating the Eye of the Demigod as a dungeon item had vanished!

This meant he could successfully take the Poison of the Mortal out of the dungeon!

Yet, to make it functional, considerable effort would still be required.

Based on his past gaming experience, he didn't need to think—he could guess that finding a Master-level Mystical Artisan would be anything but easy, and it might trigger a chain of troublesome quests.

Like in some terrible games that force filler content, before repair could even begin, a whole set of prerequisite quests would be mandatory.

Fetch x units of fuel for the artisan, gather x units of raw materials; if the timeline still didn't stretch long enough, he might even have to repair the furnace first, then scour the forest for lost tools.

In even worse game plots, he'd have to clean up the artisan's mess—either escape pursuers or fight off some major organization.

In short, the Poison of the Mortal would not be a viable combat asset anytime soon.

As Old Anderson's resentment dissipated and the Poison of the Mortal appeared, the faint, shimmering air wall surrounding the sanatorium shattered like glass.

The collapsing air wall condensed and solidified in midair into a black sphere the size of a grape, slowly descending into Wu Chang's hand.

The black sphere had an odd texture—no weight, no temperature—its outer shell was transparent, while its interior was a deep, swirling black vortex resembling a black hole from a sci-fi film.

"Item Name: Erosion Core."

"Item Description: Source of Power."

Looking at the brief item description, Wu Chang stared blankly.

Source of Power—what the hell was that?

Riddles are fucking annoying!

Still, just by its appearance, he could tell the Erosion Core was extraordinary—he'd better stash it away for now.

Less than half an hour remained before he'd be forcibly ejected from the dungeon; exploring Bai Shi Town was clearly impossible now.

He raised his head, gazing at the bright full moon now visible as the clouds dispersed. Bathed in the gentle moonlight, he opened his status panel and selected "Exit Dimension."

Just before leaving, he scratched his head and muttered, "Did I forget something?"

Meanwhile, beneath the Moonlight Sanatorium, inside the altar of the secret door in the pharmacy room.

Seeing Wu Chang about to leave, the eye pattern on the altar shattered, and an eye formed entirely of energy drifted out.

It possessed the corpse of a dead zombie, which leapt up swiftly from the ground and snarled:

"Damn you insignificant insects, you've angered a god! Even if I must sacrifice my essence to forcibly project myself, I'll make you understand the meaning of divine wrath!"

Lyman raised his finger, pointing at Wu Chang above him, ready to strike—when suddenly, a voice came from behind.

"Cease."

"Who?"

Splat.

A woodcutter's axe pierced Lyman through, its tip emerging from his chest.

The axe lifted upward, splitting Lyman cleanly in two.

"As a god, failure is already disgraceful—please don't further tarnish the dignity of divinity."

Zhu Li stepped from the shadows, holding the woodcutter's axe, her expression blank.

At this moment, Zhu Li had shed her uniform and donned a white nun's robe edged in gold, with a finely embroidered golden horn on both front and sides.

Her face was icy, her gaze cold, radiating an aura of divine majesty that could not be stared at. Lyman's projected eye, now exposed from the wound, flew out, its expression panicked, trying to retreat back into the broken ritual symbol.

Zhu Li pulled out a white mask and placed it over her face; the woodcutter's axe transformed into a horn, which she swung forward, trapping Lyman inside.

"Since you've come, become nourishment for my lord's awakening."

After eliminating Lyman, Zhu Li emerged from underground, gazing at the empty hall, murmuring to herself:

"Xiao En, we will meet again."

"Zhu Li!"

Wu Chang smacked his forehead—he remembered what he'd forgotten.

He'd forgotten Zhu Li.

They'd at least been nominal teammates; he hadn't warned her beforehand, had already betrayed her once, and after the battle, hadn't even confirmed whether she was alive or dead—it was unforgivable.

But it didn't matter—they'd never see each other again anyway.

He shrugged and turned his attention back to the present.

!

After exiting the dungeon, he was teleported into a white room.

Before him stood a wall of televisions, playing back his every action within the dungeon.

According to the prompt that appeared before his eyes, this place was called the dungeon settlement space.

"Player Number 4444444 has successfully completed the trial dungeon. Based on the player's performance in the dungeon, settlement begins."

"Player has completed Main Quest One: Leave the Moonlight Sanatorium."

"Player has completed Main Quest Two: Explore the secrets of the Moonlight Sanatorium."

"The player uncovered the secrets of the Moonlight Sanatorium, thwarted the plot of the Tranquil Church, and successfully left the Moonlight Sanatorium."

"The player helped the Arcane Knights break free from the evil god's curse, and protected the lives of the Arcane Knights' descendants, Randy and Zhu Li."

"The player slew the projection of the evil god Leiman, helping the kingdom completely escape the threat of the evil god Leiman."

"Dungeon completion: 100%!"

"Dungeon rating: Perfect!"

"Player gains experience: 6000."

"Player gains Tarnish Silver Coins: 15000."

How much?!

Wu Chang stared at the experience and Tarnish Silver Coins from the dungeon settlement, a little dumbfounded.

He had expected a hefty dungeon reward — after all, as a newbie, he had cleared a B-rank dungeon while being 15 levels under-level. If the experience and currency weren't generous, he'd have to report the numerical designer.

But this was way too much!

After all, he only needed 100 experience points to level up right now!

6000 experience points — how many levels could that get him?

The experience and Tarnish Silver Coin rewards were explosive enough, but the dungeon settlement hadn't ended there.

"The player's dungeon rating has reached S-rank. You may designate one item from the current dungeon world as a special drop reward. The selected item must be a prop for which usage rights have already been obtained. Please make your choice."

The list of props Wu Chang had obtained in the Moonlight Sanatorium dungeon unfolded before him.

Items like Special Medicine, Wanderer's Talisman, Demon-Breaking Crossbow Bolt, King's Badge, and Evil God's Eye were all on the list, but the collection he had touched in Randy's office, and the books he had read in the underground library, did not appear.

Apparently, only items whose prop information had surfaced could be counted as having obtained usage rights.

Staring at the Evil God's Eye on the item list, Wu Chang was very curious — if he chose this, would the game system gouge out another one of Leiman's eyes for him?

Without a doubt, the Evil God's Eye far surpassed the other props in value. Even if it didn't gouge out Leiman's eye, randomly picking a lucky evil god and gouging out one of their eyes for him would be excellent.

Choose Evil God's Eye.

"Prop drop anomaly detected. The Evil God's Eye has already fused with an unknown prop and become Mortal's Poison. It cannot be dropped individually."

"After estimation, a compensation plan of value close to the Evil God's Eye is proposed. Please make your choice."

"Compensation Plan One: Consume 150,000 experience and 500,000 Tarnish Silver Coins to perfect and repair Mortal's Poison."

"Compensation Plan Two: Consume the Erosion Core to repair Mortal's Poison."

"Compensation Plan Three: Re-select one prop as the special drop reward."

"Please make your choice."

(End of this chapter)