Outside the entrance, the crowd quieted for a beat, then erupted.

"Nightmare? They directly chose Nightmare?"

"That Ye Qingxue, SSS-grade Ice Queen, Level 12. But the other man's information is blocked, so we don't know his background."

"Two people clearing Nightmare? The Land of Buried Bones Nightmare Lair usually requires a cautious five-person team of Level 20s. Just the two of them?"

"Didn't someone solo a Nightmare yesterday? It was also this Lair."

"That was yesterday, and we don't know if they cleared it. Today, these two, one is a Level 12 SSS-grade, the other is hidden, but probably not much higher."

"Just wait and see. The Nightmare Lair is no joke."

Amidst the discussions, Su Mu and Ye Qingxue were already standing in the Nightmare-grade Land of Buried Bones.

A dark red sky pressed overhead, bone pillars stood like a forest, and mist hung like pulp. In the distance, a rift was slowly tearing open.

Su Mu glanced at Ye Qingxue.

Even in an outdoor dungeon, the two could only choose a relay cooperation mode, going in one by one. Unlike trial dungeons, now that their Level had reached above ten, Core Cards could enter a battling teammate's dungeon to assist in combat.

In other words, whoever's dungeon was on the front line, the other person's Core Card could enter that dungeon as an 'Assisting Unit' to face the enemy together.

However, Ye Qingxue probably couldn't clear the Level 15 Nightmare Lair, so Su Mu directly activated his dungeon.

And at this moment.

Ye Qingxue originally wanted to go first.

She was used to controlling the battlefield; the Ice Queen was at her strongest in her dungeon, and setting up first was her rhythm. But she paused, glancing at Su Mu.

She wanted to see Su Mu's current actual strength.

Su Mu's thoughts stirred, and his dungeon space unfolded.

It was only then that Ye Qingxue saw Su Mu's dungeon for the first time.

It was too big.

She had seen the dungeon spaces of many Dungeon Masters, including those S-grade and Double S-grade Awakened at school.

Most people's dungeons in the Early Stage followed a'streamlined' route, with a basic space of about one square kilometer, concentrating Soul Power to build the core area.

Because each square kilometer of dungeon space expansion consumed ten points of Soul Power, and if that Soul Power were used to strengthen Core Cards or construct environment related to the theme, the returns would be much higher.

But Su Mu's dungeon, at a rough glance, spanned at least a dozen square kilometers.

Three large mountains each occupied an area, separated by wide valleys and barren plains.

The hazy sky pressed extremely low, the distant horizon was indistinct, and the entire space exuded a sense of desolation from the beginning of creation.

Ye Qingxue frowned.

She couldn't understand why Su Mu made his dungeon so large.

An overly large dungeon in the Early Stages meant a significant consumption of Soul Power on terrain expansion, which would cause the strengthening of Core Cards and critical environments to fall behind.

Normally, one should try to keep the dungeon streamlined at this point, concentrating Soul Power where it matters most.

However, she and Su Mu weren't close enough to casually offer advice, so she naturally didn't speak up.

She merely suppressed her doubts and continued to examine the three mountains.

The middle mountain was the tallest, with a dusty gray stone standing on its peak, its surface emitting a gentle glow, and faint colorful patterns vaguely flowing across its face.

That should be Su Mu's Core Card... the remnant stone of patching heaven.

She noticed the stone had already reached C-grade, and its HP seemed quite substantial.

But even at C-grade, it was still a stone. It couldn't move, couldn't fight, its weakness was too obvious.

The mountain on the right was wreathed in Demonic aura, its terrain rugged, and its base to mid-slope covered in white bones.

Broken bones, skeletons, bone dust, and remains were piled up in layers; a cold wind would blow, scattering bone dust. From a distance, it looked like a demonic mountain buried by corpses. Ye Qingxue looked at that mountain, a slight chill running down her spine. That place exuded an unspeakable ferocity, as if something was breathing within the pile of bones.

The mountain on the left was steep but relatively clean, with a simply dressed maiden standing on its peak.

Ye Qingxue's gaze stopped on the maiden.

The maiden appeared to be sixteen or seventeen, dressed in a plain, coarse cloth dress, with a blue cloth belt tied around her waist, and her long hair loosely tied up with a wooden hairpin. Her face was beautiful and refined, her features like a painting, her skin as fair as snow, with a faint pink flush on her cheeks. She stood quietly on the mountaintop, her head slightly tilted, as if looking at something.

Ye Qingxue was stunned for a moment.

She had originally thought that the creature card in Su Mu's dungeon would be some kind of demon or Spirit Beast.

But this maiden before her... looked like an ordinary village girl no matter how she saw it.

Could Journey to the West really be tourism-related?

She instinctively cast an Appraisal Technique.

【Name: Corpse Demon White Bone Spirit】

【Grade: SS】

【Level: 13】

【HP:...】

【Attack:...】

【Defense:...】

【Agility:...】

【Skills:...】

【Note: Opponent's dungeon creature, detailed information is restricted by dungeon permissions, only grade and Level can be viewed.】

Ye Qingxue's pupils contracted.

SS-grade.

She then looked at the little demon on the demonic mountain to the right.

It was a short, sturdy demon with greenish-black skin, a pointed mouth, monkey-like cheeks, a short saber at its waist, and a command flag stuck in its back. Its appearance looked the part, but among dungeon creatures, it was just an ordinary small monster.

She cast an Appraisal Technique.

【Name: Little Drill-Wind】

【Grade: SSS】

【Level: 15】

【HP:...】

【Attack:...】

【Defense:...】

【Agility:...】

【Skills:...】

【Note: Opponent's dungeon creature, detailed information is restricted by dungeon permissions, only grade and Level can be viewed.】

SSS-grade.

Ye Qingxue was stunned.

SSS-grade.

She thought she had seen wrong and appraised it again. Still SSS-grade.

A little demon, SSS-grade?

Ye Qingxue felt her heart skip a beat.

One SSS card, one SS card.

Neither of them was a Core Card.

She knew too well what this meant.

The rules of this world were clear: embedding a non-Core Card into a dungeon required Soul Power directly proportional to the card's quality.

An F-grade card only needed ten points, E-grade thirty points, D-grade seventy points, C-grade one hundred and fifty points, B-grade three hundred points, A-grade five hundred points. And an S-grade required a full one thousand points. SS-grade, two thousand points. SSS-grade, five thousand points.

Five thousand points of Soul Power.

She had Awakened three days ago, meditating daily to recover, and the total Soul Power she had used so far was less than three hundred points. And Su Mu had embedded an SSS-grade System Panel for a non-Core Card, and an SS-grade System Panel for another.

This required at least seven thousand points of Soul Power.

Three days.

Seven thousand points.

It definitely wasn't done this way.

But no matter the method, it was incredible.

Ye Qingxue tried to calm herself down.

She couldn't act like some inexperienced girl. She was Ye Qingxue.

She didn't ask, suppressing her shock deep inside, and turned her gaze to the battlefield.