Chapter 248: Ancient Lands of the Stars
[The Rift Tower: Ancient Lands of the Stars] Level 5 mythic rift. A five-person team rift dungeon. Each entry costs 2 million golds.
The entry fees were exorbitantly high. For a single entry, the cost was 2 million gold, and for a five-person team to embark on a dungeon run, the expense soared to at least 10 million gold. Although there are no prerequisites for entering the rift and failure does not result in death, an implicit barrier still exists. If the challengers are inadequately skilled, they risk failure immediately upon entry, rendering their substantial investment in the ticket futile.
The Darkness Three Dragons were recently in the main city. Counting himself, Zhang Nu's group totaled four, lacking one more for a full team. After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Nu reached out to the Succubus Queen with a proposition: "We're about to start a dungeon run and are short by one. Would you like to join us?"
Han Kexin's response was prompt: "Hold on for me, I'll be right there. Count me in!"
Just two minutes later, Han Kexin made her appearance. She exuded a significantly more formidable aura than just a few days prior. Zhang Nu, noticing the change, commented, "Oh? It's been only a few days, and you've grown much stronger."
With a touch of humility, Han Kexin replied, "You flatter me. In recent days, Gloom City conquered the Mountains of Madness, reaping an abundance of souls from a million tribes, which led to a modest enhancement in my powers."
Despite her modesty, it was clear to all, especially in the presence of the Great Demon King, that her capabilities had not just improved marginally. Her attributes had significantly increased, accompanied by the acquisition of a formidable Level 5 talent.
[Eternal Charm] Succubus Queen Level 5 talent. Consumes 90% of MP in one use to imprint a permanent mental mark on her target, with a cooldown period of 7 days.
This ability had an incredibly long cooldown time, yet its effects were terrifying. What did a permanent mental imprint mean? All units summoned by the Demon King bore a mental imprint. Essentially, a mental imprint was a locked-in 100% loyalty!
After unlocking this talent, the Queen could permanently turn any target weaker than or nearly equal to her in strength into a fiercely loyal unit. The skill's cooldown was very long, but it was capable of producing astonishing effects. As a Level 5 monarch in strength, the Succubus Queen had a 99% success rate of using Eternal Charm on units below Level 5, and a 50-80% success rate on those of the same level with similar strength.
Of course, the skill was ineffective on targets already bearing a mental imprint. Overall, the Succubus Queen's new ability was incredibly powerful. If used wisely, this skill could be extremely beneficial. The Great Demon King's regard for Queen Han instantly rose a notch higher.
For such a talent, Zhang Nu was not content with just a cooperative relationship. Perhaps he should consider a way to bring Queen Han directly under his command. As for Han Kexin, she was only one Level 5 talent away from advancing to Level 6. Such progress was undeniably fast. Han Kexin had not had the chance to personally witness the Potato Great Demon King in action in the Calamity Trench, but she speculated that the Potato Great Demon King had already reached Level 6. It was impossible for him to be lagging behind her in progress.
"Everyone's here. Let's head in!"
"I've paid for your ticket for now.
"Remember to pay me back after we come out."
Han Kexin pouted: "Two million gold is nothing for you and me now, to fuss over such a small amount, such a stingy man."
Zhang Nu justified himself confidently: "Even a mosquito is meat!"
The Rift Tower activated.
[Prepare yourselves, challengers!]
[The Level 5 mythic rift "Ancient Lands of the Stars" is opening!]
Han Kexin almost lost her balance. What? A mythic rift? Was there a mistake? Why was the level that high? Can we really beat it?!
She did not know that the Calamity Trench was a Level 5 mythic area yet.
Without much time to think, they were transported to a desolate, silent world, full of ruins and devastation. A blood moon hung high in the sky. Countless irregular fragments, like small asteroids, floated in the sky. The entire world exuded a sense of apocalyptic decay and desolation. At the same time, information about the rift dungeon nearly simultaneously appeared in the minds of the five challengers.
"Old gods are awakening, stars are perishing, in the dark and desperate corners of the world, some small and ordinary beings are struggling with all their might, attempting to fight against fate."
"The challengers will play the role of saviors summoned to this place, your task is to help the few survivors resist the invasion from the rulers of tomorrow."
"Rift dungeon time limit: 12 hours!"
"Current round: 1st attempt!"
The place where the five appeared was a large summoning magic circle. Thousands of spirit bodies floated nearby; these spirits seemed to have been human-like creatures in life, and now they gathered around the huge summoning circle, their blurred faces showing tension.
Zhang Nu glanced over.
[Soul Guardian: Moji] Level 3 lord unit...
Description: Moji, the leader of the few surviving natives of a planet named Xar. Some of the Xarians were born with unique talents. They possess a racial talent to transform between soul and physical forms. It is this special ability that has temporarily saved them from the corruption of the Evil Gods in this catastrophe.
NPC? There were intelligent NPCs inside the rift? This no longer seems much different from a game dungeon.
Moji spoke, "Respected beings from another world, on behalf of the few survivors of Xar, I extend our deepest gratitude for answering our call. You've come from distant realms to this land of darkness, to help us withstand the impending disaster."
