41 041 Condition 4 Fulfilled!
“When this happened in Treant Forest before, it was due to the appearance of a secret dungeon. What’s going on now?”
“Why is the log-out function failing again?”
“And why are these runic monsters going berserk?
“F**k, f**k, f**k… !”
Wu Wei couldn’t help but swear non-stop.
Even if he were a science major, this phenomenon would still be unexplainable – not to mention that Wu Wei was only a freshman! His teachers hadn’t even come anywhere close to this subject yet!
However, Wu Wei understood that right now, the most important thing wasn’t to find out the reason behind what was happening.
What was most important was to deal with the situation at hand.
Wu Wei was faced with two choices.
One, to go all out and forcefully break out of the Labyrinth of Caves.
Two, to hide somewhere and wait for the Academy’s rescue!
“The first choice is too reckless, but the second is too passive. I need to take the initiative but without disregarding safety!”
“Before that – time to deal with this.”
Wu Wei looked around him.
He was now surrounded by a group of crazed Mud Golems.
There were a lot of them – at least a dozen. There were even some Elite Mud Golems amongst them.
Fleeing was not an option here. The thought of ten to twenty Mud Golems using Earth Spike simultaneously sent shivers down his spine.
Imagining the scenario served to hasten Wu Wei’s actions.
“Yellow, use Yellow Turban Power and attack. This time, don’t hold back! Kill the Mud Golems with all your might!”
“Golem Doll, use Earth Transformation! Solidify the ground beneath our feet!”
The two summons under his command acted swiftly upon receiving orders.
Yellow’s body started to glow yellow as his STR increased to 3.5.
His increased physical prowess gave the illusion that even his speed had increased as he flew out like a bullet, storming into the group of Mud Golems.
However, the Mud Golems were no slouches, and they responded swiftly with Earth Spikes.
Yellow easily dodged the first few Earth Spikes but – as their number increased – soon faltered. One of the Earth Spikes pierced his foot.
Thankfully, Yellow was already precisely where he needed to be – amid enemies. Yellow was right in his element.
He began to let loose like an unstoppable killing machine.
Even the Elite Mud Golems could not survive a single slash from the buffed Yellow, and he made short work of over ten enemies in less than a minute.
“The loot!”
Wu Wei scrambled to gather the loot before turning tail to run as fast as he could.
Fortunately, he was able to get away in time. When the Mud Golem Leader completely respawned, Wu Wei was already 200 to 300m away – completely safe.
With loot in hand, Wu Wei left the Mud Golems’ territory.
Although Wu Wei originally intended to run back to the first floor, he began to encounter wave after wave of runic monsters on his way up.
To make things worse, these runic monsters were also in the same strange frenzied state as the earlier Mud Golems.
“It’s too dangerous to head back up like this. A slight misstep could be fatal!”
“Looks like I’ll have to hide for now.”
Wu Wei subconsciously glanced toward Golem Doll as an idea formed in his mind.
He began to scan the walls for a suitable hiding corner.
Next, he ordered Golem Doll to use Earth Manipulation to break down a wall section and step inside.
When he was inside, he then had the wall reformed!
“Phew!”
Finally safe, Wu Wei let out a sigh of relief.
However, he knew he was not yet out of the woods.
Although he was safe for now, he was essentially trapped.
Yet, this was the best idea Wu Wei could come up with, given the situation in the Labyrinth of Caves.
“No matter – I’ll bide my time and plan slowly!”
“It would be ill-advised to try and force my way out. If the plan is to flee, then I should take things slow and remain concealed.”
“However, I need to increase my strength before anything else!”
“Since I can’t go offline anyway, I might as well upgrade Yellow to Stage 1 now!”
“And Golem Doll too! I should have looted enough materials just now to upgrade him!”
Wu Wei summoned his Book of Runes and retrieved the drops he had picked up.
There were quite a number of them, amongst which were two Uncommon drops and thirteen Common drops.
Wu Wei opened the glowing balls of light one by one.
[You have opened an Uncommon loot and obtained 1x Elite Golem Heart!]
[You have opened an Uncommon loot and obtained 1x Elite Golem Heart!]
[You have opened a Common loot and obtained 1x Golem Heart!]
..
In total, Wu Wei obtained 2 Elite Golem Hearts, 8 Golem Hearts, 3 Earth Spike Runes, and 2 Earth Shield Runes.
Not too shabby at all – especially since the Earth Shield Runes were great for defense.
However, right now, Wu Wei was focused on the Golem Hearts.
“Golem Doll, eat up!”
After Golem Doll absorbed all 8 Golem Hearts, its progress rate for Condition 4 increased to [16/20].
Wu Wei still had two Elite Golem Hearts left. He retrieved them from his Book of Runes.
At this moment, Wu Wei was a little nervous – he did not know if using an Elite Golem Heart would work.
If it failed, this upgrade attempt would end in failure.
Thankfully, it worked.
When Wu Wei placed the light-green Golem Heart in Golem Doll’s hands, Golem Doll absorbed it.
Soon after, the progress bar for Condition 4 increased.
It immediately reached 20/20!
Wu Wei was ecstatic.
However, just as he was about to press ‘Upgrade,’ the progress bar for Condition 4 suddenly jumped to [21/20].
“It’s still going up?!”
Wu Wei quickly refrained from selecting ‘Upgrade.’ He passed the second Elite Golem Heart to Golem Doll and observed carefully. as he absorbed it
The progress bar increased to [22/20]!
Wu Wei silently calculated. 1 Elite Golem Heart was equivalent to about six normal Golem Hearts.
He decided to give the last Elite Golem Heart to Golem Doll.
When Golem Doll finished absorbing it, the progress bar for Condition 4 reached [28/20].
Wu Wei decided it was time to proceed with the upgrade.
Although part of him wanted to test out the limit more, the danger at hand afforded him no such luxury.
Wu Wei clicked on ‘Upgrade.’
Whoosh!
Golem Doll was unsummoned and returned to Wu Wei’s Book of Runes.
At the same time, a choice selection window appeared in front of Wu Wei.
[Your Second Core Rune has met the upgrade requirements. Please choose from one of two available upgrade paths:]
1. Mud Golem Leader
2. Golem Fairy