Power-leveling ten recruits at once was a slog, but there was a certain brute-force efficiency to numbers. Once the "pups" hit level twenty, they were finally ready to descend from the safety of the Rampart. They were a talented bunch—a few of them possessed innate gifts that would actually make them worth something in the long run.
With a cascade of buffs cycling through his icons, Ash Valor’s attack speed hit a rhythmic blur. It wasn't long before the recruits could hold their own, carving through the chaff while Chitin darted between them, snatching up the occasional kill count. It took six months of calculated grinding to get this batch up to speed.
Half a year is a lifetime in the apocalypse. Drake Ward and the others were already knocking on the door of Level 70. Back at the Guild Grounds, the defenses had seen a massive overhaul. The Rampart was now Level 2, supported by several Level 2 Defense Towers. With a rotating guard of Level 70+ powerhouses always on duty, the place was a fortress.
Among the guild members, Ash had earned a reputation as a borderline sociopath when it came to grinding. Drake and the inner circle hadn't helped matters, frequently talking up his exploits until everyone in the guild knew the name Ash Valor.
But after six months of babysitting, Ash was done. He had finally hit the threshold he’d been eyeing for years.
[System Notification: Total Kill Count has reached 10,000,000. Achievement Unlocked: Bloodthirst Incarnate.]
[Reward: Special Ability – Lifesteal (Passive). Every attack restores HP equal to 3% of damage dealt.]
Ash stared at the prompt, a sharp breath escaping his lungs. Three percent? For a high-frequency attacker like him, that wasn't just a buff—it was a god-tier survival tool. He could finally stop relying on dedicated healers. As long as he was dealing damage, he was invincible against the attrition of the swarm.
[Talent Evolution: One in a Million has reached Level 3.]
[One in a Million (L3): For every 10,000 enemies slain, gain 20 random attribute points.]
This was the engine of his growth. Over the last six months, he had racked up roughly 3,600 attribute points just from the grind. By raw numbers alone, he was now firmly in the territory of a C-Rank professional.
Status: Ash Valor
Level: 55
Total Attributes: 18,236 | Attack: 9,606 | HP: 25,000 | Defense: 1,425
Range: 110m | Attack Speed: 0.91 | Movement Speed: 17
Skills: Septuple Shot, Armorpiercer (L2, +20% Dmg), Crushing Blow (10% chance for 2x Dmg).
His attack growth was steady, but the random distribution had significantly bolstered his survivability—his HP and defense were no longer the "glass" in "glass cannon." Between his Soulbound Weapon and the new Lifesteal, he was becoming a self-sustaining unit. Archers usually crumbled the moment the front line broke, but give Ash a few more years of this, and he’d be a fortress in leather armor.
There was only one problem: he was broke. After selling every scrap of material in his inventory, his balance sat at a pitiful 8,326 Gold.
"Maybe I should carry another batch?" he mused, then immediately shook his head. His own level had stagnated for too long.
He opened his friends list. The names were fewer now—the reality of their world meant people vanished every day—but the survivors were thriving.
"Victor Ward and Lily Mercer are both Level 69 already," he noted. They lacked flashy talents, but they had the kind of grit that let them stare down the abyss without blinking. They were currently leading Level 6 Difficulty Dungeon raids for the guild, occasionally tagging along with the elites for Level 7 runs. They weren't rushing the Level 70 cap; they were building a foundation.
I won't bother them, Ash decided. He was strong enough to go solo now. He needed gold, and he needed his equipment to evolve. Chitin needed to reach Silver-tier, and his Soulbound Weapon was overdue for a Bronze-tier upgrade.
The time for charity was over. He had a path to walk.
Ash teleported back to Southhaven, but he didn't head for the dungeons. Instead, he walked straight through the city gates into the wilds.
"Time to put you to work, Chitin," he whispered, triggering a Phantom Summon.
