Chapter 417: The Players' Demon Hunter Advancement
Second-class advancement quests were, in truth, nearly identical across professions—most required slaying a designated number of monsters or defeating specific bosses. Zhou Ning clearly remembered how, when he'd first designed the Demon Hunter profession, he'd been forced to personally kill eight boss-level monsters. It had been exhausting.
Testing the system now, Zhou Ning discovered that as the sole class mentor for the Wandering Gunslinger, he could edit the advancement quest himself. However, the system automatically evaluated quest difficulty—he couldn't make it too hard, but it couldn't be trivial either.
Of course, he had no intention of gatekeeping the players. After a moment's thought, he decided to set the Demon Hunter advancement quest simply as clearing the dungeon "Destruction of Austin Manor." Party play was allowed. That way, even players outside the Starry Sky Guild would have a viable path—an old monetization trick from his past life's pay-to-win games.
The dungeon contained four bosses: two cult lieutenants and the dark priests Niam and Gaskell. They ranged from level 38 to 45, and if the party cleared it fast enough, a hidden boss—Professor Bislok, level 62—would appear. Surviving for three minutes against him would complete an optional objective. Naturally, the advancement quest didn't require his defeat.
For players at this stage, the dungeon was difficult but doable. It had been released nearly three weeks already, and not a single team had fully cleared it yet. Hardly anyone was even running it anymore—unacceptable! If things were too easy, people never valued them. Players needed to suffer through some failed runs and a bit of loss to understand how much effort had gone into making the Wandering Gunslinger's glory possible.
Zhou Ning placed the freshly written Demon Hunter Advancement Scroll into the guild store, priced symbolically at just 200 contribution points. Any member could easily afford it through guild quests or donations.
He wasn't planning to make money off the advancement quest itself—when it came to milking players, one had to do it with class. The real profits would come from dungeon summoning stones, not to mention the influx of demand for new equipment, skills, and alchemy potions—all of which the guild store conveniently stocked. Together, they formed a new commercial cycle. Even from a thousand miles away, Zhou Ning could still "harvest the crops."
Right…
Speaking of Professor Bislok—Zhou Ning suddenly remembered. The man possessed an Unknown Relic called Boudica the Archer's Self-Slaying Crossbow, a weapon capable of extracting and imprisoning souls. It sounded like the perfect fit for collecting the thirty-six wicked souls required for Transcending Heaven.
At present, Professor Bislok was rotting away in a Darkland prison, and that relic was likely in the hands of the Sunwatchers or the Ascetic Church. But within the Destruction of Austin Manor dungeon, another version of Professor Bislok existed!
Of course, a dungeon of this level couldn't possibly drop the original Unknown Relic—only a nerfed transcendent weapon with the same traits, and even then at a low drop rate. But based on experience, the reduced stats would mostly affect attack power and debuffs, not the soul-extraction property.
Decision made.
He'd run the dungeon himself a few times—and bring along Little Deathwing to level up. The poor hatchling had been following him forever without a single chance to shine.
Zhou Ning pulled out the dungeon summoning stone for Destruction of Austin Manor and activated it.
[Lv36–Lv62 Dungeon Summoning Stone — "Destruction of Austin Manor"]
[Description: Once a base of the Life Alchemy Society and the Curse God Cult, Austin Manor is overrun with cultists. Eliminate as many as possible before the timer runs out.]
[Type: 5-player Recall Dungeon]
[Current clears: 0]
[Highest completion: 72% — Team "Super Sweet Candy"]
[First clear: None]
For Zhou Ning, the dungeon level was too low to yield much experience, thanks to scaling penalties. He just hoped the weapon would drop soon.
After touching the small obelisk and confirming entry, his vision flashed—and his figure vanished from sight.
…
A flicker later, Zhou Ning found himself back in the familiar halls of Austin Manor. He knew this place inside and out.
Once the countdown ended, the dungeon began.
Ignoring the long chain of system prompts, Zhou Ning summoned Little Deathwing, set it to follow mode, and dashed straight into a cluster of level-36 elite mobs, drawing their aggro.
Without pause, he sprinted toward another patrol group. As soon as the enemies spotted him, they began casting Shadow Bolts and Fireballs—but by the time the spells launched, Zhou Ning was already out of range, continuing onward.
Soon, every guard and patrolling cultist in the area was chasing after him—swords swinging, spells flying. Even two cult lieutenants were among the crowd. The once-quiet manor now resembled a chaotic marketplace.
Zhou Ning herded all the mobs together, kiting them toward the two dark priests, Niam and Gaskell. The swarm surged like a tidal wave. He waited a few seconds until every last enemy was clustered close—then activated Silver Light Falling Blade and slammed into the ground.
The explosion lifted every enemy into the air, bosses included. Immediately, Zhou Ning triggered Seventh Wing Movement, weaving through the air while unleashing a hail of bullets. Black-red feathers scattered everywhere before detonating in a storm of damage.
In seconds, the entire mob—bosses and all—was obliterated.
Little Deathwing, following behind, instantly leveled up five or six times from the massive experience gain.
Niam dropped an off-hand grimoire that boosted magic damage—worth at least a hundred Veckta. Zhou Ning pocketed it without hesitation.
He checked the clock: less than two minutes. The mob EXP was negligible, but the objective reward alone granted nearly 300,000 experience—not bad for such a short run.
Next up was the hidden boss—Professor Bislok, wielder of Boudica the Archer's Self-Slaying Crossbow.
The fight was over quickly. A level-62 normal boss posed no threat whatsoever. Zhou Ning activated his Vengeance skill, and in under twenty seconds, Bislok was down. Dungeon cleared.
Unfortunately, no weapon drop this time.
No matter—running dungeons was free, and he had all the time in the world.
…
Meanwhile, players browsing the guild store soon noticed a brand-new advancement scroll on the shelf—and were thrilled.
Over the past few days, several other classes had already unlocked their second advancements, leaving Wandering Gunslinger players anxious and impatient. Now, out of nowhere, their long-awaited chance had finally appeared.
And at just 200 contribution points—it was practically a gift.
The players swarmed the guild store in excitement.
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