"Frost Spike Frenzy!"
The incantation didn’t just break the silence; it shattered the atmosphere. Nina, the SS-rank Glacial Arcanist, stood atop the Prismatic Span as a localized hurricane of frozen death erupted at her command. From a distance, it looked like a shimmering veil of white; up close, it was a meat grinder of a million jagged shards.
The vortex roared across the bridge, devouring everything in its path. Players caught in the wake didn't just die—they were erased. Bodies were turned into crimson pincushions or shredded into unidentifiable viscera before they could even scream. By the time the wind died down, the Span was a graveyard of jagged ice and red slush.
Nina took a single, deliberate step forward. From beneath the bridge’s crystalline surface, a massive Glacial Surge rose like a living pillar, hoisting her into the air. She tapped her oversized staff against the void.
"Glacial Bind!"
Frost bloomed in a hundred-meter radius. The front line of charging melee players suddenly found the ground turned to slick, treacherous mirrors. Their joints seized; the cold bit into their marrow, freezing the very thoughts in their heads. They stood there, paralyzed statues of meat, as Nina’s vanguard swarmed past her to finish the slaughter.
The world was watching. In the corner of the global broadcast, the live-chat was a chaotic blur of terror.
“Holy sht, are these people even playing the same game as us?”
“I’m glad I stayed home. I wouldn't even be a speedbump to these monsters.”
“The gap… it’s too much. I think I just pissed myself.”
“We’re ants. We’re literally just ants compared to a Divinely Gifted Prodigy.”
“I heard the top-tiers get a massive Attribute Point dump after their job change. Like, game-breaking levels.”
“How much is 'massive' exactly?”
The answer didn't stay a mystery for long. On the official forums, a user known as 'The Oracle' had already dropped a bombshell post: [URGENT] The Truth Behind Talent Tiers: F-rank to SSS-rank Attribute Point Bonuses.
The post was a surgical breakdown of the power gap. It wasn't a slope; it was a cliff.
F-rank Talent: +10 Attribute Points
E-rank Talent: +20 AP
D-rank Talent: +30 AP
C-rank Talent: +40 AP
B-Tier Talent: +60 AP
A-rank Talent: +100 AP
But the numbers turned obscene once they hit the true elites. An S-rank doubled the previous tier with 200 AP. An SS-rank like Nina netted 300 AP. At the absolute peak of the food chain, an SSS-rank started their new life with a staggering 400-point advantage.
It wasn't just the Talent, though. The Oracle explained the "Affinity Multiplier." If a B-Tier Gifted landed a B-Tier job with an Affinity Score of 60+, they got the full 60 points. If they settled for a C-rank job, their bonus was gutted. Conversely, a B-Tier player lucky enough to snag an A-rank job could push their bonus toward the 100-point mark.
The forum went nuclear. Players everywhere scrambled to check their own stats, realizing with sinking hearts that the math checked out.
“It’s real,” Ray muttered, staring at his screen while the broadcast flickered in the background. He’d done the math. Between his Talent and his job affinity, he’d gained about 70 points. Caden was sitting just above 60.
Ray’s throat went dry. “If Nina is an SS-rank Glacial Arcanist… she’s sitting on at least a 300-point lead. 300 points.” He sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s not a player. That’s a walking boss monster.”
“What about Calder?” someone in their group asked. “Does he have 300 too?”
Ray shook his head, his eyes glued to the carnage on screen. “Who knows? Whatever the number is, he’s in a different stratosphere. If we’re lucky, he’ll secure a few Unclaimed Wastes for Zone 911. If we’re unlucky… well, we’re just watching the gods play.”
Banner War: Warground 95
The battlefield was a symphony of violence. Screams, magical detonations, and the rhythmic thud of steel on flesh created a cacophony that made the viewers' skin crawl.
Two figures dominated the landscape. Ellis, wielding the massive Trident of the Tidegod, moved like a force of nature, while Nina turned the battlefield into a frozen wasteland. In thirty minutes, their combined kill count exceeded two thousand. Across the entire zone, thirty thousand players had already been liquidated—nearly a fifth of the total combatants. It was bloodier than the Beast Surges of the Novice Trials.
