The moment the seals were lifted, the attributes revealed themselves fully.
[Queen Bee Breastplate]
[Grade: Bronze]
[Type: Leather Armor]
[Level Requirement: 10]
[Physical Defense: 70]
[Magic Defense: 70]
[+7 Strength]
[+9 Agility]
[+7 Constitution]
[Unsealed Effect: +25 Physical Defense]
...
[Queen Bee's Sting]
[Grade: Bronze]
[Type: Dagger]
[Level Requirement: 10]
[Physical Attack: 60–75]
[+14 Strength]
[+18 Agility]
[+14 Constitution]
[Unsealed Effect: +20 Physical Attack Cap]
Don's eyes flickered slightly. The difference was immediate.
The breastplate alone solved one of his biggest weaknesses, fragility. And the dagger pushed his damage ceiling even higher. More burst, more pressure, more lethality. He equipped both items without hesitation.
A subtle tremor ran through his body, a surge of strength, stability, and control. He opened his status panel, and this time even he was slightly surprised.
[Bane]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Apprentice Thief]
[Level: 11]
[HP: 1120]
[Physical Attack: 800–885]
[Physical Defense: 134]
[Magic Defense: 109]
Everything had skyrocketed. Attack, defense, health, the impact of full stat bonuses was overwhelming. A faint smile appeared on his lips. 'Now this feels right.'
Then, without hesitation, he suppressed the equipment glow. The brilliant aura faded instantly, returning him to an ordinary appearance, unremarkable, forgettable. High-profile strength, low-profile presence.
Don resumed moving. As he advanced, the environment began to change. The air grew hotter, heavier, dry. The ground ahead was blackened and scorched, some areas still smoking faintly. He had reached Flame Valley.
And there, his targets appeared. Flaming Goats. Their bodies burned with fire, their eyes glowed a deep red, and each step left faint scorch marks on the ground behind them.
[Flaming Goat]
[Grade: Enhanced Monster]
[Level: 14]
[HP: 9000]
[Physical Attack: 210–240]
[Physical Defense: 250]
[Magic Defense: 230]
Don's gaze sharpened. High damage, high HP, dangerous. But above their heads floated a white skull symbol.
'Passive monsters.' A faint smile formed. 'Perfect.'
He moved silently, closing in and positioning himself behind a lone goat. Then he struck.
[Backstab, 1,995!]
The damage exploded. The goat jerked violently, flames flickering wildly as scorching blood splashed onto the ground and burned the dry grass to ash. It roared and charged.
Don reacted instantly, evading cleanly as the attack passed harmlessly by. He circled, flowing around the creature, and followed up with two rapid strikes, more damage, more pressure. The goat was forced to turn, to chase, its rhythm broken.
Don controlled the fight step by step, dodging the second attack through movement alone. He had a potion between his teeth just in case, but he didn't need it yet.
Then the goat changed tactics. Its hind legs kicked up and slammed forward.
[248!]
Don staggered back, his vision shaking slightly. 'Damn that was a Heavy Strike.'
Before he could fully recover, the goat charged again.
[159!]
His HP dropped further. Don didn't hesitate, he disengaged immediately, pulled distance, and switched weapons to the Scout's Bow. An arrow was nocked instantly. He ran, shot, ran again. Kiting. Potions were money, and money was time. He wouldn't waste them recklessly.
But then came a mistake. While kiting, he drifted too close to a cluster of goats. Three more turned, locked onto him, and charged.
Don's eyes widened slightly. "…Seriously?"
Four goats now chasing him. And as he ran, more were pulled in, one, two, three more. A chain reaction. A train formed behind him.
Don sprinted, heart rate rising. Not panic, but alert. The burning herd thundered behind him, relentless, aggressive, and dangerous. But wild monsters had limits.
After roughly a hundred meters, their aggro broke. One by one they stopped, turned, and returned to their positions.
Silence. Don slowed and exhaled. A lesson learned.
From that point, his strategy changed. No more reckless pulls, no more greedy positioning. He began isolating targets one by one, controlled and efficient. Each kill cost at most two potions, sometimes fewer, and with proper dodging even that could be avoided.
The rewards were decent. Each goat dropped three to five silver coins, enough to sustain his expenses, and the experience was solid at roughly one percent per kill.
