The surprise was a rather pleasant one. There was no enemy on the step. Instead, there was a glowing treasure chest. Inspect showed it was a Special Chest. Special Chests were incredibly rare and fell outside the standard tier of chests. Nonetheless, this was expected to Corwin as growth tier items didn’t have an exact class either.

He opened the chest excitedly, and rather greedily hoped for multiple items in it. That wish didn’t come true, but he was nonetheless rather happy.

Boots of the Swordsman (Divine Growth Type Currently Trash Level 0)

As a trash gear this item gets +1 Def/level and +1MDef/level.

This gear is part of set of the swordsman.

Set effect with 2 items: +0.5 Overall Tier.

Set Effect with 4 items: Hidden

Set Effect with 6 items: Hidden

Use 5 trash boots to upgrade.

Use 1 Magic Crystal to evolve.

Already familiar with the process, Corwin spent 1,2 and 5 magic crystals, reducing his total to 1 to get the boots up to iron tier. At common they gained an agility bonus, At Bronze they gained all-stats. They also gained abilities. At common, they could reduce the effect of slow skills by the level of the boots. This meant the slow would last far less long. A slow reduced below level 0 would be ignored, so if Corwin kept his level at or above that of most players this ability would be godly in PvP. At bronze, they could reduce stop and immobilize skills by the level of the boots. At iron, they gained +0.02 Move Speed Tier/level. Move speed tier was a multiplier on basic move speed. A tier 2 player would move twice as fast as a tier 1 player. These boots would gain a tier every 50 levels, meaning that Corwin would likely be the fastest moving player in the game. All of these abilities were quite powerful. Of course, for them to truly matter Corwin would have to equip the boots.

After opening the chest, a portal appeared and Corwin used it to leave the divine trial. A slew of announcements went off.

Congratulations to player Corwin Swordborn for being the first player to clear a Divine Trial in Eternity’s Wake. Rewarding 1 Iron Tier Treasure Chest and 32,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to player Corwin Swordborn for being the first player in Altaea to clear a Divine Trial. Rewarding 1 Bronze Tier Treasure Chest and 16,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to player Corwin Swordborn for being the first player in Orleans to clear a Divine Trial. Rewarding 1 Common Tier Treasure Chest and 8,000,000XP.

Corwin was slightly disappointed as he preferred the rewards that showered him in gold. Nonetheless, it was possible he could get a lucky break and get something one tier higher than the actual treasure chest. A silver tier recipe would be a dream at this stage, the items he could make with it would sell for a fortune. Even better, items started to use rare materials at Gold Tier, so a silver tier item would need at most uncommon materials and would still be possible to mass produce. Furthermore, chests were linked to a player’s level so whatever item he got would be at the level he was when he opened it. Corwin decided it was worthwhile to hold onto the chests for a while, he could almost double his luck if he got one more upgrade of the ring of hidden attributes after all.

Corwin had to walk back to town as his portal was still on cooldown. He finally arrived, and quickly checked if players were selling any skill books he needed. He was unlucky on that front, but couldn’t complain. He went to the blacksmith and bought up all the level 0 and level 1 Trash boots, getting 50 in total. He similarly bought up all the level 0 and level 1 trash rings that were available, getting 20 in total. He upgraded his boots to level 7 and equipped them.

Corwin then bought up all the crafting ingredients his recipe could use from all the vendors in town. He rented a private forging room near the smithy and activated his time manipulation skill. Corwin crafted all kinds of items, starting with bronze tier equips and moving on to iron tier equips. Eventually he received another series of messages.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Eternity’s Wake to reach Apprentice Forger. Rewarding with 1 Forger’s Hammer (Iron Tier) and 16,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Altaea to reach Apprentice Forger. Rewarding with 1 Forger’s Medallion (Bronze Tier) and 8,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Orleans to reach Apprentice Forger.

Rewarding with 1 Forger’s Belt (Common Tier) and 4,000,000 XP.

Each of the forging items increased forging success rate based on their tier and the tier of the item crafted. Since these items couldn’t be bought, they likely made Corwin the best forger in the game right now, especially considering that he certainly had the most recipes.

Corwin switched over to working on amulets and rings and before the time acceleration of his zone was up was rewarded once again.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Eternity’s Wake to reach Apprentice Jeweller. Rewarding with 1 Jeweller’s Tools (Iron Tier) and 16,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Altaea to reach Apprentice Jeweller. Rewarding with 1 Jeweller’s Medallion (Bronze Tier) and 8,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Orleans to reach Apprentice Jeweller.

Rewarding with 1 Jeweller’s Belt (Common Tier) and 4,000,000 XP.

These items worked similarly to the forging items. Corwin now had a similar claim to dominating the early game Jeweller profession. He also finally levelled up, reaching an exciting level 7. This let him equip the level 8 gear he was waiting on, including that very exciting silver Cuisse, and let him upgrade his rings and boots to level 8 as well.

Corwin continued to craft valuable items right up until the time acceleration stopped, gaining plenty of forging and jewelling experience as well as some regular XP. The regular XP was based on the level of the item, so was a pittance since the items were all level 5. Nonetheless, Corwin was quite happy as he now had the items that would pay for his installments. He just needed an effective plan to sell them. He knew the market demand was too low right now, players hadn’t had enough time to find money and level 5 was too far away for them to spend coin on. But in two days, that would all change. He decided to sell bronze gear first then iron gear soon after, something he thought would maximize his earnings. He was concerned that if he sold iron gear too soon it would accelerate the pace of players dramatically, but it wasn’t his top concern as he remained far ahead.

