Chapter 94: Lien, the Hope of the Tenth District
Stepping on the very last minute of the triple experience card.
All remaining survivors within the goblin camp were completely slaughtered!
A single goblin provided over fifty thousand experience points.
With more than eight hundred goblins, plus the Goblin King, Song Qi instantly gained over forty million experience points!
Not only did Song Qi reach level 34, but his newly refreshed experience bar was once again nearly filled to the brim!
“Damn, this leveling speed...”
“If there’s no one else in this survival match, I might even hit level 40.”
“By then, I could directly summon my third familiar! Sweep aside every enemy in the world!”
He indulged in his delight for a moment, then lifted his eyes to glance at the points ranking.
[First place: Song Qi.....3115 points.]
[Second place: Li Zong......2140 points.]
[Third place: Lien Maynard.....1416 points.]
[Fourth place....]
Unsurprisingly, Song Qi firmly held the top position.
But Li Zong’s points were quickly catching up.
“He’s chasing close, already over two thousand points.”
“But with him, that’s to be expected.”
“The third place... is that the one who tried to form an alliance with me before? That’s a bit surprising.”
Lien Maynard—the one who approached him on the night he first arrived in District One to discuss an alliance.
“I thought he was weak, that’s why he was looking for allies everywhere, but he’s quite formidable.”
“I just wonder if he scored these points alone, or with his team’s help.”
After pondering, Song Qi didn’t dwell on it.
He pulled out his booklet, glanced at the map, and continued toward his next destination.
For him, this survival match was a golden opportunity for leveling up!
Where else in the wild could he find such dense groups of high-level monsters to farm?
Rather than the rankings, what concerned him more at this moment was whether he could find more monster hordes to clear.
...
On the other side of the map...
A once pristine forest had transformed into a roaring inferno!
The young man who had spoken to Song Qi earlier now stood midair. After checking the sky and seeing his points had stopped rising, he gently pressed his right hand downward.
Boom!
The towering wall of fire, dozens of meters high, was instantly snuffed out.
Within several hundred meters, everything was charred black.
Ancient trees had all turned to cinders.
Yet, miraculously, just beyond this area, another tree less than a few centimeters away remained vibrant and untouched.
No trace of scorching could be seen.
“This area is cleared as well.”
“But I’m still some distance behind Brother Song.”
Seeing he’d been surpassed, the young man didn’t turn sullen or angry; instead, he suddenly broke into a joyful smile.
As if he had met a long-lost friend.
“As expected, giving him three portions of Origin Water through Old Liu was the right decision.”
“Otherwise, even if I won this match, it would be a hollow victory.”
“Hm... I truly look forward to our official encounter.”
...
At the outermost edge...
A small squad of a dozen or so people was busily clearing out the peripheral monsters, those around level thirty.
The squad leader had short golden hair and a faint, ever-present smile.
When they occasionally encountered groups of monsters on the road, he simply lifted his staff and waved it nonchalantly.
The monsters were instantly cleaved apart, their bodies sliced into countless pieces.
His manner was elegant and unhurried.
This man was none other than Lien Maynard, the initiator of the alliance movement.
Evidently, his own strength was formidable.
For him, level thirty monsters posed no challenge whatsoever.
At this point, another man, also blond, clad in armor, and an imposing two and a half meters tall, came over.
He bent down, speaking softly.
“Brother, I’ve heard that Song Qi is a genius from District Seven, and his profession is Summoner.”
“Chu Shaojiang from our squad is from the same district as him.”
Lien nodded.
“Any idea about the quality of his familiars or his skills?”
The big man thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“That...”
“Nobody seems to know. I’ve asked everyone in the team.”
“He wasn’t famous before, so nobody paid him much attention.”
“So almost no one has speculated about or compiled his information.”
“If it weren’t for Chu Shaojiang, we might not even know his identity or profession.”
“But after this survival match, his stunning performance will definitely draw a lot of attention.”
