Chapter Sixteen: Reflections and Inventory of Battle

Watching the hunters as they slew the fishman boss, Liu Zong, still perched atop the high cliff, had no intention of descending to join them. At that moment, he sat quietly on the high platform, replaying every detail of the recent battle in his mind.

From the way the fight unfolded, it was clear that the fishman boss possessed strength far surpassing the combined power of the four adventurers. Had there been even a slight misstep in their teamwork, the boss could have easily claimed all their lives. Yet, through a series of ingenious, almost unimaginable maneuvers, they managed to hold their ground. Each one of them performed beyond the typical role of their profession or the constraints of this particular dungeon.

The rogue, for instance, effectively acted as the main tank throughout the battle. Every attack the boss unleashed upon the platform was drawn to him, and he deftly evaded them all. The druid, meanwhile, filled the role of underwater DPS; without his relentless assault, the fight might have dragged on endlessly with only the attacks from the platform. As for the hunter and shaman, they too demonstrated their prowess—several times, the hunter preemptively disrupted the boss’s attacks with well-placed arrows. The shaman, both in defense and in controlling the battlefield at the crucial moment, reached the pinnacle of what could be expected from normal play. His comprehensive defense on the platform was particularly notable; without him, the boss might well have turned the tables during its enraged phase.

Their seamless cooperation made it clear: perhaps in the vast open world, a lone wolf could still survive with ease, but in a dungeon like this, teamwork was paramount. Every player needed a clear role; being a jack-of-all-trades was unwise, at least when one's strength was still lacking. Each had to make choices about their specialization and expertise.

As Liu Zong pondered these matters, the rogue approached the high platform, stopping at the cliff’s edge and calling up to him with a laugh, “What’s wrong? Are you afraid to come down? We’ve cleared all the monsters on the way—there’s nothing left to threaten you.”

“No,” Liu Zong replied, shaking his head and rising to his feet. “I’m just considering the road ahead. No matter what, I can’t clear dungeons alone at the beginning, so I need to think about what role I should play when working with teammates.”

The rogue burst out laughing. “You’re overthinking it! Your role isn’t something you choose; it’s determined by your class the moment you choose your profession at level one. Pondering this now is pointless, and it might even negatively affect your class selection. Who knows, it could bring some trouble.”

They continued their conversation as they descended the cliff. Without any monsters left to hinder them, they soon arrived at the fishman village.

By now, the other adventurers had already hauled the fishman boss’s corpse onto the platform. When they saw Liu Zong enter, the hunter called out loudly, “Alright! Everything in this village is yours now. Take care of it as you see fit.”

Liu Zong froze for a moment, glancing around. Only then did he realize that the fishman village wasn’t as small as it had appeared from above. At least thirty houses, scattered along the water’s edge, stood here and there. In most of them, fishman corpses lay strewn about.

The hunters had thoughtfully piled the bodies together, awaiting Liu Zong’s attention.

Seeing Liu Zong’s stunned expression, the shaman, who was on relatively good terms with him, chuckled. “Don’t worry, we’re staying here for the night. You have plenty of time to tidy up. Also, the quest ‘Stolen Goods’ is completed here. See that stack of crates? Those are the ones you need.”

“If I were you, I’d collect the quest items first, then deal with the boss’s corpse, and finally take care of the rest inside the houses,” the druid suggested.

The hunter then added, “By the way, when disposing of these bodies, you’ll want to consider whether you want to keep these fishman corpses or save the bodies from tomorrow’s fight. The hidden boss requires a large amount of flesh and blood as offerings, and bodies already processed by a necromancer can’t be used.”

“Uh…” Liu Zong hesitated. “Is there a difference?”

“The levels are about the same, but these are all standard fishman corpses. The next batch of enemies are lab creations—their bodies might yield something special, or they could just be ordinary,” the hunter explained after a moment’s thought.

Liu Zong considered the matter seriously before finally saying, “I’ll use the corpses from the next stage—let’s see where my luck leads.”

The hunter just shrugged indifferently, but the shaman pulled Liu Zong aside and whispered, “Good choice. If you’d chosen the fishman corpses, you wouldn’t have finished dealing with everything today.”

“So much to deal with?” Liu Zong glanced around the village in confusion, his gaze landing on the houses. “You mean the building materials from the houses?”

“Ah…” The shaman was momentarily taken aback. “That hadn’t even occurred to me. I was talking about the decorations inside the houses—you might find some level-one green items if you search carefully. I didn’t expect you to think that far ahead.”

“Different classes, different priorities,” the hunter interjected. “You’re a shaman, so of course you think about totems. He’s probably aiming for a lord-type class, so he’s thinking about construction materials.”

The druid nodded in agreement. “Exactly. When I see these houses, all I want to do is tear them down and use the leaves and water plants to make leather armor.”

The rogue just chuckled silently to himself, but it was clear he was taking it all in.

Amid their laughter and chatter, Liu Zong opened all the crates on the platform. Inside were items he couldn’t identify, but he knew this was a quest safeguard—meant to prevent players from hoarding quest items. Regardless of level, every player had a separate quest inventory for such items, to avoid destroying them due to lack of space. So as long as the quest items were found, there was no risk of being unable to take them.

This time was no different. Liu Zong simply waved his hand over the crates, and all the massive boxes disappeared into his quest inventory.

Only then did he turn his attention to the fishman boss on the platform. Compared to the jackal boss he’d encountered before, this fishman boss had a distinctly different fighting style and set of enhancements. Of the two items the boss dropped, one was finally suitable for a magic class.

But “finally” didn’t mean it was useful to Liu Zong. Once again, none of the equipment dropped was a good fit for him.