Chapter 9 -9-Leveling Frenzy

Chapter 9 -9-Leveling Frenzy"How do you think Daniel pulled it off?" "I heard there's a chance for talents to mutate after awakening. What if His Highness Daniel's talent mutated?" "That does ring a bell. I remember hearing about some trash-tier F-rank who awakened a mutated version and ended up with an S-rank talent—Executioner, I think it was." "No, something still doesn't add up. Even if Daniel's talent mutated into S-rank, how would that allow him to shave off two minutes and fourteen seconds from a dungeon clear time? That's not even remotely realistic!" "Everyone, listen! I have a theory: What if Daniel triggered some sort of mechanism or trap inside the labyrinth that accidentally wiped out most of the monsters? I mean, it's rare, but there are historical cases of that happening." That theory immediately drew agreement from many of the students nearby. After all, it was the most reasonable explanation so far. "Then what do you guys think? Will His Highness Daniel break another record now that he's entered Mournwood?" "No way. Absolutely not. He can't possibly be that lucky!" "I'm telling you right here, right now—if Daniel breaks another record, I'll lick every toilet in this academy clean!" With that loud, thunderous proclamation, a towering figure stepped onto the scene. Roderick. The crowd of students instantly fell silent. Everyone knew that in recent years, Roderick had been one of Daniel's most vocal bullies—always the first to mock or provoke him. Now standing tall in front of the teleportation gate to Mournwood, Roderick sneered and pointed at the Dragon Glass Stele beside it. "You guys know exactly what kind of trash Daniel is. Who would know him better than me?" "If I didn't know just how cowardly he is, I wouldn't have made that vow just now." But just as he prepared to step into the teleportation gate... The Dragon Glass Stele glowed. Letters shimmered into existence, one character at a time—burning into the ancient stone with undeniable finality: [Mournwood – Fastest Clear Record] [First Place: Daniel – Clear Time: 06 seconds] For a moment, time itself seemed to stop. The once-noisy plaza became so quiet that even the faintest breath could be heard. Every pair of eyes turned to the stele. Roderick froze. His eyes bulged. He stared at the glowing name etched into stone—Daniel. Six seconds. "This can't be real..." "It's fake. That stele must be malfunctioning!" His muttering grew more frantic. And then—a dangerous glint flashed across his eyes. "Playing games with me, huh? I'll smash you to pieces!" Like a desperate gambler who just lost everything, Roderick roared and pulled out a massive greatsword from his inventory, swinging it full force at the Dragon Glass Stele. His sudden outburst was so unexpected that even the nearby professors didn't react in time. "Stop! What are you doing?!" "You want to die?!" Two Royal Academy instructors dashed forward. But before they could reach him, a blast of force surged through the greatsword the moment it made contact with the stele. BOOM! Roderick—and his greatsword—were sent flying, slammed backwards by the obsidian monolith's backlash. Instant chaos erupted across the plaza. Meanwhile – Inside Mournwood Daniel was already deep in action. Compared to his first labyrinth run, this attempt was lightning-fast. S~eaʀᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The moment he materialized inside the dungeon—before even stabilizing his stance—he unleashed his God-Rank Skill: [Thunderfall Shield] At this point, Daniel's Spell Power had reached 2110. And with the fusion bonus in effect, the spell scaled at 40 times Spell Power. That meant even without a critical hit, a single cast dealt 84,400 damage. In a Level 15 labyrinth, he wasn't just strong—he was an unstoppable force of nature. By the time Daniel took a breath, the kill log had already flooded his screen: [You have slain – Wandering Corpse (Lv. 15)] [Exp Gained: 5000] [You have slain – Forest Wyrm (Lv. 15)] [Exp Gained: 5000] [You have slain – Earth Sloth (Lv. 15)] [Exp Gained: 5000] ... [Congratulations! You have reached Level 18] "...Huh?" That was... way too fast. Daniel blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared again. His experience bar was skyrocketing. The numbers climbed so fast it felt like a dream. According to what he had learned before, fighting higher-level monsters inside an underground labyrinth granted bonus experience. Now, seeing his stat window in real time, he finally understood the mechanic. The underground labyrinth system operated like an MMORPG dungeon: fighting monsters above your level granted extra EXP. Of course, the bonus scaled within limits. Going too far above your level came with risks. But Daniel hadn't encountered those—yet. What he had confirmed was that his Level 10 self was enjoying full bonus experience from every kill inside Mournwood. Ordinary players progressed steadily, grinding monster after monster and gaining EXP gradually. But Daniel? He nuked everything in a single skill cast. Every enemy was defeated while he was still at Level 10—so every kill gave him the maximum bonus multiplier. As a result, Daniel's experience gains were multiplied by five. Glorious. Absolutely glorious. Without hesitating, he waited for the 2-second cooldown and fired off another Thunderfall Shield. Within seconds, the dungeon's final boss took the hit twice. The Mournwood boss didn't even make it to its Tier-2 phase—just exploded under the pressure. After all, it only had 100,000 HP. [You have slain – Mourn Lord (Lv. 20)] [Exp Gained: 50,000] [Congratulations! You have cleared the underground labyrinth – Mournwood] [New Record Achieved: Fastest Clear Time] [Current Record: 00 minutes, 06 seconds] As a stream of notifications poured in, Daniel allowed himself a satisfied smile. So that's it, huh? Another labyrinth cleared. Another record shattered. And just like that—effortlessly—he had made history again. But Daniel wasn't one to get complacent. He began reviewing his run mentally, conducting a tactical breakdown of the entire fight. Disregarding the fixed 2-second skill cooldown... there's still room to go faster. If only my damage was a bit higher, I could've one-shot the boss in the first cast. He clenched his fists, not out of frustration—but ambition. He wasn't done. He was just getting started.