Free Web NovelChapter 3: [3]: First Elite Boss, Stat Plunder
Levi left the sunny, golden wheat fields behind and walked for about thirty minutes until the terrain began to shift. The vibrant green grass turned into patches of dying, gray weeds. The sky above seemed to darken, blocked out by the massive, twisted canopies of dead trees.
This was the Weeping Woods. In the game’s standard progression route, this was a Level 4 to Level 6 zone. For the first two days of the server, it was supposed to be completely empty. Most players wouldn’t dare step foot in here until they had a full five-man party and a dedicated healer. The monsters here hit too hard, moved too fast, and were highly aggressive.
Levi didn’t care. He held his Uncommon-tier Serrated Scythe in his right hand, the heavy, jagged blade resting casually against his shoulder. He wasn’t here for the normal mobs. He was hunting a very specific target.
In his past life, a major esports guild called ’Vanguard’ had completely monopolized this forest by day three. They set up a perimeter and farmed a fixed-spawn Elite monster to gear up their main tank. Levi remembered exactly where that Elite spawned. He intended to steal it. Not for the gear, but for his SSS-Rank talent.
He navigated through the thick, creeping fog, ignoring the distant screeches of normal mobs. After ten minutes of walking, he found it.
A large clearing surrounded by dead, petrified logs. Sleeping in the center of the clearing was a massive beast. It looked like a wolf, but it was easily the size of a grizzly bear. Its fur was pitch black, and dark shadows constantly leaked from its body like thick smoke.
[Elite Shadow Hound] [Level: 4] [HP: 323 | DEF: 12 | ATK: 25]
"There you are," Levi muttered.
The moment he stepped into the clearing, the beast’s ears twitched. Its head snapped up, revealing two glowing, blood-red eyes. It didn’t growl or posture like the low-level bugs in the starting zone. It instantly detected him and lunged, crossing the distance with terrifying speed!
Levi tried to side-step. His brain, honed by years of surviving the real-world apocalypse, sent the signal to his legs to pivot and roll. But his avatar’s stats simply couldn’t keep up with his mind. His Agility was currently stuck at a pitiful 5. His body moved sluggishly, and the Shadow Hound’s massive claws clipped his left shoulder.
The NerveDive helmet’s pain engine flared to life. A sharp, burning sensation ripped through Levi’s arm.
He quickly did the math. The Hound’s 25 Attack against his 5 Defense meant he took exactly 20 damage. A red [-20] popped up over his head. His HP dropped to 80/100.
Levi gritted his teeth, completely ignoring the simulated pain. He had felt much worse in his past life. He swung his Serrated Scythe with both hands and immediately activated his skill.
"Reaping Arc!"
He felt 10 Mana vanish from his pool. The scythe’s blade glowed with a bloody red aura. He slashed it directly across the hound’s ribcage. His Base Attack was 45. Multiplied by the 1.8 skill modifier, the raw damage was 81. The hound’s 12 Defense mitigated some of it, resulting in a solid 69 Final Damage.
A massive [-69] floated into the air. The Shadow Hound whimpered as its health dropped to 254.
"I’m not done," Levi grunted.
While the 5-second cooldown on Reaping Arc ticked down, he didn’t back off. He stepped directly into the hound’s guard and launched a flurry of rapid, basic physical strikes. The heavy scythe wasn’t a fast weapon, but Levi used the momentum of his swings to chain his attacks seamlessly.
Slash. Spin. Slash. Reverse grip. Slash.
Three hits connected in rapid succession.
[-33] [-33] [-33]
Exactly 99 damage carved away from the beast’s health bar, dropping it to 155 HP. On the final strike, the jagged edge of his scythe caught on the hound’s fur and ripped it open. The weapon’s passive triggered. A tiny icon of a bleeding teardrop appeared above the monster’s head.
[-5] [-5]
The bleed effect started ticking down, draining 5 HP every single second. It bypassed defense entirely.
The Shadow Hound, now thoroughly enraged and covered in digital wounds, snapped its jaws wildly. Levi tried to backpedal, but the beast’s sheer size made its attack radius huge. Its teeth clamped down on Levi’s forearm!
Another sharp jolt of pain hit him. Another [-20] floated above his head, dropping his HP down to a dangerous 60/100.
