Chapter 3 A Rainforest of Tigers

The third level of the Starry Sky Tower was a tropical rainforest.

Xu Jingming carefully observed his surroundings. The rainforest was dark and humid, with thick trees and rampant vines. It was eerily silent, as if there were no other living creatures.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming suddenly sensed a pair of dark yellow eyes in the distance, and a shiver went down his spine. He looked more closely.

A large feline was staring at him from afar. It had light yellow fur with black stripes, and its huge head and dark yellow eyes seemed devoid of emotion as it sized up its prey. Above its eyes, thick black stripes formed the Chinese character ‘王’ (wang - meaning king), and its height of two meters at the shoulder and body length of six meters made Xu Jingming's heart clench.

"What a fierce tiger. It's slightly smaller than the Bear King, but its intimidating presence feels even more terrifying." Xu Jingming was very wary.

If the bear was strong in terms of physique and strength, the tiger was the epitome of well-roundedness! Physique, strength, speed, agility, attack, technique… it was strong in all aspects. This massive tiger conjured by the virtual world 'Starry Sky Tower' far surpassed tigers in reality. With Xu Jingming's current strength, he could easily kill a real tiger with a single shot, and even take on a pack of them. But facing this large tiger, he felt a threat of death.

The large tiger strode forward, moving with elegance and making hardly a sound. Its four huge paws padded softly on the ground as it observed its prey.

"Whoosh!"

Xu Jingming gripped his spear and charged straight at it.

The tiger, feeling provoked, roared and pounced.

Man and tiger, vastly different in size, both attacked head-on!

As they neared each other, Xu Jingming stepped on a tree, abruptly changing direction, and thrust his spear at the tiger. The spear became a blur as it aimed for the tiger's neck.

"Pfft."

The tiger's eyes were cold as it swatted the spear with its paw.

Boom! Xu Jingming felt a terrifying force surge through him, sending him tumbling back against a tree.

"It's too agile, and its reactions are frighteningly fast." Xu Jingming felt a headache coming on.

Whoosh.

The tiger instantly leaped into the tree, continuing its pursuit of Xu Jingming.

"Clang."

"Pfft."

Xu Jingming was forced to dodge and flee from the relentless pursuit. Even when he managed to find a chance to counterattack, the tiger easily deflected his blows.

"How come this tiger is more agile than me, let alone its physique, strength, and speed?" Xu Jingming barely managed to hold out, thanks to his smaller size, the rainforest environment, and the threat posed by his spear.

But after five minutes of relentless pursuit...

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming's expression changed.

From all directions in the forest, more massive tigers appeared, some five meters long and others reaching over seven meters. The largest tiger stayed put, while the others slowly closed in.

"The third level of the Starry Sky Tower requires me to fight this many tigers?" Xu Jingming was dumbfounded. "I can't even beat one ordinary large tiger, let alone dozens."

As the pack of tigers closed in, six large tigers suddenly pounced at once.

Xu Jingming abruptly charged forward, directly facing one of the tigers.

"Roar!" The tiger roared, its paw swiping at Xu Jingming.

But Xu Jingming was incredibly valiant, using the advantage of his spear's length to stab the tiger's neck before its paw could land.

"Po Shan (Mountain Breaker)!"

The most powerful spear technique! The spear pierced deeply into the tiger's neck, but the tiger's paw still landed, tearing through Xu Jingming's armor and flesh.

Both the tiger and Xu Jingming disappeared in a flash of light, while the remaining five tigers roared in fury.

"This is really difficult."

After failing, Xu Jingming reappeared outside the Starry Sky Tower. "Trading my life for its, I only managed to kill one tiger. And even when I used 'Po Shan,' it only pierced halfway through its neck. If I had used 'Wu Ying Ci (Shadowless Thrust),' it probably wouldn't have worked at all."

******

Viewing Platform.

Li Miaomiao was sitting in the stands, watching the live broadcast of God-level experts attempting the second level of the Starry Sky Tower.

"Miaomiao." Xu Jingming appeared beside her. "Watching the live streams?"

"Yeah."

Li Miaomiao nodded. "The Starry Sky Tower is just too hard. I can handle two or three wolves, but I can't fight against a hundred of them. I can't even get past the first level, sigh… Look, this is Sun Yuting's live stream. She's attempting the second level of the Starry Sky Tower. After killing five bears with great difficulty, she's facing the Bear King. It looks like she's not going to make it."

Xu Jingming looked over.

In the live broadcast, the massive Bear King was chasing Sun Yuting. She was using excellent footwork to dodge through the forest, her shield long gone and her left arm hanging limply. Her only weapon was a sword in her right hand.

