THE moment that Essaint said that the dungeon they'd be raiding was the Infernal Chasm, Luo Yan already suspected that he wasn't inviting them to join his team out of the goodness of his heart. He's quite familiar with the Infernal Chasm dungeon. He had done a number of raids there when he was playing the PC version. So he also knew the characteristic of the boss dungeon. Knowing that, it's only natural for him to get suspicious.

When they met Essaint's other two friends, Luo Yan's suspicion only strengthened. Especially with the attitude of that Bronzed Leaf. His eyes, while looking at him and Luo Jin, were full of taunts. As if thinking how stupid both of them were for agreeing to team up with them for that dungeon raid. He's probably already imagining their miserable expressions once the dungeon boss used his life draining skill on both him and Luo Jin.

Of course Luo Yan couldn't ruin his expectations. So he decided to play their game. But he'd make sure that the final winner would be him and Luo Jin. Then he'd be the one looking on at their miserable expressions. Just thinking of it could already make him giddy. Ah, how could he be so bad? Well, it's these people's fault for looking down on them and thinking that they could just easily use them.

Looking at the three walking in the front, they're most probably friends in real life. Or at least they should know each other. This was probably not the first time they'd done something like this. Essaint said that they'd do the Normal mode, which meant that they raided the Infernal Chasm dungeon at least once. They might have failed during their first try. And then the next time they tried again, they already learned from their mistake and so chose two strangers to act as bait for the dungeon boss. After all, if they could push two unrelated people into the pit so they could succeed, why wouldn't they? Tasting success, they did it again. And now, Luo Yan and Luo Jin were their current victims.

They're probably picking players that they thought were beginners which they could easily fool. Letting the friendly looking Essaint to do the job. As evidence of the mocking expression on that Bronzed Leaf's face when he told them that he and Luo Jin were only both level 36.

These were all Luo Yan's assumptions and some of his points might be even wrong. But one thing's for sure, these three were definitely up to no good.

But aside from wanting to teach them a lesson, the other reason why Luo Yan agreed to this dungeon raid was because of one of the possible rewards that the player could get once they defeated the boss dungeon. It's a material that could be used in crafting weapons. The more difficult the mode of the dungeon, the higher the probability of obtaining that material as a reward.

Luo Yan had a hunch that despite saying that they'd go through the dungeon using the Normal mode, that Essaint might actually pick the Heroic mode. If they're at level 50 or higher, then raiding a dungeon that's for level 36 players, even if it Heroic mode, would not be that hard. The only problem they would face would be the troublesome life draining skill of the dungeon boss.

He actually hoped that that was the case. Because if it was, then the probability of getting that material as a reward would be higher. Then he and Luo Jin didn't need to go through this dungeon again.

He sent another private message to his brother.

Noctis: [Ah Jin, once we enter the dungeon, let's try not to actively join in the fight. Let them do all the hard work. Let's just sit back, relax, and take all the rewards after.]

Luo Jin glanced at his brother when he read that. The corner of his lips were tilted upwards in an excited smile. As if he couldn't wait for the outcome of this dungeon raid to come. Just where did this dark version come from? Luo Yan had only been awake for four months. He didn't have much interaction with other people outside of their family. So, who could have influenced him to have this kind of behavior? Certainly it's not their father or older brother. Was it him? Because he's often rude and short-tempered?

Or maybe it's the influenced of those things he read in the internet. Since it seemed like he often spent time surfing the net. Who knew what kind of things he'd read or encountered? But there's one more possibility. That he'd always been this way. That part of his personality just didn't get the change to further develop because of the seven-year long coma. But now that he's awake, it could only continue to flourish from now on.

Luo Jin didn't feel disappointed realizing that possibility. In fact, he was kind of glad. Because that meant that Luo Yan wouldn't be fooled that easily. He wouldn't just naively believe everything that anyone would tell him. Which could only be another layer of protection for him.

"Hey, you two! Walk faster! Mount Rage is just up ahead!" called by Apricot.

Luo Yan looked ahead and saw a mountain with a depressive atmosphere surrounding it. The mountain had jagged peaks that looked rather foreboding. Its huge form, looming over the dark forest surrounding it.

"The instance portal is located somewhere at the top of the mountain," Essaint said once Luo Yan and Luo jin caught up with them. "So we have to walk through this forest first."

"What if we encountered monsters along the way?" Luo Yan asked, acting all worried.

Bronzed Leaf snorted in disgust upon hearing that.

"I told you, I'm going to protect you. So you have nothing to worry about," said Apricot who tried to hug his arm again. But Luo Yan was faster and immediately avoided it.

"That's right, there's nothing to worry about. We three could easily handle those monsters," Essaint seconded.

Luo Yan smiled sweetly at them. "That's good to hear then."

Luo Jin looked at this smile and for some reason, he couldn't help but feel goosebumps on his arms.