53: The competition begins

On the black iron plate in Li Changkong's hand, the number of kills and the points obtained were displayed.

The Poison Lizards he had just killed provided Li Changkong with about three hundred points.

After killing this group of Poison Lizards, Li Changkong began to search for other monster groups.

Given Li Changkong's current strength, killing monsters between Rank 20 and Rank 30 should be the most worthwhile.

These monsters could be instantly killed, which saved Li Changkong's time, and there were also many of them.

Originally, there was only Li Changkong here, but as the students from outside entered, the number of students here also increased.

After the number of students increased, the advantage of this place as a leveling spot was significantly diminished.

Where there are people, there are disputes, and Li Changkong did not want to have any conflicts with those students, as it would only waste his time.

So, after seeing the crowd grow, he began to look for new leveling grounds.

Of course, Li Changkong basically did not let go of any monsters he encountered along the way.

With the help of Black Flame, those Yao Beasts were quickly dealt with.

At this moment, a team in the distance seemed to have noticed the anomaly on this side and all cast their gazes over.

"Did I just see things? Did that person's summoned creature instantly kill that entire group of monsters?"

"That group was Centipede Myriapods, their Rank should be around 25. Is his personal strength that terrifying?"

"Perhaps we saw wrong. The ones he killed shouldn't have been Centipede Myriapods, otherwise, how could he be a lone player?"

...

The last sentence, when spoken, made many people believe it.

In their eyes, the reason lone players were lone players was that only those rejected by teams would become lone players.

Anyone who could form a team would definitely form one here.

From the rules of this event, it was clear that it was specifically designed for them to form teams.

Currently, players were not fighting each other in the early stage of the game, but once the mission time arrived, it was estimated that player-versus-player combat would begin.

At that time, players with teams would definitely have a greatly increased survival rate.

However, lone players like him would definitely be targeted first.

At that point, let alone achieving good results in this Secret Realm, even surviving would be difficult.

They only looked at Li Changkong twice before quickly averting their gaze, no longer paying him any attention.

Li Changkong, on the other side, had already moved away from the volcano.

Li Changkong could also feel that this Secret Realm seemed extremely vast.

After passing through the volcano, he arrived in a forest.

The number of players here was much smaller; most players were gathered near the volcano.

As soon as he stepped into the forest, Li Changkong encountered a pack of wolves.

These were a group of Rank 30 Copper-Headed Wolves, whose strength was considerably greater than the monsters in the volcano.

But even these Copper-Headed Wolves did not slow Li Changkong's pace much.

This beginner's competition was a total of eight hours, and they would certainly have to achieve a sufficiently high score within these eight hours.

...

The entire beginner's competition had been recorded.

Outside, many third-year and fourth-year students were gathered, staring intently at the screen.

They were also very curious about the true strength of this year's junior students.

Next to the screen was a points leaderboard, displaying the competition's scores in real-time.

"These new students seem to have too much aggression. The competition has just begun, and there are already humans fighting each other."

"Their strength isn't that great either, mostly around Rank 20, and some even Rank 13 or 14."

"The most pitiful should be the Fire Institute. As soon as this competition began, the Fire Institute disciples were besieged."

...

Everyone looked at the distant screen and began to whisper softly.

For them, this annual gossip event was naturally something they couldn't miss.

This first beginner's competition was always used to temper the sharpness of these new students.

These new students were absolutely like stars surrounded by the moon in their own cities and academies.

But now that they had come to Shenhua Academy, their status was as if they had fallen from the sky to the ground.

The Geniuses of yesteryear were now lost among the common crowd.

Some would even fall to the last few Ranks in the rankings.

It was this kind of contrast that many new students could not bear.

Some, with weaker psychological resilience, had even gone mad in the past.

"No, look at Li Changkong, who is currently ranked first. He seems to be a lone player."

Just then, a student suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone's gazes simultaneously turned towards the first place on the leaderboard.

Everyone else's points were basically in the hundreds, but Li Changkong had reached over two thousand.

And there was no team displayed next to Li Changkong's name, which indicated that he was a lone player.

"A lone player like him probably has some special monster-grinding method or skill, which is why he can grow so quickly."

"By the Late Stage of the competition, no matter how outstanding a lone player like him is, he'll just be giving points to others."

"And this person seems to be from the Fire Institute. He's probably especially outstanding in some ability."

...

The students didn't care about this at all and quickly shifted their gazes away from the first-place individual.

Li Changkong, still in the Secret Realm, naturally did not know everything that was happening outside. Another wild wolf fell before him.

Just as Li Changkong was about to continue searching for monster groups, he suddenly heard human voices from a distance.

After all, an hour had passed, so other human teams had arrived here.

Upon hearing human voices, Qian Shuo was originally preparing to leave first.

But before he could take a few steps, he was directly called out by someone behind him.

"Are you a lone player? How about joining our team?"

The speaker was a Warrior, and the thick armor on his body indicated he was a Heavy Armor Warrior.

"Not interested. My strength is too low."

Li Changkong looked at the Warrior and said casually.

"Don't worry, you don't need to do anything. You just need to stand in front and attract those monsters."

"Then we can give you one-tenth of the total points."

The Heavy Armor Warrior looked at Li Changkong and invited him again.

However, his attitude was extremely arrogant, appearing condescending.