Game of the World Tree

The raid team of Transformer Ji Gang was the first one to have succeed in clearing the new dungeon.

Immediately afterwards, they uploaded online a recording of their expedition process and shared a detailed, first-hand strategy guide on how to succeed in clearing it on the forums.

Out of the 25 Autobots members who participated in the boss fight, only three had survived.

Nevertheless, their sacrifices weren’t in vain.

At the very least, now, the wider public has gained valuable insights into several key aspects, such as the boss’s behavioral mechanics, including attack patterns, phase transitions, and weaknesses that were previously unknown.

For example, the dungeon boss wasn’t particularly fast, so a kiting strategy could significantly reduce the damage the players would incur.

In addition, although this boss mainly had fire attributes, using water or ice-based abilities did not seem to deal extra damage at all.

Surprisingly, however, natural or light-attribute skills were more effective in draining the boss’s health instead.

Of course, what the players didn’t realize was that this was partly due to the fact that their natural skills were imbued with [War Sacrifice], a hidden passive ability left by Evé within them, and partly because skills with light attributes could naturally suppress the power of the abyss up to a certain extent.

The recording Ji Gang uploaded immediately gained popularity and excitement, quickly circulating among players and sparking lively discussions across the forum and other social media.

Various players also eagerly shared their thoughts, speculating about the strategies used during the boss fight and the significance of the events captured in the video.

However, as the initial thrill of the fight wore off, many viewers felt disappointment when the loot drop was revealed.

Seeing such lackluster rewards left many players feeling underwhelmed, as they had anticipated something more significant given the challenge of the labyrinth. However, a wave of analysis from some experts began to shift the waning narrative.

Of course, they would only get such trash rewards!

After all, their performance rating was just “Barely Satisfactory.”

One expert concluded that if the team had achieved a higher performance rating, then perhaps the loot they received would undoubtedly have been better.

And so, with the first team having successfully cleared the labyrinth, the floodgates seemed to have opened as more and more groups of players began finding the Palace Key in treasure chests during their exploration of the labyrinth in the following days.

However, as the quest description indicated, only one key would be generated per day, which meant only one team could potentially clear the dungeon each day.

And once the key was successfully located, an automated mechanism within the palace would trigger its opening.

This would occur promptly within one minute, allowing the chosen team to rush toward the entrance.

However, the urgency of this situation was amplified by the fact that the entrance would remain open for only that brief window of time and should any member of the team failed to make it inside within that minute, they would miss the chance to participate in the boss fight.

The drop rate of the Palace Key was random and can only be obtained from a lucky treasure chest, relying purely on luck.

However, some players believed that the treasure chests that appeared after defeating a Silver-rank Demon had a higher chance of being ‘rainbow-colored’ chests that essentially held the key.

As for the subsequent teams that had luckily managed to obtain the key, their sizes and strengths varied greatly.

There are many teams like the Autobot raid team, which is a large team consisting of more than 20 players.

Others were much smaller, typically adhering to the standard five-person party format.

The strength of the players also ranged from groups full of Silver-rank players to teams of only lvl 40 Iron-rank players, with all kinds of combinations in between.

And interestingly enough, players also eventually discovered that the strength of the dungeon boss, the Seventh Demon Lord, wasn’t fixed.

Instead, the boss’s strength would scale according to the power of the respective team that challenged the palace for that day.

Essentially, this means that the stronger the chosen team is, the stronger the boss also becomes.

On the flip side, it also means that the boss would be correspondingly weaker if the team was weaker.

Theoretically speaking, almost every team had a chance of clearing this new dungeon.

Of course, it was not as if there were no failed attempts at all, as some teams were completely wiped out and thus have been collectively teleported out.

And if such a team failed, a new group of players could potentially obtain the Palace Key once more and attempt to challenge the boss on the same day.

In regards for the players who died during the boss battle, there were not many in actuality.

Except for those who are particularly suicidal, most players, even those who are iron-rankers at level 40, could safely teleport out themselves in time if they remained cautious enough.

And with more and more teams being able to clear the dungeon, the full scope of the dungeon reward mechanics gradually also became much clearer to all players.

As the experts had earlier assumed, the quality of the loot provided by the Demon Palace was indeed correlated to the performance rating assigned to the challenging team.

The system evaluated performance based on several factors, with the primary considerations being the number of survivors and the time taken to clear the dungeon.

After assessing these elements, the system rated their performance as either “Failure,” “Barely Satisfactory,” “Satisfactory,” “Good,” “Excellent,” or “Perfect.”

