Published: February 13, 2025
After several cycles in the novice battleground, every participant was striving to improve their rankings. They not only kept a close eye on the leading figures but also looked at the individuals ranked lower and the races they belonged to.
Their first priority was to ensure they weren’t eliminated from the bottom, and only then could they think about making progress. While they felt pressure when looking at the top ranks, the stress was even greater when glancing at the bottom.
Besides those who were eliminated, there was the ever-shrinking leaderboard visible every moment during each cycle. Those who disappeared represented death. Fifteen days had passed, and over three thousand people had died, averaging around two hundred deaths each day. This number may not seem too high at first glance, but this was a test lasting a hundred days. At this rate, twenty thousand people would die by the end, which was nearly a third of the total participants!
Although more people tended to die in the early stages, the most intense competition was still yet to come in the last two cycles. This level of mortality was enough to alarm any competitor. Therefore, in this new cycle, the choice of which area to enter became more cautious.
Liang Chuyin and the others had already decided where to go beforehand, so they were unhurried, simply observing the choices of the crowd from a distance.
This time, when selecting areas, two distinct trends were evident. The first group consisted of some races opting for regions where the quantity of prey was high but their strength relatively weak. They typically prepared several such regions and would choose the one with the least participants.
The second group pushed their limits, opting for high-scoring, high-frequency kills to gain substantial points.
However, neither strategy was as safe as ‘dimensionality reduction’—hunting in sparsely populated areas with weaker prey ensured maximum safety. But who wouldn’t want to contend for better rankings, especially those races and individuals with potential? They felt it was time to exert themselves; otherwise, falling too far behind would make it difficult to catch up later.
Moreover, everyone was also keeping an eye on the influential figures and major clans' choices, trying to avoid their regions as much as possible.
Everyone was striving for the final rankings. After all, this could be the starting point of their lives, representing whether their future paths would be smooth or not.
While the general choices reflected this mindset, the choices made by top novices were quite different.
Under Liang Chuyin and her group’s watchful eyes, the Cave Holder went to… District Seventy-One.
This guy was continuing to challenge higher difficulties. Qabinger, who had faced a slight setback among the novices of the Su Clan, but nevertheless didn’t lose, led his team to District Sixty with over three hundred followers. It seemed he had given up on the optimal cost-effectiveness between racial quantity and point bonuses, opting to lead more people to tackle greater challenges.
They formed the largest group of novices, attracting attention wherever they went. They were the first to select District Sixty, clearly signaling everyone not to compete with them for territory!
In fact, no one did try to challenge them; at least, Liang Chuyin and her group didn’t see anyone rush to District Sixty before they left.
After being defeated by the Cave Holder, Zhang Jia felt somewhat dejected. After a moment of hesitation, he led his small team to District Forty-Five. This area offered decent cost-effectiveness for their team, but it felt a bit low compared to their potential.
Brandt, a late-blooming talent from the Iron Justice Clan of the Hall Planet Camp, led three others to District Fifty-Five. This quartet was newly formed in this cycle, and many speculated they were influenced by the Cloud Summit Quartet, eager to see if they could produce some miraculous effects.
Meanwhile, Anu Mious, who had consistently ranked first among novices, chose to hunt alone and selected District Seventy-Two for his hunting ground.