As Alex stared at his final attribute levels and HP, he was left utterly speechless. Not only had all five of his attributes surpassed SS rank, but his health had skyrocketed to over 160,000! He had been certain before that no player could possibly have more than 100,000 health, but now he found himself eating those very words.
The massive leap in HP and maxed-out attribute levels made Alex seem less like a player and more like the ultimate boss of the game, the kind you'd face in the final battle. These stats were so ridiculous that he didn't even dare to tell anyone. Not because they wouldn't believe him, but because if someone actually did believe it, he might scare them to death.
After sitting down and thinking seriously for over ten minutes, Alex could confidently conclude that he hadn't made any deals with strangers or inherited superpowers from some all-powerful deity. His parents were ordinary folks, and his missing brother, while handsome, was just a regular university student.
Alex was stumped—he couldn't figure out why he had become so absurdly powerful. Even if he was selected to be someone's "chosen one," there was no way this kind of power-up was normal. He chuckled to himself, thinking, "If some higher being did choose me, I wonder if they could even survive one of my sword swings." Maybe he had accidentally stumbled upon a bug in the game that granted him these godlike stats.
As his mind wandered, Alex began to seriously question reality. Could it be that he had died already, and everything since then was just an elaborate fantasy?
"Alex? Are you ready? We're about to head out!" Jessica's voice suddenly called from outside, snapping him out of his spiral of overthinking.
"Oh, I'm ready! Be right there!" Alex responded instinctively, shaking his head with a smile. "Who cares what the reason is? Whether this is real or not, I might as well keep going!"
After buying today's **"Heart of Belos"** from the marketplace, Alex tossed it into his inventory without bothering to upgrade it just yet. He walked out of his room, gathered his classmates, and began preparing for the day's mission.
Looking at Mason and the others around him, Alex spoke cheerfully, "We have plenty of time today, so I'm thinking of upping the number of resource points we take over. Just a little bit."
"You're always pushing the limits, aren't you?"
"No, that's called being greedy!"
"Please don't work us to death!"
Unlike the day before, when everyone was still in shock, today the group felt much more confident. After all, the number of resource points didn't necessarily correlate with difficulty. As long as they had enough time, ten resource points—or even a hundred—wouldn't be a problem.
Smiling, Alex waved off their complaints. "I found a way to get double the rewards from each task. After we clear out a resource point, we'll let the monsters take it over, and then we'll attack their nest. That way, we'll earn double the rewards, and the rewards for monster nests are even better!"
The group wasn't surprised by Alex's suggestion. After all, when they had received that "failed mission" message yesterday, they had already thought of this strategy. But since Alex was leading, they hadn't brought it up. If he hadn't mentioned it, someone else likely would have.
To give the monsters enough time to retake the resource points, Alex increased their target number to fifteen. By the time they cleared the last one, the first would have already turned into a monster nest.
With the plan set, the next step was selecting which resource points to conquer. To avoid interfering with other teams, they chose targets farther from East Sea City, moving in a circular pattern around it. This way, they wouldn't have to waste time flying back and forth; they could simply clear them out as they went.
As they set out, Mason couldn't help but comment, "Alex, it feels like you've gotten even stronger overnight. There's this aura around you now, like just standing next to you makes me nervous."
Chris quickly agreed, "Yeah, it's like in those novels where the hero has a complete transformation. Just being near you feels intimidating."
Alex chuckled warmly and casually responded, "Isn't it normal for me to double my strength every day?"
His honesty, paired with his outrageous claim, left the group speechless. They couldn't even argue, because it was, unfortunately, true. His casual remark about daily doubling made their teeth itch with frustration, but none of them dared to challenge him anymore. That aura, that pressure, was too real.
Once Jessica and the others were geared up for flight, they suddenly saw Alex shoot into the sky like a rocket, vanishing from view in an instant. The sheer force of his takeoff left the group stumbling as the shockwave from his speed cracked the ground beneath his feet.
By the time Alex realized he had flown way past East Sea City, he quickly turned back, having left his companions far behind. Landing back in front of them, Alex cleared his throat, pretending nothing had happened. "Sorry about that. My strength's increased a bit, so I had to show off a little. You understand."
Jessica and the others were somewhat used to Alex's antics by now, but Chris, ever the joker, said with a pained expression, "You don't usually show off this blatantly. You weren't even trying to look cool just now, which somehow makes it even worse!"
Alex had always been mindful of his teammates, never revealing his full strength. What had just happened wasn't him trying to show off; it was him being unable to control his own power. This realization only made Mason and the others feel even more helpless. How could anyone in this world possibly be this strong?
Alex was indeed struggling to manage his newfound speed. Although Agility was still his lowest attribute, his leap from D-level to SS had increased his actual speed by several dozen times. Trying to move at the same pace as his classmates was now far harder than pushing his abilities to their limits.
In the end, Alex decided to split up from the group. While they were still on their way to the first resource point, he used the time to scout ahead and take a look at the fifteen targets they planned to conquer.
When Alex finished scouting the resource points and returned, Mason and the others had just arrived at the first target. The difference in speed was so absurd that it left the entire group speechless.
