Compared to the lively atmosphere in the other discussion groups, another discussion group in District 107 seemed rather strange.
It was the Twilight Mercenaries discussion group.
In the group, a survivor named Vulture asked, "Captain, do you think you have a chance of taking first place this time?"
Meanwhile, on a certain Sky Island Territory, a gloomy-looking man clad in a full set of Stalker equipment stopped in his tracks.
He was Black Hawk, ranked second on the leaderboard.
Seeing the message in the discussion group, he did not reply immediately. Instead, he answered with his usual brevity, "Difficult. I'll try."
The others found it hard to believe. "Captain, even you aren't confident you can take Xinghe's first-place spot? But you're..."
Black Hawk fell silent for a moment before replying again. "He is strong. I can't see through him."
"But I'll do my best."
Han Xing climbed out of bed, feeling energized once again.
Seeing the conversations on the local network, the survivors throughout Channel 107 were brimming with enthusiasm.
"Very good. Looks like everyone's in high spirits!"
Han Xing stretched, clenching his fist. "It's time for me to start climbing the rankings too!"
"But before that, there are still a few things to do."
He opened the blueprint tab and made over five hundred Fine Iron Arrows in one go.
It consumed more than a thousand pieces of fine iron, but that was hardly worth mentioning compared to his current material reserve.
Then, Han Xing began mass-producing containers. The relevant blueprints were included in the Complete Furniture Encyclopedia.
He made glass bottles in three sizes: small, medium, and large. The small bottles held 100 ml, the medium bottles held 500 ml, and the large bottles held 1,000 ml.
Since they were made from specialized materials, despite being glass bottles, they possessed considerable resistance to drops and impacts.
After bottling all the Spirit Spring Water from the pool on the ground and placing it in the Storage Box, Han Xing dusted off his hands and stood up.
"Good. Now I won't have to worry about monsters rushing into my territory during battle and destroying my Spirit Spring Water reserves."
After finishing all that, Han Xing pondered for a moment before entering the three-person discussion group.
Han Xing: "Guys, did you see the announcement? Want to give it a shot and see if we can all make the top ten?"
Cheng Jianyong: "Xing Ge... you think too highly of us. My territory score only just reached 12 points. I'm not even in the top hundred... Brother Yun might have a chance, though. He already has 20 points and is ranked ninety-first."
Han Xing was somewhat surprised. "You're already in the top hundred? Not bad, Little Yun!"
Shen Yun replied at that moment. "It's alright. Mainly because the Skill Book Xing Ge gave me helped a lot. With Holy Light Healing, I dared to challenge places I hadn't dared explore before. There were also several times I got injured and relied on that skill to recover."
"A Skill Book is really a huge help in the early stages!"
Cheng Jianyong listened with obvious envy before speaking resentfully. "I'm jealous... Xing Ge treats you so well. If I had a Skill Book too, maybe I'd already be in the top fifty."
Shen Yun said disdainfully, "Keep bragging. There are nearly ten thousand people in District 107. There must be plenty of hidden experts among them. Don't underestimate everyone else."
But Cheng Jianyong refused to accept that. "Give me a Skill Book, and I'll definitely make it into the top fifty!"
After saying that, he declared in a rather childish tone, "Emperor Jianyong bows to no one!"
Han Xing: "..."
Shen Yun: "..."
Han Xing said helplessly, "Cheng Jianyong, quit being cringe."
Cheng Jianyong chuckled sheepishly.
At that moment, Han Xing continued, "Seriously, if I gave you a Skill Book, could you really make the top fifty?"
Cheng Jianyong instantly realized something and asked excitedly, "Xing Ge, could it be..."
Han Xing smiled.
Cheng Jianyong hurriedly asked in anticipation, "Xing Ge, you really have one? Hurry up and let me see what a warrior's Skill Book looks like!"
His voice was filled with longing, but Han Xing said, "Wait, I'm not done yet."
"You just said one Skill Book would get you into the top fifty. What if I gave you two?"
