What Lila saw was the item link for a complete, Epic-quality armor set: [Set of the Rotmancer].

  Of course, she knew that in two or three days, the standard sets would start flooding the market. But those would be the blue, Rare-quality versions.

  An Epic set wasn't impossible to acquire later—its drop rate was roughly a tenth of the Rare version's—but it would likely cost 500,000 to assemble a full set piece by piece from the auction house.

  Her offer of one million wasn't the impulsive splurge of a rich girl. On the contrary, it was a calculated, strategic move.

  Equipping this set on her party's mage would elevate their DPS to a whole new level. A dungeon run that currently took them an hour could be cut down to forty minutes. Over a full day of grinding, that meant two or three extra runs compared to other top guilds. It was the kind of edge that allowed a team to snowball its lead in the game's opening weeks.

  Kael was more than satisfied with the offer. He knew the set wasn't truly worth that much. Just like with the Quillboar's Club, Lila was overpaying to build goodwill and secure a reliable connection. Seeing her sincerity, he decided not to string her along.

  "Stonehaven teleport nexus," he replied.

  With that, Kael sheathed his bow and jogged back to town.

  When he arrived at the nexus, Lila was already there waiting. She was clad in the Rare-quality [Overseer's Rusted Breastplate], the Quillboar's Club formidable in her hands. Her long hair cascaded over her shoulders as she sized him up. It wasn't hard to spot him; Kael's own full set was instantly recognizable to anyone who'd been in the dungeon.

  Kael opened the trade window and placed the [Set of the Rotmancer] inside. As a bonus, he added the [Quillboar Boots] he had just replaced.

  Lila's eyes widened slightly, and a faint, genuine smile touched her otherwise cool expression.

  "Thank you," she said as the trade completed. "From now on, if you find any top-tier gear, please consider me your first buyer."

  She gave him a slight, respectful nod and turned to leave, clearly not wanting to waste any more of his time.

  "Wait," Kael called out.

  He closed the distance between them and leaned in, whispering a few sentences into her ear.

  Lila’s eyes lit up, her expression shifting to one of sheer disbelief. "Is that method… is it really possible?"

  Kael just nodded. "Guaranteed."

  "How much for the information?" she asked urgently. "Name your price. I'll transfer it now."

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  Kael shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. "Consider it a freebie."

  After they parted ways, Kael felt a deep sense of satisfaction. He didn't have any real social standing yet, and he knew that some real-world problems would be much easier to solve with an ally like Lila in his corner.

  Returning to his grinding spot, he shut out all other distractions and focused solely on leveling. He had his routine down to a science: about ten minutes to gather and eliminate a massive wave of mobs, earning him around 120,000 EXP per pull. That worked out to over 700,000 EXP an hour.

  The initial levels flew by, but the progression curve was steepening dramatically. Each level required double the experience of the last. The jump from level 19 to 20 was a staggering 29,414,400 EXP.

  He grinded until 11 PM, accumulating a total of 7 million experience points and hitting level 17. At this point, the highest-level players in the rest of the server were barely hitting 14.

  By level, he was close to 20. But by EXP, he was still more than 50 million short.

  He had to hit level 20 within two days. If he didn't, the Relic of Apollo could not be activated until the same time next year.

  What do I do? The question gnawed at him. After more than ten hours of non-stop grinding, his body ached and his mind felt sluggish.

  Okay, time for a break. If he couldn't make it, he couldn't make it. The hidden quest could wait a year. It wouldn't cripple his long-term advantage in the game.

  He returned to the safe zone in Stonehaven and logged out, his stomach immediately growling. He hadn't wanted to waste time heading back to town for dinner. Logging out in the field was too risky; your character remained in-game and vulnerable for ten minutes. A single stray mob could have one-shotted his squishy archer build.

  Kael found himself walking back to the same bar from the night before.

  "Excuse me, I’ll take a grilled salmon, and throw in a side of onion rings," he said to the bartender.

  He settled into the booth and noticed the group of five from yesterday were there again, this time with three new faces.

  "You guys got so lucky," the man with the glasses was saying. "Spawning near Stonehaven, you can just run the dungeon out of starter village 9999. I'm level 10 and still too scared to leave my starting zone. The mobs around Clearwater are insane."

  A bald man nodded grimly. "Tell me about it. You're just asking to get killed out there without a full set of level 10 gear."

  "Yeah," a newcomer chimed in. "And the stuff the town NPCs sell is all Common-tier trash. Trying to craft your own is impossible without the right materials."

  The woman from the previous night had a smug look on her face. She'd been running the dungeon with Cole all day, had hit level 13, and had even looted two pieces of the set. She was too modest to brag openly, though.

  "It's not all great," the woman said with a sigh. "Now that word is out, village 9999 is packed. Way too crowded."

  The man with glasses shot him an unimpressed look. "What does that matter? It's a dungeon. It's not like you're competing for mob spawns."

  "Who says it doesn't matter?" the woman retorted. "Ashveil is still wanted, you know! We have to sneak in and out of the dungeon every single time, hoping nobody spots us."

  "As if anyone would actually dare to make a move on Ashveil."

  The comment was casual, but for Kael, it was like a lightning strike. He had been wrestling with his leveling problem, and suddenly, the answer was right in front of him.

  Of course. A living, breathing leveling tool.

  Killing a wanted player awarded an entire level, instantly.

  His excitement, however, fizzled out almost as quickly as it had appeared. Even hunting down Ashveil would only solve the 19 to 20 grind. He still had to get from 17 to 19 on his own. That was a 22 million EXP gap. He could grind the 7 million for the next level, but the 14 million after that would be a brutal, mind-numbing slog.

  He was still short one level's worth of EXP. How could he possibly manage it?

  Kael slumped back into his seat, the frustration returning.

  Then, five minutes later, a slow smile spread across his face.

  Ashveil, you're about to have a very, very bad day.