Five minutes later.
Deep in the forest.
Swish, swish, swish!
Riven Locke's knives danced through the air.
Two daggers fluttered like butterflies,
swiftly slicing through a rabbit.
In the blink of an eye,
the rabbit was one-shot,
turning into a burst of white light.
Swish!
That was the hundredth rabbit.
A golden light shot up from Riven's body!
"Congratulations, you've reached Level 2!"
"You've gained 15 attribute points to allocate!"
Riven glanced at the time.
"Only five minutes passed?!"
He was pleasantly surprised.
Killing rabbits this fast gave him insane efficiency.
Leveling up was effortless.
...
He opened the character panel.
ID: Pearl Jade Soup
Race: [Phantom Shadow]
Class: [Shadow Stalker]
Level: Lv. 2
HP: 80/80
MP: 30/30
[Talents]: Pickpocket Mastery, Stealth Mastery, Evasion Mastery, Dagger Mastery, Poison Mastery
Unallocated Points: 15
...
Seeing those 15 unallocated points,
Riven couldn't help but grin.
This was awesome!
Normal players get only 5 points per level.
But as a [Phantom Shadow],
he had 15 stars in growth attributes.
Each level awarded a full 15 points!
Triple what others got.
His level-up was like theirs times three!
He put all 15 points into Agility.
For rogues, Agility directly boosts damage,
while also increasing crit chance, crit damage, and dodge rate.
A 15-point Agility boost
was insanely powerful.
After confirming the allocation,
Riven looked for more rabbits to train on.
-11!
-10!
Two strikes landed.
The damage boost was obvious.
Before, his hits dealt around 4–5 damage.
Now, it was consistently over 10.
"A solid double!"
Riven was very satisfied.
"I've killed enough rabbits."
"Next up: wild boars."
He opened the map
and checked the quest log.
Wild boars were clustered in the wheat fields near the forest.
"An open area."
"Great spot for farming mobs."
"Easy to pull a big group."
From his past experience,
Riven knew these spots were usually taken by big guilds.
Lone players were driven off without mercy.
Back then, Riven was just another solo player,
jealous of these prime farming spots but too scared to approach.
But now,
he was different.
All new players gathered near the newbie village.
Only Riven dared to venture deep here alone!
"Never thought I'd get to solo farm such a prime spot!"
"This feels great!"
...
Ten minutes later,
Riven arrived at the wheat fields.
Just as he expected,
it was a perfect farming spot.
The flat fields
were dotted with wild boars.
[Wild Boar] Lv. 3
HP: 60
Attack: 8
Defense: 3
Description: A pesky creature that loves stealing crops.
"60 HP, 8 attack, 3 defense... definitely tougher than rabbits!"
Riven gripped his daggers and approached carefully.
He targeted a boar busy munching on crops.
A smooth combo unleashed!
-8!
-7!
-9!
-9!
Four hits in a second!
The boar's thick hide reduced his damage,
but he still cut nearly half its HP in one combo!
"Roar!!!"
The boar charged at Riven!
He braced for the hit.
8 attack points!
Naked, his defense was zero.
This was going to hurt!
But when the boar slammed into him,
Riven felt nothing.
A big "Miss" floated above his head...
"Missed?"
"Did I get lucky?"
"No..."
"My Agility is just too high!"
He realized.
With the [Evasion Mastery] talent from his [Phantom Shadow] race,
his dodge rate was far above normal.
Plus, with 18 Agility,
the boar's attacks simply couldn't land!
"Awesome!"
Riven laughed and countered with four more strikes.
The boar screamed and collapsed.
Riven's experience jumped by 2% instantly!
"Killing higher-level mobs really pays off!"
He rummaged through the boar's remains.
Found four copper coins
and a piece of boar leather.
Just as he was about to leave,
his hand touched something hard...
"Congratulations! You obtained an item..."
Riven paused.
Got gear?!
"Congratulations! You obtained [Wild Boar Leather Armor]!"
He checked his inventory.
[Wild Boar Leather Armor] (Common White Grade)
Level Requirement: 2
Defense: 3
Description: Armor made from wild boar leather, providing some defense.
In Glory, equipment grades went from Common White,
Rare Green,
Uncommon Blue,
Legendary Purple,
Epic Orange,
to the top-tier Artifact Red!
The gear slots included nine spaces:
Chest, Legs, Helmet, Bracers, Boots, Shoulders (or Cloak),
and accessories: Earrings, Necklace, Ring.
Though this was a common white item,
Riven was very pleased.
Glory's drop rates were notoriously low.
Many players hit level 10 and entered their first city still wearing newbie gear.
Equipping the Wild Boar Leather Armor
he was no longer naked.
His defense shot up from 0 to 3!
One piece of boar leather armor
felt like wearing a full set of newbie clothes, pants, and boots combined!
"Nice!"
He kept killing wild boars.
...
With the armor buff,
Riven grew bolder.
Where before he fought only one mob at a time,
now he pulled two or three.
Facing multiple enemies,
he realized he was stronger than he thought!
Wild boar attacks
missed at least 80% of the time!
Only a few hits landed!
"These boars almost never hit me!"
His confidence soared.
He pulled even more mobs.
The bigger the group,
the higher the farming efficiency.
A pack of wild boars surrounded him.
Yet the word Miss kept flashing above his head.
His extremely high dodge
made him rock solid!
"Killed [Wild Boar], gained 14 XP..."
"Killed [Wild Boar], gained 14 XP..."
"Killed [Wild Boar], gained 14 XP..."
...
Riven's experience steadily rose,
quickly jumping from 0% to 80%!
Just about to hit Level 3,
a system alert rang out:
[Ding — Your SSS-tier talent Pickpocket Mastery has triggered!]
[You've stolen a "Skill Book" from the Wild Boar!]
Riven froze.
A skill book?!