After all, the concept of almost reaching level 9 on the Infinite Ladder is completely different from simply reaching level 8.
Even Vulcano, the strongest man in the world according to the records, had only managed to reach level 6 — and that with just a few seconds left to the end!
Ling Han, on the other hand, only needed to kill one more frog to reach level 9.
The difference was naturally evident.
However, his expression soon darkened a little.
Now that he had reached level 9, the number of monsters he could kill before reaching level 10 would drastically decrease.
And that meant his talent bonus would also be reduced proportionally.
Moreover, Ling Han considered another factor: the leveling area could be considered a public resource — and if he started easily killing the monsters on the edge, he would naturally attract people's attention.
After all, what he was doing was eliminating others' chances to evolve, and this definitely would not be tolerated by the Guardian Temple. He could even be punished for it.
'It seems this strategy won't be useful here.' Ling Han shook his head. 'But it's a good strategy once I have the strength to leave the city and find a spatial rift… after all, out there, there are no rules.'
Then, Ling Han turned his gaze to the Praying Mantises lying dead on the ground and thought about whether he should collect the gains — but then simply ignored them.
Monsters below Rank F still did not have energy cores in their bodies. And monsters as weak as the Silver Praying Mantis… only their claws might have some value, maybe 20 or 30 federal coins at most.
It's not that he simply despised such an amount… well, actually, he really did.
Moreover, if he started storing these items, when he reached the inner area or even the central area, the amount of loot would naturally become enormous. At that point, he would have to throw away the less valuable items.
So, why bother?
At that moment, the sound of footsteps appeared in the distance, catching Ling Han's attention.
It was a relatively young man, dressed in a combat uniform and with a badge on his waist representing his guard status.
Since the leveling area was divided into four parts, there were naturally guards patrolling the place to prevent stronger monsters from remaining in the weaker zones.
Yesterday, Ling Han had also noticed that this was a job reserved only for Rank E Guardians.
At the same time that Ling Han observed the guard, the man was also analyzing him — and his eyes briefly landed on the two corpses.
"Not bad." The young guard commented lightly, with the expression of an older person praising a younger one.
Then, under Ling Han's gaze, he left, gradually disappearing at an extremely fast speed.
Perhaps he wanted to show off, thinking Ling Han's eyes wouldn't be able to capture how he had vanished.
But it was completely useless. Ling Han was able to see his entire trajectory and even had a thought:
'If this is the maximum speed of a Rank E… I've already surpassed it.' Ling Han smiled.
The appearance of this guard only confirmed what Ling Han had already suspected: if he tried to kill all the monsters on the edge, it definitely wouldn't work.
These guards would realize that, with his current strength, he definitely wasn't at level 2 or 3 — and would certainly act to stop him.
But punishment would be the least of his concerns. The real problem would be if someone with ill intentions started to wonder why he would risk being punished just to kill monsters that wouldn't even help him evolve…
So, over the next few hours, Ling Han began moving toward the central area.
Of course, he walked slowly, taking advantage of the path to eliminate as many monsters as possible…
[Ding! You killed a Silver Praying Mantis (Unclassified)]
…
[Ding! You killed a Giant Beetle (Unclassified)]
[Ding! You killed a Golden Horned Bull (Unclassified)]
At this moment, Ling Han had already reached the border between the inner area and the central area and finally looked at his talent again.
[Blessing of Death (Level ???): Whenever the "Herald of Death" eliminates a living being with a classification equal to or higher than their own, they permanently gain a 0.1% bonus to their attributes.]
[Current Attribute Bonus: 11.7%]
"I've already killed 67 creatures, from a simple Silver Praying Mantis to even a Golden Horned Bull, whose physical strength definitely reached Rank F."
"I'm probably close to reaching level 10." Ling Han thought.
Thinking that he would definitely enter level 10 with the next kills, he did not hesitate and entered the central area at maximum speed.
Along the way, there were even a few monsters, but Ling Han simply ignored them. He was curious to see what a spatial rift was like, something he had never seen in person.
Soon, Ling Han began to spot a huge spatial rift, of an extremely dark color.
But he did not slow down.
The closer he got, the bigger the rift seemed.
'I'm not sure if it's my imagination, or if the space around seems to be trembling…' Ling Han took a deep breath and finally stopped a few meters from the rift.
He had the impression that if he advanced further, he could get hurt — or even something worse.