Lu Chen was solo farming monsters, while Erzi, Sanzi, and Sizi formed a group to farm together.
In just two and a half hours, a golden light rose from beneath Lu Chen's feet—he leveled up!
[Character Bound: Lu Chen]
[Character: Particularly Strong, Particularly Agile, Particularly Burly Gnoll]
[Quality (2-Star Perfect): Base Strength, Agility, Physique increased by 100%]
[Level: 9 (Level-Up Progress: 48/100000)]
Seeing this, Lu Chen was momentarily stunned.
Leveling from 8 to 9 required only 50,000 experience, but from 9 to 10, it suddenly needed 100,000!
"Damn, it doubled! Looks like level 10 might be a qualitative change!"
Fortunately, everyone needed the same experience to level up, so there was no need to dwell on it.
[Physical Strength: Strength: 32 (26+6) Agility: 34 (26+8) Physique: 32 (26+6)]
[Attack Power: Physical Attack 57-63]
[Defense: Physical Defense 28 (13+15)]
[Health: 1150 (920+230)]
[Talent "Inferior Werewolf Bloodline" (Tier-2): Normal attacks have a chance to critically hit, 14% chance for double critical hit.]
[Talent Evolution Shard: 0/80 (Tier-3 Shard)]
[Quality Evolution Points: 0/80 (3-Star Evolution Points)]
[Monster Reputation: 38]
[Legion Recruitment Order (Threefold): 38/2000]
"Haha, my attack is over 60, and my health is 1100!"
With each level-up, Lu Chen's strength showed a noticeable improvement!
He still had 12 Tier-3 Talent Shards and 6 3-Star Quality Points, just not allocated on the panel yet.
A pile of 1-Star and 2-Star materials hadn't been synthesized either. Future subordinates recruited with the Legion Recruitment Order would need these low-level materials, so he decided not to synthesize them for now.
"Having subordinates really makes a difference; leveling up is much faster now!" Lu Chen said excitedly.
Players could practice inner arts and other skills at level 10, but he wasn't sure if he could.
Naturally, Lu Chen couldn't enter the level 10 main city, as it had NPC guards he probably couldn't handle. However, he had one hope: the Reputation Shop.
"When I reach level 10, I'll exchange for more reputation and see if I can get some new items."
Interestingly, during his leveling, he occasionally noticed some disturbances in the distance.
About three to four hundred meters from the hill, he sometimes heard voices.
This made Lu Chen nervous, so he quickly leveled up to 9.
Now that he was level 9, he decided to check it out.
"Erzi, Sanzi, Sizi, follow me quietly!" Lu Chen instructed, although the three fools probably wouldn't make a sound anyway.
"Could it be that top players have leveled up?" Lu Chen headed towards the other side of the hill.
Reaching the area where the sounds seemed to originate, Lu Chen left the three fools behind and ventured deeper.
As he walked, Lu Chen discovered several glowing bundles near a group of level 6 and 7 gnolls.
"Hmm? Players have already farmed here? But who would kill monsters and not pick up the loot? So extravagant?"
Without further ado, Lu Chen checked the corpses.
Each bundle contained a few healing potions.
"I actually picked up 13 healing potions! What a windfall!" Lu Chen stashed the potions away.
But then he thought, wait a minute, wild monsters don't use healing potions!
"These bundles must belong to players!" Lu Chen suddenly remembered that Nine Heavens had newbie protection for players below level 10. Death didn't result in losing money, experience, or equipment, but there was a minor penalty.
When players died, they dropped healing potions!
These bundles clearly weren't discarded by players. The system initially gave 5 healing potions and 1000 copper coins, enough to buy 10 potions.
Even the most foolish wouldn't throw away loot to NPC merchants, so players had no other economic source.
These 15 healing potions were practically the only sustain items for players before level 10, and were extremely valuable for many pioneering teams.
"Dropped upon death... which means these bundles weren't dropped by gnolls or discarded by players, but were... dropped when players died!"
