ch96- Title: Rising Power
In terms of rewards, the most valuable ones for Alex were the skill points and growth value, as he'd long stopped worrying about accumulating points. In reality, the biggest gains from conquering resource points came from merit points, especially when it involved monster lairs, where resource crystals were an added bonus.
Though Alex let the others take down the boss together and missed out on the 360,000 merit points from a solo kill, he had still defeated more than 80% of the monsters in each resource point. As a result, he earned close to a million merit points per resource point, with 18 points contributing to a total of 18 million merit points.
In addition, the 10 monster lairs netted him 1.35 million merit points each, and the destruction of the "Sky Fortress" yielded over 300 million merit points, bringing Alex's total to a staggering 385.7 million merit points!
On top of that, Alex had accumulated a substantial amount of resource crystals from the monster lairs. With 75% contribution in each lair, his haul was enormous, bringing his total to 68,000 N-level resource crystals, 7,600 R-level resource crystals, and 850 SR-level resource crystals.
If all of these were converted into points, Alex's wealth would be close to 10 billion! It could be said that Alex's fortune was now on par with an entire country.
But that wasn't the end. After regrouping with the others, the team swiftly moved to reconquer the eight resource points that had turned into monster lairs, aiming to complete the task by the end of the night.
Jessica, despite being out at a resource point when the "Global Power Arena" event began, had still been able to participate. Both she and Mason had managed to win two out of three matches, but in the third round, facing stronger opponents, and without wearing their full "Dragon God" sets, they lost.
Out of the 137 contestants from East Sea City, only Alex and two unknown fighters managed to rank in the top 200,000 globally, with the rest facing defeat.
Although Mason and Jessica had lost, their strength was undeniable, and with their SR-level potential, their power was sure to rise rapidly. Once they repaid the points borrowed from Alex and invested in rare items to further enhance their abilities, they'd likely become formidable forces in their own right, capable of crushing most other players.
This time, the team learned from past mistakes, dividing the spoils beforehand. While Alex handled the bulk of the monster killing, the remaining monsters were left to the others to boost their individual contributions.
With Alex taking 75% of the total loot, the remaining 25% from the eight points was divided among the 27 students, giving each an average of about 7%. This meant each student would walk away with at least 40 million points from the resource crystal exchange.
Adding that to the 3% from earlier, each person would earn over 50 million points today—more than enough to repay Alex, with plenty left over for buying powerful items. With this influx of wealth, the team could all afford to purchase the 30-million merit-point packages that contained R-level source stones.
Soon, they'd be a full team of SR-level empowered individuals—a prospect that excited everyone.
The assault on the monster lairs went smoothly, with the only hindrance being the darkness. Once night fell, the ruins outside East Sea City became pitch black, and even with map markers, it took the team extra time to locate each lair. But once they arrived, the situation improved as Alex's radiant attacks lit up the battlefield. Every swing of his blade ignited golden flames, serving as both weapon and light source.
The number of monsters in the lairs had increased since the afternoon, with over 3,000 monsters in each lair. To ease the burden on the team, Alex dealt with more than 80% of the enemies, leaving only 600 or so for his teammates to handle during the occupation phase.
After an hour, all eight lairs were successfully cleared, just 20 minutes before the next round of the Global Power Arena began.
By the end, Alex had slain nearly 20,000 monsters, including a vast number of purple elites, Belos Lords, and various other powerful creatures. His Sky Serpent leveled up an additional 132 times, reaching a total level of 689—more than double Alex's own level!
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**Name:** Sky Serpent [Sky Serpent] SR-level Bloodline
Level: 8973% (Increased 8900% damage)
**Level Effects 2:** +15,000 Health
**Level Effects:**
- +1000% Health
- +1000% Damage
- +1000 Bonus Damage
- +1000% Skill Effectiveness
Health: 151,800
...
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Not only had the Sky Serpent's health increase reached the second stage of its level effects, but its damage boost was now at level 89, nearly maxed out. Its total damage output had multiplied by nearly 100 times, surpassing even Alex's level effects.
If the Sky Serpent continued growing at this rate, its power might one day exceed Alex's—unless Alex could trigger his "Sword Reversal" skill with every attack.
At 8 p.m., the Global Power Arena event began once more. Alex immediately queued up for his first match, fully aware that with his current stats and abilities, it was nearly impossible for anyone to surpass him. Though he had lost much interest in the competition, he wanted to finish the three matches quickly and secure the global champion title and its rewards.
With over 230,000 contestants left, the first match was easy to find, as many others had also queued up right at the start.
Alex was soon matched with another player who appeared to be from the Asian alliance, but as soon as the opponent spoke, Alex realized he was from the Korean faction.
Feeling generous and in a good mood, Alex, who couldn't understand the language, politely suggested, "I can't understand Korean, you might want to switch your language settings to 'Universal.'"
His opponent, a young man with short green hair, blinked in confusion at Alex's strange suggestion before regaining his composure. He responded with a cold smirk, "I knew that function existed already. I just didn't expect you to be too ignorant to know Korean."