"Dire cores?" Rei stared at the fist size sphere in his hand.
[Dire Core: A rare energy crystal dropped from a Level 2 dire beast. These cores are harvested from slain dire beasts and are mainly used to upgrade weapons to higher tiers.
For example, a core taken from a Level 1–10 beast can upgrade a basic weapon into a Bronze-tier one, while a core from a Level 11–20 beast can refine a Bronze-tier weapon into an Iron-tier.
The higher the beast's level, the stronger and rarer the core, and the greater the weapon's potential upgrade.]
"Good thing!" Rei said, beaming with joy.
This was indeed a stroke of luck. With these, he could upgrade basic daggers into Bronze-tier weapons or simply sell them for profit.
Thinking of this, he turned toward the remaining five dire beasts and swung his blade.
The beasts didn't even struggle as they were cut down.
[You have slain a Level 2 Dire Beast. +10 XP]
[Item Dropped: Nothing]
...
[You have slain a Level 2 Dire Beast. +10 XP]
[Item Dropped: Dire Core]
...
[You have slain a Level 2 Dire Beast. +10 XP]
[Item Dropped: Nothing]
...
[You have slain a Level 3 Dire Beast. +20 XP]
[Item Dropped: Dire Core]
...
[You have slain a Level 2 Dire Beast. +10 XP]
[Item Dropped: Nothing]
"Three cores out of six slain dire beasts? I guess that's what a fifty-percent drop rate yields," Rei muttered, looking at the three cores resting in his palm.
"This one must be from the Level 3 beast," he added.
One of the cores was slightly larger, its energy pulse faintly stronger than the others. With a simple thought, Rei sent all three into his inventory.
[You can pay a certain amount of VP to refine your weapon using Dire Cores.]
Rei blinked.
"VP?"
The voice continued:
[Bronze-tier Weapon Upgrade:
Requirement: 1 Dire Core (Lv.1–10) + 10 VP]
"I currently have zero value points. How am I supposed to get that many?"
[Dire beasts corpse can also be exchanged for certain amount of VP.]
[Note: Only beasts slain by self can be exchanged]
"Exchange for Value Points?" Rei's eyes widened slightly.
He had noticed the Value Points (VP) indicator in his player panel before — it was sitting at zero, and he hadn't known how to obtain any.
But since the Royale seemed to provide this function as well, he thought, why not?
This way, he could test the exchange rate of VP, upgrade his dagger and dispose of the corpses at the same time.
Killing three birds with one stone.
"How many Value Points will I get?" Rei asked.
[Lvl 2 Dire Beast: 2 Value Points]
[Lvl 3 Dire Beast: 3 Value Points]
"Huh...? So little?" Rei frowned.
The voice didn't respond.
After thinking for a moment, he sighed. "Well, better than nothing."
"Exchange," he said.
At once, the six dire beast corpses disintegrated into motes of light and vanished.
Rei opened his profile to confirm.
[Value Points: 13]
Among the Novices, he was confident that little could match him.
After gathering the cores and checking his VP, Rei made his decision.
"Alright… let's upgrade."
He held the dagger in his hand and focused.
[Initiating Weapon Upgrade…
Cost: 1 Dire Core + 10 VP]
Rei blinked, and the dagger was gone.
In its place was a sleek short sword, the blade slightly longer, the edge gleaming with new sharpness.
Notifications appeared one after another:
[Basic Dagger → Bronze-tier Short Sword]
[New Attributes Unlocked: Sharpness+12 | Attack power+15 | Pierce Chance: +5% to ignore low-tier defenses ]
"A short sword… nice."
He gave it a test swing. The blade cut the air with a crisp whistle.
"Much better." Rei admired the short sword for a moment.
Then a thought hit him.
"What if… I could upgrade it again?"
[Further Upgrade Possible]
Rei's eyes widened.
[Bronze Flying Short Sword]
Requirements: 20 VP + 2 Dire Cores]
"Flying short sword? Too bad. I have the cores but not enough value points"
Then Rei sent the two dire cores to his inventory.
"Really convenient. This way, I don't have to carry them out in the open. I'm not worried about the other newbies targeting me, but it'd still be annoying," Rei said with a faint smirk.
Testing the function a few more times, Rei summoned the cores back into his hand, then stored them again, a satisfied glint in his eyes.
Then, Rei was about to move to another direction and find a sefer place to stay when a faint tremor rippled through the air. Rei stopped in his track, eyes narrowed.
The grass ahead swayed unnaturally, and a low growl rolled across the clearing.
Four more Dire Beasts crawled out of the bushes, their eyes glowing faint red.
"Another group? Damn it… those two explosions must've pulled them in. More are probably on the way too."
Rei didn't waste time.
He raised his hand, condensed another ball of Wind Catastrophe, and hurled it straight at the incoming beasts.
Bang!
The explosion shook the clearing again, blasting the beasts back and leaving their bodies torn and exposed.
Rei rushed in, gripping his newly upgraded bronze short sword.
This time, even the areas still covered in thick fur were sliced through like butter.
Clean, fast, effortless.
Rei exhaled sharply.
"So this is the power of a bronze-tier weapon…"
[You have slain a Level 2 Dire Beast. +10 XP]
[Item Dropped: Dire Core]
...
[You have slain a Level 2 Dire Beast. +10 XP]
[Item Dropped: Nothing]
...
[You have slain a Level 2 Dire Beast. +10 XP]
[Item Dropped: Dire Core]
…
[You have slain a Level 2 Dire Beast. +10 XP]
[Item Dropped: Dire Core]
"Great harvest…!" Rei smiled and then traded them for value points.
A faint glow surrounded Rei as a warm surge of energy spread through his body.
[Level Up! You have reached Level 2.]
Before he could react, another message appeared, this time, in bold golden letters.
[Notice: Player has advanced to Level 2, first in the Novice Royale, Area One.]
[As the first to advance, your details will be publicly announced.]
[You may choose to register an Alias. If left blank, your real name will be displayed by default.]
Rei blinked at the sudden notification.
"Announced… publicly?" he muttered, rubbing his chin.
He wasn't keen on letting the whole world know who he was, at least not yet.
"Alias, huh?" He thought for a moment, then smirked.
"Let's go with... One."
He confirmed the entry, and the system chimed again.
[Public Announcement: Player "Rei" has become the first to reach Level 2 in the Novice Royale – Novice area one.]
[Reward: +100 Value Points.]
[Player details will be revealed to all participants.]
At that moment, across the entire Royale, a glowing message appeared before every player.
---
"What! Someone's already leveled up so soon?"
"I have to hurry or I'll fall behind!"
"Really arrogant! He actually chose One as his name?"
"Maybe he's just lucky! If my squad hadn't split, I'd have hit Level 2 first!"
"Such a generous reward… I wonder what happens if I reach Level 2 next!"
---
Across the starter zones, opinions were mixed, some called him arrogant, others admired him, and a few saw him as a rival worth surpassing.
But to all of them, one thing was certain:
the name 'One' had just become the first spark of competition in the Royale.