Chapter 25: Advancing to a Higher Level of Difficulty

The moment the six chicks were killed, both of them leveled up simultaneously. Huang Yunshuo glanced at his experience bar—he needed just 780 more points to reach level 10. At this rate, just from running dungeons today, he might hit level 11 or even 12. Absolutely delightful.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck!”

As he approached, a rooster larger than any regular cock charged at him, leaping up and pecking at Huang Yunshuo with a fierce thrust.

“Damn, is this a flying chicken?”

Huang Yunshuo raised his iron shield in defense, swinging his club at the rooster as it attacked.

-13!

He lost 6 HP, while the rooster took that much damage. Its defense must be around 5, he mused.

The health bar above the rooster’s head dropped by a seventh; full health was 100 HP. On advanced difficulty, it probably had 200 HP, and on disaster difficulty, maybe even 500 HP. Huang Yunshuo rubbed his brow, feeling less and less confident about clearing disaster mode.

He parried and attacked in turn. With 110 HP and 1 HP auto-regenerating every 5 seconds, he had no trouble going head-to-head with the rooster. After all, he'd be fully healed after leaving the dungeon, so he wasn’t worried about healing now.

But that shield had to stay up—these roosters at the checkpoint hit harder with each peck, and the pain was excruciating.

“Our boss is finally losing HP!”

The two tagalongs tensed up, scalp tingling as they watched the rooster’s health bar. If they went up, they'd probably be taken out in seconds.

Combo.

-13! -6!

With his high agility of 40 and a 3% speed boost, Huang Yunshuo slid backward, narrowly dodging a peck.

He grinned—clearly, the rooster’s agility was still low.

He stopped dodging and instead braced himself, trading blows with the rooster. With a final screech, the rooster collapsed, dropping a pile of loot. Huang Yunshuo was left with just over 30 HP.

Eighty copper coins, two beginner wooden clubs, and two clearance vouchers—plus a hefty 150 experience points. His experience bar leaped forward.

“These 80 copper coins and two beginner clubs are worth nearly 30,000 credits already,” Huang Yunshuo mused. Honestly, the 100,000 credit ticket wasn't overpriced at all; his two companions probably thought it well spent by now.

As for the Truth Voucher, it seemed this always dropped for first clears and wasn’t particularly valuable. There weren't many who couldn't get one.

“Nine Truth Vouchers can be combined into a new Truth Voucher, boss!” At this moment, Green Brocade suddenly spoke up.

“Nine Chick Truth Vouchers combine into a Stone Tortoise Truth Voucher, which reduces the slowdown effect from the stone tortoise by 50% and increases attack speed by 50%,” Han Cheng Kuangshao read out loud.

“Oh, so that’s how it is!” Huang Yunshuo suddenly understood. No wonder there were so many vouchers dropping, even though everyone could get one. But for him, they were of little use.

Advanced difficulty!

As soon as he appeared in the valley, Huang Yunshuo noticed two more chicks had spawned.

This time, it was even tougher—eight chicks, grouped in fours. With their aggro linked, they were much harder to kill.

At the end of the valley, the great cock no longer lounged about, but marched back and forth, head held high, exuding an intimidating presence. Its comb was bright red, feathers dazzling, wings and claws strong, looking alert and hard to provoke.

“Absolutely must not get pecked by that thing,” Huang Yunshuo reminded himself sternly. The shield had to stay up—not just because of the HP loss, but because those pecks hurt like hell.

“Prepare to die, little ones!”

He charged forward, unleashing a combo on the nearest chick.

-14! -6!

Stepping back, he lunged again.

-15!

The chicks had 5 defense and 50 HP, and now all four were charging at him.

-6! -6! -6!

Three chicks—one he was attacking and two fast runners—each took a bite out of him. Huang Yunshuo finished off the wounded one with a swing, earning another twenty copper coins.

Quickly widening the distance, he picked out another chick for targeted attacks.

One by one, the chicks fell, but his own HP dropped fast.

By the time the four chicks had yielded a hundred copper coins, his health was down to less than 40.

He pulled out a small healing spray, restoring 50 HP as he sprayed himself, quickly bringing his health back up to nearly full.

“Let’s go!”

He charged the remaining four chicks, occasionally dodging to lessen the damage, but mostly tanking it head-on.

After another hundred copper coins dropped, he took out his healing spray again, leisurely tending his wounds before engaging the rooster.

By now, Han Cheng Kuangshao and Green Brocade were feeling too guilty to pick up coins. Copper prices on the trading market were still holding at around 180 credits per coin due to the PvE dungeons, so a hundred coins was worth over 18,000 credits. With all the experience and coins they were gaining, they were more than satisfied.

“Pick them up,” Huang Yunshuo urged, and the two reluctantly gathered the coins.

He hefted his club and strode toward the rooster.

As soon as it saw him, the rooster rushed over, wings flapping furiously, and pecked savagely at his shield with a loud clang.

“Such brute force,” he thought, feeling the impact through his shield. This rooster’s attack must be at least 35 to 40.

A quick glance at his HP: -16! Sure enough, 40 attack.

If either of the other two had taken that hit, they’d be nearly dead.

-14! -6!

Fortunately, the rooster’s defense hadn’t increased, so Huang Yunshuo could still go toe-to-toe with it.

But the HP loss was significant. Unlike the blood vials from Glacier Glory that could be used hands-free, the healing sprays in Reforged Era required a free hand.

With his left hand on the iron shield and right hand gripping the club, both hands were occupied, so he had to retreat quickly.

The rooster chased after him relentlessly.

Han Cheng Kuangshao and Green Brocade watched from the sidelines.

But as the rooster neared them, it suddenly abandoned Huang Yunshuo and lunged, pecking Han Cheng Kuangshao in the gut.

-74!

A critical hit.

Han Cheng Kuangshao didn’t even know what had happened before he was dead.

Green Brocade turned pale with fright, screamed, and bolted.

Huang Yunshuo was dumbfounded. Damn... well done, he chuckled.

He ran toward Green Brocade, drawing the rooster’s aggro, and now fully healed, he faced the beast head-on.

After using up ten micro healing sprays and one small spray, the rooster finally fell with a miserable cry and a loud thud, dropping a bounty of loot.

Two hundred copper coins, five Truth Vouchers, a bundle of materials, and a rusty iron sword.