Many First Turn players secretly harbored resentment toward Yu Zhun, believing he had dragged them into an unwarranted disaster.
However, Liu Xiongfei had fought his way up from the bottom to become the chairman of a Four-Star guild. His perspective was fundamentally different from those of ordinary mediocrities.
Did Server 23993 suffer no losses by issuing the First Turn [World Slaughter Order]? Of course they did. It was just that they were far stronger than Blue Star and didn’t fear the cost. Yet, this very fact highlighted a crucial point: in the eyes of the powerhouses on Server 23993, Yu Zhun was a threat worth such a massive sacrifice, someone they would mobilize the power of an entire world to destroy!
Often, those who understood you best weren’t your friends, but your enemies. The more exaggerated the targeting Yu Zhun faced, the more it proved how highly Server 23993 valued him—and the more it demonstrated his terrifying potential!
This wasn’t the first time in Blue Star’s history that another server had issued a First Turn [World Slaughter Order]. The last time occurred decades ago, when Blue Star was far weaker than it was today, yet humanity had stubbornly pulled through. Liu Xiongfei happened to be someone who had lived through that era. Thus, he knew one thing for certain. The person who triggered the last [World Slaughter Order] was now Blue Star’s number one Strongest! As long as Yu Zhun survived this, his future would be limitless!
At this moment, Liu Xiongfei was simply thankful that he had forged a measure of friendship with the [Godslayer] guild in advance. This friendship might turn out to be useless, but it could also yield unimaginable returns in the future!
"Chairman Yu, when are you scheduled to begin the dungeon?" Liu Xiongfei asked with a chuckle.
"Tomorrow at ten in the morning."
"Is that so?" Liu Xiongfei was slightly surprised. He had assumed the [Godslayer] guild would be able to cut in line again this time. But upon closer thought, he immediately understood the Divine Revelation Hall’s intentions.
"That works out well," Liu Xiongfei smiled. "We happen to be right before you. We’ll be going in at nine tomorrow morning.
"We can set an example for you then.
"If we encounter any abnormal issues, we can share them with you so you can avoid unnecessary detours."
"Thank you so much." Feeling Chairman Liu’s goodwill once again, Yu Zhun couldn’t help but feel flattered.
"It’s a small matter, just a small matter," Liu Xiongfei laughed heartily.
The next second, another voice came from the side. "Are you Yu Zhun?"
Yu Zhun followed the voice and saw the speaker. It was a white-haired young man wearing glasses, dressed in a Mage Robe, and holding a Magic Staff.
[Shalaven, Lv34]
Beneath the slightly reflective lenses, Yu Zhun saw a pair of eyes scrutinizing him. "Could he be here to condemn me because of the First Turn [World Slaughter Order]?" he thought. But the man didn’t quite look the part. Guessing the stranger’s intentions, Yu Zhun nodded calmly. "I am."
"I am Shalaven, the strategy analyst for the [Stargazer] guild." Shalaven paused briefly. "Were you the one who achieved the perfect clear of the [End of the Red Land]?"
Hm? The [End of the Red Land] Dungeon? A hint of confusion flashed in Yu Zhun’s eyes, while a look of realization dawned on Liu Xiongfei beside him as he recognized the man’s identity.
"Chairman Yu, here’s the situation," Liu Xiongfei quickly explained. "When you first approached us, we were in the middle of competing with the [Stargazer] guild for the perfect clear of the [End of the Red Land]."
"I remember now." Prompted by Liu Xiongfei, Yu Zhun immediately recalled the incident. When he and the wealthy lady were discussing the matter with Liu Xiongfei, a vice-chairman of the [Moon-devouring Celestial Wolf] guild had come in and mentioned the [Stargazer] guild’s raid team.
In fact, the other party’s adjusted strategy had already faintly grasped the inkling of a perfect clear. Given a little more time, they might have actually perfected the [End of the Red Land].
"You were the strategy analyst back then?" Yu Zhun looked at Shalaven.
"That’s right. If your First Turn Trial hadn’t matched you with the [End of the Red Land], allowing you to decipher the answer from a different angle, I would have beaten you to it. My level restriction meant I could only conduct off-site strategy analysis." A competitive glint appeared in Shalaven’s eyes. "Since you’re here too, let’s compete again!
"Let’s see who can clear the [Celestial Nether Lone Star] first!
"I won’t take advantage of you, either." Shalaven spoke rapidly. Without waiting for Yu Zhun to reply, he pulled out a stack of documents. "Your [Godslayer] guild hasn’t been here for the past few days.
