On the other side.
Yang Yu had finished clearing the battlefield and was counting the spoils.
After killing more than seventy people, he had acquired 21 pieces of equipment, 114 bottles of Beginner Healing Potion, 15 bottles of Beginner Mana Potion, and 1,036 Copper Coins.
In the world of [Heavenly Dao], 100 Copper Coins are equivalent to 1 Silver Coin, and 100 Silver Coins equal 1 Gold Coin.
Although 1,036 Copper Coins seemed like a lot, they only converted to a mere 10 Silver Coins.
Among the 21 pieces of equipment, there was 1 piece of Bronze Equipment and 1 piece of Black Iron Equipment.
The remaining 19 pieces were all Common Equipment.
If not for the system's rule that novice equipment cannot drop, there might have been even more.
The Bronze Giant Axe was not suitable for him, so Yang Yu planned to return to the village later to sell it.
Fortunately, there were very few people who could use this Giant Axe at the moment, so there was no rush.
The Black Iron Equipment was the [Black Scale Leather Armor] obtained from killing Brother Hui, which Yang Yu was already wearing.
Among the 19 pieces of Common Equipment, Yang Yu picked 5 with decent attributes to equip himself.
[Common Iron Bow] (Common)
Physical Attack: +6
Agility: +1
Level Requirement: None
[Windbreaker Boots] (Common)
Physical Defense: +4
Speed: 2
Level Requirement: None
[Goat Helm] (Common)
Physical Defense: +3
Health: +20
Level Requirement: None
[Goat Bracers] (Common)
Physical Defense: +3
Strength: +2
Level Requirement: None
[Goat Greaves] (Common)
Physical Defense: +4
Level Requirement: None
Equipping these 5 pieces not only significantly boosted Yang Yu's attributes but also covered his skin-and-bones body and sparse hair.
Although his figure remained thin, he no longer looked so much like a Goblin.
At least, that's what Yang Yu thought!
The remaining 14 pieces of Common Equipment were either on par with what Yang Yu was wearing or were weapons like large swords and staffs, likely drawn by players at the start.
Most members of the Batian Guild were in a similar state to Yang Yu before, nearly naked.
These pieces of equipment weren't very valuable and took up space in his inventory.
Yang Yu thought for a moment and took out the [Void Quiver].
He picked up a trash staff and tentatively placed it at the mouth of the [Void Quiver].
[Ding!]
[Successfully absorbed 1 piece of Common Equipment, currently Common Equipment (1/10)!]
"It really works!"
Seeing this, Yang Yu didn't hesitate any longer and quickly selected the 9 pieces with the poorest attributes from the pile to feed to the [Void Quiver].
One minute later.
[Ding!]
[Successfully absorbed 1 piece of Common Equipment, current progress (10/10), congratulations, [Void Quiver] has successfully upgraded to Black Iron Equipment!]
Hearing the notification, Yang Yu was thrilled.
At this moment, the pattern on the [Void Quiver] had subtly changed.
Its color had shifted from its original white to jet black.
[Void Quiver] (Black Iron Equipment)
Agility: +10
Strength: +5
[Feature 1]: Can devour equipment of the same grade to upgrade, currently Black Iron Equipment (0/100)
[Feature 2]: Contains a void within, providing the host with an additional 500 slots of storage space and infinitely producing Level 2 Spiritual Qi Arrows.
Note: Each [Level 2 Spiritual Qi Arrow] deals 50 points of true damage and increases attack range by 100%.
[Feature 3]: Bound, cannot be traded, dropped, or destroyed, bound to player Zongjiu Kuangge!
After seeing these attributes.
Not only had the true damage and storage space of the Spiritual Qi Arrows increased fivefold, but the attack range had also increased by 50% again!
At this point, Yang Yu's maximum range had reached 20 meters.
Twice that of ordinary players!
More importantly, the Black Iron [Void Quiver] had started to increase Yang Yu's attribute values.
And not by a small amount!
It boosted the Agility and Strength that Yang Yu needed the most!
It's worth noting that ordinary quivers don't add any attributes.
This was equivalent to Yang Yu having an extra piece of attribute equipment compared to others!
Suppressing his excitement, Yang Yu checked his personal attribute panel again.
[Zongjiu Kuangge] (Unclassed)
Level: 4 (0/1600)
Health: 467
Mana: 240
Attack: 60 (27*2+6)
Defense: 63 (39+24)
Magic Defense: 30 (24+6)
Speed: 48 (46+2)
Prestige: 0
Luck: Hidden
Talent: [Bloodfiend Poison Body]: Deals 198 points of true damage per second to the target, lasting 10 seconds.
After seeing these insane attributes.
Yang Yu couldn't help but click his tongue, "It's true what they say, crime pays! Murder and arson bring wealth fast!"
"I must restrain myself in the future, restrain, and not kill indiscriminately..."
Yang Yu kept reminding himself as he headed toward the herd of goats.
Having wasted so much time, it was about time he leveled up to 5.
Just then, the [Heavenly Dao] announcement suddenly sounded!
[Ding!]
[Since three players in Novice Village No. 997 have reached level 5, the Novice Village Level Ranking is now open!]
[The remote auction function is also now open, allowing players to remotely consign and bid on various items.]
[Note: The first player in each Novice Village to reach level 10 will be rewarded with 10 Free Attributes!]
Boom!
The announcement stirred a thousand waves.
With this announcement, training grounds all over Novice Village No. 997 erupted in a flurry of activity!
To the northeast.
Not far from the Black Rye Grassland.
