Chapter 1 New Records

The new record for the Line Canyon dungeon was two minutes faster than the record set by Misty Rain Tower using the strategy that Ye Xiu sold them. The guild setting the new record was Tyrannical Ambition. Although they also had Ye Xiu's strategy, Ye Xiu knew exactly what level that strategy could achieve. But the time Tyrannical Ambition had just achieved exceeded the limits of Ye Xiu's strategy. Ye Xiu had no idea how they did it.

Looking at the record for the Lair of the Flames dungeon, the top guild was Blue Brook Guild. Ye Xiu had begun to study this dungeon a bit, and Blue Brook Guild's time was also inexplicably high. Furthermore, it wasn't just the top record on this list that was amazing. There were more than ten records after that, each of which left Ye Xiu dumbfounded. Clearly, the Lair of the Flames was the dungeon where the major guilds had fought the most during the event. And the height of these ten-odd records was something Ye Xiu couldn't even imagine.

During the Christmas event, the players' attention was focused on the event. The system constantly sent out messages because of players getting on TV for opening gift bags. Ye Xiu's attention was very focused, and he hadn't noticed that so many dungeon records had appeared in those 36 hours.

The Christmas event?

Thinking of this, Ye Xiu suddenly understood.

These records appeared entirely because of the special Christmas event period.

Just like Tang Rou's Soft Mist had Battle Spirit. The teams from the major guilds that set such amazing records had obviously taken advantage of the Christmas event to obtain some skills or equipment that they shouldn't have at their level, and thus created a temporary super team. This was how they set records that exceeded Ye Xiu's expectations.

Such teams wouldn't exist after these 36 hours, but their records would ultimately be preserved.

Even Ye Xiu hadn't thought of this, but the guild leaders were indeed professional players who treated the guild as their career. Seizing this opportunity, Tyrannical Ambition broke the Line Canyon record that had caused them so much shame. Although no one noticed it at the time, they had ways to make the players pay attention beforehand. After all, only 36 hours had passed, and the players weren't that forgetful. Line Canyon hadn't become outdated yet.

Blue Brook Guild, which desperately needed to prove itself, had successfully seized the opportunity in the Lair of the Flames. The guild's long-standing embarrassment could be somewhat alleviated.

After figuring this out, Ye Xiu laughed it off. These two dungeons obviously had no more value to exploit. As Ye Xiu thought this, he casually opened the dungeon records for City of Sin to take a look.

The City of Sin's dungeon records looked more normal. After all, this dungeon required players to be level 37-39. Currently, there were only a hundred or so people in the tenth server who had reached this level. Only the members of Ye Xiu's original 99-person team were likely to reach it. The high-level characters of guilds like Excellent Dynasty were still on their way from level 36 to 37, so the City of Sin dungeon had nothing to do with them for the time being.

The first clear record for the City of Sin was taken by Herb Garden last night at midnight. Afterwards, the major guilds also engaged in fierce competition for the top spot on the record list.

Because the Christmas quests had boosted the levels of these players and rewarded them with a lot of equipment, the guilds could freely allocate resources to arm a strong team. The system-set record for the City of Sin dungeon had long been broken, and the record list was currently in a state of stalemate. The team temporarily in the lead was Herb Garden, which had taken the first clear of the dungeon.

Tyrannical Ambition, Blue Brook Guild, Herb Garden.

The three guilds that were recognized as the strongest in Glory fully grasped the opportunity of this system event, taking what they needed and gaining some advantages. It had to be said that there was a reason why these three guilds had developed to be a cut above the rest.

Seeing that the competition for the City of Sin dungeon record was already in a stalemate, Ye Xiu felt that he had to hurry. He hadn't researched this dungeon yet. After all, he was only level 31 before, and he couldn't have imagined that one Christmas quest would push Lord Grim to level 38. He had just looked at the tenth server's player level rankings. Some of the characters in these guilds had opened the final Christmas gifts last night, and after another night of leveling, many people had already rushed to level 39. It was a crucial moment to attack the City of Sin.

Fortunately, no temporary overpowered teams were trying to clear this dungeon. If he researched a strategy, it should still be useful. As for personally taking action, he shouldn't even dream about it. These major guilds would never allow Lord Grim's name to appear in their dungeon teams. Being on the list would be like telling everyone "I'm incompetent."

Strategy, videos… Ye Xiu opened the webpage and searched for these materials.

Ye Xiu certainly wouldn't do a silly strategy like Steamed Bun Invasion. He would grasp the key points, find the crux, and innovate. He would work on technical innovation.

The game was set aside for now. Ye Xiu flipped through the strategy guides, watched the videos, and created a new document, occasionally organizing something into it.

