[Data sampling is limited; the system does not yet know the specific functions of "The Heart of Heaven's Punishment!"]
"..."
Guan Ren sat slumped on the ground, silent. He had thought that with his rebirth, he could make great strides, yet here he was at the very beginning, hampered by this so-called "The Heart of Heaven's Punishment."
Was he to remain unable to level up, stuck in the starting village forever?
[Host, there is no need to worry. The system has completed the analysis for the exemption of experience acquisition by The Heart of Heaven's Punishment. Simply elevate the system to level 2, and you will unlock the ability to plunder experience points, thus meeting the requirements for leveling up.]
"Plunder experience points?"
[Correct. The experience plundered will not be exempt by The Heart of Heaven's Punishment, so you can rest assured!]
That even experience could be plundered was a notion that caused the metaphorical rock in Guan Ren's heart to finally drop. Now, with a direction to exert effort towards, there was no reason for him to wallow in dismay any longer!
Just a measly ten thousand experience points?
It was time to go all in!
Guan Ren had memorized the dense monster spawn points around Sunward Town and, with the three powerful Talents he had obtained at the start, he could mindlessly grind monsters to rapidly accumulate the ten thousand experience points required by the system.
The tenfold attack speed allowed Guan Ren to dispatch a wild boar in just one second.
And the power of attribute plunder was beginning to show through Guan Ren's monster-slaying progress!
[Ding, wild boar killed, 1 point of Strength attribute successfully plundered!]
[Ding, wild boar killed, 1 point of Constitution attribute successfully plundered!]
[Ding, wild boar killed, 1 point of Agility attribute successfully plundered!]
...
The success rate of attribute plunder depended on luck, and in ten minutes, Guan Ren killed over a hundred wild boars, but only gained a total of ten attribute points. It seemed the successful plunder rate for Guan Ren's attributes was less than 10%.
But some improvement was better than none, and Guan Ren's stats were now comparable to other players' initial attributes.
[Name: Officer Guan]
Level: 0
Occupation: Non-combatant
Health: 80/80
Energy: 1/1
——Combat Attributes——
Strength: 5
Constitution: 8
Agility: 2
Intelligence: 0
Spirit: 0
——Fixed Attributes——
Charm: 0
Luck: 5
——Skills——
None
——Talents——
Combo, Penetration, Block
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
...
Two hours passed, and Guan Ren had killed a full thousand wild boars, finally amassing the desired ten thousand points of experience for the system.
With the [Ultimate Acceleration System]'s experience reaching ten thousand, an [Upgrade] button appeared in the system's interface.
Without hesitation, Guan Ren clicked upgrade.
[Ding, system upgrade successful!]
The milky orb within his mind suddenly surged with light for about ten seconds before returning to normal.
[Ultimate Acceleration System]
Level: 2
Plunder: Can plunder everything, currently unlocked: Attribute Plunder, Experience Plunder.
Acceleration: Can accelerate everything, currently unlocked: Tenfold Attack Speed, Tenfold Movement Speed.
Experience: 0/100000
With the system elevated to level 2, the experience required for further upgrades had increased tenfold, but the abilities to plunder and accelerate had each gained an additional feature.
Guan Ren's gaze lingered on the "Experience Plunder," and the detailed method of operation immediately came to mind.
[Experience Plunder: Killing players allows you to gain the experience they lose upon death.]
The simple description sent a serious expression across Guan Ren's face.
Slaying others for leveling up could quickly make him the enemy of everyone.
But given his current predicament with The Heart of Heaven's Punishment, this was the only path he could take if he wished to level up.
"Regardless, let's take it one step at a time."
Guan Ren’s eyes grew resolute.
While he could continually grow stronger through the ability to plunder attributes, to leave the starting village, he had to reach level 10 or higher. He didn't want to be stuck here forever, so engaging in PK outside the village was inevitable.
The thousand wild boars had further improved his stats.
Although still at level 0, his attributes had increased multiple folds compared to half an hour ago.
[Name: Officer Guan]
Level: 0
Occupation: Non-combatant
Health: 250/250
Energy: 1/1
Attack: 30 (+1)
Defense: 25 (+3)
——Combat Attributes——
Strength: 30
Constitution: 25
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 0
Spirit: 0
Ordinary players gained 10 attribute points with each level-up. The system would distribute 5 of them across the five fundamental combat attributes while the remaining 5 were free points for players to allocate as they preferred.
