Two silhouettes rapidly crisscrossed on the challenge dungeon's arena, colliding fiercely one moment and pulling away from each other the next moment.
Gu Nan already felt a bit of sweat drip down his face, which was a rare occurrence ever since he advanced to Tier 2—not even those dozen or so Innate Realm experts affected him this much.
He and this woman named Qin Xuanji fought wildly for over two hundred rounds in a short period of time, yet they failed to land fatal injuries on each other.
Of course, Gu Nan's advantages had begun to appear.
The strong Evil God physique made him equivalent to a humanoid beast—full of physical strength and extreme defensive power.
If Gu Nan was only a little short of breath, then Qin Xuanji was full-on gasping for air. Her stamina was much inferior to Gu Nan's, and it didn't help now that she had multiple injuries.
A punch landed on her face, bruising her left eye. Redness and swelling could be seen all over her body.
'Her physical strength and defensive power have already exceeded that of ordinary martial artists, plus she can actually keep up with my speed…' Gu Nan thought to himself. Her speed was the most confusing part.
He was an agility type Evil God!
Qin Xuanji didn't have any internal energy in her body, and it didn't seem like she advanced to the Innate Realm using external kung fu… Could she be a monster that transformed into a human?
Gu Nan immediately thought of the possibility of her being a mixed race.
"Courting death." On the other side, the dungeon's simulated Qin Xuanji coldly spat out these words, then stopped her movements.
Clearly, she was about to unleash a major attack, but Gu Nan didn't move. Instead, he watched with great interest—in any case, he was inside the dungeon, so he could still revive after dying. It was more important to analyze the enemy's secret skills.
The next instant, Gu Nan suddenly felt the sky darken, and everything turned black.
「You've died」
The prompt came from the Evil God Temple, and Gu Nan was kicked out of the dungeon and returned to the main hall.
"Fuck, what the hell is this!" Gu Nan, who didn't believe it, entered the dungeon once again. He beat Qin Xuanji half to death again, but the result was no different.
'Why the hell did the sky turn black? Did her skill take up the entire screen? What, did she steal the sky and switch out the sun?'
Despite his complaints, Gu Nan entered the dungeon again… By the twelfth time, only after Gu Nan withdrew a few hundred meters in advance did he finally see the truth.
Qin Xuanji's ultimate move was actually... transformation! No, head changing!
Her body did not move. It was her head that suddenly turned into a huge snake's head. Opening her oversized mouth, she swallowed Gu Nan in one bite!
The darkness Gu Nan experienced earlier was precisely because the huge snake head blocked even the sky.
After dozens of consecutive failures, Gu Nan finally gave up on meaningless attempts to fight the transformation. The snake head approached too fast and the attack range was too wide. He couldn't avoid it at all.
But when he stopped sitting on the sidelines, he started winning—the "head changing technique" was indeed powerful, but all he had to do was to prevent her from using it.
When Gu Nan relied on his superior physical strength to beat his exhausted opponent to death, his smile was particularly satisfied.
+
「The challenge dungeon has been cleared. Obtained 10 points as reward」
「The challenge dungeon has been cleared. Obtained 9 points as reward」
「The challenge dungeon has been cleared. Obtained 9 points as reward」
「The challenge dungeon has been cleared. Obtained 8 points as reward」
. . .
「The challenge dungeon has been cleared. Obtained 1 point as reward」
+
Challenge dungeons were a good place to harvest points, but after continuous wins, the amount of points obtained would gradually decrease. After about 30 victories, Gu Nan basically stopped earning points.
However, he also gained over 200 points from this, which made his total points reach 236 points, so he earned back the money used to buy the Four Element Crossbow.
There were only a few hours left for the dungeon, and Gu Nan was not idle at all. He switched up his methods to test Qin Xuanji's trump cards.
By exploring the attack range, buildup time, usage limit, and even cooldown time of the "head changing technique," he finally discovered some of Qin Xuanji's weaknesses.
