Chapter 126: Breaking the Consciousness Seal
"Franklin, you came just in time. Mith said our progress is pretty fast, and since we're a five-person team, our combined strength is quite high. She heard from other players during the closed beta that there's a small dungeon area not far from this town. This morning, the two of them already located it roughly. The monsters inside are all level five or higher, and the mini-boss even reaches level thirteen. How about we head there before others arrive and open up the treasure chests? There should be plenty of useful items inside."
After listening to Bulma's brief explanation, Franklin looked helplessly at Mith, whose eyes were practically glowing.
"Are you sure about that? We're only level six right now, and Asuna's level is just five because of the party experience split. Going to such a dangerous place—if the three of us get hurt or die, it's fine, but if you or Asuna die, it'll be for real."
Franklin's words poured over her like a bucket of cold water. Mith's excited expression froze instantly.
"What's the big deal? I'll protect Asuna. Lin, you're strong enough to handle the dungeon monsters on your own, right?"
Since Lala had already spoken, Franklin could only nod helplessly. "Alright then, that's the plan. It's one in the afternoon now—let's try to clear the dungeon before dark."
Once everyone finished preparing, they set out quickly. Along the way, under Mith's suggestion, Asuna handled all the small monsters herself—poison bees, wild wolves, and boars. It slowed them down a little, but it was a good way to help Asuna quickly sharpen her combat reflexes.
"Asuna, don't rely too much on the system's automatic assists. That makes your movements too stiff. You can push yourself to move ahead of the system—use your own motion to drive its assistance. That way, not only will your speed increase, but the skill delay will also shorten significantly."
Hearing Mith's advice, Franklin finally understood why Asuna's movements had seemed so awkward. He had thought she was just uncoordinated, but it turned out she had been relying too heavily on the system's support.
After Mith's reminder, Asuna's movements immediately became much smoother. The poison bees she had struggled to hit before were now being taken down swiftly, and their pace picked up noticeably.
Lala, who had initially clung to Franklin's side, soon moved to stand next to Asuna as the number of monsters increased, practicing how to protect her in battle.
After about twenty minutes, the group of five arrived at a hidden hillside in the forest, where an underground passage led straight downward.
"This is it. Should we rest for a bit first, or go in now?"
Drawing his Guardian Sword, Franklin stepped toward the entrance without hesitation.
"I'll go in first. You guys take a short break. I haven't really done much on the way here, so I'll scout ahead."
Mith tried to stop him, but Bulma pulled her down to sit on the grass outside the cave. "Don't worry about him. If he dies, he'll just log out of the game—it's not like anything real will happen.
Besides, this game was designed for ordinary people. His neural response speed is thousands of times faster than theirs. Those monsters are basically moving in slow motion to him. If it weren't for the level cap, Franklin could literally crash the game with his strength."
Seeing how relaxed Bulma looked, Mith could only suppress her worry and sit down as well.
Inside the cave, Franklin adjusted to the dim lighting and began moving faster, carefully observing and memorizing every detail of his surroundings. Suddenly, a goblin wielding a hoe lunged out from a hidden corner—but Franklin, already on guard, cut it cleanly in two with a single stroke.
Noticing more movement deeper in the corner, he spotted five more goblins hiding in the shadows. Franklin grinned.
He had been wanting to test what You Wange meant when she said that swordsmanship could actually be trained and improved within this game world.
He raised his sword and slashed. A faint glow flashed along the blade. Unwilling to give up, Franklin tried again, focusing on recreating the feeling of releasing sword energy in reality.
This time, a streak of sword energy shot out—but it vanished about three meters away, as if being suppressed by the game's system.
Still, that was progress. He could work on the range later—what mattered most was grasping the sensation. Franklin charged toward the five goblins.
At a distance of three meters, he swung again. A flash of white sword energy sliced through the air, cutting the goblin neatly in two.
After swiftly taking down all five goblins, Franklin struck open a locked chest. With each strike, he became more attuned to the rhythm of releasing sword energy.
If he continued training this way, Franklin believed that once he left this game world, his swordsmanship would advance tremendously. Someday, cleaving mountains and slicing through the stars would no longer be just a dream.
Meanwhile, outside the dungeon, Mith and Asuna were stunned as they watched their experience bars rise rapidly. Their earlier worry had completely turned into curiosity.
"Lala, Bulma, maybe we should go down too. The battle below sounds intense—Franklin might need our help."
Seeing their curiosity, Bulma stood up and reached for Lala's hand.
"You're right. Let's go have a look."
Bulma and Lala remained completely calm as they descended, with Lala even taking the time to examine the glowing crystals along the tunnel walls to identify what kind of minerals they were.
Mith and Asuna, on the other hand, were a bundle of nerves, gripping their weapons tightly and staying alert at every sound.
"There's an opened chest here," Bulma said. "Gather up the loot. Our weapons grow with us, so aside from recovery potions and teleport crystals, most of the other items aren't very useful for us. You two can take whatever you need and trade for better gear later."
Mith didn't stand on ceremony—she swept all the items into her inventory before they continued downward, collecting the opened chests Franklin had left behind.
Deep within the lowest chamber, Franklin stood in a vast hall. Of the six tunnels branching out, five were spawning monsters—ten in each, all level eight goblins.
As fifty goblins rushed out, Franklin frowned. Something was off. The spawn rate was too abnormal, and the monster levels were absurdly high. This was still near the starter town—no normal party could handle this kind of horde.
With the goblins closing in, Franklin had no time to think further. He dropped his body low, the Guardian Sword poised at his waist. As he sprang upward, every muscle in his body surged with power, channeling it all into his swing.
A white flash burst forth—a massive crescent-shaped wave of sword energy tore through the air, expanding rapidly. Every goblin was sliced cleanly in half in an instant. The energy wave continued onward, striking the dungeon's solid map boundary.
Streams of digital data flickered wildly before the sword energy finally dissipated. The system's protection barrier for the map began to weaken and slowly fade.
Franklin's nearly full level-seven experience bar shot upward—he instantly leveled up twice, reaching level nine.
He turned toward the only tunnel that hadn't spawned monsters, curiosity sparking in his eyes, and slowly began walking inside.
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