Shapotian, ranked fifth on the Top Ten Experts Ranking, looked at the leaderboard.
“Dizzy！ Big Bro, no way, this number one is way too strong. Besides Third Bro, someone else actually left me, the incredibly charming, undeniably handsome, number one in the world, universe-invincible super hottie, in the dust by this much. Big Bro, looks like we're screwed this time.” Shattering Sky said with a grin to Six-Winged War Dragon beside him.
“Where's all the useless talk? I told you to focus on leveling your character, but you wouldn't listen. If you'd taken that quest, you'd at least be level 11 by now.” Six-Winged War Dragon was annoyed hearing Shattering Sky mention Third Bro.
“Seriously, that lousy Third Bro not only made us change our identities and stop using the name Eagle King Five Brothers, but he also left me the job of leveling and topping the charts. I'm so unlucky！ Even worse, without Third Bro, who's gonna take me leveling and farm top-tier gear for me......”
Shattering Sky was about to keep whining, but seeing Six-Winged War Dragon's dark expression, he quickly changed the subject： “Big Bro, Second Bro and Fourth Bro are here. Let's go pick them up.”
“Sigh, Third Bro, you really went too far this time, making Mengxue so heartbroken. It's been months, and you haven't even called. Did you really fall for someone else？”
Shattering Sky couldn't help but feel a bit worried. He knew Third Bro well—he definitely liked Mengxue. But this situation had still caught him off guard.
Haotian, ranked sixth on the Top Ten Experts list, stared calmly at the leaderboard.
“Young master, the game's only been out for a day. It's no big deal. We'll catch up fast.” Haotian's companion, Haunting Presence, said cautiously.
Haunting Presence knew his young master Haotian hadn't said anything or showed any expression, but he could tell—the young master was really unhappy, really upset, and really pissed off right now.
Hmph！ Falling this far behind, but whatever, it's nothing. Once the game enables real-money-to-gold exchange within a week, that's when the real game begins.
“Haunting, arrange more people to enter King right away. Have some of them map out the locations and addresses of all the bosses in King. We must make the first move before anyone else.”
“Yes！” Young Master Haotian finally spoke up. That persistent soul felt relieved and hurried to arrange his men.
Three-Leaf Mad Axe, ranked eighth on the Top Ten Experts Ranking, looked at the list and let out a soft sigh.
“Sunshine, have we really fallen behind？ Are we not as strong as others？ We didn’t even make the top five.”
“Big Bro, this time ‘King’ has attracted players from all over the country. You and I have only played for a day, and we’re completely hooked—other players are the same. Besides, Fengyun and Tianhuo jumped into the game right away too, so the competition is really fierce. But making it into the top ten shows our strength is solid, considering we’re up against a hundred million players today.”
Three-Leaf Sunshine was confident and calm, as always.
“Where’s Eagle King and his crew？ They didn’t even make the ranking list？ Based on the strength of the third brother, getting into the top five should’ve been a sure thing. He’s always been an opponent we respected. And Eagle King and the others—I really miss them. It feels like no matter what game it is, we just can’t seem to do without them.” Three-Leaf Mad Axe couldn’t help but think of the Eagle King brothers.
“Before entering the game, I specifically checked on Eagle King’s side and caught some news. Big Bro Eagle King and the third brother had some falling out. Eagle King has disbanded, and this time Big Bro Eagle King just wants to play casually, not go all out anymore.” Three-Leaf Sunshine paused after speaking, thought for a moment, then added, “Such a shame.”
“Really？ That’s too bad. If they had come this time, we could’ve teamed up with them. Three-Leaf plus Eagle King—I doubt ruling the game would’ve been much of a problem.”
“Yeah, Eagle King’s crew really are strong, and no one knows each other better than us. If they joined forces with us, no one could trust each other more than we can. Actually, our two guilds’ rivalry and fights have brought us closer to each other.”
