Isaac had marked out the locations of the four special mobs. They were spread across different points on the map.
He rotated between them—if one wasn't up, he'd kill a few level 1 or 2 normal mobs while waiting. Before long, the special ones would respawn.
After forty minutes of grinding, his XP Orbs bar was already halfway to the next level, and more importantly—he'd gathered a full set of Star 1 evolution materials.
"Heh, picked up so gear too... but I'll get to that later." Isaac grinned slyly. "Ti to upgrade Talent and Quality!"
Two beams of golden light shot up from beneath his feet—both upgrades complete.
"Check status!"
[Character Bound: Isaac]
[Race: Hyenaman]
[Quality (Star 1 Incomplete): Choose One – Sturdy / Agile / Robust]
[Level: 3 (EXP: 540/1000)]
[Attributes – STR: 7 | AGI: 7 | CON: 7]
[Attack Power: Physical 13–16]
[Defense: Physical 4]
[HP: 240]
[Talent: Inferior Hyena Bloodline (Tier 1): 10% chance for 2x crit damage on normal attacks.]
[Talent Evolution Shard: 0/40 (Tier 2 Shards)]
[Quality Evolution Point: 0/20 (Star 1 Points)]
[Monster Reputation: 0]
"Damn, 10% crit rate?!" That boost caught Isaac off guard. Double digits—now he could actually count on crits landing.
His Quality hadn't fully evolved yet. The system was prompting him to choose one of three prefixes to finalize the upgrade.
Isaac didn't hesitate. "Early ga, Strength gives the fastest results. Choosing Sturdy!"
As soon as the Quality evolution was complete, his stats shifted dramatically.
[Quality (Star 1): Sturdy (Base STR 50%)]
[Attributes – STR: 11 | AGI: 7 | CON: 7]
[Attack Power: Physical 17–20]
[Defense: Physical 6]
"Whoa, 50% STR boost? That's insane!" Isaac's eyes went wide.
He'd gained 4 Strength from the prefix, which translated into 4 extra attack and 2 more defense.
The best part? Quality bonuses were percentage-based—aning they'd scale with level. The higher his level, the more the boost mattered.
"Too strong. Players don't get anything like this!" He was still reeling from the upgrade when he noticed sothing odd. "Wait, why do I still need Star 1 materials for the next tier?"
He frowned.
"Don't tell you can't move to Star 2 yet..." Isaac shook his head. "That can't be it. Talent can still go up."
No one had an answer to his question, but stacking multiple prefixes could only be a good thing. So he kept grinding.
With his new Strength boost, Isaac's grinding speed skyrocketed. In just thirty minutes, he hit Level 4, and used the materials to upgrade to the Robust Quality.
Still, no new evolution options appeared in the Quality nu.
"One more prefix to go, let's get it done!" Gritting his teeth, Isaac returned to the grind.
But after hitting Level 4, he noticed sothing alarming: killing Level 1 Hyenan now gave half XP, and they no longer dropped materials.
Looks like the ga had a level-based farming penalty. If the mob was three levels below you, drop rates and XP dropped hard.
Without hesitation, Isaac started bullying Level 3 special mobs instead.
Thirty minutes later, he'd finally acquired the last prefix—Agile!
Taking a deep breath, he sat down on a tree stump and stared at the ridiculously long na above his head.
"Damn... my na's getting ridiculous. Alright, let's check the panel!"
[Character Bound: Isaac]
[Race: Sturdy Agile Robust Hyenaman]
[Quality (Star 1 – Complete): Base STR, AGI, CON 50%]
[Level: 4 (EXP: 630/3000)]
[Attributes – STR: 12 | AGI: 12 | CON: 12]
[Attack Power: Physical 21–24]
[Defense: Physical 6]
[HP: 390]
[Talent: Inferior Hyena Bloodline (Tier 1): 10% chance for 2x crit damage.]
[Talent Evolution Shard: 0/40 (Tier 2 Shards)]
[Quality Evolution Point: 0/40 (Star 2 Points)]
[Monster Reputation: 0]
"Haha! I can keep evolving Quality to Star 2!" Isaac was thrilled.
And honestly, this difficulty level was kind of a blessing. Because of it, he'd been able to stack 50% buffs to all three core stats. Now, every ti he leveled up, his growth would be 1.5x the norm!
"Heh... Star 1 gives 50%. I wonder how much Star 2 will give..." Isaac couldn't wait to find out.
Even if he didn't know exactly which mobs dropped Star 2 materials yet, he could always craft them from Star 1 drops.
Another perk of special mobs? Their drop rates were much higher.
Isaac had just spent ti killing 60 special mobs and 40 normal mobs.
The result? Not a single weapon drop from the normals, but six clubs from the specials!
He'd already sold one earlier. Now he had five left.
Opening the Celestia: The Eternal Realms official marketplace, Isaac checked the listings.
Still barren.
The buy orders, though? Scrolling nonstop.
"300 bucks for a Hyenaman club! I'll buy as many as you've got! Mail it in-ga, skip the platform fee!"
"People asking 2000 for a level 1 weapon—get real. You've lost your minds."
"Buying 3 clubs at 350 each. Don't hold out too long. Once players level up, they won't be worth squat."
Clearly, demand was still high.
So players were even posting premium buy orders.
Isaac didn't bother chasing them down. Who knew if those buyers were even online? Or if the price would crash later?
Best to just toss everything onto the marketplace and let it do the work.
"300 bucks each should still sell," he muttered.
He listed all five Worn Hyenaman Clubs, each priced at 300.
Only after seeing his listings appear on the otherwise empty page—seller tag: LoneMadness—did he exit the site.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The mont he returned to the ga, his mail inbox blew up with notifications.
"Glitched? That was fast..." Isaac blinked. He only posted five clubs—no way they all got insta-bought at the sa ti.
He opened his mailbox.
Five new ssages.
[Your item "Worn Hyenaman Club" has been purchased by player "BIGMAN." After a 5% fee, $285 has been deposited into your linked PayPal account.]
[Your item "Worn Hyenaman Club" has been purchased by player "BIGMAN." After a 5% fee, $285 has been deposited into your linked PayPal account.]
[Your item "Worn Hyenaman Club" has been purchased by player "DragonFist."...]
[Your item "Worn Hyenaman Club" has been purchased by player "MiamiMadman."...]
[Your item "Worn Hyenaman Club" has been purchased by player "MiamiMadman."...]
"No way. That fast?!"
Three players had scooped up all five weapons instantly.
"Are these guys camping the marketplace 24/7?"
"Connect phone. Open ssages."
[PAYPAL: $285 has been deposited to your account at 12:05 PM...]
[PAYPAL: $285 has been deposited to your account at 12:06 PM...]
[PAYPAL: $285 has been deposited to your account at 12:06 PM...]
...
Even Isaac had to take a mont.
"I just made... $1700 this morning?!"
He could hardly believe it himself.
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