"Just as I thought, an S rank!"
Foster beamed with joy. Generally speaking, the rewards from beginner events only grant basic resources, but an S rank is different—it often comes with additional, valuable rewards!
These could include buildings needed for the territory, Barracks, and other such essentials. The rewards for an S rank far outshine those for any lower rankings.
"Totally worth it to speed up my monster farming pace!"
He was in high spirits, but then, in the next moment, he froze.
Wait a second...
S+ rank??
Foster's delighted expression remained unchanged, but there was now a hint of confusion.
S+ is definitely better than S, but the problem was... in his past life, even after playing Heroic Epic for several years, he had never come across this ranking!
Foster decided to take a rare moment to check the system's explanation, but the content displayed was identical to what he had seen in past events.
[The rating for Conquest and Slaughter is determined by the number of waves a player has completed and the time spent. It will also be adjusted according to the average performance of players in the same service area.]
"Wait a minute… theoretically, even if I push the waves and time to the limit, I should only be able to get an S rank."
"Hold on, could it be the average score of the service area that's pushing my rating up?"
Foster suddenly had an epiphany.
Heroic Epic encompasses players from all over the universe.
As such, when entering the game, a player might not even meet anyone from their own planet. However, every player is surrounded by Lords who joined the game around the same time, so higher-level players won't bully lower-level ones.
But some events and special reward mechanisms are based on the performance of players within their service area.
For example, the The Rising Star of the Earth event in 30 days' time will only be available to players in the Earth service area.
"In my past life, when everyone was new to the game, no one could achieve exceptionally high event scores. The most anyone could do was barely pass ten waves to get an S rank—forget about the time score."
"Later on, as the mechanics of Heroic Epic became well-known, players who joined later could still get an S rank, but since everyone could do it, there was no way to outscore each other."
"But here I am, getting the perfect score in an environment where no one else understands the game yet, and thanks to the average performance boosting the score, I've achieved S+!"
Foster's eyes gleamed with excitement as his deduction struck him with a sudden realization. If the scoring system worked this way, then not only could he leverage the Conquest and Slaughter beginner event, but he could also use this early-game advantage in many other activities. Thanks to his foresight and the score boost from the average performance, he could potentially achieve an unprecedented — S+ rating!
"But, that's a thought for later," Foster muttered to himself, quickly opening a golden wooden box that had been shimmering in his hands.
[You have successfully opened the S+ rating treasure box.]
As the box opened, a series of ethereal shadows fell to the ground, quickly shifting and changing.
[You have obtained Architectural Drawings (White): Arrow Tower.]
[You have obtained a Tier 1 Barracks: Militia Recruitment Facility.]
[You have received S+ extra reward: Low-Level Construction Accelerator Card.]
[You have received S+ extra reward: A-Rank Hero Token Fragment 1/2.]
"Just as I thought—S-rank rewards! Two architectural drawings in a row!"
Foster's brows furrowed with excitement. These rewards were incredibly significant. The Arrow Tower, one of the most useful early-game defensive structures, had just been added to his arsenal. The reason the Arrow Tower was so valuable was that it could be built not only within his territory but also in the wild. If he found an optimal farming spot, he could use the Arrow Tower to level up!
It's worth noting that the output efficiency of a white-tier defensive structure, like the Arrow Tower, was comparable to that of a Tier 3 branch. It wasn't that the Arrow Tower's attack power was the same as a Tier 3 branch; it was that the Arrow Tower could continuously shoot arrows, and its DPS over time could rival that of a Tier 3 branch.
Another critical reward from the box was the Tier 1 Barracks Drawing, which was an incredible asset for Foster. By building the Barracks, he could evolve the Militia Recruitment Facility to Tier 2!
Foster was well aware that on the first day of the game's launch, even the luckiest players who got Golden Talents could at best achieve an A-rating. Those who received an A-rating from the treasure box typically opened basic resources like wood and stone.
But Foster? With two Second-Order Barracks at hand, not only did he have soldiers a full tier stronger than most players, but his daily troop production was also double what others could manage.
As for the final S+ reward, it brought even more joy to Foster's heart. The Low-Level Construction Accelerator Card could instantly complete the construction of either a Tier 1 Barracks or a white-quality Architectural Drawing. The Arrow Tower strategy he had just devised could be put into action immediately. In fact, he could even pull off some cheeky maneuvers...