After roughly sorting out some ideas, he needed to go back to the game to try them out. The City of Sin, even with those higher-level dungeons, was something that Ye Xiu hadn't touched in years, and he had forgotten most of it. He still needed to verify some of his ideas.

Switching back to the game, he didn't go straight to the dungeon. Instead, he entered the game's equipment editor again. Although the rare materials for fully upgrading the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella weren't complete yet, some forms could be upgraded.

The materials gathered from Line Canyon, except for the Shadow Swordsman A'Hong's saber, the orange weapon Crimson Shadow, hadn't been obtained yet, but the others had been gathered.

Forty silk cocoons were used to replace the umbrella's surface, and the shield form was upgraded to level 35.

The crucial component at the junction of the umbrella's ribs, surface, and handle required an extremely rare amber crystal, an item dropped by the wild boss Rock Breaker Osward.

This component was inconspicuous, but it was extremely important. During the research and development of the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, many prototypes were destroyed because of this component. This small connecting component needed to be strong enough. Many materials that had been tried would cause the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella to fall apart as soon as it transformed. It took a lot of effort to find such a small material that could be used at each level.

And now, what Ye Xiu had to do was so simple. He only needed to use a mold to make an amber crystal and then disassemble the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella and replace the original components.

Level 35, components made of amber crystal, no problem at all!

After that, Ye Xiu used the Red Scorpion Tail Needles and Scarlet Poison Needles, which also came from Line Canyon.

There were eight of each of these materials. They were used together to replace the eight white wolf fangs that were originally embedded in the tips of the umbrella ribs.

After the eight umbrella ribs were replaced in this way, Ye Xiu first saved the newly edited state and then entered the game.

At this time, Lord Grim was still in Hollow Point. Although it was a safe zone, he could still change the weapon form and look at the attributes. After taking out the newly edited Myriad Manifestations Umbrella and shaking it, it turned into a spear form. The eight umbrella ribs gathered at the front end of the umbrella handle, and the barbs formed by the Red Scorpion Tail Needles at the tips of the ribs were uneven and hung upside down in a jagged manner. And at those tips, the lengths of the eight Scarlet Poison Needles that were exposed were exactly the same. The eight needles gathered together to form a cluster of scarlet spear tips.

Looking at the attributes again.

Myriad Manifestations Umbrella (Spear Form), Level 35.

Weight 2.3 kg, Durability 23, Attack Speed 5.

Physical Attack 470, Magic Attack 350.

A level 35 silver weapon had an attack power that was not inferior to a level 40 orange weapon. This attribute was similar to the attack of the orange spear Blazing Light Halberd that Tang Rou had just obtained at level 40. However, the Blazing Light Halberd's attack speed was 1, while the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella's attack speed was 5.

Attack speed 5 and attack speed 1 didn't mean that there was a 5x difference in attack speed. In the attack speed attribute, the number was just a symbol. In the early days of Glory, it wasn't represented by a number. It was only later, to make it easier for players to understand the concept of attack speed +1 or +2 in some equipment, that numbers were used as symbols to make it easier to understand addition and subtraction.

Otherwise, if attack speed 10 was really 10 times attack speed 1, and one side made ten attacks while the other only made one attack, the speed difference would be too great. The official data had already announced the accurate difference between attack speed 10 and attack speed 1. Attack speed 10 was 1.25 times attack speed 1.

This multiple might seem insignificant, but it was enough for players to feel the difference in speed at a glance in the game. As for 9 and 10, the difference was a bit subtle, and it was likely that only high-level experts could feel it.

In addition, the official also had a very depressing supplementary setting, which was that attack speed was only displayed as an integer. This meant that there were actually decimals hidden behind the attack speed. 4.5 and 5.4 were both rounded to 5, but in fact, 4.5 and 5.4 had an attack speed difference of almost 1 point, which would be fully reflected in the game. Otherwise, there would be no need for decimals to exist.

And this part was entirely in the realm of expert research. This extremely subtle difference in attack speed couldn't be felt without a certain level of expertise.

But no matter what the decimal situation was for the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella's attack speed of 5 and the Blazing Light Halberd's attack speed of 1, the difference in attack speed between the two was at least 3 points, which was a difference that most players could perceive. And since the attack power of the two was basically the same, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella was superior due to its attack speed.

Compared to the string of attributes attached to the Blazing Light Halberd, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella's spear form was finally no longer a blank slate.

Level 35 Myriad Manifestations Umbrella (Spear Form), an 8% chance to poison the target on attack, an 8% chance to cause the target to bleed.