[Ding! Welcome to Starter Village No. 616!]
Daniel's vision blurred for a moment.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing in a stone-paved plaza.
The buildings around him were all medieval in style—wooden stalls, thatched roofs, and in the distance, a blacksmith's shop ringing nonstop with clanging metal.
If not for the semi-transparent system panel floating overhead, most people would probably have thought they had been transported straight into the Middle Ages.
Daniel instinctively swept his gaze over the surroundings.
The plaza was packed shoulder to shoulder with newly spawned players. Some were still touching their own faces in disbelief, some were squatting down to pry at the floor tiles, and one guy was hugging the scarecrow at the village entrance while shouting, "Mom, look at me!"
[World Channel]
"Holy crap, this is way too real! It actually hurts when I pinch myself!"
"Anyone want to party up? I've got ten years of MMO experience—I can speedrun Starter Village!"
"Forget that, tell me if this game lets you kill people! I wanna see what being red-named feels like!"
"Help! I spawned next to a manure cart! The smell is insane!!!"
Daniel's mouth twitched as he looked at the flood of messages.
Two hundred years ago, he had been one of these clueless newbies too, yelling at NPCs for half the day and hoping to trigger some hidden quest.
Now, though...
He directly closed the World Channel and opened his character panel.
[Player: Faustus]
[Level: 1]
[Class: Archer]
[Talent: Millionfold Boost (SSS-rank Unique Hidden)]
He opened his inventory.
Inside was the standard starter bow.
[Attack +3, Range: 20 meters, Reload Time: 1.5 seconds]
[Starter Arrows ×10]
As crude as ever.
Daniel stared at the starter bow. The wooden grip looked cheap and fragile.
But as he looked at that piece of junk, his eyes lit up.
Wait.
If he could sell the starter bow and get a millionfold return, then...
Worth a try.
Without another word, Daniel turned and ran toward the small shop at the edge of the plaza.
It was the only NPC-run general store in Starter Village. A sign hung outside the entrance:
We buy all kinds of materials at fair prices!
Behind the counter stood a squinting old man with a line of text floating above his head.
[General Merchant · Grey]
"Boss, I want to sell something!"
Daniel slapped the starter shortbow onto the counter.
"Oh?"
Old Grey narrowed his eyes and looked it over. "A starter bow, huh? Purchase price... 1 copper coin."
"Uh... sold!"
Grey froze for a moment, probably because he had never seen such a bizarre newbie before.
Still, he fished out a single copper coin from under the counter and handed it over.
At that exact moment, a burst of laughter erupted nearby.
Daniel turned his head and saw a circle of players behind him pointing and whispering.
"No way, did I just see that right? This guy sold his starter weapon?"
"He sold his bow right at the beginning? What's he planning to do, punch monsters to death?"
"Hahahahaha, I'm dying! Has he gone broke already? What can one copper coin even do?"
"He's probably a total noob who doesn't know basic game mechanics. An Archer without a weapon is just dead weight."
"Buddy, take it back while you still can. Once the NPC refuses refunds, you'll be crying."
Daniel swept a glance over them and merely nodded calmly.
[Ding! Detected player has sold an item. SSS-rank Talent — Millionfold Boost activated!]
[Sold Item: Starter Shortbow (Common-grade). Millionfold Boost in progress... Please choose enhancement direction: Quantity or Quality!]
Daniel frowned.
Who the hell would choose to receive one million starter bows?
[Ding! Congratulations, player has obtained: 100 Gold Coins!]
[Ding! Congratulations, player has obtained: Moon Reaper (Legendary-grade)!]
"100 gold coins!"
Daniel took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart.
The exchange rate between copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins was 1:1000.
Which meant...
As long as it was something obtained after a sale, even currency could trigger Millionfold Boost!
"Legendary-grade weapon!!"
But compared to the legendary-grade weapon, those one hundred gold coins suddenly seemed almost insignificant!
In the world of Stellar, weapon grades were divided into:
Common-grade, Bronze-grade, Iron-grade, Silver-grade, Gold-grade, Platinum-grade, Blackgold-grade, Epic-grade, Legendary-grade, Supreme-grade!
All grades below Gold-grade were still within the bounds of ordinary understanding.
But from Gold-grade onward, weapon power became more and more absurd.
Especially Epic-grade and above—those could already be called divine weapons, casually granting attributes on the level of plucking stars and shooting down moons!
