Scott could not help but wonder about that factor. Did he get special rewards for completing introductory missions in those other worlds? He did get to have Samantha as a companion. There was Saelil from Fear Rune. He received treasures in the Imperial Garden world for some reason. The fairy bow should have been something similar. Perhaps the fact that he was no longer a noob in the eyes of the system was the reason? The perks had been raining down on him for a while now.

He clicked on the reward offer, noting that it was not an actual gift, and then further noted that it was a discount. "I can buy a unique Ha' Ruul premium server exclusive item; Legendary Helm of the Silent Protagonist for twenty-five thousand experience points... Normally costs Two and a half million for the non-exclusive version, and there's a one month window of opportunity to purchase it at the discounted price."

"Sure. Why not. That's one hell of a discount." If it was worth over two million experience points it was probably at least worth some bragging rights. The possibility that it would have a good bonus or ability added to it would be nice. Of course, it was a risk despite the cost and the word legendary having been attached to it. There was a possibility that it could just be something decorative.

Scott paid the purchase price and a small treasure chest appeared before him. He opened it up and saw that his helm was actually a stocking cap like the one that he currently wore.

Item Skin

Helm of the Silent Protagonist [Legendary][Unique Variant]

A hero of action should speak few words, but learn many things. This unique legendary item skin can be used to add the special abilities of the Helm of the Silent Protagonist to the item. The newly upgraded item may also be changed to match the appearance of the Helm of the Silent Protagonist, though this is an optional ability.

The resulting item can only be worn by the champion who acquired the skin. The skin can be applied as many times as the champion sees fit, to any number of helmets, but he may only wear one helm at the time.

The Unique Variant of this item skin will allow the special options to work even when you are not participating in an active mission.

Level: 1/10

EXP Cost: 0/10000

Durability: N/A

Special Options

- Appearance Change: A helm that has this skin loaded onto it can, at the creator's discretion, be changed to match the standard appearance of the Helm of the Silent Protagonist.

- Restricted Vocalization: An item with the skin [Helm of the Silent Protagonist] attached will curse the wearer. So long as they wear the helm, they will not be able to vocalize properly. They will only be able to speak in grunts and nonsense words.

- Enhanced Experience Growth Through Combat: You will gain [1.5] times the experience for defeating an opponent while this cap is worn.

- Side Mission Acquisition Bonus: You will be twice as likely to trigger the start of a side mission, even if you are not currently engaged in an active mission when you wear this item. You will be four times more likely to trigger the start of a side mission during a storyline mission when you wear this item. [Does not upgrade]

"This? H-holy shit, this is..." His eyes widened considerably as he realized what he had gotten his hands on. It was an item that would allow him to earn more experience for taking down enemies. So far that was usually the slowest way to gain experience points because individual enemies provided such a small amount of experience.

"The cost to increase its level is ridiculous, but let's see what happens," he said with a grin. Scott splurged ten thousand of his hard won points and his grin widened considerably. His experience gain had increased to double the experience! He threw twenty thousand experience into it, since that was the new experience cost and it rose to level three. He could now earn three times the experience per defeated enemy.

"This thing would have been awesome on Dead Men Walking. Wave after wave of experience just pouring into me," he said with a smile. Of course, the upgrade cost was ridiculous but it made sense. It was a multi-million experience point item after all.

Had he the points, he would have gladly thrown them all into his little hat skin at that moment. It would cost at least twice the item's real value to max it out, and using it on scrub-tier monsters like those he currently fought would never repay that cost. Higher grade opponents, though? Even one of those fake goombas from Imperial Garden in their turtle mechas was worth twenty points. They would be worth two hundred points each. A feral crackhead zombie alone would have been worth fifty points! All he needed was a higher class of enemy, or a more lucrative one that would come at him in waves, and even the highest upgrade level would quickly pay for itself. Provided it continued to have the experience gain upgrades be equal to the level of the helm.

"I have to try this out..." Scott grinned lightly to himself then used the exchange to apply the skin to his little cap. It did not change in appearance, as he liked the look of his original cap.

Scott tried to say something, but the only word that came out was, "Feyah!"

He took his cap off and left it off in order to see if he could speak. He said a few things then grinned. All he had to do was take off the hat!

He grinned. This should be good. Triple experience, here he came!

Dead Men Walking was out of the question. Ha' Ruul had monsters, but outside of the underworld they did not spawn often and the gathering of darkness was over. That made the numbers go down even further. Bounty Star was out, there was nothing to fight there at all unless he decided to get on a ship. There was only one real option.

