Chapter 26: Tremors Across the Realm of Transcendence!
Chapter 26: Tremors Across the Realm of Transcendence!
A shimmering screen of light flashed before Sterl's eyes—
[Achievement: First non-class player to solo kill a boss-level monster.]
Then, the screen transformed into a radiant golden badge and merged into his body...
Instantly, he felt a slight tremor in his body.
"Achievement? What's that?"
That was Sterl's initial reaction...
Faced with such a grand announcement, he couldn't grasp its meaning.
Sterl had been mingling around the base for over a decade and had never heard of an "Achievement." Even in the fantasy novels published within the base, where protagonists ventured through transcendence and seized many opportunities, there was no mention of anyone achieving an "Achievement"!
Could it be... I've triggered a very rare hidden reward?? And given the system's serious announcement, could this reward be incredibly generous??
Sterl was lost in thought, slightly baffled.
According to the system, was he really the first person in history to solo kill a boss without having chosen a class?
That seemed a bit unbelievable.
[Transcendence] had been running for thousands of years! Every possible first kill should have been claimed by others by now, so how could it be Sterl's turn?
However, he soon realized something.
Based on the condition of his achievement... being the first to solo kill a boss as a non-class player, one must be the "first" to achieve a certain feat to be recognized as having achieved an Achievement.
[Transcendence] has been operating for thousands of years. How many more first kills could there possibly be left for players to discover?
No wonder the concept of an Achievement wasn't mentioned in general education classes, and those novelists hadn't thought of it.
Because the human faction entered Transcendence late, they were completely unaware of the existence of Achievements!
The only issue was, Sterl couldn't help but feel... the honor of solo killing a boss shouldn't have fallen to him.
He was genuinely confused.
After so many years of [Transcendence]'s operation, could there really not have been other genius players?
In reality, Sterl had vastly underestimated the significance of his recent battle.
The crippled earth dragon had the flaw of being immobile, but in reality, this was hardly a flaw!
Its attack range was outrageously large, far beyond that of normal professional players! Trying to hit-and-run against this boss? That would be a devastating defeat!
As for non-class players, their skill setup was even poorer, limiting their attack range even more!
It was only because Sterl possessed Bloody Charge that he could rush up to the crippled earth dragon with a single skill.
Normal players, even with movement skills, would be dealt a combo by the boss before they could even get close!
It's not that you players are hitting and running the boss to lower the challenge; instead, the boss is kiting players, making anyone daring enough to challenge it look foolish!
And Bloody Charge, this skill was a product of both an offering and Sterl's evolutionary ability combined!
Generally, non-class professionals, even if they received an offering from a deity, like the previous president of the Blood Mist Guild, David, would get the lowest grade offering, only usable for collecting the resources and faith required by the deity, and couldn't even independently receive the deity's blessings.
Even for professional-level players, the best they could hope for from an offering was perhaps to break through the skill proficiency cap with the power of blood... But that would only allow them to surpass the mastery level limit.
Master level cap? Don't even think about it!
That was something only followers of deities of the second-class and above could enjoy!
As for acquiring equipment and skills constructed from the power of deities, that had nothing to do with the player's level. You must receive the grace of a powerful entity you belong to!
And Sterl, through his evolutionary ability, unlocked the full permissions of the offering from the Blood Duke!
This means... the difficulty of acquiring the skill Bloody Charge was actually extremely high!
Typically, only the best among second-class players, or even third-class players, would have a chance to learn it!
Under such miraculous circumstances created by his evolutionary ability, Sterl also had to rely on the doubled output from the Soul of Arcane, the ridiculous attribute bonuses of Descending Deity, and a green-quality skill, Flamestorm—
The combination of these three allowed him to deal some effective damage as a non-class player.
This means that even if other people received the grace of a deity, they wouldn't possibly be able to challenge a boss alone!
Sterl indeed accomplished an achievement!
However, as a transmigrator who had played various games in his previous life, where seeing players soloing bosses or even challenging higher levels was common, which expert hadn't tried it?
He didn't think a "first kill" was that impressive.
At the same time, Sterl was also unaware of the significance of his actions.
In his imagination... hadn't there been stronger individuals during the newbie phase in [Transcendence], which had been running for so many years?
But the reality was... In a game where you only have one life and the monster AI is extremely realistic, who would dare to challenge higher levels as a skilled player? Isn't that just asking for death?
Not to mention, Sterl's evolutionary ability was unique in the thousands of years [Transcendence] had been running!
So,
This challenge could only be accomplished by him.
Confused as Sterl was, he was still in a good mood. Even if it was a system bug that awarded him an "Achievement" that should have been successfully challenged by someone else...
As long as there were rewards to come, it was all good, right??
A splendid light shone around Sterl.
First, a prompt sounded in his ear.
[You have completed an Achievement. Would you like to announce it?]
"Announce?"
"No! No! No!" Sterl quickly thought to himself.
What good would announcing do?
It would only expose his uniqueness and doom him if others targeted him!
Then, the system popped up another prompt.
[Would you like to hide your current location?]
"Hide!"
Sterl chose again.
Afterward, he heard a sound in his ear.
[Congratulations to Player "Anonymous" in a Hidden Region for completing the feat: First solo kill of a boss-level monster by a non-class player.]
[Let's cheer for them. As another powerful figure takes the stage in the epic saga of Transcendence!]
[Congratulations to Player...]
...
"That's pretty extravagant." Sterl mused to himself.
He was familiar with such broadcasts from playing various large-scale MMORPGs in his past life, where guilds would nearly come to blows over claiming first kills.
Back then, Sterl had also devoted himself day and night, foregoing sleep and food, all for the sake of gaining some recognition among players worldwide.
But in Transcendence, he still preferred to keep a low profile. What use was fame?
Power was the true path!
...
However, at this moment, Sterl appeared calm and composed, unaware that the outside world was already in an uproar!
[Congratulations to Player...]
[Congratulations to Player...]
New players from various races inside the instance looked confused. An achievement... what did that mean? What was this system broadcast about? It seemed so prestigious!
And that level 50 player from the Blood God Sect blinked in surprise.
"People can still accomplish a new achievement these days?"
"Wow! A non-class player soloing a boss, isn't that wild?"
"Another genius player is about to emerge."
The normally irritable and angry youth now spoke of feats with a hint of admiration in his eyes.
People tend to be jealous of those who are similar to themselves, but not of those who are far beyond their reach.
The youth was acutely aware of the significance of a non-class player soloing a boss! Such a world-beating genius player would never cross paths with someone like him in this lifetime!
Their ultimate goal was to become legendary. To ignite the divine spark and embark on the path to divinity, while he, even if he obtained an A-grade pet egg, might never become a legend in his life...
Outside the instance, players like Miste were no longer concerned with the situation of the players inside—
Mainly because almost everyone except Sterl had died, and Sterl consistently refused to be divined by the crystal ball.
With nothing better to do, they started discussing the recent system broadcast.
"The last time someone accomplish an achievement in [Transcendence] was three or four hundred years ago, before we were even born."
"Yes, more like our grandfathers weren't born yet, not even our great-grandfathers!"
"This might not necessarily be a good thing, though. I remember that a few hundred years ago, after the achievement was accomplished, that player eventually reached the demi-god realm and slaughtered several continents. We're not going to get slaughtered by this new player who accomplish an achievement, are we??"
...
Their tone was casual, but it was enough to show the significance of completing a feat—
The demi-god realm, the slaughter of numerous continents!
Sterl probably never imagined that in the eyes of others, he was already being placed in such a terrifying realm...
Following this, in the base of the Earth's human faction, all the higher-ups were quietly pondering and digesting this news.