"Ding! You have been killed by player [Sealed]. Level -1. Since you were the aggressor, two or more random pieces of equipment have been dropped."
"S-Sealed?!"
Standing at the respawn point in the Novice Village, Logan's face twitched uncontrollably. He never expected that the random player they had picked a fight with would turn out to be Sealed. His regret was immeasurable.
He immediately turned and slapped the younger player who had started the altercation. "You idiot! You just got me killed!"
The young man didn't dare to speak. His legs felt weak just thinking about how he had talked down to Sealed, one of the most feared players in Oracle.
After venting his frustration, Logan opened his chat and sent a message to his guild leader. "Boss, I just ran into Sealed."
After effortlessly taking down Logan's party, Ethan Carter went about his business as if nothing had happened. He arrived at the Flame Lizard hunting ground, eager to test whether his Talent Potential had increased after reaching Bronze Rank.
Now that his strength had significantly improved again, he didn't even need to think about fighting. He simply dashed up to a Flame Lizard, landed two quick strikes, and moved on to the next one. His poison damage had already reached 260 per second, meaning two hits were more than enough to finish a lizard off.
As more lizards fell, a string of system notifications rang out.
"Ding! Talent activated. Poison damage increased by 1 point. Current poison damage: 261."
Seeing the notification, Ethan smirked. "Just as I thought—advancing in rank increases my poison damage cap."
He continued farming. "Let's see how far I can push it."
Just as he was about to kill another wave of Flame Lizards, another system notification popped up.
"Ding! Your listed item [Wolf King Leg Guards] has been sold for $50,000. After a 15% transaction fee, $42,500 has been deposited into your linked bank account."
"Ding! Your listed item [Wolf Fang Club] has been sold for $70,000. After a 15% transaction fee, $59,500 has been deposited into your linked bank account."
"Ding! Your listed item [Bear King Necklace] has been sold for $80,000. After a 15% transaction fee, $68,000 has been deposited into your linked bank account."
"Ding! Your listed item [Black Bear King Armor] has been sold for $180,000. After a 15% transaction fee, $153,000 has been deposited into your linked bank account."
Four consecutive transaction messages popped up. Ethan immediately checked his balance. A total of $380,000 in sales, minus $57,000 in fees, leaving $323,000 in profit.
He grinned. "The demand for high-quality gear is insane. Most players are still stuck in white-tier equipment, and even iron-tier gear is rare. The population in Golden Ridge City is massive—plenty of rich players willing to pay."
"Looks like I'm one step closer to getting the gaming pod. Let's keep grinding!"
Meanwhile, inside Golden Ridge City, Sovereign and the officers of Dominion's Elite were discussing Sealed's capabilities.
"Based on Logan's report, Sealed has absurdly high defense, insane speed, and a poison effect that deals 260 damage per second while blocking healing," Absolute Justice analyzed.
"If his poison lasts at least 10 seconds, then even with my new Black Bear King Armor, I'd barely be able to tank it. If it lasts longer, no one at this stage can survive," Lone Peak added.
Sovereign nodded thoughtfully. "Equipment alone shouldn't grant such a powerful poison effect. It's most likely his talent. That would explain why he's been so dominant. Still, talents have limits. Once our levels and gear catch up, taking him down will be easy."
No one could have guessed that Ethan's talent was a growth-type ability.
Back at the hunting ground, Ethan sat under a tree with Stealth activated, scrolling through the forums. A swarm of Flame Lizards ran around in confusion, their heads flashing with steady -574 damage ticks as their health bars plummeted. No one else in Oracle could farm monsters as effortlessly as him.
A private message popped up.
Snowy: "Thanks for the scroll. I cleared the trial."
Sealed: "With a meat shield like the Wild Boar King, even a pig could pass."
Silence from Sophia's end.
Chuckling, Ethan got up to "harvest" his kills. Among the loot, he spotted three dropped items—two white-tier and one iron-tier. The distinct glow of the iron-tier item caught his eye immediately.
"Nice! Free money!"
He quickly picked it up and checked the stats.
[Flame Ring] (Iron Tier)
Magic Attack: +60
Fire Spell Damage: +5%
Bonus Attribute: Intelligence +16
Requirement: Mage
"Oh? A mage item? First time seeing one drop." Ethan muttered. He immediately sent a screenshot to Sophia.
Snowy: "How much? I'll take it!"
Sealed: "I was just showing you. I was planning to list it in the auction house."
Snowy: "Sealed...!"
Ethan laughed. "Alright, 60,000 and it's yours."
A trade request popped up, and to his surprise, Sophia put in $80,000 instead.
"This is worth at least 80k. I won't take advantage of you," she messaged.
Ethan shrugged. If she insisted on paying more, who was he to refuse? He confirmed the transaction and another message arrived instantly.
Snowy: "Did you get this from a boss?"
Sealed: "Nope, just a regular monster drop."
Snowy: "Ordinary monsters drop iron-tier gear?"
Sealed: "Yep. High-level ones do, but the drop rate is trash."
Snowy: "Can you tell me which monster dropped it? Mage gear is ridiculously hard to get."
Ethan sent her the Flame Lizard's information.
On the other end, Sophia, who was grinding level 12 foxes, nearly choked. No wonder Sealed was ahead of everyone—while others were fighting level 11–12 monsters, he was casually farming level 18 mobs!
After seeing the Flame Lizard's stats, she immediately gave up on trying to hunt for mage gear herself. Instead, she angrily spammed spells on the foxes in frustration.
Standing nearby, Uncle Lee frowned. He had never seen his mistress act like this before. She used to be calm and composed, but ever since meeting Sealed, she was constantly irritated. Was this a good thing or a bad thing?
After grinding another ten Flame Lizards, a golden light flashed—level up!
Poison damage: 337 per second. (Gained from 77 kills.)
Immortal Physique Bonus: +395 Max HP.
Ethan's total HP now exceeded 2,826. His 10 unallocated stat points remained untouched for now.
"Alright. Time to check out Blackwind Stronghold."