Chapter 0384: Cooperation

Li Luo's team was stuck at level 36 of Angelwood Hollow.

This level had completely stumped them.

"It's too hard, how can we beat it?!" Xin Fu complained. Li Luo massaged his brow, irritated at their predicament as well. There were dozens of absinthe puppets here, and four armored advanced absinthe puppets leading them. From their energy flow, these were probably Second Changing.

Behind the four Second Changing absinthe puppets were three more First Changing ones.

And behind them a dozen more ranging from Third to Fifth Pattern.

Put bluntly, this was a freaking mini zombie army.

The line-up was much harder than level 35, which had already taken every last bit of strength out of them. They knew that given their ability, it was close to impossible to beat level 36.

The absolute limit of their strength.

Although Li Luo had not made it to Evolving Resonance tier yet, his resonant power had grown much stronger. He was able to take on two Second Changing advanced absinthe puppets by himself. But four... that was too much.

More importantly, even if he could deal with the four big guns, Xin Fu and Bai Mengmeng together could not deal with the other absinthe puppets.

And if the two of them fell, then Li Luo would be overwhelmed and buried alive by the minions. The outcome was clear.

Li Luo felt a headache incoming. He looked glumly around, where there were energy disturbances from the other squads fighting. It was not just from the One Star Hall Violet Vibrance squads, but also the Two Star Hall ones.

They were also undergoing special training in Angelwood Hollow, although they were far ahead of the first years.

"Level 36 is too hard for us. We won't be able to complete it. Let's go back to do level 35 again," Xin Fu said resignedly.

"Second time clearing a level, the absinthe energy is much weaker," Li Luo groaned.

He still needed an ocean of absinthe energy to reach his breakthrough. Repeating levels? Could he reach his target in the next 10 days?

Xin Fu scratched his head. He knew that Li Luo had to be worried about his breakthrough to Evolving Resonance tier. After all, Qin Zhulu had already done it. With Wang Hejiu, Bai Doudou, and the others reaching Fifth Pattern, it felt like they were on the verge of overtaking him now.

But without any change to their firepower, they were not going to be able to clear level 36 for sure.

In their glum silence, Bai Mengmeng spoke up timidly. "If we can't beat level 36 alone, how about working with other teams? We might have to split the absinthe energy, but if we're efficient enough, I think it could make up the difference."

Li Luo looked at her in amazement, then started to clap. The idea was simple, but he had not thought of it before. This was not an unreasonable thing - at the earlier levels it was not at all feasible to split up the absinthe energy, but now if they were unable to push ahead alone, perhaps a strong ally was exactly what they needed.

Win-win.

"Mengmeng's the smartest," Li Luo praised her with a huge thumbs up.

She laughed shyly. "Well, it's normal for weaker people to think this way. You're too strong, so you always think of relying on your own strength."

What a great girl. She was even good at consoling him.

"I'll go talk to Qin Zhulu's guys. They're already at level 35, so they'll be stuck here soon." Li Luo called out to them, already hurrying back downwards.

When Li Luo reached Qin Zhulu's platform, he saw Qin Zhulu finishing off the last absinthe puppet, releasing a whole cloud of green mist.

He was an incredibly impressive sight. His entire body thrummed with power, and the tiger-shadow of burnished gold layered over him was intimidating, to say the least.

Now he was at the Evolving Resonance tier, his Snarling Golden Demon Tiger resonance was starting to reach a new dimension of strength.

Lu Qing'er immediately spotted Li Luo's arrival, and hurried towards him with a smile. "Stuck at level 36?"

"You even know that?" Li Luo blurted out.

Lu Qing'er waved it away. "We're near our own limits, so we know all too well what you must be facing. We had to fight level 35 a few times before we could pass it. I guess we won't be able to beat 36 by ourselves as well. If you didn't come to find us, I would probably have gone to find you to talk about the exact same thing."

Li Luo nodded, then explained the enemy line-up of level 36.

"Four Second Changing advanced absinthe puppets..." Lu Qing'er was stunned. That was indeed much stronger than the level 35 lineup. It was going to be difficult for one squad to beat it alone.

"I wonder if we could work together. Both of us could get rewards otherwise unattainable," Li Luo offered brightly.

Lu Qing'er cocked her head at him, then suddenly smiled. "Sure, I've no objections."

She looked over at where Qin Zhulu was sitting with his eyes closed, absorbing absinthe energy. "Don't worry, I make the decisions in this squad."

Li Luo grinned and nodded.

She hesitated for a moment. "Are... you alright? You're not affected by the whispers going around school, are you?" Of course, she was referring to Li Luo's slump over the last two weeks.

"Don't worry, I expected as much. Evolving Resonance tier... that wall won't hold me forever," Li Luo reassured her with a smile.

She was relieved to see him in good spirits, and pumped her fist.

"Go, Li Luo! You can do it!"

...

The alliance between Li Luo's and Qin Zhulu's squads to take on level 36 had been well noted by the other three Violet Vibrance squads. They had to respond accordingly as well - a different approach was going to be needed once the going got too difficult.

After some consideration, Bai Doudou's squad went looking for Wang Hejiu's squad. After all, they were the next strongest squad available.

To their amazement, Wang Hejiu's squad rejected the offer to cooperate.

Bai Doudou was a proud personality as well. From the first word "No", she was already stalking off angrily.

"Why did you reject Bai Doudou?" Duze Beixuan asked Wang Hejiu doubtfully, watching her go.

Wang Hejiu smiled thinly. "Bai Doudou's squad does not meet my requirements. Even if we work with them, we can't catch up to Li Luo and Qin Zhulu."

"You can't be thinking of Yi Lisha, surely? They're even weaker!" Duze Beixuan frowned.

Wang Hejiu smiled smugly. "Don't you think there're other better choices?"

"Nonsense," Duze Beixuan said irritatedly. "There are only five of us One Star Hall Violet Vibrance teams..." His voice trailed off in realization, then looked up at the platforms far ahead. "You... want us to work with Two Star Hall Violet Vibrance squads?!" "The other One Star Hall squads are going to call us freeloaders!"

"Words," Wang Hejiu said coldly, "are just words." "As long as we can find a Two Star Hall Violet Vibrance squad willing to cooperate, we might even break level 40. We could make history in the One Star Hall records. Or do you want to see Li Luo get the majority of the absinthe energy day after day? I'm not going to play second fiddle to that guy!" Those words stiffened the back of Duze Beixuan, and he fell silent.