Chapter 18: Chapter 18 Level Difference_1 "That’s not right, is it? If Mr. Mo is Level 5, doesn’t that mean he can’t team up with us anymore?" Seeing Chen Mo reach Level 5, Fang Datong immediately voiced his regret. He had been planning to hunt monsters with his buddy to show off the power of his new gear. However, a large level difference generally makes hunting monsters together inefficient. Under the heavenly path’s rule, when teaming up to hunt monsters, Experience is calculated based on the largest level difference within the party. If a slain monster has a level difference with any team member, the Experience Points gained will be reduced accordingly. This doesn’t just apply to teaming up. Even if someone who isn’t in the team helps by dealing damage, reducing a monster’s Health, or performing actions like lowering a monster’s attributes or controlling it to let low-level players get the kill, an Experience penalty will still be applied. The Experience gained from monsters is fixed: a Level 1 monster gives 1 Experience Point upon being slain, a Level 2 monster gives 2 Experience Points, and so on. For each level of difference between you and a monster, you will incur an Experience Point penalty when you kill it. You lose 1 Experience Point for each level of difference. After Level 10, this penalty doubles to 2 points per level. After Level 20, it increases to 3 points per level, and this pattern continues for every subsequent 10 levels. For example, if you are Level 3 in a team and kill a Level 1 monster, the 2-Level difference means the Experience gained will be reduced by 2 points. Since Level 1 monsters only provide 1 Experience Point, this isn’t enough to cover the penalty. While the system won’t actually subtract Experience from your total, you won’t gain any Experience from killing that Level 1 monster. Special Reminder: This rule only applies to team situations and takes effect only when the level difference between the highest-Level and lowest-Level team members exceeds 2. Normally, a low-level professional killing a high-level monster can gain bonus Experience Points. Similarly, if you are Level 1 in a team with a large level disparity and your team kills a Level 3 monster, the 2-Level difference means your Experience gained will also be reduced by 2 points. However, since a Level 3 monster provides 3 Experience Points, even with the penalty, you will still gain at least 1 Experience Point. If you are Level 13 and kill a Level 11 monster, even though there’s only a 2-Level difference, the penalty after Level 10 is 2 points per level. So, for a Level 11 monster that provides 11 Experience Points, you’ll have 4 points deducted (2 levels * 2 points/level), meaning you only earn 7 Experience Points. The same applies if you are Level 23 and kill a Level 21 monster. After Level 20, the penalty is 3 points per level. You’ll be deducted 6 Experience Points (2 levels * 3 points/level). So, a Level 21 monster, which would normally give 21 Experience Points, will only yield 15 Experience Points. The reverse is also true when in a team. If you are Level 11 and kill a Level 13 monster, the penalty is still based on the 2-Level difference. Post-Level 10, this is 2 points per level, so a 4-point deduction. A Level 13 monster (13 EP) would yield 9 Experience Points. If you are Level 21 killing a Level 23 monster, the penalty (post-Level 20) is 3 points per level, so a 6-point deduction. A Level 23 monster (23 EP) would yield 17 Experience Points. If there are multiple different levels in the team, Experience Points are penalized based on the largest level difference found between any single team member and the monster. For example, if your team has members at Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and you collectively kill a Level 5 monster. According to the maximum level difference rule, the heavenly path’s rule will apply penalties based on this largest gap. The difference between the Level 1 member and the Level 5 monster is 4 Levels. Therefore, the Experience Points provided by the Level 5 monster (normally 5 EP) will be reduced by 4 points, leaving only 1 Experience Point. And this 1 Experience Point must then be shared among all team members. This means that for a five-person team with members from Level 1 to Level 5 killing a Level 5 monster, each player ultimately gains only 0.2 Experience Points. Because of these rules, it’s very difficult for high-level players to power-level low-level players. As long as the level difference within your team is significant, whether you’re helping low-level players kill low-level monsters or high-level monsters, the substantial level-difference penalties will severely reduce the Experience gain for all team members. The same applies to item drop