But there was a problem, the drop rate. Despite being Enhanced monsters, their loot was terrible. After killing more than a dozen, only two goat skins had dropped. No equipment, nothing else.
Don frowned slightly. 'So that's how it is.'
The grind would be longer than expected. But his pace didn't slow, because he already understood something fundamental about this game.
The difference between players wasn't decided in moments of triumph or spectacle. It was decided in moments like this, in the willingness to keep going when progress was slow and the rewards were thin.
It took Don roughly fifteen minutes to clear the surrounding area completely. Only then did he slow down. Now he could begin properly.
His method was simple, efficient, and refined. He would close in and strike first with Backstab, then immediately disengage, activate Evasion, switch to the bow, and begin kiting.
The bow's damage was unstable and unpredictable, sometimes low, sometimes spiking, but on average it still ranged between three hundred and eight hundred, more than enough.
He kept firing, maintaining distance, controlling rhythm, waiting for cooldowns.
Once Evasion refreshed, he closed in again, clean and decisive, and finished the target. The result was nearly the same efficiency as melee combat, but with far less potion consumption.
Time passed quietly and relentlessly. By the time Don collected twenty quest items, an hour had gone by. The sky had faintly lightened, nearly dawn.
His level rose again to twelve, and he checked his inventory. Seventeen gold coins. Not fast, not slow. A steady pace.
As for equipment, two pieces had dropped. The first was a Level 10 White Iron helmet with forty defense and fifty HP, solid and sellable.
The second was a rusted axe, also Level 10, but with an impressive attack range of forty-five to ninety-eight. Higher than his dagger's base attack, which was understandable. Axes were slow and heavy, if their damage wasn't high, no one would use them.
Don smirked faintly. 'Balanced in their own way.'
But then his luck shifted. Over the next hour, drops increased, metal leggings, a robe, chainmail pants, one after another. And then something else entirely. A green book dropped.
Don stopped instantly, picked it up, and checked it. His eyes narrowed.
[Heaven and Earth Strike]
[Skill Book]
[Damage: 180% of current attack]
[Hit Rate: -20%]
[Chance for maximum damage]
[Cooldown: 15s]
[Requirement: Level 10]
[Classes: Swordsman, Mercenary]
A rare drop. Valuable, very valuable. The damage multiplier was high, and with heavier weapons it became even more dangerous. In PvP, this could one-shot fragile classes, Mages, Archers, Crossbowmen.
Don exhaled slowly. 'Good drop.'
He could sell it for a lot. But then he paused, his thoughts shifting to Solely Loving Autumn Rain. She had paid generously, more than fairly, and even promised real money. After a brief moment, he made a decision.
He opened his friend list, selected her name, copied the item details, and sent a message.
"Do you need this?"
Less than five seconds later, a team invitation arrived. He accepted immediately, and the team list appeared with only one member, Solely Loving Autumn Rain, her level displayed clearly at fifteen. One higher than before. Then Don's gaze shifted to her HP bar, and he froze. 'Two thousand and forty-five HP?!'
"…What?"
Her voice came through, calm and light with a trace of amusement. "What's wrong?"
Don blinked. "Did you dump everything into health? How do you even have that much HP?"
She laughed softly. "You have no manners. Call me 'sister.'"
Don sighed. "…Fine. Sister."
She chuckled. "I put everything into Strength. Got lucky with equipment." A pause. "Where are you? I'll come find you."
"No need," Don replied immediately. "I'll head back to the village"
"Stop talking." Her tone shifted, gentle but firm. "You're only Level 12. Focus on leveling. I'm coming to you. Send coordinates."
Don didn't argue. "Vilali Village. Flame Valley area."
"Got it. Ten minutes."
The call ended. Don glanced at his inventory, thirty-four goat skins. Just one more and the quest was complete. A faint anticipation rose.
'What kind of reward would i get? Something rare? Maybe even a growth-type item?' He shook his head slightly. 'Daydreaming. Reality first.'
He looked around. Empty, no goats were nearby.
So he moved, step by step toward deeper terrain. Soon the environment changed again. A small volcano loomed ahead, the earth cracked and radiating heat. Each step burned slightly beneath his feet, but Don didn't slow, because something ahead had caught his attention.
To his left, three players, two men and one woman, were running. Panicked. And behind them, a massive creature was chasing, relentless and gaining ground.
Don's eyes sharpened instantly. 'Now that's interesting.'