Chapter 125: A Man's Dignity > Equipment

“Player Chen Yun has completed the nightmare-level dungeon ‘Crystal Palace’ prologue—Survive. Mission completion rate: 100%. Rewards: 350,000 experience points, 50,000 gold coins, one pink-tier equipment matching the player’s class, and one pink-tier mount item.”
“Player Chen Yun has reached level 19.”
“The Crystal Palace dungeon is now closed.”

Sitting in the car, Chen Yun exhaled deeply. Today’s dungeon run was incredibly intense—life and death hung by a thread. If he hadn’t timed it perfectly to summon the Sky Combat Vehicle to block the boss’s ultimate attack, there was no way he could have passed.

Every dungeon, no matter the difficulty, has a way to clear it. Whether a player succeeds depends on whether they can discover and seize that method.

“As expected, fortune favors the bold,” Chen Yun muttered, staring at the purple-glowing items and equipment in his inventory, mouth watering.

This run alone had leveled him up by four levels. After defeating the boss, he received two pieces of purple-tier equipment, three purple-tier items, and one pink-tier piece of equipment. Coupled with the quest rewards, it was a massive haul!

It seemed that grinding dungeons was the best way to level up and acquire gear. Seeing he was just one step away from level 20, Chen Yun was eager to keep going.

“Player Chen Yun does not meet the level requirement of 25 to enter the first chapter of the ‘Crystal Palace’ dungeon, ‘Resurrected Chancellor Turtle.’”

He couldn’t get in! There was a level restriction!

Chen Yun thought it over—it was only natural. Dungeon entries in games always have restrictions, either level or attempt limits. He had been greedy. Today’s gains were already substantial; one had to learn to be content.

Back to the hotel.

Once in his hotel room, Chen Yun lay on the bed, replaying the day’s dungeon run in his mind.

In games, countless players share strategies and experiences about boss fights and dungeon runs. But in reality, he was alone, with no one to exchange insights with. He had to think things through and accumulate knowledge himself. Tonight’s dungeon had revealed much to him.

First, dungeons have difficulty levels. So far, he knew of the nightmare mode.

Second, dungeons impose level requirements—you can’t enter without meeting them.

Third, dungeons are story-driven and lengthy. Today’s completion of the Crystal Palace prologue was only about 5% of the overall plot. By that logic, even reaching level 70 might not guarantee clearing the entire dungeon.

Fourth, every dungeon difficulty has a way to complete it. If you find the key and follow through, even nightmare mode is conquerable.

Fifth, and most important, dungeon rewards are lavish—experience, gold, items, and equipment. These are what drive players to keep playing.

Remembering this, Chen Yun realized he hadn’t yet examined the boss loot. He quickly opened his inventory.

“Millennium Turtle Egg: Purple cooking ingredient. When cooked and consumed, grants +300 defense; eaten raw grants +100 defense. Recyclable. Recycle price: 10,000 copper coins.”

“Millennium Turtle Shell: Purple armor crafting material. Requires advanced blacksmithing to use. When crafted into armor, adds +500 physical defense and +500 magical defense. Recyclable. Recycle price: 20,000 copper coins.”

“Chancellor Turtle’s Official Cap: Purple item, one-time use. Using it bestows the target with great official luck. Cannot be used on self. Non-recyclable.”

“Crystal Pendant: Purple equipment. Usable at level 15, female only. +20 charm, +10 luck, passive skill: Crystal Barrier—blocks one attack under 50,000 damage daily. Durability 100/100. Recyclable. Recycle price: 15 gold coins.”

“Chancellor Turtle’s Hardened Copper Hammer: Purple equipment. Usable at level 15, for mages only. +100 physical attack, +250 magical attack, +20 intelligence, +25 vitality. Durability 100/100. Recyclable. Recycle price: 15 gold coins.”

“Turtle Crown: Pink equipment. Usable at level 15, no class restrictions. +50 intelligence, +50 spirit, +500 physical defense, +500 magical defense, +5 luck. Durability 200/200. Recyclable. Recycle price: 15 purple gold coins.”

...

Chen Yun stared dumbfounded at the pink equipment in his hand, nearly biting his tongue off.

A green hat!

What the hell, Turtle Crown? This was basically a bright green sun hat!

System, damn you—this has to be deliberate! The very first pink-tier item I get is a green hat with such great stats? This is blatant temptation!

But no! I’m not falling for it. Even if it gave me +5000 intelligence, I would never wear a green hat!

This was a matter of male dignity, unrelated to power!

He tossed it into his bag without a second thought and immediately chose to recycle it.

“System recycling pink equipment ‘Turtle Crown.’ Gained 50 purple gold coins and 10 reincarnation energy. Inventory upgrading...”

Inventory upgrading? Chen Yun was momentarily stunned, then overjoyed. His inventory was nearly half full—dozens of slots in use—and opening more was expensive beyond his means. He hadn’t expected there was another way to upgrade the bag besides paying.

“Inventory upgrade complete. Current inventory slots increased by 100%, total slots now 38. Next upgrade requires 50 points of reincarnation energy.”

Thirty-eight slots would suffice for a long time. But the system mentioned reincarnation energy, which seemed hard to obtain. It looked like only recycling equipment yielded it. He wondered if recycling purple-tier gear would grant reincarnation energy. Thinking this, Chen Yun recycled the Hardened Copper Hammer from Chancellor Turtle—it had class restrictions, so he couldn’t and didn’t want to use it. Carrying two big hammers into battle? Just the thought was embarrassing.

“Recycled Chancellor Turtle’s Hardened Copper Hammer. Received 15 gold coins.”

That was it?

Nothing else?

Chen Yun was speechless. It seemed only recycling pink-tier equipment granted reincarnation energy. That was a steep price. Pink-tier gear was the mainstream elite player equipment. Above that were epic and legendary gear. So far, Chen Yun only had a pink-tier advancement book for cultivators, but couldn’t use it due to class differences—showing just how rare pink-tier and above items were.

“Oh right, didn’t the dungeon rewards include two matching equipment items? Let me check.”

He took out the two dungeon reward items and froze at the sight.

“Power Lance: Pink equipment. Usage requirements: level 15, strength 70, vitality 50, restricted to spear-class professions. +260 physical attack, +200 magical attack, +70 strength, +50 vitality, unlimited ammo. Durability 500/500. Recyclable. Recycle price: 15 purple gold coins.”

“Judgment Sword: Pink item, exclusive weapon for the Sky Combat Vehicle’s ‘Optimus Prime’ transformation. Non-recyclable.”

My goodness, even the Judgment Sword from Transformers 5 is here? System, are you aiming for the heavens?

Chen Yun was about to examine it when he suddenly recalled how huge the Judgment Sword was. Taking it out might crush the hotel room in an instant, so he put the thought aside.

“Sky Combat Vehicle detected matching item — Judgment Sword. Automatically equipped. Sky Combat Vehicle entering first upgrade state, duration 24 hours. Mount usage disabled during upgrade.”

Chen Yun was stunned. His mount was going to upgrade? It was already powerful now; what kind of strength would it gain after upgrading?