"Guild Leader, did anything good drop?" Shuise Qiangwei asked curiously, watching Shi Feng stand there in a daze.
The others wore equally expectant expressions, all turning their gaze toward Shi Feng, eager to know what kind of treasure had come out of a Gold-grade chest.
Gold-grade chests were virtually nonexistent on maps above level fifty. The best you could typically find were Mythril Rank, and even an Iron Rank chest was enough to make teams fight each other like madmen.
When a chest appeared in the wild, the better the chest, the greater the commotion when it was opened, and the wider the range of disturbance — attracting more and more players. And once you obtained an item from a chest, there was a two-hour non-safe period. If the holder died during that window, the item was guaranteed to drop.
So whenever a chest appeared in the wild, a bloody fight was inevitable. It had practically become the norm for open-world play.
But they had no such worries now. After all, they were in the Valley of Flame Demons, and the only players who could come here at this point were the Ninth Heaven members they had encountered earlier. With no one else around, there was no risk of being discovered.
Even if they were discovered, it didn't matter. If other players came to steal from them, Zero Wing Guild wouldn't be afraid.
"Something good did drop," Shi Feng said with a smile. He then reached into the chest and pulled out the Crown of the Flame Demon, displaying it before everyone.
Crown of the Flame Demon. Head slot. Gold-grade. Requirement: 800 Strength, 800 Agility, 800 Intelligence.
Defense +100.
Equipped Passive Skill — Flame Demon's Body: Grants the holder the Flame Demon's Body, increasing fire resistance by 200 points and granting immunity to scorching effects.
Equipped Skill — Flame Incarnation: Grants immunity to all fire damage for a duration of one minute. Cooldown: thirty minutes.
As the stats of the Crown of the Flame Demon were displayed, everyone lost interest.
"Guild Leader, this equipment seems way too niche. Not only are the requirements absurdly high, it doesn't even provide a single point of basic stats. The only upside is the fire resistance boost, but sacrificing basic stats for fire resistance? That's putting the cart before the horse."
"I agree. In harsh environments, monsters are usually incredibly strong. Wearing this might give you enough fire resistance, but without the stats, even the monsters would become harder to deal with. You'd be better off equipping a few pieces that give less fire resistance but don't skimp on basic stats."
"Most importantly, there's no real defensive effect. No matter how you look at it, this crown doesn't have any practical defense."
The group could see the pros and cons of the Crown of the Flame Demon at a glance.
One hundred points of defense didn't even compare to level-fifty cloth armor — or rather, it was essentially the same as having none at all.
On top of that, losing a piece of equipment's basic stats meant a player's base stats would drop by at least ten percent, translating to a combat power decrease of over twenty percent. And with such weak head-slot defense, it would become a weak point — if a monster landed a hit on the head, it could easily stun the player outright.
As the Divine Realm system continued to update, every piece of equipment on a player served a purpose. That purpose existed not only in the basic stats but also in the practical effects.
Take two players with the same defense — one wearing armor, the other not. After being hit, the player without armor would not only take heavier damage but also suffer additional effects.
For instance, if a player's head was struck, they would feel dizzy and weak, their reactions slowing. If an arm was hit, it would go numb and become difficult to move. That was why players needed to be fully equipped with armor.
Moreover, depending on the material of the armor, the effects would differ subtly.
The damage taken might be the same, but the degree of physical impact and the effects on the body could be entirely different. All of these things subtly influenced a player's combat performance.
These nuances were something players couldn't feel in the early days. But as they fought higher-level monsters, the differences became increasingly obvious, making them far more careful about their armor choices — no longer focusing solely on basic stats, but also paying attention to how the equipment felt and what effects it provided.