The Entropy Dryad was a high-output biological caster. Nearly all its protocols involved massive Area of Effect (AoE) bursts, designed to wipe out clusters of intruders.
Silas didn't engage in a direct brawl. Each time he flicked a Poison Dart, he immediately sprinted backward, his high Agility allowing him to skirt the very edge of the grey energy eruptions.
"Close," Silas thought, his pulse steady despite the carnage. "If one of those bursts clips me, my current HP and Defense wouldn't hold. I'd be reset before I even started."
The Dryad had feasted on thirty players, gorging itself on enough lifespan to potentially hit Gold-tier. But it had made a fatal mistake: it met the Arbiter.
After the first few cycles of poison and stealth, the boss began to tire. Its internal energy reserves, its Mana, were depleting from the constant, desperate AoE spam. It began to retreat deeper into the rotted woods, its spindly, bone-like arms dragging through the muck.
Silas followed like a ghost. He didn't close the distance; he stayed ten meters out, his accuracy unfailing.
Flick.
-659! (Weak Point Critical)-219!-219!
The poison ticks were relentless. To any onlooker, the sight would be absurd: a Silver-tier Boss, capable of butchering a small army, was being hunted like a wounded animal by a single, invisible shadow.
As the Dryad's HP hit zero, its massive, withered form collapsed into the swampy soil, dissolving into a flurry of system prompts.
[You have slain 'The Cursed One (Silver-tier)'.]
[Gained 1,800 XP.]
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 5!]
[Congratulations! You have gained 4 Evolution Points!]
[Gained 124 Days of Tradeable Lifespan.]
Two levels in a single kill. Silas was now Level 5, widening the gap between him and the rest of the world into a canyon. He immediately stood over the corpse.
"Hand of Greed."
A spectral golden hand manifested, plunging into the Dryad's remains.
[Skill 'Hand of Greed' Triggered! (Bonus x2)]
[Gained 8 Evolution Points!]
[Gained 248 Days of Tradeable Lifespan!]
The Emerald-tier upgrade was paying dividends. A single Silver Boss had netted him 12 Evolution Points and over a year of life. But then, a flash of gold light erupted from the pile of loot.
"A Tier-Up success," Silas whispered.
One of the additional items had been upgraded from Silver to Gold by the 20% passive of his Hand of Greed. He sifted through the items, though his frustration grew as he looked at his full inventory.
"I need a storage relic," he muttered. "I can't keep running back to town every time I kill a boss."
He reached for the Gold-tier item first.
[Ring of Malice (Gold)]
Class: Universal.
Attributes: All Stats +8.
Resistances: Dark Resistance +26.
Special: Weak Point Multiplier +0.1.
Requirement: Level 4.
"A stat-stick ring." Silas equipped it immediately. A +8 bonus to every attribute was the equivalent of 32 free attribute points, effectively three levels' worth of stats in a single slot. More importantly, his Weak Point Multiplier jumped from 1.5x to 1.6x. In the God-Abandoned Game, precision was the only "Crit" that mattered.
Shell Town
The leaderboard updated instantly.
Rank 1: Shadow , Level 5
"He jumped from 3 to 5 in ten minutes?" "He must have soloed a Silver Boss. There's no other way." "He's a monster. He isn't playing the same game as us."
Near the town gate, Titan, Black Dahlia, and their team had finally hit the Level 3 threshold. They stood together, staring at the name "Shadow" with a mixture of awe and exhaustion.
"Level 5," the young Archer muttered, shaking his head. "Does he ever sleep? Does he even bleed?"
Titan looked at his team, his expression grave. "Don't let it distract you. We've reached the limit. We're heading back to reality now. We need to warn our families. If the Federation is going to fall into chaos, we need to be ready."
As a SWAT officer in the real world, Titan understood the implications of a "Ghost Epidemic" better than anyone. One by one, their forms became ethereal and vanished from the simulation.
Back in the deep woods, Silas was alone with his spoils. His non-tradeable lifespan had reached over 418 years. To most, this looked like immortality, but Silas knew better. In the higher-tier "Wastelands" to come, environmental hazards would drain lifespan by the day, not the year.
He turned his attention to the last item in the pile: a Silver-tier skill book. As he read the title, his eyes widened in genuine surprise.
This was the missing piece of his "Arbiter" build.