“Maybe in the next team round, we’ll learn a lot more.”
Lien nodded, pulling out a pale purple potion.
“Chu Shaojiang has done well. This diluted Demonic Elixir is his reward.”
The big man nodded, took the potion, then seemed to remember something.
“Oh, right, brother. Chu Shaojiang just found two more monster camps and gave me their locations. Should we give him his reward now?”
“He’s found five already.”
“Or should we wait and confirm the camp sizes first?”
As he spoke, the big man pulled out a marked map and handed it to Lien.
Lien was a bit surprised.
“Oh?”
“This Chu Shaojiang really is diligent.”
“If I’m not mistaken, he found this one over here as well? And now two more?”
“As for the reward... it should, of course, be given.”
Lien smiled and produced two more potions, this time undiluted.
“This time, not only will we give it, but we’ll do it properly and publicly!”
“Alright, I understand!”
The big man gripped all three potions, not putting them away in his storage ring but keeping them in hand.
Then, after taking just a few steps, he began calling out loudly.
“Chu Shaojiang! Has anyone seen Chu Shaojiang from District Seven?!”
“His reward is here! Three bottles of Demonic Elixir, not one less! If anyone sees him, tell him to come claim his reward!”
...
Lien checked the map, confirmed their direction, and led the team onward.
He was a contestant from District Ten.
He was also the grandson of District Ten’s city lord.
District Ten was a backward, impoverished place, even worse than District Seven.
It had only been established a little over a decade ago; its industrial system was still incomplete, making it a district mired in poverty.
If rapid development was desired, support from District One was essential!
But for District One, resources were limited and could not be distributed evenly.
In this world, where extraordinary power was concentrated in individuals, the value of geniuses was raised to the extreme!
Whichever district could find the most geniuses would receive the most resources.
So, every year, the rankings in the Genius Tournament became a key indicator for District One in allocating resources to the other districts.
For Lien, then, he bore the hopes for his entire district’s development on his shoulders!
He carried the possibility of a better life for millions of residents.
He didn’t believe himself any weaker than the geniuses from the top three districts.
In the solo competition, he was confident of making the top ten.
But he was well aware that he couldn’t compare to peerless talents like Li Zong.
So his rank wouldn’t be too high.
As for the team competition...
District Ten’s foundations were simply too weak.
His two teammates were simply not up to par.
They would almost certainly fare terribly in the team round!
So, to secure a stable spot in the top ten, he had to strategize during the survival match...
But he couldn’t fight level 40+ monsters for long, let alone slaughter large groups as others could!
If he, like the others, hunted for lone level 40 monsters, he might just barely scrape into the top ten by the end of the survival match.
Overall, his score would suffer.
Thus, he decisively set his sights on the lower-level monster zones for this round.
He understood that not every genius from a backward district had his level of strength.
Many so-called geniuses were simply present to make up the numbers.
They struggled to even kill a single level 40 monster.
At best, they could manage the level 30 monsters.
But while their combat strength was lacking, they were more than capable as scouts.
The so-called alliance movement was, in essence, just a ruse he used to recruit these people.
Using Demonic Elixir as bait, he had them scout the way for him.
“Since they can’t achieve much themselves, they might as well earn a few bottles of Demonic Elixir.”
With this mindset, many accepted the offer.
Although each level 30 monster was worth only one point, there were plenty of them!
If he killed them all, they’d provide nearly ten thousand points!
Even with competition, taking half would net him over five thousand points!
And as expected, under the lure of the elixir, the locations of various monster camps were quickly revealed.
He was either exterminating monsters or on his way to do so.
Within two hours of the match, he’d racked up 1,400 points!
Second only to Song Qi and Li Zong.
And Song Qi’s presence actually suited his plans perfectly.
Two players who could devour huge amounts of points would greatly lower the average score for others.
Allowing his own ranking to hold steady.
Barring any surprises, he’d have no trouble placing in the top five in this survival match.