Jiang Fei and Smart Tomato talked for a bit. Finally, they agreed on three thousand gold coins. That was nearly all of Jiang Fei’s money.
Nevertheless, he was not bothered about it. If he wanted money, he only needed to craft a few pieces of equipment and sell them in the city. Lots of gold coins would come his way!
After they signed the agreement, Smart Tomato brought Jiang Fei through a winding path and into a swampy area where few traveled.
Although there were monsters in the vicinity, it was ill-suited for training. The monsters were few but powerful. Most importantly, these monsters were either crocodiles or fish types. They only dropped some cooking ingredients at most. One would have to sacrifice money for potions to train here, and even then, the experience points would hardly be worth it.
As they progressed along a small, barely visible path next to the swamp, Jiang Fei felt something was amiss. Why did Smart Tomato bring him to such a miserable swamp? This place was so barren that birds would not even poop here. He actually discovered a Unknown Dungeon here!
“Hehe! Brother Fei, you do not understand the struggles of us insignificant nobodies…”
When Jiang Fei asked, Smart Tomato finally started speaking.
Smart Tomato relied on playing games to feed his family. However, conventional ways of earning gold would not suffice. There was a saying that one would not get rich without the aid of external wealth. Therefore, he had paid extra attention to treasure chests in the wilderness. However, the treasure chests appeared in random locations. Most of the treasure chests in popular training grounds would have already been discovered by other players. He would have no chance. Hence, Smart Tomato had shifted his attention to places where other players would not go.
“How far away is it?” After walking for nearly an hour, Jiang Fei had to ask.
“It is right in front, in the middle of the swamp!” Smart Tomato answered.
After some time, Jiang Fei saw the entrance to the Unknown Dungeon. It was a vast underground cave. The animus, sinister entrance of the cave sent chills running down his spine.
“Once you jump in from here, you will enter the Unknown Dungeon!” Smart Tomato said.
“Have you been down there?” Jiang Fei asked.
“Yes! Well, I died upon entry!” Smart Tomato said and laughed sheepishly.
“Alright!” Jiang Fei nodded and walked to the side of the entrance.
“Ding! You are about to enter a Level 25 Solo Secret Dungeon – Swamp Crypt. Can you please confirm?”
After the notification sound rang and Jiang Fei had confirmed the validity of the Unknown Dungeon, the gold coins were automatically transferred by the system into Smart Tomato’s backpack.
“That’s it. You can go back now!”
Jiang Fei nodded his head. After all, the Solo Secret Dungeon would not allow a two-man show.
“Yes! Brother Fei, be extra careful!”
Smart Tomato had already gotten the money. He had no reason to stay any longer. He immediately tore a Return Scroll apart.
“Come on! Let’s see what goodies you have!” Jiang Fei mumbled to himself and leaped into the dark underground cave!
*Swipe*
As a white light flashed before his eyes, his vision refreshed and he found himself in the Unknown Dungeon!
*Rustling*
Indeed, as Smart Tomato had said, a group of small monsters had surrounded him before he could even react. The little critters were already piling up on him before he could even identify them.
-1
-1
-1
…
The entire place became flooded with numbers. No less than two hundred little monsters were attacking Jiang Fei at a time. It was no wonder that Smart Tomato was instantly killed!
-213
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…
One should not underestimate Jiang Fei. While they barely itched, his passive damage reflect was the opposite!
*Cries*
Something unexpected had happened. After a chain of painful outcries, the little monsters were all killed by the reflect damage.
“The heck are these creatures. So little health!?”
Jiang Fei was stunned. He gave it some thought. The corpses around him did not appear to be very large. They were only about the size of a fist. Red ants!
If these ants moved individually, players would not even take notice of them. However, the tightly grouped corpses had surrounded him in a single layer. It was difficult not to notice a living mass limbs all bunched up together.
“F*cking devs… Thank goodness I am not claustrophobic!” Jiang Fei mumbled to himself. He felt his hairs standing up on end.
These ants were awful. Not only did they not drop anything, each of them gave minimal Experience points. For players of Jiang Fei’s level, killing hundreds of these monsters yielded nearly no experience!
As he walked on, Jiang Fei was finally able to observe the status of the ants.
Swamp Worker Ant (Beast, Normal)
Level: 22
Health Points: 100
Attack Power: 225
Skills: None
Remarks: They are ranked at the bottom among the Swamp Ant group. Their main responsibility is to build the nest and gather food. Their battle power is meager. However, they always move in groups.
“You kidding me… 100 Health Points at Level 22? That explains the shit experience!” Jiang Fei groaned after taking a look at the monsters. After all, most Level 22 monsters would have Health Points that exceeded the thousands. 100 Health Points was like a free gift!
However, these ants usually came in by the hundreds. Therefore, a player would require AOE attack skills to overcome these ants!
Even so, this was Jiang Fei. His defense was nigh impenetrable. A single reflect damage would end the battle. Jiang Fei would not even need to lift his arms up!
Therefore, Jiang Fei walked nonchalantly through the group of ants. When they discovered him, the ants immediately started attacking him. In the Unknown Dungeon, the Black Dragon Scale had no power. The monsters would still attack him relentlessly!
-1
-1
-1
…
-213
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…
After that most inequivalent exchange, Jiang Fei stepped into a new section of the dungeon. A stream of ant corpses lay behind him.
About twenty minutes later, Jiang Fei killed nearly thirty waves of Swamp Worker Ants. The second enemy variant finally showed up.
Swamp Military Ant (Beast, Elite)
Level: 25
Health Points: 4400
Attack Power: 525
Skills: None
Remarks: They are the Swamp Ant group’s main battle strength. Although they are still relatively weak, their strength lies in their numbers!
After observing the attributes of the Swamp Military Ants, Jiang Fei discovered that these ants were in fact, much weaker than other races of monsters. Not only did they have very little Health Points, their Attack Power was also much lower. However, as mentioned in the Remarks, these ants would never strike alone. A single wave would contain at least 35 ants! This was a Solo Secret Dungeon, after all. The challenge of fighting 35 Elite monsters alone was not going to be an easy feat!