113: Chapter 114 Server-wide Announcement, Martial Domain Ranking

"Wait! This commotion... is it a server-wide announcement?!"

Sure enough, the next second...

"Ding! It has been detected that a player has stepped into the Eighth-Rank Realm, and the number of Ninth-Grade players exceeds one hundred. The conditions for opening the Martial Domain Rankings have been met."

"Ding! The Martial Domain Rankings will officially open in one month. At that time, a new batch of game players will be recruited simultaneously, and special rewards will be distributed to the top one hundred players. The higher the ranking, the more generous the rewards. Please look forward to it!"

Then came another System prompt specifically for Lin Ye:

"Ding! As the first player to Breakthrough to Eighth-Grade Martial Artist, you are specially rewarded with a Cultivation Technique Selection Chest (Green) *1 and a player recruitment order *1."

"Recruiting new players again so soon?"

For some reason, Lin Ye felt that this time, the System was going to pull off something big.

The scale of the third batch of players would likely far exceed expectations.

Previously, whenever Lin Ye logged off, he would check the internet for any topics related to Martial Domain, but he always came up empty-handed.

Either the authorities were controlling public opinion, or the number of players in the first two batches was too small and everyone kept their mouths shut, preventing any large-scale discussion.

But regardless of which it was, as more and more players came into contact with the Martial Domain game, the real world was bound to be thrown into a massive upheaval.

Fortunately, there was still one month until the third recruitment, which translated to half a month in real-world time—enough for him to prepare for the upcoming changes.

"It seems it's time to head back to my hometown."

Looking at the player recruitment order he just received, combined with the one he had previously exchanged from the prestige shop, they could be used for his parents.

He hadn't used them before because he was afraid his parents would encounter danger after entering, and he was certain the System wouldn't prioritize recruiting people of his parents' generation.

But this time, Lin Ye didn't dare to gamble anymore.

Regardless, it was always good to give his parents a relatively perfect start.

Unfortunately, that Legendary recruitment order was far too expensive. There was no way he could gather that much prestige in a month, even if another ten beast tides occurred!

Putting the matter aside for now, Lin Ye then turned his attention to the Martial Domain Rankings.

Anyone who had played games knew that rankings were essentially designed to fuel players' competitiveness to rake in more money.

But the Martial Domain game didn't need to make money, so why create a ranking list specifically?

Could it be that players would compete against each other in the future, like in arena matches or something?

Lin Ye couldn't quite figure it out for the moment.

However, he was quite interested in the so-called special rewards.

For the System to use the word "special," the rewards definitely wouldn't be ordinary—at least not something like a Cultivation Technique chest.

Perhaps they were like talents and Life-Bound Weapons, enough to allow one to be Heaven-Defying and change their fate.

Although he didn't know the specific criteria for the Martial Domain Rankings, they were likely the usual ones: combat power, Realm, prestige, or a comprehensive score.

No matter which it was, Lin Ye was confident he could stand at the Peak of all players.

This confidence came from his Divine-Grade talent and Mythical Life-Bound Weapon.

Perhaps he wasn't the only player who had awakened a Divine-Grade talent, but judging from these two System announcements, he was consistently ahead of everyone else.

However, he wouldn't underestimate the rest of the world because of it.

Some people's talents might only start to show their strength in the mid-to-Late Stage, or they might be support-oriented talents like Zhu Ming's.

Either way, as long as the talent had the words "Divine-Grade" attached to it, it held the potential to reach the Peak of the martial path.

...

Thinking that Zhu Ming and the others would surely log off to discuss the System announcement, Lin Ye simply chose to exit the game as well.

As soon as he returned to reality, he heard Wang Hao cursing.

"Holy crap! I'm still stuck here miserably chopping trees, and someone has already broken through to the Eighth Rank?"

"Is he really that much of a freak? Could that kid be using cheats?"

Hearing Wang Hao call him a freak, Lin Ye was somewhat speechless.

What could he do? He couldn't exactly hold back and deliberately not Breakthrough, could he?

He can only blame Heaven Rewards Diligence for being too powerful.

As for cheating?

It's impossible for me, Lin Ye, to use cheats!

Seeing that everyone was present, the four of them held a brief meeting regarding the recent System announcement.

At the mention of this, Wang Hao once again launched a verbal assault on those ranked players, especially that Eighth-Rank player.

"If you ask me, their cultivation didn't come from any proper Dao. They probably popped some pills," Wang Hao said with absolute certainty.

Surprisingly, Wang Hao's guess was spot on this time.

Others might not know, but he himself had certainly taken plenty of medicine.

"Alright, let's not talk about that. By the way, how far have you all progressed in your Cultivate?" Lin Ye decisively ended the topic.

Upon hearing this, Wang Hao, who had looked bitter and resentful just a moment ago, immediately began to show off again.

"Hehe, my Blood-Vein Body Forging Technique has already reached the initial insight Realm, and my essence attribute has increased to 10 points!"

"With my talent's ten-fold strength boost, an ordinary Ninth-Grade Martial Artist wouldn't even be able to block one of my punches."

As he spoke, he blew on his fist, wearing the expression of a master who felt lonely at the top.

Unfortunately, no one paid him any attention.

"Cheng Yuan, what about you? How is your Cultivation Technique progress coming along?" Lin Ye turned to look at Cheng Yuan.

"I'm doing alright. With the boost from my Martial Saint talent, I've cultivated the Basic Breathing Method to the Flowing Water Realm, and my qi attribute has reached 8 points."

"However, I've kept your reminder in mind, Brother Ye, and haven't chosen to Breakthrough recklessly."

"I got a common-grade Body Tempering Method from the gang leader, and I'm almost at the proficient Realm."

"Mm, not bad. Steady and composed." Lin Ye was very satisfied with Cheng Yuan's attitude.

In fact, a fast Cultivate speed isn't necessarily a good thing.

Although it's unclear how many of the players who have already broken through to Ninth Grade have pushed their essence attribute to the limit, it's likely not many.

After all, the first batch of players has only been in the Martial Domain World for three months at most. Compared to the natives of the Martial Domain World who often take years or even over a decade to Breakthrough, the players' Cultivate time is truly insignificant.

As for why he could Breakthrough so quickly and steadily, it's entirely because the advantage of Heaven Rewards Diligence in the Cultivate aspect is too obvious, leaving other players far behind.

Moreover, if it hadn't been for Captain Zhao's reminder, he wouldn't have even thought about tempering his Physical Body Foundation.

The situation for other players is likely similar.

Except for those lucky ones who had a teacher from the start, and players like Wang Hao who are suited for the Physical Body tempering path.

Others might not realize the importance of the essence attribute at all and would likely blindly Cultivate Internal Skill Mind-Cultivation Techniques, just as Lin Ye did at first.

"Old Zhu, what about you?" Lin Ye looked at Zhu Ming again.

Compared to Wang Hao and Cheng Yuan, Zhu Ming's talent is at a disadvantage in terms of Cultivate; he probably only just developed a Sense of Qi.

However, Zhu Ming's next words gave Lin Ye a huge surprise!