For example, the "head changing technique" couldn't be used at will. It only appeared when Qin Xuanji became emotional. Another example was that the snake head couldn't extend indefinitely; it could only move with Qin Xuanji herself...
In the last battle between Gu Nan and Qin Xuanji, he even pulled out the Four Element Crossbow. By using the kite tactic all the way, he forced her to use the "head changing technique" twice in a row, but in the end, the snake head still bit him to death because space inside the challenge dungeon was limited.
"Forget it... At least I know that although this skill has no cooldown, it consumes a lot of energy." Gu Nan was still muttering this even as he left the dungeon and returned to reality.
The bald man next to him was still watching the show with excitement. He didn't know that the person beside him had already fought Qin Xuanji all night.
Gu Nan took a closer look at the so-called dispute. It was mainly Luo Miao and Cai Yuanyi ridiculing her, while Qin Xuanji was standing to the side and staring quietly towards a certain direction.
'Is she thinking about her hometown?' Gu Nan went around to the left and looked at the girl's profile as he wondered what she was thinking.
'It doesn't look like she sold her body to win over an expert, so… Did the expert become interested in her strange ability?'
While Gu Nan was madly imagining her backstory, Qin Xuanji seemed to have seen enough and suddenly turned to walk towards the crowd.
"Hey, you. Stop..."
"Get lost."
Qin Xuanji's voice was slightly low, and her hand movements were vigorous and powerful.
She suddenly waved her hand and directly slapped Luo Miao's face. Student Luo, who was caught off guard, was sent flying.
Hiss!
The crowd that was still noisy a second ago gasped in unison, shocked speechless by Qin Xuanji's slap.
Even Gu Nan was taken aback. He didn't expect this little girl to have such a violent temper…
Gu Nan, who was fully aware of her strength, knew that Luo Miao's face would be swollen for at least three days.
Cai Yuanyi's eyes widened as he pointed to Qin Xuanji speechlessly. He never could've imagined that a bitch who relied on her body to please his master would have such power…
Gu Nan hid in the depths of the crowd, not looking at Qin Xuanji's figure. Like many others, he quietly retreated.
After watching the show and earning his points, he scurried off.
He was just a little curious about this mysterious woman, but he didn't want to provoke her.
- - - - - -
Not long after returning to his room, a reminder blasted out of the speakers.
"The ship will leave in half an hour. All ascendants, please stay in your rooms and do not go out."
The ship's purpose was to shuttle between two worlds. Once it started its journey, even the strong winds from passing through the atmosphere could kill people. Of course, no one dared to go out and seek death right now.
The "ascension" would last about two days. Mingguang Ascension Center's arrangements were very user-friendly. It provided each ascendant with a large amount of information about Star Realm.
For everyone who wants to ascend to Star Realm, this information is exactly what they urgently need.
The reincarnators who brought them may not be willing to explain some general knowledge stuff, and even if they did explain, it might not be as clear and detailed as the provided information.
Gu Nan started to read with keen interest.
Devotee's Game System Inspired Note
» This section of the chapter is a Fan based created system to mock-up or simulate the 'Status Information' of our MC - Gu Nan. This implies that you are free to skip reading this and continue your journey onto the next chapter.
» All catalog data below is a summary of various information achieved by Gu Nan that corresponds till the end of the related chapter and is compiled into a singular 'Status Screen.' Additionally, the invented system below would continue to evolve as we progress and learn more about the novel itself.
MC's Status Information
Name: Gu Nan
Current Location: In the airship located at Mingguang Ascension Center
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 2
Equivalent Martial Art: External Kung Fu Master - Innate Realm
Current Quest:
→ Challenge Dungeon: Qin Xuanji.
◈ Status: Cleared
Current Evil Points: 236
Overall Evil Points: 716, Overall Evil Value: 16
Exclusive Skills Acquired:
— Deceitful Steps. 「Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%」
Item/s owned:
→ Four Element Crossbow. 「A Tier 2 crossbow weapon that can generate four types of elemental arrows—earth, water, wind, and fire—based on the user's needs and does not need to load arrows.」