Chapter 27: Grade Upgrades
"You okay Bin Bin? Do you feel pain anywhere?" Luo Bo was a little guilty about being unable to help Bin Yong during the last part of the match. Shi Zuo was a little embarrassed and apologised to Bin Yong too.
"Why are you two being so courteous? It's so unlike the both of you. Well, it sure hurt a little during the fight but we won, did we not?" Bin Yong shrugged off their concern but he was slightly happy Luo Bo was concerned about him.
"Shit, shit, stop it. That girl has already been taken. What are you thinking?!" Bin Yong suddenly thought to himself. "But…it would not hurt if I enjoyed this a little for the moment right…?"
"Hahaha, I was fine, but Luo Bo was so anxious about you that it actually made me guilty for not showing concern about you. Now that I think about it, you sure gave it your best instead of letting the piglet defeat you." Shi Zuo laughed a little.
"Well, it just felt so real. The fight for survival, it was either the piglet or me. I did not get such a feeling when I was playing in other dungeon suppliers' instances. The adrenaline rush was there, it would have been stupid to just give up." Bin Yong explained clumsily but truthfully, he did want to look a little cooler in front of Luo Bo.
"But eat a little less in the future okay, Bin Yong? Carrying you up to the second floor was such a chore!" Luo Bo teased him, seeing how he got better and was not angry at all. Bin Yong, on the other hand, was regretting that he had been unconscious.
"Haha, lets come back to Boss Jin's again sometime, okay? I think, we can consider this to be our next new usual hangout place." Bin Yong blushed a little as he suggested it. Both Shi Zuo and Luo Bo suddenly looked at each other and shared a High Five. Bin Yong later realised that he was the light bulb and he said his goodbyes to the couple, taking the underground subway back home while the couple spent some time together.
Little did he know that this dungeon supplier would change his life.
——–
Jin returned home and placed a can of ice cold coffee in front Ming's altar. He gave a light bow and went to shower. As he came out of the shower, he saw the younger Yun walking around the house, reminiscing about the past.
She even returned to her own room to see certain items still intact after so many years but the room was a little dusty. "Lazy men, can't they clean the house?"
"I can hear that", Jin went to the kitchen for a cup of milk before he returned to his room. Yun yawned a little and decided to return to the system, the body slowly dissipating into thin air as if it never existed.
"You will come back tomorrow to help me again right?" Jin asked when he saw the disappearing act right in front of his eyes.
"Yea, I will. You do not have to worry about me, Jin. Have a good cultivating rest first. There are a few things to settle in the morning."
Jin nodded his head and sat on the floor in his room to start his cultivation. Slowly but surely, he fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning came in a blink of an eye but as Jin woke up, he felt that his muscles were indeed no longer sore and he felt a little stronger. Hence, he portrayed his cultivation in his room and was shocked to find out three pandas rolling around above him.
"Grade 3?!" Jin was genuinely amazed. He knew he was near Grade 2 Peak before he met the system but he thought that the four years during university would have eroded his cultivation quite a fair bit, bringing it back to, at best, an average Grade 2 strength.
"It has to do with your cultivation potential. Did Ming not tell you that all you needed to do was to find a proper cultivation technique to awaken your potential?" Yun reminded Jin.
"For most people, cultivation degradation may occur but it was due to your potential that your previous cultivation remained the same despite negligence on your part."
Jin nodded and took a look at the mission app. "I believe the 'earn 10,000 Yuan' mission should have been completed? I roughly took into account the number of people that bought instance tickets."
"Yes, you have reached sales of 11,250 Yuan within the first two days of business. Hence, you are now promoted to Level 1 Dungeon Supplier. Dungeon Supplier Ranking will be updated at the end of the financial month." Yin informed Jin.
"So what's the upgrade? Do not tell me it's just two additional stations." Jin remembered how the fantasy light novels gave very stingy upgrades.
"It's two additional stations." Yun laughed when Jin heard the news. "And an underground floor is unlocked."
"Woah what! An underground floor? "Jin now started to get excited.
"Come and take a look for yourself. It was renovated last night when you completed that mission. Or do you wish to partake in the Lady Snake capture mission first?" Yun said in his head.
"I will take a look at the underground floor before catching the Lady Snake. It was tiring to open the shop for an entire day, I will probably use the mornings during the weekdays to catch monsters in order to increase the store's variety or train myself." Jin finally thought to himself.
"Maybe I will open in the morning for the weekends."
"That's a fairly sound decision and you will have some time for yourself too." Yun agreed fully.
"Alright, I cannot wait to see the new floor." Jin quickly cooked a plate of scrambled egg and bacon along with a few pieces of toast for breakfast. A hearty breakfast for the start of a new day.
As Jin was walking to his store, he went ahead and upgrade the spear and dagger goblins to Grade 2. "How will the new grade affect the current dungeon setup?"
"Once all of your monsters have upgraded to the new grade, additional difficulties will automatically be created. While waiting for the entire team of a dungeon instance monsters to be upgraded, an option called 'Normal+' difficulty will appear." Yun explained.
"Do the customers have to pay more for the upgraded difficulty?" Jin thought about it and felt that the price was already unfair. If his customers had to pay more for the same type of content, it was akin to scamming.
"Nope, they do not. However, the cultivators can now have the options to choose what kind of difficulty they want the mobs to be on the TV before entering the dimensional space. So for now, there will be 'Normal' and 'Normal+' difficulty"
"You have not discovered the full extent of the dungeon instance yet. For most dungeons, they will have three kinds of difficulties set for them. Normal, Hard and Extreme. That also means that the dungeon instance will be capped at a certain grade." Yun explained to him.
"For the goblin dungeon instance, it will be capped at Grade 3 and that grade will be the Extreme difficulty setting for the instance. Another example would be the next mission you will be undergoing. If you succeed in capturing the Lady Snake, you will get a Grade 2 Dungeon and the capped grade for that dungeon will be at Grade 4." Jin took in the information and started to understand how the dungeon instance mechanics worked. While it seemed simple from the start, some minor things that could enhance the experience of the customers.
Jin reached his storehouse and entered from the side door. Before he proceeded to the underground floor, he created an A4 paper sign and placed it outside. "Not open in the morning for weekdays."
"I have updated the Pandamonium with your notice so customers will know of the new change," Yun said and Jin checked his phone. A new Panda tab appeared in the app and it stated 'Notice and Announcements'.
"This Pandamonium app sure is handy." Jin smiled and now looked at the newly created door entrance to the underground floor near the stairs.