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

Four hours earlier.

Black Rose Group Headquarters.

Eighty-sixth floor.

The office of the Gaming Division President was deathly silent.

In front of the enormous black desk, Gray Ledger’s Unit Three Leader stood with his head lowered, not daring to speak.

A middle-aged man sat behind the desk.

Short hair.

A black shirt.

His features were not particularly vicious, yet his presence carried an overwhelming sense of pressure.

He was the Guild Leader of Gray Ledger.

The middle-aged man picked up the tablet on the desk and casually swiped across the screen.

In the recording, John brought his club crashing down.

Eight players were simultaneously blasted into the air by the shock wave.

Immediately afterward, enormous Fire Serpents tore into the crowd.

All fifty members of Unit Three fell one after another.

After watching the entire recording, the middle-aged man pushed the tablet toward the edge of the desk.

"Explain."

The Unit Three Leader swallowed.

"Guild Leader, this happened because—"

The middle-aged man raised one hand.

"No explanations."

"I only want information on the target."

Cold sweat rapidly appeared across the Unit Three Leader’s forehead.

"He was alone."

"His level should be no lower than Lv.10."

"His melee weapon is a wooden club. Its damage is extremely high, and it appears capable of ignoring defense."

"He can also use fire spells and crowd-control skills."

"During the battle, he seemed to complete a Hidden Class Change."

The middle-aged man tapped his fingers lightly against the desk.

"What about his real identity?"

"We’re still investigating."

The Unit Three Leader’s voice grew quieter.

"We’ve already contacted several hackers, but they encountered interference while trying to trace his login address."

The office fell silent again.

A vein faintly appeared on the middle-aged man’s forehead.

Fifty elite members.

A massive quantity of cash-shop equipment.

And Gray Ledger’s reputation.

The loss was no longer a small sum.

More importantly, the target clearly possessed an exceptionally high-rank Talent or Class.

Someone like that should have been recruited immediately.

Instead, Unit Three had failed to report him and had directly mobilized its members to surround and kill him.

The middle-aged man looked toward the female secretary beside him.

"Compile a list of every member in the guild with an A-Rank Talent or higher."

"Tell them to prepare to log in."

"I’ll personally lead the next operation."

The secretary lowered her head slightly.

"Understood."

The middle-aged man stood and walked over to the Unit Three Leader.

"You discovered a player with a high-rank Talent and failed to report it."

"You mobilized Unit Three’s elites without authorization and caused the guild to suffer a major loss."

He reached out and patted the man’s shoulder.

"You’d better hope you can afford to repay that money."

With that, the middle-aged man left the office with his secretary.

The door closed.

The Unit Three Leader’s legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor.

...

The silver-white light gradually faded.

John’s vision returned.

The next instant, he stopped moving.

Before him stood a city so enormous that its boundaries could barely be seen.

Sunset City.

Although it was only the lowest-ranked Tier-1 Main City, its scale was already comparable to New York in his previous life.

White city walls over a hundred meters tall stretched in both directions until they disappeared beyond the horizon.

Golden magical patterns flowed slowly across their surface.

Tower after tower rose from the ground, their pointed roofs piercing into the clouds.

The broad streets were wide enough for more than a dozen carriages to travel side by side, and their surfaces were paved with perfectly arranged white stone.

Buildings of varying heights lined both sides.

Shops.

Taverns.

Theaters.

Churches.

Arenas.

They extended farther than the eye could see.

In the distance, several floating platforms hovered above the city.

Enormous magical airships passed through the clouds, leaving pale blue trails behind them.

At the center of the city stood a colossal palace of gold and crimson.

The light of the setting sun fell across its crystal dome, bathing the entire city in brilliant gold.

Compared to Blackstone, this place finally displayed the true civilization of the world of Apocalypse.

Before John could properly take in the view, a grand system voice resounded throughout the entire game world.

[Server-Wide Announcement!]

[Congratulations to player "Endbringer" for becoming the first player to enter a Tier-1 Main City!]

[Reward: Free Attribute Points +20!]

[Reward: Gold Coins +10!]

[Reward: Special Title—Forerunner!]

