Lin Moyu finally saw the true owner of the attacking branch.
It was a giant tree, about three meters tall, its trunk thick and dark, with dozens of long branches swaying like living whips.
His fingertips glowed faintly as he activated the detection skill.
Detection was a basic ability that everyone possessed, capable of revealing fundamental information about targets.
[Long Whip Tree]
Level: 8
Description: Usually lies dormant. Will attack living creatures that pass nearby.
Now everything made sense.
Why hadn't the Skeleton Warriors been attacked earlier?
Because they weren't living beings.
They had no life aura.
To the Long Whip Tree, they were no different from stones or deadwood.
But Lin Moyu was alive.
The moment he entered its territory, the tree immediately launched a sneak attack.
The Long Whip Tree continued lashing out, its branches snapping through the air like steel whips.
Of course, Lin Moyu wasn't stupid.
Even though the attacks caused him no harm, there was no reason to just stand there and let it hit him.
He retreated dozens of meters in an instant, leaving the tree's attack range.
The Long Whip Tree stopped moving.
Its branches continued to sway, as if remaining on guard, but it made no attempt to pursue.
Lin Moyu nodded slightly.
"So that's how it is."
He understood the intentions behind the dungeon's design.
From the heavily weakened monsters of levels 1–7, to the level 8 monsters that retained full wild strength, the transition was deliberate.
And among all possible level 8 monsters, the designers had chosen this one—
A plant-type monster.
One that relied on ambushes.
One that could not move.
The Long Whip Tree allowed novices to experience the danger of wild monsters—
but without the risk of being chased down and killed.
Once danger appeared, retreating calmly was enough.
Even its attack range was carefully balanced—roughly equivalent to that of ranged classes—cutting off cheesy long-range strategies.
This was a dungeon built with one purpose:
Protect newcomers while forcing them to grow.
As few casualties as possible.
Maximum exposure to real combat.
The Skeleton Warriors returned at Lin Moyu's call.
All sixteen of them formed a tight formation around him, like an elite guard.
With a thought, Lin Moyu issued a new command.
One Skeleton Warrior charged forward.
The Long Whip Tree didn't react at all.
Not until the Skeleton Warrior reached it—and swung its blade.
The moment the knife struck the trunk, the Long Whip Tree went berserk.
Its branches whipped out wildly, striking the Skeleton Warrior again and again.
Metallic sounds rang out as branch met bone.
The attack speed was astonishing.
Three to four strikes per second.
But—
The Skeleton Warrior's attributes were simply too high.
With 550 points in Physique, its defense and vitality were absurd.
Cracks appeared in its bones—but healed almost instantly.
"Huh?"
Lin Moyu raised an eyebrow.
"Not an instant kill?"
This was the first monster since level 1 that had survived an initial strike.
"So this is the true strength of wild monsters…"
"Let's see how many hits you can take."
One slash.
Two slashes.
Three slashes.
On the fourth strike, the Long Whip Tree froze.
All movement ceased.
[Killed Level 8 Long Whip Tree, EXP +160]
Lin Moyu glanced at the experience gain.
Much higher than a level 7 brown bear.
But after a brief calculation, he shook his head.
"In terms of efficiency, level 7 monsters are still better."
One slash for 70 EXP.
This one took four slashes for 160 EXP.
The per-strike efficiency had dropped.
However—
Monster-finding time also mattered.
And here, that problem didn't exist.
Lin Moyu looked ahead.
The forest was dense.
Almost every tree was a Long Whip Tree.
Once you knew what to look for, they were easy to distinguish.
There was no searching required.
Hundreds of level 8 monsters were right in front of him.
This wasn't just a dungeon anymore.
It was a leveling treasure land.
Even Lin Moyu felt a surge of excitement.
With a single thought, the Skeleton Warriors split up.
They charged into the forest from all directions.
Blades rose and fell.
Four strikes per tree—clean and efficient.
Experience began to skyrocket.
For others, leveling slowed dramatically after level 5.
For Lin Moyu—
It was accelerating again.
What was supposed to take over an hour…
Took only fifty minutes.
A pillar of light descended.
Level up.
Lin Moyu reached Level 6.
Outside the dungeon, dusk settled in.
It was already 7:00 p.m.
From entering the dungeon at 9 a.m., nearly ten hours had passed.
Lu Yun, several principals, and Xia Dongyang were still there.
No one had left.
They had been drinking tea all day.
Meals were delivered directly to them.
This was routine.
Every year, the school leaders guarded the first day of the novice dungeon.
Accidents were rare—but never impossible.
Actual combat meant injuries.
And in the past, students had died in the novice dungeon.
Xia Dongyang hadn't left either.
Xia Xue was inside.
As her father, he wouldn't miss her first dungeon run—especially after missing her job transfer ceremony.
Suddenly—
The dungeon entrance flared with brilliant light.
Everyone looked up at the same time.
"Someone's coming out!"
"The time isn't up yet—did something happen?"
The dungeon had two exits.
One was deep inside the forest, beyond the level 8 monsters.
The other was the original entrance.
A figure stepped out of the light.
It was Lin Moyu.
Lu Yun hurried over.
"Moyu, why did you come out so early?"
Lin Moyu replied calmly, his voice flat and emotionless:
"If you kill everything… it comes out."
Lu Yun froze.
For a moment, he didn't understand.
Lin Moyu's expression was too calm.
Too indifferent.
As if he had simply finished a routine task.
Then Lu Yun noticed the status display.
[Lin Moyu — Necromancer — Level 7]
Lu Yun's breath caught in his throat.
Level 7.
On the first day.
In ten hours.
The tea in his hand trembled slightly.