secret dice.

Chapter 802 Strenuous? Indeed, strenuous!
"Disappeared...when did this happen?"

Everyone immediately started searching through the message logs and found a notification they had indeed overlooked when they left the palace. Simply put, after the challenge was interrupted, all items and equipment obtained from the monsters in the lord's room would disappear, and the monsters would respawn the next time they entered the lord's room.

"It seems we'll have to face that lion-headed monster again next time we go down..." Shi Lei frowned. "The mechanics of this lord are that unless you completely defeat it, you have to start all over again..."

"This is good news," Georgia, the leader of the Federation, said with a smile. "Although we can't accumulate battle results, we can accumulate experience. Since the outside world can forcibly interrupt the challenge after it is activated, we can eventually find their weaknesses by conducting enough experiments."

"The key is that after the challenge is interrupted, all the monsters, including the lord, will revive and enter a berserk state," Thomas said. "If it weren't for that masked guy blocking our way, we probably wouldn't have even been able to escape through the main hall!"

"You still have too few people." Harrison, the Golden Beard, at the pinnacle of the Exile, sneered, "If the main force goes in, even if we can't complete the challenge, we can still hold off the pursuit and retreat to the sidelines."

Kubal, the pinnacle of the Primal Continent, nodded: "Looking at it this way, the difficulty of this level is not as great as we imagined."

"Don't let your guard down," the Ice Queen suddenly spoke.

"You've all experienced the difficulty of the previous level. Although we were only responsible for the strategy against the Toad Ancestor, the process went smoothly, but it was by no means easy. This is just a leader-level monster, lower in level than a lord, and belongs to the branch boss category. Although there is the factor of level suppression, judging from the feeling of fighting, the power of that giant toad itself has already touched the threshold of ascension."

"Based on experience, the difficulty of the 50th floor is much greater than that of the 49th floor. Moreover, we haven't seen any branch bosses similar to the 49th floor yet, and the difficulty of reaching the lord's room is not high. So far, it seems that the difficulty of challenging the 50th floor is almost entirely concentrated in the lord's room."

Upon hearing this, Shi Lei frowned and said, "Aunt Xue, you mean..."

“You’ve only fought two of those monsters. If you haven’t found their weaknesses, you probably won’t have made it past any of them.” Granny Chiyo, the pinnacle of Yingzhou, chimed in: “Lord Yuki’s words are very clear. Your escape from the lord’s room this time was purely by chance. Trying to figure out the lord’s tricks through repeated trials is too dangerous.”

“Chiyo is right.” The Ice Queen nodded. “There are three things we need to do now. First, share the information we have with the official strategy team, who are still the main force in the strategy. Second, strive to improve our own level and increase our strength while minimizing the impact of level suppression. Third, contact Night as soon as possible; the ascension of a martial arts expert can significantly improve our team.”

“The first two things are easy to handle… about ‘Night’…” Duan Feilan hesitated, “Do you think he might be trapped in the lord’s room? After all, he faced so many monsters alone, and we didn’t see him come out later…”

"Impossible!" Mu Ning was the first to retort, "You can't see the length of his health bar, so you have no concept of it... That health... I can't think of anything that could kill him..."

"Is it really that exaggerated?" the others exclaimed in astonishment.

Mu Ning's pretty face rarely showed such an impatient expression: "I'm too lazy to explain to a bunch of blind fools like you..."

"Tch, so what if you have big eyes..." Thomas muttered under his breath, pursing his lips.

"Then let's contact the raiding party first. Those with extra experience can go to the training ground to improve," Shi Lei summarized. "While we're at it, let's go to the guild headquarters and take on some high-experience missions... The amount of material rewards isn't important; we'll select based on experience. As is customary, the raid the day after tomorrow will only clear the outer perimeter of the fiftieth floor; we won't actually enter the palace. When it's over, we'll do more missions to level up."

Everyone went off to prepare, except for Luo Jun and Mu Lanshi who stayed behind.

"What's the situation outside?" The Ice Queen called the two to her side. She had been in this world for more than twenty days. Logically speaking, with one Yu Hua already lost, sending in two juniors would be of no use at all.

“The president and the others are very worried about you,” Mulan Shi said. “Right now, the outside world has no idea what’s going on here.”

