After tallying his gains, Sterl hurriedly made his escape.
The sound and light effects from merging the third talent were too intense. Although this dungeon should only have players below level 20, Sterl still adhered to the principle of staying low-key and did his best to conceal his presence.
He headed towards the nearest pet egg marker.
After about four hours, Sterl arrived at the location.
On the way, he grinded his experience up to level 18 and then used his evolution chance for the day.
[Star Egg (Grade C)] → [Star Egg (Grade B)].
[Star Egg]+
[Quality: Grade B]
[Effect: After a period of time, carrying this egg will hatch a Grade B pet of the Star lineage.]
[Note: If not acquired by a player, this item will hatch into a wild monster after 1504 days.]
[Note: This pet egg has been infused with extra energy but can still be enhanced by absorbing the life force in the [Falling Stars Wilderness] dungeon.]
Sterl was satisfied. The Star Egg also had a plus sign next to it, indicating it could be further upgraded.
This dungeon run had netted him a significant gain!
A guaranteed Grade A pet egg at minimum!
The reason it was only a Grade A pet egg was due to the inherent quality limit of the item, meaning there was a cap on how many times it could evolve. Sterl could only be sure that the Star Egg could be upgraded once more, but after reaching Grade A, it might not be possible to add more points.
Moreover, according to the item description, regardless of how many times it could be upgraded, if Sterl wanted a higher-grade pet egg, he would need to destroy the other six eggs in the dungeon to truly maximize the quality of the Star Egg he held!
However, when he arrived at the location of the second pet egg, he felt overwhelmed.
The second Star Egg was located in a forest, guarded by a giant treant, which didn't have the immobility issue of the crippled earth dragon.
Though relatively speaking, this guardian was much slower and its output couldn't compare to dragon-type bosses.
But Sterl couldn't defeat it! He couldn't rely on the combination of Bloody Rush and Flamestorm to cheese his way through. In a head-on fight, Sterl's energy couldn't keep up.
Soon, he would be hit by the boss due to the inability to use Bloody Rush to trigger invincibility frames. With Sterl's pre-job change physique, he would essentially be instant-killed.
Sterl could only leave reluctantly, thinking bitterly, "You just wait. I'll level up first and then come back for your bad luck!"
According to Miste from the intermediate base earlier, there were three days left in the dungeon timer after the pet eggs appeared.
Sterl had a complete chance to level up to 20 by farming elite monsters, then equip some gear dropped by these elites to boost his combat power.
He would then try to challenge this boss again.
So, in the following period, capitalizing on the tail end of the high-level experience potion effect, Sterl went back to grinding!
Along the way, he also checked the locations of the other pet eggs.
To Sterl's delight, it seemed that only the first two pet eggs he encountered were guarded by boss-level units, while the rest were merely watched over by elite monsters.
And then...
Boom!!
Intense flames surged, engulfing a beetle-like elite monster, which emitted creaking noises as the fire consumed it.
Finally, the beetle collapsed to the ground, dropping two glowing orbs.
Sterl, standing a short distance away, slowly lowered his hand as a notification sounded by his ear.
[Congratulations, you've killed a level 20 elite monster, the Emerald Beetle, and earned 6700 experience points.]
He then moved forward to pick up the loot.
Three silver coins and a piece of black iron grade equipment.
[Ice-Cold Wristguards]
[Quality: Black Iron Grade]
[Category: Wristguards]
[Enhancement Effect: +10 Agility, +10 Spirit.]
[Equipment Level: 15.]
Sterl equipped the wristguards, slightly boosting his attributes.
It's worth mentioning that in [Transcendence], players could equip nine pieces of gear: head, upper body, lower body, belt, boots, wristguards, necklace, rings, and a weapon.
At the same level, being fully equipped could double the attributes of a player without gear.
Back to the matter at hand, after collecting the elite monster's drops, Sterl quickly made his way behind the boss guarding the pet egg and shattered it with a palm strike.
