The Server's Only SSS-Rank Talent, Soulfire!

The first day of the server launch was the golden window for getting ahead.

An all-nighter was a must.

So Lin Mo ordered a burger and Coke on and filled his stomach.

Then he waited until eight that evening. The instant Oracle's servers opened, he put on his helmet and logged into the game.

Whoosh!

A shaft of white light descended, and Lin Mo appeared in a quiet old town.

[Ding~ Welcome to Oracle World! As the 11,631,258th player to enter the game on the Great Xia server, you have been assigned to beginner village No. 116: Cloudside Town!]

"I logged in the instant the servers opened, and there were still over ten million people ahead of me?"

"Damn, I never realized this game was so popular in my previous life!" Lin Mo couldn't help marveling.

[Ding~ The system has detected that you have not created a character in advance. Please confirm your in-game name and select your race!]

Oracle World had three basic races. Besides their different appearances, each had distinct traits-

Human: +10% attack and +10% speed.

Beastfolk: +10% health and +10% defense.

Elf: +10% skill power and +10% mana.

Beyond those, Lin Mo knew that Oracle World also held powerful hidden races such as Dragons, Undead, Angels, and Bloodfolk, waiting for players to discover them.

"Mo Shou Cheng Gui."

"Human."

Lin Mo made his choices without hesitation.

He had chosen the same things in his previous life and knew all the opportunities available to Humans. Following a familiar path would let him move even faster this time!

[Ding~ The system has randomly selected the E-rank talent · Guard for you!]

[Ding~ Your beginner gift pack has been issued! Regional chat has been enabled! Cloudside Town's leveling leaderboard event has begun! Enjoy the game!]

Exactly the same as his previous life. No surprises there.

But that was fine. This time, Lin Mo had an ace up his sleeve!

He eagerly opened his flashing mail.

His heart raced, and his hands trembled.

He claimed the attachment.

[Ding~ Congratulations! You have obtained the server's only SSS-rank talent · Soulfire (your original E-rank talent, Guard, has been overwritten)!]

"There it is!!!"

Though he had been expecting it, when the moment finally arrived, Lin Mo still couldn't contain his wild joy.

This was what would change his fate in this life and carry him to the pinnacle of Oracle!

Brimming with anticipation, he opened the talent interface-

[Soulfire] (Unique SSS-rank talent · Stage one):

Description: Burn souls to unleash Soulfire, which can incinerate all things in the world and transform them into evolution power for its host to use...

Effect 1: Equipment incineration (incinerate equipment with Soulfire to obtain equipment evolution points based on its level and tier. These points can be used to evolve equipment quality/equipment evolved with evolution points becomes bound and cannot be dropped or traded).

Effect 2: Locked (unlocks when Soulfire reaches stage two).

Advancement requirement: 100 reputation.

"Evolving equipment?"

"Sounds pretty interesting. Let's see how this works!"

As he spoke, Lin Mo opened his inventory and took out the beginner gift pack provided by the system. Opening it gave him the three-piece beginner set:

[Novice Sword] (Tier 1 · White): +1 attack.

[Beginner Shirt] (Tier 1 · White): +10 health.

[Novice Pants] (Tier 1 · White): +1 defense.

They were absolute garbage.

But for beginner players, they were better than nothing.

Lin Mo didn't rush to equip them.

Instead, he picked up the Beginner Shirt and activated his talent.

"Soulfire!"

Boom!

Golden flames suddenly erupted from Lin Mo's hand, reducing the Beginner Shirt to ashes in an instant.

[Ding~ You have incinerated the level 0, tier 1 · White-quality equipment, Beginner Shirt. Equipment evolution points +1!]

At the same time, Lin Mo saw an "Evolution available" prompt appear on the stat pages of both the Novice Sword and the Novice Pants.

He clicked to evolve the Beginner Sword.

[Ding~ 1 equipment evolution point consumed. Congratulations! Your Beginner Sword has evolved from tier 1 · White quality to tier 1 · Green quality!]

"So that's how it works?" Lin Mo grew excited as he looked at the evolved Novice Sword, whose attack bonus had increased from 1 to 3.

There was no limit to evolution.

Which meant...

"With Soulfire, I can turn any piece of white-quality trash into top-tier golden gear!"

"And all I need to do to get evolution points is burn low-tier equipment!"

