Online Game: I Have A 100% Drop Rate

Leon, with his new [Mana Storer] jar equipped, advanced forward through the vast expanse of Iris’ domain, his eyes scanning the horizon for any signs of danger or opportunity that might present themselves to him.

There were many areas in this domain to explore, ranging from dense forests to towering mountains to ancient ruins.

But with only 24 hours to do so, one needed to be careful as to not be too slow and miss out on valuable mana points that could make the difference.

’I need to find the areas with the Impossible difficulty monsters,’ Leon thought, his mind already strategizing and planning his route, ’they’re bound to give the most mana points and be worth the most effort to hunt down.’

Where could they possibly be though?

Far into the mountains where the terrain was treacherous and the paths dangerous, deep in the caves of the forest where light barely reached and visibility was limited, or perhaps at the center of the ancient city that loomed in the distance with its broken spires and crumbling walls?

And beside the monsters that roamed the domain freely, Leon knew that wherever he went, he would definitely meet a player sooner or later, given the limited space and the number of participants all competing for the same resources.

Staying passive wasn’t an option in this kind of event where every point mattered, so no matter what, except if it was Violet, Celeste or Emilia, he would fight anyone who crossed his path without hesitation or mercy.

In fact, only five minutes since the event had officially started, Leon noticed the participant count had already dropped from its original number.

Tick! Tick!

[272 participants remain.]

It seemed the other players who had managed to discover others quickly decided to get rid of them before they could accumulate any mana points.

The less participants present, the more mana one could gather without competition, and thus the less competition for the top spots and rewards that awaited the victors.

In fact, if they managed to eliminate every player beside ten, wouldn’t that automatically allow them to get a reward regardless of their mana points, since only the top ten received anything?

Regardless of the strategy others were employing and the various tactics being used, Leon had decided to head toward the city that dominated the horizon with its broken silhouette.

It seemed to be the most interesting landmark and the most dangerous as every player would try and head there to find the strongest monsters and the most valuable mana points.

Leon understood Iris’ psychology a little from his interactions with her: she really enjoyed interesting things and spectacular displays of power.

To her, a good spectacle was more important than anything else, and as she looked at all the participants of her domain, she wanted to see interesting things unfold before her eyes.

This meant the city likely had a TON of monsters from the highest-tier difficulty, making it the prime location for gathering mana points.

’I’ll be able to get a lot of mana and perhaps fight some of these other participants, good enough for me,’ Leon thought, a smirk forming on his face.

Leon simply hoped Emilia and Celeste wouldn’t get caught off guard by any of the stronger participants or monsters that roamed the domain.

They passed Iris’ wall of aura meaning they met the minimum requirements to participate, but many of the "impossible" monsters would probably be too much for them to handle alone without support.

The panel said that monsters from the "Hell" and "Impossible" difficulty will be present from the database.

The "Hell" monsters were level 95, while the "Impossible" ones were level 100, each of them with varying combat power and unique abilities that made them unpredictable.

There might be some monsters that were truly incredibly powerful, even among the level 100 category, that would challenge even the strongest participants and push them to their limits.

Iris said that the monsters from the database were scattered across the domain, so Leon assumed that every single one was present somewhere, waiting to be found.

This meant there would be several hundred monsters in total, each a unique challenge with different strengths and weaknesses.

Each of them was different from the other with random powers and strength, making every encounter unpredictable and requiring adaptation.

And once one was defeated, there wouldn’t be a second version of that same monster ever again in the event, so each kill was unique.

But more importantly, that there was a limited amount of them.

’This also means there’s a "strongest" monster among them,’ Leon thought, ’It has to be worth a lot of mana points, perhaps even enough to secure victory alone.’

The strongest monster of the [Impossible] difficulty would be one that almost no one here could defeat, and also extremely difficult to find, hidden in the most treacherous part of the domain.

While he was wondering about all of this and what to do next, around ten minutes had passed and something unexpected appeared before him, breaking his train of thought.

Fwoosh!

Right before Leon, a faint trace of mana erupted from the ground, and from a magic circle a monster was formed, its body materializing from pure energy in a flash of light.

"Oh, so you guys aren’t just spread around the domain either, you sometimes appear like this out of nowhere..." Leon observed, his eyes narrowing.

Appraisal!

---

[Lord Mantis (Mana Monster)]

[Level: 95]

[Talent: None.]

[Combat Power: 6,500,000]

[Details: Monster extracted from the database and created using mana.]

---

There was no real "details" section since much like all the other mana monsters, they were simply extracted from the database without any backstory.

Leon wouldn’t gain any items from killing them anyway since they weren’t real, just constructs of mana that would dissipate upon defeat, so he didn’t need to worry about loot.

And so as the lord mantis jumped toward Leon, its scythe-like hands ready to cut him down with deadly precision, Leon prepared his counterattack.

Cataclysmic Fireball!

Leon dodged the attack with practiced ease and fluid movement, then launched his fireball at the monster, hitting it directly and exploding in a burst of flames that illuminated the area.

Ding!

[You have defeated "Lord Mantis (Mana Monster)"]

[Lord Mantis: 3 Mana Points.]

The monster’s corpse turned into three blue orbs that flowed directly into Leon’s jar, filling it ever so slightly with glowing energy that pulsed within the container.

Still, this was enough to get him started on his mana gathering journey, but even then, Leon noticed something else: there was no ranking system visible anywhere.

There was no panel that gave each player’s ranking or position in real time, meaning that no matter what, one wouldn’t know what another person had in terms of mana points.

This reinforced the idea of attacking anyone since if you let them go, they could potentially have a high amount of mana points without you knowing until it was too late.

’Or maybe I’d make them show their jar since the mana points are visible on the outside,’ Leon mused, considering his options.

Either way, it actually took Leon over an hour to reach the city at point where he could see it directly, the massive structures looming before him.

Leon had killed a few more monsters on the way, though all of them were from the "Hell" difficulty, meaning level 95 creatures that weren’t particularly challenging.

And much like the lord mantis, they gave him between 2 and 4 mana points each, a steady but slow accumulation that would take forever to reach a winning total.

[Mana Points: 16]

The "hell" monsters only seemed to be used for quick mana points though as they were all pretty weak, especially for players from this level of competition who could dispatch them easily.

The "impossible" ones would be the important factor as Leon assumed they’d give much more mana points per kill, perhaps even ten times as much.

But of course... the more time passed, the more players defeated them, and thus the less monsters there would be to kill and gain mana points from in the future.

Until eventually, only the "impossible" monsters remained.

’Well,’ Leon reassured himself as he looked up to the sky, ’At least, it seems like the others are working hard to thin the competition.’

[228 participants remain.]

It had only been an hour since the event started, but the amount of participants had already been reduced by a quarter, a significant drop that showed the intensity of the competition.

The others were NOT playing around, it was quite obvious from the rapid elimination rate and the constant tick of the participant counter.

But regardless, Leon dashed forward, eager to enter that city and deal with whatever was waiting inside for him.

He eventually reached it, its walls were completely destroyed, with only a few remaining standing, the rest reduced to rubble and debris scattered across the ground.

It seemed like the giant city used to be full of life before, but that the mana monsters broke through the wall, and chaos erupted throughout the streets, leaving nothing but destruction.

Ding!

[You have entered the "Ruined Mana City"]

[Difficulty: Impossible.]