Assassin at Range: The Sniper's Lethal Power

Chapter 19 19: Evolving Again—Bronze Grade Shadow Stealth!

Tristan finally reached his goal.

With the evolution point he had been saving, plus the ones he just earned, he now had enough to evolve Shadow Stealth for the second time.

"This evolution will cost 2 evolution points. Proceed with the evolution of Shadow Stealth?"

"Yes!"

Ding! Shadow Stealth has been evolved! Quality upgraded: Black Iron Grade → Bronze Grade!

[Shadow Stealth LV2 (Bronze Grade): Enter Stealth mode. Breaking Stealth Strike deals (Attack 140% + 400) additional damage. Mana cost: 5. Cooldown: 16 seconds.]

The damage had soared to a whole new level!

In ExoGenesis, one of the more player-friendly features was that evolving a skill's quality didn't reset its level.

Skill quality and level were separate systems, intertwined yet independent.

"The base fixed damage for Bronze Grade Shadow Stealth starts at 200. With my level upgrades, it's already at 400," Tristan calculated, a satisfied glint in his eyes.

"Now, let's test this new damage."

He locked onto a nearby Granite Giant. The lumbering creature took a few slow steps, looked around confused, then tilted its head to stare at the sky.

If left undisturbed, it might have spent millennia contemplating the mysteries of existence—perhaps even evolving its first spark of intelligence.

Unfortunately, its fate was sealed.

-6356! (Weak Spot Attack)

Previously, Tristan's Shadow Dagger could deal close to 2,800 direct damage, plus about 500 from Rend, totaling around 3,300—a shocking figure.

But now, with Shadow Stealth upgraded to Bronze Grade, his direct damage alone exceeded 6,300!

The Granite Giant didn't even need the bleed effect from Rend to finish it off—it was an instant kill.

Tristan stepped out of stealth, a hint of regret flashing across his face.

"Maybe I should've sold the Rend skill book to Drake. I could've easily gotten five million dollars for it."

The thought passed quickly.

Tristan knew his current high damage was primarily due to the fixed bonuses from Breaking Stealth Strike, which had a significant downside. Unlike scalable damage that improved with his attack stats, fixed damage would remain the same even in the late game when attack values climbed into the tens of thousands.

By then, the value of Rend's bleed damage would far outweigh its current utility.@@@@

-6356! (Weak Spot Attack)

-6356! (Weak Spot Attack)

Each time Tristan's Shadow Dagger flew, another Granite Giant fell.

The elite monsters, towering and formidable, stood no chance against him.

For a brief moment, Tristan felt a surreal disconnect.

"Am I really playing ExoGenesis? This feels way too easy."

The only downside was that Shadow Dagger was a single-target skill. No matter how quickly he killed, it couldn't compare to an area-of-effect (AoE) skill for clearing groups.

"I need to find some general-purpose ranged AoE skills," Tristan mused.

If he couldn't get them from drops, he'd ask Drake to help scout the market.

His reluctance to evolve Shadow Dagger stemmed partly from prioritizing Shadow Stealth and partly because of Shadow Dagger's limitations. As a single-target skill, it would become less effective in large-scale battles later on.

In ExoGenesis, players could learn skills through either trainers or skill books. Some books contained universal skills usable by any class, allowing for unique and unconventional builds like dual-wielding priests or battle mages.

Of course, those niche builds were usually impractical, with laughably low combat efficiency.

---

While Tristan focused on grinding and Drake's squad worked hard to catch up, another figure was on the move.

DarkSaber had finally tracked down Blackshade's grinding location.

"You're saying he's at the Granite Hills, in the northernmost part of the starter village?" DarkSaber asked, a flicker of doubt in his voice.

That area was notorious for its level 10 elite monsters with sky-high defense. For most players, venturing there was a death sentence.

But as he thought it over, DarkSaber realized the intel was likely accurate.

If anyone could farm there, it was Blackshade.

"That humiliation... I'll repay it a hundredfold!"

Rage burned in DarkSaber's eyes. As the leader of the Shadow Legion, with thousands of members under his command, being publicly one-shot by Blackshade had been a disgrace he couldn't live down.

"You think your Black Iron Grade Stealth makes you untouchable?" he sneered, clutching a scroll tightly.

This was no ordinary scroll—it was a rare counter-assassin item he had spent an exorbitant amount of resources to obtain.

"Let's see how long you can keep your smug facade, Blackshade!"