For Lin Mo, who had never even touched orange equipment in his previous life, this was hardly a talent.

It was a goddamn cheat!!!

But...

"The system only gave me three pieces of equipment. Even if I burn them all, that's just 3 evolution points. Nowhere near enough..."

While he was fretting, he spotted the new players constantly teleporting into the game all around him, and inspiration struck!

"I've got it!"

With that, Lin Mo opened the regional chat channel, quickly typed a message, and sent it.

[Mo Shou Cheng Gui]: "Buying beginner equipment for 100 bucks apiece. Mail it directly to me for instant purchase!"

According to the system's real-time data, Cloudside Town had reached its limit of one hundred thousand players, with a staggering 98,632 currently online!

Once his message went out, the chat became especially lively.

[Sweetie]: "Hey, handsome, why are you buying those? You've already got them in your own inventory!"

[A Pig Reads This Backward]: "The thing is, beginner equipment only sells for 1 copper coin at a shop. At the system's 1:1 exchange rate, that's just one buck~ And this guy's paying a hundred? Are you an idiot, or am I?"

[Learn from Big Sisters and Enter Society]: "Is this guy trying to trap our equipment in the mail and slow our progress so he can get a head start and claim the leveling event rewards? I saw that first place on the leveling leaderboard gets a hundred thousand in cash!"

There were all sorts of skeptical comments.

But that didn't stop Lin Mo's mailbox from flashing nonstop as soon as he sent his message!

With a hundred thousand players in the beginner village, there were bound to be plenty who couldn't resist an easy bargain.

Besides, beginner equipment added so few stats that going without it barely affected them!

After filtering out the scammers and messages asking for thousands or even a million-which made up over half the mail-Lin Mo claimed some equipment priced at 100 bucks apiece.

The transactions went through his bank account linked to Oracle.

Before long, Lin Mo had received a full 82 pieces of beginner equipment!

In exchange, the eight thousand-odd bucks remaining in Lin Mo's account were gone.

It hurt.

But Lin Mo knew even better that you had to spend money to make money.

"As long as I'm strong enough, money will be there for the taking!"

With that thought, Lin Mo found a deserted spot.

He activated his SSS-rank talent, Soulfire, to incinerate the equipment he had just bought.

[Ding~ You have incinerated the level 0, tier 1 · White-quality equipment, Beginner Shirt. Equipment evolution points +1!]

[Ding~ You have incinerated the level 0, Tier 1 · White-quality equipment, Novice Pants. Equipment evolution points +1!]

[Ding...]

"Looks like tier 1 white equipment always gives 1 evolution point when burned!"

Next, Lin Mo used the 82 evolution points from incinerating those 82 pieces of beginner equipment to evolve his Novice Sword.

[Ding~ 2 equipment evolution points consumed. Congratulations! Your Novice Sword has evolved from Tier 1 · Green quality to Tier 1 · Blue quality!]

[Ding~ 4 equipment evolution points consumed. Congratulations! Your Novice Sword has evolved from Tier 1 · Blue quality to Tier 1 · Purple quality!]

As the equipment's quality increased, each evolution cost more and more points.

After pouring in a total of 63 evolution points...

[Ding~ 32 equipment evolution points consumed. Congratulations! Your Novice Sword has evolved from Tier 1 · Red quality to Tier 1 · Gold quality! This equipment has reached the highest quality and cannot evolve further!]

[Ding~ The system is about to issue a regional announcement. Would you like to reveal/hide your ID?]

After all, Lin Mo had only just posted a message offering to buy equipment.

If he obtained golden equipment right afterward, people might connect the dots and realize he had a talent that could evolve trash equipment into godly gear-a power sure to spark envy.

So Lin Mo selected "Hide."

The next moment, a loud system announcement rang out across all of Cloudside Town-

[Announcement] (Cloudside Town): "Ding~ Congratulations to player **** for obtaining the tier 1 golden equipment, World-Shattering · Flowing Light Sword! As the first player to obtain golden equipment in beginner village No. 116 on the Great Xia server, you have earned the achievement [Golden Legend] and received: gold coins +1, reputation +10, and the title · Golden Gear War God!" ```

Less than five minutes after Oracle's servers opened, a piece of godly golden gear had already appeared...

At that announcement, all nearly one hundred thousand online players in Cloudside Town went wild...