"Get off me," Levi snapped.
He ripped his arm out of the beast’s mouth just as his skill icon flashed green. Reaping Arc was off cooldown. He channeled his mana, the red light returning to the blade, and swung upward in a vicious uppercut.
[-69]
The hound staggered backward, its health bar plunging into the critical red zone. Levi didn’t give it a chance to recover. He followed up instantly with two heavy basic attacks.
[-33] [-33]
While he swung, the bleed effect ticked four more times, draining another 20 HP in total. The combination of the heavy skill damage, the rapid physical strikes, and the relentless bleed completely overwhelmed the beast’s 323 health pool.
With a pathetic, gurgling whine, the Elite Shadow Hound collapsed onto the dead grass and shattered into a massive explosion of blue and gold polygons.
[System Notification: You have slain the Level 4 Elite Shadow Hound. Gained 350 XP.]
Levi leaned on his scythe, catching his breath. Taking out an Elite solo at Level 3 was completely unheard of without a pocket healer. He checked his XP bar; he was extremely close to leveling up again.
But the XP didn’t matter. Levi kept his eyes fixed on the spot where the hound died.
Suddenly, a thick, blood-red aura rose from the monster’s dissolving remains. It swirled in the air like a localized tornado before shooting straight into Levi’s chest. The system chimed with a golden, triumphant sound.
[Supreme Harvester triggered.] [Elite Shadow Hound’s primary stat is AGI (30).] [You have plundered 10% of its core stat.] [Gained +3 AGI permanently!]
Levi let out a loud, breathless laugh. He pulled up his status menu. His Agility had instantly jumped from 5 to 8, raising his Speed to 8 as well. He rolled his shoulders and shifted his weight. The sluggish, heavy feeling of a beginner avatar was instantly lessened. He felt faster, lighter.
Permanent stats without leveling up. This was the absolute, game-breaking cheat of the Seed. A normal player had to grind hundreds of monsters just to get 5 free stat points. Levi had just permanently boosted his Agility by 3 in less than two minutes of combat.
"This is insane," Levi grinned, closing the menu. "If I just farm Elites, I won’t even need to—"
"Hey! Stop right there, you little rat!"
Levi’s celebration was cut off by a loud, incredibly obnoxious voice. He turned around.
Stepping out from the brush on the edge of the clearing were three players. Two guys and one girl. Above their heads floated their usernames: Vance, Jarek, and Tamsin.
Vance was clearly the leader. He was Level 2, but unlike the other two who were wearing the default coarse peasant tunics, Vance was wearing a full set of shiny bronze armor and holding a polished bronze broadsword. It was a cosmetic set with minor stats you could buy from the game’s microtransaction cash shop for about fifty real-world dollars.
"Did you just kill the boss?" Vance demanded, pointing his paid-for sword at Levi. "Are you stupid or just blind? This entire sector of the woods is claimed by the Iron Wolves guild."
Levi stared at them blankly. The Iron Wolves? He vaguely remembered them from his past life. They were a pathetic, third-rate guild that spent most of their time bullying solo players in the starting zones before getting completely wiped out by the real guilds a month later.
"I didn’t see a sign," Levi said dryly.
"Shut up," Vance sneered, stepping closer. He eyed the empty space where the hound had died. "Listen to me very carefully. Elites drop rare gear. Hand over whatever that thing just dropped, right now, and vacate our farming territory. If you don’t, we’ll spawn-camp you until you rage-quit the server."
Jarek and Tamsin stepped up beside Vance, trying to look intimidating. They were holding rusty starter swords.
Levi looked at his own HP bar. He was sitting at 60/100. Vance clearly thought he was looking at an exhausted, weakened noob who had barely survived a lucky boss fight.
Levi didn’t feel intimidated. He just felt annoyed. He gripped the handle of his Uncommon scythe, his eyes turning cold.
—-
Updated Stat Sheet:
- Name: Levi | Level: 3
- Class: None | Talent: [Supreme Harvester (SSS-Rank)]
- HP: 60/100 | Mana: 40/50
- STR: 15 | AGI: 8 | VIT: 5 | INT: 5 | LUK: 5
- Attack: 45 | Defense: 5 | Speed: 8
- Core Skills: [Reaping Arc (Uncommon)]
