Chapter 27: Rapid Experience Gain! Level Reaches 20!

Gobi Bone Staff
Equipment Requirement Level: 16
Quality: E
Special Effect: Increases all spell and magical damage and healing effects, up to 76 points
...

This Gobi Bone Staff was an unusual weapon. For a level 16 E-grade staff, it didn’t offer any stat bonuses at all. Yet in terms of special effects, the magic damage it provided was astonishing—over sixty points, double the spell damage granted by the Ice Staff Yi Shen had obtained earlier!

Within the secret realm, the Gobi Priest didn't always carry this weapon. In each run, there was only a one-in-five chance he would enter battle with the staff. Once killed, it was guaranteed to drop as a “Combat Remnant Weapon,” which could then be taken out by placing it in the inventory.

Thus, this weapon was something of a hidden gem for spellcasters. Even without any intelligence or stamina bonuses, it was still coveted by many magic users. High-level parties would even camp the priest in hopes of obtaining it, and on the current market, its value was upwards of 1,000 contribution points—higher than most E-grade weapons.

For Yi Shen, it was all the more significant. The moment he saw the priest wielding the bone staff, he realized it was time to switch to a new weapon. His current spell damage was barely in the seventies, but with this staff, he could easily push it past one hundred and thirty! Arcane Shock could further stack spell power, and based on his stats, a fully charged Arcane Shock could already deal over three hundred damage.

Outside, ordinary monsters were much lower in level than those in the secret realm. A typical level seventeen or eighteen monster had less than a thousand health. This meant that for monsters his level, Yi Shen could dispatch them in just a second or two.

Others might worry about the lack of stat bonuses, but for Yi Shen, attributes were the least of his concerns!

...

Yi Shen stepped forward, quickly looting the Gobi Priest’s corpse. The drops were mediocre, nothing special, but the most important item was already in his hands, so he considered his luck to be decent.

Having cleared out the management layers of two areas, the monsters in this secret realm were nearly wiped out. Yi Shen’s level was close to halfway through seventeen now, but it was clear this secret realm wouldn’t be enough for him to reach eighteen.

The final elite boss was a melee type, slightly stronger than the Gobi Acolyte. Yet, with all the lesser monsters cleared and no particularly troublesome abilities, Yi Shen dispatched it with little effort. The boss granted over a thousand experience points, which would normally be split among ten party members, but now Yi Shen claimed it all for himself.

Additionally, the boss dropped a D-grade spear of respectable attributes, its red hue immediately reminding Yi Shen of Zhu Qing, who favored the spear as her weapon. After some thought, he left a space in his inventory, planning either to sell it or offer it at a friendly price to the two sisters.

He was gradually growing accustomed to solo runs, and once the secret realm reset, he intended to return for more.

Clearing the entire secret realm took less time than expected. Though it was more difficult than the Frozen Gorge and much larger, Yi Shen finished in half the time.

But not long after leaving the secret realm, Yi Shen felt a twinge of frustration. Killing a few level ten monsters outside awarded him only four experience points each. Now that his level was so much higher than the monsters around, the experience reduction from killing lower-level creatures was significant, which felt unnatural to Yi Shen.

Moreover, monsters outside the secret realm were sparse; it took him over half an hour to find just thirty or so creatures, and that was only because some gathered in packs along the shallow banks of the Southern Stream. Otherwise, the monsters would have been even more scattered.

In contrast, monsters inside the secret realm were denser and yielded more experience. If he wanted to level up, the most efficient way was still to farm secret realms.

Yet, the secret realms scattered across the Snowfield Desert were few and far between. The nearest two were dozens of miles apart—at least a couple hours travel by vehicle.

If he ventured to a new secret realm, he’d waste considerable time, and the long journey was dreadfully dull. But staying here, even if he wiped out all the monsters, it wouldn’t match the efficiency of the secret realms.

Yi Shen opened his map, pondering the most effective way to farm experience.

Finally, he decided to follow the Southern Stream upstream.

According to the map, the Southern Stream stretched far and wide, passing through two major monster zones—a grassy wetland and a quicksand region. Along the Lanxi, all sorts of monsters gathered, and at the end was a mid-sized secret realm for level twenty adventurers.

Once he cleared that secret realm, he could return directly to the Gate of Realms from that area—the most reasonable route for farming experience.

...

With this plan in mind, Yi Shen set off alone. There was no distinction between day and night in this world, so he had no need to linger.

Yet, journeying alone in another world was unspeakably dull. Walking through the desert, gazing at the endless, tranquil Southern Stream, Yi Shen felt an unprecedented peace—and an unprecedented loneliness.

No wonder explorers preferred to travel in groups; beyond safety, it provided some measure of comfort for the spirit. With a companion, he could find any excuse to chat; with two or three, they might even play a hand of cards together in the rover.

And if all his companions were women...

Yi Shen thought of the Zhu sisters—Zhu Qing and Zhu You. Then, perhaps...

He caught himself, feeling a bit vulgar for entertaining such thoughts.

Lost in these idle musings, Yi Shen pressed on through the desert. After slaying more than a thousand monsters, he finally reached level eighteen. Two monster zones later, he achieved level nineteen. Progress slowed from there—reaching level nineteen required nine thousand experience points, and with only seven or eight per monster, he’d need to kill another thousand or so.

He quickened his pace toward the mid-sized secret realm for level twenties and blitzed through it.

This secret realm was a smaller gorge-like area, and after a complete clear, Yi Shen finally reached level twenty and triggered a new breakthrough quest.