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

Zoey stood between the other two, gripping her longbow.

Fire Serpents surged on her left.

Holy light rained down wildly on her right.

The swarms of Shadow Corpse Skulls were wiped out by fire and holy light before they could even get close.

Less than a minute later—

The final skull was pierced through by a Fire Serpent.

[Total kills this battle: Lv.15 Shadow Corpse Skull ×20. Assisted kills: ×8!]

[You have obtained a total of 1,340 EXP and 42 Silver Coins!]

[You have obtained Wraith Fragment ×28 and Shadow Dust ×17!]

[Ding! Your level has increased to Lv.17!]

[Current EXP: 160/5,500.]

[You have obtained 5 Free Attribute Points!]

[Unique God-Rank Talent "Supreme Evolution" activated!]

[You have obtained the SSS-Rank Affix: Coldblooded Strike!]

[Coldblooded Strike]

[Type: Weapon-Exclusive Affix.]

[Effect: When attacking a target below 50% HP, your final damage is increased by 50%.]

Another damage-enhancing Affix.

After thinking for a moment, John embedded it into Irene’s Fire Crystal Staff.

[Confirm Affix embedding?]

"Confirm."

Hum!

A seven-colored golden light flashed across the surface of the staff.

Fire Serpent already dealt more than enough damage.

However, if John encountered a Boss with an HP-locking skill or an exceptionally large health pool, [Coldblooded Strike] would significantly improve his killing efficiency during the latter half of the fight.

John then invested all five Free Attribute Points from leveling up into Strength.

[Strength +5!]

[Voidwalker Class Trait activated!]

[Constitution, Agility, and Wisdom have each increased by 5 points!]

The party’s EXP was distributed according to each member’s contribution.

Nonoa had participated in killing quite a few monsters, so her EXP bar had already filled by more than half. She was only a short distance away from leveling up.

Zoey, however, had been unable to deal effective damage to the spiritual monsters and had received only a small amount of shared party EXP.

She stared at her almost unchanged EXP bar and fell silent.

"Do I not have any human rights?"

John put away his staff.

"Let’s hope we encounter physical monsters next time."

Zoey rolled her eyes.

While sorting through the loot, John glanced at the two weapons in his hands.

The Novice Club possessed numerous melee Affixes.

Meanwhile, the Fire Crystal Staff contained all of his spell-related Affixes.

Each weapon had its own Class characteristics and attack methods.

However, the Affixes he obtained were random.

If this continued, powerful Affixes would inevitably become scattered across different pieces of equipment.

If he could fuse his weapons together and stack every Affix onto a single weapon...

Its power would far exceed what he possessed now.

However, John quickly shook his head.

He had never even heard of an ability capable of fusing weapons.

It was still far too early to think about such things.

The three of them continued toward the quest marker.

After running for roughly another five minutes, the vague outlines of buildings finally appeared within the gray fog.

Houses.

Streets.

And a tall defensive wall.

As an archer, Zoey had the best eyesight.

She narrowed her eyes and stared for a moment before suddenly slowing down.

"Look."

"Isn’t that Giantwood Town?"

John and Nonoa looked ahead simultaneously.

As they drew closer, the outlines of the buildings gradually became clearer.

The arrangement of the stone houses.

The direction of the streets.

The plaza at the town entrance.

Even the location of the mayor’s office was exactly the same.

This was Giantwood Town.

Or rather—

It was another Giantwood Town.

The only difference was that the doors and windows here had not been reinforced.

There were no crossbows mounted on the rooftops.

Nor were there sharpened wooden stakes lining the courtyard walls.

Every building retained its original appearance.

It was as though the entire town had been perfectly copied into this place before the giant tree disappeared ten years ago.

And in the center of the town—

A genuine giant tree towered above the ground.

Its trunk was unimaginably thick.

Even if hundreds of people stretched out their arms at the same time, they might not be able to encircle it.

Its twisting roots resembled enormous dragons, spreading outward from the center of town in every direction and supporting entire sections of buildings and roads.

Its crown stretched high into the gray sky.

