I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

The members of the Flower Language Guild were still sitting amidst the loot piles in the Howling Abyss, while Li Wu had already vanished into the light of the teleportation outpost.

He did not return to Ironforge.

The light from the teleportation array faded, and Li Wu opened his eyes.

What came into view was a vast expanse of crimson earth.

The air was so dry you could almost smell the cracking of rocks. The ground was covered with black cracks, from which a dark red light occasionally peeked out.

In the distance are rolling hills, their surfaces bare of trees, covered only with gray-black rocks and powder that is hard to tell whether it is mineral sand or ash.

The Plains of Famine, an area with levels 50 to 55.

A system notification popped up:

"You have entered a dangerous area: the Wasteland. Monsters in this area are level 50-55, with an extremely high density of elite monsters. It is recommended to challenge this area in a team."

Li Wu turned off the notification and glanced around.

The teleportation outpost was an abandoned stone tower, half of its top had collapsed, and there were traces of battle on the walls, but it looked like no one had been there for a long time.

Normally, this area is an unexplored forbidden zone for the current player base.

The second-ranked player in the entire region is only level 44, and the average level of ordinary players is around level 35. A level 50 map? I wouldn't even dare to dream of it.

But for Li Wu, this was the real starting point.

He walked out of the stone tower.

The footsteps startled a small group of monsters beside the ruins. Four level 50 elite monsters, the "Cataclysmic Predators," emerged from behind the rocks. They were the size of hyenas, twice their size, covered in cracked stone armor, and their eye sockets burned with dark red flames.

Four monsters charged at him at the same time.

Li Wu raised his hand and drew his bow, sending a chain of lightning arrows flying into the monster horde.

Lightning bolts leaped and exploded across the four predators, each hit dealing over 20,000 damage. The first predator fell instantly, and the remaining three were reduced to below half health.

The second arrow is shot.

All three predators turned into specks of light.

From start to finish, it took less than four seconds.

Four golden rays of experience light rained down on Li Wu, but he didn't even look down at the dropped items. His talent "Soul Devouring Fortune" activated four times at the moment of the kill, each activation bringing a slight but definite attribute boost.

Luck +0.8, Intelligence +0.8.

"0.2 points per monster." Li Wu calculated in his mind, "The monster density in this area is high; I can clear at least a hundred monsters an hour, and that increases my luck and intelligence by twenty points per hour."

His lips twitched slightly.

This isn't leveling up, this is grinding for stats.

Leveling up is certainly important, but the core reason he becomes stronger is the snowball effect of attributes brought about by the "Soul of Devouring Fortune".

The more monsters you kill, the higher your intelligence becomes; the higher your intelligence, the stronger your magic attack; the stronger your magic attack, the faster you kill monsters; the faster you kill, the more your attributes increase.

Positive cycle.

Li Wu put away his bow and strode towards the depths of the desolate plains.

He had already planned the route.

According to the information on the map, the core area of ​​the Wasteland, "Calamity Rift Valley", has a large number of elite monsters of level 53 to 55, which are densely gathered and are very suitable for using the Burning Star Return Arrow to clear the area.

He walked for three minutes, then stopped.

On the open ground ahead, more than thirty famine predators and more than a dozen level 52 elite "Rock Armor Giant Scorpions" mingled together, the entire area densely covered with red name tags.

"good."

He drew back the arcane bow and began to charge up the Star-Burning Arrow.

Dark red energy condensed on the bowstring, forming a miniature spatial singularity that rotated and emitted heavy spatial fluctuations.

ten seconds.

Let go.

The singularity flew silently into the center of the monster horde, landing and unfolding after traveling thirty meters. A dark red, semi-transparent domain with a diameter of twenty meters instantly enveloped most of the area. The monsters within the domain didn't even have time to scream before being swallowed into the collapsing energy vortex.

Three seconds later, the domain disappeared.

A massive, glassy crater remained in the ground. There was nothing inside; the thirty-odd elite monsters had been completely wiped from this world.

A shower of experience light fell from the sky.

The Soul of Devouring Fortune throbbed wildly within Li Wu's body more than thirty times, each time bringing an increase in his attributes.

The communicator suddenly rang.

