[Item Drop: Dark Fanged Daggers (Epic Grade) x1]
[Item Drop: Mutated Boar Fang (Rare) x1]
More notifications cascaded down the air before Riley's eyes like floating glass panels. Then, with a faint white flash, the rewards materialized right in front of him—hovering midair in a soft, radiant glow.
Riley stepped forward, his gaze settling on the items that had just appeared.
There they were… the Dark Fanged Daggers he had heard about in his past life.
A pair of beautiful yet deadly weapons—each one forged with a curved silver blade shaped like a beast's fang.
Intricate red lines veined across the surface like blood vessels, and they pulsed faintly with a soft, rhythmic light, almost as though the blades were alive and breathing.
He reached out and claimed them without hesitation, gripping the hilts tightly as they vanished into his inventory.
His lips curled slightly in satisfaction.
He barely even noticed the mutated boar fang that fell to the ground, too occupied with his new weapon.
'I really got them…' He thought to himself, still in disbelief about what was happening.
Though he had been expecting this to happen, thanks to the knowledge from his past life, he was still excited he was finally able to lay his hands on it.
And these daggers were perfect.
His hands tingled just imagining the damage they would deal when paired with his stealth skills and the passive boosts from [Gluttony].
But just as he tried to check the dagger's descriptions, a notification suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Server Announcement: The only Epic-grade weapon in the novice villages has been discovered!
Congratulations to Player 'A Random', the first player to claim this weapon!]
The giant golden text scrolled across his screen in a loud, triumphant chime.
Riley clicked his tongue, dragging a hand down his face. "Tch… should've known."
He had been so focused on claiming the weapon that he'd momentarily forgotten the announcement that followed.
This was exactly what happened in his last life. As soon as the weapon was picked up by Terry, the system broadcasted it to everyone.
That message…
That single line of glowing gold text was what elevated Terry to near-legendary status in the early days.
Unlike most players, Terry had boldly used his real name in the game, choosing 'Terry the Hero' as his player ID.
They started calling him a hero, a natural-born leader, the strongest player.
The boar at the time had grown stronger than it was when Riley faced it, having eaten the players who came across it.
So Terry was like the hero who came and delivered them all.
He even appeared on the news because of it, another incident which further boosted the popularity of the game [Apocalypse].
This time, though, such thing didn't happen, and instead, he was the one who killed the beast in place of Terry, and got the Epic -grade treasure.
Riley didn't even feel terrible for taking a weapon that should have been Terry's, because daggers had never been his main weapon.
Even in his past life, the hero only used the epic grade for a little while before dashing them to one of his friends in the game.
However, he wasn't sure if he should be happy or sad about every player in the game knowing about him, because his original plan had been to stay undercover, and not attract too much attention to himself.
'But then… maybe this might not be so bad after all.' He thought, a subtle smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
He then checked the description of the daggers, curious to see how powerful an epic grade weapon would really be.
[Name: Dark Fanged Daggers]
[Grade: Epic]
[Description: A pair of daggers gotten from the defeat of the mutated white boar. When equipped, Agility +30, all other attributes +20. Has 30% chance to inflict "bleed" status on targets, increases the efficiency of assassin skills by 30%.]
[Passive Skill: Veins of Fury (Stacks: 0/5)]
[Each successful attack drains a portion of the enemy's mana and adds a Vein Stack (max 5). Stacks are shared across both daggers.
At max stacks, the veins glow vividly, and the next successful strike automatically triggers:
[Pulse Rupture] – Unleashes a mana-infused shockwave inside the target's body.
• If the target's HP is below 25%, damage is doubled.
• Stuns for 2 seconds (vs monsters only).
• Consumes all stacks.
(Note: Vein stacks decay after 15 seconds out of combat.)
Riley's eyes shone with glee as he stared at the dagger's description.
He even felt like jumping up in joy, but he controlled himself.
'This… is a lot better than I expected!' He thought.
With this new weapon, he could confidently say he was now stronger than most players in the game—including the beta players, despite only joining today.
'But I wonder… how strong is he now, Terry, humanity's strongest hero.' He thought, a strange glint flashing across his eyes.
***
Meanwhile, in another section of the map—far across the wilderness and into a sandy plain—players froze in their tracks.
"What the hell?"
"An Epic-grade weapon? In a Novice Village?!"
A young man in mismatched leather gear stared at the glowing message in disbelief.
One of his party members—a red-haired girl with two short daggers—grunted. "Is that even possible? The beta test didn't have anything like that, right?"
"Not that we found," Her friend muttered, tapping his chin. "But it is possible. Maybe the devs added secret bosses or content after the beta ended."
A few paces behind them, a beta tester named Marcus gritted his teeth. He had cleared almost every available dungeon during the test phase, and never—not once—had an Epic-grade weapon been mentioned in the Novice area.
"This is… new," He muttered, a bad feeling creeping up his spine. "I didn't even know such a boss existed…"
The group exchanged looks.
None of them had seen any rumors, no world events, no quests mentioning a Fanged Boar.
And yet someone—some nobody named A Random—had not only found it but defeated it?
"What level do you think he is?"
"Don't know," Someone replied. "But to take down a boss that drops an Epic… that's no casual."
"Could be a hidden class player."
"Or a beta player hiding their true power."
"But even beta testers didn't know about this!"
Silence fell again as they all stared at the message still hovering faintly above their screens.
[Congratulations to Player 'A Random'…]
*
Deep within a snowy gorge at the base of a mountain, a figure stood tall over a large corpse—a massive white-furred bear with two curved horns protruding from its skull.
Its eyes were frozen wide open in death, and around its body, tiny speckles of light shone like stars.
The man standing above it held a gleaming silver spear in his hand, its tip stained with crimson.
Terry.
Blonde-haired, clean-featured, his light armor glistening beneath the faint light of the sun.
He looked down at the corpse of the beast… and then up at the notification.
[Congratulations to Player 'A Random'…]
His brow furrowed slightly.
"A Random… what a weird thing to call yourself." He muttered under his breath.
The wind blew his hair slightly, and he adjusted his grip on his spear, eyes narrowing.
"I wonder who that is."
He couldn't help but be curious about who this person was, gaining an Epic grade treasure so early in the game.
Even he only had a Rare grade spear, yet some one else already got the only Epic grade in the whole novice area.
In the beta, he had never heard of such a monster, and certainly not such a drop. Whoever this player was, they weren't just lucky—they had knowledge.
"You've seen the announcement right?!" A tall, burly brown haired man suddenly rushed in from the side, holding a shield almost his height in one hand.
"Yeah, it's… interesting," He murmured, his tone cool.
'This only means I'm lagging behind, I have to get stronger, and open the city for everyone!' He thought.
He turned away from the bear's corpse and started walking, footsteps crunching in the snow. Behind him, the mountain loomed, casting a long shadow over the valley.