Phew, I’m completely worn out. Long Zhan’s Asura Battle Axe slammed onto the ground heavily, and he himself slumped onto the floor, leaning against the cave wall, gasping for air. No wonder; the guy had been charging forward and fighting head-on with the powerfully strong Skeleton General for an entire hour. Even a hundred oxen would be exhausted to the point of collapse. Not to mention, he’s just a living human.

Whoosh! Long Qi cast a healing spell on Long Zhan and then sat down as well. As far as monster-slaying went, Long Qi hadn't exerted much effort, thanks to that little skeleton doing the tanking. However, precisely because of that, the task of collecting the Skeleton Eyes fell mostly to Long Qi. In comparison, it felt no less strenuous.

But the one who should have been the most tired was Long Xin. As a Mage, while her attacks didn't deplete physical stamina, they consumed a significant amount of mental power and magic energy. Mental power doesn't recover as easily as stamina. Moreover, excessive depletion of mental power can cause severe harm to the body. For instance, over-exhausting physical stamina might at most lead to collapse and fatigue, which can be restored with proper rest. But excessive depletion of mental power and magic energy not only causes a feeling of collapse but can also lead to serious negative physical effects such as auditory or visual hallucinations, headaches, and nausea. Furthermore, these conditions cannot be remedied by a short rest; they require prolonged recuperation.

Though Long Xin was nowhere near that level of fatigue at this moment, she was dizzy and seeing stars from exhaustion.

“Xing Chen! Your stamina should have recovered by now!” Long Qi gasped, looking toward me.

“En!” I knew if I continued to laze around, I’d definitely get scolded.

“Then it will be your turn to kill monsters next!” Long Xin said excitedly.

“Got it!” I replied grumpily.

“Hehe! If Xing Chen were to make a move, I think even if the three of us followed behind, we wouldn’t be able to keep up with his monster-slaying speed while collecting the Skeleton Eyes!”

“Naturally!” Long Xin said proudly.

Sweat... My face was covered in black lines. It seemed these three had taken me for a killing machine.

Ten minutes later

“Alright, time to get to work!” Long Xin pushed herself up. Seeing her body still slightly unsteady, it seemed she hadn't fully recovered yet.

En! Long Zhan and Long Qi also stood up, and the three of them looked at me simultaneously with tacit understanding.

“Fine!” I swiftly drew the Hundred Battles Blade from my back and strode quickly toward the depths of the cave.

A cluster of Skeleton Generals, grouped tightly together, appeared before my eyes. This saved me quite a bit of effort.

Watch me! My figure instantly accelerated, rushing into the center of the Skeleton General horde. Then, finding the right angle, the Hundred Battles Blade instantly carved out a dazzling arc! Centered on myself, I swung a full circle.

Whoosh! With just one strike, the eight Skeleton Generals closest to me had their heads severed. Although their heads were still attached to their necks, I was certain my Hundred Battles Blade had indeed passed across their necks. It was only because the swing speed was so fast that their heads remained perched on their necks despite being cleanly cut. Of course, I was fully aware of this. The moment this strike was unleashed, my figure had already rushed closer to even more of the Skeleton General horde. At this moment, I was no longer satisfied with the result of one head per strike; instead, I aimed to sever the heads of more Skeleton Generals in a single swing. This made the timing and angle of the draw extremely critical. This could also be considered a form of self-training. I was very satisfied with the previous strike; because the angle was just right, I managed to sever eight heads in one swing. However, such opportunities are rare and must be seized when they arise. Normally, severing four heads with one strike is achievable, provided they are bunched up tightly.

With only three strikes, taking three seconds, all sixteen Skeleton Generals were brought down. Then, without pausing, I continued to advance rapidly toward the cave's depths. It was only at this point that the cluster of decapitated Skeleton Generals I had struck boomed and fell to the ground in unison.

On the other side

Long Xin and the other two stood frozen, their faces etched with looks of utter disbelief!

“So fast!” Long Zhan muttered, “Three strikes! Sixteen of them!”

“Three seconds!” Long Qi whispered, his voice trembling.

“I knew his blade was fast!” Long Xin said, her expression complicated, “But it shouldn't be this absurdly fast!”

“It seems we really can't beat his monster-slaying pace!” Long Zhan looked thoroughly defeated. “Is this guy really only ten years old?!”

“And he’s only a Junior Warrior!” Long Qi added. “Strength like this, and he’s just a Junior Warrior?” Who would believe that?

“Hurry up and pick them up!” If we really fall too far behind him, we’ll lose all face,” Long Xin managed to stabilize her mind and took a deep breath. She hurried toward the wreckage of the Skeleton General cluster.

