"Enhancement successful: Explosive Bone-blade Steel Blade has been upgraded to Ruin-Splicing Boneblade Steel Sword." As the system notification rang out, Alexander felt an electrifying thrill course through him.
A blood-red light emanated from the bone blade attached to his right forearm. At the junction between the blade and his arm bone, a crimson dot appeared. Subsequently, a fine channel of the same color extended along the metallic surface of the blade, reaching all the way to its tip.
Ruin-Splicing Boneblade Steel Blade
Quality: Rare
Attack: 60-80
Critical Rate: 15%
Ruin: +30% critical damage
Splicing: Ignores 10 points of opponent's defense
"Powerful," Alexander exclaimed, genuinely impressed.
Starting from rare-tier equipment, attributes could have added random features. In this case, "Splicing" and "Ruin" were two such special attributes.
Normally, a rare-tier weapon would only boast one special trait. Epic-tier would have two, legendary three, and so on. Yet, his weapon, at rare-tier, surprisingly had two!
"It seems that Enhancement points are different from standard equipment," he mused. With this new blade and his split attack skill, his monster-killing efficiency would at least double.
"Time to head to the main city for her class change."
Without further ado, Alexander set his course for the Stonewood, a necessary passage to one of the 108 main cities, Windfury City. The new player village of the undead did not offer job change NPCs, rendering a return there pointless.
In this game world, dubbed the 'Second World,' three days passed in-game for every one day in reality.
Consequently, nearly 75% of humanity had entered this sprawling digital landscape, reaching an overwhelming player count of over six billion and causing server congestion. The 108 main cities were barely sufficient to handle this populace, but that was none of Alexander's concern.
Heading to Stonewood was not just a matter of course but also for leveling up. The area housed level-15 Stone Men with extraordinarily high defenses—up to 30 points, similar to the Skeleton Bear lord.
Even for players at level 15 clad in full sets of fine gear, defeating them would be challenging.
However, their attacks were unusually low while their experience yield was exceptionally high—a perfect grinding spot if one could just bypass their defense.
It seems the upgraded Ruin-Splicing Boneblade Steel Blade came just at the right time.
Armed with the Ruin-Splicing Boneblade Steel Blade, boasting a total attack power of 135 and an armor-penetrating capability of 10 points, Alexander was an undeniable force to be reckoned with.
"Mr. Skeleton, are you leaving these items behind?"
Alexander paused, nodded, and moved downhill, leaving Sofia elatedly gathering the equipment he'd abandoned.
Suddenly, a skeleton bear lumbered into sight, and with a well-timed slash, Alexander unleashed devastation.
"–556!"
The numbers spoke for themselves. A critical blow to the vulnerable neck, double damage. The triggered critical hit made it triple.
The Ruin attribute elevated the critical hit damage by thirty percent, leading to 3.3 times the normal damage. Tack on the Splicing attribute, which lowered the bear's armor even further, triggering a game mechanic that intensified the damage by another ten percent.
The result, A staggering 556 points of damage.
Astonishingly powerful!
Having vanquished the skeleton bear, Alexander continued towards the Stonewood Forest, eager to test out his splitting capabilities.
Sofia, still engrossed in her newfound equipment, was oblivious to the violent spectacle she had just missed. Even if she did notice the notification about the kill, she had grown numb to Alexander's overwhelming prowess.
She was merely going through the motions, her body mechanically following Alexander while she equipped the Bear Set. By the time she realized the landscape around her had changed, they were already deep into the Stonewood Forest.
She hastily examined the stats of a Stone Golem as Alexander approached it.
【Stone Man】
Level: 15
HP: 500
Attack: 1-15
Defense: 30
Skill: Stone Skin
Overview: Wrapped in a rock-hard shell, this Stone Man has high life and defense. Killing it yields double the experience and rewards.
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"What on earth are we doing here, Mr. Skeleton?"
"The Stone Man's defense is so high, we can't possibly—"
"Clang!"
Before Sophia could finish her sentence, Alexander had already charged at the Stone Man, slashing at it with his blade.
"—230!"
Sophia: "230 damage, my God!"
"This Stone Man has a defense of 30! Mr. Skeleton, are you trying to defy the heavens?" Sophia wore an expression of incredulity.
That's when she finally noticed that Alexander's blade had transformed. Its color had deepened to a blood red, emanating a chilling aura that inspired awe.
Sophia, who had been feeling quite pleased with herself for donning her bear armor set, suddenly felt as if there was nothing left to be proud of.
"High attack, high critical rate, high defense, and a weapon that can transform into a bow and arrow—my God, Mr. Skeleton, what other abilities do you have that I'm unaware of?" Sophia watched Alexander's lean silhouette, filled with curiosity.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
"—117!"
"—75!"
"—45!"
"Huh? What's going on?"
The damage had suddenly decreased. The blade conveyed an increased amount of recoil, numbing Alexander's arm.
It didn't take long for Alexander to spot the issue. The Stone Man's exterior had darkened in color, as if it had put on a layer of clothing. Its hardness seemed to have increased.
Each of Alexander's slashes no longer caused stone chips to fly, but instead emitted sparks.
