Su Luo's value keeps rising
[Calculating daily rankings...]
Ye Xu's face was grim as he stared at the screen before him. When the final rankings appeared, the air around him seemed to freeze.
[Kill Rankings: 2nd place]
[Level Rankings: 2nd place]
[Shelter Rankings: 1st place]
[You received settlement rewards: Selectable Supply Voucher ×40 (20+10+10), Selectable Special Supply Voucher ×4 (2+1+1), Basic Skill Experience Stone ×10 (5+5), Intermediate Skill Experience Stone ×5 (3+1+1), Exemption Stone ×3 (1+1+1), one piece of excellent equipment, Floating Flare (excellent) ×1, Floating Flare (fine) ×8 (4+2+2)]
[Note: Skill Experience Stones and Exemption Stones are bound items and cannot be traded.]
[Ranking rewards will increase with the number of days survived. Keep up the good work.]
"Fuck—!!!"
A roar of barely suppressed rage forced its way out of Ye Xu's throat as he kicked the stone table before him to pieces!
"Song! Shi! Ge!" He practically spat the name through clenched teeth. "First place on all three rankings... I was so close!"
Ye Xu's teeth ground together.
"How did he kill so fast? I threw so many resources at leveling, and I still couldn't beat him!"
He paced back and forth through his Sanctuary like a caged beast, growing angrier the more he thought about it. He tried to message Song Shige, only to discover he had long since been blocked.
"Fuck! Damn it!"
"Fuck!"
Meanwhile, Qin Lang's message reached Su Luo at just the right time.
[Qin Lang: Mr. Su Luo, there's a cooperation proposal I'd like to discuss with you.]
[Su Luo: What kind of cooperation?]
[Qin Lang: The situation is a little complicated. I'll share the complete details of the ranking rewards we received first. You'll understand once you've seen them.]
The candor surprised Su Luo somewhat. He carefully read through the screenshots Qin Lang sent:
[Selectable Supply Voucher]
[Available resources: 100 units of planks, 30 units of stone, 5 units of steel, 80 units of lamp oil...]
[Selectable Special Supply Voucher]
[Available special supplies: elemental magic stone (choose one) ×1, 5 units of magic steel...]
[Basic Skill Experience Stone]
[Bound to: Song Shige]
[Use on a skill at level 1 or above to gain 100 experience]
[Intermediate Skill Experience Stone]
[Bound to: Song Shige]
[Use on a skill at level 1 or above to gain 1,000 experience]
[Exemption Stone]
[Can unseal one sealed skill on the panel]
After carefully reading the information, Su Luo had already guessed what the Mutual Aid Association wanted.
First place on each ranking received 3,000 experience, second through tenth received 1,500, the top hundred received 800, and the top thousand received 300.
On the first day alone, Song Shige, the powerhouse the Mutual Aid Association was primarily investing in, had received 7,500 experience.
That was enough to raise a blank level 1 skill straight to level 11 (900/1,100).
It was terrifying. If the skill and attribute were suitable, it could directly increase the attribute by more than one point.
[Qin Lang: You've read it, right? Our Mutual Aid Association would like you to help Comrade Song learn the basics of [Fireball].]
An Exemption Stone could unseal one sealed skill on the panel.
What counted as a sealed skill? The gray [Fireball], [Raise Shield], and [Frostbolt] on Su Luo's panel were sealed skills, which could not be activated through the system.
Because no one had a class, none of the related Skill Books could be used. They couldn't even learn the basics, so the skills simply wouldn't appear on their panels.
Without reaching level 1, they couldn't use Skill Experience Stones.
Survivors needed to teach themselves the basics, raise the skill to level 1, use an Exemption Stone to unseal it, and then use Skill Experience Stones to level it up.
That was equivalent to bypassing Class Change and unlocking skills that could only be learned with a class ahead of time, securing a huge advantage.
But not everyone was Su Luo, able to casually practice for a little while and easily learn the basics.
So the Mutual Aid Association had come looking for a tutor...
[Qin Lang: Comrade Song's Strength and Constitution are too high. Leveling up low-level skills can no longer increase his attributes. Using experience to raise high-level skills for attribute increases would be too wasteful.]
[Qin Lang: Since we happen to have Exemption Stones, we decided to take a different approach and have him master [Fireball]. The forum post is very detailed, but your one-on-one instruction would undoubtedly be the most efficient.]
[Qin Lang: We're putting together a high-combat-power assault team made up of top players, with complementary skills. Your research capabilities are exactly what we urgently need. Are you interested in joining?]
Su Luo declined Qin Lang's invitation to join the team, saying he would wait and see. At the same time, he accepted the tutoring request and would add Song Shige as a friend after he woke up.
He heard that the madman had gone two and a half days without sleep to grind levels.
Meanwhile, the forum was in an uproar over the ranking settlements.
[Skill Experience Stone information (screenshot).jpg]
[The big shots are eating so well, and all I can do is drool quietly from the sidelines.]
[I've been killing monsters for three days and haven't upgraded my Sanctuary. I made the top hundred on both rankings, so I got a share too...]
[666, big shot, got room for a hanger-on?]
[How did that Ye Xu do it? He's already upgraded his Sanctuary to level four! Even second place is only level two!]
[There are so many analysis posts on the forum. Haven't you read them? He's cheating!]
[He's put out eight or nine hundred copies of [Basic Movement Technique] in total, plus inexplicably huge quantities of identical supplies. He must have a Talent or system like Thousandfold Increase! That's how it always goes in novels.]
[Fuck, doesn't that make Ye Xu the protagonist? Being in the same region as the protagonist is kind of scary.]
[He's still trash. Even with cheats, he couldn't take first place on all three rankings.]
[Did the guy above make the rankings? What gives you the right to talk?]
[Lol, here comes the guy defending his master.]
[...]
The thread gradually went off topic.
Su Luo closed the thread, playing with two miniature fireballs in his hand.
"Ye Xu... Thousandfold Increase..."
That setup was practically the standard template for a novel protagonist. Su Luo felt a headache coming on.
I'd better stay as far away from him as possible. Nothing good comes from getting too close to the "protagonist."
Su Luo opened his Fireball post and looked through the replies.
Oh... right, I still need to post a beginner's guide to Meditation...
Definitely next time!
[Such an academic man, such a sophisticated post. I want to get sophisticated.]
[??? Is the person above from Chengdu?]
[I have an Exemption Stone, and now I have a bold idea...]
[Big shot, could you post a simpler model? I can't construct this spell model no matter what I do!]
After reading the replies, he rolled over, lay down, and began studying.