Sterl felt his luck was indeed good.
The first piece of the Bloody Set could solve a huge problem for him—How to actively perform to gain the support of the human race on Earth, while also not exposing too many of his own secrets.
With the "Visage of Void," the problem was effortlessly solved!
Sterl was thrilled for more reasons than just this piece of equipment. After obtaining the power of blood, the skill list provided by the Bloody Diamond revealed—
[Bloody Sprint]
[Quality: Special]
[Effect: Consumes a certain amount of energy to initiate a sprint, speeding up to ten times the player's normal state for the duration of the sprint. During the sprint, the player enjoys 0.5 seconds of invincibility frames. Continuous use doubles the energy consumed each time.]
"What a great skill!" Sterl's eyes lit up.
This skill was the essential [Dodge] found in various games before his transmigration, wasn't it? To dodge a BOSS's attack with invincibility frames!
Needless to say, the value of this move was immense. This can be considered a necessary skill for facing strong enemies.
The 0.5 seconds of invincibility after activating Bloody Sprint could often be decisive in combat!
Sterl had heard during a general education class about a legendary powerful black dragon boss in the Divine Mountain Empire. Its ultimate move, [Death Sentence], dealt damage equivalent to 20% of the boss's own health in true damage.
Given the boss's additional health bonuses, this move could instantly kill even players who were levels higher than this black dragon boss!
There was once a legendary player over level 100 who challenged this black dragon boss in the Divine Mountain Empire. He was killed instantly by [Death Sentence]! It was incredibly frustrating.
But if Sterl were to face that BOSS, as long as he timed it right and launched Bloody Sprint, he could dodge [Death Sentence].
Because the way it worked was by slashing a crimson lightning, from the attack launch to hitting in less than 0.5 seconds!
"No wonder it's a offering made by a god-level demon. It's too strong once fully evolved!" Sterl couldn't help but exclaim.
Next, his thoughts became clear.
Although he still didn't know how to play this instance, the monster resources here should be quite abundant.
Sterl decided to level up diligently and set a small goal for himself—
To accumulate enough experience for level 20 before leaving the instance, and then use the accumulated power of blood to develop himself thoroughly.
...
Meanwhile, outside the instance.
Miste and a group of players gathered together, looking at a projection in front of them with grim expressions.
Outside the projection was a crystal-clear crystal ball.
[Divination Crystal Ball]
[Quality: Special]
[Effect: You can initiate a divination to obtain the vision around a specific target and project it out.]
[Note: Your divination must be consented by the target.]
The two players who discovered the [Starfall Wilderness] could not enter the instance restricted to levels 20 and below.
Thus, Miste and the others were not familiar with the [Starfall Wilderness].
It was only after a large number of new players entered the instance that they were able to use this special item to detect information within the instance.
Incidentally, this type of Divination Crystal Ball was widely used among the major forces in [Transcend], with a very high rate of popularity.
However, after Miste and his group selected some players to scout according to the order of entry into the instance...
They were stupefied!
"What's going on? Why is this instance so hard?"
"Practically all the players encountered enemies of at least level 20!"
"Why are there so many level 20 elite monsters just after entering the instance?"
"With this level of difficulty, practically no one can survive, right??"
"This instance actually restricts to below level 20. Are they insane?"
...
Before these players could recover from their shock, bad news came one after another.
"Judy is severely injured. His team scattered in all directions."
"Hale, who awakened a Class C talent, died too quickly!"
"The most elite squad among the newbie players was wiped out just after entering the instance?"
"This loss is too severe!"
Everyone was dumbfounded!
The death rate for pioneering missions is high... But this was just too high.
Seeing the difficulty of this instance, there was a very high probability that 100 players would be wiped out.
As for whether anyone could bring back a pet?
That was simply a dream!
And after this disastrously costly venture into the instance, it was inevitable that the dozens of bases participating in this pioneering mission would face a talent gap for the next one or two years...
A total loss!!
"Wait, what's this?"
On the Divination Crystal Ball, the scene of the elite squad being wiped out was playing on loop.
And suddenly, Miste saw, in the blind spot of the vision, a familiar figure appeared—
It was that genius, Sterl!
Then, they discovered in the last scene shown in the Divination Crystal Ball. The direction the level 20 elite monster, the Jackal Warrior, was pursuing, was precisely the direction Sterl was fleeing!
"It's all over! Everything's gone!"
Miste felt darkness before his eyes, almost collapsing to the ground.
The talent of various bases was largely lost. Even Sterl, who had hopes of joining the Starfire Plan, was wiped out by this cursed instance!
This genius player, who could kill a level 10 elite monster in seconds.
But the strength of a level 20 elite monster was several times greater than that of a level 10! It was impossible to win!
Moreover, the Jackal Warrior was a speed-type monster, one couldn't even run away!
"We've wronged him."
"Search for player Sterl." Miste muttered to the Divination Crystal Ball.
He knew, Sterl was undoubtedly doomed.
This leader felt very uncomfortable in his heart, feeling as if he had caused the other's death. If he had just directly eliminated Sterl from the team entering the instance from the start, maybe another star of genius could have risen...
Now, Miste only wanted to confirm the location of this genius player's corpse. If there was a way to handle the [Starfall Wilderness] instance in the future, he could at least retrieve Sterl's body.
As for the others... Sorry, they weren't even worth collecting the bodies for. Dead is dead...
However, as the Divination Crystal Ball emitted light,
what Miste saw wasn't the torn and broken body of the genius youth.
In the scene, a wild beast charged at Sterl.
Sterl punched the monster, inflicting severe damage, and then followed up with a palm strike, piercing right through the gorilla-like beast!
Killing a monster was nothing special, but the key point was... Sterl was unharmed!
"He escaped from a level 20 elite monster? How fierce is that?"
"Genius really is different!"
"Thank goodness. If Sterl had died, we would have really been at a loss this time!"
...
For a moment, Miste and the others felt a lot better.
If at the beginning they were told that all players going into the instance would basically die, leaving only one genius barely alive, Miste and the others would definitely be unwilling.
But when they thought everyone, including Sterl, was wiped out, and finally found out that this genius player was still alive. That was a surprise!
After snapping out of his daze, Miste realized something.
He sent a private message to the person in charge of his superior base, informing them that Sterl was absolutely a genius, and not even a level 20 elite could trouble him.
According to previous investigations, Sterl's talent was only a Class D attribute boost. But first, he instantly killed a level 10 elite, and then escaped from the pursuit of a level 20 elite monster in the instance.
Looking at it this way...
Sterl's attribute enhancement talent could not possibly just be Class D. It was very likely to be Class B... or even above Class A!
He must be vigorously cultivated!
The leader was full of praise and then made a small request.
"I apply for the use of a rescue scroll."
The effect of a rescue scroll is to forcibly extract a player from the instance. But it's quite precious. He, a second-tier professional, didn't have one on hand.
The only hope was for the superior base to allocate one.
Miste then waited anxiously for a response.
...
Ten minutes later.
In [Starfall Wilderness].
A skinny old man in a blood-red robe also received a message: "A player with potential above Class A talent?"
"Not bad. It seems that the [Pets] hatched this time can go up a grade in quality."
He revealed a sinister smile. "Humans from Earth, the Centaur stars, the Titan race... the lives of these one thousand outstanding players..."
"Will just serve as a boost, helping me ascend to greater heights!"
The old man's eyes flashed with a strange light as he swallowed a pill from his bag. The next second, his aura broke through level by level.