[Ding! A Wolf King Mountain Dungeon Teleportation Talisman has been detected. Extract?]
On his way home, Li Heng’s mind was preoccupied with the system’s message. The notification had popped up the moment Huang Lingjing handed him the Wild Wolf Valley Teleportation Talisman.
After returning home, Li Heng thought about it for a little while longer before finally steeling his resolve and confirming the extraction.
[Ding! Wolf King Mountain Dungeon Teleportation Talisman x5. Extraction successful. Your current status for the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon is as follows.]
[Exiting the Dungeon in a safe state: No loss of rewards or gains. Unlimited uses.]
[Exiting the Dungeon in a combat state: No loss of rewards or gains (5 uses). After 5 uses, rewards and gains will be halved.]
[Exiting the Dungeon upon death: No loss of rewards or gains (5 uses). After 5 uses, rewards and gains will be reduced by 90%.]
!!!
"Holy shit!"
As the Teleportation Talisman in his hand vanished and the system spat out another long string of information, Li Heng lost his composure. He was so excited he had blurted out a curse without even realizing it.
Realizing he’d been a little too loud, Li Heng slapped his cheeks, forcing himself to calm down.
Exiting in a safe state with no loss of rewards was easy to understand, so Li Heng’s attention quickly moved past it.
He figured the five instances of no reward loss for exiting during combat or upon death must be the effect of those five Teleportation Talismans.
What shocked Li Heng the most was that even after those five uses, he could still exit the Dungeon and receive rewards.
’Does this mean... as long as I have enough Soul Energy, I can enter the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon over and over again without having to worry about dying?!’
’If death isn’t an issue, then do I even need to worry about getting injured in the Dungeon?’
The matter of death was a serious one, so even with the system to back him up, Li Heng still felt a bit apprehensive.
After all, life was precious, and Li Heng had no intention of wasting his.
Nevertheless, his excitement to enter the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon was now stirred, soaring to an unprecedented high.
So, Li Heng went to the supermarket, bought two large jugs of water and some rations, and stuffed them into his Space Stone upon returning home.
First, he told his parents he was going out with friends and that he might be gone for a day or two, or he might be back soon. Then, he found a secluded park, chose to expend 100 points of Soul Energy, and entered the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon.
[Ding! You have entered the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon!]
[Heavily Injured Blood Wolf King (0/1)]
[Blood Wolf King (0/1)]
’The Dungeon reset!’
Seeing the objective for the Heavily Injured Blood Wolf King, Li Heng knew the Dungeon had reset. At the very least, the version he was currently in could be reset.
He no longer cared whether the Heavily Injured Blood Wolf King would still appear in the real Wild Wolf Valley.
The Blood Wolf Fang Bracelet was there.
The fine Longsword was there.
The Space Stone was there too.
As for the items inside the Space Stone, besides the two stalks of Wolf Blood Grass, all the food and water were gone.
’Looks like... items without Soul Energy really can’t be brought in!’
Even though the food and water were gone, Li Heng wasn’t nervous. In fact, he felt much more at ease. Unlike his first visit, his mind was relaxed, his nerves not stretched taut.
[Exit this Dungeon?]
This single message gave Li Heng all the confidence he needed, even though he was all alone.
He also looked around and observed that this was, indeed, the entrance to the valley within Wild Wolf Valley. But it was only the valley.
’There’s no surrounding forest or outer area!’
Wild Wolf: Robust
Level: 8
Tier: Unranked
Strength: 7
Agility: 6
Spirit: 3
Soul Energy: 8
Much like his first visit, he hadn’t taken more than a few steps before spotting several Level 8 Wild Wolves. This time, however, there were five of them!
"Wolf Walk Technique!"
Previously, he could already handle a one-on-three fight against Robust Wild Wolves with ease. But now, Li Heng’s Agility and Strength were nearly double that of the wolves.
With the speed boost from his Wolf Walk Technique, it was already difficult for the wolves to get close. Furthermore, Li Heng’s strikes were now ruthless and heavy; even a glancing cut to a wolf’s head could grievously injure it and knock it down.
Thrust, slice, swing, flick!
Li Heng constantly switched between the moves of his basic Swordsmanship as he attacked the five Wild Wolves. When he had faced three of them before, he had spent more time blocking than attacking.
This time, Li Heng blocked far less often, spending most of his time on the offensive.
He had to admit, a superior weapon was much better than an ordinary or poor one. Both its feel and the way it applied force were a significant improvement, making it far more efficient.
In the blink of an eye, four of the five Wild Wolves were down, their paws and muzzles riddled with sword wounds.
Soon enough, the last Robust Wild Wolf also fell. Within a breath or two, Li Heng’s Longsword pierced its neck.
points of Soul Energy, acquired!
’My luck isn’t great, it seems. No Soul Energy Items or equipment dropped. Still, 40 points of Soul Energy is good enough.’
Li Heng wasn’t bothered that the five Robust Wild Wolves hadn’t dropped anything. After all, the Soul Energy points were a guaranteed reward.
It cost 100 points of Soul Energy to enter the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon once. Li Heng now only had 70 points, so he needed to kill at least a few more Wild Wolves.
And so, Li Heng immediately set a goal for himself: every time he entered the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon, he had to, at the very least, earn back the 100-point Soul Energy entry fee.
After Li Heng finished off the Robust Wild Wolves, what happened the first time didn’t repeat itself. The Heavily Injured Blood Wolf King didn’t appear, he saw no Blood Wolves, and he didn’t even hear a single howl.
He had just killed the five Wild Wolves and hadn’t taken more than a few steps deeper into the valley when he spotted another five Robust Wild Wolves.
Li Heng didn’t know if these Robust Wild Wolves had been drawn by the scent of their own kind’s blood, attracted by the smell of a human, or if the valley was just naturally this crowded with them.
But he didn’t care about the reason. It wasn’t that he was getting arrogant; he had already assessed his own strength. ’As long as there aren’t more than ten—er, eight—Robust Wild Wolves, I should be able to retreat unscathed without a problem.’
’More than eight and I’ll likely get injured, maybe even seriously. More than ten, and it’ll be a fight for my life.’
But for now, there were only five Robust Wild Wolves. To Li Heng, they were nothing more than walking XP!
"Wolf Walk Technique!"
Swinging his fine Longsword, Li Heng picked up speed and charged the five Wild Wolves!
He used the techniques from his basic Swordsmanship once more. But thinking back to the previous, effortless fight, he decided to conserve his strength and stopped switching moves at random.
Instead, he focused his mind, aimed for a vulnerable spot on the nearest Robust Wild Wolf, and unleashed his sword with explosive force.
It was at that very moment that Li Heng noticed the sword in his hand had suddenly become a little lighter.