Cheng Jianyong's breathing hitched. Then he carefully said, "T-two books! Then... then the top twenty?"
"Three."
"Gasp..."
This time, not only did Cheng Jianyong lose his composure, even Shen Yun's breathing became hurried.
Their eyes were full of desire. Cheng Jianyong excitedly said, "Xing Ge, from now on, you're my real big brother!"
"Whatever you want me to do from now on, I'll do it. If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west. I'm your number one fanboy!"
Based on what they knew of Han Xing, they knew he would not joke about things that did not exist. Since he dared to say it, he must truly have them.
At that moment, Shen Yun pinched his voice and said, "X-Xing Ge, I want some too..."
The moment the two heard that voice, goosebumps sprang up all over their bodies.
Cheng Jianyong cursed, "Holy crap, Shen Yun, you're fucking disgusting. You'd throw away your dignity for Skill Books."
Shen Yun immediately shot back, "Cheng Jianyong, how can you talk? Aren't you acting exactly the same?"
"You're disgusting!"
"You have no shame!"
"..."
Listening to the two argue, Han Xing laughed. "Alright, enough teasing you."
"You'll both get some. Not just Skill Books—I also have green equipment and weapons. I'll trade them to you right now."
Han Xing sent them trade requests.
As they watched Skill Books being placed in the trade window one after another, covering nearly every early-game class skill, followed by armor and weapons...
Shen Yun and Cheng Jianyong both felt as though it was unreal.
"X-Xing Ge, all of these... are for us?"
There was uncertainty in both their voices. They knew exactly how valuable these items were.
But before they could recover from their shock, they saw another 20 liters of Spirit Spring Water appear in the trade window.
Shen Yun and Cheng Jianyong's stunned gazes turned blank at the same time.
They were not idiots. After seeing so much precious Spirit Spring Water and recalling what had recently happened in the Chat Channel, they had already guessed Han Xing's identity.
Cheng Jianyong probed cautiously, "X-Xing Ge, the Xinghe ranked first on the leaderboard... that isn't you, is it?"
"That's right."
Han Xing admitted it openly. Telling them his virtual name was no big deal anyway; it was not particularly important.
"Gasp..."
Hearing Han Xing admit it himself, both of them sucked in a cold breath.
Shen Yun said in shock, "I had suspected it before, but I never dared be certain. I never expected that person really was Xing Ge!"
Cheng Jianyong said resentfully, "So Xing Ge is that great Xinghe. I was wondering who had the ability to get so many water resources at once!"
Han Xing laughed. "You never asked!"
"Alright, hurry up and accept everything. We need to make the most of our time and climb the rankings."
"Drink the Spirit Spring Water without worry. I have more if that isn't enough. Just don't get yourselves killed."
Han Xing closed the discussion group.
At that moment, Cheng Jianyong and Shen Yun were still chatting.
Cheng Jianyong said, "That's terrifying. Xing Ge gave us so much stuff all at once. Now, even if we didn't want to climb the rankings, we'd have to."
Shen Yun agreed completely. "With this equipment and these skills, making the top ten shouldn't be a problem. You should work hard too. Don't embarrass Xing Ge."
"Haha, I definitely won't. Shen Yun, let me tell you—give me two days, and I'll surpass you!"
"Heh... anyone can brag. You'll never surpass me."
"Then let's see!"
The two were filled with confidence. Just as they were about to leave, Shen Yun said one more thing.
"Oh, right. Don't tell anyone about Xing Ge's identity."
"Don't worry. I'm not stupid."
At that moment, Han Xing controlled his Sky Island Territory and began moving forward.
The clouds within several dozen kilometers were all roughly similar in size.
The smallest were a little over ten cubic meters, while the largest were only about the same size as the Dark Elf camp, around thirty cubic meters.
For Han Xing, monsters on clouds of that size no longer posed much of a threat.
He approached a cloud mass and began making contact with it. A System Prompt appeared.
"It seems to contain a cluster of cold energy. Enter?"
Han Xing directly selected enter.
Before you continue