Honestly, Isaac hadn't really been expecting much. He'd already grinded dozens of mobs without seeing a single piece of gear.
Everyone said you could kill a hundred monsters and still not get a single drop!
But somehow, this Sturdy Hyenaman not only gave him a big pile of XP Orbs and Tier 1 materials—it even dropped equipment!
Isaac looked at the fallen Hyenaman's body with teary-eyed gratitude, raised his paw, and saluted. "Respect, brother! Let's see what we got."
A window popped up in front of him, displaying the item.
[Worn Hyenaman Club (Gray – Junk)]
["The surface is worn, clearly used for a long time."]
[Attack: 3–6]
No extra stats, nothing special. It totally lived up to its gray "junk" status.
"Huh? Same stats as the one I'm using…" Isaac frowned. "People are seriously paying hundreds for this trash?"
"Open official site."
The game allowed direct access to its official site. A sleek interface of Celestia: The Eternal Realms appeared in front of him.
"Marketplace, let's go."
There were about a dozen clubs listed for sale. Prices were all over the place—some as low as $1200, others marked as high as $2000.
Isaac shook his head. No wonder no one was buying—these prices were insane.
"Come on, this is just a level 1 weapon. No way it's worth 2K. These people are nuts."
Those listings were meaningless. Isaac switched to completed sales history instead.
There were over a hundred past transactions. Considering the game had millions of players, a hundred was still a tiny number.
Prices ranged from $100 to $300, but a closer look revealed something interesting: in the last 30 minutes, nearly all completed sales were between $250–280.
Anything priced under $280 had been instantly snapped up.
"Okay, so that's the real price range right now."
Even though he was a monster in the game, his site account was still bound to his previous player character, LoneMadness.
Thanks to that, Isaac was able to list the club on the market at $260.
"Let's see if it sells."
Just as he was about to close the browser, a notification popped up.
[Your item "Worn Hyenaman Club" has been purchased by player '封四'. After a 5% platform fee, $247 has been deposited into your linked PayPal account.]
"What the hell?! It sold that fast?!"
Isaac was floored. That buyer must've been camping the market, ready to buy instantly.
"Connect phone. Open messages."
His quantum headset was synced to his phone, allowing full access to notifications.
[PAYPAL: $247 has been deposited to your account at 10:44 AM...]
"It actually arrived!" Isaac was buzzing with excitement. That was real money in the bank—his main reason for playing this game.
Over $200 for a single drop, easy as that. If he could do this consistently, that was $6–7K a month. He could go full-time with this game!
"Those experts were right—Celestia: The Eternal Realms is packed with opportunities! And it looks like special mobs really do have better drop rates. Alright, time to grind!"
With his first bit of real-world profit, Isaac was fired up and dove straight back into the hunt.
[Hyenaman (Level 1) killed. Gained 15 XP Orbs. Received Tier 0 Talent Shard x1. Received Star 0 Quality Evolution Point x1.]
[Hyenaman (Level 1) killed. Gained 15 XP Orbs. Received Tier 0 Talent Shard x1. Received Star 0 Quality Evolution Point x1.]
[Hyenaman (Level 1) killed. Gained 15 XP Orbs. Received Tier 0 Talent Shard x1. Received Star 0 Quality Evolution Point x1.]
...
He opened the map interface.
While grinding, Isaac had marked five special Hyenamen—two at level 1, two at level 2, and one at level 3.
He couldn't handle the higher-level ones just yet, but he marked their locations anyway.
"Man, gear really doesn't drop easily. I've killed over twenty more, and nothing... No wonder a level 1 club sells for so much."
"Two more kills till I level up. Let's finish this."
Moments later, golden light flared under his feet—level 3, finally!
"Let's check stats," he muttered, opening his panel while catching his breath.
[Character Bound: Isaac]
[Race: Hyenaman]
[Quality (Star 0): Normal (No base stat modifiers)]
[Level: 3 (EXP: 0/1000)]
[Attributes – STR: 7 | AGI: 7 | CON: 7]
[Attack Power: Physical 13–16]
[Defense: Physical 4]
[HP: 240]
[Talent: Inferior Hyena Bloodline – Tier 0: Normal attacks have a 6% chance to crit for 2x damage.]
[Talent Evolution Shard: 0/20 (Tier 1 Shards)]
[Quality Evolution Point: 0/20 (Star 1 Points)]
[Monster Reputation: 0]
"Hell yeah, 240 HP. I'm solid now!" Confidence renewed, Isaac hurried back to his marked location.
Time to face the Level 1 Sturdy Hyenaman!
He swung his club—–12!
The enemy retaliated—–9!
"Surprised, huh? Bet you didn't expect this kind of power from me!"
The Sturdy Hyenaman stared blankly, clearly unimpressed by a level 3 monster gloating over a level 1 opponent...
Isaac crushed it easily, but this time, the mob only dropped a Tier 1 material—no gear.
"Stingy!" Isaac muttered and ran off to find the next one. Another win… but again, no gear.
"Damn it, gear drop rates are brutal," he groaned.
After taking out that one, the first hadn't even respawned yet. These special mobs clearly had longer respawn timers than regular ones.
"Maybe I should try a level 2 mob?" Isaac pondered. "Yeah, let's give it a shot. If I can handle it, I'll have four on rotation!"
The next special mob was labeled "Agile Hyenaman." Isaac double-checked his potions, then launched the attack.
–11 damage dealt. The enemy countered with only –6.
"Huh? That's it?" Isaac blinked. "And its HP is only 170, same as I had at level 2…"
He paused, thinking it through.
So far, he'd encountered two types of special prefixes: Sturdy and Agile.
Sturdy Hyenamen had high Strength, which meant higher attack and defense. So Agile ones must have high Agility—better attack speed and movement speed.
But at these low levels, agility's impact was minimal. It only showed up after several hits, maybe getting in one extra strike.
Totally negligible.
"So that's it. The prefix determines which stat is boosted!" Isaac finally got it.
"Which means this guy's no threat at all! I remember the other one was Agile too. Nice—I can rotate through four now!"
That thought alone had Isaac pumped.
"Let's go! Time to grind!"