Chang Sheng stood cautiously to the side, studying Zuo Lin'an, who was sitting quietly in his chair.
At this moment, he suddenly remembered a very important piece of information he had learned from Feng Xingyun when they were cleaning the old residence on the mountain peak!
The path of survival actually had a direct relationship with the dungeon's plot.
Furthermore, the end of the small path he had found was indeed the correct location.
The path of survival was right there!
However, because he had failed to follow the plot and investigate the truth of the matter, he had ultimately failed to clear the dungeon.
He had been incredibly frustrated back then. Since it was a specter dungeon, investigating the truth of the matter was absolutely mandatory.
How could it possibly be as simple as just surviving for three days and then looking for the path of survival?
He had been too naive.
But of course, it was far too late to think about that now.
When Zuo Lin'an saw him, he casually pointed to a chair nearby.
“Sit down and let's talk.”
Chang Sheng snapped out of his thoughts. “Alright.”
Only after he sat down did he voice his doubts to Zuo Lin'an.
“Young Master Zuo, I might not be able to create puppet life-forms that meet your requirements.”
Zuo Lin'an's expression remained unchanged.
“I know what you mean. As a dungeon puppet, your state is frozen at the exact moment you failed to clear the dungeon. No matter how you cultivate, you cannot make any progress—not even a single step.”
Chang Sheng nodded. “Yes.”
Zuo Lin'an slowly shook his head.
“Normally, that would indeed be the case. But I have a way.”
In the past, when he was still a One-Star dungeon boss, he had naively believed that players could no longer grow stronger once they became puppets.
However, after obtaining his second rule and becoming a Two-Star boss, he discovered many secrets he hadn't known before.
For instance, the system's mall.
He knew that some merchandise invisible to One-Star bosses had been added to the system's mall. Whenever he had free time, he would browse through it, and in doing so, he had spotted many highly valuable items.
For example, certain special cards.
【Force Matching Card: Allows the user to lock onto a player. As long as the user opens their dungeon at the exact moment the target enters a dungeon, that player will be forced into the user's dungeon.】
Each card cost ten Contribution points.
This price was reasonable enough, but Zuo Lin'an had no use for it at the moment.
Then again, this item was perfect for dungeon bosses who wanted to collect bounties.
However, the bounty amount would have to be at least ten Contribution points; otherwise, they wouldn't even make back the cost of the card.
For example, the bounty he had previously seen on the forum.
Player Su Wanzhou possessed the unique special talent 【Our Initiative】. The bounty for capturing her alive was thirty Contribution points, while a dead target would only fetch half that amount.
In addition, there was an item called the 【Talent Restoration Card】.
As the name suggested, it was specifically designed to restore the lost talents of players who had become dungeon puppets after failing to clear a dungeon. However, this talent could only be used within the dungeon.
Once they left the dungeon, the talent would be temporarily locked and unusable.
The usage conditions were extremely restrictive, and the price was also very steep.
It required fifty Contribution points.
He was interested, but he probably wouldn't buy it anytime soon.
After all, even if a puppet had their talent restored, it could only be used inside the dungeon. In other words... unless it directly benefited the dungeon, there was no value in restoring it.
Right now, what Chang Sheng needed most was the third item Zuo Lin'an had his eye on.
It was called the 【Cultivation Card】.
This card was also restricted to puppets converted from players who had failed to clear a dungeon.
Once used, it would allow them to continue cultivating and growing stronger.
Of course, there were limitations. While they could continue cultivating, it was restricted to the power system of the player's original world.
For example, if Chang Sheng used it, he could only cultivate spells from his own world, such as his Puppet Vitalization Art and the Taoist spells known by the old Daoist.
But if he wanted to learn Feng Xingyun's martial arts and internal strength cultivation methods, that would be impossible.
As for the price...
Each card cost ten Contribution points, which didn't seem too expensive to him.
He could easily afford at least one.
Zuo Lin'an spoke slowly, explaining the details of the 【Cultivation Card】 in depth.
Only after he finished speaking did he notice that the old Daoist, Lin Xiaolei, and Feng Xingyun had gathered around at some point.
The old Daoist was the first to speak, rubbing his hands together with a grin.
“There's actually such a good thing? Uh, so...”
The old Daoist really wanted a 【Cultivation Card】.
One had to know that in his past, he had braved the wind and rain, wandering the edge of life and death for so many years. He had accumulated a vast amount of merit, all of which he had used to exchange for inheritances.
However, because he had exchanged for too many profound teachings, he simply hadn't had the time to master them all.
In the past, keeping a close eye on his limited lifespan, he had carefully selected spells that didn't require too much time to master, all for the sake of growing stronger as quickly as possible.
This was so he could protect himself and his family while properly nurturing his beloved grandson.
Even so, he hadn't forgotten the other inheritances. Even if he temporarily lacked the time to study them, he had still memorized everything in his mind.
He had always hoped that if he experienced a sudden epiphany one day, he would instantly master one of them.
He just hadn't expected to become a player.
And later, he had entered a specter dungeon, failed to clear it, and turned into a dungeon puppet.
He had originally thought he could just slack off from then on, but he never expected there to be such a wonderful item like the 【Cultivation Card】.
Now, it seemed that even without a sudden epiphany, it was fine.
Since he had gained an infinite lifespan, he could slowly chip away at these incomprehensible teachings as long as he had enough time.
As for Lin Xiaolei, he was also extremely excited.
After all, he was the one who felt the most deeply about his inability to progress.
Whether it was the old Daoist or Feng Xingyun, they had already stood at the pinnacle of their respective worlds. No matter how much they cultivated in the short term, they wouldn't make much progress anyway.
But Lin Xiaolei was different. He was still very young and had been in a phase of rapid growth.
Even just a few days of cultivation had allowed him to feel his own progress.
Yet, because his body's time was frozen, when he actually cast his spells, he found that their power hadn't increased in the slightest. This had been an agonizing torment for him.
Compared to him, the old Daoist and Feng Xingyun naturally didn't experience such a massive sense of disparity.
Seeing the longing in their eyes, Zuo Lin'an calmly looked away.
The 【Cultivation Card】 was indeed very good.
He actually wanted to buy one for everyone. After all, the stronger his NPCs were, the more perfect his dungeon would be.
Unfortunately, however...
He currently had only twenty-six Contribution points on hand.
Moreover, he needed to gather two hundred Contribution points as quickly as possible to purchase his second Sin Hunter City Entry Application, which would allow him to enter the city and acquire his third rule.
Once he did, his dungeon would become a Three-Star difficulty dungeon.
On top of that, there was still the 【Rule Sublimation Stone】 waiting for him to purchase, as his rules also needed to be upgraded.
And as he grew stronger, the dungeon itself would require further refinement.
Contribution points were truly in short supply.
He had no choice but to harden his heart.
“I know you all want one, but right now, Chang Sheng's ability is our top priority.”
“Besides, I just spent almost all of my Contribution points earlier, so I don't have many left on hand.”
Rate on N.U.
