Chapter 41
Even though she was using the most ordinary crossbow, her high efficiency in monster hunting was thanks to her attribute boosts and a skill that guaranteed a critical hit every seven shots.
Before the battle, she had also chosen a food item that increased her movement speed by 15%. After triggering a triple critical hit, her speed nearly doubled, allowing her to dodge even when swarmed by monsters.
After warming up, Yu Xunge began to lure monsters, drawing in a dozen skeletal wolves before focusing on taking them down.
She fought from 10 AM to noon, sipping coffee whenever her mana ran low. For two hours straight, her experience points climbed from 0.001% to 0.258%.
Yu Xunge paused to craft the skill crystal for her skill, **Mingyun Zhihui** (Fate's Wheel), and took out a bowl of rice topped with meat to eat.
She didn’t think the experience was low; on the contrary, this was the normal pace of leveling up in the game, and it was even fast considering she had plenty of weapons and food to replenish her health and mana.
If she were to tackle a dungeon, she would likely level up even faster, as the monsters there were more concentrated, and there were bosses that provided experience rewards upon defeat.
Generally speaking, a sufficiently dedicated and lucky high-level player could level up in just over a month, provided they had access to dungeons and resources. Ordinary players would take longer.
In the early stages, while the required experience was low, players had fewer attack options. As they progressed, although they gained more attack methods, the experience needed for leveling up also increased.
In her previous life, by the end of the third year of the game invasion, the top player on the leaderboard was only at level 27, while players like Su Yitong and Yu Xunhuan, who had both luck and influence, were at level 25.
It made sense that the alien world connected with Blue Star through a game format, as this world resembled a vast game arena where monsters dropped items upon death. The drop rate for skeletal wolves was extremely low; she would get an item after defeating about ten of them, mostly just a few copper coins. After two hours, she had also obtained a **+1 Constitution** bone bracer—thanks to her luck level of 10, which gave her such a high drop rate.
Yu Xunge didn’t mind the small rewards; she picked up every copper coin that dropped. She put on the bracer, and while she would usually complain about Su Jinxuan’s dirty belt in the real world, she became less picky once the battle began.
Occasionally, she would pick up arrows that dropped alongside the coins, but she wouldn’t go out of her way to retrieve arrows stuck in monster corpses or lying far away. Those could be bought at the shop—one silver coin for a pack of 99. In the real world, she could even custom order high-quality arrows for less than 10 yuan.
She wholeheartedly agreed with the saying often repeated by the goblins: “Time is money.”
As she stepped forward, she heard a crunch underfoot and looked down to find a copper coin.
Yu Xunge obediently bent down to pick it up.
Time is money… Well, since she had nothing else to do.
Practical experience was the best teacher. After practicing moving target shooting at the archery range for a long time, she made rapid progress that afternoon.
Once she was fully familiar with the rhythm of battle, Yu Xunge ventured deeper into the forest, where the monsters were slightly tougher, around level 3.
…
At 9 PM, Xing Minglang, who was on the night shift from 9 PM to 9 AM, had just switched places with a colleague when the signal sounded outside the treehouse base. He pressed the button on the side of the table, activating the external devices. Confirming that the visitor was human, he opened the door to the wooden cabin and found a rather unique player, affectionately referred to as the “cow cat.”
He welcomed her inside and casually asked, “Did you have a good haul today?”
Yu Xunge used her skill, **Qingli Yixin** (Clean Slate), to wipe off the blood and grime from her clothes and replied, “Not bad,” before asking, “Do you accept translators here?”
Xing Minglang raised an eyebrow. “You’ve reached intermediate engineering?”
“Yeah,” Yu Xunge confirmed.
“Impressive! But we don’t accept them here.”
Yu Xunge felt a bit enlightened; this place was a one-way street.
Silently, she pulled out 2 silver coins, preparing to stay the night. The price was firmly set at the psychological bottom line for lone wolves. After a day of monster hunting, she had earned 2 silver and 85 copper coins.
To her surprise, Xing Minglang wasn’t satisfied. “You could go for a monthly package! Just pay with a skill crystal, and you can stay for free for a month. We provide three meals a day and one free healing session.”
One crystal = 3 gold.
Staying for a month with meals and a healing session sounded reasonable.
However, Yu Xunge decided to pay. In her eyes, the skill from the **Mingyun Zhihui** was worth far more than gold.
She had been grinding from 10 AM to 9 PM, and after deducting time for meals and breaks, she had spent a total of 10 hours hunting monsters, resulting in three pieces of equipment.