A group of special players, well-coordinated and disciplined, were battling a level 6 Tusked Wild Boar under the leadership of a tall, buzz-cut man.
There weren't many in this group, just ten including the tall man, but their levels were high.
Except for the tall man who was level 5.
The other 9 were all level 4!
It's worth noting that even in the Batian Guild, only Wang Batian had reached level 4, and he had just been killed back to level 1 by Yang Yu.
For this group to all reach level 4 or above, their strength was extraordinary.
The tall man looked up at the sky, murmuring, "So, finally, two others have reached level 5?"
...
Southern Marsh.
Yue Yao and her sister had just slain a level 5 Giant Turtle, and Yue Ying had broken through to level 5.
They also heard the announcement from Heavenly Dao.
The two had almost always been in a party, so their experience points were nearly the same. Yue Yao reached level 5 shortly before Yue Ying followed suit.
"Sister, someone actually reached level 5 before us. Could it be that Skinny Pole?" Yue Ying asked curiously.
"It should be. Kuangge is very strong. If he focused on leveling up, he'd definitely be ahead of us."
Yue Yao was also curious.
In front of her sister, she opened the [Level Ranking] of Novice Village No. 997.
First Place: [Chen Sheng 1501]: Level 5 (1670/3000)
Second Place: [Yueshang Fuyao]: Level 5 (60/3000)
Third Place: [Yuexia Shuying]: Level 5 (0/3000)
Fourth Place: [Suifeng Qiwu]: Level 4 (1520/1600)
Sixth Place: [Wang Lei 1504]: Level 4 (1330/1600)
Seventh Place: [Huang Qiang 1503]: Level 4 (1280/1600)
Eighth Place: [Aoshi Kuangfu]: Level 4 (1220/1600)
Ninth Place: [Shuangjiang]: Level 4 (1170/1600)
Tenth Place: [Luo Jianye 1502]: Level 4 (1130/1600)...
At the same time.
Almost all players in Novice Village No. 997 were checking the Level Ranking.
Some were surprised, some envious, some disappointed, and some astonished.
Yue Yao and her sister were filled with surprise!
Not only did the ranking list feature some unfamiliar and strange names.
More importantly, Yang Yu, who they thought should be ahead of them, was ranked beyond the 20th position...
The reason for all this was those unfamiliar names with numbers.
Among the top 20 levels, these people accounted for half!
Most of the other IDs in the top ten were familiar to them, all key members of the top ten guilds from the previous large-scale online game.
Ranked fourth, "Suifeng Qiwu," was the Deputy Alliance Leader of [Eternal Gate], a top expert on the Heaven Ranking!
Ranked fifth, "Huangfu Xiong," was a key member of the [Royal Guild], also very strong, having been on the Earth Ranking.
Ranked eighth, "Aoshi Kuangfu," was the Legion Commander of the [Aoshi Guild], generally average in strength but with a terrible reputation.
Ranked ninth, "Shuangjiang," was one of the twenty-four female generals of the [Twenty-Four Solar Terms], with a track record even more impressive than Huangfu Xiong!
These guilds.
All were among the top ten super guilds in the Dragon Kingdom, currently stronger than their [Mirror Moon Tower].
Being in the same Novice Village with these people, it was hard to say whether it was a blessing or a curse.
Fortunately, there was only one true alliance leader-level player, "Suifeng Qiwu."
"Sister, this Skinny Pole is still just at level 4. What's going on with him? Is he in trouble?"
Yue Ying appeared, looking toward the direction of the previous Pine Forest.
Yue Yao also looked in that direction.
She pondered, "It shouldn't be. With Kuangge's strength, there are almost no players in this Novice Village who could threaten him."
"I guess he might be gathering materials for potion-making. Didn't he say he ran out of raw materials before?"
"Unlike us, I can pass on Pharmacist Wang's potion-making insights to other guild members to learn and craft, but Kuangge has to do it himself."
"That's true."
Yue Ying agreed with her sister's view, then looked at the ranking and asked, "These special names are unfamiliar. Do you have any guesses, sister?"
"They should be military personnel."
Yue Yao said solemnly, "Those numbers might be their soldier IDs."
"No wonder!"
Yue Ying realized, falling silent.
They knew some inside information, so they weren't surprised at all by the military sending people into the game.
"Let's focus on leveling up. There's an attribute point reward for reaching level 10 first, so we should aim for that," Yue Yao reminded.
"Yes!"
Yue Ying nodded, her form once again vanishing into the air.
...
Black Rye Grassland.
Yang Yu looked for a long time and finally found his position at the 23rd spot.
"Damn!"
"How can there be so many leveling maniacs in a small Novice Village!"
Yang Yu couldn't help but curse.
Although he wasn't particularly concerned about his level, he had never slacked off.
Considering that not long ago, his leveling progress was even faster than the twin sisters.
Even though he had logged off to eat noodles and got into a brawl, Yang Yu still believed his level could rank in the top ten, or even the top five, of the Novice Village!
After all, his output efficiency was more than ten times that of ordinary players!
Ordinary players needed to attack a same-level monster dozens or even hundreds of times to kill it.
But Yang Yu, with his high poison attack, only needed one arrow!
Yet he hadn't expected.
He didn't even make it into the top twenty!
"No, this game is full of experts, time waits for no one, I need to speed up my leveling!"
"I must get those 10 Free Attributes!"
Setting his goal.
Yang Yu immediately sprang into action.
As he charged toward the herd of Black Mountain Goats, he opened the newly activated remote auction function...