Volume 1, Chapter 55: Level 20! Penetrating Arrow! Second Place in the Regional Combat Power Ranking!

Bang!
Clang!
“This kid’s weapon is pretty good! Can fetch a good price!”
“Haha, kid, are you selling your gear yourself for gold coins, or letting us loot it?”
“Heavy Slash!”
...
After a while.
Lin Shang, fighting one against four and heavily wounded, was utterly exhausted and unable to defend himself.
If those four players hadn’t intended a clean kill without injury, he would have been dead minutes ago.
“Damn that wretched woman! I shouldn’t have saved her!”
Just as Lin Shang felt certain he was about to die today,
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Several arrows pierced the air. Lin Shang looked up to see arrows shimmering with an icy blue glow flying toward him.
Looking down, he noticed his massive shield was now coated with the same icy blue layer.
It was him.
Stun Arrow!
Exploding Arrow!
Bang!
A ruthless level 20 player’s throat was blown apart by the exploding arrow—dead in a single strike!
Another player hastily raised a longbow, readying an arrow for a counterattack.
Bang!
The icy blue giant shield slammed hard into his face.
“Drop that worthless thing in your hand!”
“Taishang! Your captain’s here to save you!”
Li Chuan ran swiftly, loading arrows as he ran.
Lock-on strike! Stun Arrow! Exploding Arrow!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Just after crossing a ridge, Li Chuan saw Taishang being surrounded by four players just over level 20.
The skill gap was narrow. Taishang had indeed cooperated well during the trial mission, so Li Chuan had no reason not to help.
After reloading five arrows, Li Chuan switched to a piercing dagger once his quiver was empty.
Of the three aggressive players, one was pinned down by Taishang, while two charged at Li Chuan.
Fire Element Enchantment! Elemental Giant! Side Roll!
A sand creature nearly one and a half meters tall appeared on the path of the charging player, successfully blocking a control skill.
“Good job, Shit Giant!”
Side Roll! Weak Point Strike!
Blade Shock!
A burning white light pierced a player’s throat.
Another player turned to flee but was caught by Li Chuan’s dagger through the heart.
[Critical Hit—999!]
[Ding! Killed Lv18 Zhao Cong; Gold +120, Experience +180]
[Ding! Player ‘Li Chuan’ experience full; Level up! Free attribute points +12.]
[Ding! Phantom Spirit experience full; Level up! Current sub-class level: Lv18.]
[Ding! Learned ‘Jungle Hunter’ skill: Piercing Arrow!]
[Ding! Your combat power ranking has improved; please check.]
Both players were flagged red, with high drop rates, scattering gold and equipment everywhere.
No time to loot; Li Chuan swapped to the Feile Crossbow and rushed toward Taishang again.
The archer, realizing he couldn’t take down Taishang, immediately knelt.
“Wrong! Wrong! Big brother, big brothers, spare me! For the sake of all of us from Blue Star.”
“Please let me go, I beg you...”
Li Chuan ignored the desperate plea and looked at the pale-faced Taishang.
“Why is your health still dropping?”
Taishang glanced down at his abdomen.
“I was ambushed—a piercing wound that’s hard to heal, and I’m out of potions.”
Li Chuan silently bought ten bottles of high-grade HP potions and handed them over.
“No other choice; just hold on with potions.”
Taishang nodded, sitting on the sand and drinking.
Li Chuan stood before the players and said calmly,
“Why didn’t I notice you were such a coward before? Haha, tell me, which batch of players are you from? Did you just finish Competitive Mission One?”
The player quickly looked up.
“You’re right, big brother. I’m from batch G25847, just came from that arena.”
“How many players survived in your area?”
“Twenty! Including the four of us, at most twenty.”
Li Chuan stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Oh, by that count, we really did survive with quite a few.”
“I have no more questions.”
The fierce player was overjoyed.
“So, can I—”
Swish!
Li Chuan’s blade fell.
The archer’s throat immediately gushed blood as he collapsed onto the yellow sand.
[Critical Hit—999!]
[Ding! Killed Lv17 Liu Tian; Gold +100, Experience +170]
“You can go die now.”

Lin Shang widened his eyes, staring at the fading corpse on the ground.
“Didn’t you promise not to kill him?”
Li Chuan sheathed his piercing dagger.
“When did I say that? I don’t remember.”
Taishang said no more.
“How much time left on your photosynthesis pod?”
“One hour.”
“Same here. Let’s go together.”
[Giants Sanctuary Area Leaderboard]
[Combat Power Rankings: 1st Place, White Tornado: Lv20 Gunner, Overall Combat Power: 9.7]
[2nd Place, Just Admiring Flowers: Lv20 Jungle Hunter, Overall Combat Power: 9.6]
[3rd Place, Tao Baibai: Lv20 Fighter, Overall Combat Power: 9.6]
[4th Place, Great Love Quan Quan Long: Lv20 Fire Mage, Overall Combat Power: 9.4]
After allocating free attribute points and acquiring Piercing Arrow, my rank surprisingly jumped to second place. Looks like my advanced cloth armor set is still quite powerful!
That first-place gunner—what profession is that? Ranked higher than me. Does he also have blue-grade gear?
Cannot underestimate others, indeed.
This upgrade gave me twelve free attribute points—does every level-up after twenty grant twelve points now?
Li Chuan flipped through the player manual on the sand while running, searching for post-level-twenty information.
Ordinary professions gain ten free attribute points per level after twenty; special professions increase according to their grade.
So my Jungle Hunter has some advantage in that regard.
Also, the manual mentions:
After level twenty, you can advance your profession to a higher-grade class of the same type by obtaining the corresponding transfer scroll.
Simply put, if Li Chuan wants to upgrade his profession grade, he needs to find the transfer scroll for a higher-level Jungle Hunter-type profession.
Quite difficult! Li Chuan didn’t even know the names of higher-grade Jungle Hunter professions yet.
[Piercing Arrow: Blue]
[Proficiency: Beginner 1/10]
[Triggerable with ranged weapons; for the next three arrows, damage increases by 500%, with a 60% chance to penetrate enemies and cause a 10x critical hit.]
[Skill Cost: 5 Mana]
[Cooldown: 5 minutes]
[Review: Before using this move, better consider its recoil!]
Li Chuan hadn’t considered the recoil, which is why the arrow’s force sent him tumbling like a rolling gourd.
This skill is so fierce! It feels like you don’t even need to hit vital points to instantly kill.
With only half an hour left on the photosynthesis pod timer, Li Chuan and Lin Shang finally saw the frequently mentioned oasis and palace appear in the chat channel!
“That must be the giant’s palace mentioned in the mission? It’s—damn spectacular!”