Chapter 117: The Demonized Bandit Camp

He asked Fengyun Yidao how many people the dungeon scroll was for.

"What kind of scroll is it? How many people is the dungeon for? What is the dungeon level?"

Although Zhang Shan had never looted a dungeon scroll, many had already appeared throughout the game. There were many introductions to dungeon scrolls on the forums. The requirements for the number of players allowed into a dungeon varied based on its difficulty; there were five-man, ten-man, and twenty-man scrolls, and the largest, like the Demon Suppression Platform, were fifty-man scrolls.

Generally speaking, the more people allowed to enter, the greater the difficulty of the dungeon, and likewise, the greater the rewards. Dungeon scrolls were essentially a supplement to the Demon Suppression Platform dungeon, serving as an effective way for players to obtain items. These things were great; every dungeon scroll guaranteed a boss, and a fifty-man scroll was certain to feature a red-tier boss.

The items were good, but they were incredibly hard to grind for. Zhang Shan had been killing monsters for so long and hadn't found a single one. With so many people in the Fengyun Guild, this was likely the first time they had found one as well; surely no one had obtained one before. As for people frequently posting about getting dungeon scrolls on the forums, that was simply because the player base in the game was massive—even with the smallest probability, someone would eventually get one. If Zhang Shan could get his hands on a divine weapon, it wasn't unreasonable for others to get a dungeon scroll.

"A fifty-man dungeon, level thirty. I hear the difficulty of these scroll dungeons is equivalent to the hard mode of the Demon Suppression Platform. It might be a bit tricky, so if you can upgrade your gear, you should."

Zhang Shan looked at his equipment. Aside from his divine weapon, the only other red-tier item he had was his boots; everything else was basically level twenty purple gear. How was he supposed to upgrade? He couldn't just go to the auction house and buy level twenty-five orange gear—there was no point. He was only two levels away from level thirty. Once he hit thirty, he would replace all his purple gear with orange gear; doing it now would be a waste. As for whether they could clear the dungeon, Zhang Shan didn't think it would be much of a problem. As long as the support players were competent, he could slowly grind down a red-tier boss by himself, so what was there to worry about?

"I don't have anything to upgrade. I don't have red gear, I can't afford to buy any, and I don't want to switch to orange gear. Don't worry, we'll be able to clear it."

"I'm just afraid the final big boss in the dungeon will be like the Warrior Commander on the second floor of the Demon Suppression Platform; that would be tough to handle."

"It's fine. Even if it is like the Warrior Commander, we can still beat it; it'll just take a bit more time."

"Alright, you're the big shot. Anyway, I'll just be along for the ride. There are too many bosses in this game that aren't friendly to melee classes."

"What's there to fear if the boss isn't friendly? You hit hard. Killing a squishy in one skill combo—doesn't that feel great?"

"Damn, you still dare to talk to me about killing people? I need a full combo to take down a squishy, and you only need two shots. Don't humblebrag in front of your brother."

"Hehe, I'm logging off to eat. See you this afternoon."

After taking off his helmet and going downstairs for lunch, Zhang Shan walked casually along the bustling street. Although it was a workday, the streets were still crowded with people; big cities never lacked people. No matter the time or place, it was always packed with people from all over the league, struggling in the city just to make their lives a little better. Zhang Shan was one of them, though he had been living a bit differently lately due to playing the game.

Zhang Shan strolled aimlessly along the street, checked the time, and decided it was time to head back to run the dungeon, hoping to get some gear. He hadn't prepared any of his level thirty gear yet; he only had one level thirty bracer that had dropped from the Wolf King. He hadn't prepared any other pieces of equipment. He couldn't just go to the auction house for everything when the time came; outfitting a full set would cost quite a few gold coins.

After logging back in, Zhang Shan teleported to the guild territory and arrived in front of the guild hall, where most of the others had already logged on.

"Divine Weapon Brother, have you made a fortune lately?"

This question made Zhang Shan feel a bit guilty. He had just looted an ultimate skill book yesterday, and it was still listed on the auction house. He wasn't very close with the Magic Swordsmen in the guild and hadn't considered selling it directly to them.

"Does leveling my life profession to Apprentice Engineer count as making a fortune?"

Zhang Shan deflected the question. He was never used to lying, even to a stranger, but if he didn't want to talk about something, he could always choose not to answer.

"You're a beast, big shot. Life professions are so hard to level up. I keep failing, and I can't even buy enough materials."

"Just buy a bunch of materials and work on it slowly. Low-level materials are cheap anyway, though I imagine it'll be very hard to level up later on."

"Life professions are indeed hard to level up in the later stages. I heard the highest-ranked life professional in the game right now is a level three apothecary who can make Small Recovery Pills—the kind that restores two thousand HP at once. It's very strong."

"That's insane. It's four times stronger than the large red potions in the shop."

"Yeah, life professions are quite valuable in the late game, it's just hard to level them up."

Once everyone had arrived, Fengyun Tianxia spoke up: "Now that everyone is here, I want to state one thing first: the scroll was provided by Qingqing, so she gets priority choice on one item. Does everyone have any objections?"

"No objections."

This was normal. A level thirty large-scale dungeon scroll, if sold directly on the auction house, would fetch a price higher than a single piece of red gear. Giving Fengyun Qingqing priority choice on one item was reasonable. If a super-premium item dropped, it would be her good luck; if the dungeon loot was mediocre, it would just be a piece of red gear, which wouldn't even be worth the value of the scroll itself. As for the others, they were already happy enough to tag along for the dungeon experience. If they were lucky and managed to roll for a good piece of gear, they would treat it as a bonus.

Fengyun Tianxia formed the party. It was mostly the same group of people who usually fought bosses, with only a few new faces. Perhaps considering that the dungeon would be difficult, Fengyun Tianxia had brought along several extra support players. Zhang Shan noticed there were at least ten support players in the party. That was more than when they fought bosses before. The advantage of having many support players was stability, though it meant attacking slower due to a lack of damage output. However, with Zhang Shan there, his individual output could make up for several people, so it shouldn't be much of an issue.

"If you're ready, let's enter the dungeon."

Fengyun Tianxia pulled out a scroll. As the scroll dissipated, everyone vanished from the guild territory and appeared on a new map.

"Damn, this dungeon is quite big. It's much larger than the first floor of the Demon Suppression Platform."

Zhang Shan checked the mini-map. It was indeed a very large map; clearing such a massive dungeon wouldn't be easy. The map was called "Demonized Bandit Camp," and all the monsters inside were demonized bandits. Although the density of the bandits wasn't as high as in the Demon Suppression Platform dungeon, the map was larger, so the total number of monsters wouldn't be any fewer—it might even be more. Moreover, a bandit camp should have more than one boss; it was impossible for a single bandit leader to manage so many bandits.

"A big map is good. It means more monsters and more bosses, which means we can loot more good stuff."

"That's true. Let's get to it."