Long Qi and Long Zhan behind her, however, were both lost in thought.

It could be said that Xing Chen’s incredibly swift blade technique had completely shaken the two of them.

“No matter how immense the power! If our speed can’t match his!” Long Zhan murmured, “Even ten of me wouldn't be his match!”

“En!” Long Qi sighed deeply, “Absolute speed—the opponent doesn't even get a chance to strike!”

Although the three were preoccupied with their own thoughts, the speed at which they collected the Skeleton Eyes did not slow down at all. Yet, even so, as the three followed, they could only see broken remnants scattered everywhere—they couldn't even catch a glimpse of Xing Chen’s shadow.

Staring at the scattered remains lying askew everywhere, the three could only offer wry smiles!

Having tasted the benefits of sheer speed, I became even more unstoppable! I decided to challenge my own speed limit. At that moment, I recalled the classic scene from a manga where Fuma Kotaro rampaged, slaying thirteen hundred soldiers. I might as well go on a rampage myself! I decided to see just how many Skeleton Generals I could kill within an hour! Having made up my mind, I pulled out the Magic Clock from my backpack and set the automatic chime for one hour.

OK, done!

“Roar! Here I come!” I began to charge deep into the Skeleton Cave at the speed of a hundred-meter dash.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh! All the Skeleton Generals in my path had their heads severed in the very first instant. It felt incredibly satisfying to draw my blade while moving at such high speed. However, at the beginning, due to inaccurate judgment of distance and speed, a few swings missed their mark, striking the Skeleton Generals in the chest or shoulder instead. Fortunately, because I had developed the habit of aiming exclusively for the head, although my swing speed was high, my force wasn't excessively strong. Thus, there wasn't a strong recoil. Even so, I was nearly killed by those Skeleton Generals’ scythes. I secretly summed up the experience: perhaps Fuma Kotaro’s style isn't for everyone. I then slowed my pace down a notch. This way, both distance and speed were within my controllable range. Although I lost the exhilaration of a hundred-meter sprint, the accuracy of my strikes was fully guaranteed. What I hadn't expected, however, was how draining this method of maintaining high-speed movement while slaying monsters was. As a result, after only half an hour, I collapsed from exhaustion. I had no choice but to stop, lean against the wall, and slump onto the ground. Since I had already killed a good distance, I might as well wait for Long Xin and the others, I mused to myself.

On the other side, Long Xin and the two others had completely devolved into scavengers. They could barely walk a few steps without stooping low, constantly squatting and walking to pick up the Skeleton Eyes as quickly as possible, allowing for no spare moment. Even so, they still couldn't catch sight of Xing Chen. The trio could only manage wry smiles or blank stares. It was only after two full hours of this arduous task that they finally spotted Xing Chen. From afar, they saw Xing Chen leaning against the wall, dozing off out of sheer boredom.

This immediately stoked a fire of anger within the three of them. This was understandable; after two hours of hard, exhaustive work, crawling along and picking things up, they finally caught up to Xing Chen, only to find the fellow bored enough to be napping. How could they not be furious? What made it worse was that no matter how angry they felt, they had no room to vent it. After all, the monster-slaying he did was heavy manual labor, and even if it didn't seem that way to Xing Chen, they had no right to complain when they couldn't even keep up with the collection.

Of course, if the three knew that Xing Chen had already been resting for a full hour, they would likely explode with rage.

I saw Long Xin’s group coming from afar, advancing in a low, crawling manner.

Hoo! I sighed deeply!

It took them a full hour to show up; they were truly slow. I thought to myself. But I had rested enough now. I should get back to training. After all, my primary goal was to master the Offensive Slaying Sword Technique. However, after killing for so long, there was still no change in the feeling inside me—not a trace of Qi sensation. Could it be that the number of monsters I’ve killed is still insufficient? I couldn't help but think of leveling up in Legend (the game); perhaps changes only occur after killing a certain quantity of monsters. If that were the case, I’d have to put in more effort. Using Long Xin’s trio’s killing pace as a reference, my speed was clearly much faster than theirs. If the Dou Qi and skills in this world are indeed accumulated based on the number of monsters killed, then I undoubtedly have a greater advantage because I kill monsters much faster; this should mean my leveling speed is also much faster than theirs. Since that's the case, I shouldn't waste any more time. Killing monsters sooner means leveling up sooner.

Having made up my mind, I immediately got up and charged toward the deeper parts of the cave!

“Damn it! That little bean sprout ran off again!”

“He’s doing it on purpose!”

“I think he deserves some punishment.”

“No dinner tonight!”