rates. After killing a monster, for each level of difference (based on the maximum level difference as determined before), the monster’s item drop rate is reduced by 10%. Using the previous example of the Level 1 to 5 party: if they kill a Level 5 monster together, the presence of the Level 1 member creates a 4-Level difference, so the monster’s drop rate is reduced by 40%. Similarly, even if not formally teamed up, if a high-level individual intervenes in a fight—whether by helping with damage, using control Skills, debuff Skills, or any other combat-related Skill—this intervention will affect the drop rate. The drop rate penalty will be calculated based on the level difference between this intervening high-level individual and the monster. The Heavenly Dao’s detection is extremely strict; it offers no such loopholes to exploit! The only exception involves healing-type professions. They can heal from outside the team. As long as they only restore Health and don’t cast any enhancing buffs on those fighting, it’s not considered intervention. This is the only way a high-level player can help low-level players improve their monster-hunting efficiency without incurring penalties. However, thankfully, the heavenly path’s rule is also quite reasonable. Where there are penalties, there are also balancing factors and rewards. All the above restrictions on assisting low-level players apply only when there’s a large level difference within a team or when an outsider interferes. If the level difference between the highest-Level and lowest-Level members in a team does not exceed 2 Levels, Experience after killing a monster is calculated based on the team’s average Level, and there are no Experience penalties for killing monsters of a higher level than the team average. And if you are solo and manage to kill a high-level monster on your own, not only will you avoid Experience Point and drop rate penalties, but you’ll actually receive rewards. The reward rules are the inverse of the penalty rules. If you are Level 1 and solo-kill a Level 5 monster, you earn the base 5 Experience Points plus a bonus of 4 Experience Points for the level difference, totaling 9 Experience Points. Similarly, if you are Level 1 and solo-kill a Level 5 monster, its item drop rate will be increased by an additional 40%. Clearly, while the heavenly path’s rule limits high-level players from power-leveling low-level ones, they also provide benefits for capable low-level players to advance quickly. Everyone is very familiar with these rules. That’s why Fang Datong was so frustrated. If Chen Mo joined their team, the level difference would become too large. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦 Regardless of what Level monster they decided to hunt, the returns wouldn’t be good. Hunting Level 1 monsters: Chen Mo, at Level 5, would cause a 4-point Experience penalty (a 4-Level difference). Since Level 1 monsters give 1 EP, this results in 1 - 4 = 0 EP (as it can’t go negative). No gain. Hunting Level 2 monsters: Chen Mo (Level 5) would cause a 3-point Experience penalty (a 3-Level difference). Level 2 monsters give 2 EP. Result: 2 - 3 = 0 EP. No gain. Hunting Level 4 monsters: The largest level difference would be between a Level 1 party member (like Fang Datong) and the Level 4 monster (3 Levels). This incurs a 3-point Experience penalty. Level 4 monsters give 4 EP. Result: 4 - 3 = 1 EP (to be shared). Hunting Level 5 monsters: The largest level difference would be between a Level 1 party member and the Level 5 monster (4 Levels). This incurs a 4-point Experience penalty. Level 5 monsters give 5 EP. Result: 5 - 4 = 1 EP (to be shared). Hunting Level 3 monsters: The level difference between Chen Mo (L5) and the L3 monster is 2 Levels. The difference between a Level 1 party member and the L3 monster is also 2 Levels. So the penalty is 2 Experience Points. Level 3 monsters give 3 EP. Result: 3 - 2 = 1 EP (to be shared). And this single Experience Point would have to be shared among all teammates. Divided up, each person gets practically nothing. For a team of four, where perhaps three are fighting monsters above their Level, the shared Experience would be pitifully small. Such a team would be pointless and inefficient. "Since Chen Mo is already Level 5, he shouldn’t continue with this team. He should prepare for the Realm Breakthrough Assessment immediately. Yesterday, a team from Class Three mentioned they were short on people; only two had signed up. Datong, Bingbing, and you, the girl from Class Four—the three of you should team up with those two." After all, with such a significant level difference, it’s just not suitable. Hearing Su Tianxin’s words, Chen Mo and the others didn’t say anything more and willingly disbanded their small party.