At the edge of the Prismatic Span, Calder stood atop a literal wall of corpses. He didn't move. He didn't participate in the frantic scrambling. He just watched, a cold sneer playing on his lips. Whenever someone was foolish enough to venture near his macabre perch, his six Chain Scourges would lash out, adding another body to the pile.
“Idiots,” Calder hissed.
The Eternal Convergence had been active for only a few days, and the Azura casualties were already astronomical. Of the original eight billion players, a massive chunk had been thinned out in the trials. Now, the survivors were throwing themselves into the meat grinder for a chance at power they couldn't possibly wield.
The historians of the future would call this "The Fool’s Civil War." It was the ultimate delusion: thousands of mediocre men believing they were the protagonists of this new world, convinced they could become warlords in the chaos. They never stopped to ask if they were the one-in-a-million, or just one of the million.
Now, the regret was setting in.
“Mom, I don't want to die!”
“Please! I’ll give you all my Chrono! Just let me go!”
“Stay back! Stay away from me!”
The cries of the dying echoed across the Prismatic Span, but there was no mercy to be found. This wasn't a competition for the masses. Site 95 was a playground for monsters, and the "ordinary" people were nothing more than fodder.
The leaderboard told the story:
1. Ellis: SSS-Tier Conquest Banner x1
2. Nina: SSS-Tier Conquest Banner x1
3. Kaito Miura: SS-Tier Conquest Banner x2
4. Edward: SS-Tier Conquest Banner x1
5. Tyren: SS-Tier Conquest Banner x1
...
10. Hodgson: SS-Tier Conquest Banner x1
The top ten were already hoarding the high-tier banners. Out of the 50 banners available, nearly half were already claimed. While 200 Novice Zones were competing, only a handful would leave with anything.
The monsters weren't just individuals, either. Zone 4000—the Indic Sovereignty—had deployed a phalanx of thirty A-rank Grapplers. Topless, bronzed, and massive, they moved as a single, unstoppable unit, crushing anything in their path as they neared an SSS-Tier Resource island.
Then there were the wildcards. Kaito Miura, the Sword Saint, whose blades were a blur of lethal precision. And Edward, a shadow who left a trail of silent, bloodless corpses in his wake.
Suddenly, the two biggest predators on the map collided.
“Hahahaha! Move it, kid! This island is mine!”
Ellis roared as he rode a towering crest of seawater toward the central island. With a thunderous laugh, he hurled the Trident of the Tidegod. The weapon tore through the air like a cruise missile, aimed straight at Nina’s head.
Nina didn't flinch. She didn't even cast a spell. She swung her massive staff with a grunt of exertion, meeting the trident mid-air.
CLANG!
The impact sent a shockwave across the water. Nina braced her feet, redirected the momentum, and sent the trident whistling back toward its master. As an SS-rank Arcanist, her physical stats weren't just for show.
“You want to die?” she asked, her staff glowing with a lethal blue light.
Ellis caught his weapon, a wide, predatory grin splitting his face. He didn't look threatened; he looked delighted. “Don't be like that, Nina. Why don't we team up? There are eighteen SSS-Tier banners on this central cluster.”
A public conspiracy. The viewers held their breath. If the two strongest players on the field shook hands, it was game over for everyone else.
Nina narrowed her eyes. “Eighteen? How do we split them?”
“Eight each,” Ellis said, his eyes gleaming. “The last two? Whoever gets there first.”
It was a simple, brutal pact. They both wanted the ten-banner cap, and they were willing to kill everyone else to get close to it.
“Deal,” Nina said.
Ellis threw his head back and laughed. “I knew I liked you!” He paused, his gaze raking over her body before he gave a suggestive thrust of his hips. “Interested in a private party after we wrap this up?”
Nina glanced down at him with icy disdain. “Too small. Not interested.”
Ellis didn't even blink at the insult. He just flashed a brilliant smile and waved a hand. A massive wave surged toward the center of the island, dragging an SSS-Tier Conquest Banner out of its pedestal. He didn't take it for himself; he let the water carry it to Nina’s feet.
“A gift for my new partner,” he said with a mocking bow.
Nina snatched the banner without a word.
“Alright!” Ellis shouted, turning his gaze toward the trembling players surrounding them. “Let’s get this party started!”
He crashed into the crowd like a tidal wave. Nina followed a split-second later on a wake of frost. The harvest had begun.