Chapter Five: Level Up!

For someone like Yi Shen, who possessed the Mage’s Heart and could cast spells without cooldowns or cost, it made little difference whether there was one snow rabbit or three. As long as he grasped the basic casting methods, the number of enemies hardly mattered. He didn’t even bother aiming; he simply unleashed a barrage of fireballs in the direction of the snow rabbits. As he gradually grew accustomed to the process of conjuring fireballs, he managed to compress the casting time to just half a second per fireball.

In barely four or five seconds, nearly ten fireballs erupted from his position! With such a large target area, at least six or seven fireballs struck true. And that was only the beginning. As the first wave of fireballs landed, the second wave had already formed—another dozen fireballs rained down upon the snow rabbits in a relentless bombardment.

In an instant, the snow rabbits were thrown into confusion. There was clearly only one enemy, yet so many scorching attacks suddenly appeared—how could this be? But there was no time for them to ponder.

“Bang... bang... bang...”

“-28...”

“-29...”

“-27...”

“-23...”

“-32...”

Numbers rose above their bodies. The snow rabbits were battered beyond recognition, even the sandy ground around them was pockmarked with craters. Three orbs of light gradually gleamed within their bodies. Yi Shen approached and reaped another wave of experience points.

Unfortunately, none of the three snow rabbits dropped any special materials or resources. He dragged their corpses to the all-terrain vehicle, only to discover a new problem. The bodies could not be stored directly in his inventory, and the vehicle’s trunk was already full. The meat from four snow rabbits had filled it to capacity, but it wasn’t worth making a trip back just yet.

“Forget it,” Yi Shen thought, abandoning the idea of making money from this haul.

This world was far more realistic than any game. Gone were the days of a casual wave producing a shower of golden loot, all neatly stored in a bottomless backpack. Hauling snow rabbits back to sell was clearly not cost-effective. There was still much common knowledge about this world that Yi Shen needed to learn.

...

Yi Shen hadn’t forgotten his main purpose for coming out here. Besides testing his no-cooldown, no-cost spells, his primary goal was to level up. As a reserve student at the martial academy, he and his peers had been granted permission to enter combat zones during this break. If his parents completed their current mission, they would likely train him in combat as well, improving his stats to make his later academy life easier.

So he gave up on collecting corpses and focused on seeking out monsters for experience. He continued driving the all-terrain vehicle northward.

Over the course of an hour, he encountered more than forty scattered monsters, earning a total of fifty experience points, some F-grade materials, a bottle of healing potion, and an F-grade white top he had picked up.

[Snowfield Top]
[Required Level: lv2]
[Quality: F]
[Attributes: Defense +1, Constitution +1]

Yi Shen could wear this top immediately, and it was better than his current plain, unremarkable clothing. Yet, after trying it on, he discovered it was a savage-looking bikini-like garment. Roaming the snowfields in such attire was too strange, so faced with a choice between attributes and appearance, Yi Shen chose appearance.

After all, stat boosts are temporary—style lasts a lifetime. The importance of each was obvious.

“Leveling up is so slow,” he muttered, leaning against the railing of the all-terrain vehicle, feeling a bit weary. In hindsight, he should have found a companion for the trip; traveling alone was simply too dull. If only there was a girl—or rather, a big sister—to chat with, or perhaps two or three companions to play cards and pass the time.

Back to the matter at hand: Even though he was steamrolling the monsters he encountered, their numbers were far sparser than he’d expected, and the experience gained was meager.

After all this time, he hadn’t even gained a single level. No wonder that, after decades, no one’s level had surpassed one hundred. He could imagine how torturous it must be for high-level explorers, whose experience requirements ran into the hundreds of thousands or even millions.

But since he was already here, he had to keep grinding. Deciding not to waste any more time in this area, he set his sights on a new location.

Soon, Yi Shen chose his next destination—a place called the Sandbone Pile. According to the map, monsters here were more densely packed; there were special sand dune worms and some snow snakes. Sand dune worms were rumored to occasionally drop skill books, while snow snakes could yield venom sacs—an essential ingredient for making antidote potions, far more valuable than ordinary monster remains and able to be stored in his inventory.

After driving the all-terrain vehicle for over twenty minutes, Yi Shen finally reached the Sandbone Pile.

—Having a vehicle was a blessing.

On the outskirts of the Sandbone Pile, he saw several other teams cruising about in their own all-terrain vehicles. The monsters were indeed more densely gathered here. Because sand dune worms and snow snakes were small, the number of monsters per unit area far exceeded that of the snow rabbit region.

The area was called the Sandbone Pile because it was filled with stone piles resembling heaps of bones, forming labyrinthine walls. To venture deeper, vehicles were useless; only those on foot could proceed.

This suited Yi Shen perfectly. He didn’t want anyone to witness his unrestricted monster-slaying prowess. After locking up his vehicle, he quickly entered the Sandbone Pile on foot.

Not long after entering, he encountered four black-and-white snow snakes near a bone wall, all of which swiftly became his experience points!

[Exp +6]

This was indeed a good place to train. Every few steps, Yi Shen met three or four monsters, far more efficient than hunting snow rabbits. He could even leap onto the surrounding walls and travel along them for greater safety.

...

[Ding, your level has risen to lv3, attributes have increased]
[Strength +2, Agility +2, Intelligence +4, Endurance +2, Spirit +3]
[Your Mage’s Heart talent has been enhanced, you have gained the special skill: Spell Mastery]

After much grueling effort, Yi Shen leveled up. In addition to the standard stat increases, he received a special notification about his talent.