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

Fourth day.

Li Wu's training plan has been officially upgraded.

In the morning, he continued to lead the team to grind monsters and level up in the same way as before, maintaining efficiency.

In the afternoon, he switched to one-on-one training.

The method is simple—each combatant must face a level 35 elite sand scorpion alone and kill it within the specified time.

The priest, on the other hand, ensured his own immortality!

Melee classes like warriors and rogues are relatively easy to deal with, as they have sufficient damage and survivability. Although they are not fast fighters, they can generally finish the fight within the time limit.

The bull, relying on the burst damage of its warhammer and combined with rolling and dodging, took down one in about forty seconds.

Mad Blade is faster, thirty-five seconds.

His dual-wielding attack speed is extremely high, and his combos are seamless with no unnecessary movements.

Needless to say, he is as immovable as a mountain. He doesn't pursue speed, but he can stand and fight a level 35 elite for five minutes without losing any health. He is terrifyingly stable.

Because of its slightly lower level, the anchor was more difficult to hit, but it was eventually completed within fifty seconds.

Chasing Wind is an archer, giving him a natural advantage in distance. He used mobile shooting and trap control to keep the sand scorpions out of his sight, ending the battle swiftly and decisively in forty seconds.

As a mage, Mohen uses ice-based control combined with burst damage, lasting twenty-eight seconds.

Hua Zitong took thirty seconds. Her burst damage hadn't been fully developed during the adaptation period, but her operational awareness was extremely sophisticated, and her accuracy in dodging the BOSS's skills was higher than most melee fighters.

The two priests who truly encountered difficulties were Seven-Stringed Glass and Star.

Priests are pure healing classes, and their attack output is the lowest of all classes.

Qixian Liuli fought the sand scorpion for a full minute and twenty seconds before finally killing it. The process wasn't exactly graceful, but her strength lay in her composure.

While slowly whittling down the Sand Scorpion's health with Holy Light Bullets, I used Purify and Slow skills to control its movement, always keeping it at a safe distance.

"Pass." Li Wu's evaluation was concise.

Qixian Liuli breathed a sigh of relief.

Then it's the stars' turn.

Xingchen stood in front of the Sand Scorpion, his palms sweating profusely.

His performance revealed his problems once the battle began.

He was too hasty.

He immediately focused on dealing damage, neglecting positioning and control. As a result, the Sand Scorpion charged at him, startling him into taking three steps back and causing him to miss his Holy Light Bullet.

Then came a series of frantic actions.

He hadn't figured out the correct way for a priest to solo monsters—not to focus on damage output, but on sustain and control.

A minute and a half later, Xingchen's blue bar was depleted, and his health bar had been bitten by the sand scorpion, losing more than half of it.

"Stop." Li Wu made his move, instantly killing the sand scorpion with a single arrow.

Xingchen stood there, her face flushed, head bowed, saying nothing.

"Do you know where the problem lies?" Li Wu asked him.

"I...I was too hasty."

"It's not just about being impatient." Li Wu walked up to him. "Your strategy from the very beginning was wrong. A priest fighting a monster alone can't be thinking about killing it quickly. Your damage is limited; you can't increase it by being impatient. What you should be doing is..."

Xingchen thought for a moment: "Control the rhythm?"

"Yes. Your first priority is to stay alive. Use slow, fear, and silence to reduce the monster's combat power to the minimum, then slowly whittle it down. You have healing skills, so as long as your mana doesn't run out, you won't die. If you run out of mana, use potions, and in between potions, use crowd control skills to buy time."

"If one and a half minutes isn't enough, play for two minutes; if two minutes isn't enough, play for three minutes. As long as you wear down the monster to death in the end, you win."

Xingchen listened attentively, then nodded vigorously.

"I'll try again."

"it is good."

Li Wu lured over another sand scorpion.

This time, Xingchen's playing style has completely changed.

Instead of focusing on dealing damage, he first used Fear to scare away the sand scorpions and create distance. Then he used Healing Continuous to buff himself, and when he had some free time, he would cast Holy Light.

When the sand scorpion charges, slow it down. Once the slow effect ends, use Fear. When Fear is off cooldown, run around the rocks.

Although his performance was incredibly poor, he did manage to stay composed.

Two minutes and ten seconds later, the sand scorpion collapsed.

"How did it go this time?" Xingchen asked Li Wu nervously.

"To live is to win," Li Wu said.

Xingchen let out a long breath, then smiled.

Qixian Liuli, who was next to her, also laughed.

She knew that a time of two minutes and ten seconds was nothing to a skilled player. But for a priest, being able to solo a level 35 elite without falling below the safe health threshold was already quite remarkable.

Over the next two days, Li Wu led the team to grind monsters during the day, practiced one-on-one combat in the afternoon, and conducted tactical simulations at night.