Each of these ratings came with distinct implications for the rewards the team would receive.

A rating of “Failure” resulted in no rewards whatsoever, but for those teams that managed to achieve a “Barely Satisfactory” rating, the reward was modest with only the surviving players receiving a single treasure chest each.

A “Satisfactory” rating offered a slightly better reward, granting treasure chests to the survivors as well as contribution points for players who had been teleported out during the challenge.

The rewards became significantly more appealing at a “Good” rating, which doubled the potential loots.

Each survivors who received this rating can get two treasure chests each, while even those who had teleported out were still rewarded with 2x contribution points.

However, achieving a “Good” rating was no easy feat as it required careful management of team survivability.

Simply put, to attain this rating, at least 80% of the team needed to survive the whole challenge.

Once players reached an “Excellent” rating, the nature of the rewards shifted yet again.

Each survivors still received two treasure chests, but one was a standard lucky chest, while the other was an enhanced lucky chest.

This enhanced treasure chest came with a tantalizing chance of containing high-quality rewards or even a chance to gain jobclass promotion slot!

That said, it still relies heavily on luck.

Furthermore, only Iron-rank players at level 40 have a chance to get the promotion reward.

There were also indications that lvl 40 Iron-rank players who contributed significantly during the battle had a higher probability of triggering the promotion reward.

Once the promotion reward was given, it became immediately bound to the player who received it.

This binding meant that the reward could not be traded or shared, which led to the disappointment of some Silver-rank players who were hoping to profit from getting such rewards.

Nonetheless, the chance of obtaining silver-class equipment from the enhanced treasure chest is still highly enticing for them.

While the rewards for an “Excellent” rating are undeniably attractive, achieving this rating is no easy feat.

The first and foremost requirement for an “Excellent” rating is to ensure that all players survive until the end.

However, to attain the highest “Perfect” rating, the stakes are raised even higher.

Not only must all players survive the whole ordeal, but the dungeon must also be cleared within a tight time frame.

This feat is extremely difficult as achieving a “Perfect” rating requires impeccable teamwork, with every player performing at their peak.

There can be no slacking off or moments of hesitation; each member must contribute effectively and decisively to maintain the pace necessary for a swift clear.

Any lapse in focus or execution can jeopardize the entire run, leading to frustration and much lower rating.

Given that the boss’s strength scales with the team’s power, a “Perfect” clear serves as a testament to the skill and dedication of every player involved.

It proves that each member of the team is a top-tier expert, capable of executing their roles with precision under intense pressure.

Less than two weeks after the labyrinth dungeon first opened, a team finally managed to achieve the very first “Perfect” performance rating.

It was the five-player team led by Boxlunch.

Players across the whole server were not surprised by this achievement.

After all, this particular team included five of the top players within the game!

Even the weakest one among them, Chopin, whose role is a support druid, was ranked among the best Druids in the entire server.

His combat power was second only to Meng Zhihan, who chose the Feral path specialization and ranked second in their jobclass and possibly the most powerful yet low-key Druid player named Féng, who had hidden her specialization from public eyes.

The rewards for attaining a perfect rating were quite enviable.

Each member of Boxlunch’s five-man team received three enhanced treasure chests, which would definitely show a higher ‘colored’ glow.

This also meant each of them were guaranteed to receive at least one piece of Silver-class purple epic equipment.

In other words, if an Iron-rank player achieved a perfect clear, they would essentially receive a guaranteed promotion slot and can finally advance to Silver-rank.

Naturally, other players are extremely envious of this.

Thus for the time being, the labyrinth quickly became the dream destination for all max-level (lvl 40) Iron-rank players.

If it weren’t for the fact that only one team could challenge the demon palace key per day, then every high-level player would be camping inside the labyrinth.

As time went by, more and more teams succeeded in clearing the dungeon, each one contributing to the growing body of knowledge surrounding its challenges.

With each successful run, players began to share their experiences and insights, leading to an explosion of diverse strategies and tactics.

Discussions about how to clear the dungeon more efficiently, achieving higher ratings, and defeating the Seventh Demon Lord Azazel without taking damage quickly became a popular topic amongst max-level Iron-rankers and Silver-rank players.

However, while the players were fully enjoying themselves, Azazel, the Seventh Demon Lord and the unwilling new ’employee’ of the labyrinth who was so hardworking and busy fighting against the players, was starting to have deep doubts about his life as a demon.

— 416 —

【 DOUBTS ABOUT HIS LIFE AS A DEMON 】

---

— —

---