“He’s out! Gandalf is out!”

“Look quickly! It’s the Devil King!”

Amidst the noisy discussions, Wang Xicheng was the first to rush to Gandalf.

His burly body was covered in dust and scratches, but his face showed the excitement of surviving a disaster.

“Student Gandalf!”

Wang Xicheng’s voice was extremely loud, and his opening words immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

“How was it? Did you clear it? What about that final BOSS? Did you take it down?”

A barrage of questions was fired off like a rapid-fire cannon.

Around him, other surviving students also gathered, their hopeful gazes all falling on Gandalf.

Zhou Huai, controlling Gandalf, glanced at everyone and calmly shook his head.

“No.”

He answered truthfully.

“I was instantly killed by that Hell-level BOSS.”

As soon as these words were spoken, a collective sigh of regret arose from the surroundings.

“Ah, so it still didn’t work?”

“That’s a Rank 40 Hell-level BOSS, so being instantly killed is normal.”

Zhou Huai’s gaze fell on Wang Xicheng, and he asked in return.

“What about you all? Did the mission to guard the sanctuary fail too?”

Upon hearing this, Wang Xicheng showed a look of ashamed, bitter smile, scratching the back of his head, appearing a bit embarrassed.

“Don’t even mention it.”

“We hadn’t even found a few sanctuaries before we were directly surrounded by an endless tide of beasts.”

“If it weren’t for the protection mechanism in this instance, which automatically teleports you out when your health drops to zero, we would have died hundreds of times over.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a girl next to him interjected with lingering fear.

“It’s more than dying hundreds of times; I feel like my mind is about to collapse.”

“That instance designer is simply a devil!”

“Exactly! It’s too outrageous! A Rank 30 hundred-player instance, with a Rank 40 Hell-level BOSS thrown in, who can beat that?”

“I seriously suspect that this instance has no possibility of being cleared at all!”

“I, on the other hand, think it’s possible we haven’t found the true clear conditions. For example, is it necessary to protect Old City Lord Chen to survive, or complete a hidden mission at a specific time?”

Everyone chattered, discussing and complaining about the infuriating difficulty of the instance.

Zhou Huai listened to their discussion, but he was pondering another matter {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} in his mind.

Although this instance was outrageous, it had to be said that it was definitely the most suitable Holy Land for Gandalf to level up at the moment.

The number of Strange Beast inside was terrifyingly high, and their Rank was generally above Rank 30.

As long as he was careful and didn't provoke the final Hell-level BOSS, just defending the city in the front would yield enough experience points to make his hands go soft.

Thinking of this, he looked at everyone and proposed.

“How about it?”

“Do you want to... challenge it again?”

In his opinion, with a few more tries, they would surely figure out some tricks.

However, as soon as he spoke, the previously indignant crowd instantly became like ducks whose necks had been choked, each one falling silent.

Wang Xicheng shook his head like a rattle-drum.

“No, no, no!”

“I can’t do it anymore, I really can’t!”

He had a look of utter despair.

“I feel like I’ll dream of being chased by that catfish monster every night for the next few days.”

“I need to go back and rest for a few days, otherwise my Dao Heart will become unstable.”

“Me too, me too, I don’t want to experience that feeling of despair a second time.”

“I’m out, I’m out. I’m going to the food court to eat something good to calm my nerves.”

Everyone waved their hands, scattering like birds and beasts.

Are you kidding? That kind of double torment, both mental and physical, once was enough.

Seeing this, Zhou Huai decided not to push it.

He hadn't planned on personally entering the fray again anyway.

That kind of monotonous monster grinding would be more efficient if handled by the Smart Core AI.

After arranging for Gandalf’s Smart Core AI to continue finding an instance to level up and farm Materials.

Zhou Huai withdrew his consciousness and returned to his main body.

However, just then, Wang Xicheng cheerfully approached again, with a familiar smile on his face.

“Student Gandalf, want to exchange contact information?”

“After all, we’re friends who’ve fought side-by-side.”

“Next time there’s such a high-difficulty instance, I’ll contact you first thing.”

“If you’re free, let’s have a meal together, my treat!”

Wang Xicheng didn’t have any other intentions; he simply felt that knowing a big shot like Gandalf was something worth showing off.

