While here in Grego City, the core members of Umbra looked around to take in the sight of this unique civilization. They had certainly seen a lot in their adventures and had done great things, but they were still slightly awed by what was before them.
However, none of the bystanders dared to approach them. After all, each core member had transitioned into at least a Legendary Class, so their auras were horrifying individually, but when standing together, it became like an oppressive sea.
It couldn't be helped, as none of the core members were old monsters who were used to unlimited power, so they had no skill in covering their auras up. Only Loving Aunt could do so with ease thanks to her background.
At least some, like Kiran, Cobra, and Sublime Notion could partially cover up their auras. Noobs like Warm Spring, Silent Walker, and Happy Saint had it pretty much at full blast.
Let's not even mention Rina, who had a Divine Class with a Divine aura.
Riveting Night hadn't bothered to teach them how to hold back. She wasn't the type to tell them to behave, as it was their right to oppress the weak.
Anyone could tell that Umbra was a high-profile guild, and Draco as well as Riveting Night were already extremely high-profile. They feared little beneath the heavens and respected no one on earth.
They were the bad guys, the type who used their fame to bully and oppress others unfairly, and Riveting Night wasn't going to oppose that. If others did not like it, they had two options, either bow and lick the boots of Umbra for morsels or try and muster a counter-attack to have their lives taken away.
There was no in-between.
Sublime Notion walked beside Riveting Night as lazily asked: "Oi, Queen of Bondage, where are you taking us?"
Riveting Night turned a harsh glare to Sublime Notion, but the evil loli was not fazed since she had done no wrong like before. After reaching Rank 2 ahead of Riveting Night, her courage had swelled greatly.
"Hmph, Draco is not here to protect you, so tread lightly cow tits!" Riveting Night replied with a hint of mocking.
Sublime Notions face twisted. Ever since they were teens, Riveting Night hated being teased for her choice of attire by Sublime and Sublime hated being called cow tits by Riveting Night.
If others were to call her that, Sublime would just laugh it off. However, coming from the mouth of Riveting Night, it was like a Divine taunt skill.
It was similar to the logic as to how only a sibling could say something normal, but it would infuriate you to the high heavens specifically because it came from their mouth.
"We are going to enter a Continental Dungeon. This will serve as a good challenge for you bunch of freaks." Riveting Night explained lightly, relishing in Sublime's anger.
When the others heard this, their faces greatly changed. A Continental Dungeon! Such dungeons were above normal Area Dungeons and below the almighty World Dungeons.
In Area Dungeons, one could enter at different Ranks up to a certain limit, and choose between three modes. The traditional mode, the Neo-modern mode, and the survival mode.
Draco had once shocked the world through the survival mode a great while back.
Continental Dungeons though, were different. They were not like Area Dungeons, which had Rank caps and options nor like Legendary and Divine Dungeons, which were open-instanced dungeons with unique storylines.
Continental Dungeons were just one big murderfest. Once you entered, you would be sieged by a neverending wave of enemies, starting from Rank 1 Private Rank monsters going all the way up until Rank 7 General Rank monsters.
How does one complete such a dungeon? Well, the truth was that it was impossible to complete. Putting aside the endless siege, the ever-increasing power of enemies could stop all challengers.
The only way to 'complete' it was to kill! Kill until you could kill no more, and die a glorious death! This was vastly different from the survival mode in Area Dungeons for three major reasons.
The first was the fact that in Area Dungeons, the survival mode was wave by wave. Every 4th wave was a Captain Rank monster, and the difficulty increased with each round, almost doubling compared to the one before.
However, Continent Dungeons were like standing at the spawn point for monsters and those spawn points were on overdrive.
The second was the Area Dungeons were limited by Rank and level. For example, The Nightingale's Cry dungeon that Draco had conquered had been limited to Rank 1 foes. No matter how many rounds he could last, not a single Rank 2 monster would show its face.
As for Continental Dungeons, there was no such limit in place. One moment you could be beating a Rank 1 monster as if he was your grandson, and the next you could be beaten by a Rank 4 one like it was your ancestor.
The third was that the survival mode gave out its rewards at the end of the dungeon just like the other two modes. If you slaughtered 10,000 monsters, you would not gain anything except depleted stamina during the battle, but once you came out? Well, Draco's own circ.u.mstances back then revealed the obvious answer.
On the other hand, Continental Dungeons were just like fighting in a normal dungeon or in a Field Zone. Every kill netted the party experience, so it would be totally possible to kill until the whole party would be ready to Rank up once more.
However, that was easier said than done. Continental Dungeons sounded like the perfect solution to the problem the top players of Hellscape, Darkrow, Kamisuo, and Desecrators had faced in the previous timeline, didn't they?
As Rank 6 players, surely they could gather many members and slaughter enough monsters to Rank up? Even if it was not possible in one day, 1 month of continuous attempts should be enough, right?
