The party stood in one of Gaia City's quieter plazas, when Haze opened her inventory, the menu expanded and was shared with party members.
No one spoke for a good five seconds, just eyeing the system loot.
Then, as the rarity icons settled and the final confirmation ping echoed—
Haze's usual cold mask cracked first. Her eyes normally as still as a pond, glinted with open greed.
Iris, usually the emotional balance of the group, wore a wide, almost foolish grin that only high-tier loot could bring out.
PointAndShoot was already swearing under her breath. "Wow… epic loot at last. Those rumors weren't exaggerated after all."
Obi stared for a moment longer, then laughed outright, loud and unrestrained like a madman. "Dying was absolutely worth it."
Zack, meanwhile, had the expression of a man chewing glass. So many skill scrolls, Riptide Burst alone would have fit perfectly into his build but now he could only watch caz his skill limit had already hit the ceiling.
Leviathan's Fangblade (Epic)
Type: One-Handed Sword | Req. Lv: 7
ATK: +205-220
Bonus Effects: +20% Damage vs. Aquatic, Abyss-type monsters and PvP
+12% Skill Critical Rate
Passive: "Predator's Instinct" – Each critical strike increases Attack by 3% (Stacks 10x, lasts 8 s)
Description: Forged from the crystallized tooth of the Lurking Leviathan.
Scale of the Abyss (Epic)
Type: Armor | Req. Lv: 7
HP + 300
DEF: +50
Effects:+15% Elemental Resistance ,+10% Damage Reduction when HP < 50% ,
Active ability- Reflect back casters attack, cd 300 seconds
Skill Scroll – Tidal Ruin (Mage exclusive)
Type: Mage Offensive spell
Category: AoE / Field-Control
Effect: Summons a water vortex over a 20-meter radius, dealing 250% Magic Damage over 8 s.
Applies "Pressure" debuff: –30% Movement Speed and –15% Defense to all enemies inside Cooldown: 300 s
Leviathan's Amulet
Type: Accessory | Req. Lv: 7
HP + 200 | MP +100
Bonus:+18% Total Damage +12% HP
Passive: "Abyssal Surge" – Increases Attack Power by 50% when HP above 70%. (Cooldown: 180 s)
Description: The pulsating organ of an ancient beast. To wear it is to feel the rhythm of the ocean's wrath.
Skill Scroll – Riptide Burst
Type: Elemental / Area
Effect: Unleashes a pressurized burst of water around caster, dealing 250% Hybrid Damage in a 6m radius and pushing enemies back.
Cooldown: 40 s
Description: The Leviathan's dying thrash condensed into a single motion spell.
Skill scroll – Shadow Current (Assassin Exclusive)
Type: Mobility / Burst Skill
Req. Class: Assassin
Effect: Instantly dash through the target up to 8 m away, dealing 200 % Physical Damage.
If used from stealth, guarantees a Critical Hit and increases critical damage by 30% Cooldown: 18 s
Passive Synergy: Each kill with Shadow Current refunds 50% of its cooldown.
Description: The Leviathan's movement beneath the waves, translated into silent death. One blink and you're already behind them.
Skill Scroll – Baptism of Tides (Priest Exclusive)
Type: Healing / Cleanse / Buff
Req. Class: Priest
Effect: Summons a ring of flowing water around the caster for 10 s.
Restores 120 % of WIS + 60 HP every second to all allies inside the ring.
Removes 1 negative status effect per ally.
On completion, grants Tidal Grace: +10% Defense and +5 % Move Speed for 20 s.
Cooldown: 100s
Description: Said to echo Leviathan's ancient blessing. The same current that cleansed the seas now washes away wounds and curses alike.
Blueprint: Leviathan's Spine Armor
Type: Crafting Schematic
Requirements: 5 × Scale of the Abyss, 1 × Tidal Core Fragment
Leviathan Scale × 29
Tidal Core Fragment × 7
Leviathan Eye Core × 1
Gold Coins × 155
[EXP +5,000]
Zack paused briefly, considering his choices. His skills slot was completely filled, so it would be wise to make them indebted to him. Whatever trouble the game threw his way, having their support could make the difference.
