The school dungeons were specially constructed by the academy's leadership to enhance students' strength. Not only Jidi Academy, but other major universities also had their own school dungeons.
It was said these dungeons were built based on real historical events, consuming immense effort, all to allow students to quickly improve their strength through trials and adapt to fighting Fierce Beasts in advance.
Due to the extraordinarily high cost of building these dungeons, they were usually provided free of charge only to senior students who were about to graduate and take the college entrance examinations. This allowed them to maximize their strength during this period and strive for a good ranking.
As for other students who wanted to use them, they had to pay out of pocket. However, the cost of entering a dungeon was so exorbitant that ordinary students simply could not afford it. Usually, only wealthy scions could afford to use them at will.
The dungeons were located in the North Campus of the academy. By this time, the area outside the dungeons was already surrounded by crowds, bustling with noise and excitement.
"Four-man team needs one, Normal difficulty dungeon, looking for a Shield Guard who can take hits!"
"Anyone running the Hard difficulty dungeon? High level, good gear, classes with skills preferred. Welcoming any hidden-class boss to help carry us through the initial exploration, trash Mage class don't bother!"
"Any big brother willing to carry a Level 2 Psychic little sister? Guaranteed to be well-behaved and obedient, tons of heals, and can provide emotional value."
Qin Chen walked through the crowd all the way to the dungeon entrance. Just as he arrived, a male student with the Swordsman class walked over and asked enthusiastically,
"Brother, want to party up? We can negotiate how to split the exp and rewards."
Before he could finish speaking, however, he suddenly realized Qin Chen was a Mage, and his face instantly darkened. He muttered under his breath,
"Turns out he's just a trash Mage, what a waste of my time."
Without even waiting for Qin Chen to react, he turned and left to look for other people running the dungeon.
Seeing this, Qin Chen felt a little awkward.
Was the Mage class really that disliked?
However, the current situation of the Mage class was indeed just like that. Novice Mages started out with hardly any skills and very little mana, usually only able to cast a Fireball with low damage. Entering a dungeon, they would often exhaust their mana within a few Fireballs, after which they became as useless as super minions, left staring helplessly at the monsters.
Moreover, developing the Mage class required consuming immense resources. Only after advancing classes in the later stages and learning various forbidden spells would they have corresponding combat power. Yet, the early stages required spending money to hire people to carry you through leveling up, and high-level resources were needed to purchase various staves and skill books. In the late game, a single forbidden spell could even wipe out the entire savings of a moderately wealthy family.
Usually, only rich people could afford to play this class. For ordinary people, taking the path of the Mage was no better than washing up and going to a factory to tighten screws.
It was hardly surprising that nobody liked the Mage class. For no other reason than that the early stage was too weak, and it required throwing money into a bottomless pit with no guarantee of any return.
Qin Chen thought about it and didn't mind. He glanced at his own stamina value, which had reached a staggering 50 points—comparable to the level of a Level 10 player. A regular school dungeon should be cleared by him alone with extreme ease, and he didn't need other teammates to split his experience and rewards.
Qin Chen walked up to the dungeon entrance and was just about to select the dungeon difficulty when a familiar and grating voice came from behind.
"Yo, isn't this Qin Chen? Why are you entering the dungeon alone? Could it be that no team wanted you?"
The speaker's tone was somewhat sarcastic, causing the surrounding people to turn their heads and stare repeatedly.
Qin Chen turned around and glanced back. Only then did he discover it was Zhou Tianqi, the young master of the Zhou family who had inexplicably provoked him in class earlier, and he was flanked by a few lackeys playing bit parts.
Qin Chen raised an eyebrow. Why wouldn't this guy leave him alone? He was like a plaster sticking to a dog's fur—wherever he went, the other person followed.
He ignored the guy, lowered his head, and continued selecting the dungeon difficulty.
What dungeon difficulty should he choose?
Hard difficulty should be pretty easy, considering his extremely high stamina attribute.
