As soon as Shadow Stealth finished its cooldown, Tristan immediately entered Stealth mode and began searching for his next target.
It was still a level 5 wild boar, but this time, Tristan stood at a distance of 40 meters.
While Tristan was confident that he could hit a wild boar at 100 meters, there was no need to push it.
If he ended up dropping equipment, he would have to run back to collect it, and that would be a hassle.
Forty meters, with weak spot attacks, was enough to instantly kill the level 5 wild boar—no need to make things harder than necessary.
While thinking, Tristan had already locked onto his target, flicking his wrist as the black Shadow Dagger silently flew out.
The wild boar, munching on grass, had no idea that the shadow of death was closing in on it.
-657! (Weak Spot Attack)
The wild boar's health dropped to zero instantly, and it fell dead, contributing a generous 70 experience points.
Tristan glanced around.
As expected, no loot dropped from the boar.
This didn't faze Tristan.
He'd been playing ExoGenesis for ten years in his previous life, and he knew the game's nature.
The difficulty was high, and the drop rates were low.
But Tristan wasn't counting on small monsters to drop good loot. True equipment drops came from BOSS fights; for now, his primary goal was leveling up.
With 70 experience points for a wild boar, he would only need a few more to level up.
At 18 seconds per wild boar, he was looking at just a few minutes to hit his goal.
Calculating this, Tristan couldn't help but quietly marvel.
It was fast.
The leveling speed was astonishingly quick.
"The first player to reach level 10 gets an extra reward. I missed out on that last time, but now I can definitely push for it."
With a clear goal in mind, it was time to grind.
Tristan transformed into a wild boar slayer, moving swiftly through the tall grass, striking instantly with no second attack necessary.
Lost in the thrill of instant kills, Tristan soon received the desired prompt.
"You have reached level 2!"
"You have gained 5 free attribute points!"
"The power of shadows is gathering; you gain an additional 5 free attribute points!"
"Beast Blessing activated, granting you 5 free attribute points!"
A string of prompts made Tristan stop in his tracks.
"Even among hidden classes, there are differences," Tristan thought.
In his previous life, as a Heavy Armor Warrior, he received 3 extra free attribute points each time he leveled up.
But the Shadow Assassin granted him 5!
No wonder the hidden class with unique status was so powerful.
With the Beast Skull's additional attribute points, Tristan was getting 20 attribute points per level—double what regular players received!
"Cheating, this has to be cheating!"
"Oh wait, I'm the one cheating, never mind."
Tristan remained calm.
If he was the one breaking the game, then so be it.
For his 15 free attribute points, Tristan decided to allocate them at a 2:1 ratio between Agility and Strength.
Agility was the main attribute for Assassins, improving attack speed, movement speed, and critical hit rate, offering a high return on investment.
But speed alone wouldn't cut it; he needed to balance his attack power as well.
To further speed up his leveling, Tristan decided to hunt higher-level wild boars. Without better equipment, boosting his Strength to increase his attack power was crucial.
Once the points were allocated, Tristan's character panel updated with his new stats.
[Nickname]: Blackshade
[Class]: Shadow Assassin
[Level]: 2 (50/2000)
[Attributes]: Strength 11, Constitution 6, Agility 20, Spirit 5
[Attack]: 16
[Defense]: 8
[Health]: 160
[Mana]: 60
His health was still relatively low, but Tristan wasn't worried.
As an Assassin, his role dictated low health, and even maxing out Constitution wouldn't change that.
Besides, as the only long-range Assassin, he wouldn't engage in direct combat. He'd strike and run, never exchanging blows with enemies.
After allocating the points, Tristan moved forward again, this time eyeing a wild boar in the distance.
[Wild Boar]
Level: 7
Health: 1050
Attack: 105
Defense: 70
Skill: Charge
...
Its attributes were much higher than the level 5 wild boars.
This was another hidden design of ExoGenesis: the higher the monster level, the greater the gap in attributes.
Players had their own ways of improving, like equipment and skills.
Additionally, there were class advancements, known as first and second class promotions.
"A level 7 wild boar. It has over 1000 health, but it's worth a try," Tristan thought.
He gathered energy into his Shadow Dagger, raised his hand, and threw it.
-782! (Weak Spot Attack)
The damage was much higher, but the wild boar's increased health prevented an instant kill.
The wild boar let out an angry roar, lowered its head, and charged.
Tristan frowned and immediately activated Shadow Stealth, disappearing from sight.
But the wild boar was unfazed and kept charging forward.
However, Tristan had already started moving as soon as he entered Stealth. By the time the wild boar reached his previous position, Tristan was already more than 10 meters away.
When Shadow Dagger cooled down, the wild boar, now at low health, collapsed in a heap.
"Ding! You have killed a level 7 wild boar and gained 70 experience points. Killing 5 levels above your own gives an additional 35 experience points."
A total of 105 experience points were gained, and Tristan saw his experience bar jump forward a little.
But Tristan wasn't satisfied with the result.
Killing a level 7 wild boar in two hits was nice, but he would have preferred to one-shot a level 5 wild boar.
The base experience, plus the bonus, made the latter more efficient overall.
Tristan started thinking.
Did this mean he needed to go back to the village to buy a set of bow and arrows?
After careful consideration, Tristan thought the idea wasn't worth pursuing.
With his Sniper God talent, even if using a bow reduced his damage, he could still deal respectable damage.
But without the ability to one-shot, he would need to rely on kiting.
The problem was that he was still at a low level and could easily be targeted by nearby wild boars.
With insufficient Agility, regular players couldn't outrun wild boars with Charge, which would inevitably lead to death if caught.
Rather than running around, it was smarter to stay at a distance.
If 40 meters wasn't enough to kill the level 7 wild boar, then he'd move farther.
Tristan was confident that even at 80 meters, with Sniper God's damage multiplier, he would still be able to finish the wild boar off.
"Wait, can Shadow Dagger really reach that far?"
A thought crossed his mind.
To test his theory, Tristan targeted a wild boar 80 meters away.
At that distance, the wild boar was just a small dot.
But Tristan could see it clearly.
He had a feeling that as long as he threw the dagger, it would hit.
Whoosh.
The black dagger shot out, and Tristan watched as it flew through the air, slowly dissipating into shadow energy at a distance of 50 meters.
Tristan frowned, then relaxed.
He had figured out the problem.
It wasn't his skill; it was his stats.
His current attributes couldn't support throwing the dagger that far.
"At 50 meters, without a critical hit, Shadow Dagger deals 976 true damage, which isn't enough to one-shot a level 7 wild boar."
"Unless I can guarantee a critical hit, which I can't do with my current stats."
Tristan's gaze shifted to a level 6 wild boar nearby.
[Wild Boar]
Health: 900
Perfect. This one would do.