One SSS Affix per Level: My Novice Club Can Slay Gods!

[You have obtained the SSS-Rank Affix: Lethal Damage!]

[Lethal Damage]

[Type: Weapon-Exclusive]

[Effect: Converts all Physical Damage dealt by this weapon into True Damage.]

John’s eyes lit up slightly.

True Damage.

It ignored all Physical Defense and damage reduction effects.

Whatever damage appeared on the number was exactly how much HP the target lost.

The further the game progressed, the higher the defensive attributes of monsters and players would become.

That would only make this affix increasingly terrifying.

Without the slightest hesitation, John embedded [Lethal Damage] into the Novice Club.

Buzz!

Rainbow-colored golden light erupted once again.

Brilliant radiance illuminated the entire mine.

The battered wooden club was covered in dents and even bore several black scorch marks.

Yet at this moment, it radiated a sense of danger that made one’s heart tremble.

[Cleave]

[Overcharge]

[Impact Guard]

[Bloodthirsty Strike]

[Lethal Damage]

A beginner’s club carved out almost as an afterthought had been forcibly stacked with attributes befitting a divine artifact.

After finishing with the affix, John continued examining the loot Irene had left behind.

[You have obtained an A-Rank Staff: Irene’s Fire Crystal Staff!]

[Effect 1: Wisdom +50.]

[Effect 2: Equipment Skill Cooldown -20%.]

The entire staff was dark crimson, with a fist-sized Fire Crystal embedded at its tip.

Molten lava seemed to flow within the crystal, which constantly radiated scorching heat.

[You have obtained the Skill Book: Fire Serpent!]

[You have obtained the Skill Book: Binding Chains!]

[You have obtained the item: Crystal Doppelganger!]

[Crystal Doppelganger]

[Type: Single-Use Item]

[Effect: Summons three mineral doppelgangers. Each doppelganger inherits 80% of the user’s base attributes and lasts for 10 minutes.]

John was quite pleased with the string of rewards.

[Fire Serpent] was a projectile-type skill.

It was a perfect match for the [Projectile Amplification] affix he had obtained earlier.

The Fire Crystal Staff provided a Wisdom bonus and cooldown reduction, making it equally compatible with [Mana Conservation] and [CD--!].

Once all three affixes were embedded into the staff, the power of Fire Serpent would increase several times over.

At last, John would no longer have to charge at everything he encountered with a club like some kind of caveman.

And if the spell failed to kill something?

He could still use the club to reason with it.

However, the true grand prize was still the Hidden God-Rank Class Scroll.

John reached out and took the scroll from his inventory.

The entire scroll was silver-gray.

Its material resembled paper, yet clearly was not. There was not a single word written across its surface—only black cracks that slowly shifted and crawled.

Those cracks seemed to connect to another dimension.

Simply staring at them for a few seconds produced the illusion that one’s soul was about to be dragged inside.

[Hidden God-Rank Class Scroll: Voidwalker]

[Usage Requirement: Lv.10.]

[Class Description: One who walks through the Void, unbound by any single path.]

[Class Effect 1: Can use the weapons, skills, and equipment of all classes.]

[Class Effect 2: Void Armory—Inventory capacity becomes unlimited. An unlimited number of weapons, skill books, and equipment items may be stored.]

[Class Effect 3: Core Attribute Synchronization—All four core attributes are automatically equal to the highest among them.]

John’s breathing paused slightly.

Core Attribute Synchronization.

That meant Constitution, Strength, Agility, and Wisdom would all be synchronized with whichever attribute currently had the highest value.

Every time John gained the equivalent of one level’s worth of attributes, it would be like four levels of growth for an ordinary player.

He would never possess a weak core attribute.

John slowly exhaled.

"Now this is what you call a God-Rank Class."

A system prompt appeared immediately afterward.

[Use the Hidden God-Rank Class Scroll: Voidwalker?]

John did not hesitate.

"Use it."

Buzz!

The silver-gray scroll unfolded in his hand.

Countless tiny spatial cracks emerged from its surface before transforming into streaks of light and rapidly pouring into John’s body.

However, the class change notification he had expected never appeared.

Instead, an even colder system voice sounded.

[Ding! Hidden God-Rank Class Change procedure initiated!]

[You have triggered the Hidden God-Rank Class Change Quest: Void Initiate!]

[Quest Requirement: Independently slay any 10 individual targets.]

[Current Progress: 0/10.]

[Notice: Until the Class Change Quest is completed, the Class Scroll will remain bound to the player and cannot be dropped, traded, or destroyed.]