But it was the Hero Token Fragment that truly made his eyes glow with greed!
In his past life, Foster had only managed to obtain an A-rank Hero much later in the game's development. Getting a Hero Token Fragment so early was unheard of!
An A-rank Hero possessed a weaker version of a Golden Talent, which, although not as powerful as a player's own Golden Talent, was still superior to any Purple Talent that players could awaken.
A top-tier Purple Talent could greatly boost early-game farming efficiency and resource gain, making it invaluable for progress in the game.
Not to mention, Heroes also provided massive buffs to soldiers, enhancing their strength, boosting various stats, and offering powerful skills. Having a Hero early in the game was like having a rocket boost to your progress!
And now, with an A-rank Hero, Foster's advantage was even greater!
From what Foster knew, the first Hero to appear in the Earth service area was Immanuel Kant, who obtained a B-rank Hero after completing a hidden quest on the second day of the game's release.
With the bonus to early-game efficiency that Immanuel Kant received from his B-rank Hero, combined with his own powerful Golden Talent, he became one of the Seven Kings under the Federation, ruling the northwest continent of Earth.
In Foster's previous life, he would have been nothing more than an insignificant bug to Immanuel Kant, someone who could easily be crushed with a flick of the finger. But now…
"I'm starting off with an A-rank Hero and, thanks to my Talent, I can evolve it into an S-rank Hero!" Foster thought, his excitement growing.
"An S-rank Hero's weakened Red Talent is exponentially more powerful than any Golden Talent—its strength is on a whole other level!"
At that moment, Foster couldn't help but feel that the S+ treasure box he had opened was truly worth it.
Even though he had only received half of a Hero Token Fragment, if he could get another S+ rating tomorrow, he might just obtain an S-rank Hero outright!
Foster also knew that near every player's starting territory were special bosses or hidden quests, scattered across the map.
He recalled seeing some posts on the forums in his previous life about these bosses and quests.
These special encounters had a chance to drop rare resources, and it seemed like Hero Token Fragments were among them.
"But no one in my past life ever shared a screenshot of an A-rank Hero Token Fragment drop..." Foster thought to himself, tapping his chin. "But Heroic Epic's rules stated that killing lower-level bosses grants extra rewards... And hidden quests also scale their rewards based on completion and player level."
"Now that I have the Arrow Tower, and a one-time Construction Accelerator Card, maybe I can try something different?"
"Should I attempt to challenge a Boss early, or take on some hidden quests?"
Foster pondered the idea. Originally, he hadn't planned on rushing into exploration on the first day. But now... he was eager!
Having just finished the first day's Conquest and Slaughter, his level had already reached 9. Unfortunately, he still needed 90% more experience to hit level 10.
The Tier 2 Soldiers provided a lot of experience, but in Heroic Epic, every tenth level required additional experience to reach, which made things slower.
For levels like 9 to 10, or 19 to 20, Foster knew that he would have to grind for quite a while. Achieving these levels would require an entire day's worth of effort. Unlike the Conquest and Slaughter event, where enemies spawned in waves, wild monsters were scattered across the map and appeared sporadically.
As Foster was considering his next move, his Knight Servants approached him respectfully, each carrying a bundle of white orbs of light in their hands.
"My Lord, we've gathered the resources dropped by the monsters. Please take a look."
"Thank you for your hard work," Foster said casually, offering a word of encouragement as he opened the glowing Loot Orbs one by one.
Several notifications flashed before his eyes:
[Congratulations, you've obtained 500 Gold Coins!]
[Congratulations, you've obtained 1000 units of Wood!]
[Congratulations, you've obtained 1000 units of Stone!]
[Congratulations, you've obtained 1000 units of Crystal Ore!]
[Congratulations, you've obtained Stone...]
Thanks to clearing a wave of Tier 2 enemies, several additional Loot Orbs had dropped. Foster's haul was impressive.
With all these resources, Foster now had enough to consider obtaining another Hero Token Fragment.
"I remember correctly, there's supposed to be a mandatory Boss spawn nearby, right?"
"And for the common bosses, I should already have a rough strategy in mind."
Foster's gaze grew thoughtful as he began planning his next steps.