"Linda, where are you? Hurry up, the monsters have respawned!"

Her companion's shout startled Linda, jolting her from her thoughts. She cast a wistful glance at Sophia's gear.

Keeping her secret safe was her priority, so she decided to make an excuse after the monster-fight and come back alone. Swiftly, she wriggled out of the cave, bumping into the approaching Flower.

"Linda, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing...I was just... taking a leak," Linda stammered, a blush creeping onto her cheeks.

"Hurry over. There's an incredibly cool-looking Blood Skeleton. Smith thinks it might be a hidden Boss. He wants us to assist him."

"A hidden Boss?" Linda's eyebrows furrowed, her curiosity piqued. What a mystical place this was, with both relics and a hidden Boss?

Emerging from the cave, Linda immediately spotted the enigmatic figure they referred to as the hidden Boss—cold, enigmatic, bloodthirsty. That was her first impression of Alexander.

His hollow eyes of crimson flame were ablaze, his skeletal form appearing as though it had just stepped out from a pool of blood, emanating an aura of dread.

Spiny protrusions erupted backward from his joints, casting a dim bloody light, and he wore a blood-colored cape that danced in the wind, casting shadows like specters of blood.

"Wow, why do I find this hidden Boss so attractive?" Linda couldn't help but exclaim.

"You think so too?" Her friend gave her a curious glance.

"You too?" Both exchanged a look, recognizing a hint of mutual admiration in each other's eyes.

"But why is he holding a bamboo tube and some fruit?"

"Must be some strange quirk of the hidden Boss."

Rejoining their team, Smith was immediately uplifted. With four Undead players and himself—a top-tier swordsman boasting 60 attack points—they were pretty confident about vanquishing this Blood Skeleton.

"Each of you summon ten skeleton soldiers. I'll direct you all—nine at a time, in rotations, to maintain aggro. I'll fill in the gaps with my damage output."

The game had a unique mechanic: only ten individual units could encircle a single target. So Smith planned to employ a revolving strategy to gradually deplete Alexander's health.

"A hidden Boss means skill books and rare-level gear, so stay sharp! Ice, you go first, followed by Flower, Linda, and Marvin. Time it carefully; we can't let the skeleton soldiers vanish all at once, or he'll regenerate."

As Smith orchestrated the team's actions, he edged closer to Alexander.

"Wow, you're so knowledgeable! Worthy of being the apprentice of Fist King of Star," Ice said.

"So summoning as a skeleton has these intricacies? This is the first time I'm hearing about it," Flower chimed in.

"Skill books and rare-level gear? We're going to be rich! Following a pro was a great decision!" The words spilled from their mouths, eyes glittering with excitement.

"Uh-oh, the Blood Skeleton seems to be coming toward us," Marvin, naturally cautious and more observant than the others, pointed out. She had been scrutinizing the creature all along.

"Coming our way? That's unlikely. Even hidden bosses usually stick to their own territory," Smith confidently assured, only to realize his mistake as Alexander closed the gap from 400 meters to a mere 50.

"Even at this stage, a hidden boss couldn't possibly have a 400-meter range, could it?" Doubt clouded the faces of the female players.

Slightly embarrassed but undeterred, Smith instructed, "Never mind that. Ice, start summoning."

"Alright," she acknowledged.

While Smith's judgments had been off, it didn't change the fact that he was Fist King of Star's apprentice. The women had an almost blind faith in him.

"Lord of the Undead, heed your subject's summons and grant me the power of the undead."

With Alexander only 40 meters away, Ice lifted her staff. The ground trembled, and ten skeletal forms emerged. Slowly, a mysterious power coalesced them into ten low-level skeleton soldiers.

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"Ice, send the skeletons to initiate the fight. I'll provide support."

"Okay," she replied, her heart full of anticipation as she sent her newly summoned minions ambling toward Alexander. Any gamer could attest that encountering a boss is nothing short of exhilarating.

"Everyone, fan out in a semi-circle and surround him, leaving a spot open for me," Smith continued, his sword at the ready.

By this point, he was just 10 meters from Alexander, silently calculating the distance, poised to engage at any moment. The skeletal boss, devoid of any apparent area-of-effect abilities, didn't intimidate him.

"Nine meters!"

"Eight meters!"

...

"One meter!"

"Surround him!"

Smith's command rang out, and he swiftly took his position. His iron sword had been ready for some time, prepared to strike as soon as the first skeleton drew aggro. But in the next moment, the unexpected happened.

The Blood Skeleton swung its crimson cape, and a blood-hued bone blade slashed through the first skeleton soldier.

"-1054!"

"-128!"

"-128!"

"-128!"

Ten red damage numbers floated up, all at once.

"Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump..."

In an instant, nine skeleton soldiers, each with just a hundred hit points, were annihilated, their health dropping to zero, as a cacophony of thuds filled the air. Bones littered the ground.

