CHAPTER 14: CHAPTER 14: FIRST ELITE-RANK KILL ANNOUNCEMENT, REVENANT BELL

Right as he killed the Swamp Revenant, a global announcement echoed in the mind of all [Eternal Soul] players.

---

[Player "Oblivion (Novice Town #783)" is the first to kill an elite-rank special boss.]

[You have gained 3 Prestige Point!]

---

The announcement played three times in a row, ringing clear in the minds of all.

For a moment, the entire player base was stunned.

"Holy shit, an elite-rank boss?"

"Who the hell is that Oblivion guy?"

"Don’t you see? It even tells us which novice town he’s from!"

"That means we can go there as soon as we’re level 5!"

...

Both in reality and inside [Eternal Soul], the announcement shook the world.

Announcements of this scale were extremely rare.

They only appeared when a player accomplished something absurd.

And to Stark... this was the very first time his name had ever been announced to the entire world.

Since he was the only one who had dealt damage to the revenant, Grace’s name wasn’t mentioned, of course.

The boss was gone.

Its body had completely disintegrated, leaving behind scattered loot glowing faintly on the deck of the ship.

Stark was just about to step forward to claim his rewards when—

"There he is!"

"We found him! With this many players, there’s no way he can survive!"

"He’s a mage, don’t let him escape!"

Dozens of players rushed out of the swamp and surrounded him in a loose circle.

One of them lifted his hand and summoned a [Ghost Eagle].

The spectral bird screeched before flying high above, locking onto Stark’s location so he couldn’t run.

"If we kill him, we get all the loot, right?"

"Doesn’t matter, let’s just get rid of him first!"

Stark stopped in place, glancing between them and the loot on the ship.

He wasn’t worried.

The system protected his drops, since he had done all the damage, no one else could take them until the five-minute [Protection Period] ended.

The [Ghost Eagle] circled above, its eyes glowing as it kept track of his every move.

Stark arched an eyebrow.

"Are they stupid? I’m level 8. They should know that by now."

Still, if they wanted to throw themselves at him, he wouldn’t mind.

He calmly raised his staff.

"Get ready!" one of the players barked. "Everyone activate your shield skills at the same time! If we stack defenses, we can tank his spells!"

"Once his cooldowns are down, a mage is basically useless!"

It was actually a decent strategy.

For a brief moment, Stark was almost impressed.

But they didn’t know he wasn’t just a normal mage.

VINE SWING!

A massive vine burst out of the swampy ground, snapping forward with terrifying force.

The tanks at the front braced themselves, shields raised high, activating their defense skills in perfect unison.

But...

Fwish! Slam!

-870! -870! -870!

Even with their defenses halving the damage, it wasn’t nearly enough.

The impact crushed them instantly, their visions fading to black as they collapsed one by one.

Their confident expressions vanished in an instant, replaced by stunned disbelief as death claimed them.

The [Protection Period] for items was only five minutes.

In the future, situations like this would happen more and more often, players ambushing others for loot, lives, or revenge.

Ding!

[You have gained 17 Lives!]

They were lucky the death penalty in this zone had reset to 1 life after the revenant’s death.

If it had stayed at the higher rate, most of them would have died.

Stark glanced up toward the cliff.

Grace was still busy, firing spells at the monsters she was fighting.

’I’ll help her later. First, the loot.’

He turned back to the ship but paused mid-step.

[Do you wish to consume 7 Evolution Point to evolve "Hand of Avarice"?]

"Perfect timing." He confirmed.

Ding!

[You have evolved "Hand of Avarice" (Elite) to "Hand of Avarice" (Epic)]

[Current Evolution Points: 0]

---

[Hand of Avarice (Epic): Can be used on corpses, has a 75% → 100% chance to obtain another loot reward.]

---

"Haha!" Stark grinned wide. "I knew it!"

Now the success rate had jumped from seventy-five percent to one hundred, guaranteed extra loot every single time.

That said, it made him curious.

What could the higher ranks possibly look like?

Going from Epic to Legendary required ten points, though.

Evolution was getting more and more expensive.

Stark made a mental note to stockpile points for the future.

For now, he raised his staff, pointing it toward the ship at the swamp’s center.

"Hand of Avarice!"

A dark spectral hand shot from his staff, descending upon the ship.

Ding!

---

[You have gained 4 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 27 Lives.]

---

"Not bad." Stark nodded with satisfaction.

[Lives: 379]

His stockpile was finally becoming respectable.

At this pace, he’d break past 500 soon.

He leapt onto the ship, boots splashing against the damp deck.

Loot shimmered faintly in piles across the wooden boards.

One by one, he checked each drop, scanning for anything of value.

Most of it wasn’t particularly impressive.

Until—

A faint golden glow caught his eye.

"A special item?" Stark’s heartbeat quickened as he picked it up.

---

[Revenant Bell (Special Item): When carried, death will not result in any lives loss. 6-hours cooldown.]

[Soul Shockwave (Active Skill): Shake the revenant bell to cause a 3-second stun effect to all enemies within a 100-meter radius. 10-minutes cooldown.]

---

"Incredible..." Stark whispered, eyes shining.

Special items were unique drops tied only to specific monster types.

They were extremely rare.

As the game progressed, such items would become unbelievably rare, worth tens of thousands of lives on the trading markets.

And this one even had a powerful active ability tied to it.

The cooldowns weren’t halved, of course, his class passive only affected spells.

[Class Passive #3: All your spells’ cooldowns are reduced by half.]

Still, the effects were absurd.

Not losing lives once every six hours could easily save him once in dangerous zones.

In regions where players could lose thousands of lives per death, this item would be priceless.

Admittedly, it wouldn’t work in places like the [Judgment Battlefield] or similat zones to it though.

Instant death didn’t take lives after all, it just killed you.

But even with that limitation, it was one of the best early-game items he could have asked for.

Normally, this would have been the end of his loot.

But thanks to [Hand of Avarice], one extra reward appeared.

And this one was perfectly suited to his class.

---

[Revenant Staff (Elite): Mage-type weapon. Spirit +38, Agility +17, Casting Speed +25%. Requirement: Level 7]

---

Stark’s eyes widened again.

His old staff had only been uncommon rank.

This was two entire tiers higher.

He swapped it immediately, gripping the new weapon and feeling its power surge through him.

Casting would be faster, smoother, deadlier.

The rest of the loot wasn’t meant for his class except for a necklace.

Whatever other item Grace could use, he’d let her have it.

After all, the [Small Space Ring] still outweighed everything else combined, except for the special item.

That was his true prize today.

Tucking the Revenant Bell safely away, Stark turned, ready to head back.