As the long night wore on, the Dragonfang Soldiers' levels surged rapidly.
By the latter half of the night, they had already reached Level 8, and at this rate, by noon tomorrow the first batch of Level 10 Dragonfang Soldiers would likely appear.
After clearing out all the monsters around the industrial park, Bai Qiu didn't linger.
Following his usual routine, he quickly packed his belongings, drank Stamina Recovery and Mana Recovery potions, and hurried off once more.
Quest Progress: Slay Ten Dragonfang Generals – 6/10
Not long after he left, a shadowy figure rushed out of one of the dormitories, running straight toward the Safe Zone…
After cutting a small slit in the sunshade, Zhou Wenhui saw a scene that would stay with her for the rest of her life.
Countless Dragonfang Soldiers swarmed toward a single figure like hornets from a smashed nest.
Yet they were pierced through by impossibly fast arrows — each arrow carrying such force that even a dozen Dragonfang Soldiers flying in formation were impaled clean through!
He actually held them off!
Zhou Wenhui watched in awe at the mysterious man's overwhelming power, though she still didn't dare to make a sound.
Any noise might draw the monsters' attention — and just one of them could easily kill her.
Besides, she couldn't even be sure that mysterious figure was a good person.
As time passed, fewer and fewer Dragonfang Soldiers flew toward the man.
Eventually, several minutes went by without a single one appearing.
Then, the man turned and left.
Zhou Wenhui still had no intention of calling out to him, but she finally stepped out of her dormitory.
After carefully checking the surroundings, she hurried toward the nearest Safe Zone.
She knew very well — that mysterious man must have used some kind of ability to lure every Dragonfang Soldier in the area to him, then slaughtered them all.
Right now, there were probably no monsters nearby.
But if she waited too long, new ones might respawn at any moment — this was her only chance to reach safety!
On his way toward the third Dragonfang General's location, Bai Qiu noticed something surprising — the Darksteel arrows in his inventory had taken serious losses.
Nearly a hundred had already been damaged or destroyed, and the rest would likely break during the next battle.
With a sigh, he stored the remaining arrows back into his storage card, then began crafting new ones by consuming his mana.
Though the night's fierce battles had burned through little mana, the toll on his stamina was immense.
He constantly had to restore energy and replenish food just to stay alert.
The food Buff, originally lasting twelve hours, now had only one hour and fourteen minutes left — constant combat shortened its duration rapidly.
Still, the gains were considerable.
From these two waves of grinding, he had looted 216 rare drops, over a hundred basic item cards, and plenty of other materials.
Fortunately, identical items stacked infinitely, so space wasn't an issue.
After four hours of non-stop fighting, Bai Qiu's total loot consisted of only eleven distinct item types — taking up eleven of the hundred slots in his storage card.
Plenty of room left.
Of course, he knew this was partly thanks to his luck.
If Zhang Shiyao were the one grinding here, she'd probably fill five hundred slots by now.
During his journey, Bai Qiu stopped to eat another meal, refreshing his Food Buff back to full before continuing straight toward the seventh Dragonfang General's location.
Each cleared region took about two hours to complete, but the rewards were immense.
Each zone yielded around 20,000 regular Dragonfang Soldiers, and with the special bonus from his King of Monster Grinding title and guaranteed experience gain, Bai Qiu was leveling up fast — roughly 1.5 levels for every two zones cleared.
Even he was shocked by his own endurance — his stamina consumption and recovery were nearly balanced.
So this was the strength of C-rank Physique, huh?
With Battle Continuation, Food Buff, and a constant supply of potions, Bai Qiu fought relentlessly from midnight until nearly noon, clearing six full regions and completing the Ten Dragonfang Generals quest.
Without hesitation, he began making his way to Zhang Shiyao's Safe Zone.
They had arranged last night to challenge a Dungeon Instance together at noon — and he wasn't about to go back on his word.
After all, breaking a promise would set a bad example… and he didn't want to become the cautionary tale.
Only now did he finally take a look at the results of nearly twelve straight hours of monster grinding.
Normally, the system would have notified him in real-time—but after so many hours of nonstop combat, that constant ding-ding-ding was driving him crazy, so he'd simply muted the system.
Bai Qiu — Lv.15
Strength: C−
Magic: C−
Endurance: C−
Agility: C−
Luck: F−
Class: Lancer
Lancer's Blessing: Minor Strength Boost / Moderate Agility Boost
Noble Phantasm: Spear of Converging Mana (Rank C)
Proficiency: 5,000 / 250,000
Chant the true name of the Noble Phantasm to concentrate mana into a weapon (designated polearm) and unleash a devastating strike.
This attack always hits a weak point and always crits.
Instantly kills any target with Strength ≤ C rank.
Targets struck have a 5% chance of instant death; if not triggered, they instead suffer an unhealable wound.
Additional Note: Consumes 80% mana upon activation. If the strike kills the target, excess mana is recovered based on the user's mana control proficiency.
Mana Cost: 80% Cooldown: 1 hour.
Weapon Cards:
Sword of Hatred (D)
Darksteel Heavy Spear (D)
Darksteel Longbow (D−, Status: Damaged)
Dragon-Piercing Dagger (D)
Equipment Cards:
Dragonslayer's Boots (D)
Dragonslayer's Armor (D)
Dragonslayer's Bracers (D)
Dragonslayer's Pauldrons (D)
Dragonslayer's Greaves (D)
Dragonslayer's Helmet (D)
Dragonslayer's Mask (D)
Item Card:
Enhancement Card (C+)
Skill Cards:
Berserk (D)
Battle Continuation (C)
Mana Manipulation (D+) — 18,900 / 100,000
Kill Looting (D+)
Gathering (E)
Triple Arcane Crystallization Eyes (E)
High Sky Archery (C−)
Bai Qiu realized his overall attributes had increased severalfold.
Even though Magic and Endurance had both reached C−, his leading stats, Strength and Agility, still showed no change on the panel — though in practice, they had grown far stronger.
Apparently, once reaching C-rank, even advancing a small sub-grade required significant effort and time.
He skipped over his Noble Phantasm for now — its high mana cost and long cooldown made it a trump card for emergencies.
Still, upgrading it merely required fifty uses, so he could grind its proficiency later—just not now.
As for weapons, twelve hours of continuous combat had even worn down his famously durable Darksteel Longbow.
He'd need to visit the [Blacksmith] for repairs later.
His equipment slots were completely filled—head to toe, every piece equipped.
At this point, he looked more like a field boss than a player.
He hadn't found an item card that truly suited him yet, so that could wait.
But his skills had improved immensely overnight.
Battle Continuation, Mana Manipulation, Kill Looting, Triple Arcane Crystallization Eyes, and especially High Sky Archery all showed significant proficiency gains.
High Sky Archery (C−) — 67,000 / 150,000
Description:
A Lancer of exceptional archery skill who hunts monsters from the heights of the night.
His mastery of long-range combat has been acknowledged by the system itself.
Passive 1: Damage to flying enemies +20%, Critical Rate +20%.
Passive 2: While stationary and firing continuously, enter a "No-Self" state — Attack Speed +120% to +400%.
Heaven's Wrath:
After consecutive shots kill targets, each kill increases Attack Speed and Arrow Flight Speed by +3%, stacking up to 20 times.
Duration: 2 seconds.
Just like Battle Continuation and Gathering, this was a self-realized skill—one he had awakened on his own.
And its effects were immediately noticeable.
No wonder, during the latter half of last night, he had felt his shots growing faster and more precise, as if entering a profound trance…
It turned out to be the unique power of this very skill — High Sky Archery.