29: Chapter 29 Second Trial Dungeon

Soldier training, day two.

Fu Hao had originally planned to distribute an exclusive hunting ground pass to each soldier, but he changed his mind at the last minute. This was because, during last night's live stream, the moment ratings skyrocketed was precisely during that heart-pounding "100-person simultaneous enhancement show."

Although he had already hoarded hundreds of passes to train Jin Hao, it would be more entertaining and save time on commentary if he distributed them through a "lucky draw box" event on stream.

He piled the 800,000 novice lucky draw boxes into a small mountain, mimicking the way he had stacked the enhancement stones yesterday.

["Jin Hao" donated 50 Yuan — (Today is Slave Draw Day)]

The soldiers looked at the massive mountain of boxes, dazed, their expressions full of confusion just like when they first saw the enhancement stones yesterday.

Fu Hao cleared his throat and asked: "Does anyone know what an exclusive hunting ground is?"

"..."

No one answered; the soldiers silently shook their heads.

He then continued to explain: "Exclusive hunting grounds are magic circle hunting zones specifically set up by royals and nobles to accelerate the early growth of their kin. Originally, only noble descendants were allowed to use them. But with this—" he held up a pass, "anyone can enter."

The golden, shimmering pass wobbled gently in the air, capturing everyone's attention.

"Ohh—"

A low murmur of surprise rippled through the crowd; although not exactly excited, it was clearly filled with envy and anticipation.

"With your current equipment, your leveling speed is already two or three times faster than others, but entering the exclusive hunting ground can shorten the time by 5-10 times."

The soldiers' gazes were almost reflexively focused on that pass, their eyes burning with such intensity that it felt as if they could snatch it away if they just got a little closer.

If there had only been one, they would have likely fought over it right then and there.

"And the way to obtain a pass..." Fu Hao shifted his tone, pointing to the mountain of lucky draw boxes, "is to open these boxes! The lucky draw boxes will randomly contain various items, including the passes. The person who draws the most will receive an extra reward—10,000 gold coins! Begin!"

As soon as the command was given, the soldiers rushed forward like a tide. A cacophony of noise erupted, and the scene descended into chaos. The mountain of boxes diminished at an astonishing speed.

"As expected, having 100 people opening boxes together is highly efficient." Fu Hao smiled to himself.

One hour later, the 800,000 boxes were completely cleared, and all items were neatly stored in Fu Hao's inventory.

"Good job, everyone." He consoled the excited soldiers while taking out the passes from his inventory and handing them out one by one—that's right, only one per person.

"Thank you, sir!"

Even though they suspected they had been "tricked," the soldiers still wore expressions of undisguised joy as they accepted the passes.

"Guild Master, Fu Hao is handing out exclusive hunting ground passes! If players use them, they only last 10 minutes, but NPCs can use them permanently. Doesn't this count as a bug?"

The member monitoring Fu Hao's live stream reported nervously, his tone filled with unease.

Phillips watched the screen, his eyes as calm as water: "So he really is taking the exclusive hunting ground route... Don't worry, we have a dirty trick to deal with it."

Although he had accepted the mission to assist the Second Prince, the failure penalty was extremely severe—expulsion from the Rowen Kingdom. If Fu Hao were to fail, he could still find another way out; but he, Phillips, was a baron who had been rooted in the Rowen Kingdom for a long time, and he could not afford to lose this gamble.

That was precisely why he had carefully taken this step after thoroughly analyzing the live stream content and repeatedly discussing it—there was no turning back now.

His plan was simple and brutal: utilize the monster characteristics of the exclusive hunting ground, which had been accidentally discovered by guild members, to launch a large-scale raid on those 100 soldiers. Although it required mobilizing a large number of high-level players and consuming a significant amount of resources, it would all be worth it if he could achieve his goal.

"Is the entrance to the hunting ground sealed?"

"Yes, no one can enter. That place was discovered by Laila when she got lost; ordinary players can't find it, so there is no risk of exposure for now."

The plan was proceeding smoothly, but there was still a key issue: even with full preparation, it would be difficult to surpass the qualitative change brought about by enhanced equipment and the exclusive hunting ground bonus. Therefore, the only opportunity was to strike after the soldiers left the hunting ground—when they reached level 100 and transferred to a normal hunting ground, he would send people to "interfere."

