Alexander easily blocked the warrior's attack and immediately launched his counterattack.
With a 15% critical hit rate, he could land a critical hit every 6-7 strikes on average. Each critical hit dealt 1.5 to 2.5 times the normal damage. On top of that, critical hits guaranteed the activation of the Bleed effect.
Once the Bleed effect stacked, it would cause continuous damage for 5 seconds. As long as Alexander landed another critical hit before the five stacks expired, he could refresh the effect.
His newly upgraded Windblade also granted him a 20% attack speed bonus, allowing him to strike even faster.
Six strikes in three seconds.
Under Alexander's relentless assault, the warrior barely lasted a minute before his health was drained by the combination of Bleed stacks and numerous critical hits.
As the warrior collapsed to the ground, unwilling to accept his defeat, Alexander bent down and picked up the two glowing items that had dropped.
One was a D-grade magic defense necklace, with mediocre stats.
The other was a D-grade weapon, which wasn't as good as the sword Alexander was currently wielding.
He then moved over to the rogue's body and collected the loot there.
A D-grade piece of armor, an Aether Ore, and a single gold coin.
Alexander wasn't interested in the armor, but the Aether Ore piqued his curiosity.
However, he couldn't discern its use at the moment, as its specific function was hidden.
[Item: Aether Ore]
[Quality: C-grade]
[Function: ???]
[Acquisition: Extremely rare drop from Instances]
Alexander frowned in confusion.
What was an Instance?
The map he had purchased didn't mention anything about these.
It seemed he would need to find other players to get more detailed information.
In fact, Alexander was quite curious about other players. Despite spending so much time grinding monsters in the wild, he hadn't interacted much with other players. Aside from the day he first woke up, when he saw the most players, he had mostly been alone. Occasionally, he would see other players rushing past, but it was only during the day in the Crimson Flame Desert that he had seen more players.
Although the Crimson Flame Desert was marked as one of the most dangerous areas on the map, this was only true for beginner players. The monsters here were mostly pack creatures, making it dangerous for low-level players.
However, Alexander had seen several higher-level players soloing entire groups of monsters.
So, whether an area was dangerous or not really depended on the player.
As Alexander's strength continued to grow, he knew he would encounter more players. Perhaps then, he could ask them about certain things...
After collecting all the loot, the bodies of the rogue and the warrior slowly faded away, likely returning to the graveyard to await resurrection.
Alexander packed up his things and found a safe spot to drink a health potion, restoring his lost HP.
Just then, he noticed the woman from earlier running back toward him.
This time, she didn't look as composed as before. Her armor was disheveled, and her hair was a mess, as if she had just been through a fierce battle.
But the number of players chasing her hadn't decreased—in fact, there were even more now.
Alexander quickly found a place to hide.
He had already drawn attention to himself earlier, and he wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
Besides, it seemed like they were all after the Dark Crystal.
And that very item was currently in his possession.
Clearly, these players didn't know the true whereabouts of the Dark Crystal. They were likely treating every player in the Crimson Flame Desert as a suspect.
Their aggressive behavior also indicated that they had powerful backing.
Most players would probably comply and open their bags for inspection.
But there were a few, like Alexander and Jessica, who wouldn't bow to their demands.
So, their strategy was to chase down and corner anyone who didn't cooperate. If you refused, they would tie you up and have their rogue steal the items from your bag.
It was a despicable tactic.
Alexander had no desire to deal with these people any further.
His fight with the rogue and the warrior had given him a clearer understanding of his own strength.
Both the rogue and the warrior were level 50, while Alexander was only level 10!
At this stage, he could handle a two-on-one fight, but if a third person joined, he would be the one to die.
There were at least twenty players chasing Jessica. If Alexander got involved, it would be suicide.
Without lingering any longer, Alexander decisively turned and walked in the opposite direction. He needed to focus on leveling up his talent and didn't have time to meddle in other people's affairs.
Just then, a pleasant notification sound echoed in his ears.
Ding—
[Your current talent experience is full. Would you like to upgrade?]
Alexander's eyes lit up.
Thanks to the Dark Crystal's experience acceleration, the badge's experience bonus, and his relentless grinding, he had accumulated the required 80,000 experience points in just thirteen hours!
Without hesitation, Alexander clicked Upgrade.
A brilliant light enveloped him.
---
[Name: Alexander]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 10 (EXP: 38%)]
[Strength: 126]
[Agility: 57]
[Defense: 155]
[Intelligence: 32]
[HP: 2984/2984]
[MP: 32/32]
[Talent: Basic Attribute Enhancement, Basic Attribute Absorption, Armament Absorption, Insight Eye (Left Eye)]
[Basic Attribute Enhancement (F): 10 freely distributable attribute points]
[Basic Attribute Absorption (E): 0.01% chance to gain 1 random base attribute point upon killing a target (does not trigger if the target is 10 levels below your own)]
[Armament Absorption (D): Weapons can absorb other equipment to evolve. Evolution success rate: 3%. If successful, weapon attributes increase; if failed, weapon quality downgrades. Upon evolution, there is a 0.1% chance to inherit the absorbed weapon's skill.]
[Insight Eye (C): +5 Perception. Allows you to see hidden hints and discern enemy weaknesses.]
[Note: Insight Eye (Left) and Judgment Eye (Right) can be fused into the Eye of the Oracle.]
[Current Talent Level: C (EXP: 0%)]
[Unallocated Attribute Points: 0]
[Hidden Attributes:]
[Luck: 10 (Maxed)]
[Charm: 0]
[Perception: 5]
[Inventory: 847/1000]
[Wallet: 874 Gold Coins, 3 Silver Coins, 7 Copper Coins]
[Dark Crystal experience acceleration remaining: 09:17:46]