After death, their bodies disappeared, returning to the Starter Village, and dropped items turned into bundles, left at the original death site.
Clearly, they didn't plan to return for the potions, perhaps not wanting to die again...
"Hmm? There's more ahead."
In areas densely populated with gnolls, Lu Chen found more bundles.
He wasn't worried about attracting monsters and confidently picked them up.
"Damn, there's more ahead... What are the players doing? If they can't beat them, why keep coming?"
After a busy while, Lu Chen ended up with 49 healing potions.
"This time I really hit the jackpot, I was just worried about not being able to buy potions." Lu Chen quickly stored the potions.
The area ahead was more open, with fewer level 7 gnolls and more level 5 and 6 ones. Lu Chen glanced around, saw no bundles, and was about to turn back when he heard voices behind him.
"Wow, we found the BOSS!"
"Wait, isn't that BOSS called Quinn something? This gnoll doesn't have a name."
"Yeah, we've seen prefixes like 'Particularly something Gnoll,' but have you ever seen a 'Particularly Strong, Particularly Agile, Particularly Burly Gnoll'? Three prefixes! If that's not a BOSS, what is?"
Lu Chen didn't react for a moment until he glanced at the name above his head.
Undoubtedly, he was the BOSS they were talking about, as there was no other gnoll named "Particularly Strong, Particularly Agile, Particularly Burly Gnoll."
"Hey, maybe he's called Quinn Zakas, look, isn't that a Cragbreaker in his hand, and leather shoulder guards!"
Lu Chen looked down at his weapon... Cragbreaker Great Club...
Then at his shoulder... leather shoulder guards...
Damn, caught red-handed!
"This guy is Quinn Zakas!"
Lu Chen blinked, frustrated, and turned to see the five people opposite him.
The leader was "Yunding White-as-Jade," and the other four were Yunding Fierce-as-a-Tiger, Yunding Foxy Charm, Yunding Strong-as-a-Bear, and Yunding Eagle-like Hero.
Their guild was probably called Yunding Guild.
Speaking of which, Yunding Guild seemed quite strong, at least comparable to Wind Chime Fairy's team. These guys were all level 5, each wielding a level 1 club!
"Hahaha, we're rich now!" White-as-Jade's eyes gleamed. "We finally found the BOSS."
"Now Cragbreaker won't be Lone Madman's exclusive!"
"If we get a few Cragbreakers, we can outpace all the guilds in the same village and seize the level 10 main city first!"
"Can we take on a level 10 BOSS?" Eagle-like Hero was a bit worried.
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"Don't be scared, this is a challenge for us, but we're all veteran players. With good control and plenty of potions, it's not impossible!" White-as-Jade's eyes were fixed on Lu Chen.
"Right, that Lone Madman is at most level 6, if they can do it, we definitely can!" Strong-as-a-Bear said confidently.
Foxy Charm was a woman, not particularly attractive, and Lu Chen wondered why she had the courage to call herself Foxy Charm. He thought she wasn't as pretty as Wind Chime Fairy.
Foxy Charm blinked at Lu Chen, her voice sultry, "Eagle, why are you chickening out? We're among the top in our village in terms of level, and our skills are top-notch. It's just a wild BOSS, are you scared?"
Eagle-like Hero, provoked, immediately showed a hint of disdain, "Tch, who said I'm scared? I'm just cautious!"
Lu Chen wanted to tell them he wasn't Quinn Zakas, but he figured speaking up might have a bigger impact than Cragbreaker itself.
As a wild monster, he should uphold the professional ethics of a wild monster.
"Everyone, pay attention, taking down this BOSS is crucial for our guild's development. Show your best skills!" White-as-Jade said seriously.
"Alright, remember, Yunding is the strongest!"
"That's right, we're the strongest!"
"Prepare your potions, watch the cooldowns, manage aggro, there's no tank now, so spread the damage, and don't pull nearby wild monsters!"
"Bear, start the BOSS!"