“That’s impossible! He has money in his pocket!”

................................

Unlike before, I was no longer pursuing extreme monster-slaying speed. After all, my stamina was finite. Therefore, I began trying to figure out a more stamina-efficient method. First, I needed to reduce the force of my swings. After several trials, I mastered the exact amount of force needed to cleanly sever a Skeleton General’s neck. This way, I wouldn't waste extra stamina. Additionally, I stopped pursuing the one-strike-multiple-kill method, as it was too draining and unsuitable for prolonged combat. My pace also slowed down considerably compared to before, probably close to that of a long-distance runner. This speed not only guaranteed the accuracy and swiftness of my strikes but also kept the killing rate at a high efficiency level. Simultaneously, I paid more attention to using my body to sense environmental changes, allowing my body to produce corresponding evasions or attacks based on those changes. In short, my goal was simple: to establish an unconscious conditioned reflex in my body while maintaining highly efficient continuous combat. This would lay a solid foundation for long-term engagements later. As a former expert in online gaming, I was acutely aware that leveling up is an extremely boring and time-consuming task, but it is an indispensable stage for becoming a master. Consequently, finding a high-efficiency leveling method is a problem every leveling expert must face. My current situation is almost identical to my past life, the only difference being that in my previous life, I controlled the character with a mouse and keyboard, whereas now I am immersed in the experience myself. However, that experience can still be applied to the current situation. Although my mind was constantly pondering the issue of sustained monster-slaying and leveling, my hands wielding the blade remained unaffected, maintaining high speed, accuracy, and just the right amount of force.

Unknowingly, I killed monsters for another three hours, and strangely, I didn't feel very tired. Considering the massive difference in the rate at which they collected Skeleton Eyes compared to me, I decided to stop for a while. Based on my calculations and comparisons from that period, I estimated that for every hour I spent killing monsters, they would need two hours just to collect the drops. Therefore, if my estimate was correct, it would take them at least another three hours to catch up to where I was, by which time it would probably be dark. However, I had no intention of stopping my killing spree. After all, my main objective was to reach a certain kill count to facilitate cultivation. After resting for ten minutes, I resumed my movement technique and pressed deeper into the cave.

Ding ding! The Magic Clock in my belt emitted a crisp, pleasant sound. I knew it was already five in the afternoon. If I didn't head out now, I wouldn't be able to see the path after dark. I had no choice but to halt my killing progress and start heading back.

Halfway back, I encountered Long Xin and the others, who were still advancing in their "crawling" posture, like anxious mother hens.

“Hoo! You’re finally out,” the three stood up, pausing their work, but each of them looked a bit wobbly. It was likely anemia caused by suddenly standing up after being hunched over for so long. It was truly hard on them; they managed to squat and work for an entire afternoon. I was also secretly astonished by my own killing speed. Seeing the five bulging waist pouches hanging from each of their waists, I knew today’s haul must have been substantial.

“Heavens, without realizing it, we collected thirty thousand Skeleton Eyes!” Long Xin exclaimed, looking at the pouches on her waist.

“En! Truly unbelievable!” Long Qi and Long Zhan looked at me as if I were a monster. “And we haven’t even finished collecting them!”

“I really want to know how many skull heads are still lying around uncollected!” Long Zhan clearly wanted to understand the exact difference between their collection speed and my killing speed.

“We’ll know if we go take a look!” Long Xin suggested.

“It’s almost dark already!” I didn't want to hike down the mountain in the dark.

“It’s fine, let’s just go take a look at how many are left!” Long Qi said, sprinting off first, followed closely by Long Xin and Long Zhan.

However, when they spent twenty minutes reaching the spot where the last Skeleton General I killed had fallen, they were utterly stunned.

“There must be at least twenty thousand left uncollected!” Long Zhan mumbled.

“Heavens!” Long Qi’s voice trembled. “Xing Chen actually killed twenty-five thousand Skeleton Generals in a single day!”

“If that’s the case, our characters might complete the task in just three days!” Long Zhan managed to regain some composure and started calculating the mission progress.

“That’s only if we manage to bag every single one of those Skeleton Eyes!” Long Qi retorted crossly.

“Let’s head back!” Long Xin seemed numb. “We’ll leave these for tomorrow and hope no one comes to collect them overnight!”

“It seems we’ll need to hire a few people to help with collection tomorrow,” Long Qi suggested.

“Yes! The three of us simply can’t handle it all.” Long Zhan wholeheartedly agreed with Long Qi’s suggestion.

“Good idea! Let’s hurry out of the cave and down the mountain now; it’s getting dark!” Long Xin urged.