Isaac had no idea that his courteous, group-reply emails to all the major guilds had stirred up such a storm behind the scenes.
Not that he would've cared.
He still remembered that rainy night when he was eight years old. His little sister, barely five, clutched his hand, the two of them huddled under the eaves of a closed pizza shop.
The neon lights of the city blurred in the drizzle—red, green, glowing faintly in the night. Isaac had pulled half a slice of pizza from inside his shirt like some kind of magic trick and handed it to Felicity.
"Eat up."
"Big bro, you take it. I'm not hungry."
"Don't be ridiculous. We haven't eaten in two days."
"...Then let's split it. Half each."
From that night on, Isaac only cared about two things: Felicity, and money.
Well—money only mattered because it made life better for the two of them. Beyond that, what was it really good for?
He only cared about that silly little girl.
Leveling from 9 to 10 required 100,000 XP Orbs. With Red Team's help, Isaac could farm about 10,000 per hour now.
At exactly 1:00 PM, Daffino respawned.
"Yep, it really is every 8 hours. Way too long," Isaac muttered, hustling over with Red Team.
With his current level and gear, Daffino no longer posed any threat. Together, Isaac and Red Team smashed him to bits.
The boss's spawn rate might've been slow, but the loot always made it worth it: one Cragstone, one Leather Shoulderpad, and one random level-1 drop—either a Hyenaman Club or a Wolffur Vest.
While waiting to regen health, Isaac sorted through his and Red Team's loot.
28 Hyenaman Clubs, 1 Shoulderpad, 1 Vest, 1 Cragstone.
"Oh, right. Almost forgot to send out the alert emails." True to his word, Isaac mass-messaged everyone before listing the new gear.
25 Hyenaman Clubs went up at $250 each. The three small epics were priced at $500, $600, and $700 respectively. The vest was marked $150.
The Leather Shoulderpad and Cragstone were listed in the auction house again: shoulderpad starting at $1000, instant-buy $1500; Cragstone starting at $2000, instant-buy $4000.
This time, Isaac priced everything with real data in mind.
While many players had finally leveled up enough to start farming special monsters—and drop rates had improved—Hyenaman Clubs were still in high demand. Prices remained stable.
That said, since he was listing so many at once, he shaved off $10 per item to ensure quicker turnover.
After all, the first Cragstone and shoulderpad had fetched premium prices because they were server-firsts. Now that players were cooling down, pricing rationally made sense.
Could he squeeze a bit more profit? Sure. But Isaac's philosophy was clear: items were just pixels—cash was king. Quick liquidation always beat hoarding. Better to sell fast and move on.
And once again, the results spoke for themselves. All items sold instantly.
"$12,745 in one go... balance is now $37,986." Isaac grinned. "Farming bosses really pays off."
"Red Team! Let's go—we're pushing level 10!"
By 8:30 PM, after beating down another level-8 Sturdy Hyenaman, a brilliant golden light enveloped Isaac.
He let out a long breath.
Level 10. Finally.
"God, that was exhausting. Let's see if level 10 comes with a power spike," he muttered, plopping down to rest.
[Character: Isaac]
[Race: Special Sturdy, Special Agile, Special Robust Hyenaman]
[Quality: Star 2 – Maxed] – +100% Base STR/AGI/CON
[Level: 10 (XP: 7/150,000)]
[Stats] – STR: 42 (36+6) | AGI: 44 (36+8) | CON: 42 (36+6)
[Attack: 71–77]
[Defense: 33 (18+15)]
[HP: 1570 (1340+230)]
[Talent: "Inferior Hyena Bloodline" (Tier 2) – 14% chance for double crit]
[Talent Evolution Shard: 0/80 (Tier 3)]
[Quality Evolution Point: 0/80 (Star 3)]
[Monster Reputation: 38]
[Legion Recruitment Order (Three-Unit): 38/2000]
"Holy crap. Total transformation."
His level 10 self was on a completely different level than his level 9 version.
HP over 1500, attack past 70—and all core stats were up 5 points. That alone made it a massive power spike. Plus +4 base attack and +100 HP.
"Totally worth the 100,000 XP Orbs. I could solo Daffino with my eyes closed now!"
Then Isaac remembered: Reputation Points.
He pulled up his inventory. After days of grinding, he had a sizable stash of materials again.
"This time... let's trade in 1000 and see if anything new pops up!"
After a bit of internal debate, he decided to sell higher-tier materials instead of low-tier ones.
Low-tier stuff could always be upgraded into high-tier—but not the other way around. And he still needed the low-level materials for future minion evolutions.
"Selling 5 Tier 3 Talent Shards and 5 Tier 3 Quality Shards!"
That got him exactly 1000 Reputation Points.
"Open Reputation Shop!"
Something was different this time—either because he was level 10, or because of the larger amount of Rep he held.
New items were available.
Tier 3 Materials – 1000 Rep each.
Isaac stared, dumbfounded. "Buy for 1000... sell for 100? Are you kidding me?! These margins are worse than black market trading…"
Next item: Fourth Equipment Slot – 200 Rep.
He skipped it. No gear to equip yet, no point unlocking more slots.
Then something bizarre caught his eye.
Skins.
"Wait, what?! Skins?! In this game?!"
Not just that—1000 Rep Points per skin!
"Even mobile gacha games aren't this expensive!" Isaac was stunned.
To make it worse, buying skins required special conditions. You had to have killed a certain number of that specific creature.
Currently, the shop only had one skin: Hyenaman Skin.
Isaac was already a Hyenaman. No way he was dropping a grand in Rep just to look… slightly different.
"What a waste. Who would even—whatever, not my problem," he muttered, skipping to the next item.
Then something else caught his eye.
Bloodlines.
"'Bloodline'? What the hell is that?"
[Bloodline System: Slay a sufficient number of a specific creature to unlock its Bloodline. Bloodlines are essential for acquiring new Talents and increasing Talent Quality. (If you also possess the creature's skin, you can fully transform—appearance, combat style, and all.)]
Isaac blinked. Once. Twice.
"Wait... I can transform into other monsters?"