Rafam Continent, Hua Country War Zone

Once a player’s Level goes over Lv50, they have to leave White Tiger City and head to higher-level maps to grind mobs and level up.

After the [Great Rift Valley] battlefield opened, that obviously became the best choice for players to level and farm Equipment.

Only, because of that...

When almost everyone is flocking to the same place, the "too many monks, too little meat" situation naturally shows up.

It’s especially unfriendly for players with low damage.

After all, on the Battlefield, resource distribution is tightly tied to damage, Healing, and other factors.

So the Land of Extreme Cold became the second choice for players to level in this phase.

However, because of the Land of Extreme Cold’s special geographical location:

Not only is the journey long;

it also gathers Players from all Battle Zones across the World, a real mix of dragons and snakes.

Quite often, after a Player spends half a day getting to the Land of Extreme Cold, they get ambushed and grief-killed in the wild by other Players before they can even start leveling.

Totally not worth it.

This also scares off a large number of Ordinary players.

After ruling out those two optimal options, it’s obvious that the outdoor leveling spots within the Hua Country War Zone are much safer.

The XP here might not be as good as on Battlefields or in the Land of Extreme Cold.

But the grinding is stable, and nobody will bother you.

One of the best places for Lv50–Lv55 players to level is an island out in the North Sea called "Glanke."

Players who want to go there have to pass through Russell Harbor and ride an Airship straight there.

...

Glanke Island isn’t all sunshine, coconuts, and sea breeze like other islands.

The island is covered in dense pine forests and towering mountains.

Once you go deep inside, you won’t feel like you’re on an island at all.

The wild mobs on the island are:

Raging Jagged Rat Lv50

Long-armed Red Monkey Lv51

Sharp-beaked Sparrow Lv52

Pine Forest Guard Lv53

Vagabond Mage Lv54

Pine Forest Guardian Lv55 (BOSS)

Each type of wild mob corresponds to players of different Levels.

Glanke Island covers a huge area, and the mobs are spread very widely; it’s more than enough to meet most players’ leveling needs.

Once the number of players reaches a certain saturation, the system will also shard the instance, so you don’t need to worry about running out of mobs.

Nothing here has been abandoned just because the [Great Rift Valley] Battlefield opened.

Around the Hovercraft landing pad, a ton of Players are gathered, all kinds of voices buzzing in your ears.

Some are looking for parties:

Smiling Frog (Regional Channel): "Need 1 T (tank) to grind monkeys, plan is a full 5-hour run, looking for long-term partner with 3000+ physical defense."

Tingyu Pavilion Nightblade (Regional Channel): "Brute-force bird grind, 4=1, looking for a Group Attack Fire Mage with 30k+ Magic Damage, big healer already in, totally safe."

I Only Play Mage (Regional Channel): "Magic Damage 40k+ Group Attack Mage boosting bosses on rats, 50 gold/hour, drops rolled on, fair and just. Bosses who need it just join the party, we start when full."

Others are buying and selling Equipment:

People Are Not Sage (Regional Channel): "[Pine Forest Guard Exclusive Lv53], top-tier Exclusive for tank big shots, pay and it’s yours."

The Poor Monk Comes for Chicks (Regional Channel): "Selling Equipment [Sage’s Bracelet Lv51 Epic], [Red Flame Spear Lv53 Epic], [Mage Robe Lv50 Rare], great prices, PM me..."

Snow White Stewed Pear (Regional Channel): "Buying a Shield with dual defense 3000+ at high price, urgent!!!"

...

This place has basically turned into a mini marketplace, buzzing with activity.

In a corner nearby, a small party is gathered together.

The party looks to be seven or eight people, with multiple Professions and races such as: 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Winged Race Archer, Cyclops Race Berserker, Werewolf Race Assassin, Elf Race Priest and Archer, etc.

They’re a group of young men and women who look full of energy (except for that Cyclops Race Player—you really can’t tell with him...), and right now everyone’s wearing an excited expression, chattering away.

An Elf Race girl said with a face full of anticipation:

"This is my first time doing a ten-man dungeon, I’m so nervous!"

The others chimed in:

"Same here, same here."

"I heard rewards from hidden instances like this are super generous. Wonder if this ten-man will drop any Legendary Level Equipment."

"Wow, Legendary Level Equipment!"

"Right now a single piece of Legendary Equipment costs tens of thousands. If we get one drop, we’re rich."

Someone else scoffed:

"Legendary Level Equipment, my ass. Don’t daydream."

