When the Stronghold Leader's Health fell below fifty thousand, he once again went into a rage, entering his third phase. In addition to all his attributes improving, his form became even more terrifying.

By this time, the effect of 'Mei · Noble and Righteous' was barely holding up. The Stronghold Leader had evolved to deal multi-hit damage—ten strikes per second—which meant that 50% of the player's damage reduction was now being bypassed.

Fortunately, the Saint Master himself was strong enough. His own recovery ability, combined with the effects of the five mission items, the Four Gentlemen Wine, and the Health-leeching effect of Soul Absorption, allowed him to stand firm without dying. Any other Player, even if they had managed to reach this stage, would likely have been killed due to insufficient personal attributes.

Saint Master and Wang Linchi were indeed suppressed in the "God-given World," but despite the suppression, they were far from ordinary people. In the Soul Aspect World, the Saint Master was Mythology level, and Wang Linchi, also Mythology level, had experienced numerous battles. Even when severely suppressed, they were not individuals that typical clubs or game studios could easily contend with.

With the combined power of the Dragon and Pig talismans, the Saint Master's strong physical attacks, and the debilitating effects of the Soul Melting Poison, they wiped out the last bit of the Stronghold Leader's Health.

"I refuse to accept this! Just a little bit more, and I could have…" The Stronghold Leader's voice was filled with despair as he finally died, exploding and releasing a large amount of Abyss Crystals.

After Wang Linchi picked them all up, he counted a total of ten thousand. Combined with the 2,350 Abyss Crystals dropped earlier, Wang Linchi felt the total amount was staggering.

However, considering the difficulty—being hindered by other Players initially, needing sufficient attributes, and requiring a speed run—he realized upon careful reflection that it truly wasn't something current Players could clear.

[Dungeon completed. Rating: S-Rank]

[Congratulations to the Player for an additional 10% Abyss Crystals!]

Wang Linchi glanced at the evaluation, then at the extra 1,235 Abyss Crystals that had appeared out of nowhere, bringing his total to 13,585.

I wonder if others could get this many.

[World Announcement: Congratulations to Player Linchi for successfully clearing the Abyss Level of the Black Wind Stronghold...]

The announcement repeated three times. Wang Linchi, who had already left the Black Wind Stronghold and returned to the "God-given World" dungeon settlement space, ignored the subsequent commotion and instead focused on one detail in the announcement.

The Abyss Level of the Black Wind Stronghold was now permanently closed; its highest difficulty was reduced to Nightmare Level.

So, once a Player resolves an Abyss incident, all parallel dungeons are simultaneously resolved.

Indeed, the moment he cleared the dungeon, all other Players still in an Abyss Level Black Wind Stronghold dungeon were ejected. However, they each received 100 Abyss Crystals as compensation.

The first-clear reward was a passive Skill applicable to all professions. It was max level upon learning, requiring no further leveling.

Wang Linchi hadn't claimed it yet; instead, he began to exchange his other rewards. Only Abyss Crystals dropped within the dungeon; other items had to be exchanged for outside.

[First-Clear Reward · Unique]

[Card · Mei (0/1), Exchange Requirement: 1,000 Abyss Crystals]

[Card: Orchid (0/1), Exchange Requirement: 1,000 Abyss Crystals]

[Card · Zhu (0/1), Exchange Requirement: 1,000 Abyss Crystals]

[Card · Ju (0/1), Exchange Requirement: 1,000 Abyss Crystals]

[Card · Jade (0/1), Exchange Requirement: 1,000 Abyss Crystals]

Five Cards caught his eye. Each could only be exchanged once, and only by the Player who achieved the first clear.

Wang Linchi claimed them all without hesitation. These Cards possessed effects and attributes corresponding to the five mission items he had previously acquired. They activated simply by being placed in the inventory and wouldn't be dropped upon death, as they were directly bound to his game character.

The only limitation is that they likely only work when entering Abyss Level dungeons. It's improbable that Abyss-corrupted monsters will appear frequently in the "God-given World."

Further down was a recipe for Four Gentlemen Wine—indeed, an upgraded version of the Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum wines Wang Linchi had obtained previously.

