Demon Cultivator in Abyssal Era

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Nightmare Instance

The mechanical voice sounded in Chu Xiu’s ear, and the scene around him began to become illusory, shattering like a mirror. When he came back to his senses, he was already in the Awakening Space.

Chu Xiu thoughtfully touched his chin.

The difficulty of the dungeon wasn’t high; for him, it was utterly unchallenging.

However, there were a lot of corpse demons that needed to be killed one by one, leaving none behind, which took him some effort.

This resulted in him completing the dungeon in about fifteen minutes.

As for the rewards, apart from the basic rewards for completing the dungeon task, nothing else dropped. The drop rate was miserably low.

In terms of experience, it increased by about 9 points, slightly better than he expected.

He is now 877 points away from leveling up, needing to clear the dungeon 98 times more to level up, which would take nearly twenty-five hours if done continuously.

Acceptable!

Of course, he couldn’t keep grinding non-stop. Entering the dungeon took a huge toll on both physical strength and mentality, and he wouldn’t force himself to challenge it when not in good condition.

After all, this wasn’t a game. Life was the one thing he couldn’t afford to lose.

But even with a conservative estimate, a week would be enough.

Moreover, as his skill level rises, the speed would increase!

He wasn’t afraid of fatigue. For a demon cultivator, being ruthless not only to others but also to oneself was nothing.

Chu Xiu was mainly concerned about the randomness of the dungeons.

Because each time a dungeon is created, the monsters and spawn points are randomized.

Theoretically, if you’re extremely unlucky, it’s possible for even warrior tier or fierce tier monsters to appear in a normally difficult dungeon!

Of course, the probability of this is so small that it can almost be ignored, but if the attempts are numerous, mishaps are bound to happen.

The group at Chu Xiu’s school gate that led people into dungeons, not many could live past forty.

Shaking his head, he didn’t dwell on it any longer, and immediately started a new dungeon.

This time, he chose the [Hard] difficulty.

At hard difficulty, the attributes of the corpse demons were already similar to those in reality, and the time switched from day to night, further enhancing the strength of these corpse demons and slightly increasing their numbers.

But for Chu Xiu, it was still a massacre.

In the end, it took twenty minutes to clear, earning 2 Cause and Effect Points and 13 Professional Experience.

The efficiency improved a bit, but not by much.

At this time, Chu Xiu was a bit tired. He returned to reality to rest for half an hour, then continued to challenge the higher difficulty [Nightmare] dungeon.

At this difficulty, the constitution of the corpse demons was even increased by about twenty percent, and their numbers doubled!

This time, Chu Xiu got a real sense of the corpse tide he had no chance to challenge in reality.

As soon as he entered the parking lot, dozens of corpse demons rushed at him from all directions, swarming everywhere.

These simulated corpse demons knew no fear and showed no retreat, making them even more difficult to deal with than those in reality!

Although they couldn’t hurt Chu Xiu due to his +7 Energy Absorption Heavy Armor with Tough Skin trait, honestly, even if dozens of cockroaches jumped at you, it would be terrifying.

Moreover, Chu Xiu noticed there were elites mixed in among them!

This made him cautious, deciding to carefully lure out and clear monsters layer by layer, rather than recklessly charging through as he did with the previous difficulties.

With the help of the [Silent Step Boots], he could quickly disengage after killing monsters. Although it took more time, he didn’t encounter any danger.

Finally reaching the bottom level, the boss at the end was shockingly the Level 9 elite 008 Type Corpse Ghost he had defeated before!

With an additional 20% increase in constitution, this creature could now match an elite Yin Ghost in strength, although still no match for Chu Xiu.

But given the circle of minions surrounding it, Chu Xiu wasn’t careless. He split the challenge into several phases, using his high mobility to conduct guerrilla tactics, wearing them down until most minions were dealt with, then took down the elite Yin Ghost in one strike.

The final reward was 4 Cause and Effect Points, 33 experience points, and luck was on his side as a [Standard] quality equipment dropped.

However, the repeated luring of monsters consumed a significant amount of time, making the dungeon completion time extend to a whole hour and forty-five minutes, resulting in less efficiency.

”[Nightmare] difficulty dungeons typically require a full team of combat professions all at C-level or above, equipped with [Fine] quality equipment, with all team members at Level 9 to even qualify for the challenge.”

”Moreover, the chance of things going wrong is not low! If I’m not mistaken, those group led dungeons are likely centered on [Ordinary] and [Hard] difficulties.”

”To consistently clear [Nightmare], a full B-level combat profession team is necessary!”

Even Chu Xiu could sense a slight taste of danger, such as possibly encountering several elite-level monsters in the corpse demon group, or worse, the boss at the end becoming a warrior tier, which would spell trouble for him.

”Although these situations are very unlikely, they still have to be considered, and clearing a [Nightmare] dungeon consumes too much.”

With so many corpse demons swarming, along with elites mixed in, injuries are unavoidable. Although they’re just bruises and scrapes, accumulated over time, they will affect his leveling speed.

For Chu Xiu, he desired a flawless dungeon clearance.

So, he decided it was better to focus on leveling through [Hard] difficulty dungeons.

Once he has raised several Yin Ghosts, tackling [Nightmare] will come in due time.

With his decision made, Chu Xiu stretched his slightly sore shoulders, let out a long breath, and returned to reality.

As soon as he returned to his room, he heard a ”bang bang” knocking on the door, followed by Li Xiu shouting outside: ”Chu Xiu! Chu Xiu!”

Chu Xiu was startled. When mom calls your full name, it usually means trouble.

He hurriedly opened the door: ”Mom, what’s up?”

Outside, Li Xiu was glaring at him angrily, with a tall figure standing behind her.

”Ah Chu.” Zhang Qingshan greeted with a smile.

”It’s Qingshan. Come in.” Chu Xiu smiled, trying to pass it off.

But Li Xiu wouldn’t let him off, angrily questioning, ”What were you doing inside? Didn’t answer after so much knocking?”

Chu Xiu laughed it off: ”Mom, I was too tired and just fell asleep.”

”Nonsense! Were you in the dungeons again?”

”No way, I just went into the Awakening Space for a look. Oh, mom, you can be completely at ease. I won’t take risks.”

Li Xiu stared at Chu Xiu for a long moment before sighing: ”Forget it, I can’t control you young people. Qingshan, you try persuading him. A support profession like him shouldn’t imagine getting into such things.”

”Sure, Auntie.” Zhang Qingshan promised wholeheartedly.

Li Xiu shook her head and left, Zhang Qingshan closed the door, smiling: ”You’ve been dungeon diving, haven’t you? Just came back and already dived again, that eager?”

Chu Xiu didn’t confirm nor deny.

Zhang Qingshan continued: ”Why didn’t you call me? If the two of us dive together, we could guarantee more safety for each other.”

”I didn’t want to slow down your progress,” Chu Xiu smiled, ”Anyway, what brings you here at this hour?”

”What do you think? Of course, to talk about exploring the Abyss going forward,” Zhang Qingshan waved his hand, ”Initially, I thought you might give up on entering the Abyss again, but now it seems you won’t give in.”

Chu Xiu laughed. Having grown up together, he knew Zhang Qingshan all too well. This guy was very loyal to friends, and his visit this time was likely to invite him for leveling up.

However, in a place like the Abyss, it was already tough to ensure one’s own safety. Was he even qualified?

”Qingshan.”

Chu Xiu looked up:

”What talent and profession did you awaken?”