"This equipment attribute?!"
Ye Kong couldn't contain his excitement. The system reward, the Emblem of Potential, not only gave three points of Sense, but also came with a 10% reduction in Essence regeneration time (the time it takes to regenerate Soul Essence)!
For players in a starting class, is always took a fixed time of 180 seconds to regenerate Soul Essence. A time reduction of 10% was equivalent to reducing this time by 18 seconds. In an extreme case, it was enough to turn the tables in a PK!
In his past life, any piece of equipment with the "Essence Recovery" effect was highly sought after by all the large guilds, and the demand pushed its price up to exorbitant levels. When this kind of equipment appeared on the market, guilds would immediately spend large sums to get their hands on it. The value of the equipment could truly be considered priceless!
Furthermore, this wasn't a normal piece of equipment, but an artifact equipment!
In contrast to the more commonly seen equipment types, artifacts didn't have level restrictions and weren't graded by equipment tiers, so even a level zero player could equip the best artifacts!
Naturally, unlike normal equipment, artifacts generally didn't provide any additional attributes (only high level artifacts came with extra attribute bonuses), and usually only came with a special effect or skill. For instance, the Emblem of Potential came with "Essence Recovery," which was a rare special effect.
Yet, this first kill reward, the Emblem of Potential, not only had the "Essence Recovery" effect, but also came with three points in Sense!
Sense was an Advanced Attribute!
Advanced Attributes were a subset of Hidden Attributes, and they were attributes that couldn't be increased by the "Four Attributes" (Stamina, Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence). For example, Magic Resistance, Immunity, Penetration, Blessedness, and other such attributes were unrelated to the "Four Attributes."
There were other Hidden Attributes, such as Attack Speed, Accuracy, Willpower, and so on, that could be improved by increasing the "Four Attributes." These were called "Lower Attributes." Hence, the "Four Attributes" were a benchmark for measuring a player's strength.
The Hidden Attributes, which were unaffected by the "Four Attributes," were then named "Advanced Attributes" by the other players.
Advanced Attributes were extremely precious!
Advanced Attribute - Sense had the effect of improving a player's sixth sense, allowing him to more easily uncover certain "key elements"—these included things like an Assassin in Stealth, an attack coming from behind, or an enemy lurking in the bushes, waiting to ambush.
Per the game settings of "Demon Realm," the Dexterity stat increased "Aura Perception," and the Intelligence stat increased "Awareness." These stats improved the player's ability to perceive things around them, and they also allowed players to detect enemies who were in hiding.
Nevertheless, the effect of Sense was a step above these two stats!
To put it simply, the two stats were natural perception abilities, but Sense was a "supernatural" sixth sense.
This was why Sense was a very rare attribute, even among the "Advanced Attributes"!
"This equipment is definitely top-grade."
Ye Kong couldn't wait any longer. He quickly equipped the Emblem of Potential. The instant he equipped it, he felt his mind become clear, as though a "sensitivity" had been increased. This was the effect of having Sense +3!
Sense didn't add to any of his measurable physical statistics, but it would be a huge help in improving his combat ability.
Every player could equip three different types of artifacts at one time. There were four types of artifacts in total: emblems, seals, jewels, and statuettes. This time, Ye Kong had received an extremely good emblem, and he could probably use it all the way past level 50!
"As I thought, my Advanced Attributes and Lower Attributes don't show up on the Character Overview window."
Ye Kong had opened his Character Overview window, but the numbers on the screen were unchanged from earlier. Only he could know that he had a Sense +3 bonus, and as he considered this, his mood began to lighten up—
"The Emblem of Potential has a 'Unique' suffix, which means it's the only one of its kind in the whole server. I guess that's to be expected as a reward item for getting the first NPC kill... Hold on a minute!
"As I recall, in the 'Demon Realm' from my past life, redleafhunter was the one who successfully got the 'First NPC Kill' record. Since the reward for these achievements is fixed, that should mean that redleafhunter also received the 'Emblem of Potential'... No, that's wrong!
"coldwind had it!!!"
Ye Kong had finally connected the dots.
