Chapter 15: The Ranking List! Bountiful Gains and Talent Upgrades!

[Server Announcement: The game has been live for 6 hours, and the level ranking leaderboard is now open! More leaderboards will be available soon—players, please stay tuned!]
[Server Announcement: In 24 hours, players ranked in the top 1000 on the level leaderboard will receive rewards gifted by the system! The higher your rank, the greater the reward. Players, please look forward to it!]
[...]

The sudden server announcement caused most players to pause whatever they were doing, especially upon seeing the words “generous rewards.” Many immediately clicked open the newly released level rankings!

“Whoa! Boss, you’re actually ranked second on the level leaderboard! But... who’s that number one?” Hou Xiaoyu’s voice was tinged with disbelief.

Su Nian raised an eyebrow.

He recalled that at the end of his previous life, the highest level was only eight, and currently... the highest was just level six, right?

Who could possibly be higher than him?

Su Nian quickly opened the leaderboard.

But upon seeing it...

“Ah?”

[1st Place: Emperor, Level 7.]
[2nd Place: World Slayer, Level 7.]
[3rd Place: Grandpa, Level 6.]
[4th Place: Cold River Snow, Level 6.]
[5th Place: Moonlight Contender, Level 6.]
[6th Place: One Kidney Can Also Last an Hour, Level 6.]
[...]

Su Nian was stunned.

What was going on?

His two alternate accounts were ranked first and second?

Did the Dual Mask have this effect?

If so...

The leaderboard rewards in 24 hours—

He could claim two separate rewards all by himself?

Not only the level leaderboard had rank rewards, but future leaderboards for overall combat power, class power, equipment rankings, and so forth would also offer rewards!

And the prizes only kept getting crazier!

He vaguely remembered the top reward for the level leaderboard in his previous life...

It was a long time ago...

He couldn’t recall the many other rewards, but he was fairly certain it included an A-rank skill.

Thinking of that, Su Nian was wide awake now!

Apart from the top two handsome bosses, the rest of the leaderboard characters weren’t much different from last life.

There were supreme experts who earned their ranks through skill, wealthy players who hired others to level up, and lucky ones who climbed by sheer fortune.

In short, no one in the top 100 was a nobody.

“Boss, I’m fine with leveling back up to 4. If you grind on your own, you have a great chance to surpass that number one, so don’t drag me along.”

At that moment, Hou Xiaoyu scratched his head and said, then decisively clicked to leave the current party.

---

But the next second...

[World Slayer has invited you to join the party. Do you accept?]

Hou Xiaoyu hesitated.

“Boss, this...”

“Hm?” Su Nian glanced sideways at him.

Seeing that look, Hou Xiaoyu had no choice but to obediently click to join. Then he quickly added, “But I feel bad holding you back from grinding. How about we add each other on WeChat, and I transfer you ten thousand?”

Su Nian: “???”

Is that even human speech?

Starting off with ten thousand?

Do you want to buy someone’s life or what?

It felt like moral blackmail...

Su Nian waved his hand and said speechlessly, “Adding you on WeChat is fine, but you don’t have to transfer anything. When I have time to run bosses with you, then you can give.”

Hou Xiaoyu’s face brightened: “Great!”

---

Seven hours later.

The sky had long darkened, yet Su Nian dragged his slightly weary frame as he returned to the newbie village.

He thought to himself.

[Player: Emperor.]
[Talent: Percentage Execute (Level 2).]
[Level: 9 (1899/6000).]
[Class: Priest.]
[Health: 2180/2180.]
[Mana: 1150/1150.]
[Attack: 75. Magic Power: 25.]
[Attack Speed: 1.58. Movement Speed: 5.5.]
[Armor: 112. Magic Resist: 108.]
[Physical Penetration: 0%.]
[Magic Penetration: 0%.]
[Unassigned Attribute Points: 0.]
[Equipment: Newbie Staff, War Helmet (Purple), Bloodied Battle Armor (Red), Swift Leggings (Blue), Battle Boots (Blue).]
[Skills: Frostbolt Level 1, Healing Level 1.]
[Title: First Boss Slayer.]
[Inventory: Dual Mask, Lord’s Heart ×3, Gold ×420, Heavy Helmet (Purple), Blue Equipment ×6, D-rank Skills ×5, C-rank Skills ×2.]

“Phew... finally arriving.” Su Nian gazed at the nearby blacksmith’s shop, his anticipation palpable!

In these seven hours, he had defeated eight bosses in total; twice he failed to execute the boss within the first three minutes and they escaped quickly.

So, in seven hours, he had succeeded in executing six bosses, which luckily dropped two Lord’s Hearts!

Plus the gear and skills in his inventory.

Overall, the haul was quite fruitful!

But what was even more worth mentioning...

---

After successfully killing three bosses and upgrading his super S-rank talent,

His original base execute chance jumped from 0.01% to 0.1%!

Although the stacking probability remained unchanged,

He had a strong feeling that once he upgraded the talent one more level,

The increase would be to the stacking probability itself!

Not for any other reason—just look at the upgrade requirement...

[Talent Upgrade Requirement: Kill 1000 elite mobs, minimum level 10 required. Current progress: 0/1000.]

Great!

Slow and steady wins the race!

At least it wasn’t 1000 kills with execute.

Su Nian didn’t complain much about this.

If he could gain a large-area damaging skill, this number was nothing to him.

Even without a skill, spending a day or two grinding could get it done.

The only problem was...

Where was he supposed to find level 10 elite monsters?

The highest level in the newbie village was only 9!

---

“Hey there, young man, you’re back? Come in and have a look?” The blacksmith Wang smiled as he spotted Su Nian’s arrival.

Three Lord’s Hearts floated in Su Nian’s hand as he said calmly, “No need to come in. I’m here to submit a hidden quest.”

Wang the Blacksmith was stunned.

What?

You’re saying...

The very first hidden quest on the server.

You finished it all in one day?

“Hm? What are you thinking about?” Su Nian frowned.

“Ah? Okay, okay!” Wang hurriedly reached out to take the three Lord’s Hearts and asked, “What kind of purple gear do you want? I’ll find it for you!”

Su Nian glanced at his stats panel and without hesitation said, “Just the weapon.”

“No problem!”

Wang the Blacksmith just stepped back inside his shop.

Su Nian’s eyes suddenly sharpened!

He quickly glanced toward a certain direction behind him.

A rat?

And it was him?

Interesting...

(Please give a five-star review to encourage more updates. These mean a lot to this old rascal. The old rascal will do anything for you—please!)