"Stone Skin? Doubled defense?" Realizing the Stone Man's skill, Alexander instantly understood.
"Not a bad skill; perhaps I could plunder it for my own use."
"—85!"
One slash followed by a critical hit, and the health bar depleted to zero!
"Killing the Stone Man successfully gained 100 Evolution points, 100 evolution points. Over-level killing granted an extra 50 experience points and 50 Evolution points."
The experience from a single Stone Man—150 points—was five times that of a Skeleton Bear! Moreover, it even dropped a piece of ordinary boots.
【White Boots】
Quality: Common
Level: 15
Defense: 5
Overview: Just ordinary boots, nothing special.
Indeed, double the experience and double the drop rate! Leveling up here felt incredibly rewarding. The only downside was that the Stone Man's Stone Skin was a bit of a nuisance.
"Click, click, click..."
Bending down, Alexander picked up the equipment and tossed it to Sophia. He didn't immediately continue farming mobs but stood pondering for a moment.
"Stone Skin is a passive skill. It only activates when the Stone Man's health falls to a certain level," he thought.
"If I lure several of them and trigger their Stone Skin, I could switch to another one. Using my Ruin-Splicing passive, which ignores defense, coupled with my armor-piercing effects, I can deal even more damage than with regular attacks."
With this strategy in mind, Alexander prepared to move. His clattering form walked over to Sophia, who seemed lost in thought.
He gestured wildly with both hands, leaving Sophia even more perplexed.
"Um... Mr. Skeleton, what exactly do you want me to do?"Sophia's eyes widened, her face a mix of confusion.
Alexander mimicked a sigh, feeling somewhat exasperated with Sophia.
This silly woman was undoubtedly easy on the eyes, with her long legs, slender waist, and ample assets, but her brain seemed to lag behind.
His gestures had been quite clear—he wanted her to drag over a Skeleton Bear corpse so he could whittle it into bone powder for arrow crafting. Anyone with a semblance of intelligence should have understood.
"Mr. Skeleton... I'm sorry... Am I too stupid and affecting your performance?" Sophia clutched her hands together, her mouth downturned, her face a mix of guilt and self-pity.
Alexander spread his hands and mimed another sigh."It seems that if I want to level up quickly and return to my original human form, I'll first have to address this communication issue."
Additionally, she'll need some technical training; her skills are just too poor.
Alexander returned to Bear Mountain, killed a few Skeleton Bears, and dragged their corpses back, tossing them beside Sophia.
Only then did she snap back to reality, starting on her logistics duties—shaving bone dust.
"Ah, to think I'm the top player on the leaderboards, yet here I am, relegated to bone-shaving duties for a skeleton..."She uttered the words in jest, but a small smile crept onto her face.
Sophia's biggest fear was that she'd be a burden, dragging Alexander down with her ineptitude. Now that she had a task, she felt grateful; at least she wasn't merely decorative.
In her view, helping Mr. Skeleton shave bone dust was an honor.But what was Mr. Skeleton planning next?
Earlier, she'd noticed that his monster-killing efficiency was quite slow.The Stone Men had high defenses and even thicker health bars, double that of other mobs of the same level. On top of that, they would activate their Stone Skin skill when their health dropped to half.
Though the experience yield was high, the time commitment was too long.
She thought, "Maybe Mr. Skeleton believes Stone Men are less dangerous to me, and he can also farm gear for me in the process." Looking down at her white boots, a smile of happiness appeared on her face. "Mr. Skeleton is truly wonderful."
"He'd rather waste a bit more time just to get gear for me," Sophia mused, vigorously shaving the bone in her hands. "His demeanor could be warmer, though. A touch of gentleness would be nice."
"Cling! Cling!"
In the distant Stonewood, chips of stone exploded into the air.
Alexander had already lured four Stone Men and was bravely slashing at them while enduring their blows.
With each swing of his blade, damage numbers floated above the Stone Men's heads.
"-115."
"-15."
"-15."
"-15."
"Cling!"
"-257."
"-30."
"-30."
"-30."
A critical hit was triggered, immediately ramping up the damage and activating the Stone Skin of the Stone Man before him. Alexander swiftly switched his target to another Stone Man, slashing down his blade.
"-115."
"-15."
"-15."
"-15."
As suspected, the Stone Skin passive ability had zero effect on his own Split passive skill. After slashing another Stone Man down to half health, triggering its Stone Skin, he switched to yet another.
In such a rotating fashion, the first Stone Man was finally defeated.
"Thump."
"Stone Man killed successfully. Earned 100 experience points, 100 Evolution points. Over-level kill grants an additional 50 experience points, 50 Evolution points."
"-1."
"-1."
"-1."
Taking three hits, the Assault Armor skill activated. The weapon in Alexander's hand morphed into a bone longbow in an instant.
He fired an arrow at another Stone Man not far off, scattering fragments of rock from its head. It started walking towards Alexander.
Lure four, then kill! Just like that, his efficiency tripled in a blink!
"Alright then... I guess I got ahead of myself... Mr. Skeleton had a plan all along... it wasn’t about farming gear for me at all."Sophia thought, somewhat disheartened.