Tree God Secret Realm, the True Meaning of Extremum!

In the southern outskirts of the city, dense woods surrounded the area. A roadside sign bore four large characters:

—Tree God Secret Realm.

The entrance to the secret realm was a massive stone archway, its sides covered in green vines, giving it an aged, weathered appearance.

There were many people nearby.

Some newly awakened professionals like him were calling out to form parties.

Others were selling potions and food, while a group of life-class professionals offered free repair and dismantling services.

It was as bustling as a marketplace.

"C-rank talent leading a party! Looking for DPS, tanks, and healers no lower than D-rank! Leeches, stay away!"

"Selling potent healing potions! Potions may be precious, but life is more precious! You only have one life, so don't pay a painful price over a moment of thrift!"

"Roast chicken! Fragrant roast chicken! One skewer fully restores your fullness! Come get one!"

"Free equipment dismantling services! Any bosses in need, just click on me!"

"..."

Jiang Chuan had just checked the leveling spots near Tianyuan City.

The most suitable place for his current level was the first-tier secret realm before him.

This secret realm was fairly well-known in Tianyuan City.

Not because it was high-level, but precisely because it was low-level enough and safe enough.

There was only one kind of monster inside the secret realm.

Treants.

They ranged from Level 1 to Level 5, moved slowly, and had low attack power. They were the perfect targets for beginners to level up on.

Every year, a large number of newly awakened people came here to level up.

Occasionally, they could even obtain some low-level equipment.

Which they could sell for a little money.

But to Jiang Chuan, this Tree God Secret Realm meant more than that.

He had a Nightmare Contract now. If he used it on the Tree God Secret Realm, the monsters inside would become Nightmare difficulty.

The difficulty would increase.

The secret realm's drops and rewards would definitely increase as well.

And clearing Nightmare difficulty would also grant an exclusive reward. It already sounded extraordinary.

"First, I'll try the normal difficulty and see what it's like."

Jiang Chuan made up his mind.

His fully equipped outfit had already drawn quite a bit of attention.

Some people sent him party invitations, but Jiang Chuan ignored them all and walked straight into the stone archway.

[Prompt: Challenge—Tree God Secret Realm (Normal Difficulty)?]

[Yes!]

A flash of white light passed before his eyes.

When he opened them again,

he was already standing in a dim forest.

The trees around him were so tall they blotted out the sky. Only a few scattered rays of sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, casting mottled shadows across the ground.

The air was filled with a damp, decaying smell, mixed with a faint, sickly sweetness.

Jiang Chuan took down his hunting bow, nocked an arrow, and cautiously walked forward.

He had only taken a few steps.

The bushes ahead suddenly rustled.

A thick branch seemed to come "alive" from the trunk, twisting through the air like a snake.

Then, a vague human face emerged on the trunk of the entire tree. Its hollow eyes locked onto Jiang Chuan.

[Treant: LV1, HP 200, Attack 25, Defense 20]

A Level 1 treant.

Jiang Chuan drew the bowstring to its limit and aimed at the ugly face on the treant.

The moment he released his fingers, the arrow tore through the air and buried itself precisely in the treant's eye.

Dark green sap sprayed from the wound. The treant let out a shrill howl, and its entire body began to shake violently.

A damage number floated above the treant's head.

-378!!

The treant's health bar instantly emptied. The whole trunk exploded from within, sending wood chips and leaves flying everywhere before scattering across the ground.

[Defeated Treant (LV1), EXP +15! Current level progress: LV1 (15/1000)!]

It took a full sixty-seven monsters to rise from Level 1 to Level 2.

That really was not easy.

Fortunately, Jiang Chuan knew how to use a bow.

Killing sixty-seven monsters one by one with a blade would be such a hassle. One arrow per monster was far easier.

Jiang Chuan stepped forward to inspect the monster's drops.

There was nothing at all.

Just as he was about to leave,

his steps suddenly halted, and his gaze fell on the broken stump.

His rule-level talent was called [Universal Extraction]. It was not limited to dismantling equipment.

Or rather,

dismantling equipment was only one of its functions.

Then,

could it be used to extract a monster's corpse?

Jiang Chuan cautiously placed his hand on the corpse.

Universal Extraction, activate!

Whoosh!

Golden light flashed.

The treant's corpse vanished, and a stream of heat poured into Jiang Chuan's body.

[Extraction successful. Strength +1! As your Strength has reached the maximum value for your current level, the energy from this extraction has been converted into leveling EXP!]

[EXP +100! Current level progress: LV1 (115/1000)!]

Jiang Chuan's eyes widened.

Was he seeing things? A completely ordinary Level 1 monster gave an attribute increase equal to two Black Iron pieces of equipment!?

...Could it be because living creatures were different from inanimate objects?

No.

The treant had not dropped anything!

Jiang Chuan realized that extracting equipment gave fewer attribute bonuses, but it could restore all materials. Extracting a treant's corpse, on the other hand, only gave attribute bonuses!

Still,

that was enough for him!

With permanent attribute bonuses, who the hell needed equipment? He could crush the world with his bare fists!

Jiang Chuan excitedly rose to his feet and continued deeper into the forest.

There were more and more monsters along the way.

Jiang Chuan welcomed them all. He shot every one he saw, never missing an arrow. Every shot directly blew apart a treant.

And because the Universal Extraction talent granted him extra experience,

in no time at all,

he successfully reached Level 2.

Whoosh!

Golden light swirled around him.

Jiang Chuan immediately felt a massive surge in power.

He opened his status panel, then froze in shock. The attributes he gained automatically upon leveling up were not the 1 point an F-rank professional should have, nor the theoretical maximum of 10 points for an SSS-rank professional... but a full 100 points!!

A hundred points to every attribute from a single level!?

That was insane!

So,

this was the true meaning of [Extremum]!

It did not represent an attribute extremum, but a growth extremum! Only the strongest beings in the Source Realm could possess 100 points of attribute growth per level!

Jiang Chuan's attributes directly doubled. His attack soared to 400 points, and combined with the output of his Black Iron longbow, killing monsters became even easier.

Moreover,

he discovered something else.

After leveling up, his extracted attributes were no longer restricted.

Extracting treant corpses would randomly increase his Constitution and Strength.

He killed more than a hundred treants along the way.

Before he had even reached Level 3,

his Constitution and Strength had already reached 253 and 261 points respectively!

Even the highest-level Level 5 treants in the secret realm only had 1,000 health. One arrow to a weak point could instantly kill them—they were as fragile as paper!

His experience was skyrocketing.

Very soon,

a beam of golden light swirled up around him.

[Congratulations, you have reached LV3!]

[Constitution +100!]

[Intelligence +100!]

[Strength +100!]

[Agility +100!]

The multiplied increase in his attributes gave Jiang Chuan an all-around improvement.

His strength had become even greater, to the point that he had to be careful when drawing his bow.

He was afraid of breaking this "toy."

With a light jump,

he could leap fifteen meters into the air.

Jiang Chuan felt that wearing armor was unnecessary now, because his skin and flesh were already tougher than Black Iron equipment!

"That's too ridiculous!"

Jiang Chuan was inwardly shaken. "An S-rank professional needs to reach the fourth tier to have a 300-point attribute panel, yet I'm only Level 3! Once I reach Level 10, my stats will probably surpass even ninth-tier powerhouses!"

Of course, he knew perfectly well that the difference between himself and high-tier professionals was not merely attributes.

There was also equipment.

Skills.

And most importantly, class advancement.

Compared to those, attributes could be considered the least significant factor... but the problem was that his attribute growth was too terrifying. A quantitative change was enough to bring about a qualitative change!