His decision settled quickly— getting on Haze's bad side wasn't a risk he could afford.
It was far better to earn her favor now than hope for it later.
"I'll take the armor and the blueprint," Zack said finally. "The amulet fits Haze's class and build."
Haze blinked and looked up from the menu. "You sure?"
"Yeah," he replied. It would be a lie to say he didn't want it.
"It boosts damage and HP, it fits your build better. Besides…" He tilted his head slightly, a faint smile touching the corners of his mouth.
"We can't have our guild leader getting picked off by random players. That'd be bad for our image."
There was a pause then Iris smiled, soft and approving.
"See? Even Father Frost can be generous."
Point grinned, "Now all our guild leader has to do is hit level 7 to take out everyone with a single blow. That amulet's basically a 50% attack steroid."
Haze looked down at the faintly pulsing Leviathan's Amulet, its surface rippling like liquid glass. For a brief second, she just stared at it, the way it caught the city light, how the glow reflected against her gauntlet.
When was the last time someone gave me something without wanting anything in return?
She closed her fingers around it and shook her head faintly.
"Alright" she nodded once. "I will make good use of it."
Haze ended up claiming the weapon, the assassin skill and the amulet.
The Fangblade wasn't a dagger and its weight leaned towards the heavier side. Equipping it caused a major dip in her movement and attack speed, but her high agility and class bonuses allowed her to partially compensate for the drawback.
The trade-off was acceptable especially with stats like that.
Obi had wanted the weapon as well but after pulling up the stats and comparing builds, he clicked his tongue and conceded, it simply suited Haze better.
Instead, he claimed Riptide Burst, announcing without a shred of shame, "I sacrificed my body to science first. That means I'm entitled to compensation."
Point shot him a glare sharp enough to count as a debuff. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it. With a frustrated sigh, she settled for Tidal Ruin, silently vowing to remember this injustice.
The priest-exclusive skill went to Iris.
Zack didn't contest it. He was already far removed from the priest path and even if he had a skill slot open, a WIS-scaling ability made no sense, his build was firmly locked into INT, HP and VIT.
His gaze dropped to the experience bar blinking back at him— 1,120 / 40,000.
Eighty percent gone. It was bad… but it could have been worse. If his experience had been any higher, the loss would have hurt him more. Next time, he'd level up before taking any risks he thought.
With the loot distribution settled, everyone agreed to move forward with their original plan and accept a guild quest.
Inside the Guild Hall, a portal accessible by any one led them straight to their own guild office, a private space linked to guild.
The room wasn't too fancy yet, just a few stationed NPCs.
One NPC handled guild quests, another managed the guild vault where members could deposit or withdraw items and a third acted as a merchant, offering basic materials and low-tier consumables.
Zack browsed through the wares, already losing interest. Not that great for now.
Still, he figured that as their guild level rose, better materials, rarer items and maybe even new functions would unlock.
Once everyone had accepted their quests, they lingered a bit before going their separate ways, Obi and Point left to grind mobs, while Haze and Iris logged off for the day.
Zack decided to stay online a little longer. He wanted to check the Market District for any new listings, refresh his sales of mana and gears/skills and maybe spot something worth investing in.
Stepping through the portal again, he returned to the Central Plaza, from there, he made his way to the Marketplace and collected his pending sales from the trading board and began browsing the latest listings.
Most of the listings were the same old stuff, potion ingredients, mid-grade equipment and overpriced junk that players hoped some newbie would buy out of desperation.
With his active skill slots already full, he wasn't planning to buy anything new for combat anyway. What he did want, though, was to start preparing for his next upgrade — passive skills.
