"Finally!"
"The second draw!"
Foster's heart raced, a mix of anticipation and anxiety bubbling up inside him.
Even if he got a trashy green or blue Talent, it would still be a win. But after getting his first red Talent, his expectations had soared!
In an instant, three glowing cards appeared before his eyes, expanding as he focused on them. One blue, two gold!
"It's gold!"
Despite being sprawled on the ground, Foster's heart skipped a beat. After all, gold Talents were top-tier, and red Talents were rare—only one would drop per star-level!
He quickly checked the three Talents that appeared.
[be burning with anger (Blue): Your soldiers gain attack speed based on their current health percentage.]
"This one's definitely trash," Foster muttered dismissively.
Why?
Blue Talents granted universal stats for all soldiers, which meant the values were inevitably low.
As for the two gold Talents, Foster found himself torn.
[Desperate Hunter (Gold): When you defeat an enemy and collect loot, there is a chance to obtain an additional item.]
[Blade of Conquest (Gold): When you kill an enemy, you will fill an energy bar. The stronger the enemies you defeat and the higher the challenge difficulty, the faster the energy bar will fill. Once it's full, you will receive a Loot Orb. Each time you receive a Loot Orb, the next energy bar will be harder to fill, and the Loot Orb rewards will increase.]
"Both are top-tier!"
Foster really had a tough time choosing.
Don't let the long description of Blade of Conquest fool you—it sounded powerful, but Desperate Hunter was also extremely strong!
In Heroic Epic, the best rewards came from dungeon raids and boss fights. Many high-tier equipment, drawings, and Barracks were exclusively dropped by bosses.
If he could trigger Desperate Hunter, it would be a massive boon, allowing Foster to rake in huge rewards!
The only problem is...
His luck in his previous life was generally poor. After transmigrating, it seems like his luck has improved a bit, but he's not sure if it will last.
If he keeps having bad luck at crucial moments and the Desperate Hunter doesn't trigger, that would be quite frustrating.
Foster didn't believe in superstition, though. He figured that if he fought enough bosses, the probability would eventually average out.
Talents stayed with him for life, so the value of Desperate Hunter was relatively stable.
As for Blade of Conquest, it wasn't bad either—providing a steady stream of additional resources, and gold Talents were always powerful! Plus, there was no reliance on luck.
Foster thought it over, gritted his teeth, and made his choice.
[You have acquired Talent: Blade of Conquest!]
His reasoning was clear: his current development strategy was focused on continuously challenging higher-level bosses, aiming for high ratings and substantial rewards. This development path synergized well with Blade of Conquest, which indirectly enhanced the strength of the Talent.
Moreover, in the early stages of the game, it was all about building momentum—a snowball effect. If Desperate Hunter triggered too rarely, it could slow down the pace at which Foster's power grew, whereas Blade of Conquest was much more stable and reliable.
This Talent also had a self-sustaining cycle: by earning additional Loot Orbs, his strength would increase, allowing him to take on even stronger enemies and trigger the Talent again.
As Foster made his choice, a golden light entered his body. At the same time, he noticed that his personal panel now displayed a new entry under the Talent section:
[Blade of Conquest: 0%.]
"The first additional reward shouldn't be too hard to achieve," Foster mused.
At that moment, several of his Knight subordinates rushed over to support him, lifting him to his feet.
"My Lord!"
"It's our failure that caused you to suffer."
"Don't worry about it," Foster waved them off.
Meanwhile, another Knight had already brought over the Loot Orbs dropped by the boss and handed them to Foster.
Foster's excitement grew. After all, he had just defeated the Mountain Goblin by leveling up!
In theory, even if he had reached level 20 and brought in Tier-3 soldiers to fight that boss, there was still a good chance of failure.
But here he was at only level 10, with just some Tier-2 soldiers. What kind of insane rewards would he get?
He quickly began opening each Loot Orb, and as flashes of light erupted around him, a series of notifications popped up before his eyes.
First came 10 Basic Resource Packs, which provided 1,000 units each of Gold Coins, Wood, Stone, and Crystal Ore.
In other words, the loot from the Mountain Goblin easily covered the cost of building his Arrow Towers, and then some!
