"Let me take a look."
A golden orb emitted an enticing glow.
[Hellhound's Skull, Crunchy, Chicken Flavor]
Ye Bai reached out his hand, and the golden light slowly dissipated. A palm-sized skull floated in mid-air, as clear as amber, with three distinct colors: red, yellow, and blue.
"Is it a special material?"
The skull fell into Ye Bai's palm, and a warm sensation spread throughout his body.
"Special Material: Hellhound's Skull (SSS Rank)
Effect: Can be used for equipment crafting, item creation, etc.
When carried, Strength +100, Constitution +100, Mana Recovery Speed +500%."
"It's actually SSS Rank material!"
Ye Bai didn't expect that just carrying this material would bring him such a massive attribute boost!
"If it could be made into a staff, it would be at least SS Rank equipment!"
Ye Bai stored the skull in his backpack.
This should be the greatest gain of this trip.
Back in the day, the Supreme Being [Nightmare] had slain the Hellhound and received an SSS Rank evaluation in the beginner dungeon, causing quite a stir.
Thinking of this, Ye Bai felt a surge of pride.
He had accomplished something akin to the Supreme Being!
Standing shoulder to shoulder with the Supreme Being—those words carried weight beyond mere talk.
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No, that's not right!
Ye Bai turned around, looking at the hole in the stone wall in the middle, his eyes burning with determination.
He could achieve more than the Supreme Being did back then!
The hidden level of the beginner dungeon!
"Though I don't know what's ahead, since I'm already here..."
Ye Bai walked back to the hole, ready to continue his exploration.
But first, there were some minor issues to address.
The earlier lightning had been so intense that it scared the bats senseless, leaving them clinging to the walls, not daring to move.
Swish, swish, swish—
Bats kept falling from the air, struggling briefly on the ground before meeting their end.
Ten vampire bats, plus one mutant bat, were as fragile as paper in front of level 10 Ye Bai!
With just a few basic attacks, Ye Bai swiftly dispatched them all.
Since Ye Bai had already reached level 10, and the vampire bats were only level 2-4, they couldn't provide him with any experience.
Thus, Ye Bai only collected a pile of copper coins.
He glanced at his attribute panel, and compared to when he first entered the Eternal Tower, Ye Bai's attributes had nearly increased sixfold!
His health had also skyrocketed to 1800!
Of course, this was with the boost from the Hellhound's Skull, the extra 100 Constitution adding 1000 health points.
It's important to note that leveling up and increasing attributes within the Eternal Tower was extremely challenging!
The attributes Ye Bai currently possessed were ones that many level 20 or 30 players might not even achieve!
Moreover, any improvements here would be synchronized to the real world!
For Ye Bai, in just one night, his physical condition had improved six or seven times over!
It was something unimaginable, yet it had truly happened!
Ye Bai closed his attribute panel and began to sort through his loot.
Earlier, he had killed 20 Cave Giant Rats, earning 60 copper coins, and 10 vampire bats, gaining another 90 copper coins, plus 2 silver coins from the mutant bat.
Ye Bai had a total of 3 silver coins and 50 copper coins at hand.
In the Eternal Tower, there were three types of currency: gold, silver, and copper, using a decimal system.
10,000 copper coins equaled 100 silver coins, which equaled 1 gold coin.
1 gold coin was equivalent to 1,000 Dragon Kingdom currency.
Thus, 1 copper coin was roughly equivalent to 0.1 Dragon Kingdom currency.
In other words, after all his hard work fighting monsters, Ye Bai had earned a total of 35 Dragon Kingdom currency...
After tallying up his current spoils, Ye Bai once again stood at the entrance of the hidden level.
He hadn't been idle during this time, and had begun stacking [Ready to Go] again!
Judging by the results of his previous battle with the Hellhound, [Ready to Go] was a godlike skill. Once stacked to a high enough level, it would be unstoppable!
The passage to the hidden level was pitch black, with nothing visible.
Ye Bai pulled a torch from the wall of the previous passage, lighting up the area in front of him.
[No danger ahead, scan complete!]
With the reassurance from the Eye of Insight, Ye Bai felt more at ease, but he still remained vigilant.
In the dark passage, Ye Bai cautiously moved forward.
"It feels like I'm going downward!"
Ye Bai realized that the passage he was in was sloping downwards.
"The beginner dungeon is at the bottom of the Eternal Tower. If I'm heading down, could it be... there's a zero level?!"
This thought lingered in Ye Bai's mind. The origins of the Eternal Tower were mysterious, and even after a century of research, humanity hadn't fully understood it.
Guided by the flickering torchlight, Ye Bai walked a long distance, unsure of how many layers of [Ready to Go] he had stacked.
Suddenly, Ye Bai caught a whiff of a pungent odor!
"What is this?! The smell of sulfur, where have I ended up, underground magma?!"
As if to confirm Ye Bai's suspicion, a wave of heat surged toward him.
Whoosh—
The heat wave came suddenly, with a strong gust of wind, extinguishing the torch in Ye Bai's hand!
Snap—
The only source of light vanished completely, leaving only faint sparks emitting a very dim glow, and Ye Bai was plunged into darkness.
The passage fell into an endless silence...