He would also have something to brag about to his friends later.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, he met a pair of cold, indifferent, and even somewhat disdainful eyes.

At this moment, Gandalf, after Zhou Huai’s consciousness had withdrawn, had already switched back to the “Devil King” mode under the control of the Smart Core AI.

He slightly raised his chin, sweeping a glance at Wang Xicheng with eyes that looked down upon an ant.

His handsome face showed no expression at all.

“Foolish human.”

“Are we close?”

“Don’t waste my time here.”

His cold and emotionless voice, like an ice pick in the dead of winter, pierced deeply into Wang Xicheng’s heart.

After speaking, Gandalf did not look at him again, turning and walking directly towards a five-person instance portal not far away.

The teacher at the entrance, seeing him, didn’t dare to say much and let him pass directly.

Gandalf’s figure quickly disappeared into the light of the portal.

The entire process was smooth and fluid.

Only Wang Xicheng was left, frozen in place.

The smile on his face was still fixed at the corners of his mouth, looking incredibly comical.

He slowly, mechanically turned his head to look at Lu Zhiyi, who was equally stunned.

“Lu... Senior Sister Lu...”

His voice sounded a bit wronged.

“Student Gandalf... what happened to him?”

“He was fine just a moment ago, why did he suddenly... suddenly turn hostile and act like he didn’t know me?”

Lu Zhiyi looked at Wang Xicheng’s expression of questioning life and gave an awkward smile.

She didn’t know how to explain it either.

She could only say vaguely.

“I... I’m not quite sure either.”

“He had this same attitude a few days ago.”

“I always feel... there’s something strange about him, as if he has two faces.”

“In any case, when he’s in that state, just try not to provoke him.”

... ...

On the other side, Zhou Huai’s consciousness had returned to his main body.

He lay on the bed, his mind constantly replaying his previous experiences in the instance.

That Hell-level BOSS, the Abyssal Demon Catfish Kraken.

The last skill it released was almost a full-screen instant kill, completely unreasonable.

Is this the power of a Hell-level BOSS?

Truly terrifying.

Even the SS-Rank Forbidden Spell Mage Gandalf, with his luxurious equipment and abnormal skills, was as fragile as an ant before it.

However, what Zhou Huai couldn’t figure out the most was the BOSS’s health.

He was very sure that the first time he saw Kraken’s health bar, its maximum HP was clearly only over eight million.

But why, after a roar, did its maximum HP suddenly surge to over twenty million?

Not only its health, but even the Qi it emitted was several times stronger than before.

This feeling was very strange.

Even if the BOSS entered some kind of berserk state, this increase in stats was too exaggerated.

It felt more like a plot-kill.

Zhou Huai shook his head, unable to come up with an explanation for a while.

He simply stopped dwelling on the problem.

The most urgent task was to use the reward he had just received to draw a new Clone class.

He slowly closed his eyes, his consciousness instantly sinking into that familiar, vast starry sky.

The giant and mysterious rotary machine floated silently before him.

“Last time it was the Dark Night Demon Lord, this time, what class will it be?”

Zhou Huai’s heart was filled with anticipation.

He stretched out his hand and pressed the ancient button on the rotary machine without hesitation!

Buzz—!

The rotary machine spun rapidly, and countless light orbs on its body, like stars across the sky, shimmered with flowing light, dazzling and mesmerizing.

Finally, a light orb, entirely azure blue, as if containing the entire ocean, shot out from the rotary machine and slowly landed in his palm.

“Blue?”

Zhou Huai’s eyes instantly lit up.

This was the first time such a color of class orb had appeared.

Through these few draws, Zhou Huai had roughly figured out some patterns.

Gold represented S-Rank combat classes, such as the Thunder Sword Master.

Red represented SS-Rank combat classes, such as the Forbidden Spell Mage and the Dark Night Demon Lord.

Purple represented SS-Rank lifestyle classes, such as the Myriad Forms Divine Craftsman Ouyezi.

So, what did this never-before-seen blue represent? 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Just as Zhou Huai was pondering, the blue orb exploded in his palm.

It transformed into an ancient scroll, entirely composed of starlight and runes, quietly floating before his eyes.

On the scroll, a line of mysterious text slowly emerged.

“Congratulations, Host, you have drawn the class: Unique Hidden Class, SS-Rank Heavenly Craftsman!”