novelraw Chapter 171, Grinding Experience, But not for Him? (2)
Chapter 171, Grinding Experience, But not for Him? (2)
One Week Later
.
.
The clusters he was working through in the second week were the same populations he had been clearing continuously since the binding began, the Allheaven Expanse’s monster density respawning through the reset cycles that governed each island cluster’s population respawn. The replenishment was not as fast as the clearing, which meant the first week’s work had reduced the available density in the zones he had been working, requiring him to expand the operational range to maintain the kill volume per hour.
He had expanded into the upper mid-atmospheric zones, where the monster level brackets shifted upward and the population density was lower but the experience per kill was higher. The trade-off produced a roughly equivalent EXP output per hour to the denser lower zones.
He moved through the upper mid-atmospheric zone at the pace that had become habitual over the week, the rhythm of clearing and traversing and clearing again so established that the body executed it without requiring conscious decisions about each individual step.
---
[Starborn Predator ×8 | Level 165]
---
[Starborn Predator ×8 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +49,200 × 8 = +393,600]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +3,936,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
---
[Celestial Dreadhorn ×13 | Level 158 — Rare Elite]
---
[Celestial Dreadhorn ×13 Defeated — Rare Elite Bonus ×13]
[EXP Gained: +54,800 × 13 = +712,400]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +7,124,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
---
[Heaven’s Warden | Level 176 — Cluster Guardian]
HP: 428,000 / 428,000
---
[Heaven’s Warden Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +172,000 — All Bonuses Applied]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +1,720,000,000]
[Cluster Reward — Celestial Jade ×1000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
[Notification: Cang Yutian — Level Up!]
[Cang Yutian: Level 240 → Level 241]
---
He stopped.
Not physically, he was mid-traversal and the Heaven Step carried through to the landing point automatically. But in the processing sense, the notification produced a pause that the physical momentum didn’t share.
Level 241. The binding had generated enough experience in the first week and the beginning of the second to push the watcher through the first threshold above 240. The threshold had been consumed. One down, nine remaining.
He opened his own panel.
Level 230. The bar showed no progress. No accumulated experience waiting to convert to advancement. The EXP field showed zero because every unit of experience he had generated since the binding activated had been routed to Cang Yutian’s counter rather than his own.
He closed the panel.
He moved to the next cluster.
---
[Void Stalker ×22 | Level 152 — Elite Pack]
---
Wide arc. All twenty-two.
---
[Void Stalker ×22 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +27,600 × 22 = +607,200]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +6,072,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
---
[Ashenveil Predator ×16 | Level 158]
---
[Ashenveil Predator ×16 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +34,400 × 16 = +550,400]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +5,504,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
---
[Nebula Titan ×9 | Level 163]
---
[Nebula Titan ×9 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +48,800 × 9 = +439,200]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +4,392,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
[Notification: Cang Yutian — EXP Progress Updated]
[Cang Yutian Level 241 — EXP Accumulated: 41,200,000,000 / Threshold Unknown]
---
He looked at the accumulated total for Cang Yutian’s current level. Forty-one billion accumulated, threshold unknown. The level 241 to 242 threshold was consuming more than the 240 to 241 had, the exponential cost curve at the Deity tier steeper than anything in the mortal classification range had been. This was expected. But the ratio of what each kill produced to what the threshold consumed needed to be managed. If the thresholds above 241 were proportionally larger relative to his output rate, the one month he had been given might not be enough.
He needed higher-yield targets.
He thought about the volcanic basin. Thirty thousand Furious Flame Lions at level 145 had pushed him through multiple levels in under ten minutes.
The basin had respawn since he last cleared it. He had not returned because the monster population there was lower-level than the mid-atmospheric zones he had been working, and the experience per individual kill was lower accordingly.
But thirty thousand simultaneous kills at any level produced a number that volume compensated for individual kill value.
He activated Heaven Step and oriented toward the volcanic formation.
[Furious Flame Lion ×30,000+ | Level 145]
He released Celestial Sword Qi in All-Points mode.
[Furious Flame Lion ×28,640 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +20,200 × 28,640 = +578,528,000]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +5,785,280,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
[Notification: Cang Yutian — Level Up!]
[Cang Yutian: Level 241 → Level 242]
The basin clearing had consumed the 241 to 242 threshold entirely and pushed into the 242 to 243 accumulation. He looked at the notification. Then at the empty basin, the lions gone, the channels still running, the spiritual energy column absent because he had taken the halo from this place already and the column had been the halo’s output.
He stood in the empty basin and thought about the remaining time.
One month. Nine levels remaining. The thresholds were growing. The volcanic basin cleared once produced enough to consume one level. The basin would replenish in a few days. Between replenishments, the mid-atmospheric cluster work needed to sustain the accumulation.
It was possible. The arithmetic was tight but not impossible.
He activated Heaven Step and left the basin, moving back to the cluster zones.
The mark on his forehead was warm.
His level panel said 230.
He moved to the next kill.
[Crimson Tide Drake ×14 | Level 161]
[Crimson Tide Drake ×14 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +42,600 × 14 = +596,400]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +5,964,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
The notification appeared below the standard transfer confirmation.
[Notification: Cang Yutian — EXP Progress Updated]
[Cang Yutian Level 242 — EXP Accumulated: 12,840,000,000 / Threshold Unknown]
He kept moving.
The Allheaven Expanse spread out around him in every direction, vast and indifferent, the astral rivers moving on their slow cycles, the island formations drifting on their fixed currents. Somewhere in the upper atmospheric layer, Cang Yutian was at his post beside the thunder dragon, the ten Buddha wheels cycling at their standard rate, the level counter in his panel moving for the first time in a considerable period.
Lin Yi was the mechanism of that movement. The slave mark routing everything he produced toward the agreement’s terms. The agreement whose terms were survival if successful and death if not.
He activated Heaven Step.
He moved to the next kill.
And the next.
And the next after that.