There's even interactions? Even Han Kexin was surprised. Her Gloom City's rift did not have this functionality. Immediately, Han Kexin asked, "What enemy are we facing?"
Moji answered angrily, "The Unity Cult, the wicked Unity Cult!"
"This planet has been completely destroyed by this Evil God cult. I will lead the remaining members of our tribe to use the soul transmission formation and establish a new home on an unknown planet deep in the galaxy."
"The Unity Cult has discovered our plan!"
"What you need to do is buy us time, to allow us sufficient duration to activate the formation. Of course, as a reward, we will offer due compensation."
Zhang Nu and Han Kexin exchanged knowing looks, quickly understanding the situation. The structure of this rift dungeon was straightforward, revolving around successive rounds of fending off monster attacks. The conditions for failure were clear: either their team would be entirely annihilated, or all the survivors would be lost.
Zhang Nu learned from the prompt information that if they could eliminate more than ten rounds of monsters within the time limit of the rift dungeon and keep the casualties among the survivors below ten percent, they would trigger a boss battle. Defeating the boss would yield more substantial rewards. The level of the boss was not fixed; it depended on the challengers' speed in defeating the monsters and the number of survivors. The better the performance, the stronger the boss that appeared, and the greater the rewards they would earn.
It seemed simple enough. Han Kexin said to Moji, "You and your people can activate the formation without worry. No matter how powerful the enemies that arrive later, we will hold them off outside!" Moji gratefully responded, "Thank you! Kind beings from another world! May reason and wisdom be with you!"
This was interesting. It did not feel like an NPC at all. These beings were fully interactive, not just pre-programmed with set responses. Was this the difference between a high-rank rift and an ordinary Level 5 one? Han Kexin did not have time to ponder further; her expression suddenly changed, "A powerful presence is descending, are the monsters coming so soon?"
Around the ruined base, the ground churned tumultuously. About two thousand monsters emerged. At first glance, these monsters appeared humanoid, but they had four to five heads, dozens of arms, and numerous mouths. Their forms were irregular; some crawled like spiders and crabs, others ran swiftly like sprint champions, and some jumped and flew.
Zhang Nu took a quick look.
[Distorted Unity Follower] Level 5 elite units
Description: These are followers of the extraterrestrial Evil God cult, the Unity Cult. They worship the Evil God "The Unifier of All" and voluntarily fused with each other to become the god's kin, eventually turning into their current forms.
Zhang Nu felt it was important to take this seriously. The name of this rift dungeon was "Ancient Lands of the Stars." What did "Ancient Lands of the Stars" mean? It referred to a group of planets destroyed by evil forces, entering an apocalyptic state. Each entry into the "Ancient Lands of the Stars" instance was random, meaning challengers could enter hundreds or thousands of destroyed worlds.
Zhang Nu believed that the worlds in the instance, although being mirrored replicas and just a fragment of the real world, must be based on some segment of reality. This implied that what they were witnessing could indeed exist; these destroyed worlds could be real, revealing and outlining a mysterious unknown world.
He speculated that this mysterious unknown world lay beyond the world rift at the bottom of the Calamity Trench. It was a starry world akin to a previous life, filled with Evil Gods, twisted kin everywhere, fanatical worship, and pervasive evil distortion---a completely irrational and dark world. Perhaps the evil gods appearing in this world, whether the Eight-Eyed Evil God or the Source of Corruption, were connected to that world. Therefore, the monsters and information encountered in this rift dungeon might help understand that dark, mysterious place.
Zhang Nu glanced over and asked, "Who will go?"
Long Yi volunteered, stepping forward, "Master, let your servant handle this!"
Zhang Nu nodded, "Go ahead."
Long Yi had just leveled up and was eager to show his worth. With his master's permission, he instantly transformed into his dragon form. As a Level 6 dragon, his size had increased significantly, reaching a length of 150 meters. Each black scale emitted smoke, with firelight flowing through the gaps.
A huge purple-black column of fire poured down from the sky like a waterfall, hundreds of meters high. This was no ordinary dragon flame; it was infused with immense dark energy. Wherever it passed, these distorted followers screamed and turned to ash.
[You've slain "Distorted Unity Followers". Rift dungeon points +1000!]
[You've slain "Distorted Unity Followers". Rift dungeon points +1000!]
[You've slain "Distorted Unity Followers". Rift dungeon points +1000!]
[......]
The rift dungeon did not produce gold, but it did generate rift dungeon points. The higher the rift dungeon points, the better the quality of the final rift dungeon reward box. Additionally, these points could be exchanged for rift dungeon resources, equipment, or other items.
"This is... a Level 6 monarch?!" Han Kexin was surprised to find that Zhang Nu's dragon subordinate actually possessed the strength of a Level 6 monarch. Her expression became strange, "So you're really Level 6 already?!"
If it was just Zhang Nu being Level 6, Han Kexin could accept it. But having a subordinate with the strength of a Level 6 monarch was both shocking and disheartening for her. Their gap was growing wider!"
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