Max woke up a few hours later, feeling much more refreshed after killing the One-Horned Rabbit Boss and getting rid of all his accumulated stress.
Surprised pricked Max when he looked around and realised that no one had even touched him when he blacked out, not even any monsters.
But then he remembered one of the effects of the [Mark of Rabbits]: It made the Rabbits afraid of him, which was crucial to his survival while he was down.
Max then looked at all of his gains from killing the Boss.
[You have gained 5 silver coins]
[You have gained Skillbook: Swift Dash]
[You have gained 800 Exp]
Max was about to scream at the system for his horrible luck, due to the uselessness of the skillbook, when the next notification appeared.
[All rewards from killing the One-Horned Rabbit Boss have doubled due to the Mark of Rabbits.]
[You have gained 5 silver coins]
[You have gained Skillbook: Swift Dash]
[You have gained 800 Exp]
Level Up
Level Up
Max levelled up twice by killing the Rabbit Boss, putting him at the same level as it was. He then checked his notifications from his Plunderer Talent.
[All Talent Effects activated due to killing a Boss]
[You have received 5 agility points]
[You have received 500 proficiency points in Swift Dash]
[You have received Talent Enhanced Speed (E)]
[2 talents compatible with each other detected]
[Enhanced Speed (E) is merging with Enhanced Speed (E)]
[New Talent Gained - Accelerated Speed (D)]
Max felt a wide grin creep on his face, his shoulders shaking as a laugh bubbled up.
The rewards from killing the Rabbit Boss had given him much more than he had expected, putting his new talent in the top 30% of the world. He quickly checked his Talent's effects, not wishing to waste another moment.
[D Talent - Accelerated Speed]
[Talent Description]
[This talent is one of the most useful talents in the world that can be found in the common populace. It can be used for a multitude of purposes such as running away, fighting or scouting.]
[Talent Effect]
[1. Increases Speed by 200%]
[2. Gives the user the ability to teleport to anywhere within sight once a day]
Max could feel the difference in his speed, eager to test his new talent out on his future enemies.
Reading all of these notifications had tired Max out, yet he still had one last message remaining.
[Quest - Defeat The Bosses]
[Quest Description]
[This quest was made for the man who was the first to defeat the One-Horned Rabbit Boss, and was created to end the tyranny of the low-level bosses once and for all.]
[Mission]
[Kill all Bosses from the Level 1 zone to the Level 5 zone]
[Quest Timer]
One Week
[Quest Reward]
+1 Level
50 Silver
Guild Creation Token
[Quest Failure Penalty]
-3 Levels
-All levels gained after accepting the quest
[Quest Expires in 1 hour]
[Accept/Refuse]
Thinking about this quest deeply, Max weighed the pros of taking it against the cons of taking it.
If he took it, he could gain a lot of early capital, a necessary resource this early in the game, and he could invest in a guild, which could bring him lots of advantages in the long run.
On the other hand, taking it and failing would be catastrophic, as he would lose 3 levels and go back to being a level 2, losing all of the advantages he managed to gain.
Max decided to take it in the end, for every time he hunted in the wild or hunted a boss, he would increase in stats and talents, making him exponentially stronger than he was before.
For example, if he were to face the Rabbit Boss now, he believed that he could win without losing more than half of his HP, a vast difference from what had just happened.
Max also didn't wish to miss out on the rewards he could gain, and lose his chance of creating the first guild of Genesis.
So he clicked the [Accept] button and headed to the level 2 zone, eager to find out the monsters in there.
He then remembered that he had levelled up twice and had 10 ATP to use.
He learned the flaws of putting all of his stat points in Int when he faced the Boss, and decided to instead allocated only 3 in Int, while adding 3 in Vit, 2 in Str and 2 in End.
This redistribution would keep him from getting into another Rabbit situation and almost losing due to his low HP, Stamina or Strength, keeping them high enough for the bare minimum of level 5.
Waiting to head off in pursuit of the level 2 zone, Max realised that he had spent too long inside the game and needed to go outside, even if only to reassure his parents that he was okay.
He pressed the [Logout] button, and his Capsule opened, giving him space to finally re-enter the real world.
Max left the capsule and could do normal activities like nothing had happened; it felt like he had just had a good night's sleep and was feeling better than ever. He saw a note on the wall in front of him.
'Dinner's inside the fridge, eat when you get hungry'
Max felt warm inside after reading the note; the familiar handwriting told him exactly who left it, as he smiled at her thoughtfulness.
He was anyway feeling a bit hungry and decided to eat whatever his Mom cooked, learning to be grateful for food from his early days in the orphanage.
He saw a bowl of pad thai and reheated it in the microwave before digging in.
After eating his Mom's delicious pad thai, Max checked his messages, keeping up with his friend's progress in Genesis.
'I got an A-ranked talent, this is the best day of my life!!'
'Bro, my talent was C-ranked, and I thought I was really lucky'
'I got an F-ranked Talent :(( '
There were multiple different responses to the game, with some overjoyed and some feeling dejected with their talents.
Max decided not to declare his talent to anyone for now, as it would be too suspicious if someone who knew his talent found out he had another one or if he upgraded it.
He didn't share anything about his account with anyone, keeping all of his cards close to his chest and making sure he didn't get caught up in anything troublesome.
Max had had enough of a break and decided to play the game overnight instead of sleeping.
When he logged back in, instead of being in the forest with Rabbits, Max was back in the village.
He realised this was for the best, as he could finally sell the useless skillbooks off.
He went over to the auction house and entered 1 [Swift Dash] skillbook in with the hopes of making a lot of money.
Max had only entered one on purpose as he knew the theory of supply and demand, and how the lower the supply, the higher the demand, inflating the costs and giving him more profit than he would earn with 2 skillbooks entered at the same time.
He set his profile to anonymous so nobody would be able to track him. He set it with a base price of 5 silver, with no buyout price, unaware of the consequences this would cause across the globe.
---
Guildmaster Quasar was the leader of the prestigious Guild, Nexus Ascendants, and had an S-rank talent.
While they weren't officially a Guild yet in Genesis, they had stuck together for many prior games and were known as one of the top gaming guilds of the world.
Quasar had just been alerted by his subordinates of a skillbook in the auction house and how its price was rising fast.
Most people would use a skillbook or sell it to their friends or connections to gain a favour instead of selling it in the auction house, not to mention the rarity of getting one in the first place, creating an extremely rare opportunity for the guilds of Genesis.
He checked the skill out before deciding anything.
[Swift Dash]
[Restrictions:] None
[Skill Effect:] Increases speed by 50% of agility for 3 seconds - Consumes 10 mana - 10 second cooldown.
The skill book wasn't merely an asset, it was a crucial early game advantage with the potential to propel the Nexus Ascendants to the top of the world.
While it would be extremely expensive and economically straining, he knew that it was worth a risk.
"Get this skill book no matter what. Use up to 70% of our guild funds if need be, but make sure to get it," he said to his subordinate, emphasising how crucial it was.
As much as Quasar would have loved to find the seller and buy it from them, he couldn't do anything due to the game's anonymous setting, hiding the seller's identity and leaving him with no choice but to participate in the auction.
Similar scenes of chaos were ensuing all over the world, with top guilds buying as much silver as they could to get the first auctioned skillbook, and the person who caused all of this heading into a level 2 area to hunt.