Skill: Assault Armor (Active)
Level: Rare
Overview: Upon activation, this skill allows you to transform your weapon form for ten minutes. At its current level, it morphs into the Assault Bone Armor, which covers your body's surface, increasing defense by 6 and adding 20% to the current weapon's attack power. The next form change at higher levels: Bow and Arrow.
Resource Required: Bone Dust.
"Rare-level skill? Truly formidable!" A wave of delight surged within Alexander.
In the world of gaming, both skills and equipment have levels. But unlike equipment, skills are divided into nine tiers: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Rare, Legendary, Mythic, Epic, Divine, and Supreme.
The fact that this Assault Armor—a skill that allows weapon transformation—is a Rare skill struck Alexander as a lucky turn of fate.
"In the gaming universe, not only are the drop rates for equipment low, but the rates for skill books are devastatingly dismal," Alexander mused.
While farming low-level monsters gives a slight chance for equipment drops, skill books are almost exclusively obtained from Boss fights or hidden quests, and their drop rates are still incredibly low.
A Rare-level skill must have a base value of several million dollars at the very least!
While this skill was a gift from an evolution, it didn't diminish Alexander's euphoria. More importantly, the ability to switch weapon forms via Assault Armor would be a powerful asset.
He was renowned as a "Gaming Overlord" precisely because he could dominate the top ranks across all classes.
Before this game was officially launched, there was another called "Myth," which had 60% realism and a player base of over 50 billion.
Unlike the current game, players in "Myth" could create up to sixteen characters. Alexander had played for a full three years, mastering all sixteen classes and topping the PVP leaderboards for each one.
For him, mastery over any class of weapon was second nature. In his hands, the Rare-level skill of Assault Armor had the potential to manifest the power of Legendary, or even Epic-tier skills.
"The next level of this skill allows a Bow and Arrow transformation. Once I have that, no one can kite me anymore," he thought.
His slow movement speed was a weakness, easily exploitable.
But with his archery skills and current strength, achieving a 100% hit rate is entirely within reach!
Skill: Plunder (Passive)
Level: Advanced
Overview: After killing an enemy unit, there's a 1% chance of plundering the enemy's skill or talent. Can be upgraded using Evolution Points.
"This passive skill is also incredibly powerful!" A glint of excitement flashed in Alexander's eyes.
The instant he saw this skill, a torrent of possibilities rushed through his mind. Killing an enemy allows him to plunder their skills and talents. For instance, if he was interested in a particular monster's skill or talent, he could repeatedly kill that type of monster until he successfully plunders it.
Take a Skeletal Bear, whose skill might be "Roar" and whose talent could be "Thick-Skinned." He would continue the slaughter until he had plundered these attributes, essentially giving him an endless pool of skills and talents for the future.
"The only downside is the 1% chance—it's a bit too low," he thought. "Well, let's test the skill out first. I need to focus on earning Evolution Points anyway."
Casting a sidelong glance at Sophia, who looked utterly bewildered, Alexander raised his bone blade. With one decisive slash—down it went!
"Skeleton's rebelling! It's trying to kill the master!"Sophia cried out a voice.
His base attack of 64, combined with the 30 additional points from the bone blade, resulted in a total attack power of 94. A critical hit!
"–183!"
"Congratulations, you have killed a Skeletal Bear, earning 22 experience points and 22 Evolution Points."
With a single stroke, Alexander annihilated a Skeletal Bear that had just spawned behind Sophia. Its full health bar instantly depleted. Swiftly stepping over a wide-eyed Sophia, Alexander ventured deeper into Bear Mountain.
Drawing on his years of gaming experience, Alexander knew that in areas filled with single-type monsters like this, elite creatures were sure to spawn.
And since he was here, he might as well take them down to loot some equipment and see if he could wear player-specific gear.
However, after slaying dozens of Skeletal Bears along the way, not a single piece of equipment had materialized. It seemed his hopes were now pinned on scoring a first kill.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Whew, that scared me." Sophia patted her chest, her heart racing.
She had thought that after Alexander's evolution, he found her a burden and was preparing to eliminate her. The sudden appearance of a Skeletal Bear behind her had been quite the relief.
"Hey, where are you going? What's the plan?"
Sophia trailed behind Alexander, ceaselessly peppering him with questions. Watching him move step by step toward Bear Mountain at a glacial pace, she had the sense that he was about to pull off another breath-stopping feat.
"Big Bro can't we just level up here? You kill those Skeletal Bears so easily. Wouldn't leveling up be super fast? Caution is the better part of valor, don't you think?"
But Alexander ignored Sophia's chatter. As he walked, he continued his spree of monster-killing. He had to get stronger as quickly as possible to ensure his own safety. After all, he didn't know if death here would mean permanent game over, and he wasn't willing to gamble.
With a resonant "thwack," Alexander's blade sliced through the air and landed squarely on the neck of a rising Skeletal Bear.
"–267!"
A critical hit—amplified by targeting the neck, a vital spot—resulted in triple damage. The Skeletal Bear's health bar plummeted to zero.
"Successful Plunder of Skeletal Bear Talent: Max health increased by 20 points, defense increased by 1 point."
The advantage of his new size came into play. Previously standing at 5'2", Alexander had only been able to reach the bear's shoulder when it stood upright. His strategy had been to slice off the bear's legs first, waiting for it to fall before he could decapitate it.
But now, evolved to a height of 5'8", he was tall enough to aim directly for its neck.