It's Hua Zitong.

Where are you?

"The Plains of Famine," Li Wu replied as he picked up the fallen petals.

"A level 50 map?" Hua Zitong paused for a moment. "You've only been gone for less than half an hour."

"Direct access".

"How's the situation over there?"

"There are a lot of strange things, and the density is high."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Not dangerous." Li Wu glanced at the giant crater from before. "One arrow, one piece; it's about the same as in the Howling Abyss."

Hua Zitong was silent for two seconds. She was probably processing the information that "level 50 elite monsters can be wiped out with a single arrow".

"Also, there's something the guild wants to tell you."

"speak."

"We're hiring. After yesterday's guild war, the number of people applying to join Mythic has surged. This morning alone, I received over six hundred applications. I've done a preliminary screening based on the criteria you set, and I think about one hundred and twenty people will make it through."

"Accept me."

"Full recording?"

"If you think you're qualified, then we'll admit you," Li Wu said. "Right now, the guild needs guild experience to level up to level four. More people mean higher efficiency in dungeons, and experience will increase faster."

"Understood, I'll arrange the new recruit training and team formation."

"Um."

"There's one more thing," Hua Zitong's tone changed slightly, "The Iron Blood Alliance has changed its leader."

Li Wu paused for a moment. "The Iron Blood Banner has been withdrawn?"

"It wasn't a resignation, it was being removed from office by higher-ups," Hua Zitong said. "Lin Hai found out about this through intelligence channels. The capital group behind the Iron Blood Alliance is extremely dissatisfied with the outcome of the guild war. Three thousand people were completely overwhelmed by a guild of three hundred, a huge loss of face. Iron Blood Banner has been held accountable, and a new guild leader hasn't been appointed yet, but it seems like there's an internal reorganization going on."

"understood."

Aren't you worried?

"What's there to worry about?" Li Wu said. "No matter who becomes the president, there will still be 3,000 people. Their problem isn't a leadership issue, it's a difference in ability."

Hua Zitong didn't say anything more.

"Alright, I'm going back to leveling up. You go ahead with your work."

"Yes, feel free to contact me if anything comes up."

The communication was disconnected.

Li Wu turned around and continued towards the source of the disaster, the Rift Valley.

For the next three hours, he swept through the outer and middle layers of the Wasteland. He used the Starburst Arrow to clear large groups, Chain Lightning Arrow to deal with scattered monsters, and Fiery Sun Piercing Arrow to finish off any lone lords.

The whole process was completely predictable.

The level 50 elite monster was as fragile as paper in front of his magic attack of over 7,000.

Three hours later, he reached level 52.

"The leveling speed is faster than expected," Li Wu thought to himself. "The monsters in this area don't give me much experience anymore; the level difference is too small. I need to go deeper."

He opened the map and found his next target.

Dragon's Bone Wasteland.

The area between level 55 and 60.

The map marked large red danger zones, with a monster density even higher than in the Wasteland. More importantly, there were a large number of elite monsters of level 58 to 60 there. For his Soul of Destiny, the higher the level of the monster, the more considerable the attribute bonuses from each kill.

Li Wu put away his bow and crushed a teleportation scroll.

Dragon's Bone Wasteland.

After the light faded, a biting cold wind swept over us.

This region was completely different from the Wasteland. The ground was grayish-white frozen soil, scattered everywhere with huge skeletons. Some skeletons were so complete that they could be identified as the remains of some kind of dragon, while others were broken into pieces of white bone pillars stuck in the frozen soil. The sky was a hazy, leaden gray, and the sun was nowhere to be seen.

System prompt:

"You have entered a dangerous area: Dragonbone Wasteland. Monsters in this area are level 55-60, and there are boss-level monsters. It is recommended that you challenge this area with a team of 30 or more."

Li Wu turned off the notification.

On the frozen plains ahead, a group of level 55 elite monsters, "Skeleton Dragon Souls," were wandering aimlessly. Their forms were translucent dragon bones, with blue-white soul fire burning inside their skeletons, and each one had 120,000 to 130,000 health points.

If an average player saw this, they probably wouldn't even have the courage to run away.

Li Wu drew his bow.

Gathering strength.

A dark red singularity flew out.