The area within a mile of the city was a sea of Level 0 trash mobs. Newbies were everywhere, testing their mettle under the shadow of the Rampart. Most of them took one look at Ash and assumed he was a Summoner.
"Hey man, how'd you get so many summons?" one kid asked, eyeing the swarm of spiders. "Want to party up? We’re clearing a path!"
Ash had his info hidden, appearing as nothing more than a nameless shadow. "No thanks. I’m heading deeper."
He didn't want to steal kills from the beginners. He pushed through the crowd until the mobs started getting denser. Two miles out, the landscape was a crawling carpet of Level 20 monsters.
"Chitin, you’re an engine of destruction now. Stay here and farm," Ash commanded. With its ten clones, Chitin could maintain a perpetual cycle of slaughter. As long as a world-boss didn't wander through, Chitin would stay here, churning out kill counts for Ash's talent.
It was the ultimate Summoner exploit. He’d seen Zane do it—park the pets and find a comfortable chair. Ash didn't have a chair; he had a bow. He began carving a path forward, hunting for the things that actually dropped money: Elites and Bosses.
The twenty-mile radius around Southhaven was guild territory—a massive expanse dotted with outposts. Because of the constant guild presence, Level 70+ bosses were non-existent here. For Ash, the Level 0 fodder couldn't even bypass his defense. He walked through the swarm like a god moving through insects.
Every volley of his Septuple Shot claimed seven lives. He didn't even stop to look at the notifications.
[Kill Count +7 | Lifesteal +540 HP]
With his increased attack speed, he could easily clear 20,000 kills a day just by standing still. Combined with Chitin’s output, the attribute points were rolling in. For a second, he considered just staying here and becoming a stat-stick, but the sight of the endless horizon changed his mind.
There were just too many of them. No matter how many millions he killed, the tide never receded. Even at Level 55, the sheer infinity of the Level 0 swarm was enough to make a man feel despair.
"I need a mobility skill," he grumbled, kicking aside a monster's corpse. "Treading through this is like walking through waist-deep mud."
He spotted a Level 20 Elite in the distance. He didn't care if it only dropped Iron-tier junk; everything had a price.
Thrum.
His spirit arrow crossed a hundred meters in a heartbeat.
[Kill Count +1 | Exp +0 | Guild Contribution +1 | 40 Silver]
[Obtained: Shadowsteel Helm]
It was easy money. High-level players couldn't be bothered with this zone, and low-level players died if they got surrounded. Ash was the only one who benefited from the sheer volume of kills.
"Next target: that Level 10 Boss."
The boss was a joke—a few thousand HP that vanished in a single shot.
[Kill Count +1 | 20 Silver | Obtained: Bronze-Tier Belt | Contribution +1]
He dumped the trash directly into the Exchange. After three hours, he’d downed six Elites and three Bosses for a total profit of 3 Gold. Not a fortune, but he’d hit the 10,000-kill threshold for the day, triggering another 20 random attribute points.
"Too slow," he muttered. He pulled up the Universal Skill shop. He needed a way to bypass the clutter.
[Blink: Consumes 100 Mana. Teleport 10 meters in any direction. Cooldown: 10 seconds.]
For most, the mana cost was a deterrent. For Ash, who was sitting on a mana pool of nearly 30,000, it was nothing. He could Blink all day and never feel the drain.
"Two thousand gold... fine. Take it."
It was a steep price for a basic utility skill, but as Ash integrated the Skill Tome, he felt his body grow lighter. He tested it immediately, his form flickering ten meters ahead, bypassing a wall of monsters.
Flash.
He appeared in a clearing, let off a volley that shredded a Level 30 Elite, and then waited for the cooldown. It was the perfect rhythm: Blink, kill, wait, Blink.
By the end of the first day, he had triggered One in a Million four times. Eighty attribute points in twenty-four hours.
A Summon is an eternal machine. As long as it has HP, it doesn't need sleep. Chitin was a nightmare of efficiency in the low-level zones, aided occasionally by passing healers who threw a stray buff its way just to see what the hell the spider-swarm was doing.
