"Don't get too cocky, Kalis!" Vaelen roared from his fallen body, his voice filled with unwillingness and humiliation.
Kalis completely ignored his ranting, bending down to pick up the Epic waistband Vaelen had dropped—one of the most valuable pieces of equipment on his person.
[Sapphire Waistband]: Level 28, Epic Equipment
Attributes: HP +185, Spell Defense +14, Spirit +7, Mana Regeneration +6 points/second
Though its level wasn't particularly high, its attributes were far superior to the ordinary waistband Kalis was wearing. He immediately swapped out his old gear, fastening the new waistband around his waist.
"Not bad, not bad. This waistband should sell for at least 1,200 Gold Coins. Thanks a bunch." A playful smile curved Kalis's lips, his tone mocking.
"Bastard! I'll never let you get away with this!" Vaelen's roar echoed in the air.
As the Vice Guild Leader of Shadow Claw, when had he ever suffered such a humiliating defeat?
Five hundred elite members, enough to challenge a Mythic Boss of the same level, were wiped out by a solo player. If word got out, Shadow Claw would surely become a laughingstock across the server!
Little did he know, the news had already spread like wildfire throughout the outskirts of Valorian.
As a main city, Valorian was bustling with players outside its gates.
The entire earth-shaking conflict had been witnessed by countless onlookers: from Shadow Claw besieging Kalis, to the Abyssal Princess Lilith appearing and one-shotting five hundred players, to the four Mythic NPCs from Valorian Temple descending to resurrect the players, followed by the appearance of the Level 135 Legendary Mage Uthor to witness Kalis advancing to a hidden class, and finally Kalis sweeping through five hundred players with three skills—the twists and turns of the "Battle of Valorian Outskirts" was the most shocking spectacle since the server launch.
Fortunately, [Eternal Realm] had no real-time recording and sharing function.
Otherwise, this short five-minute sequence would have already flooded the top of the server forums. Even so, the news of "Shadow Claw's 500-player siege on top-ranked Kalis ends in total wipeout" spread at an astonishing speed, reaching nearly everyone.
"Vaelen, what's going on? How did you get beaten so badly by a solo player?"
Just as Vaelen seethed with rage, a private message suddenly arrived. He opened it to find it was from Zevran, the true Guild Leader of Shadow Claw and a top-ten Warrior player on the server.
"Guild Leader, I..." Vaelen almost cried. All his arrogance vanished in front of the guild leader.
He recounted the entire incident truthfully, emphasizing Kalis's arrogance and contempt for Shadow Claw, and finally gritted his teeth: "Guild Leader, we can't let this go! Otherwise, our guild will never hold its head high in [Eternal Realm] and will be mocked forever!"
There was a moment of silence on the other end. Half a minute later, Zevran's calm voice came through: "Put this matter aside. There's a more important task right now—the Guild Residence Token."
"What? The Guild Residence Token!" Vaelen's pupils contracted sharply, and he quickly pressed for details: "Guild Leader, have you found the Boss that drops the token?"
The Guild Residence Token was the core item required for guilds to apply for their own exclusive residence.
Since [Eternal Realm] launched, no guild had successfully obtained one, because the token could only be dropped by Mythic Bosses above Level 100. With the current level and equipment of players, they couldn't confront such Bosses head-on at all.
Even if they were lucky enough to encounter a qualifying Boss, they could only rely on a zerg rush tactic, chipping away at the Boss's millions of HP with fixed -1 damage. The losses were so heavy that even top guilds could barely bear them.
"Yes, the Level 108 Mythic Boss [Wraith General-Nethalos]. The difficulty is extremely great." Zevran's voice carried a hint of exhaustion. "I spent 6 million Gold Coins hiring 6,000 players from other guilds to chip away at its HP. Now we're short of a core team to deal with additional damage. Bring Gareth and the others to reinforce immediately. We'll settle the score with Kalis after the residence is built."
"Right away, Guild Leader! We'll be there soon!" Although Vaelen was angry, he knew how to prioritize.
The first guild to establish a residence in the server would receive generous system benefits: 15% experience boost for all guild members, 10% increased equipment drop rate, exclusive NPC merchants and blacksmiths stationed... These benefits would allow the guild's strength to achieve a qualitative leap, far more important than a petty grudge.
As for Kalis... Once the guild residence was built and members learned "Guild Legion Skills", they could crush him whenever they wanted!
