Rank Skipping

After the Blade Storm subsided, Niu Shaojun's figure suddenly vanished from the spot— Shadowstep!

"Standing in the huge shadow cast by the hills—that's a major blunder!"

Niu Shaojun suddenly appeared behind Bai Xiaowen and Thrust his weapon towards Bai Xiaowen's back.

[I see. As long as there's a shadow, the Shadowstep skill can appear anywhere—in front of, behind, to the left, or to the right of the target... Generally speaking, appearing behind them is indeed the best option.]

Niu Shaojun felt a surge of satisfaction. Although the gunman was difficult to deal with, he had still won. He could already imagine the exhilarating feeling of the long knife Heart-Piercing and splattering blood like a waterfall.

Pfft.

A long knife pierced his body.

The expected Vital Strike warning did not appear; instead, Niu Shaojun's face slammed into a wall of flesh.

Oops, what kind of monster is this? How many days has it been since it took a bath?

The Stitched Monster Fatty, faced the Awakened Niu Shaojun, or rather, looked down at him.

The long, narrow knife was deeply embedded in Fatty's abdomen. However, with Fatty's 364 Life Value, even Vital Strike was not enough to instantly kill him.

Niu Shaojun looked completely bewildered. "You're... Summoner Class?"

With so many summoned creatures, it's impossible that they could be items or equipment with attached skills. The rules of Virtual Battle Platform are quite strict regarding the use of items. Apart from items that remove crowd control effects and food, only some low-power scrolls can be used (relative to rank).

Bai Xiaowen nodded.

If Bai Xiaowen knew Niu Shaojun's thoughts, she would definitely regretfully tell him that, yes, this is equipment with attached skills, but it's equipment exclusive to Hero Class.

Since Bai Xiaowen had already witnessed all of Niu Shaojun's skills and their effects, he didn't give Niu Shaojun another chance to demonstrate them.

"Sorry, you should just admit defeat."

"I haven't lost yet..." Niu Shaojun had just finished speaking when he suddenly felt a cool sensation on the back of his neck, as if two moist breezes were blowing over him.

He turned around with difficulty.

Rageclaw tilted its head and looked down at him, seemingly considering where to start biting.

"I concede..." Niu Shaojun finally realized he had encountered Hero Class. "On the battle panel, you're registered as level 4, is that true? What level are you exactly?"

In the real world, face-to-face, one can sense the opponent's approximate level from fluctuations in their Psychic Field. However, this is Virtual Battle Platform, so there's no such sensory ability.

"I am level 4," Bai Xiaowen confirmed.

Niu Shaojun finally understood that he had encountered an extremely powerful Hero Class —there are differences between Hero Class, and the Spirit Channeling class, which only appears after a perfect Class Change evaluation like Bai Xiaowen, is more powerful than many Hero Class.

It should also be noted that the S-rank difficulty only represents the difficulty of unsealing and injecting energy, and does not take into account the difficulty of the Black Soul Stone itself.

What makes Black Soul Stone so difficult to obtain?

The pursuit of Goliya, a level 7 Boss Tier, and the nuns of North County Monastery. Keep in mind, Bai Xiaowen was just a newbie below level 1 at the time. If you factor in the difficulty, it would definitely be more than S-Tier.

Niu Shaojun surrendered, Bai Xiaowen gained 35 points. He returned to his personal space on the battle platform and immediately started the next ranked match without wasting any time.

After Bai Xiaowen reached level 4, his strength increased significantly, and he could completely dominate the Silver Tier rank.

For example, the Shadow Warrior Niu Shaojun's strength is already considered quite high in the Silver Tier rank; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to climb to Silver Tier Rank 1.

However, Bai Xiaowen only revealed the tip of the iceberg of his strength, yet he still managed to force Niu Shaojun to surrender. If Bai Xiaowen hadn't wanted to learn some detailed information about the skills during the virtual battle, Niu Shaojun wouldn't have been able to hold out for so long.

In the following battles, Bai Xiaowen did not choose to go all out. Instead, he first observed the details of his opponent's skills. When he saw unfamiliar or obscure skills, he would fight with his opponent for a while until his opponent was completely out of options.

Most opponents, like Niu Shaojun, would choose to surrender at this point. There are also awakened individuals who refuse to surrender, and Bai Xiaowen can only see them off.

After defeating two Silver Tier Rank 2 opponents in succession, Bai Xiaowen advanced to the promotion tournament.

In the first match of the promotion series, I was matched against Silver Tier 1 opponent and won.

In the second match of the promotion tournament, Bai Xiaowen was matched with a Gold Tier Five, Standard Class level 9. This was the highest-level Awakened player Bai Xiaowen had encountered so far.

However, this Standard Class 9 Awakened One's total attributes are less than 100 points, which is lower than Bai Xiaowen's. The advantages of Hero Class of attributes and equipment become more and more obvious in the later stages, because the stronger one's combat power, the more benefits one can gain in the Spirit Realm, like a snowball rolling downhill.

For example, in the King of Fighters Universe, while two Standard Class Awakened Ones are still painstakingly running errands to complete Yamazaki Ryūji's Affection Level quests, Bai Xiaowen has already eliminated Yamazaki Ryūji directly. The benefits of the two are obviously incomparable.

Bai Xiaowen defeated the level 9 awakened user without any trouble, successfully advanced, and even skipped a rank – directly skipping Silver Tier IV and Silver Tier III to advance to Silver Tier II.

The next three opponents I was matched with were all Gold Tier, except for one Silver Tier rank 1. The last opponent was even Gold Tier Four!

The screen was flooded with comments.

"Silver Tier II against Gold IV? That's just too unfair."

"Stop messing around upstairs. Virtual Battle Platform have a combat power assessment index for every Awakened, which is called hidden MMR. The stronger the opponent you defeat, the faster your hidden MMR increases. The streamer has been maintaining a winning streak, so his hidden MMR is definitely no lower than that of an Awakened in the Gold rank." A long comment explained.

"This also has its advantages. If the streamer is matched with high-ranking opponents and can maintain a winning streak, they will jump ranks like they did just now."

In the virtual battle map, the battle was coming to an end. In his Blood Frenzy state, Bai Xiaowen's Furious Rageclaw tore his opponent, who was left with little health, in two, and he won the victory.

Ding-ling. "Battle won! You have qualified for the Gold Tier promotion series. Win three out of the next five matches to advance to Gold Tier. Good luck!"

Under normal circumstances, an Awakened player needs to reach Silver Tier Rank 1 and accumulate 100 LP to qualify for the Gold Tier promotion tournament.

However, Bai Xiaowen is currently at Silver Tier Rank 2 with 100 win points. After the system's assessment, he was directly given the qualification for the Gold Tier promotion match! If he can achieve three wins in five matches, he will be promoted to Gold again.