Su Qi stood in the landing space, taking a while to recover.
As soon as that phantom appeared, his mind felt as if it had been filled with blood, his spirit completely relegated to a lightless abyss, as if it was about to explode any moment.
Fortunately, he was forcibly logged out in the end.
His 10 points of spiritual power only provided him with 0.5 seconds of clarity in front of the opponent.
And that was just a phantom projected across realms by the opponent.
He couldn't help but say, "What kind of world view is this, where the worshipped Evil Spirits not only truly exist but also possess such terrifying power?"
Suddenly, Su Qi felt that kicking the opponent's Sheep Head Shrine around like a ball was not a wise decision.
Wait a minute.
Su Qi suddenly realized something.
Where's my clearing reward?
A system notification appeared before him.
[Due to anomalies in the instance, compensation is granted to player 985211 Su Buxian]
[You have earned triple the experience and Game Coins rewards for perfectly clearing this Nightmare-level dungeon]
[Your level has been raised to 5, and you have earned one opportunity to draw a reward]
[Item Slot has been opened]
[Skill Bar has been unlocked]
Su Qi leveled up five times and obtained 3000 Game Coins.
At the same time.
He also gained 25 attribute points due to the level up.
A Nightmare-level dungeon? Is this how they bully new players right off the bat?
However, this dungeon could also be described as fraught with danger.
Both running away and hiding were of Hell-level difficulty, especially since he was facing nearly fifty Killing Demons, each with a clear role and combat strength above an ordinary person.
Su Qi's own choice had multiplied the difficulty several times.
Of course, without the information from the [?] and his own combat skills, there was no way he could have managed this; a single mistake in the church, leading to a loss of Physical Strength, would have meant his end.
"After playing through this one dungeon, it's clear that Physical Strength is particularly important; it's not just the main cost of dungeon exploration and combat, but it also pertains to survival," Su Qi had few hesitations and directly allocated all 15 points to Physical Strength.
He divided the remaining 5 points each between Strength and movement technique. He didn't yet know the use of spiritual power, and even if he allocated all 25 points to it, he could at best only stand before the phantom for an extra second.
And the next moment.
Su Qi suddenly widened his eyes, seeing his spiritual power surge by 75 points to 85.
"??? How did this happen?"
He was somewhat surprised.
He hadn't done anything, so why did his spiritual power increase?
Su Qi suddenly thought of something and opened his Item Slot.
There were only five slots, corresponding to his Levels.
One slot contained the Hundred Man Slaughter Blade from the dungeon.
In another slot, there was an eyeball covered in various Runes.
Its panel appeared before Su Qi.
[Name: Evil God's Eye]
[Type: ???]
[Quality: ???]
[Function (Passive): When you allocate points to other attributes, your spiritual power increases by three times the same amount of points]
[Note: You have deprived the Evil God of some of its power through improper means, and this terrifying being has sworn that it must turn you to ashes!]
Su Qi: "..."
No wonder the opponent suddenly became so enraged at that time; he was puzzled, wondering why kicking its head like a ball would provoke such a reaction from a mighty Evil God, even crossing realms to kill him.
It was indeed a low blow.
The reason lay here.
However.
Su Qi also understood how powerful this item was; he would have three times the attribute points than other players out of thin air, even if it only effected the currently useless spiritual power, it was more than enough.
Thinking this way, the cost of being targeted by a terrifying existence seemed bearable.
Settling his thoughts here.
Su Qi simply stopped thinking and walked to the middle of the room.
After the upgrade,
the login space had changed its appearance, not only had it lights now, but there was also an extra box in the middle with a number on it: 1.
It meant he could make a reward draw.
"Confirm the use of draw opportunity?"
"Let's go."
The box shook violently and, after a brief few seconds,
it burst open.
Inside was a sphere of light; touching it, Su Qi saw the information.
[Name: Thunderbolt]
[Type: Consumable Skill (can be used 3 times)]
[Function: Can release a burst of very fast lightning forward within a five-meter range, which will automatically explode upon touching any solid object or reaching five meters, explosion radius ten meters]
[Consumption: 120 Physical Strength]
[Usage Conditions: Movement technique must reach 12]
[Note: If you're not fast enough, be careful when using this.]
Su Qi remarked, "What kind of kill-a-thousand-enemies-at-the-cost-of-eight-hundred-of-your-own suicidal skill, no wonder it has requirements on movement technique, you're supposed to not outrun the range and die together, huh?"
He put it in his skill bar, which currently only had two slots. Although the skill's consumption was a bit scary, it seemed very powerful indeed.
Just as Su Qi was getting ready for the second instance match,
a popup appeared.
[External interference detected, would you like to exit the game or enter interference-resistant mode?]
Since this gaming pod offered a fully immersive gaming experience, it completely isolated all sounds from the real world but still detected external noises. Sounds exceeding a certain decibel level or someone opening the gaming pod would trigger an alert.
Players could choose to continue or exit on their own.
In the login space, however, the threshold for sound decibel detection was set lower. Alerts for phone rings, doorbells, and so on were provided, ensuring that players wouldn't miss important real-world events—a rather humanizing feature.
Su Qi exited the game and upon opening his eyes, he heard a doorbell ring.
He checked the time.
"It's two in the afternoon, it's been two and a half hours since I entered the game."
In "Abyssal Paradise," if an instance lasted less than five hours, game time would sync with real-time.
Once the time inside an instance exceeded five hours, no matter how long you stayed—be it ten days or half a month, only five hours would have passed in the real world once the instance ended.
This applied to all players.
It ensured a degree of synchronicity among all players.
Su Qi got up, ruffled his somewhat messy hair, then went to the door and through the peephole, saw two faces.
One was Liu Yishou, dressed in casual clothes, a man of impressive build despite being in his thirties, with well-muscled physique.
The other was a young man with an unfamiliar face, who looked much younger than Liu Yishou but stood in front of him as though he held a much higher status.
It seemed the young man noticed Su Qi's gaze.
The youth cracked a faint smile; he had faced many situations and could instantly notice prying eyes.
"Hello, we are—"
Just as he was about to identify himself,
Su Qi's voice came through:
"Just leave the takeout at the door."
"..." The youth choked, "We're not takeout, we are—"
"Then it must be a delivery, leave it at the door too."
The young man's expression turned urgent just as he was about to continue explaining.
Liu Yishou placed a hand on the youth's shoulder, resignedly said, "He's messing with you."
The youth: "???"
Liu Yishou shook his head slightly.
Despite the young man's remarkable talent in another world, he seemed too naïve, having never dealt before with idle people like Su Qi.
He said, "I'm Liu Yishou from the Lin Jiang Investigation Bureau. We've met before. Please open the door, we have some matters concerning your personal safety to discuss."
Then he paused and added,
"It's regarding your personal safety."