The First +10 on the Entire Server

First ever SSS-grade +10.

I had just pulled off one hell of a feat. The rush of excitement crashed over me like a storm.

"Shining Parade’s first, no! The entire server’s first SSS-grade +10 success on the Elemental Four-Element Necklace!"

"Yeah! I, Black Fox Haruru, am the one destined to stand at the summit of Unknown Universe!"

And then came an additional effect I, a veteran player who had been around since the open beta of Unknown Universe, had never seen before.

"Wow. This game is insane. There was an extra effect at +10 too?"

"I’ll read it out."

So if you equipped the Elemental Necklace at +9, you could choose whichever element you needed depending on the situation. You couldn’t apply all four at once, though.

Cosmic Blade, meanwhile, was a class with high raw damage but no inherent elemental attacks, which made this necklace more desperately needed than anything else. And the +10 option was...

"No way. So it’s not just choosing one, it’s applying all four elements in one shot? That’s even possible?"

"Yeah, exactly."

"No idea."

"It’ll probably go with the element that applies most strongly? Anyway, I’m heading out to test it right now."

SSS-grade spirit pet Mika becomes stronger the more elements are stacked onto the attack.

I hadn’t even used a skill; I’d only lightly tapped the scarecrow, and it shattered into pieces and vanished.

"Ah. Looks like I’ll have to do a damage check on the next boss. This is too easy."

"Normal? We’re going straight for hard."

"Yes! Thank you."

"That’s right. Not only Mone, but everyone who gave me Unis, everyone who sent support, all of you. This +10 necklace was made possible by your burning support. Haruru’s stream will always stay true to its beginnings."

"No! I was going to mention Chae Money separately! Let’s all shout it together!"

I took a quick breath, then rattled it off like a machine gun.

"I just worship you, my idol, my light, my mental pillar, the 1.9 million-subscriber, greatest GOAT in broadcasting history, the one who said yes alone when everyone else shouted no, the one who founded Shining Parade, and for the record, the one who says you’re uncomfortable if anyone calls you boss so we should just call you boss anyway, and who in any case is no exaggeration the force behind the greatest revival in the history of domestic VTubers, the one who successfully debuted Sally, the first-generation member of Shining Parade, and then went even further by supporting second-generation Tama and me, Haruru, in every possible way. I love you, heart ♡!"

"Yeees~ To celebrate the +10, I’m flexing ten gifted subs!"

Good news ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠always comes in waves. The donations kept coming without a break.

"Really? Hold on, let me check and then we’ll go test the damage."

I clicked into Unknown Tori, and there were not just recommended posts, but every kind of post imaginable filled with my name.

Even after the +10 bonus effect was exposed, no one would recklessly try it. A guild war was about to begin, after all. If you screwed up and showed up to the clash with a 0-grade weapon, that would be a catastrophe.

Even after refreshing, it was still all about me.

Seeing that scene, I couldn’t help laughing again and again.

"That’s an incredible reaction. It’s to the point where I feel like no matter what big mess I make, I’ll never get this kind of impact again."

SSS-grade, first ever on the entire server.

And then the +10 bonus effect I hadn’t even known existed.

The impact was, frankly, explosive.

"Got it. Let’s go."

I stepped into the private training room, drew my sword, and settled into a combat stance.

"All right. Here... I’ll equip the +10 Four-Element Necklace now!"

"I am now the five-attribute Cosmic Blade!"

But this wasn’t the end. SSS-grade spirit pet Mika’s skill grew stronger as more attributes were added.

I hadn’t even used the skill; I’d only tapped the scarecrow, and it was already gone in shards.

"Aah. I guess I’ll have to do the damage check on the next boss. This is too anticlimactic."

"Normal? We’re going straight to hard."

"Of course. Mone has a free pass. You could’ve just whispered me. You didn’t need to send a donation."

"You say I’d ignore you if you whispered? I’m not that kind of person."

I came out of the training room and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠invited Mone in. For the record, even though it was called a "private" training room, party members could still enter together.

"Haruru-nim, you know the new guild war is starting soon, right? You should go challenge the next boss only after the guild war."

"Yes. I’d already checked."

The guild war was one of Unknown Universe’s big events.

First comes a week-long war between new guilds, and after that, a two-week war between existing guilds.

The new guild war, as the name suggests, is strictly for new guilds. On top of that, they pair you with guilds of roughly similar total combat power.

The reason is simple: if a new guild gets crushed by a huge guild right from the start, people will quit on the spot. They want you to fight evenly matched guilds, taste the thrill of victory, or the razor edge of defeat that makes you want to build your guild even further, and slowly sink into Unknown Universe. A very nasty bunch, really.

"That’s why guilds also set up all kinds of attribute traps inside their bases."

"So you want to see whether those can be bypassed with the Four-Element Necklace’s attribute switching? I wanted to try that too."

It seemed almost too broken if it worked, but this wasn’t an 8 or 9 enhancement necklace. It was +10. Of course it should work, right?

Mone helped me set up all sorts of training traps nearby, and before long, a whole range of element-based traps had been built.

Tap.

The instant they touched my sword, now imbued with five attributes, they crumbled away. It was like something that had taken ages to construct could be destroyed in the blink of an eye, like a domino chain in reverse.

"Originally, with the Four-Element Necklace, you were supposed to switch elements manually through control, right? On top of that, the internal cooldown being one second was pretty annoying too. But seeing what Haruru-nim just did... now I’m suddenly craving +10 myself."

What she meant by craving +10 was probably her main account. Somehow, I had the feeling that even if I stopped her, she’d still go try it in secret once.

"Anyway, thanks to our dependable guild master, the guild war will be much easier."

"Heh."

Meanwhile, this was the new guild MuA.

On the surface, it was only a freshly made guild, but in truth it was made by members of the Ruin Guild creating alt accounts and forming a new guild under that guise.

The reason for this cumbersome little scheme was the Shining Parade guild, which had been making waves everywhere and declaring itself ready to reach the summit. If they were left alone, it was obvious they’d become a major obstacle to the Ruin Guild later. If that was the case, they had to be stamped out before the sprout could grow.

And yet, even though they had prepared all sorts of items to crush that guild once the new guild war began, the mood didn’t look good at all.

"Did you see Unknown Tori? They say the first SSS-grade +10 on the whole server was posted there. And apparently there was a +10 bonus effect too. Something about four extra elements."

"Damn. How are we supposed to beat that?"

"Relax, man. Even if it’s a +10 Four-Element Necklace, only the guild master is strong. The rest are trash. At worst, there’s just one support with Rafa who’s worth a look."

"Hey, if you let your guard down and it blows up in your face, what then?"

Then one of the guild members grinned and casually tossed out an idea.

"Should we make one more alt and join Shining Parade Guild?"

Shining Parade still needed to recruit more members. So posing as a spy didn’t seem like a bad move.

"What do you think? Then we could hear their strategy, track the guild master’s movements, and on the guild war day maybe we can even go inactive and reduce one unit of their force."

Inactive.

It’s roughly used to mean users who go missing on the day of the war. Hearing the suggestion, another teammate grinned and answered.

"Not bad."