While the outside world was still buzzing with rumors of a "level 30 madman soloing an entire goblin tribe," the man at the center of it all, John, had already taken his gear and slipped away into a deserted stretch of wilderness.
Using Instant Move the whole way, he traveled for fifteen minutes.
Only then did he finally manage to shake off the players who had been secretly tailing him.
He sat down and began sorting through his gains.
The first thing, of course, was his level.
After climbing all the way to Level 30, he had gained another 100 free attribute points.
After some consideration, he chose to put all of them into Agility.
For an assassin, the higher the Agility, the greater the returns.
In his previous life, there had been an assassin who, through sheer absurd Agility alone, had literally kited a Boss far above his own level to death.
For assassins, Agility was everything.
Then John pulled out the fang-shaped dagger.
[Bloodfang] (A-Rank)
Attributes: Attack +580, Agility +280
Effect: After hitting a target, there is a 30% chance to trigger Blooddrain, restoring HP equal to 50% of the damage dealt
…
This Bloodfang was something John had forged by synthesizing a huge pile of E-Rank and D-Rank daggers he had gotten from goblin treasure chests.
The post-synthesis stats were decent enough, and the life-steal effect would greatly improve his survivability.
"Still, the numbers are a little low."
John muttered under his breath.
Then, without hesitation, he used the modification system to push the dagger's stats to the current upper limit.
[Bloodfang] (A-Rank)
Attributes: Attack +1580, Agility +880 (current rank modification cap reached)
Effect: After hitting a target, there is a 100% chance to trigger Blooddrain, restoring HP equal to 100% of the damage dealt (current rank modification cap reached)
…
It had been four hours since the servers opened.
That meant he had already stored up 14,400 system points, more than enough for modifications.
John's gaze shifted to the white robe he was wearing.
[Lightnight Robe] (A-Rank)
Attributes: Defense +540, Agility +370
Effect: Allows entry into Nightfall state, increasing movement speed by 50%
While in Nightfall, the player's figure is concealed, gains immunity to any single instance of damage, and remains in that state for 30 seconds (ineffective against detection skills of A-Rank or higher)
…
This piece of equipment was practically a blessing for fragile classes.
Not only did it grant concealment, it could even nullify one incoming attack.
Like the dagger, it had also been synthesized step by step from a large batch of D-Rank gear found in goblin chests.
As usual, John modified the robe's attributes as well.
…
[Lightnight Robe] (A-Rank)
Attributes: Defense +1540, Agility +770
Effect: Allows entry into Nightfall state, increasing movement speed by 100%
While in Nightfall, the player's figure is concealed, gains immunity to any ten instances of damage, and remains in that state for 10 minutes (ineffective against detection skills of A-Rank or higher)
…
After modification, these two pieces of gear were stronger than the vast majority of S-Rank equipment.
When used together, they were an absolute dimensionality-reduction strike against the current monsters and players alike.
"Now for the real prize from this tribe-clearing run."
John's eyes lit up as he opened his Talent Panel.
There, beyond Wrath of the Raider and Universal Synthesis, a brand-new Talent gleamed with dazzling golden light.
[Absolute True Damage] (SSS)
Effect: Your attacks ignore all defense and damage reduction effects, dealing 100% true damage. This damage cannot be negated by items or skills.
…
To synthesize this ability, John had practically slaughtered his way through the goblin tribe like a madman.
Fortunately, heaven did not disappoint those who tried.
This Absolute True Damage trait alone was enough to let any assassin player ascend to the peak.
100% true damage, stacked with an effect that could not be nullified by any means.
In other words, it was almost equivalent to a guaranteed kill.
Unless the enemy used some extremely fast escape method in advance, once John got into melee range, survival was simply impossible.
Even after all those gains, John still felt a little unsatisfied.
"This game makes leveling up way too much trouble.
I killed that many goblins, and I only made it to level 30."
His current panel looked like this:
[Player]: John
[Level]: 30
[Class]: Assassin
[Talents]: Wrath of the Raider (SSS), Absolute True Damage (SSS), Universal Synthesis (S), Absolute Stillness (S), …
[Attributes]: Strength 660, Agility 985, Mind 350, Stamina 770
[Skills]: Annihilation of All (S), Detection (A), Throwing Knife Technique (B), …
[Equipment]: Bloodfang (A), Lightnight Robe (A)
[Wallet]: 39 Gold Coins, 914 Silver Coins, 921 Copper Coins
Just then—
Boom!
A thunderous crack exploded across the sky.
A brilliant crimson-gold announcement materialized above the heads of every Apocalypse player.
Then, a voice neither male nor female—divine and majestic—resounded throughout the entire server.
[Server Announcement]: Congratulations to player "John" for becoming the first player to kill an Elite-Grade Boss!
Reward obtained: Title — Pioneer (Permanent, Unique)
Server-wide Fame +3000!
Reward: Random A-Rank Chest x1!
This player's name will be recorded in the Book of Apocalypse and remembered for all time!
[Server Announcement]…
The announcement played three times in a row.
It completely ignited the emotions of the entire server.
Almost everyone was talking about the same thing:
"Who the hell is John?!"
…
Zone 5.
Novice Village.
The remaining members of the Opportunists Guild, having just returned from farming monsters in the wild and collecting a small amount of copper coins, were busy buying coarse cloth clothing from the village shop.
Only after finally putting on those clothes did they let out a long sigh of relief.
Running around hunting monsters half-naked and entering and leaving Novice Village like that had earned them nothing but strange looks and ridicule.
That humiliation only made their hatred for John grow stronger.
The yellow-haired mage Pierre gritted his teeth.
"When the Guild Leader gets out, we absolutely can't let that damned John go!"
Vice Guild Leader Ham gave a cold snort.
"Hmph. In my opinion, that John is nothing more than a lucky bastard who awakened a decent Talent.
Now that we're leveling as a group, with our professionalism, it won't be long before we clear the first dungeon.
And when that happens, we'll pay back today's humiliation tenfold!"
"Tenfold!"
Now that they were clothed again, the members of the Opportunists Guild were burning with indignation, all of them itching to hunt John down and take revenge immediately.
But in the very next moment—
[Server Announcement]: Congratulations to player "John" for becoming the first player to kill an Elite-Grade Boss…
Listening to the thunder-rolling announcement in the sky, the entire guild fell into stunned silence.
What the hell?
Had they heard that right?
How long had it even been? John had already killed an Elite-Grade Boss?
What kind of monstrous leveling speed was that?
After a long pause, the shield warrior Hansen finally came back to his senses and stammered,
"V-Vice Guild Leader… are we still taking revenge?"
Ham's face turned deathly pale as he muttered,
"We should think this through carefully. At the very least, wait until the Guild Leader comes back."
The whole group instantly wilted like frostbitten eggplants. One by one, they fell silent, no longer daring to mention revenge.
The confidence that had just begun to swell in their hearts shattered under the repeated system announcements.
Jealousy, fear, resentment—
All kinds of emotions surfaced across their faces.
Comparisons really did kill.
They had all come from the same guild, so why was John this absurdly powerful?
…
Meanwhile, John had already gotten to his feet.
He was preparing to head for the Catacomb Complex south of Novice Village to complete a Hidden Quest.
"Since I have to pass through Novice Village anyway, I might as well pick up those goblin-related quests on the way and turn them in for another round of rewards."