On the circular plate armor, a line represented one Hunting Point, and a full circle represented five Hunting Points.
Qin Siyang stared at the densely packed rings on this Iron Helmet Flea's circular plate armor, arranged like the growth rings of a tree, his jaw dropping in shock.
He didn't bother counting.
It wasn't like this thing could run away.
While his [Violence] skill was still active, Qin Siyang continued swinging his blade, slaughtering the remaining Iron Helmet Fleas.
Before long, his body suddenly slowed again.
This time, the aftereffects of using [Violence] were even stronger than the first.
He felt as if his body no longer belonged to him, unable to keep up with his mind's commands.
The movements of the remaining Iron Helmet Fleas didn't seem fast to his eyes, but he was just as clumsy.
'This is my limit.'
He looked at the thousand or so Iron Helmet Fleas left and realized he had no way to deal with them.
'No time to clean up the battlefield. Just grab that guy and head back for the reward.'
As he was about to retreat, he noticed that the Iron Helmet Fleas had stopped attacking him.
Instead, most of them rushed toward the black glass bottle containing the Sandworm Scale not far away.
Only a few, blocked by him, remained and attacked out of instinct. Their strikes were weak and harmless, without their brain's coordination, they weren't as threatening as before.
After clearing out the ones around him, Qin Siyang no longer cared about the thousand or so fleas gathered around the Sandworm Scale.
His clothes were already drenched in sweat. Inside his airtight cold-resistant suit, he was soaked through.
Qin Siyang removed his mask, taking deep breaths of the icy air.
The thousand-plus Iron Helmet Fleas, carrying the Sandworm Scale, scurried back into the ruins.
Qin Siyang sat on the ground, watching them leave.
'Guess I'll just leave that piece of Sandworm Scale behind.'
Glancing at the battlefield littered with corpses, he prepared to clean up.
With no one around, the first priority was, of course, to devour the divine remains and enhance his strength.
However, the Iron Helmet Flea's scales were as hard as metal, making them impossible to swallow.
He had to peel off the sharp, tough scales, just like shelling a crayfish, before he could eat the flesh inside.
Qin Siyang casually picked up half of an Iron Helmet Flea, used his Hunting Dagger to peel it clean, then looked at the tiny piece of meat pinched between his thumb and forefinger, falling into deep thought.
'A flea as big as a fist… and after peeling, it's only this much? Even less cost-effective than a crayfish.'
He swallowed it in one bite. The texture was chewy, but the enhancement it provided was barely noticeable, just a faint, fleeting warmth in his body before it disappeared completely.
He tried peeling and eating two or three more, even consuming the hardest one he had killed, but still felt no improvement.
Meanwhile, his fingers were already sore from peeling.
'Peeling these things is harder than killing them.'
His gaze then shifted to their scales.
Qin Siyang picked one up and examined it for a moment, "Would eating this be useful too?"
Only one way to find out.
He knocked off the blade-like edges with his knife and swallowed it whole.
Ptu—
He spat out a mouthful of blood, clutching his throat, rolling on the ground in pain.
He had overestimated the toughness of his esophagus. He hadn't expected the scales to cut his throat immediately upon swallowing.
And yet, even after the scale reached his stomach, it didn't provide any noticeable enhancement. The warm flow within his body was even weaker than when eating the meat.
"A complete loss," Qin Siyang's voice was hoarse, filled with regret.
This completely killed his appetite for Iron Helmet Fleas.
Might as well focus on collecting circular plate armors instead.
Patiently, he flipped over every corpse, checking their abdomens for circular plate armor.
After finishing, the over two thousand Iron Helmet Fleas had given him no fewer than three hundred plate armors.
'Not bad, over five hundred Hunting Points in hand.'
He then picked up the circular plate armor from the toughest flea he had killed, counting with his fingers.
'One, two, three… seventeen, eighteen… wait, which one was the eighteenth ring?'
He was too exhausted, his vision blurring from time to time, failing to count properly even after three or four tries.
'At the very least, it's got thirty rings. This trip got me a few hundred points, not bad, I guess.'
"If only I hadn't eaten that damn scale, I'd be even happier!"
With every word he spoke, he could feel the wound in his throat reopening, fresh blood welling up.
After spitting out a few more mouthfuls of blood, he put his mucus-stained mask back on, slung his bag over his shoulder, and headed toward the exit of Safe Zone No. 38324.
As he neared the safe zone's exit, he spotted several Hunter squads still engaged in God Hunting.
From afar, these people noticed Qin Siyang walking alone, his backpack shaking slightly with every step, and started speculating about his identity.
"Who is that? Never heard of a solo expert around here."
"The weapon he's carrying… looks like a Blind Judge? Besides John, who else has a Blind Judge?"
"That is John's Blind Judge! Wait… he's Qin Siyang? Where's his [Insurer]?"
"He went out for his second hunt without an [Insurer]? That bold?"
Many people recognized him, and for a moment, their interest in hunting Gods faded.
Rather than betting on whether they could successfully hunt a god, watching this unfold seemed more rewarding.
A solo hunter on his first divine hunt, earning 1,600 Hunting Points.
Defeating John, the fifth-ranked hunter at Safe Zone No. 38324's exit, in just twenty minutes.
Most sequence ability users had heard of Qin Siyang's rising fame in recent days but had never seen him in person.
Now that he was returning from a god hunt at the safe zone exit, they naturally wanted to see if he truly lived up to the hype.
"Captain, I don't want to try anymore. Let's call it a day."
"Captain, let's head back. I heard he turned in over 800 Hunting Points worth of circular plate armor last time, who knows how big his haul is this time."
"Fine."
As Qin Siyang's presence spread, more and more sequence ability user squads suspended their God Hunting, silently following behind him back to the safe zone exit.
"Hiss—"
The massive safe zone gate slowly opened. Qin Siyang stepped inside, removed his mask, and made his way toward the verification queue.
As he queued up, one of the sequence ability users who had followed him back walked over with a grin.
"Qin Siyang, you're the highest-scoring divine hunter at Safe Zone No. 38324's exit. You have the exclusive right to cut to the front for verification."
Qin Siyang glanced at the long line, he didn't want to waste time waiting.
He wanted to finish the verification quickly, find a nearby inn to wash up, and have a good meal to reward himself.
His throat hurt too much to speak, so he simply nodded and smiled in thanks.
Sheathing his Hunting Dagger and Blind Judge at his waist, he grabbed his mask and strode to the front of the line, stopping before the verification officer.
In a hoarse voice, he said briefly, "I, Qin Siyang, verification."
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