Abyssal Whisper Wand went to Natalia. It was opened from the Legendary box she got, and it was Sound element aligned.
Lily’s legendary boxes also gave her two Darkness-attributed items, so it appeared that contribution-ranking rewards had a chance to give items suitable to the winners’ attributes, but this wasn’t 100% the case.
The next legendary item he took out was Nightfall Edge, a slender, long, snake-curved dagger that he chose from Lily’s Weapon Selection box.
He gave it to Lily for a duel, wielding it along with her gear set’s weapon. It was a powerful darkness-element weapon, which could boost all of her attacks and had some interesting effects, not to mention that it increased Perception by 100, Focus by 70, and Strength by 50.
The next legendary item he took out was Starseer Staff. It was light-attributed, but it only had one effect on that element. The other effects were more of buff and defense. But it had a good boost in magic attack and +150 Focus, +60 Perception in perk.
The other most important Mage in the group got this weapon—Maya and this item was what Almond selected from her Weapon Selection Box in the first place.
Next was Frostbite Fang Hairpin. Almond also gave it to Maya for obvious reasons, as it boosted elemental effects of Icy attributes by 100% and also had an effect with a one-hour cooldown that could create a Frozen Coffin on a target, a control-type effect.
Afterward, he took out Galechime Bells, a wind-attributed item that was not the equipment but a normal item akin to an artifact that required the user to hold it in one hand to use its effects.
Holding the bell, the user can use its effects. One effect decreased the weight of everyone designated as allies, the same as the wind in the present atmosphere, and gave them the ability to sense wind and ride through it for 30 seconds.
The second effect boosted the user’s next Wind-attributed skill by 100%.
The third effect gave a wind barrier to the designated ally with the power to absorb an attack and forcefully scatter it away from the user.
Normally, Almond would’ve given it to Amir, but he wasn’t here, so it went to Anya.
He then took out the last legendary item, which was a one-time-use—Aurora Dragonfire flask.
This potion was a consumable, Legendary-ranked one.
Drinking this potion would give the user access to Aurora Dragonfire, a variant of Fire element, and temporarily gives the same mastery as S-rank Flame elemental mastery for 1 minute.
The only one in the party with flame elemental mastery was Adrian. The first one-time-use item was his, and the second one also went to him after Almond thought about it since Adrian was the only one with Flame elemental mastery.
Since Adrian was going to coordinate with him, it was better to boost him as much as possible, and having access to Aurora Dragonfire flame would increase all of his attacks much more, making them more powerful and also adding extra effect.
This variant of flame element had the intimidation and power of a dragon, as its name implied. It already increases the flame element’s power by 100%, but on top of that, all impact-type effects were boosted by 50% and would give Aurora Dragonfire scales all over the user’s body for the duration, increasing flame resistance and physical resistance by 200%.
As all legendary items were distributed, it was time to gear up the super rookies who didn’t get any items.
There were a total of four new Epic-rank Gear sets of high-tier, giving a good amount of stat points and effects, along with the old Epic-rank sets and Almond’s own two sets, one being a high-tier Super-rank set, which was equivalent to Epic-rank ones in terms of effects even if not in terms of bonus stat perks.
The other was the Grimlord Apocalypse Set, a high-tier Epic-rank set.
Almond distributed them accordingly, but just as he finished, he sensed Sylvia’s presence.
Shortly afterward, Sylvia emerged from the ground nearby as vines drilled out along with a cocoon-type case made from braided vines, from which Amir emerged.
“I’m here!”
Sylvia, having evolved greatly because of the special-rank resource tree she absorbed, had her affinity with nature increased significantly, with her Flora elemental mastery exceeding S-rank already.
She knew the general direction of her Master’s presence, so she traveled through Earth using her Flora’s power by using the established nature on this floor.
She crossed three hundred kilometers in just an hour while bypassing trouble locations and obstruction from monsters.
“We have less than two hours before we start our battle. Use your item effects that have a cooldown of less than two hours and familiarize yourself with them.”
Almond’s eyes glinted as he added with a grin, “But before that, let’s convince the three other parties observing us to give up on their special items.”
They only had a single floor boss summoning special item. The other three were in the hands of parties who were nearby observing them.
They couldn’t summon the floor boss with just three items, after all.
“Come out, there’s no need to hide anymore,” Almond spoke, his voice reverberating far and wide, enhanced by his Mana.
A subtle hush fell across the clearing. The atmosphere was charged, as though the forest around them held its breath, listening for a response. Almond stood calmly, lightning dancing along his fingertips, Lily at his side with her new Nightfall Edge humming softly with dark energy. The rest of their team spread out in a subtle defensive perimeter, taking silent cues from Almond’s stance and tone.
It didn’t take long. From behind the towering roots of a half-uprooted tree, a party of five emerged, their weapons lowered but not sheathed. Their leader was a tall man with sharp eyes and a stern frown.
They were members of the first-ranked Proximax Guild.
“Ah, so you knew we were here,” the leader said, voice tinged with cautious respect. He glanced about, noting the aura of power Almond’s group projected.
From the opposite side, a second group revealed themselves: four individuals clad in uniform crimson garb, hoods pulled back to show serious faces. Their posture hinted at discipline—a party belonging to the 7th-ranked Guild, Azure Veil. One of them, a woman with braided hair and a feathered collar looked at Almond, her aura unwavering.
And finally, from a rise in the terrain where a massive stone slab jutted forth, the third-party appeared. They were fewer in number—just three, but their presence was intense. One bore a heavy polearm crackling faintly with runes, another hovered just off the ground, arms crossed, and the last fiddled with a vial of strange liquid. They said nothing, but their narrowed eyes spoke volumes.
These three were members of one of the top 10 families—the Zhou clan.
“Good,” Almond said, letting his voice carry. He scanned the three groups, ensuring he had everyone’s attention. “We know each of you possesses one of the special items required to summon the floor boss. We have one ourselves. There should be four total.” He held up a small, rune-etched disc for a moment, letting the others see it gleam in the filtered sunlight.
“Now, the best possible outcome here for you would be you giving us the remaining three items,” Almond smiled.