"Ruin-Splicing Blood Armament"
Quality: Rare
Attack Power: 90-190
Critical Rate: 15%
Annihilation: Critical damage +30%
Rift-Slicing: Ignores 10 points of enemy armor on attack.
Blood Prison: Inflicts a bleeding condition with each attack, draining 20 health points per second for 60 seconds, with a chance of causing a crippling status that slows the enemy by 20%.
...
"My damage has increased by 30 points, and there's a new 'bleeding' attribute," Alexander noted, his heart swelling with joy.
The bleeding effect was particularly strong in the early game, draining 1200 health in a minute—a total most wild creatures couldn't match at this stage. What excited him the most was the crippling status that slowed movement.
"Excellent. Time to enhance my skills," Alexander thought as he glanced at his remaining evolution points, preparing to upgrade his abilities. However, he sensed that something was off.
Usually, Sophia would react with exuberance each time he evolved, but this time she was silent. Alexander, unaccustomed to her silence, soon discovered that she had fainted.
With his extensive gaming experience, he immediately thought of the "dizzy" mechanism. Observing Sophia's parched lips and pale complexion, it was clear that she hadn't replenished her hunger or thirst bars for a while.
Her current state indicated that she had been starving for at least four hours but had said nothing, diligently grinding bone powder for him. He couldn't help but admire her resilience; she was clearly a stubborn individual.
Alexander squatted down and gently lifted her at the waist. Her body was incredibly soft, her supple hair spilling over his hands, her face deathly pale.
He placed her on a boulder inside the cave and instructed his skeleton to keep watch over her, then went in search of water and food for her.
But the moment he left, a team of five players appeared in the stone wood. A player wielding a massive iron sword led the way, followed by four necromancer players dressed in undead robes—all standard beauties.
Right now, the four undead players looked at the swordsman with eyes full of endless admiration.
The swordsman was a substitute member of the Star Club, one of the top ten gaming clubs globally. The club boasted one of the "Twelve Ture Gods," known as the "Fist King of Star."
Therefore, Star Club ranked seventh among the world's top ten clubs.
The swordsman, named Smith, had joined Star Club three months ago due to his promising talents. Hence, the four necromancer players idolized Smith particularly.
"Mr. Smith, it must feel wonderful to be a part of the Star Club, right?"
"Wonderful?" Smith reined in his proud smile. "Wonderful my foot! Not a single one of the so-called Twelve Ture Gods is normal! I've been living in hell these past three months!"
Enduring more than twelve hours of training each day for a full three months had nearly made him vomit. Only after that period did the club's boss tell him that he had been learning the "Gale Step."
What? He had been learning the famed Gale Step originally created by the fallen god, Alexander!
But when he thought he had made some progress and eagerly reported it to his boss, he was told he hadn't even met the lowest standards for the entire three months. Instantly, he felt utterly dejected.
To truly master the Gale Step technique, one must dodge the relentless attacks of a hundred Swift Wasps for an hour without getting stung once. Is this even a skill meant for humans to learn?
If the game hadn't officially launched, Smith might have needed two or three more years of training just to reach beginner-level proficiency. But entering this gaming world has proved his three months of hard work were not in vain.
He merely showcased a fraction of his skill, and these four beauties instantly filled with adoration, calling him a "god."
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After learning that he was part of the Star Club, their reverence escalated to deification. The feeling of being so highly regarded was exhilarating.
"What brings us to this place, Mr. God?" a player named Flower inquired, her eyes sweeping across the stone wood in confusion.
"We're here to level up. There's a creature called the Stone Man, and this place is accessible only if you have an attack power over 60," Smith proudly proclaimed, marching deeper into the labyrinthine wood.
"Wow! So, Mr. God, your attack power is already over 60?" Awe refilled the eyes of the four female players.
"Of course," Smith boasted.
"How did you achieve it?" Flower clutched Smith's arm, her voice tinged with palpable excitement. The others also surrounded Smith with various questions, feeding his vanity to the brim.
But then, Linda stepped on a pile of rubble and hesitated, "Mr. God, it doesn't look like there are any creatures around here?"
"Impossible!" Smith's gaze shifted from Flower's voluptuous chest to scan the empty forest. He was dumbstruck. "What the hell... How is this possible?"
