Chapter 246: Imperial Ranking War: First Contribution

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[Sky Demon Hawk, slain! ]

[+500 Merit Points! ]

Everyone watched with morbid fascination as Ren casually sliced the beak and the talons of the hawk with his hand as if it were a knife.

From the beak and the talons, he fashioned a small dagger, which he then used to strip the demon hawk off its valuables.

First, he plucked all of its feathers, his hands turning into a blurred hurricane as he did so. After two and half minutes, the dead bird was completely bald.

Then, he began systematically stripping the bird of its flesh using the dagger he fashioned from its talons. Since it was a crude blade and could hardly be recognized as equipment, it didn’t trigger the curse on Ren’s martial physique—it’s kind of a loophole he discovered long ago. He also drained its blood, harvested its organs, and even used its bones to craft crude tools.

"Hey, love! Come here," Ren called out for his girlfriend.

Lily woke up from her stupor and walked towards him. When she got close enough, he handed her a crudely made rapier to her, one that he made from the bones of the demon hawk using its flexible wing bones attached to a rib bone that served as its handle.

"Make do with this for now. I’ll try to craft something better for you later if I can. Keep a dagger as well, just in case," he said, handing her the crude tools he made.

"Thank you," Lily muttered as she weighed the rapier in her hands.

All things considered, it’s enough, for now at least. If she were to be honest, this was awful. But considering that he made this in just a few minutes from the bones of a dead demonic beast and that she had nothing else to use since inventories were sealed, this was more than enough for her immediate needs. The dagger was the same.

"Well, this sucks..." She heard him muttering next to her while looking at the flesh of the bird. "...we have dinner but nowhere to store it. I don’t think I can make a bag from the feathers. We don’t have leathers aside from the ones we’re wearing, hmm..."

"Have you scanned the area?"

"I have, but my range isn’t quite there yet; I need more time," he replied.

"What’s our immediate terrain like? Any hostiles? Locations where we could camp temporarily?"

"Quite good actually," he stated. "About three kilometers south, there is a creek. The waters look clean, and it’s next to elevated land. There are plenty of wild game to catch, berry bushes, and it’s near lots of trees and stones too."

"I don’t see any predators or monsters in that direction," he added. "On the north side, however, there is a lair. A Demon Bull—at least, that’s what I think it is; I’m not familiar with the monsters here—sits there with its kind. It’s around the 3rd Transformation of Inhuman Realm in strength, maybe stronger."

"The east is where the Sky Demon Hawk came from; there is a very big tree in there where its nest is located. Its chicks were in there too. I don’t think they’re going to live long, though, because in that same tree, there’s a large python staring at them."

"West...west is foggy. I feel undead presences in there, which is weird. My senses are having a hard time penetrating that direction, but given time, I’ll eventually see what’s going on in there clearly."

[Crude tools crafted! +100 merit points! (Points doubled for the first creation bonus.)

[Crude weapon crafted! +200 merit points! (Points doubled for first weapon crafted)

[Immediate environment analysis: +500 merit points! ]

"Ooh! Very nice!" Ren chuckled.

The rest of his fellow participants were speechless. Most of them still haven’t recovered from their initial panic and terror. They could only stare as this man—who they remembered taking the initiative to lead his team forward into this realm bravely—achieved numerous things in swift succession, making them think he’s an alien.

He killed the big demon bird, which would’ve fed them to its chicks, harvested its valuables, and crafted crude weapons out of its bones, while also mapping out their immediate terrain, apparently.

All while most of them were paralyzed in sheer panic and terror.

[Welcome to ’The Stairs,’ contenders.]

[On this day, until a year later, your goal here is to survive and thrive if you can.]

[Your clothes have been replaced, your inventories have been sealed, and you are trapped here for a whole year.]

[Any action you do that improves your rate of survival, such as killing or eliminating threats, crafting tools, analyzing the terrain, choosing a location for a base, building that base, etc., will earn you merit points.]

Merit points are what determine the result of this ranking war. The more you earn, the better your empire’s ranking will be.]

[Merit points could also be used to purchase items in the store to improve your situation.]

[Note: Spending merit points on the shop won’t cause fluctuations in the ranking. Your contributions are determined through accumulation.

[This secret realm is special in a way because it only appears once every 100 years.]

[Space here is fragile. There are nodes connected to the dungeon floors and lairs of the 1st Floor in here; that’s why this place is crawling with monsters.

[Those spatial nodes are, most of the times, dormant. But not always. There will be times when they become active, and a hoard of monsters will come pouring out of them.]

[The sudden emergence of new monsters causes chaos in the current hierarchy and will result in a large-scale activity throughout this realm.]

[To put things simply, any, or all of you, can die here.]

[Every participant is given a single revival chance for free on the spot or to an established base.]

[After that, revivals will cost merit points. The cost becomes higher after each revival.]

[Survive, build, fight, and thrive. That’s the name of the game.]

[A year later, you will either return to where you came from or be sent to the 1st floor. Either way, you’ll survive; the world system guarantees that.]

[That’s all. Good luck, and may your martial arts prosper.]

**

[Current Imperial Rankings:]

#1 Heavenly Bronze Empire: 1300 Merit Points. [Lead Contributor: Soren Marek Vire (Letter Kingdom)]

#2-5: None.

**

"Aha! So that’s how it works!" Ren exclaimed before looking at his girlfriend. "See? It’s a good thing we watched all those wilderness survival shows."

"Alright, you smug man," Lily giggled. "You can have this for now, but only because your instincts were right. Nevertheless, those shows were boring."

"Can’t argue with that." Ren chuckled before planting a kiss on her cheeks.

Then, he suddenly disappeared.

Within the next minute or so, they heard loud booms in the northern area. After a couple of minutes, Ren returned with animal skins. Some were already turned into crude bags carrying meat. He returned and placed the demon hawk’s flesh on the empty bags, then hoisted them off to his back, not minding the gamey smell coming from them.

Killing wild game and crafting skin bags earned him more merit points, by the way.

Finally, he turned to the rest of his teammates and addressed them for the first time ever:

"So...are you guys just going to stare at me doing things, or do you plan on contributing somehow? You know that I can’t be expected to carry you all to the top, right? I’m not your nanny."

"If you’re expecting that I’ll feed you, well, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. Your brains shouldn’t have rotten that much yet to forget how much food martial artists need to consume, right? This much is only enough for me and my girlfriend until tomorrow’s lunch."

His words raised another glaring point for them.

Yes, martial artists need sustenance, a lot of them. The diet of martial artists at their level is huge! They can’t survive on bags of chips and cans of sodas; they won’t even feel that settling in their stomach.

They need meat, lots of it. So much so that some spend millions of credits per week just to sustain their diet.

Now that they’re reminded of it and have seen how much meat Ren was carrying, they confirmed what he said. That much was, indeed, only enough for two people until tomorrow’s lunch.

They can’t expect him to feed them. They’re not his responsibility.

"Look. I know you all are terrified and caught off guard. But it’s time to wake up."

"You’ve got no weapons, yes, but you’ve got arms and legs. You can punch and kick. You’re strong enough to break or shatter bones, kill wild game, and earn merit points for yourselves."

"We’re going south. There’s a clean water source there, and it’s distant enough for the nearby lairs. We’ll set camp there. I can teach you how to make crude tools, weapons, and other neat things needed for a temporary camp."

"Go and explore for a bit, by yourself or with a team—your choice. Pay attention to your surroundings and find us at the creek."

"Learn to earn your keep, and you might just have what it takes to actually matter in this ranking war."

After saying this, Ren swept Lily off to her feet and proceeded to disappear towards the south.