"I got 10,000 experience points. This is amazing!"
Jack cheered excitedly.
Although he wasn't lucky enough to obtain high-quality skill books, equipment, or other rare items, gaining 10,000 experience points was still a huge win. With experience points, he could strengthen himself using talents.
"Let's see what this SSS-level talent can do."
Rubbing his hands together, Jack focused on his virtual panel. A prompt suddenly appeared in the lower right corner of his vision.
[Hint: Enhancing the 'Agility' attribute for the first time requires 100 experience points. Do you want to proceed?]
Agility affected attack speed, movement speed, and skill release speed. As the saying went, "In martial arts, speed is the only invincible force." The higher his agility, the greater his chances of survival. Without hesitation, Jack chose to enhance it.
[Tip: You consumed 100 experience points. 'Agility' +1.]
He continued.
[Hint: Enhancing 'Agility' for the second time requires 200 experience points. Do you want to proceed?]
[Hint: Enhancing 'Agility' for the third time requires 300 experience points. Do you want to proceed?]
The cost increased with each upgrade, but the benefits were worth it. Jack strengthened his agility repeatedly, spending a total of 5,500 experience points to increase his agility by 10 points.
Just as he was about to continue, a new prompt appeared.
[Hint: Enhancing 'Agility' for the 11th time requires 2000 experience points. Proceed?]
[Note: This enhancement will increase 'Agility' by 2 points and has a small chance to trigger a super enhancement, increasing 'Agility' by 4 points!]
Jack hesitated. Previously, each enhancement cost progressively more, but this sudden spike in cost meant a greater boost in return. However, he couldn't afford to pour all his points into agility.
No matter how fast he moved, he wouldn't survive if he couldn't deal proper damage or withstand attacks.
Instead, he decided to distribute his remaining experience points across different attributes.
[Hint: You consumed 1500 experience points and strengthened the 'Strength' attribute 5 times. 'Strength' +5.]
[Hint: You consumed 1500 experience points and strengthened the 'Stamina' attribute 5 times. 'Stamina' +5.]
[Hint: You consumed 1000 experience points and strengthened the 'Endurance' attribute 4 times. 'Endurance' +4.]
After these upgrades, only 500 experience points remained.
Jack considered enhancing his Spirit attribute, which determined the strength of magical output. But since he had no magic-based abilities, he decided to save those points for now.
Then, something caught his eye.
"Wait, experience points can also enhance skills and equipment?"
Jack quickly checked his inventory. His current clothing—simple tops, bottoms, and cloth shoes—didn't qualify as proper equipment. That meant the only thing he could enhance was skills.
[Hint: Enhancing the skill 'Scouting' for the first time requires 500 experience points. Do you want to proceed?]
Jack's eyes lit up.
"I wonder how my skill will change after enhancement?"
He confirmed the upgrade.
[Hint: You consumed 500 experience points. The skill 'Scouting' has upgraded to 'Insight' (Advanced Skill). Skill effects have changed.]
[Insight (Advanced Skill): Consumes 1 energy point to reveal the basic attributes and weak points of a single target.]
"The cost remains the same, but now I can detect enemy weak points? Not bad!"
Jack grinned.
With that, he had used up all 10,000 experience points from the novice blind box. He opened his personal dashboard to review his progress.
---
Status Panel
Name: Jack
ID: SJ8848
Race: Carbon-based human
Level: Lv1 (0/10,000)
Occupation: None
HP: 260/260
Energy: 105/105
Attributes:
Strength: 11
Agility: 16
Spirit: 10
Stamina: 11
Endurance: 14
Free Attribute Points: 0
Skill: Insight (Advanced Skill)
Equipment: None
Talent: Chaos (SSS-level quality)
---
Jack felt a sense of accomplishment. He had significantly improved his stats without even stepping outside to fight a single monster.
But suddenly, a chilling global announcement echoed in everyone's ears.
[Announcement: Ma Qiangdong (ID: DC4404) has been killed by a Level 1 Flame Goblin!]
[Announcement: Liu Huateng (ID: XX0086) has been killed by a Level 1 Frost Goblin!]
Jack was stunned.
Two players had already died?
He didn't witness their deaths firsthand, but the chat channel provided some answers.
---
"Goblins are ganging up on people!"
"I saw it happen! Ma Qiangdong was fighting a melee goblin, and suddenly, a Flame Goblin ambushed him from behind. He was dead in seconds!"
"Liu Huateng died the same way. Damn, are goblins really this hard to fight?"
"Wait… if we die, do we actually die for real?! This isn't a normal game! I just turned from a 60-year-old woman into an 18-year-old girl—I don't want to die!"
---
The chat was in chaos. Panic spread quickly as people realized the true difficulty of surviving in this world.
Jack, who had been quietly observing, felt a chill run down his spine.
He had considered going out to fight earlier, but thankfully, he held back. Otherwise, he might have been the first to die.
The realization sobered him.
---
After some time, people started calming down. The excitement of regaining youth or growing stronger was now overshadowed by the harsh reality of survival.
This world was brutal.
And it was only the beginning.
Inside Novice Village G233, the remaining players started discussing how to handle the goblins roaming the area.
For now, no one dared to leave their wooden huts.
But Jack knew waiting wasn't an option.
He had been monitoring his energy levels, and they were slowly decreasing over time. His body was starting to feel sluggish.
There was no food or water in the cabin.
If his energy dropped to zero, he might collapse—or worse, die.
"No. I can't just sit here and wait for death."
Jack carefully peeked through a crack in the door, observing the goblins nearby.
After ten minutes of silent analysis, he finally made his decision.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the wooden door—and stepped out into the unknown.
---
To be continued…
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