There's a skeleton dungeon connected to my basement.

Chapter 251, The Possibility of Trait Enhancement
Peeking out the window, I saw that although the corrupted inhabitants outside had gathered and were disturbed by the commotion, they hadn't actually swarmed in.

It seems there is a hidden boundary between the Clock Tower City Management Office and the outside Clock Tower City.

Perhaps his assessment of the dungeon rules was too sharp; they weren't just randomly drawn lines, but rather a genuine system of separation.

This is a good thing, indicating that Xiao Yang is able to act more boldly within the management office.

Perhaps it's not a good thing either.

Since this area has been separated, it means that there is a high probability that one particular situation will occur.

"BOSS."

Since the rules are independent and the regions have been divided, there should be regional bosses.

There was silence for a moment.

In most cases, Xiao Yang is not afraid of the BOSS, but in some cases it can be a headache.

"If it's an epic-rank character, and not countered by Pure Silver or Corrupted Silver..."

If you need to retreat, then retreat; if you need to run, then run. At worst, you can come back and get revenge later when you've reached epic level.

"We need to be more flexible!"

Fortunately, he only came here to find a sewer map, and didn't necessarily have to fight to the death.

The excessive pressure of exploring higher levels forced even the hot-tempered monster-slaying pioneer Xiao Yang to adapt flexibly.

In the Skeleton Dungeon, he wouldn't be so easy to talk to. That place is a ruthless place where skeletons are torn to pieces, spiders break legs, and any passing slime is shaken to pieces.

All I can say is that epic items are still too difficult to obtain.

My gaze fell upon the advancement rewards: three epic items.

Life Resin

Quality: Epic

Negative: Extensive use may result in unknown contamination.
Effect: Restores a large amount of health; has a chance to grant the trait "High-speed health recovery" upon use.

Introduction: A drop of undiluted resin, while its best use is still ingestion, at least isn't so wasteful now.

Tree Puppet

Quality: Epic

Effect: Throwing this summons a treant that obeys commands; the treant's quality is determined by its surrounding environment.

Introduction: A question arises: if tree-people that grow on land are called tree-people, what are tree-people that grow in the sea called?

I understand! His name is Sea Tree Man!

Living Wood Shield

Quality: Epic

Defense: 55
Effect: Each successful defense heals yourself
Introduction: I am a piece of wood, no, I am a shield, but why am I a shield? Aren't I alive?

Three epic items appeared before me. The rewards for advancing are usually good items of the same quality, and all three epic items were quite good.

Which one should we choose?

Life Resin can not only restore a large amount of life, but its use may also grant a special trait.

It's pretty good, the biggest problem is that you might acquire a trait.

Based on Xiao Yang's experience...

"Never believe the word 'maybe'!"

Treant Puppet, an epic-tier, one-time consumable item that summons a treant.

Finally, there's the Living Wood Shield. This shield is pretty good. In terms of both effects and attributes, there's nothing fancy about it. It's a very good shield with good defense and recovery.

My gaze swept over these three things, and each of them had its own merits.

If Xiao Yang's level were lower, or if he were still in the early stages of wandering around the Skeleton Dungeon, then these three things would definitely make it very difficult for him to make a decision.

Unfortunately, he's already at the Lord rank and is about to reach Epic level.

These epic-quality items aren't that valuable to him anymore; he can be quite casual about them, since choosing any one won't have a particularly significant impact on him.

Unlike a typical level 20 or so god-level player, who would be considered very good if they had one or two epic items.

Xiao Yang upgraded all his attributes twice.

The final choice was Life Resin; there were no other reasons for choosing it.

He wanted to gamble on the possibility of gaining traits in the effects section.

Actually, tree puppets are also acceptable.

Perhaps it will come in handy when Xiao Yang is busy destroying the messy trees or corrupting epics in the Bell Tower City.

But on second thought, it's unlikely that an epic-quality one-time consumable item could actually kill an epic or cause irreparable damage to it.

He himself is considered half an epic, and he can even defeat some really weak guys who have neither epic titles nor special abilities.

So what use would he have for such a consumable item?

Furthermore, Xiao Yang's gambling addiction kicked in, so he still chose to believe that possibility.

Life Resin can be saved to drink a large amount of it in a critical moment to restore a lot of health, or it can be saved to improve the life attribute after the third upgrade is completed.

Oh, and there's a negative effect to this life resin panel: it can be contaminated.

Just how to say it.

Is it polluted?

Xiao Yang shook his head, his expression clearly conveying a meaning.

They didn't take it seriously at all.

He is completely unafraid of this thing. He might worry about anything, but he will completely ignore pollution.

