Chapter 170 – Max Level
This also meant that the players in West Lin Town had pretty much been harvested. Seeing all those zeros stacked behind his experience points on the game panel, Zhou Ning felt the unfiltered joy of cheating his way through a game.
Meanwhile, the recorded livestream of the five-man team led by Qingbai Wild Sake as they pioneered the dungeon had started making waves on the forums. Zhou Ning took some time to peek at it. Just as he expected, their first attempt ended in a total wipe right on the first wave of mobs. But on their second run, they got a lot smarter and came fully stocked with healing potions, Bull Power Potions, and Stone Shield Potions.
Their thorough preparation was like equipping the perfect Pokémon at the perfect moment. By chugging healing potions like water, they pushed through with barely a hitch, cutting down several waves of monsters in a row and even made it all the way to the first dungeon boss—a water elemental called Viscous Fallout.
This water elemental had poisonous attacks and contagion skills, and it packed a punch. It wasn't long before the five-man team was wiped out again, utterly bewildered.
Still, they didn't walk away empty-handed. Besides the massive XP haul, one of the kobolds they cleared dropped a rare firearm with +3 Agility. In the end, Haicheng spent 20 Veckta to secure it, which instantly sparked a frenzy among the players.
They realized that not only did the dungeon have a full-fledged backstory, it actually dropped gear too!
Players who had been on the fence couldn't sit still anymore. Many eager to tackle the dungeon scrambled to buy the Starry Sky Guild's Recommendation Letter. As a result, the ten test-run letters put up that afternoon sold out entirely in just a few hours.
Zhou Ning realized he had underestimated players' spending power.
Those who managed to get a Dungeon Summoning Stone started recruiting teammates to form parties. Since one stone allowed five players to run the dungeon three times, pooling together 100 Vecktas for three runs was a bargain. Quite a few teams were formed. But just like the plots of most Milan Kundera novels—gorgeous openings followed by tragic endings—players charged in full of enthusiasm, only to come out defeated and dejected.
To clear the dungeon, players needed to rescue Gnomeregan. But the less skilled ones couldn't even get past the first mob wave. The slightly stronger ones still got stuck at Viscous Fallout, getting wrecked into oblivion. Smarter players, though, chose to bypass Viscous Fallout altogether and went straight to farming mobs in the back, completing Side Quest 1: kill 50 kobolds to earn 8,000 XP for free. This strategy was dubbed the "Gnomeregan Kobold Party."
But most players weren't satisfied with spending so much just to farm regular mobs. They spent the entire evening furiously grinding the dungeon, getting stomped into a euphoric kind of despair.
"Damn it! That's the third time I've been blasted to death by the water elemental—this thing is toxic!"
"No sh*t, it literally uses poison attacks. Of course it's toxic."
Players, frustrated and tilted, flooded the forums with complaints about the dungeon's difficulty. Some pro players took notice too. Amid the salt, a few offered tips: "Based on the footage, the water elemental's deadliest output is poison damage. If you can get a Paladin to activate a resistance aura, you might just be able to kill Viscous Fallout."
Reading that, Zhou Ning blinked. Antidote Potions were a recipe unlocked through Intermediate Alchemy—something he had happened to master a few days ago while researching formulas. Now was the perfect time to make some and sell them to players, helping them clear Viscous Fallout.
If he remembered correctly, Gnomeregan had four bosses: Viscous Fallout, the kobold Grubbis, the Electro-Executioner 6000, and the Great Traitor Sicco Thermaplugg. Crafting Antidote Potions would not only help players with their progression and let them earn better rewards, it would also make Zhou Ning a tidy profit. Win-win.
After leaving the plaza, Zhou Ning immediately rented an alchemy lab and mass-produced a batch of Antidote Potions and Low-Tier Healing Potions. He stocked them in the Starry Sky Guild's faction coin shop.
As a result, the players who were being tormented into nirvana by Viscous Fallout immediately took notice. Despite the high price tag, the newly stocked Antidote Potions sold out in seconds.
Compared to his other income streams, this was just a modest few thousand Vecktas—"small change"—but watching his wealth steadily grow still gave Zhou Ning a real rush.
Cheating really was the ultimate productivity hack… Thinking back to how he used to grind away for a whole month just to earn five Vecktas, he couldn't help but sigh.
…
Around 8 PM, Zhou Ning returned to the camp and headed into the mess hall. Rosie was on cooking duty again. Maybe because it was her "last supper," the food was unusually fancy today.
On her recommendation, Zhou Ning grabbed a beef sandwich, a steak, an oyster consommé, and some roast chicken, then made his way to a nearby table.
If he were eating out, this meal would've easily cost at least 5 Roshens…
Savoring a feast for free brought him immense satisfaction.
Just as he was finishing up, two familiar faces approached him.
One was Professor Wesley, his mentor. The other was Professor Raleigh, a warrior-class instructor responsible for teaching physical combat—and the one who had once flunked his previous self.
"Good evening, Mr. Wesley, Mr. Raleigh," Zhou Ning stood up, doffing his cap and greeting them respectfully.
Wesley gave a small nod, a rare smile appearing on his stern face. "Good evening, Sturwell. I've heard some things about you—well done. But don't abandon alchemy. A little-known alchemist once said: 'A great alchemist can even outmatch truth itself.' Guns can't do that. Blades can't. Fists can't."
Zhou Ning nodded in acknowledgment. Professor Raleigh, meanwhile, chuckled, "But blades, fists, and guns can take down an alchemist."
Zhou Ning hadn't interacted with him much before, but it seemed the guy had a pretty good sense of humor…
He gave a slight smile, finished his meal, put down his utensils, chatted briefly with the two professors, and then headed back to his tent. Once inside, he shut the door and pulled up his panel to review the day's earnings.
After one last wave of player-farming, he was left with a whopping 4.6 million XP!
He could finally max out his Wandering Gunslinger level! Zhou Ning could hardly contain his excitement. Ever since players entered the game, his level-up pace had been like a rocket—going from the low twenties to level 42 in just over ten days.
Once his Wandering Gunslinger hit level 30, not only would he unlock a new class specialty, he could finally begin planning for the Wandering Gunslinger's second-tier advancement.
As for the name of that class? Zhou Ning had tentatively decided on "Gun God."
Right now, his Wandering Gunslinger was at level 25. The remaining five levels would require, conservatively, about 3 million XP.
"Level up!"
After painfully dumping a total of 3.72 million XP, Zhou Ning finally maxed out his Wandering Gunslinger. A prompt appeared on his panel:
[Your Wandering Gunslinger has reached Lv26. Agility +3 (with an additional +0.5 from the Extraordinary Physique specialty), Stamina +1, Spirit +1. You've gained 2 free attribute points.]
…
[Your Wandering Gunslinger has reached Lv30. Agility +3 (with an additional +0.5 from the Extraordinary Physique specialty), Stamina +1, Spirit +1. You've gained 2 free attribute points.]
[Your Wandering Gunslinger class has reached max level. You've gained an additional bonus of +6 Agility, +2 Stamina, and +2 Spirit.]
Upon reaching max level, Zhou Ning received another round of attribute boosts. But the real highlight came with the next message:
[Your Wandering Gunslinger has reached Level 30. You have earned a Class Specialty. Please choose one from the three options below. Note: This specialty will apply to all Wandering Gunslingers. Choose carefully.]
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