196: Chapter 196 The bewildered guide: Are you kidding me?

In reality, it was perfectly logical for the Reception Envoy to have such an ominous premonition.

The uneasy expressions on everyone's faces surely meant that some unexpected situation had occurred.

Behind Zhang Jian, where there had originally been two Sword Puppets following him, now only one remained.

Moreover, its entire body was covered in dense marks, and it looked as though it had sustained significant damage.

Combining this information, the Reception Envoy had every reason to believe that this Hell-level Dungeon run must have been a failure.

Yet, this outcome actually made him breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, Zhang Jian had created so many miracles one after another, advancing triumphantly all the way.

He was afraid that if a failure occurred midway, Zhang Jian wouldn't be able to accept it, would be suddenly crushed, and would never recover.

This wasn't him being overly anxious; there were simply too many such examples.

Countless young people who seemed radiant and exceptionally talented in the Early Stage...

...if their path was too smooth, they were prone to developing the illusion that everything was trivial and that there was nothing in the world they couldn't accomplish.

And once they suddenly encountered failure, it would completely overturn their self-perception, causing irreparable damage.

The Reception Envoy did not want Zhang Jian to encounter such a mindset problem. Today's failure was, in fact, a good thing.

He hurriedly went up to meet them, patted Zhang Jian on the shoulder, and consoled him, "It's fine if you didn't succeed this time; we can just try again next time."

However, after he finished speaking, he felt as if the air had suddenly become quiet.

The few people, who had previously looked dejected, all raised their heads and looked at him with very strange expressions.

Zhang Jian was also completely bewildered, looking at him in surprise. "We've already received the evaluation, so what do you mean by 'try again next time'?"

The Reception Envoy's expression froze. "You didn't fail?"

Wang Fei frowned, his expression somewhat speechless. "Who told you we failed?"

The Reception Envoy felt cold sweat quietly trickle down his forehead, and unconsciously, his voice became quieter. "Then why are you making those faces..."

Wang Fei suddenly realized. "We don't look happy, not because the Dungeon run failed, but because we realized our own shortcomings and are reflecting on them here."

The Reception Envoy felt his brain wasn't working well enough.

Clearing a Hell-level Dungeon on the first try, successfully obtaining the highest evaluation, and achieving a Breakthrough beyond the Professional limit—this was a success that countless Professionals wouldn't even dare to imagine.

Moreover, this was a team of Rank 40 Professionals completing a Rank 60 Dungeon while exceeding their Rank.

With such an achievement, instead of enjoying the joy, you all feel that you have shortcomings and are here reflecting?

The more the Reception Envoy thought about it, the more he felt the logic was off. He turned his gaze to Zhang Jian with a puzzled expression, as if wanting to say: Are you kidding me? Or are you just humble-bragging and showing off in front of me?

Seeing the Reception Envoy's brain crash, Zhang Jian knew he must have misunderstood. He hurriedly explained the situation, and the others also kept adding details from the side.

A few minutes later, the Reception Envoy's eyes gradually cleared as he understood the ins and outs of the matter.

It turned out that although the team had successfully cleared the Hell-level Dungeon and received an Extreme-level evaluation, the process hadn't been smooth sailing.

Previously, in earlier Dungeons, relying solely on the two Sword Puppets and the team's coordination was basically enough to push through all the way and clear the Dungeon smoothly.

But this time, they had encountered quite a few difficulties.

First, the defensive power of the Rank 60 monsters was significantly higher, and monsters at the Leader level and above possessed various damage reduction and shield skills.

Even with the super-strong offensive ability of the [Fearless Sword Puppet], it could still deal decent damage, but achieving the previous crushing, bulldozer-like dominance was no longer easy.

And the [Guardian Sword Puppet], facing the monsters in the Dungeon that had undergone various enhancements, could no longer act as the anchor at the very front without having its defense broken, as it had before.

In the face of various elemental damage and true damage, it struggled to hold its ground alone.

Especially in this Dungeon, the number of monsters had increased compared to before, and their attack efficiency and methods had improved significantly.

The group was careless for a moment and failed to protect the [Fearless Sword Puppet], allowing it to be swarmed by monsters, which wiped out its HP and turned it into a pile of mechanical scraps.

Although Zhang Jian had promptly retrieved most of the pieces and salvaged the main Materials, without the output of the [Fearless Sword Puppet], Zhang Jian had to step in personally to finally clear out the remaining monsters one by one, which allowed the whole team to barely secure the Extreme-level evaluation.

Although the result was good, the process left everyone feeling deeply ashamed. Wang Fei was especially self-reproachful, feeling that he hadn't fully familiarized himself with the entire Dungeon flow and had underestimated the strength of the monsters, which led to such a mistake. That was why the atmosphere had been so heavy just now.

After understanding all this, the Reception Envoy was left both laughing and crying. "My little ancestors, do you really think the monsters in a Rank 60 Large Dungeon are as easy to bully as low-level little rabbits?"

"Being able to achieve this much is already an achievement that countless top-tier Rank 60 Professionals cannot imagine. Are you really planning to rely on two Rank 40 Sword Puppets, without any further upgrades, and clear the way all the way through?"

His words made Zhang Jian's eyes light up. That's right. No matter how impressive the Sword Puppets were, they were only Rank 40.

If they were upgraded to Rank 50 or even Rank 60, as long as they didn't exceed the monster's Rank, they would still enjoy additional evaluation bonuses.

And as the Rank increased, the base attributes of the Sword Puppets would also see a significant boost. Furthermore, the unlocked equipment could provide even more groundbreaking enhancements.

Just because there was a Bottleneck in clearing Dungeons above their Rank now, didn't mean it would be the case in the future. Besides, while two might struggle with Large Dungeons, clearing 5-person normal-type Dungeons shouldn't be a problem.

Moreover, this was only with the two he had brought. If the other teammates each brought one as well, their combined combat power would be much stronger, and perhaps they could still achieve the same easy, sweeping effect as before.

The more Zhang Jian thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. He became eager to test it out. After quickly explaining it to Wang Fei, the other party's eyes also lit up, and he was filled with excitement. He didn't even have time to explain in detail to the Reception Envoy before he led the group away in a hurry.

The Reception Envoy watched the group's backs as they rushed off, feeling somewhat dazed. Just a moment ago, they were all dejected, so why were they suddenly as energized as if they'd been injected with adrenaline, so excited? Had they really found a solution in such a short time?

He felt an itch of curiosity and was just about to follow them to see what Zhang Jian and the others were going to do, when his personal terminal lit up with a dazzling red light. He looked down and saw a message from Xuan Jizi: "Come find me immediately, there is an urgent matter!"

The Reception Envoy's heart tightened; he dared not delay and immediately rushed toward the location where Xuan Jizi was.

...

Thanks to Wang Cheng Zhu from Snow Mountain Temple for the like.