The bespectacled young man sat frozen, staring blankly at his interface. He couldn't believe it—he was part of the first team to clear a dungeon.
His face turned pale when his gaze drifted to the post he'd just made, mocking others about their lack of skill. The thread's popularity was skyrocketing, flooded with comments from people who shared his earlier frustration. But now, deleting the post would be like signing a confession. The forum wasn't tied to real identities, so… pretending to be dead was his only option.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder. Who the hell carried us? Six whole hours of survival? That's insane. To the outside world, it looked like their team had piggybacked on intel shared by Storm and Thunder Squad to achieve their first clear. Only the handful of them who had entered earlier knew the truth—they'd been in there long before Storm and Thunder even spawned.
Thinking back, he quickly ruled out the useless yellow-haired punk and the two clueless college kids. That left only one possibility: Tony.
The guy had been quiet, low-key, not flashy at all. But compared to the rest of the dead weight, he was the only reliable one. If they had managed to clear the dungeon, it had to be thanks to him.
Inside the system space, Tony's ears rang with the crisp chime of a notification.
[Congratulations! You have cleared the Trial Dungeon: Blood Battle at Lin Fortress. Evaluation: A. Rewards: Growth +50, Strength Crystal x5, Agility Crystal x5, Constitution Crystal x5, Spirit Crystal x5.]
[First Clear Bonus: Your contribution far exceeded all other players. Additional rewards granted: Strength Crystal x10, Agility Crystal x10, Constitution Crystal x10, Spirit Crystal x10, Skill - Sword Mastery, Material - Frost Essence Crystal.]
The rewards materialized directly in his inventory, ready to be claimed.
Tony blinked, genuinely surprised. Just one successful run and he'd gained 50 Growth Points? That meant one more clear, and he could hit the threshold for a first-tier promotion.
The A rating made sense. He had taken far too long—by the time he'd finally slain the boss, the sky was already lighting. Without that final kill, the main mission completion alone would've earned him a miserable E or F.
There were two ways to clear the Blood Battle at Lin Fortress. One was simply surviving until dawn. The other is killing the boss before sunrise. The first path was safer but pathetic in rewards, while the second brought a flood of benefits. Tony's "A" score was just barely a passing grade.
He opened his bag and examined the loot. Four types of attribute crystals first.
Strength, Agility, Constitution, Spirit. Each crystal boosted a single attribute by one point. For awakened players, this was the bread and butter of power growth.
No hesitation—Tony crushed them all. Four beams of light shot into his body, warmth surging through his veins as his stats jumped:
[Strength: 108 | Agility: 107 | Constitution: 108 | Spirit: 107]
Zero-tier players are normally capped at 100 in any stat. Tony's attributes had already broken into first-tier territory, making him stronger than most newly awakened warriors in the world.
Next was the mysterious Frost Essence Crystal:
[Quality: Common]
[Type: Material]
[Harvested from beneath the glaciers of the Northern Seas. Extremely durable, ideal for forging weapons.]
He instantly recognized it—the boss's blade had been forged from this very material. Unfortunately, it was useless to him for now.
Then came the true treasure: a skill book.
[Sword Mastery]
[Quality: Fine]
[Type: Passive Skill]
[You can proficiently wield any type of sword. Damage and effectiveness increased by 10%.]
"Damn," Tony muttered, eyes lighting up. The boss's swordsmanship had been terrifying, his movements sharp and precise. Now, that very mastery had dropped for him. This was priceless.
Even better, its quality was ranked Fine. From what Tony had learned, everything in this system came graded: Common, Fine, Rare, Perfect, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic. In a Zero-tier dungeon, Fine was already the ceiling.
"Big score," he said with a grin.
Zero-tier players could only learn three skills. With his slots still empty, he immediately hit Learn.
A rush of memories and sensations slammed into him like a tidal wave. Sword drills under a scorching sun, relentless sparring, calloused hands gripping a blade day and night. It felt as though he'd trained obsessively for years, perfecting every slash, every thrust, every counter. When the flood of knowledge settled, his eyes gleamed with cold confidence.
With a proper blade in hand, Tony now believed he could challenge the boss at full strength and win.
"Just need a good sword," he muttered, glancing regretfully at the shattered remains of the boss's weapon. It had been a fine piece of craftsmanship, leagues above anything a beginner could hope for. But dungeon loot didn't carry over—he'd left empty-handed.
"Next time," he said with a crooked smile, "maybe I'll strip everything off that bastard, even his underwear."
He shook his head, chuckling. "Exit Dungeon."
Back in his small New Haven apartment, Tony immediately tried to queue for another run. With his new stats and skill, one more dungeon would get him enough Growth Points to ascend to First Tier.
But this time, the matchmaking dragged on endlessly. A minute passed. Five minutes. Nothing.
"What the hell?" He canceled, switched dungeons. Same problem.
Pulling up the forum, he finally understood. Official messages had gone out urging players to avoid random matchmaking. Now, most people only enter dungeons with full five-man teams, drastically cutting the pool of solo queue players.
Tony rubbed his temples. Sure, he could wait and eventually get a team, but for higher-tier dungeons, solo players would be almost completely excluded. He'd be stuck.
The conclusion was obvious. He needed his team.
Logging into the Awakened Forum, he browsed the latest posts. His first clear had set the community ablaze. At first, the bespectacled fool's thread had stirred drama, but once the official records revealed their six-hour survival time, nobody believed Storm and Thunder had carried them.
The theory now circulating was that they had survived by exploiting stealth-type talents. Many suspected other "rats" were still hiding in dungeons, waiting until morning to auto-clear. In other words, this first clear was of low value compared to a real boss kill like Storm and Thunder aimed for.
Tony didn't bother arguing. Instead, he registered under his real name and made a post:
"First Clear Captain offering carries. One veteran guide, four open slots. Guarantee dungeon completion. First come, first served."
The word "First Clear" did its job. The thread instantly filled with comments:
"Bump!"
"Reserving front row for screenshots."
"Selling ad space here."
But not a single person asked to join.
Tony frowned, scrolling down to find out why. Then he saw it—one of the useless teammates from earlier had already spilled their story. Their entire group had lain flat from the start, contributing nothing, earning a miserable 10 Growth Points. The base reward for tagging along was pathetic; even repeating the dungeon ten times wouldn't add up to a tier promotion.
Without the First Clear bonus, his team was being mocked as the Death Squad. Sure, it cleared dungeons, but the gains were so meager that nobody wanted in.
Tony stared at the screen, his expression twitching. So this is what my reputation's worth, huh?