Chapter 180: Campus Forum
“Infinite University Dungeon Compendium 1, authored by the renowned player Mu Lantu, is now on sale today for only 39 gold coins! Location — Comprehensive Teaching Building, Room 106!”
The bright red promotional banner fluttered in the wind. The moment players saw it, they bolted toward the teaching building.
They’d long heard that the book not only contained introductions to various dungeons, but also featured two premium lecture transcripts by the famous player Xu Huazhang, plus analysis of several classic dungeon strategies. Absolutely worth buying!
Even if they didn’t want to buy, they had no choice. If others bought it and learned something useful, those who didn’t would fall behind. As long as survival was at stake, there was no need to pinch pennies.
Some frugal students wanted to share a copy with friends, but without exception, they were rejected. Shared ownership raised problems—who got to read first, who got more time—and some strategy analyses needed rereading and reflection. In the end, it was better to just buy their own.
By now, the average student had at least 500 gold coins. Affording a book wasn’t an issue.
Those with less than 500 were usually the ones idling away, waiting for death. Maybe it wasn’t obvious yet, and some even thought that carefree attitude was admirable. But day after day, their willpower would fade like a frog in slowly boiling water, until one day they’d be completely broken and eliminated by Infinite University.
*
Room 106 bustled with activity. Song Bochao and the sales assistants he’d hired were busy nonstop.
“Want to buy a few more copies? Buy five or more and get a 20% discount. Once you enter a dungeon, you can sell them to players from other campuses,” one salesperson coaxed. “I can guarantee, Mu Lantu is the first player in Infinite University to publish a book. If it’s this popular here, it’ll sell even better elsewhere. For them, this book will be like a secret manual!”
The buyer hesitated. Gold coins were hard to earn—clearing one dungeon might only net 100 or 200 coins. If selling a few extra copies could bring in more, that would ease the strain.
“I’ll try five first.”
“Of course!” The salesperson beamed.
Others watching couldn’t sit still.
“I’ll buy five too!”
“Me too!”
“……”
In total, Dungeon Compendium 1 had 2,000 copies printed. They sold out in a single day, earning Mu Lantu 70,000 gold coins!
The book included 30 dungeon introductions and two lecture transcripts by Xu Huazhang. Each dungeon intro was priced at 20 coins, totaling 600 coins in content costs. Printing cost 8 coins per copy, for a total of 16,600.
Net profit: 53,400 coins.
Split:
Song Bochao: 30% ? 16,020 coins
Xu Huazhang: 10% ? 5,340 coins
Mu Lantu: 60% ? 32,040 coins
To earn 32,000+ coins, most players would need to clear at least 200 dungeons. Mu Lantu, however, had earned it almost effortlessly.
The math wasn’t hard, and as students quietly calculated the profits, jealousy gnawed at them. Was this the true difference between experts and ordinary people?
Still, no one dared plot against Mu Lantu. Ever since Li Dian’s six-man team had been mysteriously counter-killed by him and Xu Huazhang, everyone agreed those two were not to be trifled with.
To this day, no one knew how exactly they’d pulled it off.
Which only made them seem even more untouchable.
*
Instead, jealousy turned toward Song Bochao.
What was he, really? Why did he get to cling to Mu Lantu’s leg and make 16,000 coins?
They couldn’t touch Mu Lantu or Xu Huazhang—but Song Bochao? Surely he was fair game.
Schemes against him brewed in the shadows.
But Song Bochao had anticipated this. The moment he got his share, he bought various items and dove into dungeon runs nonstop. When his own program had no classes, he attended others’.
With item support, his dungeon performance improved. He gained more items, earned more coins.
A virtuous cycle, rapidly widening the gap between him and his peers.
Some tried to force him into dungeons, but he wasn’t short on money—he spent 2,000 on anti-forced-dungeon items. No one could touch him.
Others tried to imitate Mu Lantu, publishing similar compendiums. After all, what was so special? Dungeon intros, lecture transcripts, strategy analysis—anyone could compile that. Mu Lantu and Xu Huazhang weren’t the only skilled players.
The idea wasn’t bad. But Mu Lantu had struck first, built a reputation, and with Xu Huazhang’s lectures as the “treasure of the book,” he remained unrivaled in publishing.
Dungeon Compendium 2 netted Mu Lantu 22,000 coins.
