The system prompt in Chu Tian’s ear had not finished when his vision went black, and the Heavenly Dao system began its upgrade, entering a reboot phase.
Everyone was kicked out of the game and returned to the waiting interface.
He had nothing else to do, so he browsed the official website and saw the self-initiated call to arms from the Druid players.
Opening it, he scrolled through the posts, all of which were comments from Druid players. Chu Tian found it quite interesting.
He also posted a reply below, thanking everyone for their support.
After browsing around aimlessly for a while, ten minutes quickly passed.
[Ding… System upgrade complete, you can now log back into the game.]
A prompt sounded, and Chu Tian closed the official website.
Returning to the game, there weren’t many changes. Within just a few seconds, Chu Tian saw countless Druid players sequentially teleporting to the Dreamwood Forest.
It immediately became lively here.
He glanced over and saw these Druid players, like curious babies, directly using their teleportation skills to return to Shengjing City.
Jian Zhi Cang Tian had already messaged him, informing him that their brothers had assembled.
They had all arrived at the dungeon entrance and were waiting for him.
Chu Tian told him he would be there shortly.
Then, he recalled the details of the Howling Caverns dungeon in his mind.
He wasn't aiming to clear the simple ‘Howling Caverns’; he was going for the expert difficulty.
Expert difficulty dungeons could be attempted once a week. After clearing it, it couldn’t be challenged again that week, and one had to wait until the game opened on Monday afternoon to attempt it again.
At this time, most Heavenly Dao players had just reached level twenty, and various guilds and groups were organizing attempts at the Howling Caverns dungeon.
The dungeon entrance was now crowded with people, with players everywhere seeking groups.
Yan Bu You Zhong: “All-Intelligence Mage, 315 spell damage, looking for a group.”
An Ye Ji Feng: “High-enhancement weapon Sharpshooter, 394 physical attack, anyone running simple difficulty Howling Caverns? Pull me in.”
Chen Fan Yi Chang Xi: “Pioneering simple difficulty, missing a high-healing Healer, requires Spirit attribute, will start as soon as one joins.”
Jian Zhi Cang Tian and the others stood at the dungeon entrance, and players continuously approached them asking if they still needed members.
He replied that they were already full.
Chu Tian arrived at the city center and checked on his pharmacy. ‘What You Need Pharmacy’ was already operational.
They had hired a few low-level alchemy apprentices. Although the output and speed weren’t very high, at least there were potions to sell.
Then he went to ‘What You Need Engineering Shop’ and saw that some bullets and arrowheads were already on the shelves.
He checked the workshop in the back and saw that several apprentices were also busy in the workrooms.
The future Mage ‘Shang Da Hao Mei Dai Zhi’ was also in his workshop, fiddling with something.
Chu Tian didn’t disturb him. He left the engineering shop and went to the auction house, which was bustling with people, appearing very popular.
He checked the transaction records for the past few days and found that over a thousand items were traded through the auction house daily.
It was just that fees hadn’t started yet. Otherwise, even if each item only incurred the minimum transaction fee of 1 copper coin.
It would still be a considerable income, and the auction house collected fees based on the item’s value as a handling fee.
The auction house was a money-making machine because it made things convenient for everyone.
The current free handling fee was to get these players accustomed to the convenience of the auction house.
Later, even if there were fees to pay, many people would still be willing to list their items at the auction house.
After all, it saved the time spent setting up a stall. The saved time could be used for leveling up, hunting for treasures, or charming girls.
No matter what they did, they wouldn’t have to stand there tediously hawking their wares at a stall.
Thinking about the Five-Colored Stone quest, Chu Tian browsed the auction house, spending two gold coins to buy a pile of ores.
Then he headed straight for the system’s pharmacy. ‘What You Need Pharmacy’ currently only had basic healing potions and mana recovery potions.
Chu Tian purchased three bottles of Size Amplification Potions from the system shop.
[Size Amplification Potion]: Body size increases by 500%, lasting for 5 seconds. (Upon body enlargement, strength also increases, but attribute points do not increase.)
He went to the system engineering shop and bought two sets of rope launchers. These things were truly expensive, costing fifty gold each.
Painfully completing the purchase, he directly went to the teleportation array and teleported to the town closest to ‘Howling Caverns’.
Chu Tian, entirely cloaked in black, walked along the road towards the outskirts of the city.
Suddenly, the conversation of two players ahead caught his attention.
The short Mage player: “Did you hear? The boss spent money hiring a studio to clear expert difficulty, and they’ve already passed two bosses.”
The burly Warrior player: “Heard that. They’re professionals. Unlike us, we can’t even get past the second boss on simple difficulty. We’ve wiped over forty times.”
Mage player: “I heard that ‘Ye Zi Team’ also wiped over twenty times on the third boss, and we have to pool money to cover their repair costs. I think they’re useless too.”
Warrior player: “Stop complaining. They’ll probably pass soon. They wiped over ten times on the second boss before clearing it.”
Hearing this, Chu Tian thought to himself: Someone has already started tackling expert difficulty, and they’re already at the third boss. The Ye Zi studio?
It was them. In his previous life, this team had secured many first-kill dungeon achievements. He clearly remembered that Ye Zi Studio had obtained the global first kill for Howling Caverns.
Chu Tian quickened his pace, moving to stand in front of the two players. He looked back at the badge on their chests.
The word ‘杀戮’ (Kill) caught his eye.
Chu Tian’s pupils contracted. Tian Ya Kuang Dao had actually hired the Ye Zi Studio to help them pioneer the dungeon.
If their guild obtained the first-kill rewards, wouldn’t their arrogance skyrocket?
It would also be a blow to the reputation of the Ni Shen Alliance.
They had reached the third Boss already? He wondered about the strength of the guild members Jian Zhi Cang Tian had called.
He wondered if they could keep up with the progress.
However, on second thought, there were five of them, all with gear enhanced to +30.
And their levels had all reached 28.
A level 20 expert difficulty dungeon should be relatively easy.
Luo Luo’s damage alone might be equivalent to half the group’s output, and Rou Rou’s damage was also not low.
Jian Zhi Cang Tian could tank bosses by himself, but they would need others to help him share the burden of his fatal skills.
However, one annoying aspect of the dungeon was that its defense wasn’t fixed but was a percentage-based damage reduction.
This greatly diminished the advantage of high-enhancement, high-damage equipment.
All the bosses in the dungeon were high-health, tanky creatures with zero defense.
Simple difficulty dungeon bosses had their damage taken reduced by 20%.
This meant if you had 100 attack, hitting them would only deal 80 damage.
Expert difficulty dungeon bosses, however, had their damage taken reduced by a whopping 80%.
While high attack still had an advantage, the damage dealt would be significantly reduced.
For example, if someone had 100 attack, hitting the boss would only deal 20 damage.
If another person had 200 attack, they would deal 40 damage to the boss.
There was still an advantage, but the final damage output between the two was very close.
This setting in Heavenly Dao dungeons was also a balancing system.