22 Chapter22-The First Clear of a Bronze-Tier Dungeon
Jason nodded, tallying the gains from the Monster Lair adventure.
Besides the Antiquity, the chests revealed four pieces of equipment: two were silver-level, namely [Thunder Spear] and [Spirit Leaf Flute], and the others were two gold-tier [Gemstone Rings].
[Gemstone Ring] Tier: Gold Attributes: Command Limit +1000, Critical Hit Rate +15%, Critical Hit Damage +20%
The attributes of these rings were quite decent, and with two of them available, Jason decided one for himself and one for Carolina.
Next were the drop items from [Black Scorpion-General]: Basic Resource Packs x5, Divine Waters x2, and a hidden construction blueprint [Black Scorpion Training Camp].
Besides that, there were 200 Black Scorpion Thieves Guild uniforms and 200 Severed Bones…
Jason was very satisfied.
He could never have too many hidden construction blueprints, and the additional dropped materials were likely the required resources to train soldiers at the Black Scorpion Training Camp.
Now that he had a domain, once the building was constructed, he could directly train a batch of hidden units and then evolve them with Underworld Baptism.
After gathering all the resources, Jason glanced at the sky.
The sun was almost setting.
He immediately hastened his pace, locating the unconscious lord's daughter at one side of the Monster Lair and instructing a Dragonsepulcher Sentinel to carry her away.
Subsequently, Jason wasn't in a rush to return to the city.
Instead, he cleared some resource points in the Old Losfall district, eliminated more monsters, and arrived at the last part of the [Old Losfall] map—the ruins area—just as dusk was about to set in.
Upon entering this area, Jason cleared a wave of 5-tier monsters and found a letter on a corpse.
He quickly opened and read it, triggering the next quest.
[Repair the teleportation array in the Old Losfall ruins (Silver)]
[Description: The former lord of Losfall had once dispatched his confidants to explore the nearby ruins, eventually discovering a sizable copper mine. Perhaps you could try to repair the teleportation array in the ruins, facilitating Losfall's city to exploit this site.]
[Reward: 3-tier unit summoning circle *1.]
As the quest description indicated, the corpse Jason found was indeed a subordinate of the previous lord of Losfall.
This individual had discovered a copper mine in the Old Losfall ruins but was also fatally ambushed by monsters, leaving behind this letter in his dying moments, hoping whoever came this way would see it.
The quest flow required clearing a bronze-tier dungeon, collecting materials from the dungeon boss, and repairing the teleportation array.
Jason wasn't particularly interested in the quest rewards, but his planned route for clearing the map led him here, perfectly timing out his journey to last till nightfall, allowing him to use the teleportation array to return to the city for a rest before triggering any penalties.
This plan also had sufficient leeway; if he cleared the area quickly, he could complete the ruins in one go, eliminating the need to teleport back the next day to finish up.
If he progressed slowly, he could rely on his past life's memories to skip steps, repair the teleportation array ahead of time, rest in Losfall, and then return the next day to finish clearing the dungeon.
Now, gauging the time, Jason muttered to himself, "Time to delve into the dungeon, and secure the first clear of the bronze-tier as well!"
"And then the map will be completely cleared."
His speed in clearing the map was faster than initially planned.
In Divine Age, soldiers have a stamina mechanism; after extensive battles, their stamina would decline, incurring attribute penalties.
But undead don't tire, right?
Just keep going, always at full attributes, incredibly efficient.
Continuing at a brisk pace, Jason circled around, methodically slaughtering the hordes of monsters within the ruins and harvesting resources from three or four points.
Finally, Jason's army made its way to the entrance of the dungeon, a vast underground temple.
Upon stepping inside, a notification sounded in his ear.
[Congratulations, you have discovered the dungeon: Temple of Bones (bronze-tier). Enter? Yes/No?]
"Yes," Jason responded without hesitation.
A flash of light transformed the previously deserted underground temple into a place bristling with lethal intent. One by one, bizarrely shaped zombies slowly rose.
However, a quick survey revealed that these zombies ranged only from 2-tier to 5-tier, a typical strength for a bronze-tier dungeon.
To Jason, they posed little threat.
He decisively ordered his troops to form up, with Dragonsepulcher Sentinels and Subspecies Bone Dragons at the front, and other ranged units steadily advancing behind them.
Soon, the first boss appeared.
[Distorted Flesh]
[Category: BOSS (Unvanquished)]
[Level: 35] …
It exuded a peculiarly eerie aura, resembling a twisted mass of flesh-like bizarre creature.
Unfortunately for it, under the onslaught of the Frost Liches' Ice Crystal Burst, it lasted less than three minutes before its HP dropped to zero.
"Three more to go," Jason stated calmly, picking up the sole item dropped from the mass of flesh, [Fragment of the Teleportation Array: Part Three].
…
While Jason's dungeon run was aimed at a first clear, it was actually a breeze, posing no real challenge.
Meanwhile, in the Everdawn region, Flamecrest City, two distinctly different groups of players were convening.
They belonged to the official governments of Celestria and Everdawn, respectively.
As in the real-world geopolitical landscape, the stronger Valoria became, the closer Celestria and Everdawn aligned.
In Divine Age, Valoria's enigmatic Smith had put immense pressure on the governments of Celestria and Everdawn!
A dungeon expected to take around six days to clear was completed by Smith in just one day after the game's launch.
If this trend continued, wouldn't all the first clears in Divine Age fall into Valoria's hands?
This was something Celestria and Everdawn could not accept. Thus, they were forced to join hands.
This time, they had convened a strategic meeting on how to quickly clear bronze-tier dungeons.
"Let us show our sincerity first," a player from Everdawn said with a slight smile.
"We've considered it and selected the following dungeons from the thirty or so bronze-tier ones, which are relatively easier. If we cooperate, there's a high probability we'll clear them within two days."
The Everdawn official government had analyzed that the reason dungeons took several days to clear was mainly because ordinary players were holding them back.
Both Celestria and Everdawn had players with SSS-level talent, who, although not developing as fast as Smith, could easily meet the standards required to clear the dungeons.
The problem was that players with slightly lesser talent took too long to develop.
Those top-tier players couldn't solo the dungeons themselves, which led to delays.
Once Celestria and Everdawn, two nations with vast populations and a large base of players, joined forces, they could swiftly assemble a team capable of clearing a bronze-tier dungeon in the shortest time.
The players from Celestria were also excited.
"That's right, this time we won't let Valoria take the lead."
"The first clear of the bronze-tier dungeon will definitely be ours!"
"Smith may have been the first to clear the iron-level dungeon, but Valoria must have paid a significant price for that. They need time to recuperate."
…
The participants exchanged ideas energetically, confident in their analysis and already considering the first clear of the bronze-tier dungeon as something within their grasp.
Such is the confidence brought about by the combined efforts of two of Earth's major powers!
What can't be achieved when Celestria and Everdawn join hands?
Can they secure the first kill of this dungeon?
Absolutely!
Certainly!
Easily!
In this upbeat atmosphere—
"We recommend targeting these dungeons [Bridge of Sighs], [Forest Farmstead]…" a player from Everdawn was speaking when suddenly, system notifications began to flood the screen.
[The first clear of a bronze-tier dungeon has been completed!]
[The first clear of a bronze-tier dungeon has been completed!]
…
[Valoria Server player [Smith] is the first to clear the bronze-tier dungeon [Temple of Bones], receiving the following rewards…]
[Valoria Server…]
