I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

Li Wu closed the office door and sat down in the chair.

Quiet.

Finally, it's quiet.

He opened his attribute panel and looked at it carefully.

First, there's the level.

[Level: LV41 (12000/41000)]

He leveled up from level 40 to level 41. The experience points from killing monsters in Hellfire Citadel were substantial, and the 50,000 experience points from killing the Demon Overlord, plus the 100,000 experience points from the reward, directly propelled him past the level 41 threshold.

Then there are the attributes.

After adding 30 points to his free attribute in Intelligence, his stats looked like this:

Intelligence: 1704

[Mana Points: 35445/35445]

If you had this much mana when fighting the warlord, you wouldn't have ended up with only 300 left.

But this kind of thinking is meaningless. When fighting the warlord, that's the amount of mana you have, and that's it. Hindsight is no use.

Physical Attack: 458

[Magic Attack: 2462]

My magic attack is almost 2,500.

Li Wu stared at the number for a few seconds.

His intelligence was already quite high when he was grinding stats in Arcane Archer's Tower. Now, with the attribute points from world events and the stats absorbed by [Soul of Fortune] during his fight his way to the top of Hellfire Citadel, his intelligence is even higher.

Speaking of the Soul of Devouring Fortune.

Li Wu thought of that thing.

He opened his backpack and took out the teardrop-shaped crimson gem.

Essence of God's Blood!

It was found in a silver box dropped after killing the Demon Overseer in Hellfire Citadel. Its quality was indicated by three question marks, and its purpose was listed as "unknown".

But from the moment he obtained this thing, the Soul of Devouring Fortune within him never stopped stirring.

Now no one is bothering us.

Li Wu placed the gemstone in her palm and closed her eyes.

The Soul of Devouring Fortune reacted more violently than he had expected. It wasn't the lukewarm pulsation he had experienced when absorbing monster energy before, but rather an almost frantic craving.

It's like someone who's been starving for three days seeing a Manchu Han Imperial Feast.

A system notification popped up.

High-order source energy detected.

[Should the talent [Soul Devourer] be allowed to absorb?]

[WARNING: This operation is irreversible.]

Li Wu didn't hesitate and clicked "yes" directly.

The next second, the crimson gem in his palm shattered.

It didn't shatter in a physical sense; instead, it transformed into a silver stream of light that flowed into Li Wu's body through his palm.

pain.

It wasn't a physical pain, but a throbbing, aching sensation seeping from the very bones, as if something was rampaging through every vein and meridian, trying to find an exit.

Li Wu gritted his teeth, braced his hands on the table, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

The properties panel is starting to become blurry.

The line of text in the talent bar, 【Devouring Soul (Epic - Blue)】, is becoming increasingly faint and unclear, as if someone has erased it.

Then, the first system notification sounded.

【Ding! 】

Your talent [Soul of Destiny] Epic (Azure) has completed its transformation!

[Current Rating: Legendary (Purple)!]

Legendary!

Before Li Wu could even see the specific changes, the second notification came immediately.

【Ding! 】

[The legendary (purple) talent [Soul of Devouring Fortune] has detected excessive source energy that has not been fully consumed...]

[Second Transformation Triggered!]

[Current Rating: Mythical (Gold)!]

Li Wu froze in his chair.

He was promoted two ranks.

Jumping directly from epic to mythology.

One of the legendary figures didn't even pause for more than two seconds before being forcefully pushed into the mythical realm by that silver energy.

The pain vanished in that instant, replaced by a profound sense of clarity and well-being. Every pore opened, every meridian was unblocked, and the efficiency of the arcane energy flow within the body increased by at least 30%.

Li Wu took a deep breath and paused for about ten seconds.

Then open the talent panel.

The golden lettering was dazzlingly bright.

[Talent: Soul of Destiny]

[Rating: Mythical (Gold) (Potential for Growth)]

[Type: Unique Growth Game]

[Effect 1: After killing or participating in the killing of any living being, you can absorb its dissipated life energy and permanently convert it into your own [Luck] and [Intelligence] attributes.]

