Field Boss

Arriving on the 17th floor, he found the room became much chillier than before.

On this floor, The wraith was able to shoot a freezing liquid. He knew it immediately as the liquid touched the ground.

[Cold Wraith] (Level 32)

HP: 25000/25000 MP: 8000/8000

If he was hit by that liquid, it would freeze his skin which could be handled easily by using fire mastery to restore it back to the normal state.

The liquid won't pose any problem to him as he could dodge them without a problem.

What troubled him was its death aura which deals damages every second.

Each wraith now dealt ten damage per second and his health regen was about that much too.

If there was only two or three there's shouldn't be much problem, but there's no way there would only two or three of them.

Wraiths have an incredible range of sensing enemies. If he's in the middle of the field he would attract more than three of them.

On this floor, he can't be reckless and ignore the wraiths anymore.

[You received 90000 Experience points]

[You received 'Soul Fragment']

[You received 12000 gold]

As for the ghouls on this floor, their blood became black colored instead of red. He still didn't know their difference though.

[Cursed Ghoul] (Level 32)

HP: 30000/30000 MP: 4000/4000

Kuwa!

The ghoul jumped at him fiercely, using its claws it tries to rip Zhen Lun's flesh.

Zhen Lun easily dodged the attack as it was to slow and straightforward.

Using the opportunity he started a counterattack. The ghoul's physical resistance was perfect sandbag. A tool made for him to train his combat skills as it was much more resilient than others.

After a few rounds of beating, the ghoul finally dropped dead.

[You received 90000 Experience points]

[You received 'Cursed Blood's Essence']

[You received 12000 gold]

As he went deeper as careful as possible, he spotted a new monster.

[Skeleton Knight] (Level 32)

HP: 30000/30000 MP: 5000/5000

'It's an upgraded skeleton!' He almost failed to recognize that it was a skeleton if not for the name given by his system.

The skeleton was covered from head to toe, it wore full armor. Instead of walking bone, he should be walking armor.

Just as he expected, the skeleton knight was as tough as the cursed ghoul. The skeleton knight was much preferable sandbag as there was no smell of blood coming from the skeleton.

...

...

...

[Leveled Up!]

[Leveled Up!]

[Leveled Up!]

[Leveled Up!]

[You received a skill point]

After grinding for a while, he finally receives the most precious thing provided by the system.

Another skill point.

Zhen Lun quickly used it on Forging as he was curious about what it can do.

[You unlocked Crafting Menu]

[Crafting Menu]

The crafting menu appeared as he opened it, clicking the forging section more sections appeared.

Viewing the screen, he was confused. There exist too many sections similar to the shop menu, but this one was more complicated.

There's many of them have yet unlocked by him, it didn't state the condition to unlock them unlike Shop Menu.

At this moment, the one that was available for him was craftable with mineral and the other one was question marks on it.

[Craftable] (Mineral)

Clicking that section, it also opened up to more sections. They're all types of weapons such as swords, spears, mace, etc.

Each item required materials to be able to craft them and the weapons that were available to craft were similar to the one that was sold on the shop.

For example, a normal steel sword was sold on the shop menu for 5000 golds. If he wanted to craft a steel sword he required 5 steel bars and 1 bronze bar and if he wanted a better steel sword he needed to contribute other rare materials.

Another section was the one with question marks.

[Craftable] (???)

[???]

Required Material:

50/50 Skeleton's Bone (Any type)

50/50 Ghoul's Claw (Any type)

0/1 Wraith Soul (Any type)

[???]

Required Material:

10/10 Ghoul's Bone (Any type)

50/50 Ghoul's Claw (Any type)

0/1 Cursed Blood essence

...

...

Many items were available on those sections but none of their names and information were given but at least required material was given. It's fine as long as we know the required material. If we don't have the required material it'll be pointless to know their name anyway.

In this section, any type of weapon can be unlocked here as long as you have one of its material.

'Wraith Soul, to get that I'll need to gather a thousand soul fragments.'