An eerie breeze swept through, tousling Smith's hair. Staring at the barren stone wood, a paralyzing awkwardness hung in the air among Smith and the four undead players.
"Uh... this must be a game bug, definitely a game bug," Smith scrambled for a lame excuse, eager to shroud the unsettling reality.
Deep inside, however, he knew very well that a game of this caliber couldn't possibly have a bug. The only explanation was that someone had arrived before them and slain all the Stone Men.
Given that the stone wood typically spawns around 258 stone men every half-hour, that player would have needed to annihilate all 258 stone men within that timeframe to create the empty landscape they now faced.
An average efficiency of one stone man every 5-6 seconds?
"Holy crap, even at Fist King of Star's current skill level, achieving this would be impossible, right?" Smith was completely stunned, finding it hard to believe.
"Could it be the God of Levels, Anthony, who cleared the stone wood?" He quickly dismissed the thought. Anthony chose a mage class, and this place was too far from the mage's starting village for him to be here.
"It must have been cordoned off by members of a large club. They're probably resupplying now. If they return, I'll have to negotiate using Star Club's reputation to ask them to spare some Stone Men for us."
With this plan in mind, Smith addressed the four beautiful players, "This place seems to be cordoned off by another club. Let's just wait here. My boss is Fist King of Star, so he has some pull."
"When they arrive, I'll drop my boss's name to secure a training area for us." At these words, the four beauties squealed in awe. "Wow, Mr. God, you're so amazing!"
Smith grinned, "Of course. Who do you think my boss is? One of the twelve ture gods of the online gaming world!"
"I can't wait to see what these legendary monopolizers look like," Flower chimed in, her eyes alight with curiosity. They began to settle in, waiting for the Stone Men to respawn.
A minute later, Linda stumbled upon a cave filled with scattered skeletons. Her excitement peaked.
Hidden ruins often concealed treasures in the gaming world—artifacts, skill books, pet eggs, even hidden bosses. Intrigued, and without telling anyone, she ventured into the pitch-black cave.
"My goodness, there's a female player here, and she's incredibly beautiful!" Linda's eyes first fell upon Sophia's voluptuous figure, a sight that made her self-conscious. When her gaze lifted to Sophia's face, Linda was at a loss for words. Even as a woman, she found her heart stirring.
"Could this be an NPC in distress?"
In order to maintain immersion, the game had removed the mechanisms that displayed health bars and player nicknames above heads. Everything was aimed at realism. Names and health bars were only visible when in a team or when players chose to reveal them.
So Linda didn't currently know that the Sofia lying on the ground was actually the player ranked first on the level leaderboard.
Seeing Sofia's face and figure, her first instinct was that this must be an NPC—could there really be a girl in real life this stunning?
"Is she dead or what?" Linda scrutinized Sofia's condition.
"Wow, is that a blue glow? That must be elite gear!"
Looking at the bear helmet on Sofia's head, glowing in a blue light, Linda's heartbeat quickened. Upon closer inspection, she was even more shocked.
"This NPC is wearing an entire set of gear!" Helmets, gloves, necklaces, boots, belts—apart from the weapon and clothes being starter gear, everything else was high-level stuff!
Only three were blue, but the style looked like a complete set! This NPC was lavish!
Immediately, a thought popped into her head. If she could take these gears, selling them for hundreds of thousands of dollars wouldn't be an issue, right? Even if she didn't sell them, wearing them and posting pictures on forums and social media would surely make people envy her.
The game had been officially open for ten hours, and she had played for ten hours, with nothing to show for it. She was still clad in the starting wand and cloth robe. Most other players were in a similar situation.
In the game's trading area, a level-5 common glove was being sold for $5,000, and it was scarce. Even if you had money, you'd find it hard to buy one. Clearly, these gears were worth far more than a few hundred thousand!
"Darn it, why can't I pull it off?" Linda tugged hard, but found she couldn't remove anything, leaving her puzzled.
Just then, cries of joy came from outside the cave.
"Mr God, the monsters have respawned, come see!"
"Huh? Why is there only one skeleton?"
They hadn't waited for players from other major clubs. Far away, a skeleton ablaze with bloody flames was approaching them.