By day four, Ash had reached the ten-mile mark from Southhaven. The mobs here were Level 40—strong enough to actually chip at his health. Without Lifesteal, he would have been forced to retreat within ten minutes. Now? He was a mountain.
[Notification: Weekly Guild Dividend Received.]
[Contribution Points: 210,000 | Reward: 500 Gold]
Ash stared at the gold. "I love this guild."
The Skystrider Guild's growth was finally paying dividends to its members. Combined with his hunting, his balance finally clicked over the 10,000 Gold mark.
He didn't hesitate. He pulled out his Soulbound Weapon and initiated the evolution.
[System: Soulbound Weapon upgraded to Bronze-Tier. Cost: 10,000 Gold.]
Bronze Bow (Exclusive/Soulbound)
Attributes: All Stats +40 | Attack +400 | Range +20 | Attack Speed +0.3 | Exp Bonus: 30%
Effect 1: 10% Critical Strike Chance (+800 Dmg).
Effect 2: 10% Chance to Ignore Defense.
Effect 3: Reduce target’s Defense by 10% on hit.
Upgrade Requirements: 10M Exp, 100,000 Gold, 10 Enhancement Gems, 10 Refined Gems, 1 Beast Sinew.
Ash whistled. His range was now 120 meters, and his attack speed had reached the golden threshold of 1.0. The stat boost was massive, and the defense reduction was a game-changer for high-tier bosses.
Of course, the next upgrade cost 100,000 Gold. "That’s a problem for future-Ash," he joked.
He tested the new power on a Level 45 Abyssal Widow. With the Armor Break effect proc-ing, the elite monster was dead in under five minutes.
Ash began a slow, grinding circuit around Southhaven. The city was massive; it would take him a year to circle the perimeter at this pace. But if he could trigger One in a Million four times a day, he’d have an extra 20,000 attribute points by the time he finished the lap.
[Achievement Unlocked: Elite Hunter (100 Elites Slain).]
[Reward: All Stats +10 | 10 Gold]
"There it is," Ash grinned. "If Elites give achievements, Bosses must have them too."
His routine became a rhythmic obsession. Sixteen hours of slaughter, then back to the city to rest and restock. He ignored the party invites from groups heading out to hunt Level 60 bosses. He didn't want to split the loot, and he didn't want to slow down.
He was deep in thought about whether to push into the Level 50 mob zones when a scream pierced the air.
"Help! Someone help me!"
It was a human voice. Ash had been helped by strangers before; he wasn't the type to let a fellow Awakener die if it was within his power to stop it. He used a sequence of Blinks, flickering through the trees until he saw her.
A woman in white Cleric robes was sprinting through the trees, a staff clutched in her hand. She was frantically casting Healing Touch on herself as she ran.
Ash frowned. She was Level 62. Why was a Level 62 Cleric running for her life from trash mobs? There wasn't even a Boss behind her. Clerics were usually the most protected members of any team. Where was her vanguard?
"Over here!" Ash shouted, drawing his bow. "Run toward me! I'll clear the path!"
The woman was slow, hampered by the sheer volume of monsters clogging her path. Her HP was dangerously low—below 30%. It made no sense. Even with basic attacks, a Level 62 should be able to swat these mobs aside.
"Quick! Save me!" she shrieked, her eyes wide with terror.
"Relax, you're fine," Ash said, stepping forward.
She skidded to a halt near him, but as she looked at him, her relief turned to pure horror. "Wait... you're only Level 55?"
Ash felt a twinge of annoyance. "Is Level 55 not enough for you?"
"Run!" she screamed, her voice cracking. "You have to run right now or you'll die too!"
Ash didn't move. He notched an arrow, his gaze shifting to the shadows behind her. "It’s not that easy to kill me. Today, I'm going to show you exactly what a Level 55 can do."