Chaotic Starlight Crystal

"Ding! Congrats on reaching Level 17!" 

"Ding! Congrats on reaching Level 18!" 

… 

They kept rolling in until he reached Level 20, at which point the barrage of system messages ceased.

Before Ares could fully savor the high of his meteoric level gains, a blinding burst of golden light shot out from the pile of loot, instantly drawing his gaze. He hurried forward for a closer look—and there it was, an ancient-looking book radiating a brilliant glow.

[Secret Class Transfer Tome (Unknown Class)]: Using it triggers a special class-change quest. Completing that quest allows you to unlock a mysterious class, granting unique skills and stat bonuses that far surpass normal classes.

A mysterious class change! 

That's the golden ticket every player dreams of, yet only a precious few ever get. 

He'd read on the forums that, from what the community had pieced together, fewer than a hundred people had ever scored a mysterious class transfer. And that's out of over ten billion players in Divine Realm! 

A near-impossible feat.

"Even if this class isn't a perfect fit, it's almost guaranteed to be stronger than a regular one," he muttered, biting back the urge to cheer out loud.

He carefully tucked the Mysterious Class Tome away, then turned his focus to the rest of the loot. Among the softly gleaming items was a strikingly designed bracelet.

[Azure Tide Bracelet (S-Rank)]: +20 INT, +2,000 MP, and restores 10 MP per second. 

Special Effect: When your MP falls below 40%, there's a 30% chance to trigger "Tidal Protection," instantly restoring your mana to 100%. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

"Dude, this thing might as well have my name engraved on it!" Ares excitedly slipped it onto his wrist. 

A refreshing surge of power rushed into him, and he could feel his mana reserves swell to near-bursting. Plus, he still had the 16 stat points from those new levels to allocate, so naturally, he went all-in on INT again. 

His MP, once only 2,200, soared way up to 5,100 in the blink of an eye! 

Now he had more than enough juice to cast Whirlwind Slash—and still pull off Earthquake again. If Tidal Protection activated, he'd be back at full MP instantly. 

Continuing to sift through the loot, he found a few more items:

[Thief's Boots (A-Rank)]: +10% to steal success rate, +5% movement speed, plus a 15% chance your target won't notice you if a steal attempt fails. 

Ares gave them a once-over and shrugged. "Yeah, these won't do a whole lot for me, but I can probably flip them at auction for a tidy profit."

[Bramble Shield (A-Rank)]: +100 to both physical and magic defense. When you're hit, there's a 20% chance to reflect the incoming damage back to the attacker.

"Decent shield, but not really my style. Tanks will drool over this thing, though." Talking to himself, Ares tucked it away in his inventory.

[Shadow Blade (A-Rank)]: +120 ATK, +20% attack speed, 10% chance to trigger "Shadow Ambush," making your next hit a guaranteed crit with an extra 50% damage.

"This beauty's perfect for an Assassin, so I'll just cash in on it." Ares admired the sleek blade for a second before storing it.

"Got plenty of gear out of this run, though still no decent armor that suits me," Ares mused, stashing each piece in his bag. "My offense is through the roof… but my defense? Not so much."

Right then, the entire hidden map began quaking violently. Cracks crawled across the surrounding space as if some huge invisible hand was tearing it apart.

[System Warning: With the hidden-map BOSS defeated, "Valley of Glory" will now collapse.]

Ares's heart lurched. He threw everything into his pack, clutching the Judgment Sword like he was bracing for a fight.

A booming system announcement echoed throughout Divine Realm: 

"Server-wide Notice: Congratulations to player Ares for completing the hidden map, 'Valley of Glory,' earning enormous rewards!"

Like lightning on a clear day, the news shook the entire game world. Especially the folks stuck outside the ruins, they tried all sorts of methods, attempting to break through that barrier.

Many of them had been praying for a shot at the hidden map's juicy loot, only to hear Ares plundered it all. They were absolutely fuming.

"Who the hell is this Ares guy, and why is he so freakin' lucky?" 

"The rewards from clearing a hidden map are insane—now he's making out like a bandit all by himself?" 

"Damn it, I've been here five years and never once laid eyes on a hidden map… not even once!"

While players whined and argued on every chat channel, Ares himself had no time to care. As the hidden frontiers collapsed, he felt a mysterious force yank him back into the main corridor of the ruins.

He took a deep breath, then pressed on through the rest of the ruin. After several minutes of wandering, he entered a huge, open chamber.

Dead in the center floated a massive crystal, shining with a swirl of prismatic light.

"What is that…?" 

He crept forward cautiously. As soon as he got within about thirty feet, the crystal emitted a deafening hum! A dazzling bolt of energy zipped toward him, forcing Ares to dip aside at the last moment.

Looking closer, he realized this crystal wasn't sentient, exactly—but it wouldn't hesitate to blast any intruder who strayed too close.

[Chaotic Starlight Crystal (Alpha BOSS)] 

[Level: 50] 

[HP: 1,000,000] 

[ATK: 0] 

[DEF: 1,000] 

[Skill 1: Radiant Starlight (magic attack dealing 1,000 damage in a 50 ft frontal arc, with knockback)] 

[Skill 2: Prism Scatter (magic attack dealing 1,500 damage in a 30 ft radius, 10% chance to Stun for 2 seconds)] 

[Skill 3: Starlit Cage (summons a crystal prison within 50 ft, immobilizing foes for 5 seconds and dealing 100 magic damage per second)] 

[Skill 4: Crystal Spike (single-target magic attack dealing 3,000 damage, 20% chance to inflict Bleed for 5 seconds at 100 HP/sec)] 

[Skill 5: Mana Drain (drains 20% of target's current MP, converting it to the Crystal's HP)]

Ares sucked in a cold breath. 

"Wow. Alpha-tier boss, all right. This thing is nuts."

But there was zero quit in him. He gripped the Judgment Sword and took a second to hash out a plan in his head. 

The crystal's entire arsenal was magic-based, and with Ares meager HP and flimsy defenses, pretty much any one of those spells could obliterate him on contact. That meant he had to kill it in one massive burst before it got the chance to retaliate.