Heck, even the Rank 7 powers should be abusing such a method to reach the level cap and move onto other words. Richmond was merely 3 levels away from the cap, so what was he doing wasting so much time on being an old fart?
Well, the Continental Dungeons had two main limitations. The first was that the experience earned for killing a monster in there was only 30% of what one would get in any other situation.
This was not just a meta thing, but because the monsters formed in Continental Dungeons were not real. They were a sort of magical clone of actual monsters that could be replicated endlessly with enough resources.
The second limitation was that… well…
How to say this…
Have you ever heard of a gangbang?
Well, the fights in Continental Dungeons were much worse. The monsters came endlessly, even if Rina used Ultimate Supernova or all the members used the Area Zone skills, it would only clear out one batch at a time.
This was a test of endurance, using skills with 1-3 days cooldown that could clear out whole zones was definitely cool, but very foolish. It would boil down to how they were able to use their techniques and basic skills, as well as auto-attacks to fight.
This was why Riveting Night opted for going there. It would truly test their Legendary Classes and hone their abilities. One could not doubt that the classes were good and that the core members of Umbra possessed perfect compatibility with them, but as for efficiency and skill?
They needed to hone that through battle.
Riveting Night headed to the City Hall of Grego City and entered with the members of Umbra in tow. Her steps were light and her poise was stoic, but that was not what the onlookers noticed.
No, it was the posse of monsters in human flesh that were constantly releasing such horrifying auras that they dared not come close to them at all. Some auras were just suppressive and not directly harmful, but the auras of Jada and Jade were particularly hard to deal with.
Jada radiated intense heat while Jade was like stepping into a snowstorm. All parties couldn't help but feel their bodies about to shatter under the battering of the two different temperatures.
Well, they were lucky Loving Aunt was so skilled in terms of aura. If she released hers, it was likely that they would be poisoned to death. Then again, it wasn't only Jada and Jade, Silent Walker and Dreary Traveler were also causing harm.
Silent Walker's darkness threatened to swallow the light of every onlooker's soul while Dreary Traveler's aura inflicted everyone with the feeling of death, their bodies beginning to wither and decay.
Just when it was about to become unbearable for onlookers, Warm Spring's aura washed over them, alleviating their pains and curing their illnesses. Under her pure and unbridled aura, they were taking more gains than losses in this affair.
Riveting Night ignored all other parties and directly walked into the office of the Minor Duke presiding over this city. She didn't even stop to greet or to knock, and the lord who was meeting another guest was extremely displeased.
However, once he and his guest saw the intruders, they were stunned by their auras. Did a bunch of crown princes and princesses of Divine Empires come here or what?
Riveting Night didn't want to waste time with this insignificant character, so she didn't even bother to observe his face or looks. "We are here to enter the Land of Gears Dungeon. Initiate the procedure this instant."
While she said this, she took out her Divine Herald's badge. With it, her reputation was raised to Empress level, on the same level as the Divine Empire's ruler, how could this mere Minor Duke act tough?
"Y-Yes, please wait a moment."
Not just the Minor Duke, but even his noble guest couldn't sit still. He dared not complain even though he had been cut in line while he watched the Minor Duke rush about to fulfill the procures while roaring at the workers for wasting time.
These poor workers felt extremely wronged, as just the fact that the Minor Duke himself was seeing to this matter told them that it was extremely important, so they were working their hardest to get things done. How much faster did he want them to go?
After getting everything done, he quickly handed the permit over to Riveting Night and did all but shoo her from the City Hall. He made no attempts to get her to stay, clearly wanting this group of powerhouses to simply disappear as quickly as possible.
Riveting Night smirked within her hood and obliged, leaving the City Hall immediately, making the Minor Duke sigh with relief. He quickly got back to his noble guest, and they both pretended as if the previous matter never happened.
Riveting Night brought the members of Umbra to a strange gateway behind the City Hall. It was similar to the one Draco used to enter the Divine Treasury, but far smaller, not even 20% of the other one.
The gateway was heavily guarded by Rank 4 and 5 entities, and they quickly halted and inspected Umbra's group when they arrived. Even though the auras of Legendary Classes were great, it was but a fart in front of these high Ranked warriors.
In fact, it was the core members of Umbra who suffered under this presence, so they didn't dare to misbehave. While their permit was being checked by the guards, Riveting Night used this time to check the details of the system announcement as well as the new skills that core members had acquired when they Ranked up.
In the system announcement, Umbra had been awarded a special title, an accolade dictating that they were now a Legendary Guild. Riveting Night was naturally curious as to what this title entailed since she had not seen anything like this in the previous timeline.
｢Guild of Legends – Special Rank (Umbra only)
All reputations with NPC factions are set at admiration level by default. All members of Umbra are able to enjoy up to 30% discounts in all trades for goods or services worldwide.
All members of Umbra are 10% stronger in all combat encounters.｣