GiveYouASlash, ranked ninth on the Top Ten Experts Ranking, glanced at the list.
"All three major forces—Skyfire, Fengyun, and Trileaf—have arrived, along with so many unknown forces and those about to enter. <King> is about to dominate the gaming world and become the only game in the country. But if I want to make a name for myself, my strength is too thin—I need to find some help..." Cut You Once muttered to himself.
Originally he thought he was pretty strong, so he revealed his name to show off, step out of the shadows, and become a true and open strong player.
But he never expected to be dead last on the Top Ten Expert List, tied at the bottom with that female player Rose-Purple Rainbow. Was he really inferior to a female player? What a disgrace.
Since that's the case, if he can't become famous openly, he'll retreat into the shadows. Enemies in the dark are the scariest kind. Maybe hiding and watching others fight, then striking with full force at the right moment to make a name in one blow, that's the best strategy. And lurking in the shadows is his specialty.
Thinking this, Cut You Once couldn't help but let out a snicker.
Just then, in the newbie village, three special players stared at the Top Ten Expert List and started cursing loudly.
"Damn it, that trash player wearing the rabbit mask, screw you. You screwed me over so bad. If it weren't for you, with my level and the treasure I dug up from the newbie village map, I would've definitely made the Top Ten Expert List."
"Don't worry, if we run into him again, we'll kill him until he deletes his account. The Fengyun Clan will never let him off—we'll make him regret ever playing this game."
"Let's go level up. The boss is calling us. Don't make him mad."
These three were the Fengyun Three Tigers who tried to steal my pet and got PK'd by me. All they could do was curse to vent their frustration.
"Ah-choo! Who's cursing me？"
Someone had absolutely no idea how the situation in <King> was brewing—dark currents surging, waves crashing fiercely.
"Ding-dong, congratulations to player Stone City for leveling up. Now level 13. Health +10, Mana +10, 5 attribute points available for distribution."
Continued killing a few more level 15 black panthers, leveled up again, and continued with the 3：2 stat allocation ratio for strength and constitution. Heh, my abilities have improved again, getting stronger.
“Ding dong, congratulations player Stone City, you have obtained Black Panther Bone, Gathering proficiency increased.”
“Ding dong, congratulations player Stone City, you have obtained Black Panther Hide, Gathering proficiency increased.”
“Ding dong, congratulations player Stone City, you have obtained Herbs, Herbalism proficiency increased.”
“Ding dong, congratulations player Stone City, you have mined Bronze, Mining proficiency increased.”
Black Panther Bone： Bones of the black panther, can be used for making medicine.
Black Panther Hide： Fur of the black panther, can be used for making clothing.
Herbs： Simple medicinal herbs, can be used for making medicine.
Bronze： Low-grade ore, can be used to craft weapons and armor.
Along the way, besides killing monsters to level up, whenever I had the chance, I used my auxiliary skills to gather some materials.
With my intermediate Mining, intermediate Herbalism, and advanced 'Gathering' skills, not only is the success rate for gathering materials 100%, but the materials gathered are all top-tier materials of the same grade, with excellent effects.
Materials in 《Kings》 are very precious. Forging equipment and making medicine later on will require a lot of materials, and forging good equipment and crafting god-level medicines will need even higher-level materials.
Obtaining high-level materials requires high-level auxiliary skills. So, I have to practice my auxiliary skills whenever I have the chance now.
'Gathering' is used to collect materials from monster corpses.
'Mining' is used to extract ores from mines. In 《Kings》, aside from some specific major mines designated for fixed mining, various small mines will randomly spawn across different locations, from which 1-2 ores can be mined. After mining, the small mine disappears.
'Herbalism' is used to pick herbs growing on the ground, collecting medicinal plants.
I now came to the forest behind the small hill. Next to a tall nanmu tree, following the markings on Dongfang Xing's map, I passed through the sealing array at the entrance of the Blackrock Tower and advanced toward the tower.