Why Can You Ignore Cooldown Time

"How old are you?"

Hearing a familiar voice, Lin Moyu opened his eyes and saw Xia Xue standing before him. Her usually delicate face had a touch of dust, and traces of elemental energy still flickered around her. She had clearly just finished a battle, fresh from a dungeon raid.

Xia Xue glared at him with visible frustration. "Level 14," Lin Moyu responded calmly.

"What!" Xia Xue practically screamed, her eyes wide in disbelief. "How could you level up so fast?"

She had teamed up with others and cleared the Xihai Mine dungeon twice on normal difficulty, going from level 10 to level 11. Even though she was exhausted from the effort, she found it impossible to believe that Lin Moyu had already reached level 14. No matter how strong he was, it shouldn't have been possible to progress that quickly.

Xia Xue, knowing Lin Moyu well, also understood that he never lied about these things. If he said he was level 14, then he was level 14. Her frustration deepened. In her mind, the gap between them should have been shrinking, but instead, it had widened. On the first day in the novice dungeon, she was level 5 and he was level 7—just a two-level difference. Now, she was level 11, and he was level 14. The gap had grown, not closed.

"I won't admit defeat," Xia Xue muttered, clenching her fists as she turned on her heel and stormed off.

Lin Moyu watched her go, unsure of what to say. He had always been ahead of her—before their job changes, he'd consistently ranked first in all subjects while Xia Xue trailed as the eternal second. After their career changes, his levels had skyrocketed again, and Xia Xue had been chasing his shadow ever since. She had always been competitive, and it seemed that would never change. But no matter how hard she tried, she could never surpass him.

Moments later, Lin Moyu noticed something odd. Xia Xue and her team were re-entering the dungeon.

"Strange," he muttered to himself. "Didn't she just come out? How is she going back in so quickly?"

Dungeons always had a cooldown period, whether it was normal or nightmare difficulty. He knew that after clearing a dungeon on nightmare difficulty, it was impossible to enter again for at least 12 hours—even on normal difficulty. Yet, here was Xia Xue, back inside mere minutes after she had exited, still carrying the breath of the Goblin King from her previous fight.

Suspicious, Lin Moyu had his skeleton warriors keep watch while he meditated. Two hours passed before Xia Xue reappeared at the dungeon entrance, looking even more exhausted. Despite her fatigue, she glanced in his direction, as if silently challenging him. Then, shockingly, she found another group and entered the dungeon again within just ten minutes. Lin Moyu observed closely, noticing a faint glimmer of light envelop her body just before she entered.

"A prop," he thought. "That must be how she's bypassing the cooldown."

He made a mental note to ask her about it later, then returned to his meditation. As his mental power gradually recovered, he reflected on how his profession as a mage had given him incredible mental strength. His basic mental power was now 700, far exceeding his other attributes, though it came at the cost of his physical abilities. Every profession had its strengths and weaknesses, and Lin Moyu accepted his.

Hours later, the sound of heavy footsteps broke his concentration. Xia Xue, utterly exhausted, collapsed beside him. Despite her weariness, she wasn't afraid of the skeleton warriors surrounding him—they had been classmates for years, after all.

"I'm exhausted," she muttered, lying flat on the ground, not caring about appearances.

After catching her breath, Xia Xue smirked, "I'm level 12 now. I'll catch up to you soon."

Lin Moyu doubted it. At level 12, she'd need to clear several normal-level dungeons just to reach level 13. Catching up would be no easy task, especially at the pace he was progressing. Still, he couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you tired?"

"Of course I'm tired!" Xia Xue snapped. "Miss Ben can't even lift a finger right now!"

"Why?"

Her eyes narrowed, her anger bubbling up again. "Why? You seriously have the nerve to ask why? I've been chasing after you for years, trying to surpass you. Do you have any idea what that's like?"

Lin Moyu hadn't realized just how deep her resentment ran. It wasn't just about their current levels—this had been brewing for a long time. Xia Xue had always been second best to him, and it clearly grated on her.

She sighed, gazing up at the sky. "It's more than that. I need to get into Xiajing Academy. You should understand that."

To enter Xiajing Academy, a minimum of level 14 was required, though level 15 was safer. With only two days left before the entrance exam, Lin Moyu calculated that Xia Xue might reach level 14, but level 15 seemed unlikely. Unless...

"You should try the nightmare difficulty dungeons," he suggested. "It'll help you level up faster."

Xia Xue rolled her eyes. "Are you joking? You think I can just walk into an elite team? They want professionals at level 16 or 17. No one's going to take a level 12 like me."

She glanced at the elite teams gathering at the dungeon entrance. Most teams required high-level professionals with excellent gear, especially for offensive roles like hers. Healers, on the other hand, had slightly more lenient requirements.

"That's why," she continued, "I'm sticking with normal-level dungeons. If I push myself, I can probably reach level 14, maybe even 15 if I'm lucky."

Lin Moyu, now more curious than ever, finally asked, "How are you able to bypass the dungeon cooldown?"