Chapter 244: Numerous Achievements and Underground City Treasure

Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Numerous Achievements and Underground City Treasure

That was right.

During the Summer Crown event, their team had never been one to honestly farm monsters the conventional way to acquire Crown Value.

What they excelled at was unlocking achievements to forcibly alter the system of rules for obtaining Crown Value.

Achievements were a hidden mechanic unique to the Summer Crown.

During the event, the Underground City’s consciousness would enter a highly active state, casting its gaze upon the city’s depths.

As long as certain specific actions by Professionals caught its attention, it would bestow its focus, which would then manifest as achievements with special effects.

And the Crimson Bell of Death had become infamous by mastering the methods to obtain various bloody achievements, relying on the point-farming system they created by combining them.

The Crimson Bell of Death was a large underground organization that specialized in stirring up trouble during the Summer Crown.

They enjoyed instigating massacres during the event, treating all their competitors as prey for farming points.

This cruel modus operandi had earned them a notorious reputation in White River Province.

To evade encirclement by other Guilds, their internal teams all operated as scattered elite squads, their movements secretive and difficult to detect.

The squad Cassis was in charge of was the detachment assigned to infiltrate the Rusted Stone Echo Dungeon for this mission.

They had already successfully completed two prerequisite achievements.

One of them was called "Cannibalism."

The condition for its completion was extremely twisted: one had to personally kill fifty sentient beings who completely trusted them.

To achieve this, every time they entered an Underground City, they would first hire an unsuspecting resource-gathering team, then lead them deep into the mines and slaughter the porters en masse.

With this achievement, the members of his team could kill other Adventurers and forcibly seize 50% of their Crown Value.

The condition for the "War Broker" achievement was even more demanding.

It required secretly orchestrating a large-scale conflict involving over a hundred people, and one’s existence could not be discovered by anyone before the incident concluded.

The effect of obtaining this achievement was a massive percentage-based boost to all Crown Value earned.

Once these two achievements were combined, they could spend the rest of their time continuously hunting down lone Adventurers, reaping massive amounts of Crown Value and looting the abundant supplies from the dead.

This was the real high-end playstyle in the Underground Cities.

All the well-known, high-ranking teams had, to some extent, mastered methods for obtaining similar achievements.

This was the main reason they could consistently rank at the top during the Summer Crown, leaving those freelance teams far behind.

Of course, different Underground Cities had different rules.

Not all achievements were universal, so a great deal of trial and error was required in the early stages.

And this was the cruel Adventurer ecosystem that had formed around the Summer Crown.

A jungle-like system full of class barriers, where resources were tightly monopolized by the Grand Guilds.

Some teams specialized in certain bloody achievements, like the Crimson Bell of Death, which made its fortune through murder and robbery.

Other teams, like the Silver Hand, walked the King’s Way, relying on sheer power to steamroll their opposition.

"But hunting Adventurers is something we’ll do in the final week to climb the ranks."

Cassis glanced at the Half-Elf who was fiddling with Alchemy Explosives.

"For now, our top priority is to let those fat sheep farm some more Crown Value for us to bank."

"Everyone except for Grom."

Cassis’s tone became stern as he issued the order.

"Your next objective is to spread out and find all the hidden rooms of Elite Demons and Lords."

"Gather as much information as you can on Elite Demons and Mutated Demons."

"We can’t let our own strength stagnate. The promotion opportunity within the organization this deep winter is a rare one."

The threshold for promotion to the Excellence Level was more than ten times harder than attaining one’s first Profession.

And everyone present harbored a desire to be promoted to the Legendary level.

Therefore, before advancing to the Excellence Level, they had to acquire as many high-quality Specialties as possible and expand their total number of Specialties.

And these transformative treasures could all be found within the Underground City.

This was the true reason the Underground City could drive all Professionals into a frenzy.

As for the Underground City’s consciousness, as long as one could please it, it was willing to bestow anything upon the world.

At that moment, the Half-Elf named Grom suddenly stood up from a wooden crate and began to pack his equipment.

"Grom, where are you going?" asked a Dark Elf Assassin who was wiping his dagger nearby.

"I’ve already been targeted and warned by the Underground City’s consciousness."

Grom dusted himself off, his tone casual.

"Since I can’t kill Demons to snatch resources for the next few days, I might as well head to the outskirts of the First Area and have some fun killing those genius newbies who just got their Profession."

Such an arrangement was actually quite common in large organizations.

To avoid unnecessary clashes with other Guilds in the high-intensity zones ahead, during the Summer Crown, the main, experienced teams would push forward and fight on the front lines, while substitute members would fall back to the relatively safe rear to continue gathering resources and training themselves.

A human man wearing a Crimson Priest’s Robe glanced at the Half-Elf and offered a reminder.

"Be careful. Don’t leave any evidence behind."

"Yeah."

The Half-Elf gave a perfunctory nod and left the cave without looking back.

In the Underground City, the [Zelos Skill Distillation Fragment], which could be used to sublimate the quality of a Specialty; the [Satori Essence], which could forcibly excavate the potential within one’s Skills; the [Mutating Catalyst], which could cause an Ordinary Specialty to mutate; and even some precious items that permanently increased non-Basic Attributes were all non-transferable due to the rules of the Underground City.

Giving up on hunting Demons was equivalent to giving up the chance to become stronger.

The Half-Elf Grom had long since angered the Underground City’s consciousness by wantonly using high-powered Alchemy Explosives to destroy the terrain.

If he dared to stay with the team to fight Elite Demons now, the moment he acted, he would definitely trigger severe collateral punishment from the Underground City.

After the Half-Elf’s figure disappeared into the darkness, the Dark Elf shook his head and muttered quietly,

"What a waste."

Everyone in the cave knew what he meant by "a waste."

The complex set of Alchemy Equipment the Half-Elf wore had been specially configured by the organization at great cost. It was originally intended to be a trump card for hunting Adventurers on a large scale in the later stages of the event.

Grom was a Level 5 Chaos Blaster, a branch of the Alchemist Profession.

Not being able to let him shine amidst the hordes of monsters in the Underground City’s second area was indeed a huge loss.

Because of various past sacrifices and compromises, the quality of Grom’s Specialties had already fallen behind the team’s overall level.

However, because his contributions to demolition missions were the greatest, his equipment was arguably the best on the entire team.

It truly was a shame that such fine equipment could only be used to crush newbies in the First Area.

...

THUNK.

A sharp spear pried a huge lizard from the rock wall.

It was a Level 1 Demon, a "Blind-Eyed Crystal Lizard."

Lance pulled out his spear and watched as the corpse touched the ground, slowly melting into a black puddle that seeped into the earth.

In the spot where the body had been, only a crystal the size of an adult’s pinky fingernail remained.

The crystal was emitting a faint, ethereal glow.

[Magic Energy Crystal (Tiny)]

This was a unique piece of loot that only Professional Level Demons dropped in the Underground City.

This type of crystal contained stable Ether Energy and was often used as a Source Core to power various alchemical machines.

It was used in large quantities when crafting Elemental Bottles in Alchemy Technology, thanks to it being a stable and cheap energy source.

Though this tiny, fingernail-sized energy source might seem insignificant, the Energy it contained was enough to power a household Magic Energy Lamp continuously for a full month.

It was also a hard currency in the Black Markets of the Underground City camps.