He has over nine hundred already, he only needs a few of them in order to combine them into an intact soul.

[Due to the contaminated pool of blood being unclean a creature was awakaned]

[You encountered a field boss]

The pool of blood from the cursed ghouls gathered together and formed a hundred-feet golem that's made of blood.

'A boss?' To think the blood, left by the ghoul was used to summon a boss. How would he expect this?

[Cursed Golem] (Level 32)

HP: 2000000/2000000 MP:0/0

'Such high health!'

As the pool of blood gathered, they solidified into one forming a giant golem.

A single step of that creature shook the entire ground. This prove how strong it was despite being formed by liquid.

If he were stepped by him, he would turn into meat paste.

The golem slowly turned his head around, searching for a target. As it finally spotted Zhen Lun, it shifted his body and walked toward him.

'It's noticed me!'

With the golem's snail movement, Zhen Lun still has time to prepare himself. He quickly opens the shop menu and bought the best Level-30 equipment.

Since he has plenty of gold to spare, he unhesitantly bought the best equipment that he can afford.

Soon, he was equipped with new equipment and accessories.

As he finished wearing his equipment, the golem already closed up. It slammed its arm down, wanted to crush him.

The arm swings of the golem was abnormally fast compared to its slow movement. He was caught off guard by the speed and barely escaped.

As a result, he caught some injury due to the force of the shockwave.

Not wasting the opportunity, he took advantage of the golem's low flexibility in turning itself. He got to the back of the golem within less than a second as for the golem, it took it more than two seconds for it to turn a full circle.

With his new level-30 Ferocious Silver Sword, Zhen Lun activated Double Slash.

[Silver-Ranked, Ferocious Silver Sword]

Required Level: Level 30

Required Strength: 200 STR

Attack Power: 10000-11000

Effect: +100 Attack Speed, +30 AGI, +15 STR

'Hm?' His sword cut through the golem's leg as though it was jelly. 'Was it the sharpness of the sword or it's weak?'

Its leg was chipped off by his sword, the golem lost his balance and dropped to the ground.

The flesh that he cut off from its leg actually became alive. It turned into another creature.

[Cursed Golem (Part)] (Level 32)

HP: 14000/14000 MP: 0/0

The moment it left its original body, it jumped toward him.

Zhen Lun quickly used the fiery palm to finish it off.

[You gained 60000 Experience points]

[You received Cursed Golem's Flesh]

[You received 500 Gold]

The part that he cut off from the golem quickly regened back as it connects his leg back.

It tried to stand up but Zhen Lun didn't give it the opportunity to do so.

Activating his wind run, he slash small bits off the golem, turning the pieces that he sliced off into alive creatures.

With everyone trying to jump on him, he activated destructive stomp finishing all of them in a row.

[8000 Experience Points]

[You received Cursed Golem's Flesh]

[You received 500 Gold]

[6000 Experience Points]

[You received Cursed Golem's Flesh]

[You received 500 Gold]

...

...

...

Depending on how large I cut it, the experience will change, the smaller he cut, the weaker it became, but even so, it still gave him a flesh each time it was killed.

'A material from a field boss should useful right?'

Ding*

[Shadow Clone has done upgrading]

'Perfect timing!'

Zhen Lun summoned two clones out to helped him out. With his clone help, he easily dealt with the little blood golems without a problem.

90%...80%...70%

With the duration of his clone ended, he was forced to wait for four-minute. At this time he has acquired over three hundreds of golem's flesh.

While waiting for his clone cooldown. He tried his best to do as much damage and get as much flesh as he could without the help of his clones.

The time his clone can be used again, he started his material grinding again.

...

...

By the time he realized it, the golem sized was down to fifty-feet. He shaved the golem health point to fifty-percent and he has already got over seven hundred flesh this time.

He decided to get three hundred more before he kills the golem.

Zhen Lun could kill it instantly by using all of his skills. If he did that the cursed golem will be doomed.

