The dust settled.
Ye Yi pushed aside the Mine Troll's heavy arm with great effort and crawled out from the pile of corpses.
By this point, his level had skyrocketed to 15, as if riding a rocket. Soloing a boss above his level, combined with his talent for double experience, allowed him to monopolize a massive experience pool that should have belonged to a 20-person team.
He took a look at his attribute panel.
[ID: Ye Yi]
[Level: 15]
[Class: Apprentice Mage]
[Intelligence: 120 (All Stat Points + Equipment)]
With these stats, even without a sword, he could one-shot any normal player at the current stage just by throwing fireballs.
But right now, what attracted him most wasn't his stats, but the pile of glittering loot beside the Mine Troll's corpse.
In the early stage of the game where drop rates were abysmal, a first-kill boss was practically a mountain of gold.
Ye Yi walked over and quickly tallied the spoils.
"Three gold coins."
In this early phase where 1 gold coin equaled 1,000 real-world currency, this was equivalent to three thousand yuan. One had to realize that normal wild monsters only dropped copper coins.
"[Heart of the Mine Troll] (Epic Material)."
This was a core material for forging high-level equipment, or a necessary item for class advancement quests; it was priceless.
"[Mine Troll Bracers] (Blue, Rare)."
Attributes: Defense +15, Strength +8. This was god-tier gear for warriors at the current stage.
Besides that, there was a pile of miscellaneous white-grade equipment and potions.
Ye Yi, without hesitation, threw all those white-grade items onto the ground, then pulled the heaven-swallowing demon sword from the Mine Troll's corpse.
"Time to eat."
He placed the heaven-swallowing demon sword onto the pile of white-grade equipment.
The black light on the heaven-swallowing demon sword flared up instantly, and those pieces of equipment were corroded and absorbed at a speed visible to the naked eye. As each piece of equipment vanished, the rust on the heaven-swallowing demon sword began to flake off, revealing a sword body as deep and dark as obsidian.
[heaven-swallowing demon sword devouring complete.]
[Quality Upgrade: Sealed State → Black Iron Grade.]
[Attack Power: +10 → +30.]
[Unlock New Special Effect: Armor Pierce (5% chance to ignore 30% of target's defense on attack).]
[Unlock New Trait: Bloodthirst (5% of damage dealt is converted into own Health Points).]
"Good stuff."
Ye Yi caressed the sword body, unable to put it down. The lifesteal effect was the most core attribute for soloing; with it, he was a perpetual motion machine.
Just then, a deafening thunderclap suddenly resounded in the sky.
That was the prelude to a server-wide announcement.
[World Announcement: Congratulations to player *** for successfully killing the World BOSS "Mine Troll" (Lv.15), achieving the first server-wide kill! Reward: 500 Reputation, 10 Gold Coins, and one random skill book for your class! As the first warrior to kill a World BOSS, their name will be recorded in the annals of the era of apocalypse!]
[World Announcement: Congratulations to player *** for successfully killing...]
The announcement played three times in a row, the golden text lingering on the retinas of every online player for a full ten seconds.
The entire "era of apocalypse" instantly exploded.
[World Channel]:
"What the f***??? Did I see that right? A Lv.15 BOSS?"
"I'm still being chased by Lv.5 wild boars, and someone actually killed a Lv.15 BOSS?"
"Is this a hack? Definitely a hack! Won't the officials do anything about it?"
"Why hide the ID? If you're a god-tier player, come out and let us worship you!"
"The game has only been open for three hours... is the gap between people bigger than the gap between humans and dogs?"
The upper echelons of the major guilds were even more on high alert.
At a leveling spot near Azure Dragon City, Lin Tianyu (Wings of Holy Light) slashed down a wild wolf, his face turning livid as he looked at the announcement in the sky.
"Investigate! Investigate for me! Who exactly is this person hiding their ID!"
"Our 20-person elite team hasn't even pushed past a Lv.10 elite monster, yet he killed a Lv.15 World BOSS all by himself?"
"If it's a solo player, recruit them at any cost. If it's a hostile guild..." A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Lin Tianyu's eyes, "Then destroy them."
At the same time, the leaders of top guilds like the Iron Blood Dynasty and War Soul Guild issued similar orders.
The entire direction of the game had completely changed because of this one announcement.
Meanwhile, Ye Yi, who was at the center of the storm, was currently hiding in a corner of the mine, looking at the skill book that had just appeared in his inventory.
He chose to hide his name.
Now was not the time to be exposed. The tree that stands out in the forest will be battered by the wind. Before he had the absolute power to contend with those conglomerates, maintaining mystery was the best protective camouflage.
[Skill Book: Blink (Mage General)]
[Effect: Instantly teleport 10 meters forward. Cooldown: 15 seconds. Mana Cost: 50.]
"It's actually Blink!"
Ye Yi was overjoyed.
This was the most core life-saving skill for mages, usually requiring one to reach level 20 and complete a class advancement before being able to spend a significant amount of money to learn it from a mentor. He hadn't expected the first-kill reward to grant him a copy directly.
With Blink, combined with the melee burst damage of the heaven-swallowing demon sword, the Magic Swordsman's combat style could finally be considered truly formed.
"Snap."
Ye Yi clapped his hands together, and the skill book turned into a stream of light that drilled into his brow.
A blue icon appeared in his skill bar.
"Time to go."
Ye Yi took a glance into the depths of the mine. The Mine Troll's corpse was slowly refreshing and disappearing.
Although he chose to hide his ID, the players leveling in this area would sooner or later discover the situation here. Scouts from major guilds were probably already on their way.
He tidied up his inventory and listed the [Mine Troll Bracers] and some unused materials on the auction house.
Price: Buyout price 5 gold coins.
This was an astronomical price; no one could afford it at the current stage. But he wasn't doing it to sell, but to show off.
He wanted those major guilds to know that this BOSS had indeed been killed, and that it had dropped top-tier loot. This kind of intangible deterrent was sometimes more effective than killing people directly.
Ye Yi put on his goggles and activated the [Blink] he had just learned.
"Swish!"
His figure instantly vanished from the spot and appeared ten meters away.
This was the mobility of a Magic Swordsman.
He moved through the mine like a ghost, avoiding the small monsters that were respawning along the way.
When he walked out of the mine and saw the light of day again, he discovered that quite a few sneaky players had gathered in the woods outside the mine. Those were scouts from the major guilds.
Ye Yi lowered his hat brim, put away the conspicuous black sword, and switched back to the ragged iron sword (although he couldn't use it, it could serve as a disguise).
He blended into a group of solo players passing by, acted as if nothing was wrong, and walked in the direction of the novice village.
"Hey, brother, I heard a BOSS was killed inside; did you see it?" a passerby asked him.
Ye Yi shook his head, a look of confusion on his face like a newbie: "What BOSS? I just walked to the entrance and got scared back by zombies. It's too scary; that place is no place for a person to be."
"Tch, what a coward." The passerby looked at him with disdain and hurried toward the mine.
Ye Yi watched the person's back, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
The first pot of gold was already in hand, and his level was far ahead.
Next, it was time to go meet that "old friend."
"I wonder if you're crying or cursing right now?"
Ye Yi recalled the violent girl from his past life who always followed behind him—Little Bing Xin, who insisted on putting all her points into Intelligence despite being a Priest.
If his memory served him right, she should be at the entrance of the main city's class advancement hall right now, getting called a "useless trash" because no one would form a party with her due to her incorrect stat allocation.
"This time, your 'useless' stat build will become the most terrifying nightmare for the entire server."
Ye Yi quickened his pace.