Starting from Zero Vol 3 Chapter 12

 I continued my path finding campaign. It's November 11th now, I've spent almost two months in this last stage. The one thousand doors are no joke. Every one is filled with monsters, every room felt worse than a bus in rush hours! (*) After all the work I've done so far, there are only 233 of them left. Those I already entered all disappeared. 

    From common sense I should be finding the right one any time now. But I still haven't. Without EXP reward my level stayed where it was. 

    But something changed at least: The teamwork between my Companions greatly improved. Another good news is that Lucky has reached level 200 before, which means he can talk now. Plus his dragon breath is the best skill I can hope for cleaning monsters. Upon entering each new door he only needs to give it one shot, and a major half of the weaker minions would be all dead. 

    It is my birthday, I woke up early and decided to fight for a result. I really want to get out of this quest now. The No.1 on the ranking list is occupied by Big Blade again. He dropped from there because I killed him back then but he made it back pretty quick. Man he's really something. He is level 399, while I'm...220. It won't be easy to kill him now.  

    I cleared another 4 rooms the whole morning. 229 left. Sigh, tough luck. Then I ate my lunch and went online again. 

    When I appeared I saw brother Domergor standing there. 

    "Brother? What's the matter?" 

    Somehow he looks full of joy.

    "Heh hehehe! You just got a sister-in-law! Finally someone can accompany me watching the stars!" 

    "Congratulations brother! That said, I'm in some trouble here. What am I gonna do about this quest? It's been several months now, will it ever end?" 

    "Alright then! I will make it easier for you." He waved around, a good number of doors vanished. 

    I checked. Three doors left. "So...One of them is the correct one?" 

    "Nope. They are all correct." 

    "Wait what?"

    "There are three correct answers among the thousand doors. Somehow you missed all of them. You got the worst luck I've ever seen!" 

    "I think my luck all went to finding equipment and companions. As for finding ways, every way I choose is just the wrong one!"

    "That...is quite true, from what I've seen from you. I can tell you something about the Boss too. Its main attack is to lower your status. If you can seal its spells from the start it will be easy!" 

    "Hey brother, is what you're doing now called 'treachery'?"

    "Screw you. Just be quick. I'm waiting to spend honeymoon with my wife!" 

    "Okay okay!" I pushed open the middle door. The other two just disappeared. Figures. 

    Then the door shut close behind me. 

    "The one who will inherit my unfulfilled ambition, you've finally come!" 

    The voice is a bit too loud, causing my ears to ring. 

    "Who is it? And where are you?" 

    I looked around the em
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pty room. The room is square, about 500 meters in length. There is not a single object in sight. 

    "I'm here!"

    "Huh? Where?" I saw nothing. 

    "... I've waited for so long, only to witness such a foolish being?" 'Someone' mumbled. "Hey! Boy! Look up! Above you!" 

    "Above...?" I raised my head, only to see a dragon-shaped lamp hanging on the ceiling.

    "I only see a strange lamp here, where are you anyway?" 

    The "lamp" suddenly moved, its head reached in front of my face. 

    "Who did you call a lamp?? I'm Ao Guang, patron of the East China Sea, lord of all beasts!" 

    "Ao Guang? I'm not Nezha, why are you being all angry at me?" (**) 

    "Who is this Nezha?... Ah don't you interrupt me! Your arrival means you're a hero who is seeking my dragon power to unite the whole world. Now I shall test you and see if you have what it takes!" 

    The old fellow then got ready to attack. 

    "Wait!" I yelled. "My brother told me the remaining items are here. I'm in pretty bad shape now, how about giving me those stuff before we fight?" 

    The dragon considered. "You do look in rags (low durability). If we fight like this they will say I'm just bullying a young man so...fine. But mind you, I will take them back if you can't win!" 

    "Thank you!" Now that's an advantage! 

    The dragon shifted his body, and my surroundings changed. I appeared on a vast plain. I can't see the border of it. A pile of equipment is stuffed beside me, I hurriedly put them on. 

    [Intelligence of the Dark Dragon Lord], Helmet

    Growth equipment, 

    Durability 1000/1000, 

    *Defense 900, 

    +50% Spell Speed, 

    5% chance of interrupting nearby spells, 

    MP +20%, 

    +50% resistance against Mind spells, 

    Talent Skill [Mind Drop]--Lower target's Luck for a certain period of time.

    [Veil of the Dark Dragon Lord], Mask

    Growth equipment, 

    Durability 800/800, 

    *Defense 200, 

    Ignores poison effect, 

    Night Vision range + 3 yard.

    [Shoulder of the Dark Dragon Lord], Shoulder Armor

    Growth equipment, 

    Durability 1000/1000, 

    *Defense 600, 

    10% damage reflection, 

    +20% Attack Speed, 

    5% damage absorb.

    [Grasp of the Dark Dragon Lord], Heavy Gloves

    Growth equipment, 

    Durability 1000/1000, 

    *Defense 600, 

    +10% damage, 

    +20% Attack Speed, 

    Talent Skill [Sacrilege]--Cause target to bleed, until death or purified by holy spells.

    [Grit of the Dark Dragon Lord], Breast Armor

    Durability 200/200, 

    Becomes immune to weakpoint strikes and critical attacks.

