Heroes' Prison

Chapter 853 - 807: Sudden Change! A World-Shocking Level!

Then, the name of Chess Saint suddenly disappeared!

Huang Yi was startled and glanced at the 52nd rank on the leaderboard again.

But now, Chess Saint’s name was no longer there. He checked the adjacent rankings, but Chess Saint’s name was nowhere to be found!

The two characters "Chess Saint" seemed to have vanished into thin air!

At that moment, Huang Yi’s eyes unintentionally caught a glimpse of the first spot on the level leaderboard.

He felt there was something unusual about that position.

The first rank used to have three characters—it was Yang Yuheng.

However, in that fleeting moment, he noticed the first-ranked name had become two characters instead!

When he took a proper look, his eyelid twitched wildly!

Right there, on the top of the global level leaderboard, two bold characters were written—Chess Saint!

And his level had changed to 199!

199! This was a level that no one had ever reached before, the closest milestone to the Heavenly Realm!

Meanwhile, the second rank, Yang Yuheng, was still at Level 198!

The gap between them had suddenly grown immense!

"Little Fish, the level leaderboard has changed!" Huang Yi took a deep breath and turned to Zu Zaiyu.

Hearing this, Zu Zaiyu quickly opened the level leaderboard to take a look. Instantly, his expression shifted drastically, and he exclaimed, "Chess Saint, how did he get to the top! Wasn’t he at Level 197? How did he jump to Level 199 in one go?!"

"Demon Core!" Huang Yi uttered two words with a weighty tone, "He must have just used the 197-Level and 198-Level Demon Cores consecutively, instantly boosting himself to Level 199!"

Zu Zaiyu immediately realized this as well, and he dumbfoundedly remarked, "They actually managed to acquire both the 197-Level and 198-Level Demon Cores! Top-level Holy Domain Demon Cores are priceless, you can’t even buy them! Thus far, only in the Central Continent have we heard of any top-level Demon Cores being produced, and even then, they appear only sporadically. Yet, they managed to get two of them!"

"In the past, it might have been difficult, but now it’s not as unattainable." Huang Yi shook his head. He had personally been to the Desolate Demon Lands and knew that many players were already above Level 190, capable of hunting the powerful Level 190-plus demons there.

"But there’s still one issue!" Zu Zaiyu, quick-witted as ever, immediately thought of a question. "If he had a 197-Level Demon Core, why didn’t he use it as soon as he reached Level 197? He’s been at that level for several days now!"

"That’s easy to explain. It was to accumulate experience points faster!" Huang Yi, having used Demon Cores many times before and being highly experienced, quickly provided an answer. "At Level 197, his gap with regular players wasn’t that wide, so he could gain more experience points by killing players during the national war. If he jumped to Level 199 too early, the level gap between him and other players would grow too large, and he’d earn much fewer experience points from killing them. So, he capitalized on his time at Level 197 to farm as much experience as possible."

Huang Yi then recalled what he had seen on the leaderboard earlier and explained, "I just saw that he was incredibly close to hitting Level 198. It’s highly likely that he used the Demon Core when his experience points were at 99% for Level 197! By doing so, he would have a substantial jumpstart in experience points after reaching Level 199, bringing him extremely close to Level 200. To upgrade from Level 197 to 198 requires a bit over 200 million experience points, while going from Level 199 to 200 needs 300 million points. If he used both Demon Cores at the 200 million mark, then he’d now be at Level 199 with an additional 200 million experience points. That means he only needs another 100 million to hit Level 200 and ascend to the Heavenly Realm!"

"What should we do now? If Chess Saint reaches the Heavenly Realm, we’re done for! Even if Dao Feng comes back, we can’t compete—none of us are a match for a Heavenly Realm player! Chess Saint will immediately become the world’s number-one expert!" Zu Zaiyu raised his head to look at Huang Yi, slightly flustered. Being younger, he instinctively sought reassurance from Huang Yi in such an urgent situation.

Huang Yi extended a big, warm hand to ruffle Zu Zaiyu’s hair. Speaking quickly, he said, "Don’t panic. It’s not over until the very end. Never give up prematurely. For now, we must race against time and take three measures to win back some time. First, I’ll personally approach Yang Yuheng and get him to contest Chess Saint for the top spot on the leaderboard! Second, you immediately contact Gentleman, Sunset, and Knight, rallying the army to head to the Night Rain Eastcoming Guild’s battlefield and block Desire Arises from the Heart from feeding kills to Chess Saint! Third, notify our organization to release the video exposing Desire Arises from the Heart colluding with T.N.T, so everyone learns his true nature! This video was supposed to be a backup plan, but we have no choice but to use it now!"

"Understood! On it!" Zu Zaiyu rushed off in a whirlwind!

Meanwhile, Huang Yi headed straight to find Yang Yuheng.

Yang Yuheng had also formed a guild called Light of Draenei, but it was a neutral guild that had not joined the battlefield.

As the leader of the Draenei Race, Yang Yuheng had players from the Draenei faction among the invaders as well. If he joined the national war, he would inevitably face his own people in life-and-death situations.

