At once, everyone seemed to think of something and exchanged looks.
"Put that way, it really could have been Qin Feng..."
"Yeah! He was the only one nearby just now. That fits the lone wolf theory."
"Hiss! No wonder he wouldn't join us. So he was that strong!"
Everyone began muttering, and realization dawned on quite a few faces.
A complicated look appeared in Lei Jue's eyes as well.
Just then, a new notification came from the Heavenly Dao.
[Announcement: One person in this novice village has reached level 3. The rankings channel has been activated.] [Reminder: Only this village's level rankings are currently available. Only the top one hundred may appear on the leaderboard.]
"Oh! The level rankings are open!"
"Only the top one hundred can make the leaderboard!"
"Someone reached level 3, and that activated the rankings channel."
"Could Qin Feng have reached level 3?"
"Hurry, take a look!"
Lei Jue and the others immediately brought up their Heavenly Dao screens and entered the rankings channel...
When they saw the leaderboard, they all froze.
Qin Feng's level ranking was different from what they had imagined!
That left them puzzled again...
Meanwhile, Qin Feng was heading toward the edge of the Beginner Plains.
He received the announcement as well.
Curious, he willed the Heavenly Dao screen to pop up before his eyes.
Sure enough, a new [Rankings channel] option had appeared in the lower right corner.
With a thought, he opened the rankings channel and saw a leaderboard.
[Novice Village No. 911 level leaderboard] First place: Liu Xuan, level 3. Second place: Long Shan, level 2. Third place: Wu Yong, level 2. Fourth place: Yu Wen, level 2. Fifth place: Gu Ming, level 2. Sixth place: Lei Jue, level 2. ... Forty-seventh place: Qin Feng, level 1. ...
I'm only forty-seventh!
Qin Feng muttered inwardly, then switched to the chat channel.
The conversation there was already buzzing.
"Wow! Boss Liu Xuan has already reached level 3. He's freaking amazing!"
"Yeah! My progress is only level 1 (13/100). Level 2 is still ages away. Boss Liu Xuan has already reached level 3. That's just freaking amazing!"
"Eight big shots have reached level 2, too. They're incredible!"
"Yeah! I'm so jealous!"
Reading this, Qin Feng began to feel anxious as well.
Four or five hours had passed, and eight people had reached level 2.
Liu Xuan had even reached level 3.
He had to speed up his leveling.
Earlier, he had spent all his time searching for corpses and had hardly killed any monsters to level up.
Now it was time for him to go all out hunting ferocious beasts.
Just then, another notification came from the Heavenly Dao.
[Announcement: The novice leveling reward system will now be announced.] [The first person to reach level 10 will receive one gold treasure chest.] [The second person to reach level 10 will receive one silver treasure chest.] [The third person to reach level 10 will receive three bronze treasure chests.] [The fourth through tenth people to reach level 10 will receive two bronze treasure chests each.] [The eleventh through hundredth people to reach level 10 will receive one bronze treasure chest each.] [Treasure chests: Item rewards established by the Heavenly Dao. Open a treasure chest to obtain the items within.] [Treasure chests are divided into black iron, bronze, silver, gold, dark gold, purple diamond, epic, and mythical grades. The higher the grade, the greater the chance of obtaining high-grade items.] [Reminder: Treasure chests will be issued immediately upon reaching level 10. There is no need to wait until the assessment ends.]
The announcement sent the entire chat channel into an uproar.
"Wow! The first hundred people to reach level 10 all get treasure chests!"
"First place even gets a gold treasure chest!"
"You get the reward as soon as you reach level 10, without having to wait. That's so considerate."
"Exciting! This is so exciting!"
"Level up! Level up! I'm going to level up!"
"I'm going to level up, too! I'll fight for a spot in the top hundred!"
"Haha! I'm going to make the top ten!"
At that moment, everyone in the chat channel was cheering.
A leveling race had begun.
Qin Feng was excited as well.
First place!
A gold treasure chest!
He would claim it!
He immediately left the chat channel and picked up his pace toward the edge of the Beginner Plains...
As he neared the edge of the plains, he encountered a ferocious beast.
It was a giant wolf two meters tall. It looked much like a grassland gray wolf, but it was a full size larger, with a long silver stripe running from the back of its head to its tail.
With the Eye of True Sight, he saw the giant wolf's true nature.
[Ferocious beast]: Silverback gray wolf (mutated) [Level]: 1 [Combat power assessment]: 4-star peak [Traits]: Brutal, bloodthirsty, cunning, capable of calling its own kind. [Skills]: None [Drop rate]: 1
After reading its stats, Qin Feng could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
This was actually a level 1 mutated ferocious beast, and its combat power had reached the 4-star peak. It was even stronger than a level 2 ferocious beast.
A level 2 ferocious beast only had 4-star combat power.
Qin Feng estimated his own overall strength to be somewhere between 4-star and the 4-star peak.
By that comparison, he might not be able to handle the giant wolf before him.
This giant wolf was an extremely troublesome opponent.
However, its drop rate was 1, ten times that of an ordinary level 1 ferocious beast.
Killing it might yield something good.
Besides, his estimate of his overall strength was entirely conjecture.
How strong he really was still needed to be tested.
Now was the time to test his strength.
At that thought, Qin Feng's fighting spirit erupted, and he prepared to go all out.