Countless branches intertwined and spread outward, covering more than half the town.

It was simply too enormous.

A person standing beneath it would be less noticeable than one of its leaves.

However, the giant tree was already close to death.

Most of its bark had turned grayish-white.

Its thick branches were covered in dry cracks.

Almost no intact leaves could be seen throughout its crown.

Only deep within the trunk did faint streams of green light continue to flow.

A handful of emerald leaves clung to the highest branches.

They were the only traces of color within this entire black-and-white world.

Zoey raised her head and stared at the giant tree.

"The tree outside disappeared."

"So it was dragged into this place."

John looked toward the town beneath the giant tree.

Every building had been replicated perfectly.

There were no defensive fortifications.

Nor were there any traces left behind by ten years of monster tides.

What had been preserved here was Giantwood Town exactly as it had existed before the giant tree disappeared.

As the three of them approached the town entrance, a gray-white stone monument gradually emerged from the fog beside the road.

Only three words were carved into its surface.

[Giantwood Town]

A large number of human footprints were scattered beneath the monument.

Some had existed for many years.

Others were still extremely fresh.

Every footprint led deeper into the town.

Not a single one pointed outward.

The three continued approaching Giantwood Town.

Once they drew closer, the scene on the streets gradually became clear.

Human figures wandered aimlessly between the buildings.

They wore the clothing of Giantwood Town’s residents.

There were merchants.

Blacksmiths.

Even women carrying children in their arms.

Yet every one of them appeared to be covered by a blurry filter.

Their facial features could not be seen.

Their skin could not be seen.

Only their vaguely humanoid outlines could be distinguished.

[Giantwood Town Wraith]

[Level: Lv.16.]

[Rank: Elite Monster.]

[HP: 4,200/4,200.]

[Spell Power: 510.]

[Trait: Ethereal Form.]

[Ethereal Form: Immune to ordinary physical damage.]

More spiritual monsters.

After reading the information, Zoey’s expression immediately collapsed.

"Is this ever going to end?"

She had spent the entire battle against the skulls standing on the sidelines.

She had thought she would finally be able to contribute after entering the town.

Instead, they were immediately greeted by another group of physically immune wraiths.

One of the wraiths suddenly stopped walking.

Its blurred face slowly turned toward the three of them.

The next second—

Every wraith on the street raised its head simultaneously.

"Outsiders..."

"Remain..."

The figures lunged forward at once.

John raised the Fire Crystal Staff.

"Fire Serpent."

Boom!

A blazing serpent swept down the street and instantly pierced through the five wraiths at the front.

[-14,544!]

[-14,544!]

[-14,544!]

[You have killed Lv.16 Giantwood Town Wraith ×5!]

Nonoa raised her staff as well.

[Mass Healing!]

Golden holy light descended onto the wraiths.

[Merciful Judgment activated!]

[-4,920!]

Six wraiths simultaneously dissolved into gray smoke.

Zoey stood between them, clutching her longbow.

"So there’s still nothing for me to do?"

John continued casting Fire Serpent.

"You’re responsible for keeping watch."

"I can’t see anything beyond ten meters. What exactly am I supposed to watch?"

"Watch everything within ten meters."

Zoey rolled her eyes.

John and Nonoa continued forward.

Fire Serpents and holy light descended in alternating waves.

The wraiths throughout the streets vanished in groups.

[Total kills this battle: Giantwood Town Wraith ×45!]

[You have obtained 5,400 EXP, 90 Silver Coins, Fragmented Memory ×17, and Wraithcloth Scrap ×26!]

[Ding! Your level has increased to Lv.18!]

[Current EXP: 60/6,000.]

[You have obtained 5 Free Attribute Points!]

[Unique God-Rank Talent "Supreme Evolution" activated!]

[You have obtained the SSS-Rank Affix: Domain Expansion!]

[Domain Expansion]

[Type: Weapon-Exclusive Affix.]

[Effect: The total area of effect of all area-based skills cast through this weapon is increased to 200% of its original size. Identical Affixes stack independently and multiplicatively.]