"With such a large influx of resources, the development of my territory will speed up again!"
Next were 10 Low-Level Construction Accelerator Cards!
These were the very things Foster had hesitated to use before, but now he was receiving them in abundance!
This was the terrifying benefit of over-leveling a boss!
Then, he received four pieces of Equipment:
[Blue-scaled Helmet (Bronze)]
[Rapier (Gold)]
[Worn-out Robe (Black Iron)]
[Single-sided Cape (Black Iron)]
All of these were level 10 Equipment.
In Heroic Epic, Equipment was rated using two different systems:
One system was based on Equipment Level—higher-level items had better attributes.
The other system was based on Equipment Quality, ranging from Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, to Diamond. The higher the quality, the better the Equipment's effects!
Equipment was divided into three main categories: weapons, armor, and accessories.
In Heroic Epic, there were no specific values for attack or defense. Players had to test things out themselves. However, generally speaking, the higher the Equipment level and quality, the better the weapon or armor's effects.
Foster couldn't believe his luck. This time, he had hit the jackpot!
He had obtained a Gold-tier Equipment!
In his previous life, he had farmed countless Mountain Goblins, but the highest tier Equipment he had ever received was Silver-level!
"Over-leveling the BOSS really does pay off!"
Foster's eyes gleamed with excitement as he quickly checked the Equipment's stats.
The other three pieces of Equipment were Bronze and Black Iron-tier, which just provided some basic stat boosts.
Foster equipped them all. His stats were now boosted by:
Strength +5
Agility +6
Constitution +6
Spirit +5
It gave him a nice boost to his base attributes.
By the way, he still had a bunch of unused free attribute points, but Foster didn't allocate them yet. He planned to wait until he chose his advanced or even hidden class before deciding how to distribute his stats.
The Gold-tier Rapier, however, was a game-changer. In addition to Strength +10 and Spirit +10, it came with a special skill:
[Shout: All of your soldiers gain a 20% attack boost for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.]
Besides the Equipment, there was one more drop:
A shattered hero token.
[Congratulations! You've obtained an A-tier hero token fragment 1/2!]
[Your hero token fragments have automatically combined. You have obtained an A-tier hero token.]
"It's real!!"
Foster's face lit up with excitement. He was overjoyed.
[Hero Token (A)]
[Description: A gift from the gods of the Hall of Heroes. You can use this token to summon a random A-tier hero.]
[Effect: You can perform the summoning ritual at the Hero Altar.]
Hero tokens couldn't be used directly—they had to be activated at a specific building.
Foster wasn't worried, though. The location of the Hero Altar was calculated based on the coordinates of surrounding Lord territories, ensuring that the difficulty of reaching the altar was roughly the same for all players.
Foster was familiar with the algorithm. He quickly dispatched several Saker Falcons to scout out a few potential locations.
Just over ten minutes later, he received good news.
One of the Saker Falcons landed swiftly on Foster's shoulder.
The Saker Falcon had discovered a sacred place bathed in golden light, which resembled the location Foster had described.
"Yes, that's it!"
Foster's face lit up with excitement.
"All units, move out!"
He quickly issued commands, clearly in a rush.
Foster led his army as they marched northwest for several minutes. Soon, golden rays appeared on the horizon, and a brilliant golden marker appeared on the mini-map in Foster's game interface.
[Congratulations, player Foster! You've discovered the Hero Altar. You have gained 500 fame points.]
[Your fame has leveled up: Obscure → Have Heard a Little About.]
Foster ignored the fame notification and hurried forward.
While fame was important for accessing certain dungeons and quests, it wasn't something Foster was particularly concerned with at the moment. According to his development plan, he was certain he wouldn't be lacking in fame points.
In front of the altar, there was a small group of level-1 monsters and a few level-2 creatures. They were few in number, far weaker than the tenth wave of the Conquest and Slaughter event.
Foster tested out the Rapier's skill, [Shout]. A crimson light enveloped his Knight Guards and Saker Falcons. With ease, they charged forward and wiped out all the monsters.
Foster ignored the two white Loot Orbs that dropped and walked up to the top of the altar, carefully placing the hero token into a crystal socket.
In an instant, a radiant light surrounded the area, and a graceful figure began to materialize slowly.