Lucas Kane picked up the white light ball, and it instantly transformed into a greatsword, sliding neatly into his backpack.
He equipped it right away.
The Rusty Greatsword was much larger than his small broken sword, nearly 1.6 meters long. Thankfully, Lucas Kane's strength was enough to swing it without much trouble.
Under the envious gazes of nearby players, he sat down to rest.
After all, he'd lost too much health — with only 20 HP left, another fight would mean instant death.
According to the rule book, death penalties were harsh. The first death meant being locked out of the game for one hour. And the more you died, the longer the lockout became.
That was a death sentence in the early stages of the game.
Then came another unpleasant discovery.
Health regeneration — 1 HP per second.
That meant more than a full minute just to heal completely!
"This game's too damn real," Lucas Kane muttered. "No wonder everyone's forming parties."
By the time his HP recovered, the other players had already returned to fighting.
Lucas Kane chose another monster and checked the drop list.
As a warrior, he could equip mail armor — sturdier than leather or cloth. Naturally, that was his pick.
He charged at another Demon Rat, swinging his new sword.
The Rusty Greatsword had a wider attack range, and the Demon Rat's ability to dodge was greatly reduced.
Combined with the increased attack power, Lucas Kane only lost 50 HP this time before killing it.
Another white light ball dropped.
Under everyone's jealous stares, Lucas Kane picked up the mail chestplate he'd designated.
Once equipped, he immediately felt much safer.
After resting, he returned to grinding.
Before long, he'd gathered full white mail armor — chestplate, gloves, greaves, boots, belt, and bracers. His defense stat rose by 23 points in total.
However, something puzzled him.
He thought that with this much defense, the Demon Rats wouldn't even scratch him.
But when they bit him, he still lost 2 HP per hit.
It seemed armor reduced damage differently than he'd imagined.
Still, it didn't matter.
His HP loss per fight was now minimal, and his farming efficiency skyrocketed.
Each battle cost him less than 20 HP, allowing him to fight three monsters at once before resting.
His solo kill rate now rivaled a three-person team — and all the experience was his alone.
Every time he killed a Demon Rat, a white item dropped, leaving the nearby players completely dumbfounded.
"Who the hell is this guy?! He's dropping white items every time!"
"What do you mean 'every time'? I've been watching him — he's dropped white after white!"
"…????"
The chat exploded.
"Holy crap! This game's broken! He's hacking!"
"Yeah! I've killed twenty of these damn rats and got nothing! How is he so lucky?"
"Lucky? Lucky my ass! He's the husband of the Goddess of Luck!"
Jealousy filled the air.
Then, someone suddenly exclaimed, "Wait! Didn't some people get soul talents at the start? Maybe he has one that boosts drop rates!"
Everyone froze for a second — then nodded in realization.
"That's gotta be it!"
"I heard those talents are super rare! Damn, no wonder he's loaded with gear!"
At that moment, a clever-looking young man jogged up to Lucas Kane, grinning obsequiously.
"Brother! Want to team up? You can take most of the XP — I just want one piece of white equipment! Just one!"
Hearing that, others immediately swarmed in.
"Brother! I'm a mage — high DPS! I'll only take one-third of the XP!"
"Bullshit! I'm a mage too! I'll settle for a quarter!"
"Can you people stop bidding like it's an auction?!" the first mage yelled furiously.
"Big brother~ take me instead~" A flirty female voice chimed in. "Your sister's 36D, gentle, and won't cling. Please~?"
The crowd went wild.
Everyone wanted a piece of Lucas Kane's luck.
Even one white gear drop could make a huge difference early on.
After all, this game directly affected real life — and no one wanted to fall behind.
Lucas Kane's head throbbed from all the noise.
Especially the women who wanted to "meet in person." Some of them were genuinely pretty, but he wasn't stupid.
Temptresses trying to mess with my mind! Meeting in person? That's basically doxing yourself!
He wasn't about to risk that.
Breaking free of the crowd, he raised his voice, "Everyone, please calm down! If I have extra gear, I'll sell it in the village square!"
With that, Lucas Kane ignored the shouting players and ran off to keep grinding.
He wasn't planning to team up for now.
With his current setup, solo farming was just as efficient — maybe even better.
The others sighed in disappointment but perked up when they heard he'd sell his extras later.
If they could just buy one of his items, it'd be worth it.
Excited, they threw themselves back into farming.
Even the gray drops could be sold to village merchants for coins — maybe enough to afford one of his white items.
The leveling difficulty of this game was no joke.
Even with Lucas Kane's efficiency, it took him over three hours to reach Level 2.
Upon leveling up, all four base attributes increased by +1, with two free points to allocate.
He didn't even hesitate — both went into Strength.
His gear already gave him solid defense; what he needed now was more attack power to boost farming speed.
During that time, he'd also obtained four white Small Bags (Common), expanding his backpack capacity.
Even so, his inventory quickly filled up with equipment and materials.
He decided to return to the Silvermoon Village square to clear some space.
The square was bustling — players everywhere setting up stalls.
Most were selling gray-quality gear, with only a few offering white items.
Gray equipment had no bonus attributes and only half the defense of white gear.
A single piece wasn't much worse, but a full set made a huge difference.
And yet, players were selling them for 5 silver coins each!
Lucas Kane was stunned.
The Universe Server was linked to Metastar's real financial system — players could buy or sell gold coins for Creds on the trading platform without being traced.
With 20 million players, including plenty of rich people, in-game currency was skyrocketing.
The current rate was 1 copper = 1 Cred, meaning 1 silver = 100 Creds.
A single gray Level 1 equipment was selling for 500 Creds?!
"Ridiculous…" he muttered.
But considering this game's impact on humanity's future, it wasn't entirely surprising.
He shrugged and started setting up his own stall.
He priced his white gear at 6 silver coins each, and his Small Bags at 10 silver coins apiece.
Even if that was a bit low for the market, it didn't matter — time was more valuable than money right now.
He could always farm more drops.
The faster he cleared inventory, the sooner he could get back to leveling.
Raising his voice, Lucas Kane shouted like a vendor,
"White equipment and ten-slot backpacks for sale! Cheap prices! Get them while they last!"
Heads immediately turned toward his stall.
The square went silent for a moment — then erupted.