Chapter 1 Experimenting with the Dungeon

After sending off the Overmar emissary, Han Xiao went to find Mad Knife and the others, preparing to experiment with the dungeon generation function.

His personal guinea pigs were just so useful.

Arriving at the next room, the four weren't home. Han Xiao scratched his head, took out his tablet, and called up all the hidden surveillance cameras in the shelter. The system filtered faces and quickly locked onto their locations. Maple Moon was learning to synthesize new recipes with Ye Qing, the potions emitting rolling green mist. Standing next to them were several simple-looking players, probably there to test the potions, unaware of what they were about to face...

Haotian was at the arena stage... bah, guarding the stage. As a professional大神 (*dashen*, expert), he had high standards for himself, never forgetting to hone his skills.

Mad Knife was being used as a punching bag by Hela. Hela followed Han Xiao's suggestion and found an Esper as a sparring partner to develop her abilities, beating Mad Knife in eighteen different ways. Aurora sat in her wheelchair, holding her bear cub, watching from the side. Meatbun was enthusiastically recording the scene. He was quite familiar with Mad Knife, and seeing him beaten beyond recognition made him very happy... Perhaps this was friendship.

Han Xiao headed to Hela's room, calling the other four along the way.

Just entering the yard, a black shadow flew overhead. It was Mad Knife's Angry Blade. Without thinking, he reached out and pulled him down from the sky.

Hela stopped her attack, her floating red hair falling down, returning to its curly, waist-length state. The red light in her eyes dissipated. Han Xiao looked at the miserable state of Mad Knife and nodded secretly. This was the kind of Hela that discouraged people in his previous life.

The bear cub on Aurora's lap struggled to sit up and fell to the ground, rolling around before waddling over to Han Xiao. It hugged his leg and climbed up him, hanging around his neck like a backpack, swaying back and forth. The bear cub was well-fed and well-housed, and its weight had almost doubled.

Han Xiao raised his hand and slapped the bear cub away. Then, he looked at the combat information on the panel. The bear cub was level 18, four levels higher than when he first brought it back. Its breed was a Clawed Ice Bear, and its growth potential was not bad.

Hela's expression was complex. She was full of hatred for Germination, but she never thought that such a behemoth would be completely destroyed. All that hatred vanished with the earth-shattering explosion. She couldn't help but recall their first meeting. Who would have thought that the pale and weak test subject would achieve such legendary feats a year later?

Seeing her strange expression, Han Xiao took out his tablet, brought up a few photos, and handed them to Hela. The photos were taken by the Six Nations' drones, showing the ruins of Germination's headquarters after the nuclear explosion, a stretch of black scorched earth.

"Bombed like this, they're basically all dead. If Germination still has remnants, they're just small fries on the periphery, so don't worry about Germination making a comeback, unless they're tired of living." Han Xiao paused and said, "You used to be a member of Germination and were on the Six Nations' wanted list, but now you're my people. The Six Nations won't target you anymore."

Hela frowned, "I didn't say I wanted to be your subordinate."

Aurora raised her small hand, "I want to be."

Hela was annoyed and reached out to mess up Aurora's hair. Aurora's hair had grown out recently, her golden short hair covering her ears.

They chatted for a while, and Haotian and Maple Moon arrived, secretly anticipating good things since Han Xiao usually summoned them for good reasons.

Han Xiao used the dungeon generation function, thought for a moment, and extracted the Dark Crow Valley Operation to form a dungeon crystal. This level was suitable for the players' current skill level.

[Lv30 Dungeon Crystal - [Dark Crow Valley Operation]]

[Introduction: The Dark Crow Valley base, a sub-base of the Germination organization located in Southern Continent, was destroyed by Star Dragon and Sea Xia. This will be your test.]

[Type: Time Reversal Dungeon]

[Current Number of Clears: 0]

[Highest Dungeon Completion: No Record]

[Record Holder: None]

"Dungeon Crystal?" The four looked at each other.

The average level of the players was currently around level 30, and they were starting to come into contact with dungeons. Currently, Planet Aquamarine had found eleven fixed dungeons, meaning that the same dungeon crystal could be obtained from a certain character through repeated quests. They were basically all from various factions, small dungeons for a five-man team.

A new dungeon meant new opportunities. After the four completed it and received their rewards, a white diamond crystal appeared out of thin air in their hands. As long as they crushed it, they could enter the dungeon.

Mad Knife immediately said, "This is a five-man team dungeon. Let's pull in another person and see if we can get the first clear."

Because of Han Xiao as a connection, the four often played together and were now all acquaintances.

Haotian nodded, "Okay, I'll pull in Huang Tian Dang Li from the Sky Domain guild."

The others had no objections. The four went to the square and waited for a while. Huang Tian Dang Li came running over excitedly, beaming with joy. God Haotian was his idol. His idol was bringing him to play, and he was very happy.

