Half an hour later, John arrived in the east district of Novice Village.
This area was a decaying swamp, the worst place in the wilderness for newbie-level grinding.
The monsters here offered minimal experience and dropped almost no coins.
Their only purpose was to annoy players.
The creatures looked like gooey black sacks covered in tar.
They had no facial features or limbs, slithering across the ground.
Their only attack was to spray a sticky, oil-like substance.
Any player touched by the substance would have their movement speed reduced by 50%.
Running became a chore, and fighting yielded minimal experience.
They were universally despised.
But John came here for a crazy experiment.
He cast a Detection skill, and information quickly appeared:
[Tarblob] Lv.5
[HP]: 1500
[Attack]: 100
[Defense]: 200
[Skill]: Oil Spray
The entire swamp was almost entirely populated by these tarblobs.
"So many… if this goes according to plan, it should be enough," John thought, his eyes glinting with intent.
He approached the edge of the swamp, the pungent stench of marsh gas hitting him.
From his backpack, he pulled out a burning flask.
[Burning Flask]
[Effect]: Throws to ignite a 5×5 area, dealing 10 damage per second for 5 seconds.
[Note]: Burn duration increases in special terrain.
…
If used normally, dozens of these would be needed just to kill a few tarblobs.
John didn't hesitate.
He immediately modified the values of the flask using system points.
The burning flask's power skyrocketed.
[Burning Flask]
[Effect]: Throws to ignite a 50×50 area, dealing 100 damage per second for 50 seconds.
The modified flask was no longer just a flask—it was a fire bomb.
John aimed at a tarblob, activated Boundary Break, and hurled it.
The fire bomb arced perfectly, striking the target.
Crack!
The horrifying flames engulfed the tarblob.
Triggered by the swamp gas, the fire spread even further.
Almost instantly, the entire area became a sea of fire.
[-119!]
[-121!]
[...]
The tarblobs' bodies writhed in flames, numbers of damage flashing continuously above them.
Burning ignored defense, and combined with the marsh gas, damage stacked rapidly.
None of the dozen tarblobs in the area survived; their HP dropped visibly.
The air reeked of burning marsh gas.
Within mere seconds, the first tarblob turned to ash with a piercing scream.
[You killed "Tarblob Lv.5", Experience +400!]
Lv.5 tarblobs only gave 100 more experience than Lv.3 wolves, but that didn't matter—John wasn't here to grind.
He focused on the remaining dozen or so tarblobs engulfed in flames.
As each was incinerated, a stream of notifications appeared:
[You killed "Tarblob Lv.5", Experience +400!]
[You killed…]
His experience bar skyrocketed.
Amid the stream of white notifications, two blue ones suddenly appeared:
[You plundered D-level talent Attack Slow!]
[Attack Slow: Any hit has a 30% chance to reduce target speed by 10% for 3 seconds]
[You plundered D-level passive skill Damage Splash!]
[Damage Splash: All attacks deal 10% of base damage to units within a 3×3 area around the target]
"Exactly the two talents I expected!" John smirked.
As anticipated, these traits were inherent to tarblobs.
By plundering, both talents became his.
This was the reason he came to the swamp.
He surveyed the dense tarblobs, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
"In that case… time to harvest!"
John pulled out the rest of his burning flasks.
Using system points, he upgraded them all to fire bombs.
He threw them tirelessly, one after another.
Each throw ignited a massive fire in the swamp.
John threw over 50 fire bombs before stopping.
Sizzle, sizzle!
The swamp, spanning ten kilometers, had become a blazing inferno.
The swamp gas kept igniting, producing thick black smoke across the area.
The tarblobs inside panicked, struggling and screeching, unable to escape the hellish flames.
[-179!]
[-200!]
[-198!]
[...]
Numbers of damage flashed continuously, nearly filling John's vision.
One by one, tarblobs turned to ash.
Their deaths granted John massive experience and talents.
[You killed Tarblob Lv.6, Experience +700!]
[You plundered D-level talent Attack Slow!]
[You killed Tarblob Lv.5, Experience +400!]
[You plundered D-level talent Damage Splash!]
[You…]
His experience bar surged.
Levels climbed rapidly: Lv.3, 4, 5… all the way to Lv.10.
As the swamp fire gradually died down, almost no tarblobs remained—only ash.
Even though each tarblob gave little experience, killing so many at once had catapulted John to Lv.10.
In the game, each level granted 5 free attribute points.
He now had 90 free points.
After consideration, John allocated all points to Agility—an assassin's most vital stat.
But the greatest reward was the D-level talents he plundered.
Seeing a dense collection of D-level talents in his panel, John wasted no time.
He activated Universal Synthesis.
[Consumed 10 D-level "Attack Slow" talents, synthesized 1 C-level talent "Slow Aura"]
[Consumed 10 D-level "Damage Splash" skills, synthesized 1 C-level skill "Damage Spread"]
[Consumed 10 C-level "Slow Aura", synthesized…]
Notifications rang incessantly.
John synthesized the massive pile of D-level talents, level by level.
Finally, two golden notifications appeared:
[Consumed 10 A-level "Absolute Speed", synthesized S-level talent Absolute Stillness]
[Absolute Stillness: Any attack that hits a target disables its movement for 1 hour!]
[Consumed 10 A-level "Overwhelming Damage", synthesized S-level skill Annihilation of All]
[Annihilation of All: Any attack that hits a target deals equivalent damage to all enemies in a 50×50 area around it!]
Two S-level talents were already extremely powerful.
But John felt they still didn't match his potential.
He decisively used system points to modify them:
[Absolute Stillness: Any attack that hits a target disables its movement for 168 hours! (Reached current rank modification cap)]
[Annihilation of All: Any attack that hits a target deals equivalent damage to all enemies in a 500×500 area! (Reached current rank modification cap)]
The modified S-level talents were now equivalent to standard SSS-level powers.