Shen Lu: I've Mutated into Multiple Game-Breaking Abilities

Chapter 45: The Golden Dome of Hot Winds

However. She remained extremely skeptical about whether such an item even existed on the Shen Lu. “Oh, right.” On the way up the mountain, Luo Yao suddenly had another thought: ‘If Sister Ya’s guess is correct, then that person might actually have the strength to defeat a Level 30 Demon Lord!’ Excitedly, she shared her speculation with Qin Mengya. However, Qin Mengya poured cold water on her enthusiasm: “How could a Gale Manipulator possibly stand a chance against a Level 30 Demon Lord?” “Even if that mysterious person could defeat a Gale Manipulator, they’d never stand a chance against a Demon Lord.” “You have to understand—even at the peak of my power right before I died, I would have suffered a crushing defeat if I’d faced a Level 30 Demon Lord alone.” Hearing Qin Mengya’s words, Luo Yao immediately calmed down. That’s right. A Demon Lord that takes thousands of people several hours to defeat—how could just one or two players possibly take it down so easily? Her spirits sank once more. Seeing this, Qin Mengya rolled her eyes in exasperation. She silently berated herself for speaking out of turn. With no other choice, she could only offer comfort once more: “There’s no point in worrying about it now. We’d better focus on finding that guy first.” “To reach the third stage on the third day—I don’t know what method he or they used.” “But they’ve certainly made history.” “Maybe they really do have a chance of defeating the Demon Lord.” That last sentence was purely meant as a word of comfort from Qin Mengya. As a player who had once been Level 72 and had fought the Demon Lord twice, she knew full well that such an enemy was absolutely not something one or two players could handle. “Ah, really? Great!” Luo Yao had complete faith in her idol’s words. Although she knew the other person might just be trying to comfort her, a glimmer of hope did indeed flicker in her heart. In any case. She needed to find that person first! Questions like how strong they were or whether they’d help her could wait until she found them! With that resolve firmly in her heart, she quickened her pace. Before long, she followed the crowd up to the mountaintop. [Current Area: Golden Peak of Hot Winds (Main Path, Stage 3)] [Monster Information: Fiery Skeleton Soldiers (Lv15–Lv20), Fiery Lord (Lv20, Boss)] Right away, the information for Stage 3 appeared before the group. This stage is called the Golden Summit of Hot Winds. True to its name—scorching hot winds blow here constantly, and the exposed rocky ground glows golden in the sunlight; from a distance, it looks like a landscape paved with gold. There was no grass or trees on the mountaintop, nor any rocks or clumps of soil. It was simply a rugged, uneven rocky surface. Originally, there should have been thousands of skeleton soldiers—swords in their left hands, shields in their right—but now there were only about a hundred. “Huh!? There are actually still monsters here!?” As soon as they spotted a few Frenzied Flame Skeleton Soldiers still roaming several hundred meters away, the players who had reached the mountaintop exchanged bewildered glances. According to many people’s assumptions there would either be a large number of monsters here, or none at all. The fact that only about a hundred remained came as a surprise to many. They scanned the area carefully and found that, aside from those hundred or so Skeleton Soldiers, there was nothing else on the entire Hot Wind Golden Peak. No Boss—the Fiery Flame Lord. Nor was there any sign of other players. “That’s strange. Wasn’t he just casting Meteor here a moment ago? Why can’t we see him now that we’re up here?” “Could he have used a teleportation item to leave?” “It’s more likely he just returned to his original location.” “So did we come all this way for nothing?” The players exchanged comments back and forth, each deeply disappointed at not seeing that mysterious powerhouse. However, just as they were feeling disheartened the Fiery Skeleton Soldiers in the distance spotted them! Cawing loudly, they took long strides on their spindly bony legs and leaped toward the group. The moment their bony feet touched the ground, they immediately bounced back up, leaping four or five meters forward. Their arms swung wildly, from behind their waists all the way up to the tops of their heads. The two-meter-tall gray skeletons, combined with those exaggerated movements, looked rather creepy. “Oh no! The skeleton soldiers have spotted us—retreat, retreat!!” “If we can’t outrun them, why not just return to camp right here?” “If you don’t want to spin today’s roulette, go back. We’re not even level 10 yet anyway—it’s no big deal if we die!” While many began to retreat, some charged toward the skeletons with exhilaration. “Haha! We don’t have a death penalty anyway, so let the skeleton soldiers send me back to camp!” a middle-aged man with a red spiky hairstyle laughed out loud as he charged forward. “There are so many of us—maybe we can even kill a few,” someone shouted, conjuring a fireball from his hands as he ran. “You guys retreat—we’ll hold them off!” A handsome, blond-haired teenager burst out of the crowd. Immediately, more people were swept up in the fervor and charged forward as well. As newbies, they weren’t afraid of death. They acted entirely on a whim. “Aren’t you going to give it a try?” Qin Mengya, the spirit figure, asked Luo Yao. “Hmm...” She pondered for a moment, but ultimately shook her head. “There are too many of them. Even if we manage to kill one, I won’t get any experience points.” Suppose a Level 10 monster is killed by a Level 5 player and a Level 10 player working together. the Level 5 player would gain (6/2 = 3) experience points. The Level 10 player, in theory, would receive (1/2 = 0. 5) experience points. The reason this is “in theory” is because Shen Lu has a rule that “experience is rounded down.” 0. 5 experience points are treated as 0 points. Therefore. The Level 10 player would actually receive 0 experience points. When too many people join forces to defeat a monster, almost no one receives any experience. That is why Luo Yao had no intention of joining the fight. Now she stood alone on the outskirts of the crowd, letting the wind ruffle her beautiful hair. Her distant gaze seemed to pierce through the crowd in the distance, fixated on a place even farther away. A hint of melancholy inadvertently flitted across her pretty face. “You have absorbed 77 points of Excitement from Zhang Yuan.” “You have absorbed 40 points of Curiosity from Alhan.” “You have absorbed 91 points of Excitement from Wang Tianze.” “You have absorbed...” Ling Yi strolled leisurely through the crowd, as if sightseeing. He watched everyone fight with great interest while absorbing their emotional values. He was in a very good mood. Two hours ago, he had only intended to test the Ice Emperor’s strength in the second stage. Little did he know that the Ice Emperor was so powerful—he wiped out all the monsters in the second stage, including the Boss, without much effort. Later, when they reached the third stage, the Ice Emperor clearly struggled much more. He only managed to defeat the third stage’s Boss, the Flame Lord, with the help of his [Starfall] skill. The battles in those two stages gave him a rough idea of the Ice Emperor’s strength—she was a notch above other boss monsters of the same level. She clearly held the upper hand but couldn’t completely overwhelm her opponent. He could defeat her, but it would take time. Her strength was roughly what he had originally anticipated. It was just a pity that, even after watching her in action so many times, Ling Yi still didn’t fully understand what abilities she possessed. All he knew was that she had various ice-based skills, could fly, and was very fast. As for the exact effects of those skills, he was completely in the dark.