Chapter 36: Preparations Before Exploring the Ruins |
Thinking of this, Jiang Chen opened the official forum with great interest.
Sure enough, just as Jiang Chen had expected.
At this moment, discussions had already erupted among the people on the forum.
【Hey, did you guys see the Human player combat power rankings?】
【Damn, what the hell, is this guy cheating? How did it suddenly shoot up to 5700?】
【No... are you kidding me? I’m from the Dragon Race, I’ve been grinding quests all damn day, planning to widen the gap before going to sleep, and now I got overtaken by such a huge margin?】
【The problem is his combat power skyrocketed all of a sudden. That’s just ridiculous. What kind of insane loot did he get?】
【What else could it be? Either some god-tier skill or top-tier equipment.】
【This is outrageous. Even Dragon Race players got pushed down.】
.......
Looking at the various discussions on the forum, Jiang Chen nodded in satisfaction.
“Not bad, very good. This is exactly the effect I wanted.”
As he spoke, Jiang Chen closed the forum interface.
“Just as I thought, in this kind of game, if you honestly grind quests, there is indeed a guaranteed baseline for improving combat power.”
“But the problem is, if everyone follows this method, then the final outcome is already fixed—Dragon Race players will definitely take the top spot.”
Before going to sleep last night, Jiang Chen had been thinking about this issue.
In open-world games like this, there were always many hidden easter eggs, or hidden equipment quests and the like.
If one kept following the Main Quest, then sorry—those things would have nothing to do with you.
Just like today’s situation—although there was a large element of luck involved,
if he hadn’t come here today and had instead continued looking for quests, it would have been absolutely impossible for him to gain such a massive improvement.
“So in this game, quests aren’t the focus—they’re just the safety net.”
Although he had pulled ahead for now, Jiang Chen didn’t dare to relax.
After all, it was only a matter of time before Dragon Race players caught up.
So he had to maintain his advantage.
“If it were before, I really wouldn’t have been confident. But now…”
As he spoke, Jiang Chen immediately left the area.
Although he had already moved away from the bustling district, the commotion just now hadn’t been small.
So Jiang Chen estimated that it wouldn’t be long before people arrived.
He didn’t want to expose himself, so he decisively chose to leave.
Walking on the way back, Jiang Chen deliberately avoided pedestrians, and before long returned to the new district of Silvermoon City.
Along the way, he kept pondering what he should do next.
“To maintain my advantage, and even expand it further, the most cost-effective thing for me right now should be…”
“Exploring the Silvermoon City Sewer Ruins!”
Exploring ruins was not an easy task.
What kind of monsters were inside? How strong were they? Jiang Chen had no idea.
Moreover, the death penalty in this game was extremely severe—one would directly lose access to the beta test. Jiang Chen didn’t want to lose the advantage he had painstakingly built.
So before heading to the ruins, he naturally had to make thorough preparations.
“First, damage.”
“The damage of C4—because my Mana attribute has increased, the base damage is now 6500.”
“Then adding the Intelligence scaling, that’s 6500 true damage, plus the extra 1800 damage from Corrosion Curse and Weapon Blessing combined, along with the 10% spell damage increase in Misty Moon Dream’s parasol form.”
“And under the condition of sufficient gold, there can be up to a 100% increase—that is, another 6500.”
“So my total damage right now is 21950.”
Seeing this number, even Jiang Chen couldn’t help but have his eyelids twitch.
That was a bit terrifying.
However, Jiang Chen was well aware that fully maximizing Gold Blessing required consuming 1000 Gold Coins—something completely out of reach for him.
Using 100 Gold Coins each time to get a 10% boost was already his limit.
So his regular damage should be 16150.
Jiang Chen was already very satisfied with this damage output. Once he became a Two-Ring Mage, this damage would double again.
“Not only has my burst damage increased, but more importantly, the bracelet’s skill allows me to cast three Fifth-Ring spells.”
“That also gives me another layer of security.”
“On top of that, the increase in Strength means that the scythe form of Misty Moon Dream will deal even higher damage. Clearing mobs shouldn’t be a problem.”
As he spoke, Jiang Chen continued calculating.
“In addition, C4 can also be stockpiled with a trick.”
According to the skill description, only one C4 could exist at a time.
But the issue was, he could manually craft one in advance without using it. Then, when the next day came and his Mana fully recovered and the skill refreshed, he could throw the first one and immediately craft another.
That way, he could release two C4 charges at once.
“With this much preparation, clearing a dungeon shouldn’t be a big problem, right?”
However, Jiang Chen shook his head again.
“Not stable enough. Far from stable enough!”
“I still need HP and MP potions. Also, I have less than 100 Gold Coins left—the bonus from Gold Blessing isn’t sufficient.”
“And equipment!”
“I must get all the BOSS gear first. Only after preparing all of that can I proceed!”
For this ruin exploration, Jiang Chen decided to be as cautious as possible before entering. Otherwise, if things went wrong, there wouldn’t even be a place to cry about it.
.....
Meanwhile, while Jiang Chen was still making various calculations, Vivian still hadn’t recovered from her earlier shock.
In short, Vivian felt that today’s experience had been utterly surreal.
Obtaining legendary-grade magic equipment at a dirt-cheap price—this was legendary equipment, something Vivian had only ever seen in books.
And yet now, she actually possessed it.
Then she had even met a god—a real, living god!
And the most outrageous part was that the god had even granted her a blessing.
This was something Vivian simply couldn’t understand.
Why was it that she had already received the Evil God’s blessing, yet she could still receive blessings from another god?
It made her feel dizzy.
It was simply too absurd!
Vivian realized that ever since the Evil God had begun manipulating her body until now, in just two short days, her fate had undergone earth-shaking changes.
And then Lord God had said that he had discovered ruins.
And that he was going to explore them.
The word “ruins” naturally held great fascination for someone of Vivian’s age.
When she was young, she had heard many stories about adventures in ruins.
Those explorers entering mysterious ruins, obtaining all kinds of treasures, and uncovering the veils of history—such stories had always captivated Vivian.
Without exaggeration, for people of this world, stories of ruin exploration were among the most beloved, second only to Abyss dungeons.
At the thought that Lord God would take her to personally experience the mysteries of exploring ruins, Vivian felt incomparable anticipation.