At the University of Arts and Sciences.
Lin Jie was very depressed. After he sped back, even the school gate was closed, let alone the dorms. The security guard was an automated machine and only made exceptions to school leaders. He sighed and gave up.
There were only two options for him now: Internet cafe or hotel.
“Lin Jie… is the gate closed?” Bu Yi asked softly. “I’m sorry that you were late.”
Bu Yi lived in the Academy of Arts that only closed at 03:00 a.m. That was totally different from the University of Arts and Sciences, which closed the gate at 23:30 sharp. That was the reason why she was accompanying Lin Jie here. Jiang City had a 24-hour subway, which made transport very easy.
“It’s okay. I’ll get a hotel. I will send you back first,” said Lin Jie.
“I can go back by myself.” Bu Yi declined the offer.
“It’s too dangerous,” insisted Lin Jie. How could he allow a girl he liked to go on the subway at night after watching some adult shows with impure content?
“Okay fine.” Bu Yi nodded.
Lin Jie started driving and sent Bu Yi back to her dorms.
“Bye!”
“Bye…”
After Bu Yi left, Lin Jie found a hotel and settled down. It was just beside the school and relatively cheap.
The owner of the hotel was surprised that Lin Jie was alone.
However, it was not soundproof at all! People at the Academy of Arts were very open, and it was not rare for them to have some romance blooming.
Lin Jie was in agony. He could feel the vibration hitting his bed and shaking his ceiling. If he opened the window, he could even hear the moaning like they were having a competition on it—the environment was just terrible!
Lin Jie had a hard time falling asleep, and it was morning before he knew it. The owner was shocked to see Lin Jie’s heavy eyebags.
“What a lousy place!” Lin Jie scolded softly. He bought some breakfast and went back to school. He did his morning routine exercise and quickly went back to sleep.
Zheng Ziliang gave an evil smile when he saw Lin Jie’s face. Lin Jie knew what Zheng Ziliang was thinking, but he was too tired to argue with him!
He had a terrible dream.
Lin Jie dreamt that he was sleeping in a hotel, and people were making weird noises all around him! He woke up with frustration and logged into the game. He decided to sleep in the game instead.
…
—”Welcome back to the City of Light!”
Ding~
—’System announcement: Fifth Main Plot Dungeon [Hell Gate] is now available! Warriors, go and defend the land of Light!’
At last, the final Main Plot Dungeon!
Other maps involved in the Dungeon-group and War of Light were all available now. Players could choose any maps they liked for rewards. They could even encounter Rare Elites and random treasure chests.
Lin Jie looked at the map. All he was concerned about was the location of his Broken Blade’s blade!
The blade was located behind a door after the final Boss!
Hell Gate’s final Boss was the Demon of Destruction—a Hero Boss that was comparable to the NPC Wind Rider Sword Saint! With Hell Gate’s release, the game was full of people again. Very Fat, Dark Earl, and Dumb Fox all invited Lin Jie to clear the dungeon together.
This dungeon belonged to Savage Blade! It would be their sole honor!
The team was soon assembled, and they gathered at the Hell Gate’s entrance.
It was a gigantic gate surrounded by the smell of death. Tyrese’s army and other NPCs were there too. These were the NPCs summoned by players. If they did not use them before, they could ask them for help in the Hell Gate.
“Do we need to summon NPCs?”
“No need, let’s go.” Lin Jie led the team into the Hell Gate.
Ding~
—’You have entered [Hell Gate]. There are 395 teams right now.’
—’You have arrived at the Demon of Destruction.”
Demon of Destruction sat on the throne and asked, “Human, are you here for your death?” This was the final Boss!
“Leave the dungeon, now!” yelled Lin Jie.
Although they had no idea what happened, they listened to Lin Jie anyway.
There were a total of five maps for Hell Gate. They would be teleported to a random map when entering the dungeon. It was not reasonable to face the final Boss before clearing the other maps as they needed some essential items from those maps.