Now, even without triggering a critical hit or using quick slashes, his impressive 94-point attack, coupled with the double damage from hitting the neck, was enough to kill a Skeletal Bear in one blow.
And what delighted him even more was that his Plunder passive ability had activated. Though it didn't grant him new skills, it did reward him with 20 additional health points and 1 point in defense—a windfall by any measure!
In the player's realm, attributes could only be enhanced through leveling up or consuming rare artifacts. A single Earth Spirit Fruit that could boost defense by just one point was worth at least 2 million dollars—an astronomical figure available only to the wealthiest players. But Alexander? He could plunder these talents directly.
"It seems I can selectively target monsters that can mitigate my weaknesses and plunder their skills and talents," he mused.
"Thwack!"
The sound of his bone-blade cleaving through another Skeletal Bear's neck rang out.
"–183!"
"Congratulations on killing the Skeletal Bear, awarded 22 evolution points, experience points."
"–183!"
"–183!"
And so on. With Alexander's current skill and awareness, dispatching Skeletal Bears had become a trivial matter. He didn't bother luring them one by one; his defenses were impervious regardless of their numbers. Like a chef dicing vegetables, Alexander went on a rampage, annihilating the Skeletal Bears of Bear Mountain.
An hour later.
"Congratulations on killing the Skeletal Bear, awarded 16 evolution points, 16 experience points."
"Congratulations on leveling up, +10 health, +1 attack, +1 defense."
"I've gained two levels, reaching level 9. But after an hour of killing, I only accumulated 4000 evolution points. To evolve again, I need 10,000 points. Looks like it's time to change locations after I take down this elite."
After reaching level 9, the experience and evolution points for each Skeletal Bear he killed dropped to 16. Though his efficiency had skyrocketed, the diminishing returns irked him. If the game had enabled teleportation by now, he would've ordered Sophia to switch locations ages ago.
......
Crouched behind a massive boulder, Alexander eyed the elite Skeletal Bear at the mountain summit, its name glowing in blue. Preparations were underway to bring down this formidable creature.
Skeletal Bear Leader
Level: 10 (Elite)
Health: 3000
Attack: 60–100
Defense: 30
Skills: Bear Roar, Shockwave
Overview: The elite leader of Bear Mountain, possessing incredibly potent attacks.
"The evolution points are scarce; I should focus on skill evolution first," he decided. Sure, he could rely on his tactical movement and god-level awareness to wear down the elite beast, but why waste time? In a game that has just begun, every second counts. Overwhelming power was the key!
"Spending 1000 evolution points, Assault Armor successfully evolved, leveling up to 2," the system confirmed.
"Spending 300 evolution points, Quick Slash successfully evolved, leveling up to 4."
"Spending 500 evolution points, Quick Slash successfully evolved, leveling up to 5."
"Spending 600...”
"Spending 800 evolution points, Quick Slash leveled up to 8."
"To level up a rare skill requires 1000 evolution points for the first level, and 2000 for the second—that's ten times more than Quick Slash."
The bow and arrow would suffice for now, so he chose to evolve Quick Slash to level 8, at a total cost of 3900 evolution points. It was a painful expenditure, but upon examining the updated skill effects, he felt it was well worth it.
Assault Armor
Skill Level: Rare
Current Level: 2
Skill Effects: Upon activation, for the next thirty minutes, weapons can morph between bone armor and bow and arrow.
Usage Effects: 60% of weapon's attack power.
Requirement: Bone dust.
Armed with his newly-upgraded skills, Alexander felt a surge of power. If the game were a chessboard, he was less a pawn now and more a knight, ready to unleash havoc.
And the Skeletal Bear Leader? Well, it was about to meet its match.
Quick Slash
Skill Level: Common
Current Level: 8
Skill Effects: After activation, attack speed increases by 240% for 80 minutes.
With a 240% boost in attack speed, Alexander could now strike approximately every 0.8 seconds. The duration had also increased from thirty minutes to a solid eighty. This would suffice.
In the gaming world, it's not enough to rely on displayed stats alone; they have to align with the player's actual skill level.
You might theoretically be able to deliver ten strikes per second with an attack speed of 0.1 second per strike. However, most players couldn't come close to utilizing that potential, perhaps achieving only two strikes per second.
But for Alexander, this was a non-issue. He had broken world records in mythical gaming realms, achieving thirteen strikes per second—a record that still stood.
Equipped with a bow and enhanced attack speed, Alexander's abilities soared once again.
"Time to gather some bone dust," Alexander mused, dragging the skeletal remains of a bear next to a large rock and commencing to grind bone dust with his bone knife. The annoying aspect of Assault Armor was its dependency on bone dust for activation. So, grind he must.
Sophia, meanwhile, looked baffled. "Hey, Skeletal Big Bro, what are you up to? Why suddenly interested in grinding bones?" Having witnessed Alexander's formidable skills and damage output, her address for him had morphed from 'Skeleton' and 'Big Bro' to 'Skeletal Big Bro.'
She didn't quite understand his actions but was sure it had something to do with vanquishing the elite Skeletal Bear.
"Skeletal Big Bro, I know you're extremely skilled—each stroke a kill—but we shouldn't get too cocky, right?" Watching Alexander carve his way to the mountain's peak, his eyes fixed on the elite Skeletal Bear, Sophia grew anxious.
"How about this? I'm at level nine now. One more level and I can learn new skills at levels five and ten—Undead Enhancement and Summon Skeletal Archer. By then, I can boost your attributes by an additional 30% and provide archers for you to command. Can we wait until then to challenge the elite boss?"