Corwin then used his last two dungeon passes to run hell mode of Grimsbane twice, clearing it easily with his new enhanced gear. The drops were uneventful as no lucky chances were triggered and only 3 recipes dropped all of them leatherworker’s recipes. However, he still got 10 magic crystals for the two runs and that was enough to upgrade the boots of the swordsman to Silver Tier. They gained the ability “All swordsman skills +0.02/level”. This was small now but by level 100 it meant his skills could be 2 levels higher than they would be otherwise. The attributes and armor values also doubled, and the durability increased as well.

Corwin then decided that leatherworking was the best use of his time even though he was out of time acceleration. He did just enough leatherworking to achieve one last set of announcements.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Eternity’s Wake to reach Apprentice Leatherworker. Rewarding with 1 Leatherworker’s Tools (Iron Tier) and 16,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Altaea to reach Apprentice Leatherworker. Rewarding with 1 Leatherworker’s Medallion (Bronze Tier) and 8,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Orleans to reach Apprentice Leatherworker. Rewarding with 1 Leatherworker’s Belt (Common Tier) and 4,000,000 XP.

The experience was a small gain at this point but the bonuses for the crafting gear would be quite handy. He also wanted to prevent others from getting this 28,000,000XP as that was enough for an instant level 5 and decent progress on level 6. He thought it was unlikely anyone could achieve apprentice level using the level 0 and level 1 recipes sold in novice villages but felt it wasn’t worth taking chances.

Corwin also decided to close off the same avenue for potion makers. He wasn’t sure he’d stick with that profession long-term but it did seem like a good short-term investment. Hours later, he received a fourth set of profession notices:

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Eternity’s Wake to reach Apprentice Potion Maker. Rewarding with 1 Potion Maker’s Tools (Iron Tier) and 16,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Altaea to reach Apprentice Potion Maker. Rewarding with 1 Potion Maker’s Medallion (Bronze Tier) and 8,000,000 XP.

Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn for being the first in Orleans to reach Apprentice Potion Maker. Rewarding with 1 Potion Maker’s Belt (Common Tier) and 4,000,000 XP.

Lastly, Corwin started to produce light stones out of regular stones. Light stones were like magical torches, they emitted light so that one could function after dark. Since day and night were reversed in Eternity’s wake, this gave players the ability to venture out after monsters during the real day. As John was a professional player, he fully expected to put in more than just sleeping hours into the game, he just didn’t expect he’d have the recipe to do so right from day one. Corwin crafted enough stones to last two players one night, and sent half of them to Kyo, with a message encouraging him to put the hours in.

Finally, Corwin checked the time. He had four real life hours till the server went down for the daily patch. Daily patches were unlike the triggered patch earlier, and reflected general changes to the game over time. Sometimes there weren’t any changes, but most of the time, new opportunities were added to the game. Eternity’s Wake changed quickly, and Corwin was looking forward to keeping up with the changes. Seeing as he had plenty of time, Corwin set out to the second divine trial of the swordsman, and prepared to face the array maker’s challenge.

Corwin Swordborn

Spoiler : Level 7: 30% of level 8

Str: 177 (base:5)

Agi: 207 (base:35)

Con: 177 (base:5)

Int: 85 (base:5)

Cha: 85 (base:5)

Lck: 37 (base:5)

Cnc: 37 (base:5)

Sta: 37 (base: 5)

Def: 545

MDef: 333

HP: 1939/1939

MP: 1295/1295

Gear:

MW: Iron Tier Level 7 Longsword, +14 Str, +14 Agi, +14 Con

Base Damage: 56-64, Durability 24/25, Requirements: 42 Str

OW: Iron Tier, Level 7 Shortsword, +14 Str, +14Agi, +14 Con

Base Damage 42-49, Durability 25/25, Requirements: 42 Str

MA: Iron Tier Level 8 Plate, +16 Str, +16 Agi, +16 Con

64Def,32MDef, Durability 48/48, Requirements:36 Str

LA: Silver Tier Level 8 Plate Cuisse, +32Str, +32Agi, +32Con

128Def, 64MDef Durability: 64/64 Requirements: 64 Str

B: Iron Tier Level 6 Plate Gloves +12 Str, +12 Agi, +12Con

48Def,24MDef, Durability 29/30, Requirements: 36Str

G: Silver Tier Level 8 Plateboots +32Str +32Agi +32Con

128 Def, 128MDef Durability 128/128, Requirements: 64Str

RR: Silver Tier, Level 8 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+32 All base attributes, +32 All Hidden Attributes)

LR: Silver Tier, Level 8 Ring of Elements (+32 All base attributes,

Ignore 1.4 Levels, Ignore 1.4 Equip Levels

AM: Iron Tier, Level 8 Amulet (+16 All base attributes)

Skills:

Time Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 0

Space Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 0

Thunder Slash, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wind Charge, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Disrupting Blow, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Double Slash, Uncommon, Tier 0, Level 1

Slash, Common, Tier 0, Level 1

Pierce, Common, Tier 0, Level 1

Parry, Common, Tier 0, Level 1