Dungeon difficulties were divided into Normal, Hard, Nightmare, and Calamity.
"Should I just skip the steps and choose Calamity difficulty?"
He could try it first anyway; if it really didn't work out, he could just switch to a lower difficulty, Qin Chen muttered to himself.
Seeing that Qin Chen ignored him, Zhou Tianqi instantly felt as though he had been completely disregarded, and a nameless fire ignited in his heart. If Su Li hadn't suddenly shown up to protect him back in the classroom, he would have taught this guy a lesson long ago. He had always been suppressed by Qin Chen, and after finally turning the tables by awakening his class, he had finally let out a breath of relief. Yet now, Qin Chen—a dime-a-dozen Mage—didn't even have the sense to tuck his tail between his legs and keep a low profile; he dared to ignore him instead. This was outright rebellion!
A ferocious grin flashed across Zhou Tianqi's face, and a plan to humiliate Qin Chen in public suddenly crossed his mind.
Zhou Tianqi shouted loudly, "Qin Chen, do you dare to have a match with me?"
Zhou Tianqi's voice instantly attracted the attention of everyone around. The onlookers immediately began to whisper among themselves.
"Qin Chen? Is he that former top student of the grade, Qin Chen?"
"It's him. I used to idolize him, but unfortunately, when his talent awakened, he got a trash Mage class and is completely ruined."
"Really? With such strong talent, he actually didn't awaken a hidden class? What a pity, I thought the rumors were fake."
"Of course not! Looks like he's destined to be mediocre. Even though he was a prominent figure at school, to end up like this just because he didn't awaken a good class—how pathetic!"
"Sigh, truly."
"What's going on?"
"Looks like someone is giving Qin Chen a hard time."
"This guy is too much. Qin Chen is already having a hard enough time, yet he's still rubbing salt in the wound."
"Shh! Keep it down. That guy is the young master of the Zhou family, powerful and well-connected. He's not someone ordinary people like us can afford to provoke."
There were also those who loved a good spectacle and didn't mind making things bigger, watching with keen interest.
"Heh heh, we've got a good show to watch."
"The struggle between a fallen genius and a mob villain? I feel like I see this kind of plot in novels all the time. Interesting."
"Who do you guys bet on to lose?"
"Needless to say, it has to be the Zhou family young master. I heard he's a hidden class—a Psychic! Whereas Qin Chen is just a dime-a-dozen Mage. I'm really not looking down on Qin Chen, but in the early stages, the Mage class is just too trashy. Aside from casting a few Fireballs, you're basically a super minion. No, super minions are even slightly stronger—at least they can take a few more hits."
Listening to the surrounding chatter, Zhou Tianqi wore a look of utter arrogance. He eagerly anticipated seeing Qin Chen make a fool of himself and show an expression of embarrassment due to the public discussion.
However, all he saw was Qin Chen's calm expression, as though he felt no embarrassment whatsoever from the surrounding comments.
Listening to the people around him and Zhou Tianqi's challenge, Qin Chen couldn't even be bothered to lift an eyelid. As long as he knew his own strength, other people's evaluations meant nothing to him.
Qin Chen had already made up his mind to test the waters with Calamity difficulty.
Seeing himself ignored yet again, Zhou Tianqi flew into an impotent rage.
"Do you dare to compete with me?!"
Without looking back, Qin Chen placed his palm against the dungeon gate.
"Are you scared? As long as you admit defeat in front of everyone, I'm magnanimous enough—"
The spot where Qin Chen's palm touched the gate emitted a white light indicating the dungeon was about to start.
"One million! Do you dare to compete?! If you lose, apologize to me in public; if you win, I'll give you one million!"
Seeing that Qin Chen still ignored him, Zhou Tianqi lost his cool and roared anxiously at the top of his lungs.
*Ding!* The white light where Qin Chen's palm rested instantly vanished, and the dungeon that was about to open immediately became inactive.
He turned around, his gaze burning as he looked at Zhou Tianqi.
"There's really a million?"