"Don't worry about having too many lice; if you're so capable, fight the pale hand."

It's time to start preparing the resources for the attribute boost after the third tier upgrade, otherwise it feels like things will be very difficult later on. Life Resin is one such resource.

There should be no shortage of life resin in Clock Tower City, but what you can find are mostly processed and solidified diluted products.

It will take some effort to find a higher purity life resin.

"We should be able to find some more."

However, even if this life resin is used as resources after the third attribute enhancement, it should only be considered after Xiao Yang obtains the trait that it has a probability of obtaining.

Thinking this, Xiao Yang stuffed the amber-like life resin in his hand directly into his mouth.

With a little force, the gel-like outer shell shattered, and a sweet taste filled the mouth, causing saliva to be secreted. The contents of the mouth, along with the saliva, were swallowed in one gulp.

And then, nothing happened.

The characteristic of life resin being obtainable by chance is that it has the following properties.

"High-speed response."

Xiao Yang also has the trait of having a name that implies a reply.

"Quick reply."

The two are very similar; high-speed response seems to be the superior version of fast response.

Rapid recovery is a trait that Xiao Yang gained from advancing his physique.

A hypothesis has emerged: if these two traits are indeed related, is it possible that Xiao Yang, when using this life resin, did not directly obtain high-speed recovery, but rather upgraded rapid recovery to high-speed recovery?

Of course, this is just a guess.

But if this conjecture is true, that would be fantastic. If it happens, Xiao Yang's third upgrade would allow him to advance his physique to the epic level.

This is a major qualitative change.

Want to make a bet?

"Of course!"

Xiao Yang gambled, and then he lost everything, forgetting something very important.

First and foremost, you really need to draw the possible effects.

He believed in that possibility, but that possibility did not believe in him.

Now, the life resin has been swallowed, but nothing has happened, not even the over-treatment-induced coma.

Xiao Yang's physique is not what it used to be. Even if he were to swallow several more life resins at full strength, it would be unlikely that he would faint from the milk.

But this made him even more frustrated. An epic-level healing item went into his stomach, and nothing happened. No, something different still happened.

A flash of green light appeared on his body.

There was absolutely no sense of participation; it felt like I was being completely taken advantage of.

Sighed helplessly.

"I think I might have been lucky."

Don't believe in evil.

Xiao Yang plans to try again when he finds more life resin.

He found what he was looking for very smoothly, even more smoothly than expected.

The Zhongta City sewer planning drawings, multi-phase construction drawings, and maintenance guidelines are all located on the second floor of the city's logistics management center, which is where Xiao Yang is currently.

And just like that, I got the map.

This means that Xiao Yang can now start running away. It doesn't matter if he doesn't explore the city's logistics management center anymore; he can head straight for the Silver Church to seek the Holy Sword.

However, Xiao Yang did not do that.

Get ready to explore this place properly.

Some are curious about the strength of the boss here, while others are curious about why a special variant like the Life-Full Corruptor appears here.

Moreover, having obtained the primary objective of this exploration, the exploration of this logistics center can be made more relaxed and casual.

The site of the Clock Tower City Logistics Center is just an ordinary three-story building, much larger than a typical residential house, but that's about it. It's not particularly complex or spacious, and it won't take long to explore.

There aren't any particularly powerful monsters here, at least not on the surface.

Some corrupt residents dressed in uniform, and some mutated individuals hiding in hiding.

Xiao Yang also found a box, a tin box on the table. He opened it and obtained a blueprint.

residential houses

Quality: Excellent

Effect: Unlocks the "Residential" building module.

Description: Build a house, put in two people, wait, population increases by one.

It was still somewhat useful, but Xiao Yang couldn't find the person in this three-story building who could serve as the BOSS of the logistics management center.

"Is it because the dungeon is still taking a long time to form and the BOSS isn't ready yet?"

Thinking about it this way, it makes sense, but Xiao Yang felt that things were probably not that simple.

Sure enough, during a more thorough search of the three-story building, Xiao Yang discovered something unusual.

On the first floor of the Zhongta City Logistics Management Center, Xiao Yang's figure paused on an ordinary floor.

Step on it, move your foot away, step on it again, move your foot away again.

A slight, inconspicuous sound appeared, and the figure stepping on the wooden floor was only slightly different from the one on the floor next to it.

What's hidden underneath?
He reached out, the sharp part of his fingernail piercing the crack in the wooden board, and with a forceful pull, the board was pried open.

"There really was something hidden."

A dark, gaping hole leading underground appeared before Xiao Yang.

(End of this chapter)