The First Entrant

"In this event, the greater one's greed, the higher the probability of death, I'm afraid." Thinking of the rewards from the treasure chests and how many class users still remained on the previous floor, Jin Sheng couldn't help but sigh. Indeed, because the rewards were simply too good, Yu Xian might not have been willing to move on to the next floor so early if not for the threat of the Class Hunter Society. In fact, even Fathe'aim, who had designed the event, had planned to take his time collecting treasure chests only after getting rid of Yu Xian. Yu Xian opened the Primordial World and began releasing his summoned beasts. After a moment of thought, he suggested, "Let's just wait here. When the summoned beasts find treasure chests, I'll go over and retrieve them. Once we gather three chests for each person, we'll head straight to the next floor." "Mm, that really is the fastest way," Niman agreed with a nod. No matter how fast they were, they couldn't outpace Yu Xian's summons. After all, Yu Xian had far too many summoned beasts. If the rest of them split up, they would only waste time regrouping. It was better to let Yu Xian's summoned beasts search for the chests right from the start. "Yu Xian, if possible, see if you can find who entered this floor first while you're at it," Jin Sheng suggested, looking at Yu Xian. Yu Xian nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." "Why do we need to find the first entrant?" Little Nora asked curiously, sucking on a lollipop. Niman explained with a smile, "To find out who they are, of course. If possible, we have to control when they enter the next floor. If they don't listen... then we beat them to death!" Killing one person to save many—everyone present naturally knew what choice to make. As long as no class user entered the next floor, time on that floor remained frozen, only beginning to flow once a class user stepped inside. The best solution, in truth, would be for everyone to agree on a set time before which no one was allowed to advance to the next floor. That way, they could guarantee that the vast majority of people could leave the maze alive. The problem was that doing so was currently impossible. Suspicion had already taken root; no one knew who the first class user to enter the next floor was. Could Yu Xian and his group choose not to enter the next floor right now? Impossible. Unless they reached the next floor and confirmed that the timer still read seven days without having moved at all, allowing them to wait for the other class users at ease, they had no choice but to rush forward to the next floor and chase the first entrant all the way. Yet Yu Xian's group being at ease alone was useless. Even if they were calm, would the other class users be? Others would also suspect that some class user might sneakily advance to the next floor. Thus, as soon as they found three chests, they would rush to the next floor to check if its timer was running. Consequently, everyone spun like Wind and Fire Wheels: you suspect me, I suspect you; I enter a floor, you enter a floor, and the rat race begins. Unless an agreement had been established right from the very beginning and strictly obeyed by everyone, a great many people were bound to die in this event. The deeper they went, the more people would perish. Under Niman's explanation, Little Nora understood. Fortunately, death in the Zhen Realm wasn't true death, or else this event would truly be too cruel. Just then, Yu Xian abruptly swapped places with a summoned beast, then quickly swapped back. A treasure chest had appeared in his hands. After thinking for a moment, he stowed it away and smiled. "Once we've gathered all the chests, let's play a game to see who has the best luck and pulls the most valuable reward." "Then you're not allowed to peek, Salty Fish," Zhang Shou said, looking at Yu Xian. Yu Xian retorted dryly, "Relax. Even without cheating, my luck is better than yours." "..." Zhang Shou wanted to retort, but remembering his recent experiences, he found himself utterly unable to argue. Next, thanks to the efforts of the massive swarm of summoned beasts, chests were located one after another. By swapping positions with his summons, Yu Xian retrieved the chests one by one. "Master's class really is convenient," Chi Feihong remarked, watching the speed at which Yu Xian collected the chests. Though Yu Xian's level was still low right now, once it increased, claiming to be invincible under heaven truly wouldn't be an exaggeration. Still, Chi Feihong felt that many people misunderstood something. Namely, many thought Yu Xian was powerful only because of his summoned beasts. In reality, once his level rose and his stats became formidable enough, Yu Xian himself would be the most dangerous entity of all. If someone fought Yu Xian as an enemy, endured untold hardships, defeated his countless summoned beasts, and finally reached his presence, they would quickly realize that Yu Xian was actually the deadliest threat, far more terrifying than any of his summons. In five hours, all the treasure chests were gathered. Yu Xian placed them on the ground one by one, smiling. "Pick whichever you like, three for each person. Let's see who's the luckiest." When he mentioned the luckiest, he glanced subconsciously toward Little Nora. It almost felt like there was no point in competing. Then again, not necessarily. What Little Nora wanted might not be the objectively best item. In truth, everyone still had a shot at the best reward. Sure enough, Little Nora chose three chests and opened them, obtaining a character enhancement stone, a class enhancement stone, and a Skill Awakening Stone. Everyone then looked at one another's chests. After comparing their loot, the one with the best reward turned out to be Nora, who opened an Enhancement Lucky Talisman and two rings. In reality, enhancement itself was unaffected by personal luck. For instance, if Yu Xian felt exceptionally lucky on a given day and used an enhancement stone, his own luck would not affect the enhancement outcome; if it was meant to shatter, it would still shatter. Only an Enhancement Lucky Talisman could grant a luck boost to enhancement, potentially even stacking the success rate up to 100%. Otherwise, given that the Zhen Realm offered many ways to increase personal luck, how could an Enhancement Lucky Talisman ever be considered priceless? Little Nora's luck buff on everyone likewise did not affect enhancement probabilities, so relying on Little Nora's luck to perform enhancements was essentially courting death. Of course, Little Nora having successfully enhanced something to +7 was probably because someone had cheated on her behalf. In any case, the best haul belonged to Nora, while the worst reward—which Yu Xian had assumed would belong to Zhang Shou—turned out to be Gong Qian's. Poor, unlucky Gong Qian had actually pulled a lowest-grade socket gem, an ordinary pet egg, and a small pile of Fortune Gold Coins. After opening all the chests, everyone teleported together to the next floor. Upon stepping onto the third floor, everyone immediately checked the timer. "Fuck!" Zhang Shou couldn't help but curse when he saw that thirty minutes had already elapsed. The entrant on this floor had only arrived thirty minutes ahead of them, meaning they were likely still on this floor right now. What's more... that person definitely harbored malicious intent. If the previous floor could be considered an accident, then on this floor, this person was deliberately burning through the time limit. They wanted to trap and kill all the class users in this maze. Otherwise, there was no explaining why they had entered this floor so quickly instead of waiting a bit longer. Naturally, to find out the truth of the matter, they would first have to track down that entrant.