Scott went to his door and set it to take him to Fear Rune, in the underground obelisk room. He could not just appear there willy-nilly like most other places. Fear Rune required that he appear next to an obelisk that he had awakened. It also just so happened that the one he went to was the one he wanted to visit.

He looked around the obelisk room, a slightly nostalgic look in his eyes. He had not been there in a while, though by his recollection that was only a few weeks prior.

Scott tested out his weapons. His sword and bow both worked fine, though an attempt to use his bow resulted in a warning message that claimed its damage output would be lessened by twenty percent. He would need to increase his level in order to counteract that effect. The sword and armor, however, were fine.

He rushed up the nearby stairs then checked the area. The battle with Saelil had left scorch marks and debris all over the room. There was no sign of anything living or dead, otherwise.

"Gate's barred..." he said to himself, "Weird. It shouldn't be."

Scott put his cap back on his head, said "Yaht!" then set to work.

He tried to lift the gate. He was not quite strong enough, even with his increased strength. So, he poured some of his feroki into the attempt and raised his ability several points. The gate rose up, then rolled the rest of the way upward even as a lock knocking sound came from nearby. It had been reset and would remain open, hopefully.

He meandered along the corridors and the bridge that followed, none of the stronger undead in sight. It was not until he made his way past the obelisk that he first encountered when he entered the underworld that he noted something odd. The layout had changed.

"Ehyah?" he asked curiously.

While he did not want to stay long, he did want to explore a bit. This was his chance to test his weapons on the local non-living wild life.

He walked down a long hallway for a moment then spied a bit of debris nearby. Scott took a chunk of masonry in hand then proceeded to a point just shy of the opening that led out into a large cavern beyond. He tossed the piece of brick through the opening and a split-second later a familiar little skeletal critter dropped down from the ceiling above.

Scott fired off a sword beam that took the bony little monkey in the back. It rolled over then started to flail around, but did not die. Even with the bonus damage such a weapon should do to the undead it was not enough to beat it in a single strike.

He rushed forward and struck at the beast before it could right itself. Once, twice, three times he tore into it with his blade before it fell to the ground. Little motes of light rose up then flew toward Scott. A green number [9.3] rose up from the corpse.

"Ehyah?" he asked curiously. These things were supposed to give out two and a half experience points. Given his cap's bonus, this one was worth over three points. It occurred to him then that with the changes to the environment, there might have been changes to the monsters. Were there higher level beasts in the area now?

He looked at his sword. Given the possibility of the monsters being stronger, it was likely that with his strength and the special capacity of the blade combined, his Ha' Ruulian sword was only a little stronger than the one he used when he first ran through these tunnels.

The item stats were different on this world due to its premium nature. Though, Ha' Ruul was also a premium world its stats were somewhat similar to the standard. What made this place special? It remained a mystery.

Scott moved on. He did not intend to stay and hunt for long, but he did search the open cavern beyond. Two more monkeys felt the bite of his blade, and one fell to a barrage of arrows. The latter required over a dozen stage one fairy bolts to put down, but it was practically helpless, as every time it took a hit the bolt knocked the little thing down. Though they prove did surprisingly agile the one time fought one without using trickery, they were not worth much as an opponent. Four low-tier opponents had given him nearly forty experience points. It was a small amount, but it proved that the cap worked. Even better, Fear Rune could be used as a main hunting ground.

Determined not to get into a side mission before he could return to meet his friends, he went back to the obelisk. He checked to see that the standard costs were still available to him.

His eyes roved over those costs and a sense of nostalgia washed over him. There was a time when a few hundred experience points had seemed like a long and terrible slog to acquire. Now they were nothing. Travel between obelisks was free to him, so he used it to travel to the white obelisk. He would need it, or one located in a town, to leave the world. The doors only opened in those safe areas.

Scott returned home and took off his cap. "That was nice. Spend fifty-five thousand experience and earn back forty points. Hellz yeah!"

There was no need to upgrade the cap further at the moment given the creatures that he could hunt. Just knowing that he could get nearly ten experience points a pop for bony monkeys was enough. Once he could regularly earn thousands of points per day of grinding, his thoughts might change on upgrading his cap. The best part of all was that even if he lost this one, he could just apply the skin to another helmet. It was saved at his home point. No one could steal it and profit from it.