[Forerunner]

[Type: Unique Growth Title]

[Effect: When entering an unexplored map or dungeon, all damage dealt is increased by 20%.]

[This effect lasts until the current map has been fully explored or the current dungeon has been cleared for the first time.]

"It even increases my damage when I enter a new map?"

John’s eyes lit up slightly.

What he excelled at most was claiming world-first clears.

This title seemed almost tailor-made for him.

The twenty Free Attribute Points were credited to his account.

John invested every one of them into Strength.

[Strength +20!]

The moment his Strength increased, the Voidwalker Class Trait activated.

[Core Attribute Synchronization activated!]

[Constitution synchronized: +20!]

[Agility synchronized: +20!]

[Wisdom synchronized: +20!]

Once again, John experienced the sheer unfairness of a God-Rank Class.

At the same time, additional announcements appeared one after another.

[First player entry into a Main City detected.]

[Ranking System officially unlocked!]

[Level Rankings unlocked!]

[Equipment Rankings unlocked!]

[Guild Rankings unlocked!]

[Pet Rankings unlocked!]

John opened the Level Rankings.

[Level Rankings]

[Rank 1: Endbringer—Lv.13.]

[Rank 2: Sword of Judgment—Lv.10.]

[Rank 3: Oracle—Lv.10.]

[Rank 4: Black Tide—Lv.9.]

...

Starting from second place, the difference in levels was not particularly large.

Only John had reached Lv.13.

He held a clear lead over everyone else.

Then he opened the Equipment Rankings.

[Equipment Rankings]

[Rank 1: Novice Club.]

[Quality: Common.]

[Equipment Level: Lv.13.]

[Owner: Endbringer.]

[Overall Rating: 3,600.]

[Rank 2: Irene’s Fire Crystal Staff.]

[Quality: A-Rank.]

[Equipment Level: Lv.10.]

[Owner: Endbringer.]

[Overall Rating: 2,860.]

[Rank 3: White Briefs.]

[Quality: Common.]

[Equipment Level: Lv.13.]

[Owner: Endbringer.]

[Overall Rating: 1,001.]

[Rank 4: Bloodfeather Hunter Set.]

[Quality: A-Rank.]

[Equipment Level: Lv.10.]

[Owner: FireRose.]

[Overall Rating: 600.]

At the same time—

Every player received the notification that the Ranking System had been unlocked.

Countless players immediately opened the Equipment Rankings.

Then they fell silent.

"Common quality?"

"An overall rating of over three thousand?"

"Did the system display the wrong quality color?"

"A Novice Club has seven times the rating of an A-Rank weapon?"

"That’s the thing Endbringer was using?"

Someone followed the owner information and opened John’s publicly visible equipment panel.

Then they discovered something even more outrageous.

[White Briefs]

[Quality: Common.]

[Owner: Endbringer.]

[Special Rating: 1,001.]

The entire world channel fell silent for a brief instant.

The next second, messages flooded the screen.

"Wait!"

"Why does a pair of underwear have a rating of one thousand?"

"Novice Club plus White Briefs—is that some kind of hidden equipment set?"

"Could Endbringer’s true core equipment be the underwear instead of the club?"

"I understand now. To become a top player, you have to take off your equipment first!"

Compared to the lively Level and Equipment Rankings, the other two rankings were remarkably empty.

[Guild Rankings: No Data.]

[Pet Rankings: No Data.]

No player had officially established a guild yet.

Nor had anyone obtained a pet.

While everyone was still discussing the rankings, the sky suddenly darkened.

Above Sunset City, a golden curtain of light slowly unfolded.

Lines of enormous text appeared across the sky.

The system’s cold voice once again resounded throughout the server.

[Version Main Story Quest Unlocked!]

[Version Main Story: Shadow of Dark Magic!]

[Quest Description: Dark power that has lain dormant for many years has reappeared. Traces of black magic have been discovered in dungeons, graveyards, and ruins throughout the world.]

[The progress of the Main Story Quest will influence the final outcome of this version.]

Inside the beginner villages—

Countless players raised their heads and looked into the distance.

"The version main story is already open?"

"We don’t even know where the main city is!"

"Endbringer is already an entire version ahead of us!"

"Stop talking about his underwear and start leveling!"