After the initial excitement subsided, Zhang Shi put on the title and, on a sudden inspiration, tried using it on himself.
"Ding, use failed. What are you?"
Zhang Shi was exasperated. He tried again with Pipi, but failed once more. He had no choice but to give up the idea of upgrading the creature.
After checking, I found that besides Lao Duan, the highest-level item I owned was the Territory Control Module, but unfortunately it had already been integrated into the Sanctuary and could not be upgraded again.
Zhang Shi then tried to upgrade the shelter, only to find that shelters, being items without a grade, also could not be upgraded.
After much deliberation, Zhang Shi tried to upgrade the title itself...
Unsure whether he was clever or foolish, Zhang Shi temporarily gave up using the title's effects.
Focus your attention on the Talent Card Chest.
[Talent Card Chest: Opening this chest will grant you a talent card of random quality.]
Zhang Shi had another flash of inspiration and tried using the VIP privilege's doubling effect to open the treasure chest.
Ding! Talent Card Chest successfully opened, triggering VIP privileges. Items doubled. Obtained:
[Talent Card - Scholar (Gold) x2: Epic quality talent card. Use to gain the Scholar talent. Scholar: Increases experience gain by 80%.]
Ding! Two identical talent cards detected. Automatically combined to obtain:
[Talent Card - Scholar (Five-Colored) x1: Mythical quality talent card. Use to gain the Scholar talent. Scholar: Increases experience gain by 100%.]
Zhang Shi was stunned, never expecting to obtain a mythical-level talent by chance.
The incredible effect of doubling experience gain will allow Zhang Shi's development speed to reach new heights.
Zhang Shi happily learned the talent card, which transformed into a rainbow and merged into his body. Zhang Shi vaguely felt that he had become much smarter.
Remembering that he still had a sign-in reward to claim, Zhang Shi decisively clicked to sign in.
The system notifies you that you have received the following rewards for checking in:
Pig Iron (White) x20
[Concrete (Blue) x10]
[Skill Card - Triple Strike (Green) x1: Universal skill that allows the next attack to be dealt three times. Each strike deals 80% of the attack's damage.]
Zhang Shizheng was worried about not having any skills, so he received one as a sign-in reward.
Zhang Shi started racking his brains again, trying to upgrade his skill cards using the title's rank-up effect.
System notification: Congratulations on obtaining:
[Skill Card - Triple Strike (Purple) x1: Universal skill that allows the next attack to be dealt three times. Each strike deals 100% of the normal attack's damage.]
"It's done!"
Zhang Shi learned the skill card, and a skill icon appeared in his skill bar. The cooldown time was only 10 seconds.
Zhang Shixing pushed open the door, braved the wind and snow, took out his bone bow, and shot an arrow at the ground in front of him.
"Whoosh~"
An arrow pierced the snow with a resounding crash, followed by two afterimages that appeared out of thin air, blasting a large hole in the snow.
Zhang Shi was overjoyed. After waiting for the cooldown, he took out Old Duan again and used a triple attack on a wooden stake.
"Whoosh~"
Without any doubt, Lao Duan passed through the wooden stake. At the same time, two afterimages appeared and slashed twice at the same spot.
Wood chips flew through the air, mingling with the wind and snow, and the wooden stake was cut into several sections.
Zhang Shi was very satisfied that it produced such a powerful effect on the first use.
Putting away his weapon, Zhang Shi returned to the stone house with a look of excitement. He opened the system panel and found that his private chat had reached 99+.
Zhang Shi noticed that the world channel had also been unlocked after the newbie period ended, so he clicked in to take a look.
The language on the world channel was automatically translated into the survivors' native languages. A massive amount of information flashed by quickly. Zhang Shi glanced at it casually and found that survivors from all over the world were discussing the system rewards. Naturally, his was the most talked about, and many people even thought he had cheated.
"Who is this Zhang Shi? I've never heard of him before."
"Important news! I have a friend who plays in the same region as Zhang Shi. I heard he's a lone wolf player."
"Damn it, we gathered the strength of the entire region to push our leader into the world's top ten. How can a lone wolf like him be number one in the world? I bet he cheated."
"It's also possible that some bug has been discovered. I suggest that everyone boycott this Zhang Shi."
Zhang Shi saw this and was somewhat angry. He silently edited a few messages on the world channel.
Zhang Shi (VIP): If you're bad at cooking, practice more!
Zhang Shi (VIP): If you can't afford to play, don't play!
Zhang Shi's privilege effect also applies in the world channel, and his chat messages are pinned to the top in colored font.
The survivors below immediately erupted in chaos.
"Holy crap, he still says he's not cheating. Aren't people only allowed to send one message a day on the world channel? How could he send messages in a row?"
"I don't think so. His ID shows VIP, and his message is pinned. Do you think he's spent money on in-game purchases?"
Zhang Shi smiled dismissively.
"I never pay attention to rumors and slander."
I glanced at the number of survivors above.
[4.05 billion / 8 billion]
Zhang Shi sighed and switched back to the regional channel.
In the regional channels, everyone was also discussing ranking rewards.
Cheng Xiaobai: Wow, I didn't expect that the VIP is not only number one in our region, but also number one in the world.
Zhu Dachang: I never expected that Chen Beipan, who doesn't show off, could rank second. It seems that this wilderness world is truly full of hidden talents.
Hou Kun: What a load of rubbish! Let me tell you, that Chen Beipan started a mutual aid society, raising a huge amount of resources under the guise of helping members. He said he'd distribute them to those in need, but secretly he pocketed the resources, which is how he climbed to second place on the regional leaderboard. Now his chat group is in an uproar. I poor thing, I joined hoping for some benefits, but he ripped me off handsomely.
Liu Yu: Dear fellow members of the mutual aid society, I was unlucky to have met the wrong person in this incident, and I have withdrawn from the mutual aid society. From today onwards, I, Liu Yu, am irreconcilably opposed to Chen Beipan.
Chen Beipan: Fellow members of the mutual aid association, I did not embezzle the supplies you all collected; I was simply delayed by some unforeseen circumstances. I will distribute the supplies according to the original plan, so please be patient.
After the parties involved came forward to share their experiences, the local chat channel was divided into two factions.
One faction consists of beneficiaries of the mutual aid society, who overwhelmingly support Chen Beipan and express their understanding of him, with various attempts to whitewash him emerging one after another.
"Nobody knew the system would distribute rewards based on rankings. I think this was purely an accident."
"Yes, yes, Chairman Chen has given us so many supplies for free. He has worked hard and made great contributions. I have no complaints about receiving this ranking reward."
The other faction consists of survivors, represented by Liu Yu, who withdrew from the mutual aid association.
They accused Chen Beipan of despicable behavior and of deceiving his companions.
The two sides quickly started a war of words on the regional channel until they ran out of chat slots.
Neither of the two parties had anything to do with Zhang Shi. After watching the entertainment for a while, Zhang Shi dealt with the private chat.
Most of the private messages were congratulatory, but a few were requests for access or resources.
As usual, Zhang Shi blocked these people. While scrolling down, he unexpectedly found a private message from Ge Dalong. Ge Dalong sent him information about an item, and Zhang Shi immediately became interested after taking a look.
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