"Kalis, you just wait!" Vaelen roared one last time, choosing to respawn nearby. His figure disappeared, returning to Valorian's main city.
"Farewell! Remember to bring more people to deliver equipment next time!" Kalis called out with a smile, continuing to pick up the loot on the ground.
Shadow Claw was indeed wealthy. The 550-odd players had dropped a total of 3 Epic equipment pieces, 47 Rare equipment pieces, and over 780 Gold Coins—more profitable than defeating an Epic Boss.
He spent a full ten minutes collecting loot until his backpack was completely full, then walked toward Valorian's main city contentedly.
At this moment, a large number of players on the main city streets were still watching him, pointing and whispering, their eyes filled with admiration and curiosity:
"That's Kalis! The protagonist of the battle on the outskirts just now!"
"So strong! 1v550 and won easily—it's incredible!"
"Shadow Claw finally messed with the wrong person! What a relief!"
"I heard he advanced to the hidden class Celestial Mage. His skills have a ridiculous range, no wonder he's so overpowered!"
Kalis paid no mind to these stares and discussions—as the top-ranked player and the first to defeat multiple Bosses, he was used to being the center of attention wherever he went.
He was more focused on his attribute panel, opening it to examine carefully:
[Name]: Kalis
[Class]: Celestial Mage
[Level]: 39
[Talents]: Ultimate Amplification (Transcendental Mythic), Celestial Dominance (Legendary)
[HP]: 5890/5890
[Mana]: 472/472
[Spell Attack Power]: 261
[Physical Defense]: 76
[Spell Defense]: 121
[Strength]: 43
[Intelligence]: 153
[Constitution]: 69
[Spirit]: 62
[Agility]: 51
[Potential Points]: 0
After equipping the two new Epic pieces and several Rare items, plus the attribute boosts from advancing his class, his overall stats had improved.
However, the improvement wasn't particularly significant; the Celestial Mage's base stat growth was the same as ordinary Mages. Its true core advantage lies in the exclusive talent Celestial Dominance!
[Celestial Dominance (Legendary, Initial Form)]:
Effect: The Celestial Mage channels the power of the starry vault, increasing the range/size of all spell skills by 500% (additional 500% increase per class advancement).
Note: This talent takes effect independently and does not conflict with Ultimate Amplification.
"Length/width/radius increased by five times," not "area increased by five times." This was the root cause of Kalis's terrifying skills!
Meteor Shower had originally been 10×10 meters, now it was 50×50 meters; Star Wind had gone from a 20-meter radius to 100 meters; even the ordinary Fireball had grown from the size of a human head (20cm diameter) to a massive 1-meter diameter fireball—combined with the ten-thousandfold damage boost from Ultimate Amplification, it had created the feat of wiping out 550 players in 10 seconds.
"Beep beep beep~."
His friend list flashed suddenly. A call request came from his only friend, Lenore.
"Lenore, what's up?" Kalis answered the call.
"Whoa! Kalis, you're absolutely insane!" Lenore's exclamatory voice came through the line, filled with disbelief. "I just saw the news in a player group chat, you took down over 500 members of Shadow Claw alone on the outskirts of Valorian?!"
"Did the news spread that fast?" Kalis was a little surprised; it had been less than ten minutes since he finished looting and returned to the city, yet the news had already crossed the main city boundaries.
Lenore spoke in an exaggerated tone: "Fast? It's everywhere! The entire zone is talking about you! Some people say your final tornado spell covered several kilometers, darkening the sky like an apocalyptic storm! Others claim you summoned a Level 120 Mythic Boss as a bodyguard, it's ridiculous!"
"Those are exaggerations," Kalis explained with a laugh. "Star Wind only has a 100-meter radius. Summoning the Boss was an accident, purely a last resort."
"100-meter radius and you say 'only'?" Lenore's tone was exasperated. "Kalis, cut the crap and come help us farm a Boss! Our team has been getting destroyed by it; we've died several times and still can't beat it. You're so overpowered, come save the day!"
Kalis smiled: "Sure. I just finished my business here and have no other plans."
The conflict on the outskirts of Valorian was resolved, he had successfully advanced to the hidden class, and he didn't have time to deal with the equipment in his warehouse. Helping his friend farm a Boss to level up was a good choice.
"Which main city are you in?" he asked.
"Drakenspire. We just respawned. If you come now, we can meet at the teleportation array." Lenore replied quickly, her voice urgent.
"Respawned? What happened? Did you encounter a powerful Boss?" Kalis asked in surprise.