[Guardian Rankings]
Ye Xu watched Female Bodhisattva's work on the forum until it reached the Daoist temple, then closed the thread, still wanting more. Out of habit, he opened the Regional Level Rankings.
"Uh..."
A meaningless syllable escaped his throat, as though something had suddenly choked him. His mouth fell open involuntarily, and the tissue in his hand dropped onto his leg with a soft plop.
Ye Xu gaped, dumbstruck, as he watched the top-ranked player's experience keep climbing until it slowly settled on a dizzying number.
Level 4 (45%)
"Huh? What happened?!"
Ye Xu sprang out of his chair, his voice pitching oddly from sheer shock.
He rubbed his eyes hard, even suspecting a system display error. His gaze swept back and forth between [Top 1] and the entry right beneath it, [Top 2—Ye Xu: Level 3 (81%)], several times. The cold numbers mercilessly declared that it was real.
The enormous gap was like a bucket of ice water over his head, instantly extinguishing the salacious thoughts he had just been entertaining.
"Damn it! Class skills are that strong? Time to study!"
A ruthless look flashed across Ye Xu's face, as though he had made some momentous decision. He grabbed the opened pack of tissues beside him and flung it away, then removed several threads from his favorites.
An unprecedented, frenzied desire to study burned in his eyes.
"Post-nut clarity sure comes in handy."
[Survival log updated: day six]
[Current region (Region 76) survival rate: 68.01%]
[Based on an assessment of survival data from the past six days, the region's rules have been adapted to a deeper level]
[Environmental mutations: dangerous terrain such as "Rotting Wetland" and "Howling Forest" has begun to form in some areas with high mana concentrations. Those who enter will suffer continuous mental erosion and attribute suppression. High-value resources and high-level treasure chests will also spawn in these areas.]
[Resource spawn mechanism: [Gold Treasure Chests] have been added to the spawn pool. [Diamond Treasure Chests] and higher-level treasure chests currently have no spawn mechanism.]
[Monster activity: the Monster Tide has arrived and is splitting up and gathering... Please explore with caution]
[Monster Tide offense and defense mechanism: the Monster Tide will attack in waves. Successfully repelling the first three waves constitutes passing the basic trial. Afterward, survivors may choose whether to take on subsequent waves. The more waves resisted, the richer the rewards at final settlement]
[Monster ecology adjustment: as some survivors grow stronger, the monster communities in the darkness will evolve dynamically, with a chance for higher-level monsters (Lv. 4–Lv. 5) to appear. The chance of elite units appearing will also increase slightly]
[Social and trading system update preview: new features including "anonymous trading," "auction house," and "inheritance" will be introduced. Please look forward to them...]
[Temporary ranking unlocked: during the Monster Tide, the [Guardian Rankings] will be temporarily available. Rankings will be based on the lowest integrity percentage a Sanctuary reaches during the Monster Tide's attacks. Those near the top will receive additional defense rewards.]
[Do everything you can to survive]
Inside the instance, Su Luo was hugging his knees and studying the Fireball model when his ears twitched slightly, catching a certain keyword in the announcement.
"Hm?!"
He raised his head, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes.
"[Guardian Rankings]? Based on Sanctuary integrity? But my Sanctuary..."
He instinctively looked back, as though he could see through the boundless expanse of space to that distant blue planet, hanging alone beyond the darkness.
"...is back home. Could it be attacked too?"
Su Luo stood up and paced around, pondering for a while. He couldn't make any sense of it, so he simply lay down and went to sleep...
Two and a half hours later, Su Luo sprang up from the ground, refreshed!
He looked at his skill panel.
[Meditation Level 11 (0/1100)]
[Basic Visualization Method Level 11 (0/1100)]
[Zen Meditation Level 10 (0/1000)]
[Fireball Level 11 (246/1100)]
[Earth Collapse Spell Level 6 (136/600)]
[Gale Step Level 6 (462/600)]
Thanks to the extensive overlap between the knowledge systems of Zen Meditation, Meditation, and the Basic Visualization Method, he learned and improved at an extremely high rate, creating a beneficial synergy.