    [Resistance of the Dark Dragon Lord], Shield 

    Growth equipment, 

    Durability 2000/2000, 

    *Defense 1800, 

    *35% block rate, 

    20% damage reflection, 

    Counters attackers with lightning, damage dependent on wearer's level. 

    (Defense attribute only effective when successfully blocking attacks)

    [Collection of the Dark Dragon Lord], Belt

    Durability 300/300, 

    Adds 20 item shortcut slots, 

    Talent Skill [Collect]--auto picks up items dropped by monsters (defined by the wearer)

    [Fang of the Dark Dragon Lord], Duo Swords

    Growth equipment, 

    Durability 1200/1200, 

    *Attack 200-220, 

    Attack Speed-Very Fast, 

    *+5% damage, 

    25% chance to cause laceration, 

    1‰ chance of performing Crushing Attack. Equipment hit by this attack instantly breaks apart, and cannot be repaired. 

    Freezes target, 

    Ignores Defense, 

    Additional 20 Poison damage, lasts 100 seconds, 

    25% life steal.

    [Tail Spike of the Dark Dragon Lord], Lance

    Growth equipment, 

    Durability 1000/1000, 

    *Attack 280-330, 

    Attack Speed-Fast, 

    Ignores Defense, 

    20% chance of causing target to take amplified damage, 

    Manaburn, 

    Cause continuous lightning damage, 

    20% life steal, 

    Talent Skill [Heart Piercer]--Rapid 5-combo strike, if the first one hit, each following hit will deal 5% more damage and will never miss.

    (Attributes with "*" will grow with wearer's level)

    I'm visibly trembling looking at all these gear. As expected, it's a full Artifact set. Their numbers are insane and they can level up too! 

    The only problem is I was looking forward to the figure of a typical knight--with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. But now I got two shields and two swords. The shields are installed on the upper part of my gauntlets, I can put them behind my back too but there's no way to hold them using hands. The two swords hang on both sides of my ta.s.set. And the lance sits diagonal behind my back too. I look all weird! 

    However the helm and mask go well with the previous set-up. They are really cool. Though I really need to be careful not to attract too many girls from now on. Or I will build too many enemies.

    When I completed my outfit a visible dark aura spread from me. The terrible display of power even shook the dragon a bit.

    "Alright boy, I've given you everything except the last wing blade piece, and restored all your dura. Shall we begin?" 

    "Okay. Let's do this!" I'm still overjoyed, and gave the answer without thinking. 

    "Careful now, this place is called the G.o.d's Field. You will resp.a.w.n right where you died. And don't count on your potions and meds, you won't be using them here. Even your own regeneration will be stopped."

     I looked at my empty belt. "Potions and meds huh? I've been stuck here for two months. Not a single bottle left on me!" 

    "Good then! By the way, once we start, you either defeat me to get out, or I defeat you until you drop back to level 20 and get kicked back to the rookie village!" 

    "What?? A death match? So I'll definitely die?" 

    "Don't worry, I won't be regaining HP either. You can get full HP upon resp.a.w.n but I won't get any." 

    "That doesn't make it very fair. You're level 1000 for G.o.d's sake, I got only three people who can fight and our levels added up is only like, half of yours!" I started acting shamelessly. 

    It makes sense though. The dragon is 1000, I'm 220, Lucky and Phantom level 200, everyone else zero. Those Steel Beasts probably cannot endure a single hit so they can be ignored. With all the powerful equipment I can maybe fight like a level 300. That's still pretty far from level 1000! 

    "Hmm. Alright, I can allow something else." 

    Ohh, dragon deity of ancient Chinese, such generosity! 

    "You don't have to defeat me then. You can pa.s.s this test if you can get rid of half of my HP." 

    "Half?" I thought about my odds. "How much is half of your HP?" 

    "I have 200k in total, so it means 100k. Not that much."

    You kidding??

    "A hundred thousand? You call that 'not much'?? Suppose you stay there and just let me hit you, plus every hit is critical, I'll probably need a whole day to cause that much damage! I'd tire myself out long before that happens!" 

    "Oh, uhh, how about another half-off, 50 thousand?"

    "20 thousand!" 

    "Not a chance! The system won't allow it! 40 thousand then!" 

    "25 thousand!"

    "30 thousand!!" 

    "Deal! Let's make it 30 thousand. And that's more than the total HP of all my team! Still pretty hard!" 

    Though I'm already super happy on the inside. 

    "That's settled. Now ready yourself boy. [Seal of five elements]!" 

    With a body swing, the dragon cast a giant Yin & Yang circle at me. (TL note: will this symbol ☯ display for everyone?)
 
    Of course I'm not dumb, I immediately turned and run, but was still a bit slow. The circle is too big. Its edge managed to get me. 

    "Oof!" 

    I crawled back on my feet with only 10% HP left. Seems that move killed me in one shot, but Phiona's skill saved me. 

    Then I saw a big dragon head charging at me! 

    "HALP!!" 

    A wise man knows when to flee, so I just run like mad!

-----------------------
(*) I once experienced such a bus in Beijing. My feet didn't get to touch the bus' floor for the whole 2 hours.

(**) See Dragon Kings of the Four Seas
      According to Chinese mythology story, Nezha slaughtered Ao Bing, Ao Guang's third son.