At this point in the battle, the Ironback Brown Bear had been worn down to exhaustion by Han Xing and Coal.
However, its vitality was truly formidable. Despite being on the verge of collapse, it still held on with its last breath.
At this stage, no survivor could defeat it in a one-on-one fight.
Even if they could, they would likely pay a heavy price.
Although Han Xing hadn't suffered any injuries, the main reason was that Coal had taken on most of the pressure upfront.
If Han Xing had fought the bear alone, he would likely have been turned into a bloody pulp by now.
Considering how powerful the Ironback Brown Bear was, other level 5 elite monsters wouldn't be much weaker.
"Luckily, it's not level 6," Han Xing said with some relief.
In Floating Island Paradise, there was a clear boundary between level 5 and level 6.
Level 6 monsters were significantly stronger in terms of attributes than level 5 monsters. Ordinary adventurers simply couldn't challenge a higher level.
However, when survivors leveled up to level 6, they would also experience a significant increase, not only in attributes but also in equipment.
When players reached level 6, the equipment crafted according to blueprints would have a huge attribute boost compared to the previous levels, but it would also come with a level requirement.
Before level 5, players could wear any equipment they crafted freely.
But after level 6, you would need to reach that level to use the crafted equipment.
Now, the Ironback Brown Bear was on its last legs and about to be finished off by Han Xing.
At that moment, the bear suddenly took a deep breath, raised its paw high, and a terrifying force began to build.
Han Xing immediately sensed that it was trying to unleash its area-of-effect skill, Bear Paw Slam.
But there was no way Han Xing was going to let that happen.
Wind-Chasing Arrow!
Swoosh!
The arrow shot straight into the bear's eye socket.
Headshot!
Fatal damage!
The massive body of the Ironback Brown Bear slowly collapsed.
The system notification chimed.
[You have killed Ironback Brown Bear lv5 (Elite), gained 500 XP, and pet 'Coal' gained 400 XP.]
[Your level has increased. Current level: LV5.]
[Pet 'Coal' has leveled up. Current level: LV4.]
"Wow, leveled up again!"
In just one morning, Han Xing had leveled up twice, gaining experience equal to what he had earned in five or six days!
Glancing at his own stats, his strength and agility had each increased by 4 points, and his spirit and constitution had gone up by 2 to 3 points. Not bad.
But when he looked at Coal's stats, he was taken aback.
[Pet Info: Void Ghost Wolf (Juvenile)]
[Race: Void]
[Level: LV4]
[Strength: 15, Agility: 25, Spirit: 14, Constitution: 13]
"Wow! The attributes gained at level 1 are almost like me leveling up three times. Is this little guy heading for a boss-tier stat sheet?"
Coal stared at him blankly. After the battle, the little wolf pup was also excited, constantly pawing at Han Xing's boots.
At the same time, a familiar system notification appeared.
[You have killed the elite monster in this area. You can now explore higher-level zones.]
Suddenly, Han Xing noticed that the number of clouds in the distance had increased several times. He even saw some clouds spanning hundreds or even thousands of square meters.
"Oh? So this brown bear was the most powerful monster in this area?"
Han Xing thought, "It seems I'm the fastest survivor to clear the area boss in zone 107. Otherwise, the others' scores would have surged by now."
Then Han Xing and Coal walked over to the massive brown bear's corpse.
He clicked Disassemble, and a system notification popped up.
[Successfully disassembled the Ironback Brown Bear. Recovered 45 iron arrows, acquired 1-star quality beast hide (damaged), obtained 964 kg of bear meat, 2 bear paws, 1 beast heart, 20 units of powerful blood, 7 strength crystals, and 1 recipe for Bear's Strength Secret Potion.]
"Huh?"
Han Xing perked up. The earlier items were pretty ordinary, but he noticed the last one in particular.
"Recipe for Bear's Strength Secret Potion?"
With anticipation, Han Xing looked at the pile of loot on the ground.
Under the large bear hide, he found a yellowed sheet of paper.
Upon picking it up, the system notification appeared.
[Do you want to learn the recipe for Bear's Strength Secret Potion?]
"Yes."
In the next moment, Han Xing saw a new recipe had been added to his recipe list.
[Bear's Strength Secret Potion: After consumption, gain the power of a mighty bear, increasing strength by 30%. Effect lasts for 100 seconds.]
[Ingredients for the potion: 10 units of powerful blood, 5 spirit cores, 1 tigerbone herb, 1 strength crystal.]
"Increases strength by 30%?" Han Xing was surprised.
Based on the hunter's formula where 1 point of strength equals 2 points of attack, Han Xing's current strength was 18 points. This would translate to an additional 5.4 points of strength, or nearly 11 attack points.
That's almost the equivalent of adding a weapon's worth of power—an incredibly significant effect!
"With this potion, I can increase my attack by at least 20% in battle. That's a huge boost!"
Han Xing was excited. "And that's just for hunters. For melee classes like warriors, where 1 strength equals 3 attack points, the effect would be even more powerful!"
"Cheng Jianyong and Shen Yun would definitely benefit from this."
With that in mind, Han Xing immediately crafted 100 bottles of Bear's Strength Secret Potion.
He had plenty of materials, so he wasn't worried about running out.
He then found Cheng Jianyong and Shen Yun and traded 20 bottles with each of them.
He also told them to keep pushing up the leaderboard.
With the strength boost from the potion, their attack power would increase significantly, allowing them to explore the floating island much faster.
At this point, Han Xing glanced at the leaderboard.
After merging the brown bear's territory, his territory score jumped by over 60 points, breaking the 800-point mark and pushing him into the top 10!
Cheng Jianyong and Shen Yun were also climbing the ranks rapidly.
Especially Cheng Jianyong, who, as a warrior, saw a huge attack boost from the Bear's Strength Secret Potion.
It was like he was on fire, his ranking skyrocketing.
In just one hour, he went from rank 37 to 25.
However, after starting to use the Bear's Strength Secret Potion, he gained over 50 points in just half an hour and broke into the top 20!
His rapid rise was now almost on par with Han Xing's.
In the chat channel, the other survivors were already stunned.
Someone gulped and whispered, "How are these guys doing this?"
"When did zone 107 get such monsters?"
Their voices were full of disbelief, and many survivors shared the same thoughts.
"Galaxy is one thing, gaining 200 points in three hours. But now, not long after, he's up by another 60."
"But what's with this Lone Warrior and Cloud Skybright? How are they getting over 100 points per hour?"
No one had an answer.
Someone else commented, "Whisperer and Papaya Starling's scores haven't moved. What are they even doing?"
"Could Galaxy really catch up and reclaim a spot in the top three?"
Hearing this, the survivors from God's Whisper and Plane Men felt a sinking feeling. They had thought Whisperer and Papaya Starling had the top spots secured.
But now, even they were starting to feel nervous for Whisperer and Papaya Starling.