Chapter 71: The Power Of Three

Finally, Aiden found the opening he had been waiting for. "Silas, hold it for three seconds!"

Silas gritted his teeth and planted his feet firmly. "Three seconds? Leave it to me!"

The Scrap Aggregate raised its enormous arm. Silas met it head-on.

BOOM!

The impact shook the entire chamber, eyes widening at that open chance, Aiden moved. ’Root Entanglement!’

Roots erupted beneath the Boss, locking its movements for a brief moment.

Aiden’s eyes sharpened further. ’Fireball!’

The blazing projectile struck the exposed energy node. Then he closed the distance. Blue explosive energy surged across his gauntlets.

[Charged Strike]!

BANG!

His fist slammed directly into the core controller. Cracks spread across the Boss’s massive body and the Scrap Aggregate let out an unwilling screech of twisting metal.

Its enormous body began to collapse.

CRASH!

The Level 5 Boss finally fell apart, transforming into a massive pile of scrap metal and a cloud of rich data particles.

The chamber fell silent. Silas lowered his shield and breathed heavily, Luna stared at the remains with wide eyes, and Aiden looked at the pile of rewards.

Their first real team battle had ended in victory.

<Ding!>

[Successfully killed Level 5 Boss "Scrap Aggregate", gained 800 EXP!]

[Triggered "Greed" effect. Additional items obtained: [Aggregate Core] x1, [Tough Metal Boots (Uncommon)] x1!]

[Soul Essence absorbed! Strength +2 absorbed from the target: Scrap Aggregate!]

The generous rewards immediately brought smiles to their faces. Silas wasted no time equipping the new common grade metal boots. The moment he put them on, his defensive capabilities increased by another point.

With the first boss defeated, their subsequent progress through the dungeon became even smoother.

The early accumulation of resources and hidden information provided by [Minor Good Fortune] proved invaluable. Thanks to the [Scrapyard Structural Map (Fragment)], they were able to bypass an entire trap-filled area that would have otherwise forced them into a difficult battle.

Instead, they took the hidden shortcut and arrived directly before the dungeon’s final Boss.

The Mad Crusher. A massive industrial crushing machine stood at the center of the chamber, its enormous gears and metal jaws constantly grinding against one another. Its systems had long since gone haywire, turning the once-functional machine into a completely out-of-control killing mechanism.

Yet this battle was even easier than the previous one.

Silas’s defense was airtight. Aiden’s attacks flowed smoothly, each strike landing precisely where it needed to.

And Luna’s support came at exactly the right moments, her warnings allowing them to avoid the Boss’s most dangerous attacks before they could become threats.

The three worked together almost instinctively.

Silas blocked, Aiden attacked and Luna supported. There was no longer any hesitation between them.

Finally, after one last violent exchange, the Mad Crusher suddenly shuddered. Its gears slowed. Sparks erupted from its damaged machinery.

Then black smoke began pouring from its interior.

KRRR...

The massive machine finally stopped moving. Silence descended over the chamber.

The dungeon had been cleared. Their first team dungeon challenge was a complete success.

The large amount of EXP caused Aiden and Silas’s experience bars to surge, while Luna successfully reached Level 3.

Their harvest was equally impressive. Various crafting materials, several pieces of equipment, a considerable number of gold coins, and even a green-tier leather armor that Aiden could use.

Standing at the end of the dungeon, the three looked back at the Mechanical Scrapyard they had conquered.

What they had entered as three individuals was no longer quite the same.

They had fought together. Covered for one another. Learned each other’s strengths. And, most importantly, they had begun to trust one another.

An indescribable sense of satisfaction slowly spread through their hearts. This was different from fighting alone. There was no longer that constant sense of caution and isolation.

Instead, there was the steadfastness that came from knowing someone had your back. The strength that came from fighting side by side. Aiden turned his gaze toward Silas and Luna.

Both were exhausted, their clothes stained with dust and grime, but their eyes were bright with excitement.

For the first time in a long while, Aiden’s stern face relaxed.

A genuine smile appeared on his lips. The prototype of an iron triangle had already begun to take shape. And the effect of 1 + 1 + 1 > 3 was only beginning to reveal itself.

His team had finally taken shape.

...

The successful integration of the Mechanical Scrapyard had brought Aiden’s team to an entirely new level of strength and synergy.

However, Aiden understood that individual strength, and even the growth of a single team, was still far from enough when facing a behemoth like the Dragon Sovereign Guild, a force destined to expand at an alarming rate.

He needed more chess pieces. More importantly, he needed to plant unstable sparks outside Damien’s sphere of influence.

And intelligence, especially hidden information tied to resources and opportunities capable of directly accelerating someone’s strength, was the best flint for igniting those sparks.

Through several black-market channels, Aiden soon learned that a medium-sized player team known as Ember Guild had recently been locked in constant conflict with the Dragon Sovereign Guild over resource points and dungeon first-clear competitions.

The repeated clashes had cost Ember Guild dearly.

They had suffered losses on multiple fronts and were now caught in an increasingly difficult position. They desperately needed an opportunity to improve their strength, yet every avenue they pursued seemed to be suppressed by the overwhelming influence of the Dragon Sovereign Guild.

Still, Ember Guild had something many other teams lacked.

A good reputation. Their leader, [Blazewind], was known for being upright and fair, while the team itself possessed remarkable cohesion. Its members trusted one another, and despite their setbacks, they had refused to abandon their principles.

To Aiden, that made the guild an ideal candidate for support.

As soon as the thought surfaced, information from his past life immediately emerged in his mind.

An eighth-level team dungeon located in the forest region on the outskirts of the city.

[Fallen Elven Camp].

The dungeon was by no means easy. Even experienced teams would need to exercise caution when challenging it.

But hidden within the dungeon was an extremely obscure chain quest.

Its final reward was a complete set of uncommon-quality accessories known as the [Forest Whisperer] series.

The accessories possessed excellent early-game attributes, increasing Agility, Spirit, and Stealth-related capabilities. For Assassins, Rangers, and certain magic-based classes, obtaining the complete set during the early stages could almost be considered acquiring an artifact.

In Aiden’s previous life, the hidden quest line had only been discovered by chance nearly a month after the dungeon’s opening.

The discovery had caused quite a stir among players.

But now, almost no one knew about it. Except Aiden.