The five formed a team.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Mad Knife crushed the crystal, and a cloud of mist enveloped the five of them, disappearing in the crowded square.

...

The five felt a blur before their eyes, and the surrounding scenery changed to a dense forest. It was night, and it was difficult to see their own fingers.

Time reversal dungeons recreated past experiences, allowing players to participate in the events.

A prompt appeared on the panel.

[You are soldiers of the Dark Crow Valley base. Sea Xia and Star Dragon forces are about to invade. Your mission is to protect the Dark Crow Valley base as much as possible.]

[Dungeon Preparation Countdown: 10 minutes]

[Dungeon Objective: Survive until the end of the event, Reward: 15,000 experience]

[Optional Quest i: Kill five Star Dragon or Sea Xia special agents, Reward: 30,000 experience]

[Optional Quest 2: Protect the base's true intelligence from being leaked, Reward: 45,000 experience]

[Optional Quest 3: Pan Kuang and Ji Jie survive to the end, Reward: 70,000 experience]

[Optional Quest 4: Repel the Star Dragon-Sea Xia allied forces, Reward: 110,000 experience]

[Dungeon Failure Condition: Total Annihilation]

"Such high rewards!" Huang Tian Dang Li was shocked. As a core member of the guild, he had seen a lot. The level 30 dungeons that players had come into contact with generally only had two or three quests, and the rewards added up to only 70,000 to 80,000 experience. This dungeon actually had five quests, and the rewards were so high!

On second thought, Huang Tian Dang Li's expression became serious, "But the more rewards there are, the higher the difficulty is."

The other four looked at each other, looking puzzled.

Uh, is that so?

It didn't feel like Black Ghost's missions were difficult at all...

"We're different." Meatbun said earnestly, unwilling to correct Huang Tian Dang Li.

Mad Knife looked at the prompt and exclaimed, "The dungeon doesn't start until ten minutes later, but we can move freely now, what does that mean?"

This was the first time they had encountered a dungeon with a countdown to start. They were a little confused.

In reality, only dungeons with higher difficulty would have a countdown. The entry point was some time before the start of the event, giving the players time to prepare. This was also the case this time. The time when the dungeon started was precisely the night when the Sea Xia special agents were about to steal the intelligence. Players had the opportunity to stop them. If the beginning of the plot was changed, the entire dungeon would be reduced from hell difficulty to hard difficulty, but the panel did not prompt this, so the players had to figure it out on their own.

In the future, after Han Xiao opened this dungeon, the players in the shelter suffered madly hundreds of times before finding the correct starting method.

At this time, the five naturally did not know the importance of these ten minutes. They started the dungeon in a conventional way. However, this was their first time exploring, and this kind of complex dungeon was completely different from that kind of monster-killing dungeon. The sense of immersion and playability were higher, and the difficulty was also higher. The five were suffering and happy at the same time, running around like headless flies, only able to follow the tasks assigned by the base and constantly patrol.

So, one day passed. The next night, during a routine patrol, Meatbun was suddenly blown away.

[Your teammate [Meatbun Beats Dogs] has died]

"What the hell?!" The remaining four were shocked and hurriedly looked around. However, the dense forest was deep, the night was dark, and the wind rustled the leaves. They had no idea where the enemy was.

Bang! This time it was Haotian's turn to be headshot. The three were on high alert, their faces tense.

Haotian's voice sounded in the team channel, solemnly saying, "The panel prompted me that I was attacked lethally. Black Ghost killed me!"

The three were shocked. So this was a dungeon with Han Xiao present! And he was in the enemy's camp!

The morale of the crowd plummeted.

Han Xiao's dungeon generation function extracted a section of an event and automatically generated a task. The characters in the dungeon were all mirrors, acting according to the original plot, and had nothing to do with the real person. Their strength had a certain dungeon bonus.

Three gunshots rang out in succession, and the three all died. A blur appeared before their eyes, and they returned to the square. They had spent a day in the dungeon space, but only ten minutes had passed outside. The flow of time in the dungeon space was different.

[Dungeon [Dark Crow Valley Operation] failed]

[Dungeon Cooldown Time: 3 hours]

The five all smiled bitterly.

This was too difficult. They didn't even know how they died.

...

On the other side, Han Xiao saw the five return from the surveillance and confirmed that the dungeon crystal was effective, and began to think.

"Dungeon crystals can only be released through missions and cannot be sold for money alone. My use for them is to gather more players and provide them with more benefits. This way, I can command players to do things even more, and players can learn about my deeds through dungeons, raising my status. These are all relatively hidden benefits... However, dungeon crystals cannot be sold and cannot generate direct benefits."

Han Xiao suddenly stopped, slapped his head, and laughed, "Oh, I thought wrong, I don't need to sell them at all..."