25: Chapter Twenty-Five: Changes in the Rankings

The sun was high in the sky. Lin Feng had slept for a full eight hours. Ever since he quit that job that worked him to the bone, he hadn't enjoyed such a comfortable day of sleeping until he woke up naturally in a long time.

He stretched his arms wide, and the previous exhaustion was swept away.

"Refreshing..."

Lin Feng rubbed his eyes and habitually reached for his phone by the pillow.

Just by casually opening it, he instantly sobered up. The payment notifications on the screen were exceptionally eye-catching.

888,888, another 120,000, and several smaller amounts of a few thousand...

These were all money earned from selling equipment in the game. Lin Feng did a rough calculation: 1.04 million! Added to his previous savings, his balance had broken through 2 million. At this rate, wasn't a virtual nutrition pod easily within reach?

He got up, washed up, and walked out of the room.

He went downstairs and ordered a deluxe pork knuckle rice at a fast-food restaurant.

While waiting for the food, he scrolled through the game forums. Business in the restaurant was clearly much better than before, and most of them were young people discussing topics revolving around God Domain.

"Have you guys checked the Trading House? That weapon sold for 880,000!"

"Of course I saw it. I was so excited I didn't sleep all night."

"What are you excited about?"

"A piece of virtual equipment selling for 880,000—that's a hundred times better than working a factory job! If I could also drop a piece of equipment like that, I'd save ten years of struggling!"

"Stop dreaming. We're still out here hacking Wild Chickens; at most, we'll drop a chicken feather..."

"What you said actually makes a lot of sense..."

Several young people at the neighboring table were also sighing:

"In our Novice Village, Ba Qi Ce Lou organized a thousand people yesterday, wanting to kill a BOSS. As a result, they didn't even get to touch a hair on the BOSS before they were all instantly killed by its underlings! I still get scared thinking about that scene now."

"There's nothing to be done about that. Before characters change classes, they're all cannon fodder. In front of high-level monsters, human-wave tactics only get you instantly killed!"

"The only person in the whole server who can solo high-level monsters right now is the big shot God Slayer. I really want to see his first-person perspective so us poor brothers can learn his operations."

Lin Feng sat in the corner, almost spitting out his food from laughter. He held back his laughter and shoved a piece of pork knuckle into his mouth.

"If you guys really saw my first-person perspective, I'm afraid you'd directly doubt your own lives."

"After all... you guys don't have a God-tier talent."

After finishing his meal and paying the bill, he quickly returned to his rented room, put on the helmet, and went online.

Now was a time when every second counted. Many wealthy people had nutrition pods and didn't even log off. As a poor guy, he could only risk his life to grind.

[Beep, neural link normal]

[Beep, DNA scan successful]

[Player "God Slayer", welcome back to God Domain...]

Going online again, he was still standing where he had logged off. He immediately opened the various leaderboards.

[God Domain · Global Level Leaderboard]

1. XXOO, Level 14, Apprentice Assassin

2. Bai Lu, Level 11, Apprentice Mage

3. Ba Qi Ce Lou, Level 11, Apprentice Warrior

4. Yefeng, Level 11, Apprentice Mage

5. Ye Weiyang, Level 11, Apprentice Knight

6. Xiaowu, Level 11, Apprentice Assassin

7. Tietou Wa, Level 11, Apprentice Knight

8. Qingfeng Mingyue, Level 11, Apprentice Archer

9. Yishuihan, Level 11, Apprentice Archer

10. Long Aotian, Level 10, Apprentice Warrior

...

In the short time he had slept, the second-place player had already rushed to level 11. Even Long Aotian, who had been beaten up by him before, had finally stumbled his way to level 10.

And the number of players in the entire Blue Star Region who had changed classes had already almost broken one thousand. Players were finally starting to slowly catch up.

While he was sleeping crazily, others weren't idle either. He also recognized the second-place player; after all, he was the benefactor who had spent nearly a million to buy his equipment, so how could he forget? He would likely have to deal with him a lot in the future.

The game had now reached a watershed period. The gap between high-end players and low-end players was about to widen rapidly, so he needed to speed up his efforts to improve his strength.

He casually switched to the Combat Power Leaderboard. A single glance, and his heart was completely settled.

On the Combat Power Leaderboard, he was still far ahead, with a combat power more than three times that of the second-place Ba Qi Ce Lou.

His set of top-tier equipment—this was not something that could be caught up with just by grinding overnight.

He closed the leaderboards and checked his inventory. Supplies were sufficient. Time to go out of the city to level up and, while he was at it, try his luck to see if he could pick up a quest.

Hiding his ID, he dashed out of the city. Along the way, there were still many players teaming up to level. A glance over, and players who had changed classes were no longer a rarity.

He plunged alone into the wilderness forest. His destination this time was Venomous Snake Valley.

He took a look at the distance. Damn it, at least a twenty-minute journey. Fortunately, there was no such thing as sore legs in the game, otherwise, he would be exhausted from running at full speed.

He immediately picked up speed, his figure moving rapidly through the forest, avoiding all unnecessary battles.

The players he encountered along the way looked at him as if they were looking at a "freak"!

"What kind of speed is this? My full-agility Assassin doesn't even reach half of his!"

"Look at the faint light on his body, he must be carrying a lot of good equipment. Let's surround him and loot him."

"I think that proposal is good."

Several players teaming up nearby had sinister looks in their eyes. They immediately exchanged vicious glances and raised their weapons, intending to surround him.

They had also just changed classes and considered their equipment decent. Seeing Lin Feng alone with his ID hidden, they immediately had thoughts of killing and looting.

"Shh! Are you guys idiots? That person is the big shot ranked first on the Heavenly Leaderboard. Do you want to be killed back to level 1? You idiots!"

"Gasp! It really is... Although he hid his ID, his level is 14, that's right. He shouldn't have heard that, right?"

"With that loud voice of yours, if he wasn't deaf, how could he not have heard it?"

"Damn it! What should we do!"

"While our level isn't high, delete the account and start over!"

...

Lin Feng ignored their panicked discussion and headed straight for Venomous Snake Valley with wind under his feet.

Before long, he finally arrived at the outskirts of Venomous Snake Valley. Looking up, he saw that the mountain in front of him seemed to have been blasted in half by a supreme powerhouse with a single sword strike, with a pitch-black, enormous canyon split in the middle. A gentle breeze blew by, accompanied by bursts of foul stench, and Lin Feng walked straight in.

[System Prompt: You have entered Venomous Snake Valley (Dangerous Area)]

Recommended level: 15–25

Recommended combat power: 700+

Danger level: High

...

The scene shifted. Lin Feng was already inside the canyon. Not far ahead, several Qinglin Snakes were waiting to be fed.

Without rushing in rashly, he first cast Detection to check the monster's attributes—

Qinglin Snake (Common Monster)

Level: 18

HP: 13500

Attack: 800

Defense: 125

Skills:

1. Poison Fang Assault: Rapid charge and bite, dealing 120% damage, while forcibly stacking 1 layer of Venom, reducing the target's HP by 50 points per second, lasting for 8 seconds

2. Venom Spray: Sprays poison mist forward, dealing area damage and adding a 30% slow effect

Introduction: A Tier 1 venomous snake inhabiting the outskirts of Venomous Snake Valley, fierce in temperament and swift in action. It is one of the most common threats for players entering Venomous Snake Valley.