"Holy shit…?"
"This is the first time I've seen someone attempting an Overlord-level trial!"
After a brief pause, the entire chat interface began scrolling rapidly.
Link was a little surprised at first, but he quickly understood what was going on.
Although in theory, each faction could send large numbers of people to attempt high-difficulty trials to gather intelligence, the Thousand Realms would never allow such an exploit.
The number of login slots each faction receives is directly tied to the erosion level of the Abyss Rift. The more slots a faction has, the more Abyss pressure it must endure.
Everything is calculated with extreme precision, almost like a perfect system algorithm. You must assign the right people to the right difficulty levels, creating just enough Lords and Champions to resist the invasion.
Only when an exceptionally talented genius appears can a faction spare a few slots to attempt higher-difficulty trials.
Because of this, information about higher difficulty trial dungeons is incredibly valuable.
Under normal circumstances, no faction would ever allow participants to freely change their assigned difficulty.
Link slapped his forehead, feeling slightly annoyed.
After his rebirth, he had been so focused on recalling important future information that he had completely forgotten about this.
Changing the difficulty level without authorization could even result in a military tribunal.
After thinking for a moment, he typed into the chat:
"DM me if you have any information on Wrath of the Dragon King. We can trade."
Although the chance of getting useful information was low, it was still better than nothing.
After browsing the chat for a while, Link shifted his attention to the virtual map.
Thanks to the goblins' relatively agile movements, the fog of war within a ten-kilometer radius of the base had mostly cleared, and various markers began appearing.
"The Fallen Jackal Warrior."
"Barren, exposed iron ore."
"A small jungle filled with carnivorous plants…"
With every new report, Link's expression grew heavier.
Even though the island had not yet been fully explored, it was already clear that resources were extremely scarce, and the number of monsters was limited.
There was simply no way to obtain enough Soul Crystals under these conditions.
"You'd expect nothing less of an Overlord-level trial…."
He recalled that when he had taken a Hard-level trial in his previous life, there had been three large mines and many wild monsters near his base.
There had never been any shortage of resources.
"No resources… no income… what kind of start is this?"
This was supposed to be one of the simpler dungeons in the series, and yet it was already this brutal. No wonder no one across the countless realms had ever cleared an Overlord-level trial.
Link let out a bitter smile and opened his personal panel.
⸻
Name: Link Wright
Class: Apprentice Lord
Level: 1 (Cannot level up or change class without qualifications)
Temporary Familia: Goblins
Temporary Talent: Ultimate Ascension (Unique)
Combat Power: 3
⸻
"…Can't even beat a goblin."
Now, all his hopes rested on his unique talent.
With a thought, its detailed description appeared:
⸻
Ultimate Ascension (Unique):
Allows you to permanently upgrade a skill.
Triggers either Ultimate or Ascension effects randomly.
No cooldown.
Maximum uses per day: 50.
Each skill can only be upgraded once.
⸻
Link frowned slightly.
The base effect was roughly what he expected. He had chosen goblins specifically so that upgrading their skills might allow him to gather resources more efficiently.
But given the current situation, even a thousandfold increase wouldn't solve the problem.
As for the two special effects, there was no way to understand them without testing.
At that moment, the twenty goblins responsible for cutting wood returned to the base in pairs, carrying thick logs and preparing to build a proper house for their "god."
"Stop."
Link immediately halted them.
"Throw the logs into the Conversion Altar."
Even the smallest amount of resources mattered right now.
The logs vanished in a flash of light.
"Soul Crystal +0.001."
"Soul Crystal +0.001…"
Link sighed inwardly.
"One hundred large trees just to recruit a single goblin… even if I stripped the entire island bare, it wouldn't be enough to form a proper force."
Still, there was no alternative.
He called one goblin over.
"Greed."
A beam of white light descended.
"Ding! Upgrade successful. Ultimate effect triggered. Skill has reached its theoretical limit."
⸻
Greed (Maxed):
Greatly increases the probability of discovering hidden treasures.
⸻
"Directly maxed out?"
Link was momentarily stunned.
In his previous life, even SS-level talents could only raise a skill by one level and had cooldown restrictions. This was on an entirely different level.
Unfortunately, in an Overlord-level dungeon like this, the island was likely almost devoid of treasure anyway, making the effect nearly useless.
To test the other effect, Link switched to the goblins' second innate skill.
"Plunder."
"Ding! Upgrade successful. Ascension effect triggered."
⸻
Fair Trade (Law Skill):
After hitting an enemy, you may select any item you own to exchange for a random item owned by the target.
(Not effective against targets above demigod level.)
⸻
"Fair trade…?"
Link's eyes lit up instantly.
If he wasn't misunderstanding this, then…
He quickly upgraded twenty goblins in succession. Out of them, eight successfully triggered the Ascension effect, gaining the Fair Trade skill.
In addition, he deliberately tested another variation by triggering Ascension on Greed.
⸻
Murder and Plunder (Law Skill):
After killing an enemy, there is a chance to reveal all of their hidden treasure locations.
The stronger the enemy, the lower the probability.
⸻
"A powerful skill… wasted on goblins."
Link shook his head.
There were very few creatures in the countless realms weaker than goblins. Even if they managed to kill something, what treasure could it possibly have?
Slimes?
A pile of slime hardly counted as treasure.
Still, obtaining even one useful skill was already enough.
Now, it was time to test his hypothesis.
Link located the nearest enemy on the virtual map and spoke:
"Believers, an evil gnoll to the west has offended my authority."
"Take up your weapons and destroy it."
"Ho! Ho! Ho!"
The twenty goblins immediately became excited and rushed toward the marked target.
Meanwhile, Link remained behind at the base, protected at the center.
The gnoll was not far, less than three kilometers away.
Soon, the goblins reached a position about two hundred meters from the target.
A dark red creature, over a meter tall, lay lazily at the edge of a swamp. In its hand was a wooden crossbow fitted with a bright green arrow coated in poison.
"Stop."
Link halted the goblins, who were about to charge forward without any formation, and inspected the target.
⸻
Fallen Gnoll
Level: 8
Combat Power: 24
⸻
"Good… not too strong."
Link felt slightly relieved.
He quickly adjusted the goblins' positions and issued the attack command.
These goblins were no longer disposable. Each one carried upgraded skills.
They couldn't be wasted in a reckless charge.
The real problem remained elsewhere.
Goblins were extremely weak in combat.
If he had started with fire dragons or thunder titans, either of those could have killed this gnoll instantly.
But now, he had no such luxury.
Fortunately, these corrupted trial monsters were known for having very low intelligence.