The intensity was so great that everyone felt their energy levels plummeting.

But the effect is immediate.

By the end of the fourth day, everyone except Star and Anchor had reached level 34.

And Li Wu himself—

Level 37!

He always used the breaks others took to grind monsters. While others were online for eight hours, he was online for twelve. While others slept, he would go deep into the desert alone to clear out groups of level 36 monsters.

Hua Zitong reminded him to pay attention to his energy level more than once, and Li Wu always replied with the same answer: "It's enough."

The morning of the fifth day.

Li Wu led his team to a new area.

The terrain here is different from the previous yellow sand desert—it is a rugged stone forest, with huge rock pillars rising from the sand, closely spaced and limiting the field of vision.

"Scorpion Valley," Hua Zitong said, "the gateway area to Zul'Farrak. From here on, the monster levels are between 35 and 37, and there will be scorpion patrols."

"Patrol team?" he asked, his voice steadfast and alert.

"Yes. They're not monsters that spawn at fixed times, but rather squads of scorpion-men that patrol along fixed routes. Each squad has five to eight scorpions, closely packed together, and a leader. If you're not careful and they spot you, the entire patrol will pounce on you."

"Wouldn't that make it easy to get surrounded?" Bull frowned.

"That's right. So when leveling up in this area, the most important thing isn't damage, but pulling monsters and positioning."

Hua Zitong looked at Li Wu.

"How do you plan to fight?"

Li Wu glanced at the surrounding stone forest terrain and remained silent for a few seconds.

"I'll go in first and scout ahead. You all wait here."

"Alone?" Steel Shield instinctively wanted to say something, but then shut his mouth.

It would indeed be very dangerous for someone else to go in alone.

But for Li Wu—

The level 37 monsters in the desert are no different from the wild chickens by the roadside.

Li Wu disappeared into the stone forest.

Five minutes later, his voice came through the guild channel.

"The route is planned. The first group will come in first and follow the marks I left with my arrows. The second group will wait at the entrance until the first group is in position before entering."

"receive!"

Steel Shield led the first group into the stone forest.

They soon spotted the mark left by Li Wu—ordinary energy arrows stuck in the stone wall, emitting a faint glow that stood out conspicuously in the dark stone forest.

After walking about 300 meters along the arrow marks, the view suddenly opened up.

They arrived at an open space surrounded by stone pillars.

On the open ground, the corpses of seven level 35 scorpion soldiers were neatly arranged.

It was still steaming.

"This..." Steel Shield opened his mouth.

Li Wu stood in the center of the open space, his bow still inside.

"This will be our first monster-hunting spot. The terrain is open, with multiple escape routes, making it suitable for practicing teamwork."

He pointed to a path on the north side of the open space: "A patrol team comes from there every three minutes, five to eight of them. I've already confirmed it."

"From now on, it's your turn to fight. I'll be watching from the sidelines."

Steel Shield took a deep breath: "Okay."

Three minutes later, the first patrol team emerged from the passage.

Six level 35 scorpion soldiers, plus a level 36 scorpion captain.

"Tanks, get in! Draw aggro!" Steel Shield roared and charged forward.

The battle has officially begun.

This was the first time they had faced a fully-organized enemy force of level 35 or higher.

The pressure is on a completely different level than before.

The scorpion soldiers have considerable attack power, and their venomous tails inflict slowing and continuous damage upon impact. While the steel shield can withstand the damage, the health bar drops significantly faster than when leveling up.

Seven-String Glazed Glass's healing pace was forced to speed up, and her mana consumption also soared.

Inkmark's control skill froze two sand scorpions that were rushing towards the back row at a crucial moment, but before the cooldown ended, new sand scorpions bypassed the front row.

Chasing Wind and Iron Anchor unleashed their furious attacks from the back row, but against the combined health of six level 35 elites, their damage seemed insufficient.

The entire battle lasted nearly two minutes before it ended.

Compared to Li Wu's fifteen-second clearing, it's like two completely different worlds.

But Li Wu did not criticize them.

"It's my first time fighting this kind of monster, so winning is good enough," he said. "Let's keep going. I need to get back to full health before the next wave comes."

Three minutes later, a second patrol appeared.

This time, they lasted one minute and forty seconds.

Three minutes later, the third one.

One minute and twenty seconds.

faster and faster.

They're getting more and more in sync.

Steel Shield can now precisely control the aggro range, preventing any Sand Scorpions from slipping into the back row. Seven Strings Glazed's healing has become more predictive, no longer passively chasing after health bars. Ink Trace's control skills are being released at increasingly precise timing.

By the tenth wave, they were able to take out a patrol in fifty seconds.

"Okay." Li Wu finally nodded. "Switch to the second group."