“Wow, so fast?” Dumb Fox was about to lead the Steel Allies into the dungeon and saw Lin Jie coming out from the portal 3 seconds after he entered.
“Yeah, got first clear,” said Lin Jie with a straight face.
“Really?”
“Of course not, duh,” replied Lin Jie with a tone that was mocking Dumb Fox.
Dumb Fox had an impulse to scold him.
“Bye. I’m busy.” Lin Jie entered the map again.
—’You have entered [Hell Gate]. There are 457 teams right now.’
—’You have arrived at Ice Castle.”
It was an iced world with an iced castle.
Ice Castle was the land of Ice Half-Centaur. These centaurs were captured by the Demon of Destruction and sacrificed their power and souls to the Abyss Totem.
Ice Castle, Lightning Swamp, Fire Summit, and Gale Region were the Hell Gate’s four maps. If a player did not have Divine equipment yet, it was not advisable to bypass those maps and fight with Demon of Destruction.
“What? The map changed?” Zheng Ziliang was surprised.
Netherblue said, “Seems like Hell Gate has multiple maps. It is just one of them. Game’s official website does not have any information. We have to play by ear.”
Qiu Yuan said smilingly, “I think the system purposely put the Demon of Destruction’s map as the first one so that many guilds would straight away start with the Boss. Needless to say, the Boss would get very overpower after some time and wipe out the entire team.”
Lin Jie raised his eyebrow and praised her. “Wow, you understand the game so well now?”
“The system tricked me too many times!” replied Qiu Yuan.
Qiu Yuan had returned to Savage Blade with her Book of the Undead Age. Her damage output was sufficient now and barely used any mana. She held an important role in the team now.
Dark Priest was the only job in The New Age that could use the skill Magic Transfer, which could channel her mana to a target ally. That was why many teams would need a Dark Priest as a portable mana potion. They would ignore the low Attack of the Dark Priest in such cases.
However, Qiu Yuan had an incredible damage output!
“You are right. There is a lot of scolding on the game’s official website now. There are many teams that got wiped out more than 10 times in less than an hour,” said Netherblue.
“Okay, let’s do work while the rest are still being dumb,” said Lin Jie.
Ice Castle’s internal structure was simple. The main road led to the center of the castle, and there were many branch routes around it. There were chances of spawning Rare Elites, Rare Bosses with low combat power, treasure chests, and other items. It also contained many clues in the Ice Castle. The more clues collected, the more the Boss could be weakened.
The main idea of Ice Castle was to find clues and weaken the Boss! That was the idea of Hell Gate too.
It was not difficult to come up with that conclusion by extending the clearing method of Ice Castle to other maps.
“Get buffs, drink potions. Star Kill, we go pull them,” said Lin Jie. Everyone started drinking Ice-Resistance Potions and used other scrolls.
Hardworking Pants started forging runes on the ground. After five minutes, a 6 yards by 6 yards rune was formed.
[Life Blessing Rune]: When you are near it, MaxHP increases by 300.
Scrolls, potions, runes, and enchanted materials were very rare and usually not used for normal maps. But it was essential in clearing the dungeon as a slight difference in the stats could have a different outcome.
Lin Jie and Star Kill left the group and walked towards the group of Half-Centaurs.
[Ice Half-Centaur]: Level 65 Elite. Health Points: 180,000
12 Half-Centaurs formed a group. The Half-Centaur had cold blood running in their veins, and thus their bodies appeared to be blue. They used Ice Javelin, which could be reformed by magic after it was thrown.
Pitter-patter… Pitter-patter…
Star Kill walked towards one of the Half-Centaurs on the outside. The Half-Centaur seemed to sense movement around it and started to become uneasy.
“I’m ready,” said Star Kill.
“Wait!” Lin Jie stared at Star Kill with his eye turning red. Star Kill was taken aback.
“Imaginary Eye!”
Under the effect of Imaginary Eye, a small black-robed Half-Centaur appeared.
