Watching the NPCs hurriedly begin selecting and equipping their gear, John casually opened his own player panel.
[Player]: John
[Level]: 50 (1,500,000 / 500,000: EXP overflow is severe)
[Class]: Assassin
[Talent]: Wrath of the Raider (SSS), Absolute True Damage (SSS), Universal Synthesis (S), Absolute Stillness (S)...
[Attributes]: Strength 2986, Agility 2985, Mind 2986, Stamina 2985
[Skills]: Godshadow (SS), Sunpiercer (SS), Lightning Double (S), Lightning Chain (S), Annihilation of All (S), Phantom Blink (S)...
[Equipment]: Divine Protection (S), Thousand-Faced Mask (A), Bloodfang (A), Lightning Robe (A)
[Wallet]: 839 gold coins, 998 silver coins, 927 copper coins
[Items]: S-rank Treasure Chest
...
This was what his current panel looked like.
Not only had his EXP overflowed by more than a million, but he had also directly synthesized some A-rank talents into S-rank or even SS-rank ones.
For example, the SS-rank Sunpiercer, synthesized from the A-rank Boundary Break.
[Sunpiercer: After activation, attack range increases by 550%, ignores 100% of the target's defense, and the trajectory can pierce through multiple targets (piercing damage: 100%).]
And there was also the S-rank Phantom Blink, synthesized from the A-rank Instant Move.
[Phantom Blink: After activation, instantly teleport to any location within sight, ignoring terrain obstacles. The next attack after using Instant Move deals an additional 100% damage.]
In short—
any skill that John actually used now would not be below S-rank.
And the greatest reward from today's dungeon-farming journey was undoubtedly the S-rank treasure chest he had just synthesized.
In order to create that chest, John had practically swept through every treasure chest location he could remember from his previous life.
He had stripped the entire wilderness area around Novice Village clean of treasure chests.
Together with the A-rank chest he had obtained earlier from a first-kill Boss reward, that was the only reason he had barely managed to synthesize a single S-rank chest.
Anything inside an S-rank chest was guaranteed to be top-tier among its rank, whether it was an item or a skill.
But John had no intention of opening it now.
He had once witnessed the terrifying power of an SSS-rank Lord Class Player.
Because of that, John knew very well that he had to synthesize an SSS-rank treasure chest.
A mere S-rank chest was nowhere near enough for him to achieve absolute dominance.
As his thoughts turned, John noticed that these NPCs seemed too embarrassed to choose properly. They were only picking minor pieces like bracers and necklaces.
His brows furrowed.
"Stop being so timid. Equip everything immediately. That's an order."
The NPCs froze for a moment.
Then they heard John continue,
"At five o'clock tomorrow, we're going to face a brutal battle. The better equipped you are now, the safer Novice Village will be."
Hearing this, all the NPCs were startled.
The female knight looked puzzled.
"Brave Hero, are you referring to the monster tide? But according to the village records, monster tides usually only attack adventurers like yourself. They do not strike the village directly. Why do we need to be on guard?"
John replied calmly, "This time is different. You are the only defensive force Novice Village has. If you don't want to see this village fall, then make your preparations for battle immediately."
After hearing that, the NPCs no longer dared to delay. They quickly and efficiently chose the gear that suited them and equipped it.
Once they had finished, their attributes instantly soared.
It could be said that this NPC force was now strong enough to crush any top guild in the entire server!
This scene was also shared everywhere by the players who had been watching.
In an instant, it sparked another wave of public outcry.
[X] (Zone 5): "Unbelievable. Instead of giving that amazing gear to us players, he gives it to a bunch of NPCs who don't understand anything!"
[Mia] (Zone 5): "What a complete waste. If I remember correctly, this is all gear John got from clearing those dungeons, right?"
[Monica] (Zone 5): "He's selfish to this extent? Honestly, he's a disaster for Zone 5."
The players of Zone 5 had already been full of resentment because John had solo-farmed all the dungeons by himself today.
Now that they saw him giving the equipment to a group of NPCs, they immediately erupted again.
Still, a few rational players saw the real purpose behind John's actions.
[Oak] (Zone 5): "Everyone, calm down. John is actually preparing for tomorrow's monster tide. These NPCs obey him because of his high Fame, and their levels are far above ours. If they're the ones resisting the monster tide, casualties will be much lower."
[Luke] (Zone 5): "That does make sense. In terms of combat power, NPCs are indeed stronger than most players right now. But I think an even bigger reason is that John doesn't trust us players. And since the NPCs are higher level than we are, that's why he gave the equipment to them."
Unfortunately, there were still far too few rational players.
The overwhelming majority of Zone 5's players saw only one thing: John had given away equipment.
They would not consider the deeper reason behind it. Instead, consumed by jealousy, they angrily demanded to know why he had not given the gear to them.
John gave no response at all.
Paying attention to these people was simply a waste of life.
Soon, the NPCs had fully equipped all the items John had given them.
And after learning that the monster tide would strike Novice Village, the female knight personally gathered every NPC in the village who possessed either combat ability or support ability.
After the mobilization, their number had expanded to a full seven hundred.
This temporary NPC army had seventy fully armed combat-class NPCs as its core—and it would obey only John's commands!
John did not refuse the role. He directly ordered them all to leave the village, stand by, and rest.
The moon gradually disappeared behind dark clouds.
Time passed, second by second.
More and more players returned from the wilderness after grinding levels, then leaned against the village walls to wait for the arrival of the monster tide.
But they were clearly wary of John and somewhat hostile toward him.
At the village entrance, the two sides were sharply divided.
The players clustered on the right side, whispering among themselves.
From time to time, they would glance toward the NPCs on the left.
Especially when they saw the seventy NPCs wearing the gear John had given them, their gazes turned even colder.
Yet the moment their eyes touched John's tall, upright figure, they would quickly look away as if burned.
In the hearts of these players, John was no different from a great demon king!
Clang!
The village bell rang.
It was 4:50 in the morning.
Only ten minutes remained before the monster tide appeared.
Strands of white light flashed one after another.
All Zone 5 players who had not yet returned to Novice Village were forcibly teleported back.
Most of them were members of the top guilds.
In order to raise their strength as much as possible, they had spent the entire night outside farming monsters.
Among them, the highest-level group had already reached Level 20.
Whoosh!
A wind rose from the flat ground, making the atmosphere even heavier.
Everyone knew that the world-level mission was about to begin.
At that moment—
John, who had remained silent all this time like a statue, suddenly moved.
He turned to the female knight behind him and instructed, "I'll leave the task of directing the resistance to you for now. I still have something urgent to take care of, so I need to leave temporarily."