CHAPTER 8: CHAPTER 8: ELITE-RANK SKILL, FULL BACKPACK

"I understand, thank you for the reminder," David nodded after Stark’s warning.

In [Eternal Soul], the only truly safe zones were the towns, since players couldn’t attack each other inside them.

But outside the towns, Stark knew, player-killing would become rampant.

Especially in the future, where taking lives from other players was easier and more rewarding.

When someone killed another player, they would gain lives corresponding to the number that player would have lost in that specific zone.

For example, Stark could easily kill David and his team, taking one life for every player eliminated.

But... it was pointless. They were already too weak and broke to matter.

Stark also remembered David from his past life.

Building a connection could be beneficial in the future.

But for now, Stark didn’t want to be friends, and preferred to leave only a strong impression in their minds.

"Then we’ll leave and not disturb you any further," David said, bowing slightly. "If you need any help in the future, feel free to ask me!"

Stark nodded, though he knew he wouldn’t need it.

David and the rest of the group began to leave, except for one.

It was the mage girl who had been struck by the poison snake’s venom earlier and had taken some damage.

"My ID is Starfall, can I add you as a friend?" she asked, her eyes bright with curiosity.

Stark let out an amused sigh as he heard that, but he still had a neutral expression on his face.

He knew her from his past life too; she had the [Star Prophet] class, a type of mage stronger than the average one.

But, just like many others in the future, she had died.

Stark studied her for a few seconds, anticipating her next move.

And then...

"No."

"Aww..."

She looked ready to argue, but one of her teammates tugged her away, shaking their head.

Stark observed David’s team. They were solid, each member with a decent class. Even so, it wasn’t enough in this game.

"My attacks deal a lot of damage," he thought, "but I leave myself vulnerable because of the cooldowns."

Even with his cooldowns halved, Stark still had to dodge incoming attacks, something most mages shouldn’t have to worry about.

"I guess I’ll just be a battle mage," he muttered to himself.

Left alone in front of the corpse of the shadow bear king, Stark immediately used [Hand of Avarice].

The dark hand reached out and extracted something from the massive body.

[You have gained 1 Evolution Point!]

[You have gained 4 Lives.]

’Perfect!’ Stark thought, smiling slightly.

Aside from that, there were three loot drops from the boss, but only one was usable for him.

[Bear Mage Robe (Uncommon): Mage-type equipment. Physical Resistance +7. Magical Resistance +12. Requirement: Level 2.]

It wasn’t much, especially since he generally avoided being hit, but he equipped it anyway. Just in case.

Now that he had 5 evolution points, Stark had to decide what to evolve.

’Honestly... the answer is obvious,’ he thought.

His attacks were already strong enough to easily handle level 2 monsters easily and possibly level 3 too.

His [Magic Shield] wasn’t used much, except in situations where he was truly outmatched.

The only real choice that made sense was [Hand of Avarice]. Its effect of constantly giving him extra loot would compound as it evolved.

[Do you wish to consume 5 Evolution Points to evolve "Hand of Avarice"?]

Ding!

[You have evolved "Hand of Avarice" (Rare) → "Hand of Avarice" (Elite)]

[Current Evolution Points: 0]

---

[Hand of Avarice (Elite): Can be used on corpses, has a 50% → 75% chance to obtain another loot reward.]

---

’Perfect.’

It was his very first elite-rank skill in this new life, and Stark felt a rare sense of pride.

Usually, evolving a skill required repeated use or special items to deepen one’s understanding of it.

But Stark had [Infinite Evolution], meaning none of that was necessary.

He also noted that to evolve it further, to epic-rank, he would need 7 evolution points.

With that done, Stark gathered all the loot from the shadow bear king and prepared to head deeper into the shadow forest.

His current lives had reached 65, giving him confidence.

His growth was already a hundred times faster and stronger than in his previous life.

He continued killing monsters in the forest, gaining experience and evolution points steadily.

Eventually, however...

[Backpack is full: 10/10]

Every player started [Eternal Soul] with a backpack to store items directly.

Now that Stark’s backpack was full, he had to return to town to manage his inventory.

Most of his collected items were equipments not aligned with his own class, but they were still valuable.

Lives were a unique currency. They could be traded for items, but they were also actual lives in the game.

In essence, trading for items meant putting your life on the line.

It was a risk, but one that was unavoidable.

For the people of [Novice Town #783], these items could significantly improve their strength.

For example, the [Shadow Slash] skill book would likely be highly sought after by assassins.

On the way back, Stark noticed several people being chased by shadow wolves.

It was a completely normal sight early in the game.

New players would need time to adjust to this environment.

Until then, he could only push forward and grow stronger.

’There were several extremely strong players in my previous life,’ he thought, ’I wonder if they can do the same thing I do.’

Stark wasn’t stupid, if he could find players that weren’t evil and be friends with, it would only be better.

Especially when he knew what would come later.

While walking, Stark decided to assign all 5 free attribute points to [Agility].

Dodging would be his main challenge, so higher speed would be crucial.

Just before leaving the shadow forest, he paused to use another feature.

[Do you wish to enable the "Hide Face" feature?]

In [Eternal Soul], players’ appearances matched their real-life look and couldn’t be altered.

Since Stark hadn’t yet extracted his powers to the real world, revealing himself was risky.

Inside the game, he was nearly invincible. Outside? Not yet.

"Oblivion" was the highest-ranked player, not just in this town, but across the entire world. Once word spread, he could be in danger.

He had seen this kind of situation many times in his past life.

Activating [Hide Face] caused a glitchy, pixelated veil to cover his face.

He still wore all the same equipment and carried the same staff; only his face was concealed.

Beyond that, only his cold, calculating eyes were visible.

Ding!

[You have entered "Novice Town #783"]

[You are now in a safe zone.]

Inside the town, many players paused, unsure what to do next.

To leave the game, they needed to reach level 3. Many couldn’t defeat even a single monster on their own.

Monsters often appeared in groups, making the challenge greater.

Stark moved confidently through the town. Many began to whisper and point.

"Holy shit, is this guy aura farming or what?"

"I can’t even see his face, huh?"

Stark heard the murmurs and allowed himself a faint, small smile.

But he quickly returned to his usual composed attitude and found a quiet spot to sit.

He took out all his items from the backpack and arranged them neatly in front of him.

Without hesitation, he activated the [Shop] function.

[Equipments and skill books for sale only for 15 minutes, pretty cheap.]