Chapter 8: Epic Title, Ascend Trial Begins

World Ranking

[1st place: Night Cold - lv10 (Great Summer)]

[2nd Place: None]

[3rd Place: N/A]

[Note: Level 10 is the lowest level on the list.]

The entire list, except for Carl, was empty. Currently, there are only six hours left before the start of "The End of the World" and the full-scale battle. The vast majority of players are still stuck at level 1. A small number of experienced players, when working together, have generally reached level 2. Even the top players, known for their exceptional skills, have only managed to reach level 3, with their experience bars barely half full.

Suddenly, the emergence of a terrifying level 10 player left these top gamers stunned.

Country C.

In Novice Village No. 1001, a figure clad in a coarse cloth suit moved gracefully, daggers flying in his hands as he danced between two elite goblin warriors.

[-23]

[-31]

[-26]

This player was clearly not an ordinary assassin; his critical strike rate was impressive, delivering blow after blow to the elite goblins.

[XP +26]

[XP +26]

Soon, the two goblins fell one after the other. With a basic outfit, he was able to take on two elite goblin warriors single-handedly. If anyone witnessed such performance, they would surely acknowledge him as a formidable player.

He truly deserved the recognition. A well-known top thief in Country C, he had established a powerful thief guild across many games and ranked in the top five among thieves. He was also one of the few elite players who had participated in the closed beta of "The End of the World."

At this moment, he glanced at the rank leaderboard, his brow furrowing slightly. "I've been hunting elite monsters since I entered the game, and I'm only level 3. How has someone jumped straight to level 10? What loophole exists in the game?"

"And... I've never heard of this player, Night Cold."

"Forget it..." Jinyi Night Walking shrugged, turned off the leaderboard, and focused on leveling up.

Country H.

"Aciba! How could someone in Country C reach level 10 so quickly? It must be cheating!"

"Even if it's not cheating, it's definitely a player from our great H country who went to Smecta in Country C!"

"H country universe No. 1 Smecta!"

A thief with a half-inch stick and sharp eyebrows stared at the leaderboard, so jealous that he felt his teeth grinding. Even Park Ki-ruan, the top player in his universe, was only level 3. How could someone from Country C reach level 10?

These people just love to cheat!

Country R.

"Yaga! Those despicable people from Country C, using such underhanded methods! They must have exploited a game bug."

"I, Hikawa Okasaka, despise such players the most."

"It's shameful to be a player like that; they should just disembowel themselves!"

Scenes like this played out across various countries. The sudden unveiling of the leaderboard caused an uproar throughout the game.

In addition to surprise, many players began questioning 'Night Cold.' After all, everyone had experienced the brutal difficulty of "Apocalypse." Even top players could not reach level 10 in just one day. Such rapid advancement could only be attributed to cheating.

However, since this was an internal test, it was normal to encounter bugs. Many players quickly moved on after a few complaints. The recharge port was even closed, suggesting the developers were aware of the issues and were working to patch them.

This 'Night Cold' was bound to be banned!

But what they didn't know was that in "The End of Times," there was no such thing as a bug. This was a true second world.

Carl was not surprised by the opening of the rankings. In his previous life, there had been players who reached level 10 before the leaderboard was unveiled. But that was during the open beta. At that time, the highest level in the closed beta was only level 8.

He wondered if there would be any differences in rewards if the leaderboard was opened a day earlier. Carl wore the title:

[Title: A Thousand Miles in a Day (Epic): As the first player to reach lv10, your strength has been recognized by the God of Light. Experience gain +5]

"The experience title is still epic; not bad," Carl grinned.

Items, titles, and equipment in the game are categorized into grades: Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Dark Gold, Epic, Legendary, God-level, Heavenly Annihilation, and Holy Judgment. Black Iron is the lowest, while Holy Judgment is the highest. An epic title is undeniably rare.

In "Apocalypse," obtaining equipment is extremely challenging. Even a player who has surpassed level 100 will mostly possess gear ranging from gold to dark gold stages, with only an occasional piece being epic. It can be said that the epic level is a significant threshold, accessible to only a small number of players.

As for the legendary and god-level items, they belong to an elite group at the pinnacle of the game, rarely seen. Heavenly Annihilation and Holy Judgment were so rare that, even in his previous life, Carl had never heard of anyone possessing such equipment—not even NPCs.

This rank existed only in records. Therefore, although there are ten levels, the god level is widely recognized as the pinnacle.

Now, having earned an epic title before even leaving the novice village was a significant achievement.

"In this way, the experience gain is boosted by five percent; not bad." Carl was satisfied and allocated his attributes to spirit, bringing his spirit value to 120 points.

[Ding! Player 'Night Cold,' the first stage of experience acquisition is complete. You will no longer gain experience by any means. Please start the upgrade trial as soon as possible.]

Another prompt appeared before him. Carl swiped his hand to dismiss it.

Ascension Trials.

This is a mechanic unique to "Apocalypse." All players who reach levels 10, 20, or 30 will be forced into a phase where they cannot gain experience. Whether fighting monsters or completing NPC quests, there will be no increase in experience points. The only solution is to pass the Rank Trial.

The difficulty of the upgrade trial is notoriously high. Although teaming is allowed, no external forces can intervene. For example, a god-level NPC like Merz is absolutely barred from entering the upgrade trial.

Even if players team up, only teams of the same level can combine forces; otherwise, they will face the highest difficulty level. For instance, if a level 10 player teams up with a level 20 player, the trial difficulty will reset to that of the level 20 trial.

Under this extremely challenging mechanism, every trial becomes a formidable challenge.