[Ding! You have slain the Gold-grade Boss Beast-Turned Father (LV45). Congratulations, you have reached Level 50!]
[Ding! Since you have reached the first advancement level cap of 50, you can no longer level up for now. Any overflow EXP has been stored in your EXP Pool!]
Obtained Items:
[Father's Cross (Silver-grade)]
[Angel's Blessing (Silver-grade)]
[Murky Crystal Fragment ×20]
[Gold Coin ×100]
[Contribution Points +300!]
[Ding! Congratulations, you are the first player to achieve a Boss First Clear. A server-wide announcement will now be made. Would you like to hide your information?]
Daniel raised an eyebrow, then chose without the slightest hesitation.
"No."
In his previous lives, he had deeply understood the saying:
"The tree that rises above the forest will be broken by the wind."
That was why he had always believed in keeping a low profile and developing quietly.
But now?
Heh.
If anyone dared come looking for trouble, Daniel would only praise their courage.
The next instant, a voice rang across the entirety of Stellar.
[Server-Wide Announcement!!!]
[Player "Faustus" of Universe No. 616 has become the first to slay the map Gold-grade Boss Beast-Turned Father, earning the achievement "Trailblazer"!]
[As the first player to kill a Gold-grade Boss, the following rewards have been granted:]
[Contribution Points +5000]
[Gold Coin +10000]
[Server-unique achievement unlocked: "Boss First Kill." Rewarded with the unique title "Trailblazer."]
[Attribute Points +50!]
[This achievement has been recorded in the Chronicles of Stellar and shall be remembered for all time!]
[World Channel]
"Holy shit?!?!?!!!"
"A Gold-grade Boss??? This is only the first day of launch!!!"
"A Level 45 Gold-grade monster—what the hell even is that??? WTF? I'm only Level 6. This guy has to be cheating, right?!"
"Faustus! I know him! He's the one who sold that skill book earlier!"
"First-kill reward gives 50 attribute points? Damn, that's like being five levels ahead of everyone else!"
"No, seriously, how can this game have a player this insane? Where are the GMs? Somebody come deal with this!"
"Damn it, what kind of idiot made this game? Somebody is blatantly cheating and nobody cares?!"
"Big bro, carry me! I can warm your bed..."
"Shut up, you zero, nobody asked—"
...
[Rhine Guild Main Channel]
At that moment, the channel was eerily quiet.
Chairman Prospector stared at the announcement, tapping his fingers lightly against the tabletop with a dull tap, tap, tap.
After a long pause, he finally spoke.
"Investigate."
"We already did," Vice Guild Leader North Wind replied immediately. "Faustus. Class: Archer. He previously listed an A-rank movement skill book on the market. One of our people bought it."
"An A-rank movement skill book?"
Prospector arched a brow. "Who has that skill book now?"
"I do," a player named Dragon Slayer said. "Haven't learned it yet. I was planning to save it for one of our main assassins."
"Use it," Prospector said. "That kid definitely has something better."
"Chairman... your meaning is...?"
"Someone who can kill a Level 45 Gold-grade Boss on day one..." Prospector's voice remained unreadable. "Either he found a bug in the game, or he's a genuine god-tier player."
"No matter which it is—if we can recruit him, recruit him. If we can't... then at the very least, don't offend him."
He paused.
"Who contacted him earlier?"
"I did."
Guild Leader Rhine Watcher's voice sounded a little weak. "But he blocked me."
The channel fell silent again.
"Forget it."
Prospector waved a hand. "If he doesn't want to be disturbed, just put someone on him and keep watching. We'll decide later."
Prospector's gaze turned complicated.
As one of the people standing at the very top of Earth society, he knew many truths that ordinary people didn't.
The things tied to this game...
Were far too enormous.
...
Daniel looked at the wall of system notifications in front of him, his grin stretching almost to his ears.
In his previous lives, he had seen server-wide announcements many times.
But this one felt especially satisfying.
Because this was the first Boss First Kill announcement he had ever claimed himself.
And back then, in order to compete with those powerful guilds and corporations for resources, he had often been forced to grow quietly and level in secrecy.
But now things were different.
While most players were still struggling below Level 10, he was already Level 50.
Even if those people harbored ill intentions, in the face of absolute strength, all they could do was back down.
As for reality...
Heh.
Unless he chose to expose himself, there was practically no way for anyone to trace him.
He opened his system panel.
[Trailblazer (Unique Title)]
Effect: Damage dealt to Gold-grade and above Bosses +10%, Critical Rate +5%!
Description: As the first warrior to slay a Gold-grade Boss, your name shall be engraved in the halls of Stellar.
Attribute Points: 50
Then he looked at the two pieces of equipment the boss had dropped.
Father's Cross (Accessory): +20 Intelligence, +50% Mental Resistance, +100% MP Recovery Speed!
As for Angel's Blessing, it was equipment for Mage- and Priest-type classes. The bonuses were decent, but unfortunately he had no use for it.
After equipping the cross, Daniel looked in satisfaction at his now massively inflated four core attributes:
Strength: 45
Intelligence: 65
Agility: 755
Constitution: 45
Even Daniel himself was stunned by the numbers before him.
This stat panel was already comparable to that of an average Level 70 player!
As for why he had dumped all his attribute points into Agility, it wasn't only because he needed it for the Father fight.
It also had to do with something else coming up next.
And besides—even if attribute points were allocated incorrectly, once a player reached their second class advancement, the system granted one free full stat reset.
That was Stellar's one and only chance for players to fix their mistakes.
Miss that opportunity, and any later stat respec would cost a truly astronomical price.
Very soon, Daniel suppressed his excitement and turned his attention back to the real matter at hand.
He took a deep breath and swept his gaze over the ruined church.
Behind the pulpit stood a statue.
It was three meters tall, entirely black, and depicted an utterly twisted existence.
It had countless tentacles, countless eyes, and a grotesquely distorted body.
The style of the statue was rough and eerie, like some product of primitive worship.
Most striking of all was the object placed at its chest—
An inverted cup.
A cup of dark violet-black, suspended upside down in a hollow at the center of the statue's chest, surrounded by a faint black mist.
[Ding! Quest item discovered — Anti-Holy Grail of the Dark God (Damaged)]
Daniel understood at once.
This was the ultimate quest item of Adrian's hidden questline.
In his previous life, even with all the resources he had accumulated and the advantage of future knowledge, he had paid an enormous price to obtain this final quest item.
And yet in this life...
He had done it on day one.
If this had been his former self, he wouldn't have even dared dream of something like this.
He carefully walked toward the statue, his eyes fixed on the cup.
A thick black liquid kept seeping from the rim, flowing down the statue's body and onto the floor, where it vanished without a trace.
That liquid—
Was the source of the infection.
He raised the Moon Reaper and aimed at the cup.
Whoosh!
The arrow shot out.
It struck the cup with perfect accuracy, and the explosion erupted instantly!
The statue shook violently.
Cracks spread outward from the point of impact.
The Anti-Holy Grail, having lost its support, tumbled free from the statue and rolled down.
At the same time, the statue itself began to collapse.
Huge black stone blocks rained down from the ceiling of the mine, and the entire church shook violently!
Daniel had no time to care about anything else. He hurriedly wrapped the cup in cloth and stuffed it into his inventory.
[Ding! Obtained quest item: Anti-Holy Grail of the Dark God (Damaged)]
When he turned back, the statue had completely shattered. Countless chunks of stone crashed down with thunderous force, and clouds of dust filled the entire church.
Daniel did not hesitate for even a moment.
He immediately used God Speed to escape the mine!
...