"Then he should come in and see for himself!" The Ice Queen sneered, "What's the point of making things difficult for you?"

"Um... I got in by accident..." Mu Lanshi said with a wry smile, "This Luo Jun is the one who was entrusted with an important task by the president..."

"You? What's your background?" The Ice Queen looked at Luo Jun with some suspicion. When Luo Jun was dueling with Ling Yao and showing his strength in front of many Yu Hua, the Queen had already entered this world, so she didn't have a deep impression of Luo Jun.

"I am a student of Ningdong Academy..." Without Luo Jun's guidance, Aishilia didn't know how to introduce herself.

"Oh, I remember now..." the Queen exclaimed suddenly, "The one who solved the endless maze and rescued Old Yuan, right?"

“Yes, yes…” Ashlia nodded. It was best that the other party had a concept and he didn’t need to explain further.

"I've heard Xiaolan mention you." After all, she was Xuelan's grandmother, and the Ice Queen still cared about her granddaughter: "Oh, I came in so quickly that I didn't even finish watching Xiaolan's match. How did she rank in the Tianyuan Tournament? How many rounds did she make it to?"

“This…” Ashlia hesitated for a moment, but still answered honestly, “She made it to the quarterfinals, but was eliminated in the semifinals.”

The Ice Queen's eyes lit up: "Not bad, better than I expected... The Tianyuan Tournament has been quiet for so long, and there are still quite a few young peak players participating this year. It's already very good that she achieved this ranking. By the way, which peak player eliminated her?"

“Um…” Ashlia glanced at Mulan Shi, who wisely turned her head away, looking elsewhere as if it were none of her business.

"Yes...it was Xue Lan who I eliminated..." Ashlia could only answer honestly.

"You?" The Ice Queen frowned and used her Eye of Insight on Ashlia.

"18,000 health points...30,000 mana points...you're also a peak-level player?"

Upon hearing the Ice Queen's words, Mulan Shi turned around and looked at Luo Jun in surprise. She activated her Eye of Insight and discovered that she could indeed see his attributes!

"You actually possess peak strength?" Mu Lanshi was extremely shocked. "Also, what about your shielding ability?"

“Um… I traded it to Ye too…” Ashlia lied casually. “She was at her peak, so it’s not unreasonable for Xiaolan to lose to you.” The Ice Queen nodded: “The final champion was that kid from the Ling family, right? Although he’s young, his talent is truly one in a century, far ahead of his peers. After reaching the Ascension Realm, he’s invincible…”

“He’s no longer below the Feather Transformation level,” Ashlia said honestly. “He broke through to the Feather Transformation level in the semi-finals… and then conceded in the finals, and I won the championship.”

"Huh?" The amount of information was too much for even the Ice Queen to process all at once: "No... I feel like there's something wrong with my ability to understand language... Once we get back to the main world, I need to watch the replay of this Tianyuan Tournament..."

“Um… Your Majesty the Ice Queen…” Seeing that the other party had finally stopped asking questions, Ashlia remembered what Luo Jun had told her.

"Don't call me that, that's just a nickname people give me. Adding 'adult' makes it sound awkward." The Ice Queen waved her hand. "My full name is Sherry. If you don't mind that I'm old, just call me Aunt Sherry like they do."

Although the Snow Queen is already a hundred years old, she looks only around forty years old because of her ascension to immortality. In addition, she is naturally beautiful and has a more mature and charming appearance.

“Aunt Xue, I’ve come here because there’s something I want to confirm with you.” Ashlia recounted the story of the God of Wealth being murdered and the killer escaping into this world.

"Is that so?" the Ice Queen exclaimed in surprise. "Zhao Gongming is dead? Didn't he resurrect in the blood pool?"

"Resurrection?" Ashlia asked curiously, "Do you mean the Blood Pool of the Hellstream Clan? Does Zhao Gongming have a spot in the Blood Pool?"

“He’s a federal citizen and incredibly wealthy. He rents the Blood Pool from the Hellstream family every year. How could he be killed so easily?” The Ice Queen frowned. “Didn’t they renew the lease this year?”