"The Prince and his close guards make killing the soldiers nearly impossible. But disrupting their rhythm outside the hunting ground is still doable." Phillips narrowed his eyes, "Even if Fu Hao hides deep, he cannot deceive the Prince's intelligence network."

"If the live stream captures the moment he is expelled from the kingdom... that would truly be interesting."

The corner of his mouth lifted, as if he could already see Fu Hao's downfall.

At this moment, Fu Hao, wearing level 120 gear (not novice gear), quietly appeared at the entrance of a trial dungeon.

While the soldiers were leveling up in the exclusive hunting ground, he decided to challenge new content, and the "Second Trial Dungeon" was his target for the day.

Standing before the dungeon signboard, he opened the dungeon information, and the interface displayed the description and leaderboard:

Trial of the Troll

Entry conditions: Below level 130, 4-person party.

Trolls are clumsy and slow, but possess terrifying strength and amazing health recovery capabilities.

[Shortest Clear Record]

1st Place Lv.125.3 Trial Maniac (and 3 others) 0:46:32:014

2nd Place Lv.128.1 Barbara (and 3 others) 0:46:55:212

3rd Place Lv.130.0 Blue (and 3 others) 0:47:05:441

...

The player at the top of the list, "Trial Maniac," was a viewer who had donated during his challenge of the Novice Trial. Leonhardt's name, however, was not on the list—he had already exceeded level 130 when he discovered the dungeon, and there were quite a few trial dungeons he had missed.

"Trial Maniac... will you watch the live stream today?"

Ever since that Novice Trial, Trial Maniac had completely disappeared from the viewer list. Perhaps it was because the content of otherworld》 was too complex, and he was only interested in trial dungeons, causing him to gradually lose interest in Fu Hao's diverse live stream content.

Fu Hao couldn't help but wonder: If he broke the record, how would the other person react?

He took a deep breath, pulled up the live stream settings, changed the title, and decisively clicked "Start."

[Live Stream Started]

[Live Stream Title: Second Speedrun Challenge]

- "Here!" × 999

["Class" donated 50 Yuan — (Challenging a trial dungeon today? That's great!)]

- "What trial dungeon?"

- "Is the soldier training over?"

"I don't have much to do until the soldiers reach level 100, so I'll just catch up on the backlogged dungeons and content."

He said, walking toward the dungeon signboard and opening the interface: "This is—Trial of the Troll."

- "Trial of the Troll!"

- "Did you form a party?"

- "Trial Maniac is ranked first, you know!"

- "What about Leonhardt?"

- "Leonhardt can't play this."

"I'm starting to form a party now. If communication is poor during the party or in the dungeon, please bear with me."

["Class" donated 50 Yuan — (If you party with Fu Hao, isn't a speedrun title guaranteed?)]

- "So envious!"

- "Where is this? Location please!"

- "I just hit level 131... I missed it."

- "4-person dungeon, is a solo carry speedrun possible?"

"I will play with viewers in the future, but today I'll try with a random party first."

- "Random teammates will definitely mess up!"

- "Is Fu Hao doing this on purpose, looking for strangers?"

At the dungeon entrance, several groups of players were enthusiastically forming parties. There was no town, nor was there a hunting ground; obviously, they were all here for the trial.

Fu Hao walked up to one three-person team: "Hello."

"Ah, hello." One person responded, appearing to be the leader.

"May I ask if there is an empty spot in your team? I want to challenge the Trial of the Troll."

"We have one spot left, but what is your level? What is your class?"

"Level 100, manufacturing hidden class."

"...Level 100? Sorry, we only accept teammates above level 125."

"Although my level is lower, my titles and equipment allow me to output combat power above level 125. You can test it..."

"Sorry, please go ask another team." The other party refused decisively.

- "Wow, rejected..."

- "They'll definitely regret it later!"

- "Reality is like this, level decides everything."

Fu Hao shrugged and turned around helplessly, but behind him came a few disdainful sneers:

"Tch, a level 100 trying to leech a dungeon run."

"Didn't you read the guide? Trial dungeons aren't for playing around."

"A manufacturing class is still a manufacturing class, even if it's hidden. What kind of combat power can it have?"

"With that level and class, where does the confidence to join a party come from?"