Back then, in the Ethereal Mirage Guild's databanks, why was information on the "First NPC Kill" reward conveniently missing? He now knew that coldwind had deleted the recorded information because he didn't want others to find out the value of the "Emblem of Potential" from their databanks!
The "Emblem of Potential" was the only artifact of its kind in the entire server, and it certainly had enough value to spur coldwind into action!
In Ye Kong's past life, coldwind had spent a lot of effort on getting his hands on the "Emblem of Potential." In this life, Ye Kong had stumbled upon it by chance, showing how unpredictable the world could be.
"Aside from the first kill reward from 'Demon Realm,' there are still drops from the armored soldier."
Ye Kong looked toward the spot where the soldier had disappeared. Because he had killed a "high level mob," the drop rates were also boosted accordingly, which meant the armored soldier dropped more than one item—
City Guard's Armguards (Bronze Gear - City Guard Set)
Equipment Attributes: Accuracy +5, Strength +2
Level Requirement: Level 0
Class Restriction: Swordsman, Assassin
Set Bonus: When you equip the full City Guard Set, you will receive an additional "Glory" bonus. This increases your reputation value by one level when conversing with NPCs in Qingmu Town!
Set Completion: City Guard Set (1/3)
Note: When you activate the "Glory" effect for the first time, it symbolizes you becoming a part of Qingmu Town. If the City Guard Set equipment is removed or replaced afterwards, it means you have abandoned this privilege, and you will be unable to reactivate the "Glory" effect.
(Simply put, the above terms were put in place so that high level players couldn't abuse the system by continually switching into low level equipment. For example, if not for these terms, players could switch into the City Guard Set when interacting with Qingmu Town NPCs, then switch back out when they were finished talking).
It was a piece of Bronze equipment with some nice attributes, and it was also part of a "Set"!
"Demon Realm" had been designed in such a way that when players killed a mob, if the mob was going to drop equipment, there was an 87% chance that the equipment the mob dropped would be something the player would be able to use. If the player was in a party, there was a 95% chance that one of the players in the party would be able to use it.
This was why, when Ye Kong killed the armored soldier, the equipment that dropped just happened to be for the Swordsman class.
At the same time, the equipment in "Demon Realm" was similar to equipment in other online games. Its quality was ranked by "tiers"—
White/Refined White gear, Black Iron gear, Bronze gear, Platinum/Silver gear...
Above Platinum gear, there existed even more tiers of equipment. For now, however, in the early stages of the game, a piece of Black Iron gear was already considered to be of premium quality, as only "Enhanced Grade" mobs dropped Black Iron gear, and normal mobs only dropped ordinary White gear.
Additionally, set bonuses were only found in equipment that was "Bronze grade" or higher. The most basic kind of set equipment required three pieces to complete the set, and the highest grade, "Legendary Sets," required at least six pieces for completion, with each piece at Shining Red Grade!
Currently, in the Eastern Plains, even the guild leaders of the Yokai Legion Guild and Hegemony Guild were only equipped with one or two pieces of Black Iron equipment, while the rest of their equipment was White gear. This goes to show how outstanding Black Iron gear was at the start of the game.
It should also be pointed out that some players didn't even have White gear, and were still in their novice grey equipment (which didn't come with any additional attributes).
Under these kinds of circumstances, if other players saw Ye Kong in his Bronze equipment—which was part of the "City Guard Set"...
Ye Kong feared that their jealousy would bring out the worst in them, and they would stop at nothing to PK him and snatch away his equipment.
"This is pretty good. It actually dropped a Bronze equipment with a set bonus attached... Wait a second!"
Ye Kong was reaching out to pick up the equipment, when he suddenly froze, his expression turning serious.
"This armored soldier isn't a 'Sub-Elite Grade' mob template, so why would it drop a piece of Bronze equipment? Even if it's tagged with an NPC modifier, it should still have to obey the 'Basic Laws' of the game when it comes to dropped items!
"Unless..."
Ye Kong grabbed the Bronze equipment, his fingers firmly tightening around it.
"Unless, of course, this piece of equipment was prepared for players from the 'Stygian Night Kingdom Server'!!!"