19: Evolving Again—Bronze Grade Shadow Stealth!
Tristan finally reached his goal.
With the evolution point he had been saving, plus the ones he just earned, he now had enough to evolve Shadow Stealth for the second time.
"This evolution will cost 2 evolution points. Proceed with the evolution of Shadow Stealth?"
"Yes!"
Ding! Shadow Stealth has been evolved! Quality upgraded: Black Iron Grade → Bronze Grade!
[Shadow Stealth LV2 (Bronze Grade): Enter Stealth mode. Breaking Stealth Strike deals (Attack 140% + 400) additional damage. Mana cost: 5. Cooldown: 16 seconds.]
The damage had soared to a whole new level!
In ExoGenesis, one of the more player-friendly features was that evolving a skill's quality didn't reset its level.
Skill quality and level were separate systems, intertwined yet independent.
"The base fixed damage for Bronze Grade Shadow Stealth starts at 200. With my level upgrades, it's already at 400," Tristan calculated, a satisfied glint in his eyes.
"Now, let's test this new damage."
He locked onto a nearby Granite Giant. The lumbering creature took a few slow steps, looked around confused, then tilted its head to stare at the sky.
If left undisturbed, it might have spent millennia contemplating the mysteries of existence—perhaps even evolving its first spark of intelligence.
Unfortunately, its fate was sealed.
-6356! (Weak Spot Attack)
Previously, Tristan's Shadow Dagger could deal close to 2,800 direct damage, plus about 500 from Rend, totaling around 3,300—a shocking figure.
But now, with Shadow Stealth upgraded to Bronze Grade, his direct damage alone exceeded 6,300!
The Granite Giant didn't even need the bleed effect from Rend to finish it off—it was an instant kill.
Tristan stepped out of stealth, a hint of regret flashing across his face.
"Maybe I should've sold the Rend skill book to Drake. I could've easily gotten five million dollars for it."
The thought passed quickly.
Tristan knew his current high damage was primarily due to the fixed bonuses from Breaking Stealth Strike, which had a significant downside. Unlike scalable damage that improved with his attack stats, fixed damage would remain the same even in the late game when attack values climbed into the tens of thousands.
By then, the value of Rend's bleed damage would far outweigh its current utility.
"Just one more level, and the boss will activate," Tristan muttered, anticipation flickering in his eyes.
Taking down a Silver Grade boss solo was something he had achieved in his past life—but never at this stage of the game.
The player who had first uncovered the Granite Giant Lord in the previous timeline had only managed to defeat it after rallying a large group of players. The fight had been a grueling war of attrition, with countless deaths and respawns.
This time, Tristan was determined to do it alone.
---
Meanwhile, far from the northern hills, Drake was sitting on a boulder, striking a classic "thinking man" pose. If the game had cigarettes, he'd probably have lit one for dramatic effect.
"I don't get it," Drake said, his voice tinged with bewilderment.
Holy Fire Priest Sophie, noticing his expression, asked with concern, "Boss, are you alright?"
Drake waved her off. Staring at the sky, he said, "How the hell is Blackshade already level 7?"
"...?"
His teammates exchanged puzzled glances.
Silence.
The kind of silence that accompanied a profound realization of inadequacy.
Drake's elite squad, comprised entirely of hidden class players, had spent hours grinding wild boars. They were proud to have reached level 2, with level 3 just on the horizon.
And now their leader was telling them that Blackshade had already hit level 7?
The squad's assassin broke the silence, muttering, "I have a bad feeling. By the time we equip those two items, Blackshade will probably have soloed a new boss and gotten even better gear."
The team's archer brightened up. "I hope it drops another longbow!"
Then he returned to his old refrain: "See? I told you Blackshade doesn't know archery. Otherwise, he would've kept the Rabbit Tendon Longbow. That's why I still think I'm on equal footing with him."
Drake was too exasperated to respond.
Sophie, however, pondered aloud, "Or… maybe he had a better dagger and couldn't equip both due to the game's weapon limits. We can't be certain he doesn't know archery."
The archer's face fell.
He didn't want to admit it, but Sophie's reasoning made sense. Still, he insisted, "Archery isn't that easy to master. I'm sure Blackshade doesn't know it. Yeah, that has to be it."
Drake stood, brushing off the dirt from his armor. "Let's keep moving," he said, picking up his shield.
---
-6356! (Weak Spot Attack)
-6356! (Weak Spot Attack)
Each time Tristan's Shadow Dagger flew, another Granite Giant fell.
The elite monsters, towering and formidable, stood no chance against him.
For a brief moment, Tristan felt a surreal disconnect.
"Am I really playing ExoGenesis? This feels way too easy."
The only downside was that Shadow Dagger was a single-target skill. No matter how quickly he killed, it couldn't compare to an area-of-effect (AoE) skill for clearing groups.
"I need to find some general-purpose ranged AoE skills," Tristan mused.
If he couldn't get them from drops, he'd ask Drake to help scout the market.
His reluctance to evolve Shadow Dagger stemmed partly from prioritizing Shadow Stealth and partly because of Shadow Dagger's limitations. As a single-target skill, it would become less effective in large-scale battles later on.
In ExoGenesis, players could learn skills through either trainers or skill books. Some books contained universal skills usable by any class, allowing for unique and unconventional builds like dual-wielding priests or battle mages.
Of course, those niche builds were usually impractical, with laughably low combat efficiency.
---
While Tristan focused on grinding and Drake's squad worked hard to catch up, another figure was on the move.
DarkSaber had finally tracked down Blackshade's grinding location.
"You're saying he's at the Granite Hills, in the northernmost part of the starter village?" DarkSaber asked, a flicker of doubt in his voice.
That area was notorious for its level 10 elite monsters with sky-high defense. For most players, venturing there was a death sentence.
But as he thought it over, DarkSaber realized the intel was likely accurate.
If anyone could farm there, it was Blackshade.
"That humiliation... I'll repay it a hundredfold!"
Rage burned in DarkSaber's eyes. As the leader of the Shadow Legion, with thousands of members under his command, being publicly one-shot by Blackshade had been a disgrace he couldn't live down.
"You think your Black Iron Grade Stealth makes you untouchable?" he sneered, clutching a scroll tightly.
This was no ordinary scroll—it was a rare counter-assassin item he had spent an exorbitant amount of resources to obtain.
"Let's see how long you can keep your smug facade, Blackshade!"