Lin Ye matched for two more rounds in [Competitive Duel].
One win, one loss.
[Ding! Daily Mission: Grind Fangs and Suck Blood (5/5) completed!]
[Reward: EXP +50, Free Attribute Points +0.5.]
With the final daily mission reward in hand, Lin Ye’s virtual combat journey for the day also came to an end.
Without the slightest reluctance, he exited the Martial Dao Peak platform.
His consciousness returned to his body. The room was still quiet.
Lin Ye stood up, recalling the details of his review of the battle with Lone Wolf. Then, in the cramped room, he assumed a stance and tried to imitate that sensation, optimizing the way his qi and blood circulated and condensing the power of his qi and blood into a single point.
However, the moment he mobilized the power of his qi and blood, it was like a wild horse slipping its reins, instantly going out of control.
It rampaged through his meridians, making precise condensation utterly impossible. Most of the energy still scattered uncontrollably, even leaving him feeling stifled.
-11!
Lin Ye saw a red damage number rise from his body.
In this world, practicing blindly really could trigger the legendary qi deviation.
It was not because of the martial technique or skill.
Lin Ye finally discovered where the problem lay—
It was the cultivation method.
Lin Ye glanced at the one hundred thousand Federation coins in his personal account.
He wondered what kind of cultivation method this money could buy.
Tomorrow, when he went to school, he would ask Teacher Chen.
Once the thought was settled in his mind, Lin Ye could no longer sit still.
Since cultivation had lost its efficiency, then he would go level up!
He quickly changed into a durable and inconspicuous set of dark sportswear.
Then, silently opening the door and confirming that his mother and sister were both fast asleep, he left the house and disappeared into the night.
Half an hour later.
Outer perimeter of the ruined city.
The night wind stirred up dust, carrying with it the mixed smell of rusted metal and decay.
Lin Ye’s figure moved through the shadows of broken walls and ruins like a ghost merged into the darkness.
His gaze swept over the packs of mutated rats wandering among the ruins, as well as a few scattered mutated cats.
The numbers above these monsters’ heads that represented their levels had, without exception, all turned gray.
Gray targets would only provide extremely little EXP even if killed, and the vitality the Soul Furnace could absorb was negligible.
To him, these monsters had already lost their value.
Lin Ye did not linger and continued sneaking deeper into the ruined city.
He avoided several large mutated beast nests, and before long, arrived at the area where he had often been active recently.
The monsters here were generally around LV5.
Stealth, target search, hunting.
Lin Ye’s movements were like a precise program that had been rehearsed thousands upon thousands of times.
He had always sought stability, only hunting monsters of the same level as himself or one level lower. As for those one level higher, he usually could not even be bothered to glance at them.
Only by being steady could one live long.
This was the iron rule by which he survived in the ruined city.
But sometimes, accidents always arrived one step ahead.
Just as Lin Ye saw three Ironclad Lizards gathered together, sleeping soundly, and was preparing to make his move—
A fierce gust of force came attacking from the blind spot behind him!
That sharp and terrifying aura practically exploded right against the back of his neck!
Lin Ye’s pupils abruptly contracted.
No time to turn back, no time to block!
In the next instant, a chill struck the center of his back, and a tearing, excruciating pain came crashing through him!
Lin Ye let out a muffled groan. His body was carried forward by the massive force of the pounce, and he flew ahead uncontrollably.
He did not panic in the slightest. The instant his body lost balance, he went with the momentum and rolled across the ground, dispersing most of the impact force.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he drove power into both legs and fled madly toward the maze-like ruined alleys ahead!
He had been ambushed!
Lin Ye glanced at his health.
That claw just now had directly taken more than ninety points of his HP.
If not for the fact that his health bar was thick enough, and his HP had directly dropped by more than half, the system would have judged his injuries as too severe.
Even his movement would have been affected.
The monster that had ambushed him was probably quite a bit higher in level than he was.
Lin Ye did not even have the thought of turning back to look. There was only one word in his mind.
Run!
Over these two weeks, Lin Ye had basically already figured out the terrain of the ruined city’s outskirts. He twisted and darted through the narrow alleys, constantly changing direction.
The sounds of pursuit behind him, accompanied by heavy footsteps and violent roars, clung tightly to him. Several times, the fierce wind from its claws almost brushed past his body.
After sprinting wildly for more than ten minutes, he gradually felt the movement behind him diminish, until it completely disappeared.
He did not stop immediately. Instead, he charged forward for another stretch, then flashed into a hollowed-out residential building. Only then did he dare to stop and gasp for breath.
He looked back.
In the shadows of a pile of abandoned vehicles in the distance, he saw a flash of orange-red, like burning flames.
And a blurry silhouette.
It should be a feline. Judging by its appearance, it looked like a leopard, but its size was already as large as a Siberian tiger.
[LV8, Mutated Black Panther]!
Lin Ye’s heart chilled.
Three levels higher than him. No wonder its attack power was so exaggerated.
Lin Ye also did not know why a black panther would appear in the ruined city.
Perhaps it had slipped in from outside the wall.
Perhaps after the urban district was abandoned, it had escaped from a zoo.
He did not think too much about it. In any case, this Mutated Black Panther had already been marked by him.
As Lin Ye completely left combat status, the [Out-of-Combat Health Regeneration] mechanism passively triggered.
The claw wound on his back, deep enough to reveal bone, healed rapidly at a visible speed within just a few seconds, then vanished without leaving even the slightest scar.
Lin Ye let out a long breath.
Just now, he had been greedy.
In pursuit of efficiency, in order to kill three LV5 Ironclad Lizards as quickly as possible, the commotion he made had been much greater than usual. That was what had drawn over the monster wandering through this area.
He did not immediately go out. Instead, he quietly waited in place for more than ten minutes. After confirming that the Mutated Black Panther had truly left, he finally walked out from the shadows again.
This time, Lin Ye became more cautious than at any point before.
Time flew by amid one silent hunt after another.
2:50 a.m.
As the final monster died beneath Lin Ye’s staff, he also received the system’s level-up notification.
[Ding! Congratulations, host. Your level has increased to LV6!]
[Ding! Detected that the host’s level has reached LV6!]
[Advancement Mission: Goblin Warrior issued!]
[Mission Description: Goblins remember every slight! Goblins remember hatred! After the baptism of war, the weak goblin grunt has finally obtained the qualifications to charge toward a higher rank.]
[You are no longer that cannon fodder who could only wave a flag and shout from the edge of the battlefield. It is time to prove your worth to the great Goblin King and become an honorable Goblin Warrior!]
[Mission Requirements: Kill the LV8 Mutated Black Panther. Defeat the adventurer “Lone Wolf.”]
[Mission Reward: Racial template upgraded to Goblin Warrior, all-attribute growth rate increased, unlock brand-new P1-stage skill.]