Worldwide Class Change: Minimal Effort, Maximum Reward!

"Abyssal Grade?" Long Tianyu excitedly asked.

"Indeed," Lin Yi said.

"There are three Abyssal-grade weapons in the Bureau’s complete registered inventory of hunter’s known artifacts," Long Tianyu said. "Three. For the entirety of recorded hunter history." He looked at the blade. "And you found this in the Allheaven Expanse."

"There was an Upgrade Altar in a cave in the upper mid-atmospheric zone," Lin Yi said. "The altar’s upgrade path went from Mythical to Cataclysmic to Abyssal. I had the required materials."

Long Tianyu looked at him. "You had the materials for an Abyssal-grade upgrade?"

"Yes," Lin Yi said. "But that’s thanks to the storage space tokens I acquired from the corpses of various hunters," he added with a hint of mischief.

The Dragon Knight fell silent for a moment, the kind of pause that reflected someone processing a statement that was both unsettling and oddly practical.

"So you scavenged fallen hunters for their storage tokens? How efficient was that, considering most dead hunters would have already had their tokens taken by whoever killed them?"

"That’s true," Lin Yi said, nodding at Long Tianyu’s assessment. "But the truth is that, at least from what I have encountered, the majority of hunter deaths aren’t caused by their fellow hunters, coveting their celestial jades, rather, it’s by high level monsters killing them, and of course, monsters won’t take their storage tokens."

"I see," Long Tianyu said. He looked at the blade one more time, then at Lin Yi. "You look different from when I saw you at the expanse’s entry point."

"It has been several weeks," Lin Yi said. "So changes are expected."

"You were wounded," Long Tianyu said. The observation was precise because the Dragon Knight’s perception was precise, reading the residual damage indicators that a less experienced hunter would not have identified.

"I encountered something in the upper atmospheric layer," Lin Yi said. He did not elaborate. The slave mark’s existence was not information he was sharing.

Long Tianyu nodded once, "The expanse has things in its upper layers that I have chosen not to approach," he said. "Several of my guild members attempted the upper zones in the second week. They returned quickly."

"Wise," Lin Yi said.

Long Tianyu looked at him. Something in the Dragon Knight’s expression was working through the accumulation of observations.

"The event is entering its final weeks," Long Tianyu said. "My guild team has been operating across the mid-tier cluster zones. We’ve built up a respectable jade count." He paused briefly, his tone turning more measured. "The global rankings aren’t visible from within the expanse, but from what I’ve observed, the scale of organized collection efforts from other guilds suggests the competition is intense."

"That’s true," Lin Yi said. "I’ve been working relentlessly as well, gathering as many celestial jades as I can."

Long Tianyu looked at him. "What is your jade count at?"

Lin Yi thought about the jade accumulation. The cluster guardian drops amplified to a thousand per kill. The Nine Yin Demon Guild’s collection. The ambient accumulation from the clearing work. He had not calculated the total recently.

"Significant," he said. "I haven’t calculated mine, which is why I don’t have an exact figure."

Long Tianyu absorbed this with the same processing patience he brought to everything. "I have not been surprised by many things in years of hunting," he said. "You continue to be an exception to that." He paused.

With the pause, a thought surfaced in Lin Yi’s mind. Seeing Long Tianyu here, it made sense to ask. If he had encountered anything near or above level 200, it would give him a real benchmark, a proper test for the Abyssal Celestial Lord Blade.

"Have you come across any monsters above level 200 during your traversal?" he asked.

"Not exactly above 200, but close," Long Tianyu replied. "The Void Eroding Soul King. Level 195."

Lin Yi’s expression shifted slightly. "You encountered it?"

"The Soul King." Long Tianyu’s gaze moved over Lin Yi, taking in his current state before settling briefly on the Abyssal weapon at his waist. He exhaled once, slow and deliberate, as if reassessing a standard he had been using until now.

"I encountered it on the sixth week of the event," he said. "At level 192, I engaged it briefly." A pause. "Briefly is the accurate word. The dissolution field it generates made sustained engagement impossible for me. I retreated when the first exchange made the margin clear." He looked at Lin Yi. "Every hunter who sought it out based on the rumors afterward found nothing. Word has circulated that it is gone."

"Is it gone?" Lin Yi asked, a trace of feigned surprise in his voice.

Long Tianyu studied him for a long moment before responding. "A creature like the Soul King..." he said slowly. "To defeat something at that level, one would need to be at least level 200. And even then, it wouldn’t be anything less than an extreme challenge. I was level 192 at the time, and that wasn’t enough."

He let the words settle, then shifted his attention back to Lin Yi, taking the moment to probe further.

"But you..." the Dragon Knight said, his gaze sharpening. "Your level has increased since what I observed at the entry point."

"Yes," Lin Yi replied evenly. "It has."

"How much?" Long Tianyu said. His tone was the tone of someone asking a question they are genuinely uncertain about the answer to, which was the specific quality that made Lin Yi notice.

Lin Yi looked at him, his mind reeling.

Level 192 now, from 189 at their our encounter. Three levels in the weeks of the expanse, which is a meaningful progress at his level bracket. The Dragon Knight had been working.

"Your level has increased as well," Lin Yi said.

Long Tianyu accepted the observation. "Three levels," he said. "The expanse’s environment accelerates development beyond what standard hunting provides. At my level, three levels in this period is significant." He met Lin Yi’s gaze directly. "And yours?"

Lin Yi reached into his inventory.

The Seven Star Immortal Conversion Halo materialized in his grip.