By the time Kael returned to the starting village, a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He checked the in-game clock. It was nearly midnight. He’d been logged in for twelve straight hours, grinding without a break. The Godpath helmet he’d bought was the cheapest, most basic model available; marathon sessions like this always took a physical toll.
After sending a quick message to Hazel, Kael logged out.
Grrrrrumble.
The moment he was back in his room, his stomach protested loudly. He glanced at the leftover fries on his desk and felt his appetite vanish. He’d grown accustomed to a much better lifestyle in his previous life. He picked up his phone and checked his bank app. Balance: $85.50.
Remembering the auction was ending tomorrow at noon, an idea sparked. Screw it. I’m getting a late-night eats.
Grabbing his phone and keys, Kael left his apartment complex, crossed two streets, and walked up to a local bar with a sprawling patio.
“Excuse me,” he said to the server, “Can I get a pound of crawfish, a basket of spicy wings, an order of fried calamari, and a side of chili cheese fries?”
He rattled off his order like a regular and found an empty table outside. Houston was deep in the American South; even in September, the night air was thick and hot, not much different from summer. The patio was bustling with people looking to unwind and shoot the breeze.
The table next to Kael was occupied by five people, deep in conversation.
“Your village, man, number 9999, you guys are famous,” a guy with glasses said. “Got the only level 10 dungeon on the whole server.”
A woman sitting with them sighed. “Yeah, but you still have to be level 10 to get in. The starting zone is so packed you can’t even move in the eastern forest.”
A bald man turned to her. “I thought you were rolling with Cole’s crew? A whale like him can’t lock down a grinding spot?”
“Don’t even get me started,” the woman complained. “Some asshole put Ashveil(Cole) on the most wanted list. Now we get ganked by guards practically every time we try to level.”
A Black man at the table chimed in. “Oh yeah, I heard about that. I actually asked the guard captain what the penalty is for getting caught.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Guess what he said.”
The others leaned in. “What?”
He lowered his voice. “You lose a full level, and you get thrown in jail for 24 hours.”
“Holy shit!” a collective gasp went around the table.
Losing a level was bad enough, but a 24-hour ban? That was a death sentence. In these critical first weeks, when every second counted, being locked out for a full day was brutal.
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The woman threw her hands up in frustration. “What’s worse is the guards are kill-on-sight for Ashveil now. We tried to go to the mine entrance just to check out the dungeon, and the guards outside almost one-shot him.”
“Haha, that’s some shitty luck.”
Listening from the side, Kael couldn’t help but grin. Before he’d found the Relic of Apollo in his past life, Cole’s crew had made a habit of bullying him. This felt like a little preemptive revenge.
“Matt, how the hell are you leveling so fast? You’re already level 9,” the man with the glasses asked a guy across from him who hadn’t spoken a word. The other three turned to look as well.
Matt seemed to think for a moment, then leaned in conspiratorially. “Don’t tell anyone you heard this from me.”
Intrigued by his secrecy, the others immediately promised to keep quiet. “What’s the secret? Our lips are sealed.”
Matt asked, “You guys know the west side of the starting village?”
The four of them nodded. “Yeah, it’s all villager farmland and gardens. Furthest west is a river and a big mountain. There are no mobs over there.”
“It’s the river,” Matt explained. “Get in the water and let the current carry you downstream. It leads to a hidden area. Mobs from level 5 all the way to 10.”
“What?” the man with glasses yelped, then immediately slapped a hand over his mouth when he realized how loud he’d been. He hissed, “For real? A place like that exists?”
Matt just nodded. “How else do you think I got my levels?”
“Wow…”
A collective, sharp intake of breath. No one said anything else. A silent understanding passed between them.
A few moments later, the man with the glasses stood up abruptly. “Well, I gotta get back.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Alright, catch you guys later.”
…
Kael finished his food, a comfortable warmth spreading through him. After he paid the bill, however, that comfortable feeling was replaced by the stark reality of his nearly empty bank account.
It was 1:30 AM by the time he got back to his room. He didn’t log back into the game. Instead, he collapsed onto his bed and fell into a deep sleep. The day had been too eventful, too draining. For the first time in a long time, he slept soundly through the night.
***
When Kael opened his eyes, the room was filled with bright daylight. He shot up in bed, fumbling for his phone to check the time.
11:30 AM.
He’d slept for ten hours straight.
He scrambled out of bed, washed up, and grabbed a quick bite before logging back into the game.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The moment he materialized, his message alert was going crazy. He opened his friends list; it was a flood of messages from Hazel, asking when he’d be online. He ignored them for now and made a beeline for the auction house.
He pulled up his listing for the [Quillboar’s Club]. The current bid was $58,000. It had been stuck at that price for a while. Though it was a far cry from what he was hoping for, he wasn’t worried. He’d been through countless high-stakes auctions before. He knew the real war wouldn’t start until the final seconds.
He remembered bidding on the [Heart of the Ocean]. With three seconds left, the price was at eight million dollars. In the very last second, he’d submitted a bid of $30,001,000, sniping it from everyone. He found out later his gambit had been a stroke of genius; another player had bid exactly thirty million.
11:59:00
The price began to move.
$100,000
Kael remained perfectly calm.
11:59:10
$200,000
He knew it wouldn’t sell for less than 300k.
11:59:31
$300,000
There it was, his psychological baseline.
11:59:48
$500,000
A jolt went through him. That was it. That was more than enough. That was his father’s treatment covered. His sister’s tuition paid, no more part-time jobs for her to juggle between classes.
11:59:56
$650,000
11:59:58 – The price held.
11:59:59 – The price held.
The interface froze for a split second. Kael knew this was the system processing the final, last-millisecond bids. He nervously refreshed the page, and a spinning loading icon appeared.
After a second that felt like an eternity, the final result displayed.
$1,000,000.
Kael froze, staring at the screen. One million dollars.