That was the charm of having luck level 10.
In her previous life, when her luck was only at level 8, she often spent an entire day hunting alone, and most of the time, she would only get one piece of equipment. On rare occasions, she might find two, but those days were few and far between.
But with a luck level of 2, it felt like a world of difference.
Selling over a hundred skill crystals for **Mingyun Zhihui** to the official was something Yu Xunge didn’t feel was a loss.
Equipment was categorized into five tiers: inferior, normal, fine, rare, legendary, and epic.
Inferior and normal equipment didn’t shine, but starting from the fine tier, equipment emitted a faint glow. Fine equipment glowed green, rare equipment blue, legendary purple, and epic orange. There were also sets that provided bonuses, which could be stronger than epic gear, but if they were just individual pieces, they might not even match legendary gear. For instance, Yu Xunge’s **Suoluo Si** (Sorrows) set was S-tier when complete but A-tier when separated.
The tier only indicated the quality of the equipment, not its level. For example, there were level 5 legendary items available at the auction house.
However, equipment below level 5 wasn’t worth much; even a level 5 purple item could only sell for a few dozen gold coins.
But as she accumulated more equipment, her overall strength increased, allowing her to grind monsters and level up more efficiently.
It could be said that Yu Xunge and the officials were mutually beneficial, cooperating on equal terms without anyone taking advantage of the other.
She didn’t believe the officials would hold onto such skills until level 10 or beyond. While the items would certainly be better, falling behind even once could lead to a cascade of delays. It was a bad habit to save good things for later; it was easy to end up with nothing.
**Chapter 53: Leveling Up 2**
Placing the 2 silver coins on the table, Yu Xunge chose to set up her own tent to rest. She was experienced in outdoor survival, carrying a variety of fully functional camping gear in her backpack. She lit a charcoal stove and prepared a pot of meat noodles that would restore her energy and alleviate fatigue.
Different aromas wafted from nearby tents. Players who knew how to cook would often learn the skill, as it not only affected their endurance while hunting but also provided a way to earn extra money.
Not all beta testers had the funds to learn cooking, and the food they made could be sold to those who couldn’t cook.
Yu Xunge set aside a portion of her meat noodles and brought two bowls to the front desk. There, she saw a crowd gathered around the bespectacled man, who had a spread of food in front of him. When they noticed her approaching with dishes, someone waved enthusiastically, “Come join us! We’re just sharing information.”
Yu Xunge smiled and walked over, placing her meat noodles in the middle of the spread. “Is there a charge?”
A girl sitting nearby gasped, recognizing Yu Xunge. She had seen her perform before and was the one who had called her over. “He wants to charge, but we’re just chatting here.”
Xing Minglang sighed, “I can’t say anything. We have rules, and most of the money we earn goes to the common folks.”
A young man sitting next to him shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth, silencing him. “We know, we know.”
Hadn’t they said anything at all?
Everyone might have been a bit selfish, but they weren’t completely heartless.
Even Yu Xunge wasn’t being stingy.
To put it bluntly, if she had no principles, she could easily follow Zhao Shuying invisibly, find a player to collaborate with, and then discover a way to access the teleportation portal. With invisibility, shapeshifting, or sneaking into pockets, there were always loopholes to exploit if one’s morals slipped.
The players continued to exchange information until midnight, and Yu Xunge learned about several places where “the monsters are too high-level; it’s best not to go.”
In the meantime, a box of cockroaches arrived, led by a short-haired woman and a burly man in military attire. Seeing the group chatting, the woman came over to grab a drink.
But no matter how friendly and enthusiastic everyone seemed, Yu Xunge only ate the food she had brought.
…
To avoid running into other players, Yu Xunge set out to hunt monsters at 5 AM the next morning.
Yesterday, she had gained 1.473% experience, which was still a bit low. Today, she planned to venture deeper into the forest to find level 4-5 monsters.
She switched to her bow and arrows. While the bow took longer to draw and couldn’t match the shooting speed of the crossbow, it had greater lethality. The only equipment she had on her, aside from a necklace that reduced cooldown time, was a **+1 Constitution** bracer, a **+1 Constitution** belt, **+1 Intelligence** cloth boots, and a **+1 Agility** cloth vest.
**Character**: Yu Xunge (Level 0, 1.473%)
**Health**: 350/350
**Mana**: 400/400
**Strength**: 10
**Constitution**: 13 (+2)
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