"Be happy if we see even an Epic drop. You really think Legendary Equipment is that easy to get?"

The others heard that and immediately felt like they’d been dreaming too big:

"True."

Just then, a Werewolf Player named "Shrimp Doesn’t Bullshit" looked over at the female Fire Mage beside him called "Eiffel" and said:

"Senior Eiffel."

"I wanted to ask, how are we distributing the drops from this run?"

Everyone fell silent as soon as they heard that.

After all, this was directly tied to whether they’d gain anything from this dungeon, so every single person looked nervously at the Fire Mage named "Eiffel."

It was obvious from this alone.

The proud-looking woman called "Eiffel" was the leader of this party.

Feeling everyone’s eyes on her, Eiffel seemed to thoroughly enjoy being in the spotlight, and put on an affected look as she said:

"Of course we’ll distribute by need. I’m very fair."

As soon as she said this, there was a low murmur from the crowd.

Fair?

A few people were grumbling in their hearts, but didn’t say anything out loud.

Generally speaking.

"Distribution by need" should count as a relatively fair way of splitting loot.

But for Players who’ve managed to reach this Level, not a single one of them is stupid.

Distribution by need looks fair on the surface, but in reality the final say on the Equipment still rests with the organizer.

Whether this method is fair or not depends entirely on the character of the person holding that power.

Once there are more than two Players of the same Profession, all the loot will first fall into her hands.

The final decision then lands in her hands.

In the end it’s still up to her—she can give it to whoever she feels like.

Based on what everyone knows about her, they weren’t holding out much hope she’d distribute things all that fairly.

In fact, for a temporary party like this, the most reasonable and most fair distribution method should be rolling dice.

Whoever rolls higher, gets the Equipment.

Whether you get something or not is pure luck; no one can complain.

If someone gets Equipment that doesn’t match their Profession, teammates can bid on it to buy it.

The price of the Equipment is usually set at over 30% below market, with a price cap.

And only Players of the same Profession as the Equipment can take part in the bidding, making it as fair as possible.

But since Eiffel was the first to discover this hidden dungeon, even though everyone had their own opinions, they couldn’t really say much.

Only a few who usually got along well with Eiffel couldn’t hide the joy on their faces.

Suddenly, a Winged Race girl in the party pointed into the distance, her face lighting up as she said:

"Look, it’s Senior Liang City."

Everyone was startled as soon as they heard that:

"Liang City?"

They all thought of the same person.

This Player called "Liang City" was a real big shot at their school.

Rumor had it he’d already become a Clan Leader in Heavenly Dao Alliance, a top-ten Guild (№.10) in the Hua Country War Zone, commanding thousands under him.

Following the sound, they all turned to look, and saw a man in a Flame Robe, with decent-looking features, striding towards them.

When this person appeared, the girl named Eiffel also flushed slightly.

Then she ran up to meet him, her face full of delight as she said:

"I knew you’d come, hehe~"

Liang City just looked expressionlessly at the girl in front of him, and replied politely:

"Mm."

Then his gaze swept across the crowd as he said:

"It’s just us?"

At this moment Eiffel still hadn’t picked up the subtext in his words, and only thought he was asking whether everyone had arrived.

Eiffel had been about to say yes.

But she realized something and hurriedly changed her words:

"Smiling Frog’s not here yet, Potato went to Russell Port to pick her up."

"They should be here soon."

Liang City nodded as if he understood:

"Alright."

"Then we’ll wait a bit."

Eiffel said shyly:

"Thank you, Senior Liang City."

Liang City was taken aback:

"Thank me for what?"

Eiffel snuck a glance at the underclassmen behind her who were busy whispering away, then said proudly:

"Thank you for being willing to take time out of your busy schedule to help me clear this dungeon."

Hearing this, the man called Liang City showed a half-smile, half-not smile and said:

"It’s fine."

"I just happen to be free anyway."

...

...

Meanwhile, at Russell Port north of White Tiger City

Ai Wen was standing at the harbor, looking around, as if she were waiting for something.

Before long, a voice suddenly came from behind her:

"You must be that ’Smiling Frog’, right?"

Ai Wen was immediately startled:

"Yah!"

But when she turned around, she didn’t see anyone at all, and asked in surprise:

"Where are you?"

Just then, Tiansi slowly revealed himself in front of her, putting on a gentlemanly air as he said:

"Hello! My name’s Tiansi."

"Nice to meet you."