Chapter 52: Ten Levels Soar!

In the beginning, the players were utterly baffled but they eventually came to a conclusion.

It seemed that a special mechanism within the Death Village had been triggered, and an NPC had come to the rescue!

Their reasoning was clear—

The figure that had just appeared, slaughtering mobs en masse, with hundreds of plague zombies unable to last even a second, could that be a player? Any being with such power wouldn't bother with these low-level monsters.

In [Transcendence], the rules are clear. Players more than twenty levels above the monsters can no longer gain experience... This is to limit some of the top players from going on a rampage.

For instance, a legendary or even demigod-level player could potentially annihilate an entire district within the Divine Mountain Empire with all their might!

If they could normally gain experience, then even if all the monsters in the area were dead, the rewards for legendary or even demigod players would not be low.

Naturally, [Transcendence] had to plug this loophole. Otherwise, how could lower-level players possibly develop, with all the monsters being monopolized by those powerful beings using mass destruction skills?

According to this theory, it was impossible for players above level 60 to appear in Death Village. That muscular man with the scar could only be an NPC!

Players below level 60 couldn't possibly be that strong!

After the adventuring teams in Death Village and other acquainted players chatted privately, they were even more convinced of their guess—It really was the NPC who had saved them all!

What they overlooked was a detail... those who hadn't been saved were already dead and couldn't send private messages.

However... not everyone had misunderstood Sterl's identity.

On the southwest side of Death Village—

The team led by a young man with blue hair had been cornered against a wall made up of several residential buildings.

He stood in the forefront, blocking the monsters' charge, his once shiny shield now dented and severely worn, on the verge of falling apart.

Behind him, the mage, archer, and priest were sitting in a corner, out of breath. Their energy had been depleted, their supplies used up, leaving them without the ability to fight.

The female assassin, emanating a dark green glow, as a melee class, had accumulated several layers of the "plague" effect, barely clinging to life with some cheap health potions.

Ideally, the female assassin just needed to wait for the team's priest to recover energy to remove the abnormal status, but she seemed resigned to her fate.

It was too late!

Although the blue-haired young man was strong, even with the advantage of the terrain, facing the flood of monsters, he could last at most another dozen seconds.

Without this tank, the adventuring team would be wiped out in an instant.

"We've held on for so long, but to no avail, we're still going to die."

"Damn, the name Death Village is ominous to begin with. We must have been out of our minds to choose it as our main leveling ground."

"Let's go meet our end together., brothers!"

...

Several players faced their fate with calm, ready to embrace death. From the beginning, they had no hope of survival.

Even the priest made a joke, "Speaking of which, Philip Waldo is probably ahead of us on this path."

"Him going solo, he might have died before even encountering this map's anomaly."

The female assassin weakly agreed, "It just goes to show that him not teaming up with us was the right choice. Dead either way, why bother mixing with a bunch of strangers?"

The mage and archer also chimed in with their complaints, "Look at us, thinking about pulling someone else into this mess. We're all doomed!"

It took a full ten seconds or more for the members of the adventuring team to belatedly realize—

Philip Waldo wasn't here to save anyone. He was just passing by to grind mobs!

And then, the horde of monsters that threatened the lives of the adventuring team was annihilated with a single gesture from him.

"Maybe, we're just not on the same level as him."

"I even wanted to say thank you." the blue-haired young man said, stunned, ending with a bitter smile.

The other members of the team fell into silence.

Their previous scorn and mockery of "Philip Waldo," followed by the "surprise" of seeing him come to their rescue, now seemed utterly ridiculous.

The gap in levels was just too huge! Enemies that were easily annihilated by Philip Waldo were insurmountable obstacles for them, even at the cost of their lives!

No wonder he ignored their mockery earlier. Who cares about the opinions of ants?

Just like now, while Philip Waldo was farming monsters, he completely ignored the adventuring team. These players probably understood something—

Even for saving their lives, they weren't qualified to give thanks!

...

Sterl had no idea that his casual monster clearing had prompted the adventuring team he encountered earlier to reflect.

He ran all the way, and even with the enhanced energy and stamina recovery rates from the Star Domain, he couldn't keep it up after a long sprint.

Sterl could only find a spot to sit down and rest after clearing the area of monsters.

However, the thought of other places in Death Village still swarming with monsters, which he couldn't farm, made him feel a loss.

By the way, after joining the Spark Project, Sterl could now purchase some energy and stamina potions, but only at an intermediate base, and he didn't have time to go there at the moment.

In[Transcendence], the system for player interaction, the private messaging function could be used without restrictions except on special maps, but the mailing function required specific items.

Sterl couldn't ask Teresa to send him potions.

Of course, that being said.: humanity on Earth was relatively poor. The recovery potions stored by Teresa, considering Sterl's current pace of farming monsters in Death Village, wouldn't be enough anyway.

After resting for a while and feeling rejuvenated, Sterl stood up, a trace of worry in his expression.

Because the blood-red color in the sky above Death Village was gradually fading!

Sterl didn't know what this meant, but he feared it indicated that the monster respawn rate would slow down.

Without hesitation, he embarked on a second round of frenzied farming!

This time, Sterl hardly encountered any other players on the road. It seemed he was the only one left on the entire map.

So...

He freely unleashed his skills, turning areas that were extremely dangerous for other players into his personal playground.

As Death Village gradually returned to normal and the sky turned azure blue.

Sterl's experience bar skyrocketed!

When he released the Enchanting Fire for the last time, starlight splattered, and the monsters around him were shattered into pieces, while the residential houses in Death Village temporarily ceased producing monsters.

Sterl casually opened his attribute panel.

He had accumulated enough experience points to level up to level 30, allowing for a ten-level jump!