He could kill it easily, but he didn't want to as he wanted to get materials from the golem.

Just when he finally acquired a thousand of them he started to use all of his skills at the golem.

Wind Blade!

Fireball!

Spray!

Earth Spike!

All of his skills that were available were all used, quickly sending the blood golem health points to zero.

Despite that the blood golem having a huge health point, It has no resistant toward physical attack.

Thankfully for that, he was able to kill it easily.

[You gained 10000000 Experience points]

[You received 'Cursed Orb']

[You received 100000 Gold]

[You have slain Cursed Golem for the first time]

[You received 10 unassigned stats]

[You received 'Cursed Ring']

[Gold-Rank, Cursed Ring]

Level Required: 30

Effect: -40 LUK +150 VIT

Additional Skill:

Health Regeneration: Regens 1% of your health every second

'One percent and 150 VIT? That's super useful!' Zhen Lun unhesitantly wore the ring even though it decreases his luck.

It's not like it decreased all of his luck. It only takes forty of his luck away in exchange for 150 vitality stats, to him it was worth it.

The 150 vitality stats was a huge change for him. His Health points were increased by over two thousand points and he'll get extra health regeneration from the extra vitality and ring.

Together he'll regen about over eighty health points every second.

With this, he should be able to take more damage from the wraith and will not be affected by it.

After Cursed Golem died, the ghouls and wraiths started to spawn again.

With his newly equipped level-thirty equipment, he easily killed swipe off the monsters on the field.

Since he has gotten stronger, Zhen Lun proceeded to the next floor and search for the next stairs.

In a few hours, he was back at the deserted location again, where there were no monsters at all.

It appeared that from now on there will be a safe zone, where no monster will be around. Other than that, in that location, the stairs will be nearby, most importantly the mysterious shop.

He met the same girl with the exact same appearance as the one he met before on previous floors.

'It's really her again.' He saw Auruelle again inside the shop glaring fiercely at him.

"You rude little brat!" Auruelle was truly angry.

"So, it's really you. I thought I'm hallucinating things." He wasn't joking at all, he really thought he was imagining things.

"I will appear on every floor from now on. Each time you will stumble a checkpoint, where you could rest or get new equipment." Auruelle explained.

It's good to know that she will appear on every floor, with this there's no need for him to head back to the 15th floor to buy holy water.

"Do you have the ability to clone yourself?" Zhen Lun was curious as he got a similar skill too, which was his shadow clone but her was probably different from his.

He could only control the clones to attack and use skills. His clones have no ability to talk or interact with another human.

"Kind of..., anyway buy my stuff! I'm selling food too, are you hungry?" Auruelle eyes were sparkling every time she talked about selling her items.

"...I'm fine, I've stocked a few baskets of dumpling in my inventory already." Even though he didn't plan to stay at this place for a long time, he has prepared some food just in case he was hungry.

"Humph." Auruelle was immediately disappointed when she heard that. "I sensed a treasure on you but since you're not buying my items, I won't talk about it." Auruelle instantly lost her interest in Zhen Lun. Since he's not buying anything there's no need for her to be kind toward him anymore.

'Treasure?'

"What treasure?" His equipment were all hidden by his system. Even though he's wearing it, on the surface no one should be able to see it.

"I don't want to talk to you." Auruelle ignored him.

"...Let me see your food." Zhen Lun sighed. Understanding her intention, he complied with it. He's quite hungry anyway. There should be no problem with buying some food from her shop. He interested in what kind of food she's selling too.

"Here." Auruelle wasn't going to forgive him easily. She's going to leech some gold off from Zhen Lun first before she starts to talk.

[Auruelle Shop]

Beef Stew: Cost 20000 Gold

Roasted Fish: Cost 20000 Gold

Pork Chops: Cost 30000 Gold

Blueberry Pie: Cost 25000 Gold

Tomato Soup: Cost 25000 Gold

Fresh Ale: Cost 40000 Gold

"I'll take everything each." Zhen Lun said it without batting his eyelid. He has too many golds available in his inventory that spending this much won't really affect him.