His attribute panel had also taken on a whole new look:
[Spirit: 9.5 (↑1.5)]
[Mana: 18 (↑5)]
[Time remaining: 0 hours 25 minutes]
Glancing at the grilled fish left beside him, Su Luo picked one up and took a bite, then frowned slightly.
A constant diet without any seasoning had made even the once-delicious fish hard to swallow. It was far too bland.
He really was too quick to tire of the old and crave the new. Su Luo hadn't treated grilled fish like this a day ago...
To replenish the stamina expended when his skills leveled up and he allocated points, Su Luo had eaten more than a hundred fish in two days. He really couldn't be blamed...
"Damn it, doesn't mana contain far more energy than the chemical energy in ATP? Why doesn't the system draw on mana when it extracts energy?" Su Luo grumbled indignantly.
"If only I had some chili peppers..." he muttered. Unfortunately, there weren't any in the forest.
He would be leaving the instance soon... Su Luo didn't study, because he had something important to do.
He walked slowly to the entrance of the Dungeon, which was as eerie as ever. His gaze passed calmly through the enormous hole in the stone doors, which were covered in bizarre carvings, and met the silent stares of the Armed Skeletons inside, clad in rusted iron armor, with eerie blue soul flames burning in their eye sockets.
Su Luo was expressionless. The blue flames in the Armed Skeletons' eye sockets flickered gently.
"Aren't you going to invite me in for a bit?"
The skeletons were clearly mute. Their only response to Su Luo was to raise their arms mechanically, their Bone Blades scraping against their rusted armor with a grating clatter.
"Oh, you... you're too hospitable!"
Before he had finished speaking, mana began gathering frantically above his outstretched right palm at an unprecedented speed! The fire element in the air condensed rapidly, like soldiers obeying an absolute command!
Small fireballs radiating terrifying heat appeared one after another. Finally, a Fireball Formation with eight by eight, sixty-four trigram bases hovered above Su Luo's hand.
"I won't come in myself. It's the thought that counts, but you have to accept my gift!"
With that, the flaming formation, hovering like a miniature sun, floated silently through the hole in the doors and flew straight into the Dungeon's deep hall!
Rumble—!
A deafening explosion erupted from underground! Even from some distance away, Su Luo could clearly feel the ground shaking violently beneath his feet. A scorching blast of air mixed with smoke and dust surged out of the Dungeon entrance!
Real men never looked back at explosions!
The moment the formation left his hand, Su Luo had already turned and run without hesitation.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[Level: 3 (35%)]
Just one move! Three levels at once!
As it turned out, Su Luo really wasn't a natural-born warrior. He didn't understand those sophisticated combat techniques or life-and-death struggles. His combat philosophy was simple and pure: find the target, run if he couldn't beat it, and bombard it if he could.
Looking at the three free attribute points added to his panel, Su Luo merely raised an eyebrow before saving them without hesitation.
He would set them aside for now. The later it got, the more valuable things like these became.
Su Luo hid high up in the distant forest, watching the collapsed Dungeon entrance to see if anything would come out.
Ten minutes, twenty minutes... Until the instance's time limit was nearly up, there was no movement at the entrance apart from wisps of black smoke and scattered flames.
"So the mechanics of this instance are closer to a traditional game?" Su Luo stroked his chin thoughtfully. "The monsters are confined to specific 'rooms' or 'areas,' and they won't attack on their own unless you enter their trigger range?"
Su Luo's Fireball Formation had not only cleared out the monsters guarding the entrance, but also destroyed the hall beyond it.
"I'll just wait for it to end... I'll explore the areas beyond next time."
To be safe, he didn't come down from the treetop until the final few seconds. Beside him were the food and fresh water he had packed up long ago.
[Instance: The Wizard's Abandoned Testing Ground—challenge failed]
[Exploration progress: 10%]
[Overall evaluation: trash]
White light enveloped him once more. Su Luo ignored the system's biased evaluation and merely curled his lip.
"I've always thought this system was pretty rude."