John raised an eyebrow as he looked at the quest before him.

He had not changed classes immediately.

He still needed to complete an exclusive trial.

However, independently killing ten targets...

This counted as a trial?

If the monsters and witch he had already beaten to death could still speak, they would probably be the first to object.

John lowered his head and looked at the scroll in his hand.

It had already transformed into a silver-gray mark and merged into the back of his hand.

Once he completed the quest, he would officially become a Voidwalker.

As for his remaining Free Attribute Points, John did not hesitate at all.

All core attributes would be synchronized.

As long as he continued stacking the highest one, every other core attribute would rise along with it.

He invested every remaining Free Attribute Point into Strength.

The higher his Strength became, the higher his other attributes would eventually be pulled.

This was the correct way to build a Voidwalker.

John then picked up Irene’s Fire Crystal Staff.

[Embed the SSS-Rank Affixes "Mana Conservation," "Projectile Amplification," and "CD--!" into Irene’s Fire Crystal Staff?]

[Confirm.]

Buzz!

Three consecutive bursts of rainbow-colored golden light erupted throughout the mine.

The dark crimson glow surrounding the Fire Crystal Staff rapidly intensified.

The Fire Crystal at its tip began burning violently, almost transforming into a miniature sun.

[Mana Conservation]

[Reduces the MP cost of equipment skills by 80%.]

[Projectile Amplification]

[Increases the damage of projectile-type skills to 500%.]

[CD--!]

[Reduces the cooldown of equipment skills by 50%.]

Combined with the Fire Crystal Staff’s innate 20% cooldown reduction, the staff had undergone a complete qualitative transformation.

John held the staff in his left hand and rested the Novice Club on his right shoulder.

The club was for melee combat.

The staff was for ranged attacks.

When facing large groups of enemies, he could also use the Crystal Doppelganger.

Equipment.

Skills.

Items.

Everything was ready.

At the end of the dungeon, a teleportation array slowly lit up.

Silver-white radiance fell across John’s body, stretching his shadow far behind him.

John glanced at the Class Change Quest.

[Current Progress: 0/10.]

"Ten targets."

"I wonder if there are any monsters left outside."

He stepped into the teleportation array.

...

Meanwhile, outside Blackstone Mine.

Fifty players dressed in matching gray equipment stood in a semicircle, completely sealing off the exit of the teleportation array.

Even the lowest-level player among them had reached Lv.8.

Their equipment was uniform, and their class composition was perfectly balanced.

Warriors stood at the front.

Assassins were spread across both flanks.

Mages, archers, and priests waited in the rear.

They were all elite members of Gray Ledger’s Unit Three.

As one of the largest underground organizations in the real world, Gray Ledger naturally had no intention of abandoning the enormous piece of the pie that Apocalypse was destined to become.

Even before the public launch began, the organization had invested vast sums of money into purchasing equipment and gaming hardware, then arranged for its members to enter the game.

Today, all fifty elites of Unit Three had gathered here.

They were waiting for one person.

The area surrounding the dungeon was already packed with players who had rushed over after hearing the news.

The announcement for Blackstone Mine’s world-first clear had only just ended.

Everyone wanted to see for themselves what kind of person could independently clear a Lv.15 dungeon on the very first day of the server.

However, even the well-known guilds refused to cross Gray Ledger’s blockade.

No one was willing to provoke a group of lunatics who might actually track them down in the real world merely to satisfy their curiosity.

The man in gray leather armor stood at the front of the formation and lowered his voice.

"Unit Leader, are you certain we need this many people?"

The gray-robed man wore a dark mask.

His gaze never left the teleportation array.

"Gray Ledger has never issued a loan it failed to collect."

"Do you expect me to allow that precedent to begin under my watch?"

The leather-armored man fell silent for a moment.

"Unless I misheard the server-wide announcement, this Endbringer just cleared a Lv.15 dungeon alone."

"The guild leader also instructed us to recruit the game’s top players whenever possible."

"A top player?"

The gray-robed man snorted coldly.

"It’s the first day of the server. No one has had enough time to establish a meaningful lead in levels or equipment."

"He merely got lucky and pulled ahead temporarily."

He swept his gaze across the formation behind him.

"Every elite member of Unit Three is here."

"Whether he’s truly exceptional or merely pretending to be, we’ll find out once he comes through that portal."

"I refuse to believe fifty people can’t take down one man."

The leather-armored man lowered his head.

"Understood."