Assassin at Range: The Sniper’s Lethal Power

After fully absorbing the Fire Dragon Bloodline Factor, Tristan felt amazing—so much so that he was itching to find another dragon and fight for three hundred rounds.

"Why the hell am I thinking like this?"

Tristan reflected on himself.

The only reason he managed to take down Fire Dragon Heloiris was because he launched a sneak attack. After all, Heloiris had just laid an egg and was in a weakened state.

If he looked purely at its HP, it wasn't actually that much lower. But stats weren't everything—the real problem was that Heloiris had suffered a severe drop in its core attributes.

By Tristan's estimation, the dragon was only operating at 60-70% of its full strength.

And even then, the fight had been extremely difficult.

"Right now, my weak points are clear. First, I don't have enough damage skills, so there are long gaps in my attack cycles. Second, my damage amplification is lacking—Shadow Stealth's Breaking Stealth Strike boost alone isn't enough. And lastly, my defense is terrible. Outside of movement skills, all I have is Shadow Prism."

Laying it all out like this, Tristan realized he still had plenty of room for improvement.

After completing his second class advancement, his next goal was to seek out special NPCs to expand his skill set.

If he had hundreds of skills, would he have needed to drag the fight against Heloiris for so long?

He could have just gone in, unloaded a storm of attacks, and ended it instantly.

Shaking off his thoughts, Tristan turned his attention to the three remaining spoils of war.

[Dragon Crystal] Epic-Grade Item Can be socketed into a staff, boosting magic damage by 50% Requirement: The equipment must be Dark Gold-Grade or higher

Even a Dark Gold-Grade staff was already an explosive weapon in terms of stats. Anyone who could get their hands on such an item wouldn't be an ordinary player.

With Dragon Crystal socketed, the damage output would skyrocket to an unimaginable level, far beyond what a normal player could even conceive.

The only problem?

Tristan wasn't a mage. He had no use for this thing.

Plus, he didn't even own a Dark Gold-Grade staff.

For now, he could only store it in his ring and wait for the right opportunity.

Next, he checked the second item.

[Fire Dragon's Wrathscale] Epic-Grade Item Can be socketed into a chestplate Active Effect: Increases damage by 100% for 30 seconds Cooldown: 1 hour Requirement: The equipment must be Dark Gold-Grade or higher Fluff Text: A dragon's reverse scale—touch it, and it shall rage.

This one immediately caught Tristan's attention.

His damage output was already absurd. Now, if he could double that… Boss fights would become a walk in the park.

If there was any downside, it would be the short duration and the long cooldown.

But even with those limitations, it was still an absolute game-changer.

Most importantly—he did have a Dark Gold-Grade chestplate!

The Earth Dragon T-shirt he got from killing Bonecrusher was exactly that!

If he could find a Smithing Master to create a socket, he could embed Fire Dragon's Wrathscale and gain an explosive burst damage ability.

Plus, the reverse scale wasn't permanently bound to the armor.

As long as it didn't get destroyed in combat, he could detach and transfer it to a new chestplate whenever he upgraded his gear.

"I'll ask Edith later—there should be a Dwarven Smithing Master in Davi City."

Tristan made a mental note.

While players could take up blacksmithing, it was impossible for anyone at this stage to reach the rank of Smithing Master—meaning they couldn't modify Dark Gold-Grade gear.

The only option was to rely on NPCs.

And when it came to smithing, no one surpassed the dwarves.

All of the legendary gear in ExoGenesis came from dwarven hands.

For that reason, human capital cities always sought to invite dwarves to reside within them.

Davi City should have some as well.

And if not?

There was always the black market—where, if you had the money, you could find someone for anything.

After storing away the Wrathscale, Tristan moved on to the final loot drop.

[Dragon Pact] Epic-Grade Item Can be used on dragon-type creatures to form a contract Success rate decreases significantly against stronger targets—use wisely

Now this was perfect timing.

He had been wondering how to deal with the dragon egg after it hatched.

Now, he didn't need to think about it at all—just use the Dragon Pact and form a contract.

Once bound by the Dragon Pact, the Fire Dragon would become a special battle pet and could fight alongside him.

Tristan could already imagine it:

Riding his Shadow Dragon, with a Fire Dragon following behind him.

What a sight that would be.

"There was once a woman who called herself the 'Mother of Dragons' because she had three dragons."

"I'll have two—calling myself the 'Father of Dragons' isn't too much, is it?"

Tristan muttered to himself.

Just as he was planning his future, the Shadow Dragon beneath him suddenly spoke:

"My Lord Shadow, I sense an extremely powerful dragon awakening."

Tristan's heart tightened.

There was no doubt—this had to be Takhtu, the dragon that Heloiris had mentioned.

It was furious and had clearly received Heloiris' dying message.

And just as he suspected, a game notification echoed in his mind.

[Alert! The Wrath of Dragon King Takhtu will soon engulf the continent! The world event "Wrath of the Dragon King" is about to begin! Countdown: 3:00:00!]

[Alert! The Wrath of Dragon King Takhtu will soon engulf the continent! The world event "Wrath of the Dragon King" is about to begin! Countdown: 3:00:00!]

[Alert! The Wrath of Dragon King Takhtu will soon engulf the continent! The world event "Wrath of the Dragon King" is about to begin! Countdown: 3:00:00!]

Not only Tristan—all players had received the notification.

The Shadow Dragon turned its head cautiously and said:

"My Lord Shadow, Takhtu has issued a royal summon to all dragons. Of course, I would never respond—I am your loyal servant. I just wanted to ask… what now?"
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Through its draconic bloodline, the Shadow Dragon could feel Takhtu's rage.

It also knew that Takhtu was rallying all dragons to annihilate every human city in revenge for Heloiris' death.

For players, this meant one thing—dragons would attack the capital cities.

If players could hold the cities, they'd be fine.

But if they failed—the cities would be razed to the ground and would have to be rebuilt.

Tristan felt a headache coming on.

"Wait… was Heloiris that important?"

It turned out that Heloiris was Takhtu's mate.

Of course, Takhtu had multiple mates. He probably didn't even remember Heloiris' name.

But now that Heloiris was dead, and worse—killed by a player—things had completely changed.

To maintain his authority and deter others from targeting dragons, Takhtu needed a bloodbath.

He wanted the entire ExoGenesis world to understand one thing—dragons were not to be trifled with.

Taking a deep breath, Tristan spoke calmly:

"It's simple. We fight fire with fire. If Takhtu dares to come, we make sure he never leaves."

Based on his understanding of ExoGenesis, since this wasn't a full expansion update, Takhtu wouldn't fight players to the death.

"Either we kill enough dragons to make him retreat, or he burns down a few cities to satisfy his rage."

Between those two options, Tristan preferred the first one.

After all—dragons were walking treasure troves.

Heloiris alone had made Tristan filthy rich.

If a few more dragons came along—even if they were just Dark Gold-Grade or Gold-Grade lower-tier dragons—he could still make a huge profit.

For most players, however…

This world event was going to be an absolute nightmare.