Collected Premium Lectures of Xu Huazhang, with eight transcripts, didn’t require much from Song Bochao, so he took only 20%. Mu Lantu and Xu Huazhang split the rest, each pocketing 40,000 coins!
With money no longer a problem, Mu Lantu and Xu Huazhang focused on leveling up. Before long, they reached Level 2.
Requirements: 144 credits, 14,444 coins.
Privileges gained at Level 2:
- Dungeons gained names. Courses on the schedule no longer showed vague labels like Geology or Paleontology but specific titles like Concert Battle Royale or Haunted House Encounter. The weekly schedule now varied.
- Friend system unlocked. The watch now allowed adding friends and sending free team-up invitations to enter the same dungeon. However, being placed on opposing sides was still possible. Perhaps at higher levels, same-side entry would be guaranteed. Note: only Level 2+ players could be added as friends.
- Access to the Campus Forum. Players could now communicate with others and even connect with upperclassmen.
These privileges could not be disclosed to players below Level 2.
Only now did Mu Lantu and Xu Huazhang realize—Level 2 marked true entry. Levels 0 and 1 were just newbie stages.
Opening the Campus Forum revealed five categories:
- Dungeon-related
- Campus news
- Emotional station
- Internships & part-time jobs
- Flea market
Mu Lantu clicked on Dungeon-related. Posts ranged from team recruitment, to paid carry services by veterans, to strategy sharing.
Strategies were monetized.
Of course, if Mu Lantu could think of profiting off dungeon guides, others could too.
But he had acted earlier, reaping plenty from Level 0 and 1 players.
Still, forum replies warned that strategies weren’t universally reliable. The same dungeon could play out differently.
Example: Min’an Town. For Mu Lantu and Xu Huazhang, it had been a supernatural horror dungeon. But for others, it featured a psychotic serial killer. Chronologically, their ghostly version came first, and the killer scenario appeared later.
Strategies weren’t cheap. Prices were set by Infinite University itself—minimum 50 coins. But a purchased guide might be useless. Buy the ghost-town version, only to face a serial killer? Waste of money.
Unless one bought all variants—but that would cost too much.
So, players were advised to think carefully before spending.
Mu Lantu next opened Campus News.
He quickly realized these weren’t player posts, but official Infinite University releases.
To his surprise, he saw news about himself and Xu Huazhang, each headline marked with a red “Hot”!
“Freshman Mu Lantu publishes Dungeon Compendium, rakes in 70,000 coins” (1,396,627 views)
“Freshman Xu Huazhang launches dungeon lecture series, draws massive crowds” (1,395,678 views)
Nearly 1.4 million views each!
Startled, Mu Lantu clicked the second one, praying it didn’t reveal their real identities.
Three minutes later, he sighed in relief. Infinite University still had some decency—it hadn’t leaked their personal info.
Scrolling to the comments, he saw over 800,000 replies.
He raised his eyebrows. Wasn’t this level of hype like a celebrity’s?
Comments under Xu Huazhang’s lecture news:
[LoveSpring]: WTF! A freshman! Holding lectures! Might as well ascend to heaven!
[SteelShrimp]: Xu Huazhang, I don’t accept this! We’re all humans—how are you so good?
[LotusRomance]: Freshman holding lectures, must’ve made a killing. What kind of brain is that?
[Starfield]: What was I doing as a freshman? Playing with mud?
…
Meanwhile, Xu Huazhang was reading Mu Lantu’s news with an ambiguous smile.
Comments under Mu Lantu’s compendium news:
[SteelShrimp]: Freshman! 70,000 coins! Who wouldn’t be jealous?
[LostMyFaithInLight]: Show-off, is that you?
[CrystalBall]: Boss! Pre-booking my thigh-holding spot!
[EscapeEscape]: Am I the only one curious what would happen if Mu Lantu and Xu Huazhang met?
[GraduateEarly]: (replying to above) They’d fall in love.
[PeaceAndJoy]: Don’t ship it, bro, that’ll only hurt you!
…
Mu Lantu peeked at Xu Huazhang’s faintly raised lips. “What are you smiling at?”
“Baby, go check the 4th and 5th comments under your news.” Xu Huazhang answered, gently pushing his head aside to keep reading.
Puzzled, Mu Lantu opened it—then, after reading, grabbed Xu Huazhang’s face with both hands, inspecting it from left to right.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Huazhang asked indulgently.
Mu Lantu said solemnly, “Don’t move. I need to check whether your lovesick brain has gotten worse.”
