34. Leaving the Game, Manifesting Strength

Su Yu stepped forward and picked up the bag dropped by the [Sheep Village Chief].

Inside the bag were two pieces of equipment: a "tree branch" and a bow and arrow. The "tree branch" emitted a brilliant golden glow.

[Chief’s Staff Lv5 (Golden Excellent)]
Spell Power +10
Intelligence +3
Equipment Description: Attention everyone! This is the Chief’s Staff, not the Chief’s Stupidity!
.....

"It really is a piece of golden equipment!" Su Yu revealed a faint smile.

Equipment quality in "Evolution" is categorized into Common, Excellent, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. However, beyond these quality tiers, all equipment is divided into two major categories: non-golden and golden equipment. Golden equipment can be of any quality—for instance, Golden Common, Golden Excellent, or even Golden Legendary.

"Golden" does not enhance the equipment's attributes; a non-golden Excellent [Chief’s Staff] and a Golden Excellent [Chief’s Staff] have identical stats. However, golden equipment possesses a special property: it can be materialized into the real world! While ordinary gear can only be used within the game, only golden equipment can manifest in reality.

Furthermore, the drop rate for golden equipment is very low, estimated by official statistics to be around 1%. This leads to golden equipment being worth hundreds or even thousands of times more than ordinary gear in the later stages of the game. High-level Golden Epic or Golden Legendary items with powerful attributes are even more priceless.

Su Yu’s situation is somewhat unique; he doesn’t need to wait for the late game—he can manifest his power into reality right now. Therefore, obtaining a golden weapon now is a massive boost to his self-preservation capabilities offline!

......

Su Yu nodded with satisfaction and used [Star-Pointing Hand] to upgrade the [Chief’s Staff] to Rare quality.

[Chief’s Staff Lv5 (Golden Rare)]
Spell Power +20
Intelligence +7
Mana Regeneration +7

The stats of the [Chief’s Staff] were very strong, far better than even a level 15 common-quality staff. The only pity was that its appearance was not very impressive. Holding it, Su Yu felt as if he were holding a "Y"-shaped poplar branch; it didn't feel like a magic staff at all. However, he didn't have the ability to change the appearance of his equipment, so he would just have to make do.

Besides the [Chief’s Staff], the boss also dropped a [Wolf-Shooting Bow Lv5 (Excellent)]. The previous two bosses, [Boiling Goat Leader] and [Beautiful Goat Leader], had dropped a pair of leather trousers—[Grey Wolf Leggings Lv5 (Excellent)]—and a leather top—[Red Wolf Leather Jacket Lv5 (Excellent)], respectively. These three pieces of equipment were all Agility-based, which did not match Su Yu's attributes.

They would have to be listed on the trading post to be sold.

......

Exiting the dungeon, he returned to the novice village. Su Yu checked the remaining time for the game today; there were 13 minutes left.

"Sigh! I'll list the unwanted gear on the trading post and call it a day!" He stretched and walked toward the trading post.

Su Yu was very satisfied with his gains on the first day of the game. Today, not only did he trigger two main story quests and obtain an Epic-quality [Goddess's Tear], but he also leveled up to 5 and acquired a golden weapon. His plan for tomorrow was to hit level 10 and head to the main city!

Arriving at the trading post, Su Yu listed all the gear he didn't need, including the [New Moon Wand Lv3 (Rare)], for auction, and prepared to log off. Just then, he received a private message from Snowflake Fall.

"Hey, hey, hey, great master, is what you said earlier about the 'level 50 reward' true?"

Su Yu: "Of course it's true, why?"

Snowflake Fall: "Can you tell me exactly what the reward is?"

Su Yu: "No, you'll know once you reach level 50."

Snowflake Fall: "Alright then."

Snowflake Fall said nothing more and went back to report to her brother. Besides Snowflake Fall, Sword of Heaven and True Red Eyes Black Dragon also sent private messages. Their inquiries were much the same as Snowflake Fall's, asking if the reward was real. Su Yu gave them all an affirmative answer.

......

"Log out."

Once his game time was exhausted, Su Yu logged out.

"Ding! Detected that your game time has reached 12 hours, and you possess the skill [Star Transformation]. Would you like to manifest your strength into reality?"

"Manifest!"

"Ding! Manifestation process started, please wait."

In the real world, the gaming helmet discharged a massive amount of spiritual energy. This energy poured in from the top of Su Yu’s head, traveled along his meridians to his limbs, and was absorbed by his body. Ten minutes later, the infusion was complete.

The helmet displayed a different attribute panel.

Player: Su Yu
Realm: Magic Apprentice
Level: 5
Skills: [Magic Missile (Rare)], [Lightning Bolt (Rare)]... [Invisibility (Rare)].
Spell Power: 43
Health: 120
Mana: 180
Equipment: [Chief’s Staff]

This was the player's attribute panel in reality. Su Yu took off the helmet and sat up on his bed. He snapped his fingers casually, and crackling electric arcs appeared at his fingertips. With a flick of his finger, the arc flew off and struck the wall opposite his bed in the rental apartment.

*Zzz-zzz-zzz*

The formerly white wall was scorched black by the arc, and large patches of plaster peeled away, revealing ugly bricks underneath. Then, Su Yu straightened his body slightly.

*Whoosh!*

His figure vanished from the bed, and the next moment, he appeared in the kitchen.

"Having [Blink] is truly convenient! But it consumes quite a bit of mana... it's a real headache."

All of Su Yu’s spells were of Rare quality and had extremely high mana costs. He had just cast two spells and already consumed 45 points of mana, equivalent to one-fourth of his maximum mana. He suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia for the [Goddess's Tear] and the hundreds of mana potions in his game inventory.

......

It was 10:30 PM, not yet time to sleep. Su Yu boiled a pot of water, ordered takeout, and sat down in front of his computer to surf the web. Aside from the 12 hours in the game, he couldn't waste the 12 hours offline; he had to make good use of them! Before the Skrull's full-scale invasion began, every single second was precious.

There was no need to visit the official forums; they were full of discussions about him and offered nothing of value. Su Yu continued to search the internet for information on UFOs, aliens, and spacecraft. Unfortunately, he still couldn't find the information he was looking for.

After searching for over ten minutes, Su Yu suddenly thought of something. He changed his approach and started searching for recent news related to "ghosts."