[Effect 2 (New): Fate Perception. You possess a natural sensitivity to rules related to "luck" and "probability," and can instinctively detect favorable or unfavorable probability fluctuations.]

Li Wu gasped.

Li Wu looked down at his palm. The silver light had completely dissipated, but the feeling of clarity remained. He could feel the presence of the Devouring Soul within him becoming more vivid, like a colossal beast that had finally awakened after many years of slumber, stretching out its claws.

"Mythical level..."

He murmured a sentence, and even he felt it was a little unreal.

What should we do next?

The answer is obvious: grinding monsters.

Massively, frantically, and relentlessly kill monsters.

Every monster that dies at his hands makes him stronger.

Li Wu leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. He needed to find a place with a high enough monster density, a level that matched his own, and where he wouldn't be disturbed by other players.

There are several such areas on Hua Zitong's map.

Just as he was about to open the map to study it, the communication panel suddenly flashed.

Hua Zitong's emergency communication.

He glanced at it and answered.

"Li Wu, come to the conference room quickly."

Hua Zitong's tone was off; it wasn't her usual confident tone, but rather something he rarely heard from her.

A sense of urgency.

"Something terrible has happened."

Li Wu put away the talent panel and pushed open the office door.

……

When the meeting room door was opened, there were already seven or eight people standing inside.

Hua Zitong stood in front of the magic sand table, with Lin Hai beside her. Immovable Mountain and Steel Shield had just returned from the battlefield, their armor still stained with demon blood.

Ink marks, night wind, and the chasing wind are also present.

Everyone's expression was grim.

As Li Wu walked in, the first thing he saw was the changes on the sand table.

A miniature panoramic map of District 21 floats above the sand table, with each area marked by color—green for safe zones, yellow for neutral zones, and red for danger zones.

Now, red occupies almost two-thirds of the entire map.

And it's still spreading.

"What's going on?"

Hua Zitong turned around and said in a low voice, "After the world event ended, the monster spawning mechanism in the Origin Realm malfunctioned."

"What's the problem?"

"The refresh rate has increased at least fivefold." Hua Zitong pointed to several flashing red dots on the sand table. "In the Cursed Lands, Stranglethorn Vale, Undead Bulwark, Tanaris, and all areas above level 35, the number of monsters is skyrocketing. More importantly—"

She paused for a moment.

"The monsters have started actively attacking the edge of the safe zone. The patrolling NPCs around Ironforge have already fought off the charging monsters. Although they have held their ground for now, at this rate of spread, the monster horde will reach the main city gates in less than three days."

The meeting room was quiet.

His face, as immovable as a mountain, bore several untreated wounds, and his voice was hoarse.

"Guild Master, I just returned from the Cursed Lands. The situation there is even worse than what was shown on the sand table. When our Second Regiment retreated, although the demons near the spatial rift had dissipated, the newly spawned monsters had taken over all the vacated territory. There were at least a thousand level 45 elite ghouls in hordes."

Steel Shield chimed in, "The same goes for Stranglethorn Vale. When we left, elite succubi above level 40 had already started moving towards the town. The NPC guards at Windrunner Market are putting up a resistance, but I doubt they'll hold out for long."

Lin Hai rubbed his hands together, asking, "What's the reaction from the major guilds?"

"They're all retreating." Night Wind's voice came from the corner. "The Ironblood Alliance has ordered all members to retreat to Ironforge and forbids anyone from leaving the city. Sword and Rose are in a similar situation; Sword Pointing at Rose has sent a full-channel message advising all players to temporarily avoid confrontation."

"What about the other smaller guilds?"

"Some have run away, some have scattered. The forums are in an uproar. Some say it's a system bug, some say it's a harbinger of a new world event, but whatever the case..." Night Breeze paused, "No one dares to leave the city."