Chapter 306: Ranked

The names at the top were the same as expected. But Uhtred wasn’t after those names. He scrolled down to the end of the list where new entries had appeared, and there he saw his name:

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Rank No: 78

Name: Uhtred

Race: Human

Scenario Points: 17

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"Seventeen...?" Uhtred muttered in shock as he stared at the number. "You mean to tell me that killing a Nascent Realm beast of at least Level 50 gave me only seventeen points...?!"

"What the actual fuck?!" he cursed.

Running a quick calculation in his head, his shock grew even more. "That means if I want to reach the number one spot, I have to kill... five thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven Level 50+ Nascent Realm beasts!"

That was a crazy number to think of. On the surface, it seemed achievable, but one had to remember that these were all Nascent Realm beasts — and not just any kind of Nascent Realm beast, but ones on the level of the Tempest Panthera! That was at least Level 50 for every single one!

It made Uhtred wonder exactly how crazy the number one ranker on the leaderboard was. He had to have killed four hundred and thirteen Level 50+ beasts every single day for the entire two weeks to have reached his current points!

So that’s the kind of person I need to top...

Uhtred didn’t even look at number two or three. He knew that calculating their numbers would yield a more reasonable amount — something he could’ve reached in the same timespan. But he didn’t bother at all. His focus was solely on number one.

Nah, there definitely has to be something that gives more points outside this Brutal Wilderness, he concluded. Otherwise, I can’t see how he can have so many points...

It was a logical deduction, but at the same time, Uhtred was aware that this was not a proven fact. The number one ranker, Ignis The Mighty, could truly have racked up his points simply by killing beasts.

Maybe I should just keep using Slipstream Stride. I can rack up more points that way, Uhtred thought briefly. But then he killed the thought after considering it more carefully.

He actually needed to develop his other skills in real combat. He’d gained a few Space magic skills from Zara’s teachings, and also some Healing magic skills from Diya — skills that he needed to develop in real-world combat.

It was a choice between chasing numbers without a solid base and going slower but gaining a deeper foundation.

Uhtred sighed and waved the leaderboard away. He’d made his choice and couldn’t afford to be distracted now.

I better get grinding then...

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Uhtred continued for hours. He journeyed deeper and deeper into the Brutal Wilderness, encountering different kinds of beasts.

The beasts of this scenario world were exotic, providing him with a variety of abilities to face that were much different compared to the beasts back on Earth. If Uhtred had to describe it, it was like grinding through a dungeon — facing alien creatures that evolved in ways you wouldn’t immediately guess.

Still, though, his Gnostic Eye was able to give him information about every beast before he even fought against them. So, after some hours of grinding, he capped his usage of that, too.

He went into fights depending only on what he could glean from direct observation.

It was then that Uhtred noticed something. The insight his Gnostic Eye allowed him hadn’t been in vain. Even without it, he was able to pick up natural clues based on what he’d learned so far.

He realized that subconsciously, he had begun to attribute certain traits to air-type beasts, fire-type beasts, water-types...

Even when they didn’t look like it or tried to disguise their abilities, he had seen enough beasts with his Gnostic Eye to form a subconscious understanding of what a beast’s affinity might be.

About ten hours into his journey, Uhtred pulled up the leaderboard again to check on his progress:

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Rank No: 71

Name: Uhtred

Race: Human

Scenario Points: 192

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"Damn. Only one hundred ninety-two?" Uhtred grunted. He had killed a total of twenty-five Nascent Realm beasts over the past ten hours. That gave an average of around seven points per kill, which was far less than Uhtred had expected...

But at the same time, he wasn’t really surprised. He could already tell the reason for the low average after seeing his total points now.

Of the twenty-five beasts he had killed, only two were remotely similarly leveled to the first beast he faced. None of the beasts actually had levels, but Uhtred could estimate their level based on their strength. And only two had come close to the Tempest Panthera. The rest had been far lower-leveled — beasts that would only serve as prey to something like the Tempest Panthera.

Those beasts were definitely the reason for his low point yield. The Tower wasn’t rewarding him highly for taking down beasts at his level and even far lower than him.

"Fuck," Uhtred cursed. "I need to find a big dog to face, or else this is going to take way longer than I expected."

Already, Nascent Realm beasts were hard enough to find — even the low-level ones. It was why he’d been able to kill only twenty-five beasts in ten hours.

"That first kill was a lucky find. Powerful Nascent Realm beasts aren’t cabbages," Uhtred muttered. "They’re not many, and they definitely don’t come out without reason... If I want to find one, I have to start thinking like one."

"Where would I stay if I were a Nascent Realm beast?"

Uhtred stood still, pondering under the pitch-blackness of the forest canopy. The sounds of the forest sang around him — predators announcing themselves in distant places, critters moving about.

Uhtred focused on the sounds of the predators. Their roars and calls. They were rampant, but whenever he tried following after them, it always ended in a bust. So instead, he decided to simply... listen.

He stood there for five minutes, ten, fifteen...

After almost twenty minutes of standing still, Uhtred suddenly frowned. He noticed something strange: