Chapter 357: The Trend of Ranks

The Heart of the Stone King!
A heart like black crystal—one of the hardest substances in the world—supposedly the source of the Stone King’s power and life. It could be used to create top-tier puppets, truly remarkable.
Picking up the heart, deep and mysterious like black crystal, he smiled faintly in joy. Then his gaze shifted to another trophy on the ground.
At that moment!
Everyone who heard the noise recognized the origin of the other trophy on the ground and gasped in astonishment…
“Explosive Crystal Stone!”
Indeed, on the ground lay a deep blue crystal stone, shining like exploding stars, like a brilliantly blooming flower—stunningly beautiful and magnificent.
The value of the Explosive Crystal Stone had already soared to nearly three million.
“Damn, just these two things?”
Seeing that the result of half an hour of hard fighting was just two stones, Lei Zhan and Xiao Bei were speechless: “It’s still a Liberation Realm boss. Such meager loot—what a rip-off.”
“Come on.”
Kai Xin smiled contentedly: “The Stone King isn’t like other Liberation Realm bosses. Its presence can be found in both crystal mines and metal mines. If it were that easy to get loot, we’d be rich after just one day.”
Lei Zhan nodded in understanding. Then he asked,
“Actually, if every Stone King dropped Explosive Crystal Stones, that would be great. In a day, we could get at least five, worth over ten million.”
At these words, everyone became excited and eager to try.
“I doubt it.”
Although Kai Xin hadn’t entered mines many times in his past life, he knew that the Stone King often didn’t drop anything. It was more likely to yield some worthless low-quality crystals or mineral stones.
But…
Lei Zhan and the others didn’t know this. After all, this was probably the first Stone King to be defeated, so everyone wasn’t sure. They pleaded to go to another mine in Shenlongjia to kill more Stone Kings.
Kai Xin refused. With the intention of discouraging them, he led them away from the mine to another place…
The result!
It was terrible. After nearly an hour of hard fighting, the second Stone King was shattered, but not a single fragment was left. Aside from worthless low-quality crystals, not even another Heart of the Stone King appeared. Eight Colorful Minerals were wasted.
Frustrated, the group stopped asking to go to the next mine and obediently returned with Lei Zhan to practice.

Happy to return to Baokang alone, he had “The Stone King’s Heart” transferred to the gang’s warehouse for Yu Shanhú, then met up with Hu Yanluan and others, bid them farewell, and resolutely left Shenlongjia.
…
“1st-tier, 2nd-grade masterpiece: Guilin Bamboo Spear for sale, 720 attack points! Attack speed: 15. Only 1.2 million taels of silver required. First come, first served!”
“1st-tier great axe! 800 damage points! A weapon for real men! Those who want it, shout now!”
“1st-tier masterpiece: Blood Knife. Not very high in attack—only 600 points—but good in speed and recovery. Those who can afford it, send a pigeon message with an offer; no responses to lower bids.”
“1st-tier equipment: Black Wing Robe. 600 defense points, 20% evasion, 15 agility points… Those who can afford it, come to the market center!”
“Selling mid-grade metal ore, crystal ore, and Solvast—each at 5,000 taels of silver. Essential for leveling up.”
“Want a top-tier 1st-tier masterpiece? As long as you have enough silver, I have the weapon you want!”
Less than five days after the shock caused by the 3rd-tier “Qingming Sword,” the market was filled with new kinds of advertisements. High-quality martial arts manuals were no longer the only treasures in the market; instead, weapons and equipment with level ratings had taken their place.
Now, weapons without level ratings were no longer in demand. Many players chose to save money to acquire one or two masterpieces, then buy materials like Solvast from the market to have them forged by the system’s blacksmiths.
Whenever a player succeeded in leveling up, the attributes of a top-tier masterpiece increased by 50%, and its value doubled!
Although a 50% failure rate caused many masterpieces to be destroyed, many lucky players still managed to obtain weapons and equipment with level ratings, experiencing a surge in wealth.
Ordinary masterpieces could generally be sold for over one million taels of silver!
Weapons like swords were even more expensive. Without a risk fee of several million taels of silver, no one was willing to sell them. A 2nd-grade masterpiece with a level rating started at at least 2.4 million taels.
The same applied to equipment.
Since equipment was slightly cheaper than weapons but in higher demand, more people chose to take the risk of leveling up their equipment. Although the profit was smaller, the risk was lower. For lucky ones, it was quick to recoup costs; for unlucky ones, though the loss was smaller, it was still a thrilling experience.
However!
Most players only dared to attempt the 1st-tier level, where material requirements weren’t too strict.
Reaching the 2nd tier required a much larger amount of material.

The material required just to attempt advancing to Level 2 is as high as 1.5 million, equivalent to a fine sword or weapon—something ordinary players simply cannot obtain, nor would they consider risking hundreds of thousands of RMB for such an attempt (weapons for Level 1 are already expensive, and leveling up usually relies on swords and weapons).
40% success rate!
This means a high probability of failure.
Wasting millions in materials and weapons is simply unacceptable.
Of course…
There are also wealthy large organizations involved in these battles.
However, the chance of failure is clearly greater than success.
Advancing to Level 2 requires skilled blacksmiths with experience, and relying solely on the system-designated blacksmiths offers no guarantee of success.
Some gangs have lost tens of millions in accumulated resources after several failures, ending up in debt and collapsing under financial pressure…
Those who succeed do so after many failures, and even top-tier Level 2 equipment cannot afford the high risk of attempting to advance to Level 3.
Still, Level 2 weapons are rarely seen on the market; they are usually carried by their owners to gather forces and enter dangerous areas they once couldn’t access—such as Zombie Territories, Royal Tombs, and Venomous Snake Valleys…
Among these, the most popular area, without a doubt, remains the Royal Tombs, where the greatest number of legendary weapons are unearthed, and it is also the most dangerous mission area.
But unlike in the past, those daring to attack the Royal Tombs are no longer large teams of dozens or hundreds; aside from a few top-ranked experts who are extremely confident in their skills, most are small elite squads of three to five members, scattered at the entrance of the Royal Tombs, not interfering with each other.
As time passes, more and more groups gather at the entrance; everyone waits quietly for noon, waiting for the moment when the entrance to the Royal Tombs’ maze opens.