Chapter 52 Grinding Levels

This was the result of a wild wolf whose flesh and blood had been drained by low-level undead creatures. It resembled a wolf’s skeleton, moved swiftly, but could not use magic and had low attack power—easy to deal with and perfect for her warm-up.

Yu Xunge drew her crossbow, aimed, and fired. A normal attack would take off 50 health points, a critical hit 100, and using her skill, the explosive arrow, not only would it instantly kill the struck monster, but it would also deal 50 to 60 damage to nearby foes.

Even though she was using an ordinary crossbow, thanks to her attribute bonuses and a skill that guaranteed a critical hit every seven shots, her efficiency in killing monsters was extremely high.

Before the fight, she had eaten food that increased her movement speed by 15%. After triggering triple critical hits, her speed nearly increased by half. Even if more monsters were attracted, she could react swiftly and evade them.

After warming up, Yu Xunge began to lure monsters, waiting until she had drawn a dozen or so skeletal wolves before focusing on killing them.

She fought continuously from 10 a.m. until noon. When her mana ran out, she drank coffee, never stopping for two hours. Her experience points rose from 0.001% to 0.268%.

Stopping to prepare a skill crystal for the “Wheel of Fate,” she also pulled out a rice bowl that boosted attack speed for a meal.

She didn’t feel the experience gain was low; on the contrary, this was the normal pace of leveling in the game, and even relatively fast, considering she was not lacking weapons, healing items, or mana restoratives.

Dungeon runs would probably be faster, as monsters were more concentrated there and bosses provided experience rewards upon defeat.

Generally, top-level players who were both hardworking and lucky could reach a level up in just over a month, assuming ample access to dungeons and resources. Ordinary players would be slower.

Early on, less experience was needed but attacks were limited; later, attack methods increased but so did the experience required.

When she died in her previous life, it was already the end of the third year since the game’s invasion. The top-ranking player was only level 27, while powerful players like Su Yitong and Yu Xunhuan, who had both luck and influence, were only level 25.

The alien alliance’s decision to connect with Blue Star through a game made sense, as this world resembled a vast game arena. Monsters dropped items upon death; skeletal wolves had a very low drop rate—about one drop per ten kills, mostly a few copper coins. After two hours, she obtained a white bone bracer that increased constitution by one—an outcome thanks to her level 10 luck.

Yu Xunge didn’t think it was too little; she picked up every copper coin dropped and wore the bracer. In the real world, she would have scorned Su Jinxuan’s dirty belt, but once in battle, she abandoned such fussiness.

Occasionally, she picked up arrows that dropped alongside copper coins but never bothered to retrieve arrows stuck in monster corpses or lying far away; arrows were cheap in the store—one silver coin could buy a tube of 99—and in reality, quality arrows could be custom-made for under ten yuan.

She agreed wholeheartedly with a phrase often said by goblins: “Time is money.”

A creak sounded beneath her feet; she looked down to find a copper coin.

---

Yu Xunge bent down obediently to pick it up.

Time is money... well... might as well.

Practical combat honed her skills. After much practice at the archery range, she had made some progress with moving target shooting, and in this afternoon, her improvement was rapid.

Once fully attuned to the rhythm of battle, Yu Xunge ventured deeper into the forest, where monsters were a bit tougher—level 3.

...

At 9 p.m., Xing Minglang, who was on duty from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., had just exchanged shifts with a colleague when a signal sounded outside the treehouse stronghold. He pressed the bell on his desk, activating the equipment outside. After confirming the visitor was human, Xing Minglang opened the wooden door to find not the milk cow cat but a player with a very special skill.

He invited the person inside and greeted, “Good haul today?”

Yu Xunge used “Refresh” to clean the bloodstains from her body and replied casually, “Not bad.” Then she asked, “Do you accept translators here?”

Xing Minglang: “You’re intermediate in engineering?”

Yu Xunge: “Yes.”

Xing Minglang: “Impressive. We don’t accept them.”

Yu Xunge fell silent.

She realized this place was one-way: items could go out but not in.

Quietly, she took out two silver coins, preparing to stay the night. This price was firmly at the psychological threshold of a lone wolf; her earnings from a day’s monster kills were two silver and 67 copper coins.

Unexpectedly, Xing Minglang wasn’t satisfied: “You can subscribe monthly. If you pay one skill crystal, you can stay free for a month. We provide three meals a day and one free healing session daily.”

One crystal equaled three gold coins.

A month’s stay with meals and healing sounded reasonable.

---

Yet Yu Xunge still decided to pay. To her, the skills granted by the Wheel of Fate were far more valuable than gold.

From 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., excluding breaks for meals and rest, she farmed monsters for a total of ten hours, obtaining three pieces of equipment.

That was the charm of luck level 10.

In her previous life, when her luck was level 8, she often farmed alone all day. Most days she found only one piece of gear, and on rare occasions, two—such days were few and far between.

But the difference between luck level 8 and 10 felt like night and day.

Even selling over a hundred Wheel of Fate skill stones to the official vendor didn’t feel like a loss to Yu Xunge.

Equipment came in six grades: inferior, common, fine, rare, legendary, and epic.

Inferior and common gear emitted no glow, but from fine grade onward, equipment radiated light—green for fine, blue for rare, purple for legendary, and orange for epic. There were also sets, which could surpass epic gear due to set bonuses, but individual parts might be weaker than legendary gear. For example, Yu Xunge’s Soros set was rated S when complete but only A when separated.

Grades indicated quality, not level. For instance, the auction house had level 5 legendary gear.

Gear below level 5 was worth little. Even level 5 purple gear sold for only a few dozen gold coins.

But with more equipment, overall strength increased, enabling more efficient monster farming and leveling.

It was a mutually beneficial, fair cooperation between Yu Xunge and the official vendor; neither party was at a disadvantage.

She also didn’t believe the officials would hoard such skills until level 10 or beyond. Although waiting might yield better items, slow progress meant prolonged hardship. Holding onto good things for the future often meant missing out entirely.