As the eggshell cracked, a pale blue light soared into the sky, splitting into five, with one stream flowing into the Star Egg in Sterl's inventory and the other four scattering into the distance.
"Have other people destroyed pet eggs already?" Sterl observed and concluded.
"It makes sense, given it was only guarded by an elite. Even the team wiped by the crippled earth dragon could have a chance at obtaining a pet egg."
"It doesn't matter. Players below level 20 are definitely easier to handle than elite monsters."
After some thought, Sterl wasn't worried even if other players got their hands on a pet egg. Thus, he moved towards the next yellow dot on the map with a relaxed expression.
In the following period...
Sterl went on a killing spree, eliminating not just ordinary monsters but also four elite units and an elite monster guarding a pet egg.
In total, three pieces of equipment were dropped.
[Leather Long Boots]
[Quality: Black Iron Grade]
[Category: Boots]
[Enhancement Effect: +10 Agility, +10% Movement Speed.]
[Equipment Level: 20.]
Though the attribute boosts were modest, the fixed increase in movement speed was very appealing.
As for the other two pieces of equipment—
[Tattered Cloak]
[Quality: Black Iron Grade]
[Category: Upper Body]
[Enhancement Effect: +15 Constitution, +10 Agility.]
[Equipment Level: 20.]
[Azure Visage]
[Quality: Black Iron Grade]
[Category: Head]
[Enhancement Effect: +10 Agility, +5% Magic Damage.]
[Equipment Level: 20.]
Sterl immediately donned the cloak, but since the Azure Visage and his current face equipment were both for the same slot, he had to store the newly dropped one in his inventory.
The Azure Visage was an exquisitely crafted water-blue mask with high aesthetic value.
Sterl planned to give it to Linna or Rayna, but no matter who he gives it to, the other one will definitely be jealous.So he decided that until he found another piece of equipment that could be used as a gift, the Azure Visage could only lie in his backpack for a while.
Besides, during his monster-slaying spree, Sterl collected a total of seven silver coins, materials worth about four silver coins, and 30 pieces of the dungeon's specialty, Star Dust.
...
Next, Sterl continued to grind.He successfully accumulated his reserve experience points to full before the expiration of the experience potion time.
[Your experience points can no longer increase. Please level up to 20 and complete the class change.]
When the system notification came through, Sterl was standing on a giant tree not far from the next pet egg location, tossing the corpse of a simian monster to the ground.
After receiving the notification, naturally, he stopped grinding and found a secluded cave to enter.
Then, Sterl sat down cross-legged and began to meditate, rapidly refining the experience and integrating it into his body, gradually enhancing his aura.
Three hours later, he suddenly opened his eyes. Seeing the level 20 on his panel, he was extremely delighted!
In Sterl's base, being level 20 could already qualify one to be the leader of a small guild. Once the class change was successful to become a professional, he would be a renowned strong individual throughout the base!
He had metamorphosed just through a single dungeon run!
Sterl stood up.
Creak, creak.
The sound of sand and stones under his feet echoed through the cave.
Sterl didn't rush to the location of the nearby pet egg, but took out his Star Egg first.
At this point, with the continuous death of players in the dungeon and the shattering of several other pet eggs, the egg had automatically been promoted to A grade.
Now, the cooldown of Sterl's golden finger was over after 24 hours, ready for further evolution.
"Evolve!" Sterl shouted in his heart.
Accompanied by a strange glow, the appearance of the Star Egg drastically changed!
[Star Egg (A Grade)] → [Star Egg (S Grade)]
What was originally a pale blue sphere now, with the glow of promotion to S grade, rapidly emerged with magnificent cloud patterns and intricate text.
Just one glance was enough to completely captivate the mind, as if placed amidst the vast galaxy.
Sterl even felt as if he was about to be assimilated by the light into one of the countless stars in the sky...
Until he suddenly jolted back to reality.