Back then he'd choose anything that suited him, not thinking much about synergy or long-term builds. But now, after everything he had learned, he wasn't going to repeat that mistake.
He opened the Skill Market, filtering for Passive Skills.
[Minor Endurance Training]
Effect: Increases Max HP by 5%.
[Quick Recovery]
Effect: Natural HP and MP regeneration speed increased by 5% when out of combat.
Type: Regeneration
[Mana Efficiency]
Effect: Reduces mana consumption of all active skills by 5%.
Type: Magic
[Potion Power]
Effect: Increases healing and mana recovery from crafted potions by 5%.
Type: Alchemy
[Keen Instincts]
Effect: Increase agility stats by 5%
[Field Awareness]
Effect: Expands minimap detection radius by 15% and slightly improves enemy threat perception.
Type: Utility
[Elemental Resistance] Effect: increases magical Resistance by 5%
As he kept browsing, Zack noticed a pattern, a lot of these passives weren't just for combat. Some directly boosted profession efficiency.
One in particular stood out:
[Potion Efficiency (I)]
Effect: Crafted potions restore 5% more HP and MP.
Description: "Mastery in alchemy isn't in the brew but in the precision of each drop."
Zack tapped his chin thoughtfully. So that's how it is.
Their guild could really use an Alchemist with a passive like this. Even a single player specialized in potion-making could multiply their supply's worth in the long run and if there were higher-tier versions of that skill… they could dominate the market completely.
He sighed, "Guess once players start unlocking more profession passives, the auction board gonna get brutal."
He couldn't imagine competing with someone who had all those efficiency and yield bonuses stacked up. A group of players like that could undercut prices, flood markets or corner resources and there'd be nothing ordinary crafters could do about it.
Still, it made sense. At the higher stages, everything would get hyper-competitive. Every percentage point of efficiency, every passive bonus would all matter.
Should I kidnap some alchemy main and force them to brew potions for me?
The thought made him chuckle. "Not a bad idea… shame that only pro guilds or e-sports teams can pull something like that off. Dedicated crafters, assigned gatherers, specialized production lines, yeah, those guys treat the game like an economy or a career."
Then he thought about Blacksmith. It was tougher to level than Alchemy, way more resource-intensive and unlike others, it didn't seem to have any direct passive bonuses yet.
So no shortcuts there. His fingers brushed the side of his neck as he thought things through.
Then he scrolled further down, curious about the "Trigger-type" category — passives that activated automatically under certain conditions.
[Last Stand (I)]
Effect: When HP drops below 20%, gain +10% Defense and +5% Lifesteal for 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 120 seconds.
Description: "The body refuses to fall when the spirit still fights."
Type: Survival / Trigger
[Arcane Pulse]
Effect: Every 10th spell cast restores 10% MP instantly.
Description: "Magic answers to those who use it relentlessly."
Type: Magic / Sustain
[Reactive Guard]
Effect: When hit by a critical strike, reduces damage by 30% .
Description: "Instincts hardened by experience move faster than thought."
Type: Defense / Trigger
[Adrenal Flow]
Effect: When landing consecutive hits (5 stacks), gain +4% Attack for 8 seconds.
Description: "Momentum feeds the blade."
Type: Physical / Momentum
[Focused Mind]
Effect: When remaining still for more than 4 seconds, increases spell damage by 15%.
Description: "Stillness sharpens focus, and focus sharpens power."
Type: Magic / Precision
Zack took his time reading through the details.
These weren't skills you could control but rather it depended on the situation. For example- the focused mind was a good passive but for Zack who had a flexible built and a priest, not moving for 4 seconds was a major drawback.
After reviewing dozens of passives, he began to understand how they truly functioned. Most of them were stat amplifiers small at start but they compounded fast when layered together.
It was better to commit to a single path, he decided, shutting the interface. The goal wasn't to grab every tempting option the game dangled in front of him, but to make the right ones work together.
For now, he left the passive slot empty, just in case he found something that could tie his scattered build together.