"According to our investigation, he indeed did not renew his lease this year." Mulan Shi, an official at headquarters, had reviewed the investigation report: "The Hell Creek family holds a Blood Pool Ceremony at the beginning of each year to determine the number of participants for the Blood Pool that year. The God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming, did not participate..."

"Why was he killed this year because he didn't buy a spot?" The Ice Queen frowned. "Could this guy have faked his death and stolen the money?"

"The body has been confirmed to be genuine," Mu Lanshi said. "Moreover, the items originally belonged to him. If he didn't want to give them away, no one could force him to hand them over after he passed away. There was absolutely no need to stage this whole thing."

"This is indeed a bit strange..." The Ice Queen frowned. "But this world is different from other worlds. Perhaps due to the limitations of its rules, I cannot sense the aura of other beings at the Ascension level..."

"I see..." Ashlia nodded, somewhat disappointed.

"However, based on the information we have so far, conquering the fiftieth floor might be our chance to leave this world," the Ice Queen added.

"What?" Mu Lanshi's eyes widened. "You can leave after clearing fifty floors?"

"This is just speculation," the Ice Queen said. "According to records, historically, after successfully conquering every ten floors, a portal to other worlds would appear. Some people have left through these portals and never returned. Others, people or creatures from other worlds, have entered the Tower of Babel through these portals and engaged in battles with the mercenaries and armies of this world. Therefore, the Oran Empire is always extremely cautious when conquering every ten floors, making thorough preparations in advance and reserving extra troops to deal with any potential enemies."

"Why haven't I seen these in any related books?" Mu Lanshi asked curiously.

“These are guild and empire secrets,” the Ice Queen said. “Only S-rank mercenaries are qualified to access them.”

“We don’t know where the opened interdimensional gate leads, but at least it’s the only clue we have to leave this place.” As she spoke, she looked at “Luo Jun” and said, “The murderer you’re tracking will most likely also use this route to leave.”

"So the key is still conquering the fiftieth floor?" Mulan Shi pondered, glancing at "Luo Jun" beside her, and found that he was not surprised at all by the Ice Queen's words.

"You already knew?"

You can leave once you clear the fiftieth floor. Aiselia had already heard Luo Jun mention this before. When faced with Mulan Shi's question, she was slightly taken aback, and then said, "Oh, I have a guess."

"As expected of someone who can clear the Endless Maze, very perceptive," the Ice Queen praised.

"I will process your joining the team as soon as possible. Your levels are too low, and you can't keep up with the progress of the strategy. The challenge of the fiftieth floor is imminent. Even if you two are strong, or even at the peak level, you will have a hard time making a difference on the fiftieth floor due to the level suppression. My suggestion is that you do not participate in the challenge of the fiftieth floor the day after tomorrow. Prioritize leveling up, at least to level 50 or above."

"After the day after tomorrow, once the guild has a basic understanding of the 50th floor, they will definitely release relevant tasks. By then, when your levels are up, you can follow the main group to do tasks and gain experience, which won't be so dangerous."

"Understood." Mu Lanshi nodded. She had exhausted her magic power dealing with a single monster at the entrance to the fiftieth floor. Although Luo Jun possessed peak abilities, the level difference would likely make it difficult for him to defeat the powerful monsters inside...

"It's really quite strenuous..."

In the fiftieth level of the desert, Luo Jun, wearing a mask, looked at a giant desert lizard slowly collapsing before him and couldn't help but sigh.

"No matter how high my attack power is, under the restrictions of the game rules, I can only kill one monster with one punch. The efficiency is too low..." As he spoke, he turned around and saw a large number of monster corpses lying haphazardly behind him.

"Looting corpses is also hard work, no wonder everyone likes to team up. In critical moments, you need someone to help out." As he spoke, he checked each of the monster corpses, turning them into materials and equipment, and put them into his backpack. But he had only cleared half of them when his backpack suddenly showed that it was full.

Upon opening, the hundred slots were completely full, with a small "99" in the lower right corner of each material, indicating that the stacks had reached their limit.

"I remember... there should be an item that can expand the backpack?" Looking at the remaining corpses that hadn't been completely looted, Luo Jun shook his head with some regret: "Let's go back downstairs and reorganize first."

With that, he took to the air and flew toward the entrance to the fiftieth floor.

(End of this chapter)