At that point, it was no longer a matter of "too valuable to buy."
It was a matter of barely ever seeing one at all.
Even during the final stage of the war against the Evil God, the number of Legendary-grade weapons in the hands of humanity could be counted on one's fingers.
As for Supreme-grade?
No one had ever even seen one.
And yet now, right at the very start, he had obtained a Legendary-grade weapon.
Even Daniel himself was stunned.
He opened his inventory.
Lying quietly inside was a longbow of pure silver-white, glowing faintly with a soft radiance.
[Moon Reaper (Legendary-grade)]
[Level: 1 (Can Grow)]
[Base Attack Power +500. Each hit additionally deals 5% of the target's max HP as bonus damage!]
[Skill 1 — Infinite Rapidfire: No reloading required. Draw and shoot instantly. Attack speed depends entirely on the player's hand speed!]
[Skill 2 — Explosive Arrow: Arrows explode upon hitting the target. Explosion damage equals 100% of the sum of the player's four core attributes. Explosion radius: 5 meters.]
[Skill 3 — Attribute Amplification: Every point of Strength / Agility / Constitution / Intelligence grants an additional 10 Attack Power.]
[Note: This weapon cannot be dropped, traded, or destroyed.]
[Description: A divine weapon left behind from the age of Ragnarok. Once wielded by the great sage of the Elven Godrace, it pierced through three planes with a single arrow. Later, it was redeemed from a general store by a humble human for 1 copper coin.]
...
Daniel's breathing quickened.
He stared at the bow in silence for a full ten seconds.
Then he quietly closed the inventory, his face completely expressionless.
The people at the entrance were still laughing.
"Oh man, this guy's gone stupid. He's just staring at his inventory in a daze!"
"He's probably regretting it now, hahaha! Sold his entire future for one copper coin!"
"Hurry up, screenshot it! Post it in World Channel—Starter Village has produced a true genius!"
Daniel lifted his head and glanced at them.
He was in too good a mood to bother with them.
Instead, he turned back to Old Grey.
"Boss, do you buy arrows too?"
Grey raised a brow. Although surprised, he still nodded.
"Starter arrows are sold in bundles of ten. One bundle buys for 1 copper coin."
Daniel immediately sold all ten arrows in his inventory and got another copper coin.
[Ding! Millionfold Boost activated. Please choose enhancement direction...]
Daniel thought for a moment.
This time, he chose Quantity Boost.
After all, no matter how good arrows were, they were still consumables. He had no interest in wasting one-time divine arrows on trash mobs.
[Item successfully sold: Starter Arrows. Enhancement return in progress...]
[Congratulations, player has obtained: 100 Gold Coins! Standard Arrows ×1,000,000!]
Very quickly, his inventory space was neatly stacked with one million arrows.
The corners of Daniel's mouth couldn't help but rise.
One million arrows!
Even if he fired thirty arrows per second, it would still take him nearly ten straight hours to use them all up!
And yet the people beside him were still laughing.
"Hahahaha, this idiot sold his arrows too! He sold all ten starting arrows—what's he gonna use to kill monsters now? Love?"
"No, wait, look at his expression. Why is he smiling?"
"Hold on... the guy's actually pretty handsome. He's not secretly crazy, is he...?"
Daniel completely ignored them.
He tried taking out some of the arrows in his inventory and selling them again.
[Beep! This item cannot be sold!]
As expected.
The system wasn't about to let him abuse an infinite nesting exploit.
He closed his inventory, turned around, and walked straight out.
"Hey! Bro! Where are you going without a weapon?"
"Seriously, how about this—you call me big bro and I'll carry you through some small mobs!"
Daniel didn't even look back.
They weren't people from the same world at all.
There was no need to waste words.
...
At the northwest corner of Starter Village, beneath an old scholar tree—
A young man in a gray mage robe was squatting there.
He was holding a book, but his eyes kept drifting toward the passing players. Floating above his head was a line of text.
[Main City Magic Academy Student · Adrian]
Daniel walked over and spoke directly.
"Hello. I'd like to accept a commissioned quest."
Adrian raised his head and looked him over, a trace of disdain flashing through his eyes.
"Get lost. I'm contemplating life."
Daniel pulled out 12 copper coins and handed them over.
Every player started with 10 copper coins in initial funds, plus the 2 he had earned from selling items.
Adrian's eyes lit up instantly.
No matter how small the money, meat was still meat.