Chapter 6: Traps and Tactics in Bear Island

The dungeon entrance is a cave overgrown with weeds.
Inside, players find themselves in dim light.
Fewer weeds grow here than at the entrance, but the damp environment nurtures unique plants: glowing yellow mushrooms rooted in stone crevices, blueberry-like fruits dangling from walls, and patches of purple wild vegetables.

Yun Shi’s first instinct, honed from gathering in the wild, is to collect.
He tries casually and, to his surprise, succeeds in harvesting the dungeon’s plants.

Since it worked, he gathers the other two types:

[Purple Wild Vegetable]: An edible plant with a sweet taste
[Sweet Paddlefruit]: A fruit with only sweetness, no sourness
[Glowing Mushroom]: I’m a shiny mushroom! Pretty, right? Also, deadly poison!

No time or dungeon restrictions are noted, so Yun Shi harvests everything in sight.
Except for the cheeky poison mushroom, the others are edible and exclusive to the dungeon.
Trading them to NPCs should fetch a decent price.

Three minutes later, Yun Shi strips the cave clean.
From entrance to exit, he encounters no mobs—likely a safe revival point for players.

Exiting the cave, he enters a small valley.

The valley’s terrain is uneven.
To the right, a steep, unclimbable stone wall connects to the cave.
To the left, a sloped forest rises, its crest beyond Yun Shi’s sight.
Ahead lies a pile of variously sized rocks, where faint chewing sounds echo.
Yun Shi doesn’t approach rashly, instead crouching to open his inventory.

His first two inventory pages—60 slots—are filled with crafted traps.
The ten basic traps used for proficiency are single-use, but the rest, made with better materials, last 5-20 uses.
Higher-quality materials mean more uses.

Unsure how many mobs hide behind the rocks, Yun Shi assumes they’re small fry, typical for dungeon starts.
Their health and attack are similar to same-level wild mobs but yield more experience.
Still, this game loves surprises—facing a boss right away isn’t impossible.

Trap placement is simple: select to “plant” them on the ground.
Yun Shi scatters a field of traps, including 20 dealing around 50 damage, alongside the basic ones.

He shifts quietly, peering past the rocks.

Five mutant bears are devouring a prey.

The moment Yun Shi sees them, five pairs of beastly eyes lock onto him.

Instantly, the massive bears charge.

After his first attack skill, Yun Shi gauges their defense.
Level 14, higher defense than wild mobs, faster, but similar health.

No big deal for him.
He whittles their health individually, then lures all five to his trap field.
Using his crowd-control skill to group them, he unleashes [Wind Feather] and triggers [Trap].

Notably, traps deal physical damage, doubled under his wind skill buffs.
The 30 traps offset his lack of a burst ultimate.

The explosive damage fells all five low-health bears simultaneously.

The devs finally showed mercy—these mobs give over triple the experience of same-level wild ones.
No coins or gear drop, but they yield blue-quality beast pelts and claws.

As Yun Shi moves to collect, a roar echoes from the unseen forest above the slope.

The first boss, likely.

But the sound moves, growing closer.
From forest to edge, two larger bears appear on the slope.

Yun Shi didn’t expect this—the dungeon boss comes to him!

Meanwhile, in other [Bear Island] dungeons:

“F*ck! Focus the left bear—80% health left!”
“Don’t kill it yet!”
“Damn it, I said don’t kill! Now we’re screwed!”

This is [BloodFireGlow]’s team.
He’s on the verge of collapse.
Hitting level 15 at 4 AM, he formed a team for first clear.
Dreams were grand, reality brutal.

The dungeon’s changed since beta.
The five starting mobs can’t be handled carelessly.

All five must die simultaneously.
Kill one alone, and the rest gain a health and defense buff, plus higher attack.
Kill them one by one, and the last becomes a full-stat boosted boss, three times faster, one-shotting slow reactors.

Case in point: their original support logged off to sleep, and the new guy ignored orders, attacking recklessly.
The team wipes again.

BloodFireGlow, lying dead, curses while recalling a wind support’s skills from an application.
The wind user’s crowd-control could group the bears for easier clears, despite the laughable physical buff.
Better than their current lack of crowd control.

Other teams, entering around the same time, are still stuck on the five mobs.

Back to Yun Shi.

The two bears descend the slope, fast but not yet at him.
He sets more traps and retreats.

They don’t attack him first—instead, they head for their kin’s corpses.

Yun Shi’s brow twitches, sensing trouble.
The bear corpses haven’t vanished.

As feared, the big bears devour one corpse, boosting their health and defense by 50%.

Yun Shi curses under his breath, controlling one bear with a skill and using combos to knock back the other, separating it from the corpses.
But the buffed bears resist control longer, and alone, Yun Shi can’t chain-control or burst them down.

After weighing options, he stops, retreating from the rock pile.
After his control ends, the bears eat a second corpse.

A five-man dungeon—solo impossible?

Yun Shi frowns, scanning the dungeon closely.

Buzz…

Amid the chewing, a distinct sound catches his ear.
Following it, he spots bees on the steep stone wall.
Golden honey drips from a hive, tempting.

Devouring. Eating. Honey. Poison mushrooms.

Yun Shi chuckles, his frown easing.
Ignoring the buff-stacking bears, he moves into the rock pile.

The rocks are chaotic, as he first saw—varied in size and shape.
Closer inspection reveals sharp, unclimbable stones and flat-topped ones for standing.

Jumping from low to high stones, he reaches one 20 meters from the hive—max range for ranged skills.

Drawing his bow, he fires precise shots at the dripping hive.
One, two, three—the hive falls.

The bears have one corpse left.

Yun Shi descends quickly, grabbing the hive for 5 portions of honey.

He opens his inventory, pulling trap materials.

Traps can hold bait.
Sweet honey, sweet paddlefruit, sweet wild vegetables—and a couple of pretty, deadly mushrooms.

Two honeyed traps are set.

The bears finish eating.

[Mutant Bear · Large]
Level: 15
Health: 5000/5000
Defense (Shield): 5000/5000
[Devour]: Each consumed kin boosts health and defense by 50%
[Claw Strike]: Deals 500 damage

500 damage.
Yun Shi’s 624 health means two hits kill him.

But…

He stands atop the rock pile, two sweet-scented traps below.

The bloated bears, done devouring, charge their new prey.
Before climbing, they’re drawn to an irresistible, rich sweet scent.

The traps’ bait—glowing mushrooms—shines brightly, as if asking Yun Shi: Sweet enough?