054 World’s First Kill!

“Haha… just 1% left, keep it up! The first kill is ours, the quest is ours…” The human princess Lisa from the Brazil region was clearly excited. With so many experts gathered in the Swamp, they were finally about to complete the quest and gain a racial upgrade. Surely, the first kill would drop some special equipment as well?

“Brazil is the strongest!” The human holy knight was eager at the thought of appearing on TV; this time it was a world server announcement, not just a Brazil region notice. To be mentioned in a world announcement was a tremendous honor. Many players might never even make it onto their own national server’s screen, let alone appear in a global announcement.

“Let me land the final blow!” A human arms warrior roared skyward, lifting his axe to deliver the final, fatal strike. But just at that moment, a world announcement suddenly popped up.

[World First Kill]: Congratulations to the team led by “Song of Eternity” from the China region for the world’s first kill of the level 25–30 Heroic Dungeon. Other team members include “Shadow Behind,” “Leaper,” “Sunset Glow,” and “Duan Chenfeng.”

The human warrior’s axe had just landed on the boss, the final sliver of the boss’s health vanishing, yet their chance at the world first announcement was gone. The players from China had beaten them by just a second, seizing the world first.

A difference of one second in a first kill was vast; not only was the world’s first kill announcement taken from them, but they also couldn’t complete the quest or earn the racial advancement. At best, they would now only get the national server’s first kill, which for professional players like them, meant little.

“Fuck! How did those gold farmers from China get so good? Did they find another bug?” The human holy knight looked down on players from China, but the world’s first kill undeniably belonged to them. In his view, the only way they could have done it was by exploiting a bug in the dungeon; otherwise, with China’s competitive level, how could they have been faster?

“One second… If only we’d taken it more seriously…” Princess Lisa was a bit disheartened. If they hadn’t been so complacent, had paid a bit more attention to the time, they never would have lost that crucial second. But what’s done is done; their first kill was gone for good.

“Don’t underestimate the players from China. There are plenty of experts among them!” Their main tank, a forest warrior, wasn’t surprised. Their team had the ability to take the first kill, but they’d gotten cocky, certain the first kill would be theirs, never expecting to be overtaken at the last moment.

…

The world first kill ignited discussion across the China region’s channels. No one had expected their own country’s region to seize the first kill of the level 25–30 dungeon. It wasn’t as if China had never secured a world first before, but it was rare. To take the first world kill even before entering the great world map—this was a point of pride.

The final twenty-five seconds had pushed Chenfeng’s hand speed to the limit, unleashing Rage Slash every 1.5 seconds, with constant basic attacks in between, leaving him nearly exhausted. The difference between in-game physical exertion and reality was evident here. In real life, Chenfeng could maintain such high hand speed for ten minutes, but in the game, he couldn’t, since mental focus controlled the avatar, and the mind couldn’t stay so tense for so long. Also, the racial body was rather fragile, placing a further limit on his stamina.

“Duan Chenfeng, you can definitely claim to be the fiercest berserker and the strongest tank in the game!” To kill the troll priest in just two minutes as a tank, with no healer, holding aggro and soloing the boss—no one else in the world could achieve that. Shadow Behind was thoroughly impressed with Chenfeng this time, even though Chenfeng wasn’t a pro gamer.

“Incredible! Soloing the final boss!” Even Leaper had to admit, for someone as fierce as Chenfeng to solo the last boss was astonishing. While this boss was somewhat fragile, as a spell boss it was still formidable.

To witness a professional player admire an ordinary player, and to do so in front of a woman, was extremely rare in the game.

[Vampire Bat Summoning Token]: Unit item. Can summon four bat minions per day as units, each bat costing five gold. Troop level: 2. Required level: 30.

Chenfeng found a summoning token in his backpack—a personal reward for the world first kill. After entering the great world map, unit items could summon minions to assist in battle, at which point the game would shift toward real-time strategy. The era of lone wolves like Blood Dragon rampaging solo would come to an end, as every player could lead units, and groups would swarm with summoned creatures. Soloing would become much harder.

Unit summoning tokens! These were the rarest of all troop items, as they guaranteed daily recruits without needing to venture into the wild to subjugate them. To field a full army, players usually had to invest much time or spend large sums of gold, but even then, there were limits—only a small number of units could be brought into the world map each day.

[Staff of Natural Life]
Epic, Staff
Requires Level 30
+15% Nature healing effectiveness
+10% Health
Passive: Casting speed can be increased by up to 20%
Passive: Periodic healing effects increased by 50%, critical chance raised to 30%
Passive: When your health drops below 30%, every five seconds your next heal is guaranteed to crit
Description: The eternal natural life.

