“Ding! Congratulations to your team for defeating the Level 15 Lord Boss—‘Lava Colossus Thes’—and earning 1,500 prestige points.”

The system chime signaled the Colossus’s end—and the trial’s conclusion.

Bai Xia’s tense nerves finally loosened. She let out a heavy breath, legs wobbling as she nearly plopped onto the ground.

Truth was, defeating a powerhouse like the Lava Colossus wasn’t just skill. Luck helped—but Qingcheng’s aid mattered more.

About luck: had her streak broken earlier, Bai Xia would be running naked through the newbie village right now.

Then Qingcheng’s help. Though the mysterious NPC seemed stern, she always left a way out—supplying gear, even picking a trial boss their team could counter. Swap in a speed-and-attack-focused boss? Whole different story.

Still—luck or skill, a win was a win.

No public humiliation, plus a mountain of loot. If the moment weren’t so solemn, Bai Xia would’ve planted hands on hips and laughed triumphantly three times.

As victor, she now claimed loot inspection rights.

Monsters Bai Xia felled rarely skimped—and the Lava Colossus was no exception.

First, levels: a Level 15 Lord Boss was the highest-tier monster players had downed yet. The EXP haul? Massive.

Post-Level 10 grinding demanded far more EXP than newbie days—but Bai Xia shot straight from 9 to 12. A full three-level leap!

Seemingly effortless… yet grinding regular mobs for equivalent EXP would’ve taken days.

Next, prestige: a whopping 1,500 points. Bai Xia figured once the prestige leaderboard launched, she and Tianzheng would cling to the top spots awhile.

But levels and prestige weren’t the prize. The real treasure? Gear and items.

“I can totally add an extra sausage to my instant noodles later… Hmm, maybe even an egg.”

Eyes locked on loot scattered around the corpse, Bai Xia wiped non-existent drool from her lip and hastily scooped up every item.

Lava Colossus Thes dropped nine gear pieces—zero white-grade junk. Five Fine-quality, two Superior-quality, and two… Rare-quality!

Over three hundred gold coins spilled out—more than all prior dungeon rewards combined. Not to mention uncounted silver.

And beyond gear and coin? Two rarer treasures.

【Heart of Lava】: Rare-grade energy stone. Core of the Lava Colossus, brimming with fiery power. Inlay into Superior-grade+ weapons to add fire burn damage on hits, with 10% chance to trigger Lava Strike.

An energy stone—especially Rare-grade—was fiercely coveted even mid-to-late game.

This tiny stone alone outweighed several gear pieces. Not every boss dropped them; rates were notoriously low.

But since the boss was *this* generous… no question—they’d struck gold!

Then came the second special drop.

【Whirlwind Slash】: Skill scroll for warrior-class professions. Grants ‘Whirlwind Slash’ upon use.

Effect: Spin body and weapon like a storm, striking nearby enemies wildly for 5 seconds (max 3 hits per target). Final strike charges Storm Slash—dealing wind-element damage to all surrounding foes and slowing them.

In *The Otherworld*, players gained skills four ways. First: auto-unlock on class panel at required level. No special hurdles—just hit the level (though high-tier skills cost gold).

Like Tianzheng: hit Level 10 but skipped the warrior’s Level 10 skill due to cost.

Second: learn from NPCs. High freedom meant players could pick up unique skills from in-game characters.

Take Qingcheng—a deeply mysterious figure, clearly ultra-high-tier NPC. She tossed rare gear around like candy; teaching a skill? Trivial.

But this path was pure luck. You couldn’t force an NPC. Anger one? Might get deleted. Only the wildly fortunate stumbled into it.

Third: self-created skills. Players with that insight and talent? Extremely rare—likely only emerging once most hit max level.

Fourth—and lying right before Bai Xia and Tianzheng—skill scrolls from bosses. Yet high-tier scrolls were far rarer than top-grade energy stones.

Naturally, their value soared higher.

Bai Xia never expected the Lava Colossus to drop *both*. Its battered stone corpse even looked kinda cute now. (She tested Gathering Skill on it—nothing harvestable. Slight annoyance.)

But the boss gave all it had; failed gathering was no big deal. The real headache? Fair distribution.

Staring at the glittering pile, excitement warred with worry. Every item held immense early-game value—splitting fairly wasn’t simple.

Silent until now, Tianzheng caught her struggle. Eyes flickering, he spoke: “Stuck on how to split it?”

“Yep! So much awesome loot… but handing half to you, Pro? Ugh—my heart *aches*!”

(Of course, Bai Xia was joking.)

She was greedy, sure—but not without principles. Without Tianzheng? They’d never have beaten the Colossus. Her dignity would’ve been toast… forget scoring legendary drops.

The man didn’t miss a beat. A faint, mysterious smile quirking his lips: “How about… fifty-fifty?”