"These are the [Stargazer] guild’s strategy materials. Take them, and we’ll be starting from the same starting line." Shalaven pushed up his glasses. "Yu Zhun, do you dare to compete?"
Yu Zhun was speechless.
Staring at the documents presented before him, he felt a bit dazed. "Did this guy just bust out his internal data for the sake of fairness?" he thought.
"Chairman Yu," Liu Xiongfei tugged at Yu Zhun’s sleeve and whispered, "This Shalaven has quite a background. His strategic abilities are genuinely impressive. He has previously achieved perfect first clears on multiple dungeons, including a 4A difficulty first clear on a Lv40 dungeon! The materials he’s offering are highly valuable."
Hearing Liu Xiongfei’s words, Yu Zhun felt a newfound respect for this young man named Shalaven.
"There’s no need for the materials." After a moment’s thought, Yu Zhun pushed the offered documents back. "Although we weren’t here previously, I already have some data on hand. It’s enough."
He wasn’t just being polite. For a dungeon that had never been cleared before, Yu Zhun preferred not to be influenced by others’ lines of thinking. After all, he had experienced being misled by strategies in the past.
"If you say so, fine." Shalaven snorted softly and tucked the documents back into his coat.
"I don’t mind if you want to compete," Yu Zhun said, looking at him. "But... shouldn’t there be some stakes?"
"Stakes..." Shalaven’s expression froze at the word, as if he hadn’t considered this question at all before coming over.
Seeing this, Yu Zhun couldn’t help but shake his head. "In that case, let’s talk about it after the dungeon is cleared."
Waving goodbye to Liu Xiongfei, Yu Zhun walked past Shalaven and headed straight back to the [Godslayer] guild’s camp. He planned to analyze his strategies a bit more. However, before he could even pick up his documents, a message popped up in front of his eyes.
[Yu Zhu: [Equipment Shared]]
Clicking on the shared equipment, Yu Zhun was slightly stunned.
Lv10 Master Level weapon, [Blazing Fire Slash Sword].
"This thing..." he thought. "Is this dropped by the Blazing Fire Demon Rhinoceros, one of the three major Bosses in the Newbie Area? Has that little girl Yu Zhu already reached this stage on her first day in the Divine Revelation World?!"
[Yu Zhu: Yu Zhun, Yu Zhun! I’m already Lv7! Now one Healing can deal 23,040 damage!]
"Holy crap!"
Seeing the message she sent, Yu Zhun’s mouth twitched uncontrollably. Didn’t that mean none of the three Newbie Area Bosses could withstand two of Yu Zhu’s [Healing] skills?
He had [One-Hit Kill], which allowed him to dispatch Bosses easily. But Yu Zhu didn’t have a Mechanism-type talent. How could she deal such insane damage? Was this the SSS-level talent [Extremes Lead to Opposites]?
Yu Zhun couldn’t help but ask Yu Zhu for the specifics, and Yu Zhu, who had just discovered a new way to use her talent, was equally eager to share her new findings. A moment later, Yu Zhun rubbed his cheeks in disbelief.
Yu Zhu’s talent... was even more astonishing than he had anticipated.
First were her healing skills. Based on Yu Zhu’s description, Yu Zhun was almost certain that the Life Value reduction caused by her healing skills ignored defenses and shields, and could even bypass damage mitigation. After all, it was a direct reverse-restoration of Life Value; it didn’t count as damage at all. In a way, just like Yu Zhun’s [One-Hit Kill], this was practically a Mechanism.
Then there were the buff skills Yu Zhu cast on targets. They were called buffs, but due to her talent’s effect, the skills actually reversed the enhancement, making them equivalent to debuffs. But here was the truly broken part. Whether a skill was a buff or a debuff wasn’t determined by its actual effect, but by the inherent nature of the skill itself.
When Yu Zhu used [Encourage], it reduced the target’s attack, but that didn’t change the fact that it was classified as a buff skill. It was a reversed buff, not a debuff. Therefore, it couldn’t be dispelled by [Purification]!
Were there any skills that could dispel buffs? At least as far as Yu Zhun knew, there were none. Thus, the negative effects Yu Zhu inflicted couldn’t be purified!
A thoughtful look appeared in Yu Zhun’s eyes. Previously, because Yu Zhu was going to choose the Priest class, he hadn’t bothered telling her about the [Nether Trial].
But now... With Yu Zhu’s strength reaching such an absurd level, obtaining a [Nether Trial Invitation Letter] would be a piece of cake.
[Yu Zhun: Let me tell you something...]