Infinite Paradise
Chapter 58 - 48 Can slack off? Is there such a good thing?!

Chapter 58: 48 Can slack off? Is there such a good thing?!

Upon hearing that Le Cheng was only at the Second Tier, everyone laughed.

Firstly, players would directly advance to Second Tier once they emerge from the Newbie Dungeon, then by passing two more dungeons, a player’s experience points would be sufficient to reach the Third-tier. Since the difficulty of Infinite Paradise progresses gradually, the first few dungeons encountered by newbie players aren’t too challenging, especially the very first dungeon, which is essentially a tutorial level. As long as one follows the quests, the success rate is over 70%. Even the subsequent official dungeons, at most challenging to a one-star difficulty, so generally, it’s quite easy for players to ascend to the Third-tier, as long as they don’t do anything foolish.

Only upon reaching the Third-tier does Infinite Paradise begin to ramp up the difficulty for players.

And since Le Cheng’s level was a mere Second Tier, it indicated that, aside from the Newbie Dungeon, he had experienced at most one official dungeon, or perhaps had not even gone through an official dungeon at all. That would make him a pure newbie in the truest sense.

However, to be on the safe side, Edward still asked, "How many official dungeons have you gone through?"

The official dungeons refer to the dungeons arranged for players by Infinite Paradise, whereas the Hidden Dungeon of Saint Elizabeth Mental Hospital was triggered by Le Cheng himself and was considered an extracurricular activity. So Le Cheng honestly replied, "The first one, why?"

Damn, a pure newbie indeed!

Edward immediately rolled his eyes, too lazy to ask about his abilities.

Because in the Newbie Dungeon, it’s virtually impossible to trigger hidden quests or side quests, all players can only acquire the basic 1000 points for completing the main quest. And here Le Cheng went exchanging half of his fortune for an unnecessary Voice Changing Belt, so what could he do with the remaining 500 points? Was there even a need to ask?

Newbie, noobs—he slapped these labels on Le Cheng without a second thought.

Just then, the carriage suddenly shook again.

Subsequently, a familiar font appeared before the eyes of the players.

[Dungeon World: Snow Town]

[Dungeon Type: Open-but-Closed World]

[Dungeon Difficulty: Hell]

[Dungeon Introduction: En route to the Imperial Capital Sigma, the train suddenly encounters a snowslide and is stranded mid-journey. In order to survive the frigid extreme weather, you will be forced to head towards Hinamizawa Village, ten miles away. But this small mountain village nestled in the snowy plains seems to be hiding some unknown secrets. Please protect as many of the original inhabitants as possible before the Empire’s reinforcements arrive, and unearth the secrets hiding in Hinamizawa Village...]

[Task One: Ensure Caster’s survival]

[Task Two: Investigate Hinamizawa Village and eliminate its hazards]

[Note: For completing task one, each player will receive 3000 points, or, in the event of Caster’s death, 5000 points will be deducted from each player. Upon successful completion of the dungeon, players will be rewarded based on their contribution values during the final settlement of task two.]

[Note 2: Perhaps, your every action will determine the fate of the entire world...]

...

When Le Cheng’s vision returned to normal, he noticed that the expressions on everyone’s faces had become more solemn.

"It’s a Hell-level dungeon; this is going to be troublesome."

"Indeed, after getting to the Third-tier, Paradise really starts to throw some heavy punches."

"Who’s Caster?"

"He must be some character in the plot."

"We have to protect the key NPCs and investigate the village; I feel this is gonna be a big one."

"..."

As the players were discussing fervently, suddenly, the door to the carriage was flung open roughly as a train attendant rushed in. He looked at everyone inside, and said with joy, "Great, there are still survivors. Come with me quickly!"

Edward stepped forward, feigning ignorance, "What exactly happened? Can you explain to us?"

"No time for explanations now, just follow me, we can talk as we move."

The train attendant gestured for everyone to follow, and they had no choice but to proceed.

On the way, the train attendant heaved sighs and said, "We’re terribly unlucky, having encountered a once-in-a-decade avalanche. The train cannot continue, and to make matters worse, the heating system and the carriage storing supplies are also wrecked by the avalanche. If we stay on the train, once the blizzard strikes, with no food, drink, or warmth, we’ll quickly freeze into ice sculptures."

"Don’t worry too much, though. We’ve already sent a Catastrophe Messenger to the Imperial Capital for help. Even though it might take a week for the rescue team to arrive, luckily, there’s a village called Hinamizawa about ten miles away in the snowfield nearby. We’ll take refuge there for now, and everything will get better once the rescue team from the capital arrives."

After the train attendant finished speaking, everyone had already left the carriage and stepped into the pale world outside, with the piercing cold wind howling and cutting across faces like knives, nearly freezing their legs stiff.

"Damn, this ghostly weather is too cold!"

Edward tried to take a deep breath, only to have the moisture from his breath instantly form ice on his lips, involuntarily gasping in the cold air. When he turned his head, he noticed Le Cheng looking around left and right, seemingly unfazed and full of an adventurous spirit. This irritated Edward.

He glared at Le Cheng and said in a lowered voice, "Gai Baonan, the dungeon you’re about to experience is nothing like the ones you’ve faced before. Don’t mess things up for us. If you become a burden, don’t blame us for abandoning you!"

At this moment, as the train attendant was leading the way upfront, Edward’s voice was drown out by the wind and snow, going unheard by him. But the other players who were closer heard him clear and began looking towards Le Cheng in unison.

Aside from Yaya and Alien Eye, who remained indifferent and smiling as before, the other three players all nodded subconsciously, their expressions showing a trace of schadenfreude.

In team-based dungeons, the players’ matching is not solely dependent on personal combat ability, but also on their teammates. The overall combat ability of all players determines the difficulty level of a dungeon. In other words, to Edward and the others, Le Cheng, a Second Tier player, was clearly dragging the team down.

Theoretically, this should actually be good news for the other players because if someone lowers the bottom threshold, their own upper limit would be relatively higher than the average, which is more favorable for clearing the dungeon. However, for the one bringing down the bottom threshold, the death rate in such a dungeon is close to one hundred percent.

That’s why they found joy in another’s misfortune.

Although most players would prefer having a newbie noob on their team to lower the difficulty, giving extra care and protection to a newbie is absolutely out of the question.

Le Cheng blinked innocently, "So, what should I do?"

"Do less, observe more, and don’t get in the way."

"Can I just slack off then?"

Edward waved his hand impatiently, "Go ahead, just don’t interfere with us."

Anyway, as far as they were concerned, Le Cheng’s contribution to the team was complete the moment he entered the dungeon. No one would expect a noob fresh out of the Newbie Dungeon to accomplish anything in a Hell-level dungeon. As long as he didn’t hold the team back, it didn’t matter where he died.

Is this for real?

Le Cheng thought and suddenly couldn’t help but feel delighted.

"This is what you said, so I’ll just slack off then."

Jumping suddenly from a Nightmare Level to Hell and the difficulty is lowered? He was feeling a lack of challenge, and now he could openly slack off? This was fantastic!

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