Chapter 28: Siege

Since it was already past four in the afternoon after returning from the Trade Space, Gu Ran, eager to try, did not get the opportunity and had to wait quietly through the night.

The next day, the morning of September 30th, he eagerly left the residential building, his backpack filled with some spare food, pure water, and a portion of medical equipment.

He did not choose the area in front of the residential building, but consciously headed straight for the streets behind it, beginning his day's hunting plan.

Hmm... even though he had significantly improved in strength, he still harbored great fear for that terrifying Gray-Scale Giant Lizard.

Because the power of the Gray-Scale Giant Lizard was so overwhelming that for all human survivors at the moment, it was practically an insurmountable force, not something one could just provoke at will with a few extra complete Miracle Cards.

Gu Ran even had an intuition that even if he were to level up to 10, his chances of defeating the Gray-Scale Giant Lizard would still be zero.

As for now, that would be tantamount to suicide, as the active ability of his life-saving Bone Armor Card, which could conjure a Bone Shield, would most likely be effortlessly smashed by the creature with a casual swipe of its claw.

Based on this cognition, Gu Ran even considered moving residences, but due to the unclear situation outside and the covetousness of the Goblin Tribe's treasure chest on the seventh floor of his apartment building, he had not put this plan into action.

...…

Not far from behind the residential building on a street, Gu Ran, armed with a Skeleton Spear identical to that of the Dark Skeletons before him, attacked with extreme ferocity and quickly gained the upper hand in just a few moves.

Having previously toyed with his adversaries using a baseball bat, he now found it even simpler to deal with these level 2 Dark Skeletons, not only with a Bone Longspear at hand but also with the advantage of a higher level.

Where he could once only kill four to five a day, now in just an hour, he had reached the number of Dark Skeletons he would have normally killed in a day.

Although his killing efficiency had greatly improved, the original 4 Source Energy Points he gained for each Dark Skeleton killed had now dropped to 1 point because his level exceeded theirs, causing Gu Ran a considerable headache.

Luckily, the Dark Skeletons were numerous, and after three hours of sweeping through street after street, Gu Ran had taken down over fifteen Dark Skeletons, contributing a double-digit amount of Source Energy Points as well.

However, at that moment, Gu Ran discovered a piece of bad news; as he killed more and more Dark Skeletons, he realized not only the Source Energy Points had decreased, but the probability of item drops had likewise diminished.

According to the average drop rate when he was still level 2, the items dropped by fifteen Dark Skeletons would at least have given over twenty points in card fragments, with no fewer than five various card shards.

Yet, the actual loot in his hands at the moment was pitiful; he only received 8 points in card fragments, barely covering his consumption for using "Battle Sweep," with not a single Bone Armor Shard given, and just 2 Bone Longspear Shards given.

Comparing the two, Gu Ran discovered that the drop rate had decreased by nearly three quarters.

He could only attribute this to "a great reduction in loot when killing monsters below one's own level."

Without dwelling on it too much, Gu Ran still persisted relentlessly.

After all, he had already acquired the Bone Armor and Bone Longspear cards; he was not too concerned about the shards of both, needing only the Source Energy Points.

Seeking monsters, luring monsters, slaying monsters.

In this way, he spent the whole morning repeating these tasks. It might have been a bit monotonous, but the harvest of Source Energy Points was still quite rewarding.

By the end of the morning, Gu Ran was only half short of the Source Energy Points needed to level up four times.

Standing before the skeleton of a Dark Skeleton, Gu Ran activated "Harvesting Technique." The next second, a glow shot out from between his hands, entering the shattered body of the Dark Skeleton and lingered for a moment before swiftly returning to Gu Ran's hands.

[You have successfully used Harvesting Technique and obtained "Bone Shard with a trace of Dark Energy*1"]

[Bone Shard with a trace of Dark Energy: A common material seen throughout the Dark Realm, basically worthless unless you happen to encounter a Death Sorcerer preparing to build an undead legion.]

Hearing the mechanical voice in his ear once again, along with the attribute introduction that he had seen several times from the Eye of Insight, Gu Ran's expression turned exceedingly ugly.

After trying several times throughout the morning, he had almost confirmed that using Harvesting Technique on the corpses of Dark Skeletons was a complete waste of card points.

With a bout of frustration, he looked up at the sky, decided not to return home just yet, and prepared to find a relatively safe house nearby to settle his lunch, then continue to push harder in the afternoon, aiming to directly reach level 4 today.

Inside a house on the side of the street, Gu Ran took out food and purified water from his backpack, while also quietly sighing to himself.

After collecting a full set of Miracle Cards that could attack and defend, the enhancement to his abilities was just too significant.

If it were still the old him, forget about aiming to level up four times in one day, a week might not have been enough.

Amid his reflections, Gu Ran, who was stuffing food into his mouth, suddenly turned his gaze sharply. He swiftly put down the unfinished food in his hand, got up quickly, and went to the window of the house. A flash of white light crossed his hand, and even before he reached the window, the Bone Longspear was already in his grasp.

"Bang bang bang!"

Although the continuous collision sounds from outside were very faint, if it were still a common person, they naturally wouldn't be able to hear them. But how could Gu Ran, who had been strengthened several times, be a common person? Before the anomaly, he could already be considered a bona fide Transcendent.

After listening closely for a moment, Gu Ran's eyes showed even more vigilance, because as time passed, the collision sounds not only didn't dissipate but also grew more intense.

Clearly, the battle happening in the distance was slowly spreading in his direction.

Even though he had already anticipated this, it was too late to move. Left with no choice, Gu Ran could only try his best to hide and hope to remain undetected, but his gaze still covertly swept the surroundings.

...…

"Damn it, why are there more and more Dark Skeletons, I don't even have the chance to pick up the loot!!"

At the end of the street, a burly man was fiercely cursing in his mind while fending off close attacks. No matter how robust his build or how rich his combat experience, he was nearing exhaustion surrounded by dozens of Dark Skeletons.

His clothes had long been soaked through, sweat from his forehead kept seeping into his eyes, and the tears secreted because of the stinging pain had already made his vision somewhat blurry.

But at this moment, he had no opportunity to wipe them away, only able to widen his eyes as much as possible, so as to see a bit clearer.

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