"Sun Yuting is ranked 16th in Xia Country according to Wang Xiangui, and there are nearly eight hundred God-level experts in Xia Country now. Sun Yuting is definitely top-tier among them!" Li Miaomiao said.

Xu Jingming nodded.

The virtual world had been open for a little over a week, and with a population of over a billion, Xia Country now had nearly eight hundred God-level experts. The national team, with its first and second string men's and women's teams from the past thirty years, accounted for more than three hundred people. There were also many professional players competing in A-level and B-level events, experts from other martial arts styles, and hidden masters. Xu Jingming had expected to see nearly 800 God-level experts in a little over a week.

"Sun Yuting's shield and sword combination is a good mix of offense and defense. She is definitely strong. But her shield is useless against the Bear King… in fact, it's hindering her movements! The Bear King swatted her shield away with one blow, breaking her arm bone in the process. She can't even penetrate the Bear King's skin with a single sword! She could stab the eyes and heads of the five bears she killed before, but the Bear King is clearly faster and more agile, so she can't even get close."

"Even if she could get close, it would be difficult to stab its eyes," Xu Jingming commented. "Even if she stabbed its eyes, it's unlikely she could pierce its skull."

Even when he used Shadowless Thrust, he couldn't penetrate deeply after piercing the eye.

"The Bear King is too fast."

In the live broadcast, Sun Yuting, fleeing for her life, said, "Its fur is ridiculously thick. My sword can't pierce its fur and fat, so I can't hurt it! I'm too injured; I can't hold on anymore."

The Bear King smashed a large tree, and the shattered wood struck Sun Yuting, forcing her to retreat. She immediately chose to exit, unable to endure any longer.

"There are many God-level experts streaming, but none of them have cleared the third level of the Starry Sky Tower." Li Miaomiao browsed other live streams. "Many God-level experts can't even defeat five bears. Only the top-ranked players in Xia Country can fight the Bear King."

"Many God-level experts only reached 50 stars in the Yao Ri (Radiant Sun) level before ascending to God-level. Their basic combat power is probably just over a thousand," Xu Jingming said. "It's indeed difficult to deal with a single bear. By the way, how many people have fought the Bear King?"

"Sun Yuting, Zhang Qian, Fang Yu, Niu Hao... among the God-level experts streaming, those are the only four who are good enough to be ranked in the top fifty in Xia Country," Li Miaomiao said. "They fought the Bear King, but they all lost. The Bear King is too overpowered, with ridiculously high defense, fast speed, and unbelievably great strength."

Xu Jingming nodded. "The Bear King is indeed strong."

"What about you, Jingming?" Li Miaomiao asked.

"I made it to the third level of the Starry Sky Tower, but I failed," Xu Jingming said.

"You killed the Bear King?" Li Miaomiao was both surprised and delighted. "The Bear King is such a monster. How did you kill it?"

"I fought it for eighteen minutes, and the Bear King bled to death," Xu Jingming said with emotion. "Its fur was too thick to kill with a single spear strike, so I had to let it bleed continuously."

Li Miaomiao's eyes lit up. "That's my Jingming! You're amazing! Tell me, what's on the third level of the Starry Sky Tower?"

"Tigers."

Xu Jingming said, "Tigers that are even more powerful than the Bear King."

"More powerful than the Bear King?" Li Miaomiao was shocked.

"And there are dozens of them." Xu Jingming shook his head. "It's impossible to fight dozens of large tigers at once. The gap is too big."

Li Miaomiao clicked her tongue. "No wonder the Blue Star Alliance's rules state that there's a reward for clearing the third level, and there's no time limit… Based on what you're saying, it might take a long time before a hundred people worldwide can clear the third level."

"Hmm?" Li Miaomiao noticed something was off with the many live streams on the viewing platform. Having studied the viewing platform for a long time, she noticed that some streamers had even changed their live stream names with a quick glance.

"Jingming, quickly go to the mission space," Li Miaomiao said urgently.

"What's wrong?" Xu Jingming hadn't noticed yet, since there were so many live streams.

"The world's first has been born." Li Miaomiao urged him, and immediately went to the mission space herself.

…

Mission Space.

Whoosh.

Xu Jingming descended from the sky, landing in front of the Starry Sky Tower.

Beside the Starry Sky Tower, a huge leaderboard appeared in the night sky, hanging high and as tall as the Starry Sky Tower.

Currently, there was only one line of text on the huge leaderboard—"World's First: Liu Hai (Xia Country)."