And how lucky was it for David Carter to encounter a new type of plant monster in the sea? No, this isn’t luck! This is skill! There’s a reason the NPC sent me, this weakling spearman, to this place! This is the discovery reward I deserve! After all, I’m still a master whose skills haven’t dulled with age! Wahahaha!

Finally, when the 100th sea anemone exploded and died, a golden light descended from the sky!

—System prompt: Congratulations! You have reached level 2! You have gained 1 strategic attribute point, 1 skill point, +2 health, +1 leadership.

—Beginner tip: Players can freely allocate strategic attribute points to attack, defense, magic, or knowledge. During the novice period before changing class, you only get one strategic attribute point per level, so allocate carefully. If you’re unsure about your future development, you can save up points and allocate them later. Strategic attribute points can also be earned through arena training, school courses, and other methods.

—Beginner tip: You have gained 1 skill point. You can purchase skill books and learn new main skills at schools, barracks, or town skill trainers, or upgrade your current main skill, or learn branch skills from skill books you already own. Skill points can also be earned as quest rewards.

—Beginner tip: Your leadership has increased by 1 point. You can now command 1 soldier to fight for you. The stronger the soldier, the higher the leadership required. The leadership value on a soldier’s stats is the requirement to command that soldier. Leadership is mainly gained through quest rewards and by obtaining national titles or official positions.

David Carter wiped his sweat and let out a long sigh.

Leveling up as a newbie without a class change doesn’t give much of a boost—the key issue is that the damage is still a pathetic 1-3. If only I had learned the Attack skill, I bet more than half the players chose Attack as their first skill, since it’s a must-have for combat heroes. The problem is, I only have a Navigation skill book! There’s not even a skill trainer in this godforsaken place! If I’d known I’d end up stranded here, I never would have picked Navigation as my starting skill. And now that I’ve learned Navigation, what’s the point? Where’s the ship? There isn’t even a ship! Sure, my leadership went up a bit, but where am I supposed to recruit soldiers here?

This is such a rip-off! The system and the players are both screwing me over!

I bet those players who started normally either picked spearman or archer specialties, or chose the Attack specialty, and are happily taking quests and rewards from the barracks instructor, already leading a few little soldiers with quest rewards into dungeons, right? The goddess was right—not supporting player lotteries, and getting stuck with a trash talent in a trash location really does hurt your development. Luckily, I’m a pro and can still find a sliver of hope. If it were a newbie, they’d be stuck on this deserted island and die of desperation!

Die of desperation? Wait! I can’t possibly swim back after being sent to this deserted island, right? There has to be a ship, right? Could it be that the stranded ship on the shore is actually usable? Is the player’s task to sail that ship back?

David Carter’s heart skipped a beat! That ship is a big one! If I can really sail it away, I’ll save a fortune on buying a ship and all the time needed to build up reputation! But let’s not talk about the ship yet—that guy definitely won’t just hand it over! As for whether he’ll have a change of heart and take me back? I doubt it—he’s too ruthless!

David Carter’s brow furrowed! In the end, I have to go up against Blake Storm! Even if I can’t beat him, I at least need to pose a threat, otherwise I won’t even have the right to negotiate!

Enough talk, time to level up faster! David Carter put the newly gained strategic attribute point into attack—1 point in attack increases hero and troop damage by 5%. In any case, boosting attack is never wrong! I refuse to believe I can’t catch up to his skeleton kills by farming these defenseless monsters!

David Carter continued moving from one sea anemone pool to another. Unknowingly, dawn was approaching, and the rumbling sound of waves came from the horizon—a silver-white line appeared at the edge of the sky. The tide was rising!

David Carter suddenly realized he was already very far from the island—he couldn’t even see the ship on the island anymore! Damn! No way! Am I going to drown out here? Before, dying didn’t matter, but now if I die and lose experience, it’ll kill me!

What to do? David Carter looked around and suddenly saw a small protruding reef island not far away in the sea. There’s definitely no time to swim back to the island, but that spot shouldn’t get submerged by the rising tide!

David Carter immediately dashed into the sea, swimming with all his might, racing against the waves!

The tide surged in, and David Carter could clearly feel the sea level rising rapidly, and he was already running out of stamina halfway there! Damn! He quickly pulled out a coconut juice fruit, smashed it open, and gulped it down—stamina +100! Oh yeah!

Getting closer! The roar of the waves was deafening! The giant waves were like walls! Almost there! Go for it! David Carter gritted his teeth for a final sprint! Even though in the game, stats matter and gritting your teeth doesn’t help!

—Boom!!! The crashing waves smashed against the shore, sending spray sky-high! In that instant, even with his back to the giant wave, David Carter, clinging tightly to the reef, could feel the earth-shaking impact through the rock!

“Finally…” David Carter let out a long sigh of relief, slowly climbed onto the reef, and suddenly shuddered all over!

There was someone on the reef! A corpse rotted down to a skeleton!

David Carter immediately raised his spear, fully alert!