Chapter 235: Three Great Crown Traits

Chapter 235: Chapter 235: Three Great Crown Traits

Once Lance had finished adjusting to his gear, Rein finally turned the conversation back to the day’s main topic.

"Today, the various Vanguard Teams have all brought back intel on the Summer Crown."

The veteran pulled a rough sketch from his clothes and spread it on the table.

"First thing tomorrow morning, all the major teams will officially begin their push into the Underground City."

"You need to enter the Underground City tomorrow, too, so you don’t fall too far behind."

Rein pointed to a prominent marking on the map, a few kilometers west of Gray Rock Town.

A crude drawing of a camp was there, with a red skull—a symbol of danger—sketched beside it.

"This Underground City outside Gray Rock Town is codenamed ’Rusted Stone Echo’."

Rein explained, his expression serious.

"I’ve already compiled all the data on this Underground City into a booklet. Just take it with you tomorrow and read it on the road."

"Today, I’m mainly going to explain the special ranking rules for the Summer Crown in this region. This will determine whether or not you can earn a title."

Rein paused mid-explanation, feeling thirsty. He took a sip of water to wet his throat.

"The ranking rule for the Lord’s Certificate that our region drew this time is the most traditional one: a ranking based on Crown Value points."

"As long as you can secure a spot in the top 50 on the individual leaderboard by the time the event ends, you’ll earn an exclusive title."

"We got really lucky this time."

The veteran smiled at Lance.

"This afternoon at the Veterans’ Guild, I heard from the old-timers that the Underground City region at the eastern end of White River Province drew the ’Stronghold Conquest’ mode."

"That kind of ranking mode is basically a meat grinder. Who knows how many lives will be lost by the time the Crown event is over."

Lance had to agree—his luck really was good.

’In a points-based competition, at least I can rely on my Unlimited Stamina to grind monsters nonstop.’

’But a battle for strongholds is basically a Guild war that comes down to manpower and logistics—extremely unfriendly to a Lone Wolf like me.’

"And there’s another piece of news that’s very favorable for you."

"This year, the leaderboards are using a dual-track system."

"In other words, points for the individual and team leaderboards are calculated completely separately."

Lance immediately understood the implications.

’This is definitely good for Lone Wolves.’

Rein noted Lance’s reaction with satisfaction. ’The kid’s sharp.’ He then continued to explain in more detail.

"Under the previous rules, points for both leaderboards were usually combined."

"When you were in a team, the Crown Value from a killed Demon would be credited directly to the individual who landed the killing blow."

"There was a loophole in that system."

"The Grand Guilds could exploit it by having their members weaken a monster, only for a single, core member to come in and secure the kill."

"They could funnel massive amounts of Crown Value to one person, allowing them to easily dominate the top 50 of the individual leaderboard without hurting the team’s overall rank."

In short, it was just organized point farming via power-leveling.

"But now, with the dual-track system, that loophole has been closed," Rein explained.

"This means that for any monster killed while in a team, the points will only be recorded on the team leaderboard."

"Anyone who wants to earn the exclusive title from the individual leaderboard this season has to go it alone and earn Crown Value based on their own merits."

"Of course," Rein added.

"if there’s some rich young master with more money than sense,"

"and he insists on hiring a full team at great expense just to have them whittle down all the monsters to a sliver of health, so he can stroll in and land the last hit to farm his personal score,"

"that method of gaming the system is also possible."

"It’s just that this behavior would cause a tremendous waste of the Underground City’s resources."

"The final rewards for the team leaderboard are also extremely valuable—they can even sell for exorbitant prices at certain times. No Guild would be willing to give up the huge returns from the team leaderboard just to satisfy some rich kid’s vanity."

Then, Rein pressed his finger on the skull symbol on the map.

"The core reason the Gray Rock Town Underground City has attracted so many elite teams this time is because of the few Crown modifiers it was randomly assigned."

"Now for the main event."

Lance’s eyes lit up.

’Whether or not I can stand out in this competition—or even rush to the top for special rewards like I used to in games in my past life—it all comes down to these modifiers.’

"The first modifier is a fairly common negative one that has appeared in previous Summer Crowns."

Rein’s expression grew grim.

"After entering the Underground City, all Professionals will have their stamina consumption forcibly increased by 200%!"

"Furthermore, while in combat, the Effect of all recovery-type Alchemy Potions will decay by 10% every three minutes until they become completely useless."

"This Potion decay penalty will only start to reset after a Professional has completely exited combat and rested for a while."

This was clearly a punishing modifier.

It would severely limit the point-farming efficiency of Ordinary Professionals.

However, Lance could barely stop himself from breaking into a huge grin.

’A modifier that’s punishing for others might as well not exist for me!’

Rein didn’t notice Lance’s odd reaction and continued to analyze the modifier from a team’s perspective.

"However, this modifier doesn’t pose a huge survival threat to well-trained teams."

"They can just use a rotation tactic."

"Some of the frontline tanks can hold back the monsters while low-health members fall back to a safe zone, drop out of combat, and use potions to recover."

"Then they can rotate in and out like clockwork, taking turns tanking and dealing damage."

"With proper coordination, they can not only avoid the risk of a total party wipe but also ensure the whole team maintains a high level of combat effectiveness."

Rein looked at Lance and revealed the second, and most crucial, modifier for this Summer Crown.

"This second modifier is the real reason so many teams are flocking here."

"As long as you don’t leave combat, the more Demons you kill consecutively, the more stacks of a special ’Crown Buff’ you’ll gain."

"The higher your stacks, the bigger the percentage bonus you’ll get on the Crown Value you earn from each Demon kill."

"But!"

The veteran’s tone became deliberately heavy.

"The price is that as your buff stacks increase, the aura you emit will become as conspicuous as a torch in the dark."

"This will attract more and more nearby Demons, who will swarm and try to annihilate you."

"And if you can’t handle it and disengage from combat for more than 30 seconds, all your accumulated buff stacks will instantly be reset to zero."

’So that’s how it is.’

Lance had a sudden realization. This was the real reason all those daredevil elite teams were piling into Rusted Stone Echo.

The leaderboard for the Lord’s Certificate combined the rankings from four large, neighboring Underground Cities.

The rules in the other three Underground Cities were likely safer and more conservative.

But in Rusted Stone Echo, as long as a team had perfect coordination and could withstand the onslaught of a high-pressure monster horde, by making good use of this consecutive-kill buff, their efficiency at acquiring Crown Value would be several, or even more than ten, times that of their competitors in the other three Underground Cities!

Those well-equipped teams could make perfect use of the classic "iron triangle" formation.

The front line in Heavy Armor would hold the line at all costs, while Mages in the back controlled the field and unleashed large-scale AoE attacks.

As long as the team’s commander could precisely manage the pace of the battle, perfectly syncing the monster respawn rate with the team’s own push, then they could keep the entire team at a high buff-stack count.

’It was a modifier designed specifically for teams.’

’No wonder so many teams were flocking here to compete.’

"On top of that, the intel also mentioned that a special type of ’Bomb Goblin’ will spawn in large numbers in this Underground City."

Rein continued, adding details about the monster.

"These Goblins themselves are pathetically weak in melee combat, but the baskets on their backs are filled with Alchemy Explosives."

"If you take a direct hit from one of their explosives, you’ll be injured even if you’re wearing Enchanted Armor."

"So, if you see any of those little green guys with baskets on their backs in the Underground City, don’t hesitate. Take them out immediately with ranged attacks."