Now, Guan Ren's attributes alone were comparable to a level 4 ordinary combatant player.
And in Sunward Town's level ranking, the top-ranked player was precisely level 4. So, putting levels aside, Guan Ren's stats were among the first tier.
It was just unfortunate that he was still level 0 and unable to equip the items dropped from the wild boars.
He looked at the spoils scattered on the ground with a bitter smile.
At the start of the game, the backpack only had 20 slots; with limited storage available, he had to be selective with the spoils.
This was all money!
A thousand wild boars and, with the addition of Guan Ren's 5 points of luck, resulted in over twenty items of equipment!
"Seems like I need to go back and sort through this equipment."
Guan Ren assessed his backpack's contents against the equipment on the ground. At that moment, a group of ill-intentioned players approached, bearing down on him.
"Kid, these items are ours!"
The leading man with stubble wielded a tiger-head sabre, greed flickering in his eyes as he stared at the spoils at Guan Ren's feet.
He clearly saw, among other things, several pieces of equipment!
Having reached level three, he had only managed to obtain a poor-quality saber and coarse leather armor—testament to the soul-crushing equipment drop rates in Heaven's Arrival.
Nevertheless, he was determined to claim these spoils!
"These items were dropped from monsters I killed."
Guan Ren narrowed his eyes and replied flatly.
"Bullshit! This is the Boar Forest, where the monsters are all level 3 or higher. You—a level 0 noob—killing monsters here? Don't make me laugh!"
The stubbled man scoffed with disdain, not bothering to say another word, and with a wave of his hand, he commanded his men, "Send this kid back to Sunward Town. These are our items!"
"On it!"
The others charged forward with sinister grins. They were no strangers to PKing in games, although this was their first pillage in Heaven's Arrival.
Guan Ren's eyes darkened, and if that was the case, he would just have to test out the efficacy of plundering experience!
As his attackers closed in, Guan Ren narrowed his eyes and grasped his starter sword, his foot moving.
Whoosh!
His tenfold movement speed instantly triggered, leaving the others only to see a blur as his sword touched each of their throats!
Five men, two strikes each.
-40! -20! -40! -20!...
Critical hits to their weak spots combined with penetration damage resulted in an easy deduction of 60 health points per strike.
Two strikes per person and within the blink of an eye, the stubbled man's men had all fallen and vanished as motes of white light, leaving behind more potions and copper coins.
[Ding, successful plunder! You gain 200 experience points!]
[Ding, successful plunder! You gain 200 experience points!]
[Ding, successful plunder! You...]
...
A series of system notifications chimed, and Guan Ren’s experience surged, as his level rose directly to level 2 accompanied by flashes of golden light!
"You... you little..."
The stubble-faced man paled with shock, never in his wildest dreams expecting this 'easy prey' to be a wolf in sheep's clothing!
He immediately revealed his ID—[Slaughter Charge]!
"Slaughter Charge" said confidently, "Careful there, youngster! I'm part of [Slaughterworld Syndicate]! Make an enemy of me, and you'll regret it!"
Slaughterworld Syndicate?
A sharp glint crossed Guan Ren’s eyes.
Memories of his past life resurfaced. If it had been any other guild, he might have reconsidered, but since it was someone from Slaughterworld Syndicate, there would be no hesitation!
Whoosh!
He lunged forward and with one swipe of his sword, sent Slaughter Charge back to Sunward Town.
Thunk!
Two pieces of equipment dropped to the ground—a poor-quality long saber and crude leather armor.
"Trash."
Comparing their attributes to the items in his backpack, Guan Ren shook his head regretfully, picked up the potions and copper coins, and then turned to leave.
If the dead Slaughter Charge could have seen this, he would have been furious.
Those were the spoils earned through hard grinding for two hours, and someone just called them trash!?
"That man... he's incredible!"
In a corner at a distance, a pair of beautiful eyes were fixed on Guan Ren, who defeated Slaughter Charge's gang single-handedly, with a look of shock.
"Big sis, should we go over?"
"Let's go level up somewhere else."
The woman shook her head and departed.
Approaching now could easily lead to misunderstandings.
...