Smith, fortunate to have Level 10 and a health pool of 235, was spared from instant death due to being only indirectly affected by the attack. But he was dumbfounded.

"What the hell kind of damage is this?!"

Snapping back to reality, his instinct pushed him to retreat. Activating his Gale Step skill, his movement speed increased by 50% for a short period. Smith demonstrated the basic quality of a seasoned player—if you can't kill it, get away from it.

However, before he could leap back two steps, he found that the Blood Skeleton had already anticipated his escape route and was now in front of him! A dazzling flash of sanguine blade light swept across his vision, stabbing at his eyes and causing him to involuntarily close them.

"-485!"

Under the astonished gaze of the other women, Smith vanished in a flash of light.

Inside Star Club, an eighteen-year-old young man abruptly woke up from his luxurious gaming pod. He removed his helmet and stood, his handsome face etched with disbelief.

"What just happened?"

"Was that move... could it be...?"

"Shadow Blade Light Slash?" Smith's tone was tinged with uncertainty; this seemed too incredulous even for him.

Shadow Blade Light Slash was a god-tier technique. The in-game algorithm for light and shadow effects was incredibly complex, designed to prevent the weapon's glint from confusing players.

A weapon exposed to light would scatter billions of points, impossible to focus into a single point. However, there was that one unique focal point, excessively dazzling. If this point was aimed at one's eyes, it would cause an involuntary squinting reaction.

For someone to utilize this focal point in the chaos of battle required an extraordinary level of mastery that few possessed. Out of billions of players, probably fewer than a hundred could handle the Shadow Blade Light Slash, making it a divine skill.

It could instantly blind an opponent in PvP combat, and in a clash of masters, a split second's blindness could be fatal.

When combined with the Gale Step's disorienting perspective, it made the wielder seem like a ghost in combat, practically untraceable. All you would see were waves of light and shadow, and before you even thought of retaliating, you could find yourself dead.

"So why would a skeleton use Shadow Blade Light Slash?" Smith was bewildered and confused.

"And how could that skeleton have such high attack power? With area-of-effect damage to boot?"

Thinking back to Alexander's single stroke that killed ten skeleton soldiers, dishing out over a thousand points of damage, and annihilating the rest, Smith still felt a shiver down his spine.

"What the hell is going on? A level 50 hidden boss in a level 15 wild zone?"

This time, he had miscalculated again, a disgraceful error.

"I can't ignore these bizarre events. I have to notify Mr. Fist King of Star."

...

"Player Smith killed. Triggering Plunder effect. Acquiring skill: Gale Step."

"Hmm?" Alexander was somewhat surprised; he truly hadn't anticipated that killing a player could also trigger the Plunder effect. A delightful surprise indeed.

"This is interesting. Perhaps in the future, I can build an ultimate skill set just by killing other players."

The game had placed limitations to maintain balance; one could not learn all strong skills simultaneously. Yet, he realized that maybe he could Plunder control skills from all classes to create a paralyzing effect.

Or perhaps Plunder summoning abilities from all classes to summon a horde of creatures? The combinations were horrifying to consider.

Gale Step

Skill quality: Common

Current Level: 1

Skill Effect: Consumes 50 mana points, increases speed by 8%, lasts for 30 seconds, cooldown 60 seconds.

Gale Step is a fairly average skill for swordsmen, After class change, the skill becomes practically useless. However, for him, leveling it up to 10 might bring about qualitative changes.

Without hesitation, he took out four bewildered undead female players. A little disappointed he didn't get to Plunder the Skeleton Summoning skill.

He walked over to Sofia and poured water into her pale lips. As he waited for her to wake, he began to level up his skills.

"Congratulations, you've spent 100 evolution points to level up Gale Step to level 2."

"Congratulations, you've spent 200 evolution points..."

...

"Congratulations, you've spent 1000 evolution points to level up Gale Step to level 10. Breakthrough evolution triggered, unknown skill direction, requires 10,000 evolution points and 100 enhancement points to break through."

"Breakthrough evolution? Skills can be upgraded further?" Alexander was elated.

Normal skills peak at level 10, legendary at 20, and at most, one could only learn up to level 30 for supreme skills. Given the circumstances, he realized he could keep evolving indefinitely, although for breakthroughs, he would need enhancement points.

"I'll need to earn some enhancement points," he thought, feeling a sense of urgency.

He spent his remaining evolution points to maximize all upgradable skills. His Gale Step increased from 8% to 80% speed, Quick Slash from 240% to 300% attack speed, and other skills proportionately.

Finally, Sofia woke up. She looked confused, examined her disheveled clothes, and shot Alexander a puzzled glance. "This skeleton gentleman didn't take any liberties while I was unconscious, did he?" she naively wondered.

"Cackle, cackle, cackle..."

Upon seeing Sofia wake up, Alexander waved his arms, using body language to signal for her to follow him. He was eager to slay some monsters and test out his newly acquired skills.