"Uh... here." Auruelle was a bit shocked, she starting to believe that Zhen Lun doesn't care about gold.

A screen popped out asking Zhen Lun to confirm and do the trade.

Ding*

[Would you like to trade 160000 gold to Auruelle?] Yes/No

"Thank you for shopping here!"

Within the next second, she brought out a table and a chair, setting them outside her store. Afterward, she served all of the food that Zhen Lun ordered on the table. "There you go. You can eat now."

The foods look different compared to what he used to eat. They're all served on an unfamiliar looking wooden bowl and plate.

Zhen Lun sat down on the chair and started to dig in. The first thing he tried was the beef stew. He was curious as it smells different compared to what he has eaten before.

Without further ado, he tried the beef.

...

...

As expected It's not very tender. It has some flavor from the spices and herbs. They're unique but it tasted bad as he wasn't used to eating something that has impurities on it.

"Awful..." Zhen Lun spat out the food.

If he compared this beef stew to the food in his world, it was barely comparable to commoner foods served on the first floor of Ling Restaurant. (Note: The restaurant that Zhen Lun took Elder Ye and Xiao Xue)

"What?!" Auruelle was unconvinced by his words. 'Did I made a mistake when I cook the stew?'

Auruelle trying to recall the ingredients that she used but there's nothing wrong with it.

Next, he tried the others too, the roasted fish was very bad, not edible at all. The pork chops are okay.

Next, blueberry pie was good. The tomato soup was very nutritious, but not delicious and lastly the fresh ale, he didn't know that it was liquor. Either way, he's not going to try it since other foods wasn't that good either, he won't expect that much from it.

"Did you cooked them?" Zhen Lun didn't like the food at all, it even cost him so much gold. Truly a rip-off store.

"Yes, I did cook them." Auruelle grumpily answered. She wasn't happy with Zhen Lun's expression as he ate her food. 'How can he say that my food isn't delicious? everyone that tried them said they're very delicious.'

"...Next time, remind me to not buy food from you. I'll just stick with my dumpling."

"Dumpling, dumpling. Let me taste it!" Auruelle grits her teeth with anger. "If it's not delicious compared to my cooking I'm going to beat you up."

"Sure..."

Even though the dumpling he bought was a street food, it wasn't ordinary street food. He has known the chef for a long time as he has been selling dumplings for years. He was somewhat skillful when it came to making dumplings.

The special about his dumpling was that the chef injected some of his spiritual energy into while it was being steamed and lastly he also used special herbs for its filling too.

He was confident that the dumpling of his was much more delicious than her food.

"Here." Zhen Lun gave her one of his dumplings.

"Humph, this ugly looking ball. What's so special about it?" Auruelle was still furious, but after she took a bite, her expression was priceless.

'What is this?' Auruelle was speechless. When she bites into it, the meat's juices spread in her mouth. There's also an incredible smell of fresh herbs which hit her on the back of her throat.

Less than a second, the whole dumpling disappeared in her mouth.

She unconsciously ate all of them because it's too delicious. 'What's the warm feeling in my stomach after eating it?' Her mind felt refreshing after she ate the dumpling.

Of course, Zhen Lun knew the reason. It was the spiritual energy which was from the chef special technique and mostly the herbs it has properties to calm nerves.

"Can I have more?" Auruelle can't help but become shameless. She can't resist the temptation while Zhen Lun was having a whole basket of the delicious dumpling by himself.

"Sure, feel free." He nodded.

Zhen Lun still has many of them in his inventory. There's no problem for him to share his foods.

"Really?!?" She now understands why Zhen Lun said her cooking is awful. Compared to the dumplings, her cooking was indeed awful.

"Un, I still have more in my inventory."

"...I'll forgive you this time," Auruelle said as she nibbed at the dumpling slowly, enjoying her luxurious time with her beloved dumpling.