[Four Gentlemen Wine: Health +10%, Mana +10%, Fixed Damage +10%, Damage Reduction +10%, Health regeneration per second +5%, Mana regeneration per second +5%, Skill Cooldown -10%, Casting Speed +10%, lasts until the dungeon ends]

The effects were quite good, and the ingredients were simple: just Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum. The only downside was that it could only be used in dungeons and specifically required Abyss Level difficulty; it was unusable in dungeons of other difficulties. It was half as expensive as the Cards, costing only 500 Abyss Crystals.

Naturally, Wang Linchi bought it immediately without hesitation.

Next were the four brewing materials: Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum. One Abyss Crystal could be exchanged for one set, which seemed quite costly. However, upon closer examination, Wang Linchi discovered that these Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum were not ordinary plants but special varieties cultivated by the "Four Gentlemen." They could be used as consumables with various effects, and if used to brew Four Gentlemen Wine, they would double its potency.

The purchase limit was 1,000 sets per Player. He bought the maximum, costing another 1,000 Abyss Crystals.

Further down were the normal rewards for clearing dungeons. He had already redeemed all the first-clear rewards.

As for equipment, I'll skip that, Wang Linchi thought. But the items and Skills are worth a look.

There was no limit on redeeming these clear rewards. As long as one had enough Abyss Crystals, they could exchange for hundreds of pieces of equipment.

There's only one Skill, huh? Well, I'll buy it,

There was only one Skill available for the Scholar Profession, named Green Blood Red Qing.

[Active · Green Blood Red Qing LV1 (0/100)]

[Skill Description: Use Wenqi to initiate healing, restoring Health for teammates.]

It was a healing Skill, quite good at this stage. It restored a fixed 100 Health points, with additional healing based on the Spiritual Power and Root Bone attributes. Though it couldn't match the potency of dedicated healing professions, it was versatile, so its slightly lower output was understandable. Skills for other professions were also available, but they were all supportive active Skills.

I'll check the main city to spend my remaining Abyss Crystals, Wang Linchi decided, as there was nothing else he wanted to buy here. Most of the redeemable items could actually drop in the Nightmare Level of Black Wind Stronghold anyway.

This particular Skill was also a first-clear reward. That was right—if you were the first to clear a Nightmare Level dungeon, the boss would drop a profession-specific Skill. It was a one-time drop, so if a team cleared it, each member would naturally receive one. Of course, the dropped Skills were predetermined, not random. However, here in the Abyss Level reward exchange, one could redeem them again.

Well, it's not all for nothing. At least my Literary Warfare is maxed out,

Its effects were mediocre, with the max level being only ten. Other Skills also maxed out at level ten. The Fixed Damage increased from 10 points to 100. Additional damage scaled with Spiritual Power and Root Bone, but considering the immense difficulty in improving the three base attributes, he decided to disregard this aspect for now. Equipment directly increased derived attributes like Attack Power, Defense, or Health, rather than the primary attributes like Root Bone, Spiritual Power, and Comprehension.

[World Announcement: Congratulations to Player Linchi for successfully clearing the Abyss Level of the Black Wind Stronghold...]

"How is this possible? Someone actually managed to clear the Abyss Difficulty Black Wind Stronghold so quickly!" A young Player, Ye Tian, exclaimed, his face etched with shock after slaying a monster.

In my past life, it took a full year before top Players formed a temporary guild and jointly cleared Black Wind Stronghold, earning a hefty reward!

As a Reincarnator, Ye Tian naturally knew many secrets, such as the upcoming Abyss invasion and the truth behind the Abyss Difficulty. Once dungeons opened, Abyss Difficulty dungeons would continuously evolve. A year later in his previous timeline, Black Wind Stronghold was teeming with Abyssal Demons, and it was only thanks to Fourth Transfer Players that they were barely defeated.

It wasn't a matter of simply ignoring Abyss Difficulty and being fine. In ten years, during the Abyss invasion, these Abyss Difficulty dungeons would manifest directly in the real world. At that time, game characters would merge with humans—the strong would grow stronger, while the weak would be swallowed by the Abyss.

In his previous life, he was merely a low-level warrior who had perished in the Abyss Demon Tide. Reborn, he was now advancing rapidly, using his foreknowledge to become the top Player. Next, he planned to rally all the top Players from his previous life to forge the strongest guild in the entire game, aiming to resist the Abyss invasion ten years hence. As for other truths, he didn't know them; after all, he had only been a low-level warrior in his past life.

Of course, this life was different. Armed with divine equipment and possessing the Talent known as Attribute Plunder, he could seize attributes from slain monsters and make them his own.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.