Due to this delicate position, Yang Yuheng, despite being a top expert, had abstained from the battlefield and instead focused on leveling up in the Tower of Pantheons. Fortunately, the Tower’s accelerated leveling system allowed him to progress quickly, despite missing out on the experience farming from killing enemy players in battle.

This time, Huang Yi’s goal was to forcibly pull this detached individual into the fray.

Huang Yi messaged Yi Feng, the Hero Guild’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, instructing him to arrange for diplomatic players to contact Light of Draenei on his behalf and set up a meeting with Yang Yuheng.

Just seventeen minutes later, Huang Yi stood outside the council chamber of Light of Draenei, face-to-face with Yang Yuheng!

"God of Slaughter, what an honored guest! Please, come in and have a seat!" Yang Yuheng had been waiting outside to greet him personally. Despite knowing that Huang Yi was a criminal from the Rose Prison, he showed no signs of hostility.

In his thirties, Yang Yuheng wore a priest’s robe—a rare sight for a male priest. He was thick-browed, sharp-featured, gentle, and approachable, exuding a warm and friendly demeanor.

However, deep within his eyes lay a trace of melancholy, as though weighed down by unseen sorrow.

"Yang Yuheng, you must have heard by now: Chess Saint has overtaken you and reached Level 199!" Huang Yi got straight to the point, not even bothering to enter the council chamber as he launched directly into business.

"Yes, I just saw it on the leaderboard," Yang Yuheng nodded, the shadow in his eyes clearly tied to this issue.

"Good, let’s be frank." Huang Yi kept it concise. "You should already be aware of my identity; I’m backed by the Freedom Organization. We possess extensive intelligence, including the video evidence of Desire Arises from the Heart colluding with both the World Federation and T.N.T. We also know he’s been feeding kills to Chess Saint on the Night Rain Eastcoming Guild’s battlefield, helping him rush toward Level 200. Right now, you are the only player capable of competing with Chess Saint. If you join the Hero Legion immediately, I’ll give you an opportunity to contest Chess Saint for the first Level 200 Honor."

"Desire Arises from the Heart is a traitor?" Startled, Yang Yuheng asked in shock.

"Indeed! We’re publishing the evidence on the forums soon; you’ll have no doubt about it. There’s no time to hesitate—every second you spend deliberating brings Chess Saint closer to Level 200. He’s gaining experience points every moment, faster than anyone else. Decide quickly!" Huang Yi nodded, urging him further.

Yang Yuheng pursed his lips, hesitating. "But I’m only halfway to Level 199 with 44% experience, and he’s already reached Level 199. How can I possibly catch up?"

Huang Yi flipped his hand, revealing a thumb-sized, semi-transparent black bead, and handed it to Yang Yuheng, saying, "This is my token of sincerity: it will give you the qualification to compete with Chess Saint in reaching Level 200 first."

Taking the bead, Yang Yuheng inspected it closely. His eyes widened in shock the next moment as he exclaimed, "A 199-Level Demon Core!"

"Precisely! Reaching Level 199 is essentially equivalent to hitting Level 200! With this, what reason do you still have to hesitate? Once you become the first at Level 200, you’ll earn a bit of National Honor Points. Combining this with your existing two points, you’ll only need one more point to unlock a Name Bestowing—and once you have that, the possibility of becoming a hero opens up, with a future full of promise!" Huang Yi laid out the string of benefits.

"Alright!" Yang Yuheng no longer hesitated and joined the Hero Legion on the spot!

This marked the recruitment of yet another top-tier player for the Hero Legion—a figure with immense influence!

Yang Yuheng wasn’t just the leader of the Draenei Race; he was also a beacon for casual players. His inclusion in the Hero Legion carried significant weight!

"Good! Start leveling immediately! Spare no effort—level up as quickly as you can. The question now is whether you can reach Level 199 first, or if Chess Saint will get to Level 200 before you!" Huang Yi patted Yang Yuheng on the shoulder as he spoke.

"Got it! I’m heading to the Tower of Pantheons now. I can level up faster there than on the battlefield!" With those words, Yang Yuheng vanished before Huang Yi’s eyes, using his Teleportation Skill to travel instantly.

After pondering for a moment, Huang Yi messaged Little Riddler, the Hero Guild’s Logistics Minister, saying, "Locate any items that can accelerate battlefield leveling at all costs and set them aside as a backup for Yang Yuheng!"

The Tower of Pantheons had daily usage limits. Yang Yuheng might not be able to reach Level 199 purely within the Tower and would still need to rely on battlefield kills to progress. Huang Yi needed to prepare additional measures to improve his odds.

From now on, Huang Yi’s focus was entirely on supporting Yang Yuheng!

In the past, whenever crises arose, Huang Yi himself would take the lead in contending against adversaries, always the eternal protagonist of the battlefield and the heart of the world’s attention!

But this time, he was stepping into the background, dedicating himself fully to aiding Yang Yuheng in achieving victory!

This time, he was playing the supporting role, while Yang Yuheng took center stage!