Thanks to his overwhelming power boost, Alex didn't even bother wearing the full **Dragon God** set today. Besides equipping the **Dragon God's Wings** and the **Belos Bane**, he only wore the **Champion's Armor**. However, to Chris and the others' astonishment, Alex's monster-clearing speed had become even more terrifying compared to the day before.
Even without the **Dragon God's Might** enhancement, the upgraded **Dragon God's Flame**, now at the Advanced Master level, allowed Alex to deal 100% burning damage with every hit. Plus, the cooldown for the **Explosive Flame** ability had been reduced to just 10 seconds. Combined with his incredible attack speed, Alex was cutting down swarms of monsters as though it were a casual game.
Before Mason and the others could contribute much to the fight, Alex had already cleared most of the Belos monsters around the first resource point. Some of the monsters were even so terrified by his power that they fled. Once inside the resource point, faced with thousands of guarding monsters, Alex's killing spree grew even more intense. While he initially left around 30% of the monsters for Chris and the others to handle, now he was clearing them all within minutes.
The speed disparity had reached a point where Alex could clear 70% of the monsters in just three to five minutes, while Jessica and the rest were still struggling with the remaining 30%. Worse yet, Alex's attributes had grown so high that he no longer gained any experience points from the monsters!
Whether it was the regular Belos monsters, the resource point guardians, or even the bosses, none of them could give Alex a single percentage of experience after he one-shot them.
This left Alex feeling frustrated. It was a huge loss, as he had expected to level up significantly today just as he had the day before. Yesterday, he had leveled up by more than 100 levels. If he could do that again today, he'd hit over 1,000 levels in no time, maxing out his level bonuses.
But now, due to his overpowering stats, these "low-level" monsters couldn't give him any experience, and that put Alex in a tough spot.
"What's the point of being so strong if I can't level up anymore? And what am I supposed to do with all these extra points?" Alex thought with a grimace. The fun was quickly fading from the game.
If the other players knew what Alex was thinking, they'd probably want to strangle him. "Fun? We're struggling to survive in this game, and you're worried about fun!?"
Without the motivation to grind for levels, Alex started to lose enthusiasm. After Chris and the others finished clearing the remaining monsters, Alex gathered them and made a suggestion: "I don't get any experience from killing bosses anymore. How about I let you guys handle them from now on?"
Since there was no point in monopolizing the kills anymore, Alex decided to let his teammates gain more experience. However, Jessica and the others weren't exactly thrilled. They exchanged uneasy glances, silently wondering how strong Alex had become if even boss fights no longer gave him experience.
With the new strategy in place, they moved on to the second resource point. Alex led the charge by clearing out most of the monsters, allowing Mason and the others to go straight for the boss.
Technically, with five SR-ranked **Gifted** and over twenty R-ranked **Gifted** on the team, defeating a boss should have been a breeze. However, by the time Alex had cleared the surrounding monsters, the boss still had about 20% of its health left. The team was struggling with its final, desperate attacks, and several members almost got wiped out by the boss's ultimate move.
Seeing their struggle, Alex stepped in and one-shot the boss, saving the day. Jessica and the others felt their faces heat up in embarrassment. Compared to Alex, their abilities were no better than those of children.
But in fairness, this was also due to the fact that Mason, Liam, and the others had little experience fighting bosses. Their inexperience caused some chaos in their approach. Moreover, the monsters in these resource points had been growing steadily stronger over the past few days.
Initially, the group had easily slaughtered the regular monsters, much like Alex now handled the bosses. They hadn't paid much attention to the gradual increase in monster strength, especially at the resource points that had yet to be captured. Weaker points had already turned into monster nests, leaving only the stronger ones to defend.
After clearing the second resource point, only about 30 minutes had passed. Their pace was 2-3 times faster than the previous day, thanks entirely to Alex. Learning from this experience, they adjusted their strategy once more. Mason and the others would chip away at the boss's health until it was down to half, at which point Alex would step in for the finishing blow. This method significantly sped up their progress while ensuring that everyone still got valuable experience points.
Testing the new approach at the third resource point, they found that their monster-clearing speed had improved even further. The entire process was smooth, and the team's coordination had reached a new level.
Although Alex wanted to give his teammates more chances to fight, their pace was simply too slow compared to his. Plus, their stamina and energy were still issues. If Alex left too many monsters for them, it would defeat the purpose of a team effort. In that case, it would be more efficient for them to split up, with Alex clearing one part of the map and the others another.
Realizing this, the team accepted their roles. While it was heartbreaking to watch Alex annihilate hordes of monsters, leaving them only the bosses to fight, they understood the practicality of the arrangement. At least this way, they could complete 10-15 tasks with minimal effort while still earning decent rewards. Experience points could be gained slowly over time; they didn't need to push themselves beyond their limits.
Chris, for one, wasn't too concerned. "There's no way I'll ever have Alex's problem of not gaining experience," he thought to himself. "Experience points don't matter. Power does."
By the time Alex and the team had cleared their 18th resource point, it wasn't even lunchtime yet. If the first resource point hadn't already been taken over by Belos monsters and turned into a nest, they might have continued capturing more.
Compared to the previous day, their accomplishments had doubled. After a leisurely lunch and some rest, they resumed their assault on the resource points, now transformed into monster nests.
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