An epic staff—clearly designed for restoration shamans. Of course, Chenfeng’s alternate character could use it in humanoid or tree form, further boosting its effects. Epic equipment only dropped from first kills; even if others later cleared the dungeon, the drop chance would be slim to none.

“I have an alt with nature healing spells…” Sunset Glow, although a healer, wasn’t suited to this epic staff, as his healing was of the Holy Light school, not nature-based. In the game, only restoration shamans could use it to full effect; priests and paladins could not.

“An alt? Don’t tell me it’s the King of the Jungle?” Shadow Behind eyed the magic ring on Chenfeng’s finger, immediately recalling the recently popular King of the Jungle.

“Yeah! My alt has nature spells. No one else here can use this staff, so let me have it!” Since everyone already knew about the magic ring, it was only a matter of time before the connection to the King of the Jungle was made. If revealing his identity could help him secure this powerful item, Chenfeng didn’t mind.

His alt already had many weapons: dark-gold claws, an epic set of claw weapons—only lacking a healing staff for use in humanoid or tree form. While Chenfeng’s main class was DPS, and tree form boosted his healing, the effect wasn’t great—he could only serve as a backup healer. With this staff, his healing could rival the main healing classes.

Epic gear was rare enough that even if he couldn’t use it now, it could be used later for crafting. In a team of professionals, every class would be covered, so they could always give it to someone in need. Song of Eternity hesitated at Chenfeng’s request, but remembering how he’d soloed the final boss, she handed him the staff.

“All right, let’s go turn in the quest!” Now that Song of Eternity had completed the quest, the next step was racial advancement. The elf race could evolve into several high-tier branches, each needing to make a choice.

When Chenfeng and his group returned to the main city via hearthstone, he received a flood of messages, many offering congratulations. Cheng Xue called him, saying, “Chenfeng, amazing! You got the world first kill!”

“It was nothing.” Chenfeng made it sound as if the world’s first kill was trivial, not worth much fuss.

“Did you record the run? Let us study it.” The Heroic first kill was notoriously difficult. If they could analyze the boss’s moves, they might clear it themselves.

“I didn’t record it, but I’ll have someone send you a copy!” Chenfeng couldn’t be bothered to record, and even if he had, he wouldn’t share it openly—he didn’t want people finding out about his Arcanite Axe. He asked Shadow Behind for a copy of the run to send to Cheng Xue, then ended the call, only to immediately receive one from Monk.

Monk was never polite, every word sharp: “Damn you, bastard Wind! You went to kill the Heroic dungeon boss and didn’t invite me? On behalf of all Earthlings, I despise you!”

“I was just pulled in to help with a quest, how could I bring you? Besides, you’re not an elf, you can’t do this quest anyway!” Chenfeng couldn’t be bothered with him and hung up.

After Song of Eternity turned in the quest, the group was led to the elven territory in the main city, arriving at the elven forbidden grounds. Only high elves were allowed entry here, for it housed a small Well of Eternity, capable of refining elven magic. This was also where the racial upgrade took place, using the Well’s mysterious power to strengthen the elven body.

High elves could branch into several subraces, most of which specialized in magic. Thus, elves were the best race for caster classes; this advantage wasn’t obvious before the upgrade, but became clear after. Elves could choose warrior classes, but their physical constitution was poorly suited. While skills differed little across races in the game, after advancement the disparities became significant. The most suitable race for warriors was barbarian, followed by human. For tanks especially, barbarian was best.

Song of Eternity was a mage and chose the strongest caster subrace, the Moon Elf. Shadow Behind chose Shadow Elf, enhancing stealth for rogues. Leaper picked Wind Elf, boosting agility and speed. Sunset Glow became a Light Elf, improving magical healing. As a warrior, Chenfeng had fewer options, finally choosing Blue Lightning Elf, a subrace that slightly improved physical attacks.

After soaking in the small Well of Eternity for nearly half an hour, Chenfeng felt the magical energies fusing into his body. The once frail elven form grew robust, muscles forming on his arms, chest, and thighs, while his long hair shifted from gray to pale blue.

The most obvious way to distinguish high elves was by hair color: Blue Lightning Elves had pale blue, Moon Elves silver, Shadow Elves black, Wind Elves green, and Light Elves golden hair. Chenfeng’s physique had changed significantly, already approaching that of a barbarian. High elves gained much better bodily control and far higher physical limits—these were all hidden effects.

Emerging from the Well, Chenfeng felt light as a feather, as if a hundred pounds had been lifted from him, moving with ease! These hidden effects had raised his movement, jumping, and attack speed. While not earth-shattering, he was curious to see what the high elf racial talent would be!