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Chapter 3
Hatchet
Because there was no help from teammates, the clones who first entered the dungeon struggled greatly, barely managing to survive even against the lowest-level bandit minions. Several times, they narrowly escaped death.
Fortunately, the monsters in the Level 1 dungeon were not very intelligent. After a fierce battle, your clone managed to defeat them.
Your clone gained 10 experience points. However, a mere 10 points brought no noticeable change to your clone's abilities.
Although your clone felt a wave of despair, under your earnest urging, he once again approached the other gangsters in the bandit village.
Three days later, relying on his ultimate kiting skills, your clone finally killed all the bandits in the village, reaching Level 2 in the process.
Feeling the power surging through his body, your clone smiled happily.
However, the smile soon faded.
It turned out that as your clone's level increased, the experience gained from killing Level 1 bandit minions dropped—from 10 points per kill to just 5 points.
Even after wiping out all the bandits, your clone failed to reach the next level.
With no other choice, and to gain more experience while avoiding the harsh penalties brought by level increases, your clone gritted his teeth and ventured deeper into the heart of the bandit village...
Soon, he encountered a group of Level 2 monsters—patrolling bandits.
Facing these more powerful enemies in large numbers, your clone quickly realized he was helpless. In order to save his own life, he decisively terminated the instance and barely managed to escape.
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"...Not only are the dungeon bosses unbeatable, but without strong talents or teammates, even the low-level minions are deadly?"
Link rubbed his forehead, exasperated.
Because the dungeon was abandoned midway and the boss was never even encountered, your clone only acquired a few relics from the defeated bandits and a meager 125 experience points. This created a massive gap between him and the other students.
Your clone sold all the relics, scraped together 200 yuan, and managed to buy a Black Iron-level skill book: Charge, from the school's internal trading platform.
After learning the Charge skill, it was immediately upgraded under the influence of your talent "Enhanced Charge" to a Bronze-level skill: Enhanced Charge.
> Enhanced Charge (Bronze Level) LV1:
Launch a powerful charge to strike the opponent, dealing an additional 50% physical damage, knocking back and stunning the target. The knockback distance and stun time depend on the strength difference between the two sides.
With the Enhanced Charge skill in hand, your clone brimmed with confidence, believing he would definitely find a team willing to recruit him for the next dungeon run.
At this point, Link recalled that in this world, dungeon entries weren't unlimited.
Whenever professionals entered a dungeon, they had to consume Shelter Points to resist the dimensional suppression from space travel— even the strongest sky-level professionals were no exception.
Unless they used special dungeon props, the only way to restore Shelter Points was through natural recovery.
Purely relying on natural recovery meant it took at least one week to fully recover. In other words, each awakened individual could only challenge a dungeon once a week.
If one wanted to become a powerful awakened professional, it was crucial to maximize gains from every single dungeon attempt. Especially for talented students, falling behind even slightly in the early stages was a huge blow to their future potential.
> "So... those who awakened in the sewers, just like Lin Qingyu said, are practically doomed to be failures."
Link sighed inwardly.
> "And even with an Enhanced Charge skill, thinking the clone could easily find a team... that was way too optimistic."
With these thoughts, Link continued reading.
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After four days, your clone's Shelter Points were fully restored.
Returning once again to the bustling Dungeon Square, your clone proudly raised the banner advertising his Enhanced Charge skill, hoping to attract a team.
However, he had overestimated the value of a Bronze-level skill.
In a top-tier university like Donghua, students were either wealthy or highly talented. Most freshmen had already completed their first dungeon runs and obtained significant rewards—Bronze-level skills were no longer rare.
In this environment, a Level 2 clone, with no equipment, competing against freshmen who were, on average, Level 4 and already equipped with at least basic whiteboard gear, was simply worthless—worse, a burden.
Unsurprisingly, by the time the bustling square had emptied, your clone still hadn't found a team willing to accept him.
Seeing this, your clone gave up on teaming up altogether. He opened the Bandit Stronghold dungeon again and charged in alone.
With his new skill, dealing with Level 1 bandit minions was now easy. Although each kill only granted 5 experience points due to level penalties, your clone spent an entire day methodically clearing them out.
Pushing deeper into the bandit village, he used Enhanced Charge to kill three patrolling bandits, attracting the attention of the Third Leader of the village.
Your clone boldly tried using Enhanced Charge on the Third Leader.
When he saw that the attack only barely scratched the enemy's HP, your clone wisely chose to exit the dungeon immediately.
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"..."
"In two dungeon runs, I didn't even reach Level 3, let alone get a single piece of whiteboard equipment."
"Meanwhile, those elite students who joined clubs and formed teams reached Level 4 or higher after their first dungeon and obtained Bronze or even Silver-tier equipment. Imagine how much stronger they'll be after two runs."
Link felt a pang of helplessness.
This Black Iron-level sewer enhancement talent really was the trash of the trash...
Fortunately, this disaster had only happened in a simulation. If Link had truly awakened such a useless ability in reality, he doubted he'd have any motivation to continue fighting at all.
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Afterward, every seven days, your clone would challenge the Bandit Village dungeon alone.
The gap between your clone and the other students grew wider and wider. By the eve of the final assessment, despite reaching Level 6, the clone received a verbal warning from the dean.
The dean told your clone he was the only student at Donghua University who had not yet completed a job transfer.
Even the student ranked second-to-last had completed theirs.
If he couldn't complete his job transfer before the final exam, he would be forcibly expelled.
Yet, your clone remained unmoved, stubbornly continuing to challenge the Bandit Village dungeon every seven days.
Finally, after the twentieth attempt, your clone achieved a breakthrough—he defeated the Third Leader of the Bandit Village in a duel!
He also obtained his first piece of Bronze-level equipment:
> Third Leader's Hatchet:
Level 3, Bronze-tier Equipment
Strength +5, Agility -1
Successful attacks deal an additional 20 points of bleeding damage.
With his level raised to 8, your clone, now equipped with the hatchet, confidently challenged the Second Leader of the bandit village.
After a fierce battle, realizing he was about to lose, your clone once again decisively exited the dungeon.
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"..."
Link fell into silence.
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