My career aspirations have come true.

Chapter 17 An Invitation from a Veteran

After transmigrating to this world, Lin Ze specifically looked up publicly available information about the dungeon and learned a lot of details.

In general, "dungeon" is a collective term for all alternate dimensions where monsters exist.

Its appearance is completely unpredictable; it can appear randomly in any corner of the world at any time.

Aside from a very few special measures, there is no way to prevent or stop its arrival.

Once a dungeon appears, it will continue to expand over time unless it is completely cleared, and its difficulty will continue to increase. In theory, it could even expand to cover the entire world, at which point it would be no different from the end of the world.

Fortunately, once you successfully complete the dungeon, it will become fixed and no longer expand, thus becoming a stable resource point for professionals to farm potential points and cards.

It's worth mentioning that only the person who clears the dungeon for the first time can obtain the "key," which means ownership of the dungeon.

In the Seven Stars Federation, any guild of any size inevitably controls at least one instance.

The larger the guild, the more dungeons it controls.

Of course, even the top guilds in the Federation do not have as many dungeons as the Legion.

In addition, copies are not permanent, but have a limited lifespan.

It could take as little as one or two years, or as long as ten or twenty years.

Once the time limit is reached, the instance will crash and disappear.

As a result, the resource points held by various factions have been continuously decreasing.

In order to maintain their own survival, whenever a new dungeon appears, both legions and guilds will rush to compete for it.

After leaving the office building, the three of them turned left and saw a large U-shaped building in the distance.

"That's the training building. It's filled with all kinds of training facilities from the first floor to the top floor. It's definitely more comprehensive than the professional academy."

Zhuang Yi, who had already experienced the training facilities yesterday, introduced them to Lin Ze as they walked.

"The dungeon entrance is underground. I was busy training yesterday and didn't have time to take a look. I heard that professionals guard it 24 hours a day, and the security is quite tight."

The three swiped their military ID cards at the entrance, entered the building, and took the elevator directly to the basement.

The moment the elevator doors opened, a spacious circular lobby came into view.

The floor was paved with smooth marble, while the surrounding walls were made of thick alloy material, with dense and strange patterns engraved on the surface, looking somewhat like a defensive barrier set up by a barrier master.

However, the most eye-catching feature is the "Gate of Light" standing in the very center of the hall, which is estimated to be over five meters tall.

"That's the entrance to the instance?" Zhuang Yi exclaimed in amazement.

Lin Ze and Tang Wangshu were also seeing the real dungeon entrance for the first time, and their eyes were filled with curiosity.

Only when you get close do you realize that the surface of the light gate is like a silvery-white water curtain rippling with waves. If you stare at it for a long time, you will have the illusion that your soul is about to be sucked in.

Lin Ze didn't dare to look for long and quickly looked away to survey his surroundings.

A large number of people had already gathered in the hall, all dressed in star-blue military uniforms, numbering no less than a hundred.

Every now and then, people would register at the registration desk next to the entrance and then step into the light gate.

"Oh, right."

Suddenly remembering something, Tang Wangshu took out two small glass bottles filled with green liquid from his pocket and handed them to Lin Ze and Zhuang Yi respectively.

"This is a healing potion made by an alchemist. You should still have empty slots in your inventory, which is perfect for carrying the potion."

Due to the unique environment of the instance, only rare items and equipment crafted from instance materials—such as Legion uniforms—can be brought directly into the instance. Other items must be placed in the equipment inventory.

The number of slots in the equipment inventory is equal to the professional level, and each slot can hold a maximum of 1 item.

A level 2 professional like Lin Ze can only carry one more item besides the one slot he uses for weapons.

"This thing must be expensive."

Lin Ze remembered that the market price of the treatment potion was as high as five figures, which could not be described as an exaggeration.

Tang Wangshu casually shoved the medicine into their hands and said, "It was given to me by my elders. I can only carry one bottle with me at most. If you don't want it, I'll just have to throw it away."

Since things had come to this point, Lin Ze didn't stand on ceremony, thanked him, and put the item away.

Zhuang Yi smiled and accepted it, saying, "Thanks, this might save my life in a critical moment."

Just then, a voice suddenly came from the side.

"You're new recruits who just joined the North District branch this year, right?"

Lin Ze turned his head and saw that the person who spoke to him was a young man who looked to be about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, with a long face and a warm smile on his face.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Zheng Hong, I am a private first class, and I belong to the second group."

One shouldn't hit a smiling face, so Lin Ze and his two companions introduced themselves one after another.

Upon hearing that Lin Ze and the other two were also privates first class, Zheng Hong's eyes lit up, and he asked with a smile, "Are you planning to challenge the [Blackthorn Tower] dungeon?"

"That's right." Lin Ze nodded in response.

Zheng Hong's smile widened: "Want to team up with me? I'm a level 3 professional now, and I have a fair amount of dungeon experience."

Team up?

Lin Ze and the other two looked at each other, somewhat surprised.

They knew that they could team up to enter the dungeon, with a maximum of four people per team, but they didn't expect a senior to take the initiative to invite them to team up.

Wouldn't it be safer to team up with other players of the same level or to solo?

Why carry three burdens?

Zheng Hong seemed to have anticipated their questions and explained with a smile:

"Dungeons aren't like games. If you get injured inside, you won't recover immediately after you come out. Considering injuries and stamina consumption, teaming up is definitely better than soloing."

"And this also involves settlement rewards, you should know about that, right?"

Lin Ze and the other two nodded.

Upon leaving the instance, challengers will receive varying rewards based on their progress, including potential points, cards, artifacts, and materials.

Of course, even with a 100% completion rate, the reward will still be less than the reward for a first completion.

"Teaming up will definitely lead to a faster completion time than soloing, and the rewards will be much more generous."

"As for why I didn't team up with other professionals of the same level, that's just my personal reason."

Zheng Hong looked directly at Lin Ze and the other two, his expression calm.

"Let's start with the petty person, then the gentleman."

"If we team up, I'll take half of the final reward, and the three of you can split the rest, how about that?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Ze and the other two finally understood.

While teaming up with other professionals of the same level can yield a higher settlement reward, the individual player will only receive a quarter or even less of the total reward.

You can team up with lower-level professionals; although the rewards are less, you can still get the lion's share.

Which is better or worse depends on the individual's choice.

"How should we allocate the potential points gained from killing monsters?" Lin Ze asked.

He remembered that there were two ways to allocate the potential points obtained from killing monsters in the dungeon.

The first method is to distribute rewards based on kill contribution.

One method is to allocate resources according to a fixed ratio.

Zheng Hong glanced at the three of them and asked, "What are your professions?"

"Zhuang Yi and I are sword spirits, and she is a talisman master," Lin Ze said, pointing to the two people beside him.

Zheng Hong's eyes lit up: "What a coincidence! I'm a fighter, and all four of us are combat-type professions. Let's distribute the points based on kill contribution; that's the fairest way."

Lin Ze nodded secretly; this distribution method was indeed more reasonable.

Fixed-ratio allocation is generally suitable for teams with support roles or for situations where players are leveling up together.

The three exchanged glances, quickly communicating with their eyes, and soon reached an agreement.

Having an experienced level 3 professional player lead the team on the first dungeon run can not only reduce the risk but also increase the completion rate. Even if you can only share half of the remaining rewards, you might end up with more than if the three of them teamed up.

"Okay, let's team up." Lin Ze nodded in agreement.

Zheng Hong had already discerned that Lin Ze was the leader among the three, and a smile immediately appeared on his face when he saw Lin Ze agree.

"Let's form a team using the professional mark first."