The change in difficulty wouldn't affect the landscape, at least that was the case for Barren Gold Mine.
Yi Qiu didn't bring any items as Douqi Strike was his strongest weapon.
Lv1 Unarmed Attack allowed him to use various unarmed strikes well, much less a Level 4 Unarmed Attack.
What was worth mentioning was that skills leveled along with class level, some required him to spend Integrated Network Experience to level up.
Skills he learned when he leveled would be the former, for example his Unarmed Attack which he learned at Level 1. Now that he was a Level 4 Monk, it also rose to Level 4.
The skills that he needed to spend Integrated Network Experience on were skills like Wizard Spells. Leveling up a Wizard only unlocked spell spaces, of course this just refers to Wizards who used mental strength to cast spells. Simply put, the wizards in DND.
The Mana Wizards that people talked about used their own body's energy to cast spells. When they leveled up, spell slots wouldn't unlock. In truth they didn't have such slots.
Strictly speaking, mana wizards were more similar to mages in DND, they all obtained spells when they leveled up and they could level them up at any time.
The difference between mages and wizards were in their different expenses. For example, mages needed to raise bloodline. Thus, not only did they need Integrated Network Experience to raise spells, they needed to spend Integrated Network Coins. It was the same for mana wizards.
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Near the old place, Yi Qiu found the Brown Tooth Boar. It seemed like the added difficulty gave it stats, at least that was the case for its size.
Looking at the Brown Tooth Boar which was pretty much a head taller than him, Yi Qiu was really calm. After he faced a spell-like fireball, the threat of size alone was not enough to scare him.
Of course, that could just be the effect of Stillness of Mind.
"Aang!" The Brown Tooth Boar seemed to only know that one strike. It used its car-like body to smash into the enemy and then crush them!
Just that combo alone would be enough to deal with all the newbies who were scared motionless. Of course, if one dodged its first strike, then you would notice that this 2-meter tall being was quite cumbersome.
However, this time Yi Qiu didn't plan to dodge!
Yi Qiu squinted his eyes, his pupils constricted!
"Eight Gates, Gate of Opening, open!"
His 12 points of Strength instantly rose to 16, a close to 5 times increase!
Yi Qiu stared at the charging Brown Tooth Boar and then charged forward at it!
"Peng!" A 1.7 meters bald man and close to 2 meters tall wild boar smashed into one another!
"Xiu!" Yi Qiu was pushed 2 meters back! The Brown Tooth Boar stumbled slightly and then stabilized itself.
Yi Qiu shook off his arms, this pure muscle and power clash made him a little excited!
As compared to using quicklime and pepper spray, he loved to use pure strength to win. This allowed him to feel his own strength rather than just purely relying on tools.
Weapons and magic effects stacked damage. But, between weapons and magic, most people would choose magic. That was because magic belonged to one's own strength while weapons were the power of the tool.
"Ang!" The Brown Tooth Boar increased its speed and charged at Yi Qiu!
Yi Qiu took in a deep breath and charged forward!
"Peng!" The distance between them wasn't as great as before and Yi Qiu actually managed to block it!
"Ang!" The Brown Tooth Boar tried to bite Yi Qiu,
Yi Qiu headbutted it!
Brown Tooth Boar was stunned Yi Qiu hammered its head in. In truth, the Brown Tooth Boar wasn't much stronger than Yi Qiu who had opened the Gate of Opening. But, due to its size and charging distance, Yi Qiu wasn't able to block it.
Using the opportunity, Yi Qiu kicked right at the Brown Tooth Boar!
When facing a normal enemy, Douqi Strike wouldn't strengthen Yi Qiu's attacks, only protecting the area that Yi Qiu used to attack. With Yi Qiu's Level 1 Douqi Strike, he could face normal steel weapons barehanded. Of course, that didn't include alloyed weapons.
"Peng!" Due to the Brown Tooth Boar's size, Yi Qiu's kick only made it shake. This was because Unarmed Attack mostly caused internal injuries. Apart from causing an ugly looking wound, one couldn't see the Brown Tooth Boar's injury.
Yi Qiu used Flurry of Blows and kicked forward once more!
As Yi Qiu couldn't control where the Flurry of Blows landed, this kick landed on its leg!
"Hong!" The Brown Tooth Boar tilted and fell over!
Yi Qiu followed up and kicked its wound that was ripped open from the Ki. A familiar shockwave was sent out!
Crit!
Yi Qiu's leg pierced through the skull of the Brown Tooth Boar, his entire leg went right through!
"You have killed Brown Tooth Boar, obtained 50 Experience."
"Dungeon requirements reached, tabulating results."
"The evaluation of your results are clear: A successful martial arts demonstration."
"You obtained an extra 500 Experience from killing the monster."
"You obtained a basic reward of 150 Experience."
"You have obtained a total of: 650 Experience"
Yi Qiu pulled his leg out of the Brown Tooth Boar's skull, which was now a pile of red and white mess.
"Phew." Yi Qiu took in a deep breath and then removed Eight Gates.
This battle made his blood boil!
However, as the feeling of excitement in his body disappeared, the soreness and pain all over his body taught him an important lesson: Power was relative.
Yi Qiu picked up the chest that had been dropped and chose to back out of the dungeon right away.
After the familiar sense of dizziness, Yi Qiu returned to his room.
Due to the theory of the dungeon, Yi Qiu felt much better.
The dungeon wasn't a real space, it was a mental space like a dream. Yi Qiu entering the dungeon was like a wizard's mental projections into space.
Although his mind entered the dungeon, there was still a connection with his body. Thus, after Yi Qiu returned to earth after suffering from injuries, his physical body would show signs of injury, but it would be much lighter.
And when Yi Qiu brought items from earth into the dungeon, it would be after an exchange. The Integrated Network would exchange it for a mental existence. But, when this item came into contact with the flesh and blood of the monster, this item would be corrupted by the essence hidden in the monster's blood as the souls of the item was still empty.
Once it was corrupted, the item would be seen as a part of the dungeon, like the pumpkins in the pumpkin field.
Yi Qiu was able to take away the meat of the Brown Tooth Boar as it was exchanged by the Integrated Network after he killed the boar, as a hidden reward.
"So, there was a reason why I didn't wear pants." Yi Qiu tried to explain to his cousin who suddenly pushed open his living room door and entered when his mind returned back to reality.
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