Chapter 18: Leveling Up

The two Dark Skeletons provided Gu Ran with a total of 8 source energy points, 6 card points, and a new "Bone Longspear" card fragment.

[Limestone Card•Bone Longspear•Fragment]*1

[Quality: Green Stone One Star (Common)]

[Passive: Equipping this card allows you to summon a bone longspear as your weapon at any time. (Note: Passive does not consume card points.)]

[Active (Battle Sweep): Consumes 2 card points, hold the longspear, and perform a high-damage, fan-shaped sweep in the designated direction. (Cooldown time 10 minutes)]

Gu Ran was quite satisfied with these gains. Although it would have been better if the "Bone Longspear" fragment had been a "Bone Armor" fragment, considering it was almost given for free, he couldn't be too demanding.

Behind the residential building, Gu Ran was still leisurely scavenging. Although there were significantly fewer Dark Skeletons here than at the front, there were still some scattered skeletons on the ground.

However, he soon realized he wasn't the only clever one around; other survivors had also seen the opportunity after the grey-scaled giant lizard's rampage.

A couple of men, roughly twenty-five or twenty-six years old, emerged from another residential building and were quickly scouring the surroundings, evidently with the same purpose as him.

What made Gu Ran's lips twitch was that they seemed to have good luck. Right outside the entrance of their building, about a dozen meters away, there happened to be a Dark Skeleton without legs, which they quickly disposed of with the familiar-looking Wolf Fang Clubs in their hands.

While feeling envy at their luck, a glint flashed in his eyes, and two attribute panels appeared.

[Name: Wang Bo]

[Race: Human/Card Master]

[Age: 27]

[Level: 0 (9/10)]

[Lifebound Card Book: 2/6]

[Miracle Cards: Azurestone (Goblin Standard Wolf Fang Club, Chieftain's Whistle Fragment*1)]

[Card Points: 6]

...

[Name: Zhu Long]

[Race: Human/Card Master]

[Age: 25]

[Level: 0 (7/10)]

[Lifebound Card Book: 1/6]

[Miracle Cards: Azurestone (Goblin Standard Wolf Fang Club)]

[Card Points: 8]

...

After glancing over the two men's attributes, Gu Ran promptly closed the panels. Their attributes were just the ordinary kind, not deserving of much attention.

As for going over and snatching the drops, that was not his style. After all, there was a distance of several dozen meters between them, and the excuse "I saw it first" wouldn't work.

Of course, the main reason was that Gu Ran was not the kind of person who would bully or dominate others with unreasonable demands.

Although in this world nowadays, one indeed needed to be tough, this did not mean acting against one's will. If a person lost even their most basic moral code, they could no longer be considered a normal person, but rather a fierce ghost wearing human skin.

...…

After sweeping his gaze around once more to confirm there were no other escaped fish, Gu Ran turned and walked away without the slightest intention of making contact with the two.

It was not that he was deliberately being aloof. At first sight of the two, he had actually felt a bit pleased, thinking he had finally come across a couple of somewhat bold individuals.

Especially since his own combat power had greatly diminished, having two more helpers would certainly increase the efficiency of his kills.

But just as he was about to greet them, the two began arguing over the loot dropped by the Dark Skeleton, and from their posturing, it seemed neither was willing to step back.

"We killed it together, why should you get the loot?" Gu Ran had already guessed what the two were thinking at that moment.

Seeing this, his desire to approach and greet them instantly waned.

Teaming up with such people, he really feared they would be timid in battle but throw heavy punches when it came to snatching loot.

That could truly sicken someone.

...…

Returning to the apartment building where he lived, Gu Ran glanced at the sky and hesitated for a moment. In the end, he suppressed the urge to try taking down another Dark Skeleton. He locked the main entrance of the building and returned to his home on the third floor.

It wasn't that he was unwilling, but after all the turmoil, it was already past 4 p.m., and the light of day would soon dim. For safety's sake, he felt it better not to linger outside.

...…

Over the next two days, Gu Ran immersed himself in repeated challenges against the Dark Skeleton. Firstly, to quickly gather enough card points needed to activate the Void Trading Ground card, and secondly, to see if he could get lucky and burst out one or two more Bone Armor Shards.

He was extremely eager for this defensive "Rare" Azurestone Card, in contrast to the "Black Rock Axe" card that he had gotten beforehand. He had almost forgotten about it since he put it into his cardbook and hadn't given it another look.

It's not that the "Black Rock Axe" was rubbish. In fact, as a close-combat weapon capable of making long-range attacks, this card could have unexpected effects in actual combat if it were ever completed.

However, unfortunately for Gu Ran, who was not a brawny giant, standing at 1.78 meters tall, he indeed had no interest in a weapon nearly as tall as himself.

...…

Several tens of meters behind the apartment building on another street, a battle was underway.

An almost two-meter-tall Dark Skeleton thrust its bone spear forward in a sweeping motion. The Skeleton Spear, flickering with a ghostly light, was like a dragon whipping its tail. Amid the howling winds, the piercing cold light almost engulfed the entire fan-shaped area in front of it.

Anticipating this, the man in gray in front of the Dark Skeleton suddenly retreated explosively, perfectly dodging the sweep. Simultaneously, he fiercely threw the baseball bat in his hand.

Crack!

The baseball bat hit the Dark Skeleton's skull precisely. With this strike, the Skeleton's already overburdened skull instantly shattered.

...…

[You've gained 4 Essence Points, successfully leveled up to Level 3, and gained +1 card slot in your natal cardbook.]

"Phew!"

As a white light spilled from the remnants of the Dark Skeleton and quickly entered his body, Gu Ran let out a breath. This was the fifth Dark Skeleton he had killed today, adding to the ones from yesterday, he had killed a total of nine Dark Skeletons in two days.

Walking briskly to the side of the Dark Skeleton's remains to pick up the two dropped cards, Gu Ran sprinted back in the direction he had come from.

With quick steps, his expression also seemed somewhat excited, as though he couldn't wait to get started.

Indeed, that was the case. Over the past two days, the card points he had accumulated were already sufficient to use the Void Trading Ground card.

If it wasn't for wanting to raise his level to hold sway in that trading space later on, he would have activated the "Void Trading Ground" card this morning.

But with the leveling up from killing that Dark Skeleton, his level was now successfully raised to Level 3. The thought of finally being able to activate the "Void Trading Ground" led to the scene seen earlier.