Back in his room at the stronghold, Kael began to plan his next steps.
In his previous life, he had only managed to complete five of the ten stages of the [Free the Soul-Shards] quest. The other five soul-shards had been released by other players who stumbled upon the Hidden Realms. He had entered the next phase of the questline with only 50% completion.
Even so, he had still managed to break into the Top 1000 Leaderboard.
He had often fantasized about what could have been. If he had achieved 100% completion, could he have challenged the top ten? Could he have even vied for the number one spot?
This time, he would leave no room for regrets.
The problem was, even the weakest monsters in the lowest-level Apollo Hidden Realm were far too strong for him right now. He glanced at the Level 1 golden bow in his hands and the Level 10 set he wore.
I need to replace everything, he decided. A full set of Level 20 epic-quality gear, minimum.
Just as he was contemplating how to gear up, a message notification chimed. He opened it. It was from Lila.
"Dawnbreaker, you have a minute?"
"What's up?"
"Can you help me kill a boss? I need a [Guild Charter]."
Kael considered it for a moment, then replied, "Sure. Where?"
"Stonehaven," Lila wrote back. "Southeast, in the thicket. Coordinates are 255, 397."
255, 397… Kael searched his memory, the location materializing in his mind's eye. "Is the boss a giant serpent?"
"Yes, that's the one."
"I'll be right there," Kael typed. "Leave one tank and two healers at the boss. Everyone else needs to stay more than 40 yards away."
Lila paused. "Why?"
Kael didn't explain. He simply stood up and headed down the mountain.
As he reached the base, a figure suddenly emerged from the treeline. "Hey, buddy," the player called out. "How'd you get past the bandits on the mountain?"
Kael, still in his Ullr disguise, smiled amiably. "I picked up a quest to meet with the three chieftains. The mobs don't aggro me on the path."
Another player stood up from behind a bush. "Have you seen Dawnbreaker? He climbed up a cliff around here yesterday."
As he spoke, more heads popped up from the surrounding woods. Dozens of players, all with dark circles under their eyes, stared at Kael with desperate hope. It was clear they were the ones after Cole's bounty and had likely been camping here all night.
Kael found the situation absurdly funny—a pack of hunters asking their quarry for directions to himself.
He shook his head. "Haven't seen him. Maybe he fell off and died."
With that, he walked away, leaving a murmur of conversation in his wake.
"Is Dawnbreaker even still on the mountain? You think he went down the other side?"
"No way. The mobs up there are all level 20+. A glass cannon like him wouldn't get far."
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"Hey, that Ullr guy's gear looked a lot like Dawnbreaker's. You think it was him?"
"Don't be an idiot! I'm wearing the Level 10 set too. Does that make me Dawnbreaker?"
"I saw that Ullr guy myself last night. He was being chased up the mountain by the village guard. He's probably telling the truth about having a quest."
"Everyone just shut up! How do you expect him to show his face with you all making this much noise?"
"Right, quiet down..."
...
Kael used the teleport nexus to travel to Stonehaven, then exited through the south gate. The number of players grinding in the fields outside the city had grown considerably. Most now sported at least a few pieces of the Level 10 set, making quick work of the local wildlife.
He found a secluded corner behind a ruined wall, took off the Shapeshifter's Mask to revert to Dawnbreaker, and made his way toward Lila's coordinates.
The area was a dense thicket, teeming with high-level porcupines and hedgehogs. Normally, such creatures would be safe from predators like snakes, but this thicket was home to a unique, mutated boss: an [Ironhide Serpent] that had developed a taste for spiky prey.
"Dawnbreaker, over here!"
Lila spotted his glaringly red name from hundreds of yards away.
Kael walked up to her, wasting no time on pleasantries. "Is everyone in position?"
"Just like you said," Lila confirmed. "Only one tank and two priests are near the boss."
Kael nodded and looked toward the clearing where the serpent was. It was at nearly full health, repeatedly smashing its head against the shield of a female warrior decked out in a full set of gear from the mines.. Behind her, two female priests were locked in a constant rhythm of healing.
[Ironhide Serpent]: Level 18
Health: 187,450 / 200,000
Physical Attack: 1115
Physical Defense: 412
Magic Defense: 271
On paper, the boss wasn't exceptionally strong. A well-geared party of 10 to 20 players could probably take it down in twenty minutes. But as a field boss, it had a trick up its sleeve.
The serpent's deadliest mechanic triggered when its health fell below 30%. If there were more than five players within a 30-yard radius, it would activate a passive lifesteal ability that would persist until it was back at full health.
The strength of the lifesteal scaled directly with the number of nearby players, making a zerg-rush strategy completely useless. But for the current player base, taking down a boss with this much health with only five people was next to impossible.
"Invite me to the party," Kael told Lila. "Have your people form a wide perimeter, at least 50 yards out. Keep anyone from getting close. And remember, under no circumstances are you to approach the boss!"
"Got it," Lila said with a firm nod. She had no reason to doubt him. Anyone who could single-handedly supply the market with entire sets of epic gear had more than a few aces up his sleeve.
After giving his final instructions, Kael stepped into range. He could have probably soloed the boss, but it would have required extensive kiting, risking other players wandering into the serpent's lifesteal aura. Having a tank hold it in place was far more efficient.
Kael drew his bow, aimed, and let an arrow fly.
Double Shot!
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Two back-to-back 3x critical hits. The damage numbers were so high that Lila stared in disbelief. She rubbed her eyes, then frantically opened her combat log to confirm what she'd just seen. Kael's first two arrows had dealt over 6,000 damage.
"Your DPS is..." she began, instinctively taking a step toward him to get a better look.
"Get back!" Kael's voice was a cold, sharp command. "Don't come any closer!"
Lila flinched and quickly retreated. Kael's own attack range was 35 yards, which was a safe distance. But the serpent's body was incredibly long. A single tail swipe, which could easily span over ten yards, could cause the game to register a nearby player as being inside the critical 30-yard aura. He needed everyone to maintain a significant buffer.
He loosed another arrow. Another 3x crit.
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Even Kael was surprised. His crit chance was theoretically 30%; one in every three shots should be a crit. How had he landed three in a row?
He fired a fourth arrow.
-1180
His damage returned to normal. But the very next shot was a crit.
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As the fight continued, Kael noticed a clear pattern. His critical strike chance wasn't 30%—it was closer to 60 or 70%.
It has to be my Luck stat, he realized. He remembered old forum debates from his past life, where players had hypothesized that Luck might influence crit and dodge rates. But because Luck-boosting items were so rare, no one had ever been able to gather enough data to prove it.
Now, Kael was certain.
With his damage averaging 3,000 per second, the boss's health bar melted. Less than a minute later, it was already approaching the 30% threshold.
Just then, trouble arrived.
A massive group of players, hundreds of them, swarmed out of the woods, surrounding Lila's small perimeter force. They were disheveled and exhausted, their faces grim with fatigue. It was the same group that had been camping at the base of Shadowcrag Mountains.
A few players at the front swaggered toward Lila, their expressions menacing.
"Step aside," one of them snarled. "We're after Dawnbreaker. Don’t force us to shove past you."
