The wolf leader in front of Lin Chen was massive, weighing at least a thousand pounds.
Its hide was extremely tough, but under Lin Chen's strength it was quickly cut open.
After skinning it, Lin Chen used his sword to chop the wolf leader's body into many pieces and prepared to throw them into the pot to cook.
Then he realized a serious problem.
The pot he'd brought was way too small. It could only hold a little wolf meat at a time.
If he wanted to cook the entire wolf leader, he would have to repeat the process at least ten times — which would take a lot of time.
He felt a brief urge to just eat the meat raw.
But he immediately dismissed that idea.
First, it definitely wouldn't taste good. Second, if he got parasites, it wouldn't be worth it.
Lin Chen couldn't help thinking: if he could get a huge pot or fast-cooking equipment in the future, it would make this so much easier.
But to get that, he needed money.
So far, he had collected the pelts of eleven matsutake rabbits.
Each could be sold for at least 500 yuan, so that was already over 5,000 yuan.
The hides from the two gray wolves, plus their fangs, bones, and other parts, could each sell for tens of thousands of yuan.
And one of them was a wolf leader. That alone should sell for at least 50% more.
Altogether, the minimum he could make was around 30,000 yuan.
Normally, he would have to save for a year to get that much.
Now, he'd earned it in less than a day.
"As expected, the stronger you are, the easier it is to make money. If I become a true martial expert one day, won't making money be effortless?"
Lin Chen felt encouraged. His ambitions grew.
But there was another issue.
His backpack had limited space. It was already hard to carry all the fur and materials he'd collected.
He urgently needed a space ring.
But even the most basic space rings cost hundreds of thousands.
With his current finances, that was still a long way off.
Still, all of those problems could be solved in one way.
By getting stronger.
Lin Chen continued cooking the wolf leader's meat in batches. After more than ten rounds of boiling and seasoning, he finally managed to cook the entire thing.
He sprinkled chili powder and salt, then started eating.
[Consumed: First-Level Wolf Leader. Qi and Blood +150. Attribute Points +50!]
After eating all the wolf leader's meat, a notification appeared on his system panel.
"Not bad. The Qi and Blood and Attribute Points from the wolf leader are more than double what I got from an ordinary gray wolf."
"Maybe it doesn't taste as good, so there's no 'deliciousness bonus'…"
"But that's fine. The most important thing right now is raising my strength as fast as possible."
Lin Chen thought for a moment and then gave the next command:
"System, open my status panel."
[Status panel opened.]
[Host: Lin Chen][Qi and Blood: 620][Realm: First-Class Warrior (Breakthrough to Second-Class possible at 500 Qi and Blood — currently available)][Attribute Points: 50][Strength: 92 (Qualitative change at 100. Can be increased.)][Constitution: 36 (Qualitative change at 100. Can be increased.)][Spirit: 36 (Qualitative change at 100. Can be increased.)][Agility: 38 (Qualitative change at 100. Can be increased.)][Stomach Capacity: 80 / 160 (Can be increased.)][Digestion Speed: 10 (Can digest 10 Stomach Capacity per hour. Can be increased.)]
When Lin Chen saw the breakthrough prompt in the Realm field, he didn't hesitate.
"System — break through."
[Breakthrough successful.]
[Host: Lin Chen][Qi and Blood: 620][Realm: Second-Class Warrior (Breakthrough to Third-Class possible at 2,000 Qi and Blood)][Attribute Points: 50][Strength: 152 (Qualitative change at 500. Can be increased.)][First Qualitative Change: Thousand-Pound Force (Maximum burst force output up to 30,000 jin).][Constitution: 86 (Qualitative change at 100. Can be increased.)][Spirit: 86 (Qualitative change at 100. Can be increased.)][Agility: 88 (Qualitative change at 100. Can be increased.)][Stomach Capacity: 80 / 160 (Can be increased.)][Digestion Speed: 10 (Can digest 10 Stomach Capacity per hour. Can be increased.)]
As the system confirmed the breakthrough, a faint golden light flowed across Lin Chen's entire body.
An incredible rush of energy surged from the base of his spine all the way to the crown of his head.
He could feel his body changing — clearly, drastically.
His Attribute Points had increased by a full 50.
His Strength stat had broken past 100, triggering its first qualitative change and unlocking explosive force.
His maximum burst output could now reach 30,000 jin.
Lin Chen could feel it in every muscle.
His entire body felt reborn.
He turned to a nearby tree so thick it would take both arms to wrap around it.
He drew in his strength and punched.
There was a deafening bang. The thick trunk snapped in half instantly, shot backward more than ten meters, and crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust.
"Not bad. Not bad at all."
Lin Chen nodded in satisfaction. If another first-level wolf leader showed up now, he felt like he wouldn't even need to use proper techniques.
One casual slap might be enough to blow its head apart.
After tasting how good it felt to get stronger, Lin Chen had no desire to go back yet.
Instead, he decided to keep hunting, keep eating, and keep getting stronger.
…
At the same time, Lin Chen's high school classmates had arrived at the checkpoint.
"Class monitor, none of us have experience fighting monsters. Are we going to be okay?"
"Nobody has experience. If you're scared of dying, you can still turn back."
"Yeah. If you want to get stronger, you have to accept the risk. There's no way to improve just by eating and relaxing."
"Think about Lin Chen. He's probably hauling bricks on some construction site right now. At least we're still going to university."
"Yeah, we're already way better off than Lin Chen."
As soon as they mentioned Lin Chen, their confidence came back a little.
They quickly broke into five teams of four.
They were just about to head toward the Level One zone of the Qixing Mountains.
But at that moment, they noticed loud commotion near the checkpoint ahead.
The class monitor led the rest of the students toward the noise.
They wanted to see what was going on.
A crowd of warriors had gathered at the checkpoint, forming a circle.
Everyone's face was filled with shock.
Because they were all staring at one man.
A young man with a massive hiking pack on his back — and more than a dozen monster corpses slung over his shoulders — had just walked out of the Level One portal.
The monsters piled on him formed a literal "hill" on his body.
"Damn! Those have to weigh tens of thousands of jin altogether!"
"Wait, isn't the Level One zone only for first-class warriors? How is he that strong?!"
"Is it possible he's actually a second-class warrior?"
"Even a second-class warrior shouldn't be able to carry ten thousand jin like it's nothing!"
"I'll say this… whoever he is, he's a monster."
The surrounding warriors were whispering in awe, all looking at Lin Chen with open admiration.
But only Lin Chen knew the truth.
If he wasn't too broke to afford a space ring…
He wouldn't be walking out like this, carrying every monster he'd killed on his back.