Chapter 585
Chapter 585 - 565: A Small Test of Skills
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8 min read
"486, 489... Hmm, not bad progress."
Lu Ping’an casually counted his gains. It shouldn’t take too long to fulfill the quota of 1,000 kills for the Soul Hunter.
The Magic Monsters here were quite strong, and it felt good to kill them.
This time, June Phantom should be satisfied with his contribution, at least giving him some reliable Divine Grace.
After getting familiar with this team, Lu Ping’an had no intention of hiding his strength... This was not some legendary story of pretending to be weak, having powerful teammates was a good thing.
With the sound of an explosion, Lu Ping’an appeared in the midst of the beast swarm.
A blind Petrified lizard, a Heavy-armor Stone Giant and groups of armed dwarves. These were some tough-looking characters.
"...But what’s the point?"
Within the monster group, Lu Ping’an spread both hands as flames converged within them.
The blaze expanded in a circle, although these flames were not particularly hot, they were extremely lethal to the contaminated creations.
A large amount of Purifying Flames were scattered, burning wildly on the surrounding Magic Monsters.
Some of them rolled on the ground in pain, while others tried to tear off their injured parts, but still couldn’t stop the burning flames.
Lu Ping’an played with the Holy Fire in his hand. Maybe it wasn’t very powerful, but its lethality against Magic Monsters was not bad.
However, it would take too long to reach a lethal amount of damage at this level...
"Withering..."
Lu Ping’an raised his lance and swung it down.
Black smoke emerged, accompanied by the dark energy of death. What remained were piles of dry, lifeless corpses.
Lu Ping’an had noticed that Purifying Holy Fire had another function... Magic Monsters with their protective epidermis burned away would have significantly reduced resistances.
"Wither..."
Without restraint, the Storm Lance drained the surrounding moisture. After completing his third-tier evolution, Lu Ping’an was finally qualified to wield this deadly double-edged sword.
Before it, the Stone Monsters covered in gray rocks were nothing.
Before the flames could dissipate, the black lance slammed viciously on its head. Before it could react, the little fluid within its body gushed out.
Burning, withering; Lu Ping’an’s attack methods were simple and limited but not very friendly to his teammates...
"OK, it’s done."
At this point, he sent a signal and his temporary teammates came over.
Looking at the dead bodies on the ground, Captain Cao numbly nodded his head.
This was the 17th floor of Pit No.6. The Magic Monsters that appeared here were mostly 2-tier, mixed with a great number of third-tier ones. In the past, his team’s best record was the 19th floor, but it was a desperate struggle to get there.
Now, as long as the newcomer was willing to unleash his full power, nothing here could hold him back.
"...Let’s clean up the battlefield. We’ll rest for half an hour. Lu Ping’an, how’s your condition?"
"Alright, then you’ll be on guard duty. We need to rest. We’ll give you an extra share of the spoils...If you’re not interested, we can trade with other things."
"Okay, just talk more about your daily lives. I’m still a newbie, after all..."
Cooperation between adult men was simple and straightforward. With both parties benefiting, transactions were smooth.
Along the way, Lu Ping’an followed the team, listening to their past exploration experiences, learning various tips, and understanding the life of these professionals.
When necessary, Lu Ping’an would use his combat power to clean up the monsters.
In just a day and a half, they had finished a journey that usually took four days, and this was all thanks to Lu Ping’an taking it easy.
It seems like Lu Ping’an took advantage of this? Actually, this journey wouldn’t affect anything, since regular cleaning had to be done sooner or later. Instead, Captain Cao and his team were very willing to bring new recruits and befriend a strong newcomer like Lu Ping’an.
"He won, he can still wreak havoc at this level."
"Tsk, sixteen years old, what were you doing when you were sixteen?"
"Honestly attending school, back then I was just an ordinary person..."
These idle old-timers had the spare time to bet on the upper limits of the newcomers’ strength.
The original estimate of "standard third-tier combat power" was long outdated. Now, the team’s assessment was "seems to be a large-scale, destructive weapon at the fourth-tier, no support abilities seen, possibly another violent healer who joined the team for the sake of treatment."
After cleaning up the battlefield, the best-looking lizard was put into the pot. It seemed that the team’s work was done for today.
At this point, Lu Ping’an wasn’t in a hurry. He was initially here to "learn" and gained a lot of experience along the way.
"We should probably head back, what about you?"
Captain Cao of the team handed Lu Ping’an a bowl of soup directly.
However, this development somewhat exceeded Lu Ping’an’s expectations. The team still had plenty of remaining strength, and if he used his full power, he could easily descend another four or five floors without any problems.
"It’s not that. In the next area, if you’re not around, and we have a full team, I can try... but it wouldn’t be good for either of us."
The other party was also very candid. Lu Ping’an had great combat power, but he severely lacked teamwork ability...a support who needed teammates to get out of his way first was a problem no matter how you looked at it.
Overall, because Lu Ping’an occupied a position, excluding him, the strength of the team had actually decreased slightly.
Going further down would be the territory dominated by third-tier Magic Monsters. By then, the other members of this team might get injured or even die...
"Generally speaking, we prioritize safety. We’ve already reached this far in just two days, so we’ve made a huge profit this time. We’re considering going back, but we’ll probably stay on this floor for another two days and fill our backpacks with spoils of war. You’re not going to stop here, are you?"
Though it was a question, it was said with an affirmative tone.
Lu Ping’an certainly wouldn’t stop here. His ritual wasn’t complete, and he hadn’t tested the limits of his current combat power.
Now, Lu Ping’an understood completely.
If he forced the two sides to stay together, they could indeed continue to delve deeper. However, on one hand, members of the team might get hurt, and on the other hand, this would also limit Lu Ping’an.
"...Is this what they call an old stager?"
Accurately assessing combat power and adjusting one’s goals was the style of an experienced old stager. He wasn’t in a hurry to delve deeper but harvested steadily and safely, time and time again.
"I’m going to go down and have some fun." Lu Ping’an smiled, everything was unspoken.
He had gained a lot along the way and initially planned to give back a little to the other party, but since they didn’t need it, there was no need to force it.
"We don’t need to wait for you, do we?" Still using an affirmative tone, Captain Cao clearly saw through the young prodigy.
"Sixteen years old, huh..." He smiled, but there was a hint of bitterness in his heart. He wondered whether he could reach the strength of the young man across from him when he retired.
All along the way, the young man had been playing... This wasn’t because he was arrogant or anything. He sincerely learned from the experience of these old stagers—his attitude and style were not an issue, completely lacking the haughtiness and extraordinariness of a typical young prodigy.
It’s just that the pressure of the battlefield in front of him could only force the "child" to play.
Lu Ping’an dutifully worked, the Gardener’s work was quite well done, too, and when necessary, he demonstrated excellent Battle-profession abilities.
Captain Cao could see that on a few occasions when the pressure on the battlefield increased, he initially intended to do something... but seeing his teammates, he returned to his regular fighting style.
Apparently, these old stagers had become a burden for the young man.
"Three standard combat powers? That’s an underestimate. What we see now might just be the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps, he might have a chance of reaching Decree-level one day..."
Continuing to move forward, Captain Cao’s side would indeed gain even higher profits, but this would obviously further drag down Lu Ping’an who had already figured out the rules.
Not being able to accept such a method of "leeching off" the spoils of war, Captain Cao proposed a separation near the extreme limit of this level that their team could independently withstand.
"Maybe soon, I’ll hear about this kid’s name in the outside world. Safe journey, huh..."
— End of Chapter 585 —