The Hidden Realm of Van Tassel was massive, spanning an area larger than a dozen football fields. The mobs were spread out, with only two or three hundred in total.
For Kael’s newly empowered team, clearing the zone’s regular monsters was a breeze. Most mobs could barely even scratch Hazel’s defenses, and Starbloom’s Hakkar Shade could easily solo one or two on its own.
The five of them began at the outer perimeter of the grand palace, systematically clearing their way inward.
[System]: Your party has slain [Vault Guardian - Phantasm Archer]. You gain 120,000 EXP.
[System]: Your party has slain [Guardian Automaton - Type A]. You gain 100,000 EXP.
.....
After clearing over a hundred mobs and collecting more than thirty pieces of gear, Kael had finally swapped out every piece of his old equipment.
[Helm of the Sky Warden (Epic)]
Level 15
HP +1000, Constitution +50, Physical Defense +50, Magic Defense +120
[Amulet of the Swift (Epic)]
Level 15
Agility +80, Magic Defense +150
[Chestguard of the Talon (Epic)]
Level 15
Strength +50, Constitution +50, Physical Defense +80, Magic Defense +100
[Boots of the Zephyr (Epic)]
Level 15
Agility +100, Movement Speed +6
This new set alone provided a massive boost: +100 Constitution, +50 Strength, +180 Agility, +130 Physical Defense, +370 Magic Defense, and a flat +1000 HP.
When combined with his other gear:
[Vanquisher's Longbow (Epic)]
Level 15
Strength +20, Agility +80, Attack Power +400
[Van Tassel's Cloudpiercer Quiver (Legendary)]
Level 15
Physical Attack +200, Strength +30, Agility +100
[Hakkar's Signet of Celerity (Ascendant)]
Level 18
Strength +100, Constitution +100, Agility +100
[Ring of the Zombie]
Level 10
Agility +60
His total stats from equipment were staggering:
Total Equipment Bonuses:
Strength +200
Constitution +200
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Agility +650
Attack Power +600
Physical Defense +130
Magic Defense +370
HP +1000
At level 20, Kael’s character sheet was a thing of beauty:
Player: Dawnbreaker
Class: Divine Archer
Level: 20
HP: 8,800
MP: 900
Strength: 290
Constitution: 390
Agility: 830
Intelligence: 90
Spirit: 90
Physical Attack: 980
Physical Defense: 300
Magic Defense: 415
Factoring in his talents, [Divine Archer · Vital Agility] and [Divine Archer · Marksman’s Instinct], which added damage equal to twice his Agility, a single one of Kael’s basic attacks now hit for over 3,200 damage.
The rest of the team had grown immensely powerful as well. With her own gear and skills, Hazel’s defense was over 1,800, and her health pool was even larger than Kael’s, approaching ten thousand.
Rena’s healing output had reached over 900 HP per second. Lila’s attack power was nearing 2,000, and her defense had climbed to a respectable 900.
By now, all four women had reached level 18. They had cleared a huge swath of the map, but strangely, they hadn't encountered any other teams.
Kael frowned. Something’s not right. There should be four other teams in here.
Could they all have been wiped by the other gatekeeper, the Vault Guardian Bastion?
With that question in mind, he scanned their surroundings more carefully. Previously, they had run into mobs every twenty or thirty yards. Now, they had walked for hundreds of yards without seeing a single one.
“Weird. Where’d all the monsters go?” Hazel muttered, then gasped. “Hey, what’s that?”
They followed her gaze and saw the massive corpse of a monster lying on the ground ahead. A corpse that hadn't despawned in the Hidden Realm could only belong to an elite-level mob.
Kael rushed forward and confirmed his suspicion. It was the body of the [Vault Guardian Bastion].
Kael was surprised. Damn, I was careless. He’d underestimated the other four teams. In his past life, it had taken six teams working together to bring down the elites, but that didn't necessarily mean it was impossible with fewer.
Lila clearly understood the implications. “What do we do?” she asked urgently. “Should we go in now?”
Kael wasn’t worried. He knew firsthand how powerful Van Tassel was; the odds of those four teams succeeding were slim to none. Unless they also had a couple of game-breaking freaks like him, the boss was unbeatable at this stage of the game. He would have preferred to clear the entire outer area first—an opportunity for easy leveling like this was rare.
But seeing the anxiety in Lila’s eyes, he knew words wouldn’t convince her.
He nodded. “Alright, let’s go in.”
He led the group to the side of the grand palace. The main gate was shut tight, a sign that the other party had entered more than ten minutes ago. Lila took out the key, but Kael stopped her.
“Wait. We’re going in a different way.”
He led them halfway around the palace until he found a small, man-sized door set into the stone wall. “We’ll go through here.”
Lila nodded, inserted the key into the lock, and turned.
Click.
A sharp, metallic sound echoed in the silence. The stone door before them began to tremble, then rumbled as it slowly lifted upwards.
“Let’s go!”
Hazel scrambled inside first, followed by Kael, with Lila bringing up the rear. The passageway was narrow, barely wide enough for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder.
“Hazel, move forward slowly,” Kael instructed. “Everyone else, keep your distance.”
His words had barely left his mouth when Hazel let out a piercing scream.
“Ahh!”
SHINK!
-4000
Everyone looked up to see four long spears protruding from Hazel’s body. Thank God it was a game. In the real world, she would have been instantly killed.
Rena immediately spammed her with heals, and within three seconds, Hazel was back to full health.
“That scared me to death! It actually hurt!” Hazel exclaimed, patting her chest in relief.
“Hazel, stop smacking them, or you’ll stunt their growth,” Starbloom teased.
Hazel pouted and shot her a glare.
Unfazed, Starbloom thrust her chest out, letting her D-cups bounce tauntingly right in front of Hazel.
Lila stepped forward and booted Starbloom lightly on the backside. “You and your smart mouth,” she laughed. “You’re going to die alone with twelve cats if you keep that up.”
She turned to Hazel with a reassuring smile. “Don’t mind her, Hazel. She’s got the sharpest tongue in the guild.”
Seeing Lila stick up for her, Hazel’s mood brightened. She looked at Kael and asked, “Mr. Dawnbreaker, are you in the same guild as these ladies?”
Kael shook his head. “No—Lila’s guild is girls-only.”
From the back of the group, Rena muttered, “Well… that’s not set in stone…”
Ahem! Lila coughed loudly, silencing her.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about inviting Kael. Rena and Starbloom had actually brought it up back in town. But the guild’s “all-female” brand was new, and making an exception for a man right away could make her lose credibility with the new members she had just recruited. She hadn’t made a decision yet—and she wasn’t about to let Rena put her on the spot.
Kael knew all about Lila’s pride. In his past life, the [Crimson Bloom] had never admitted a single male member.
Of course, he had no plans to join a guild now, so he quickly changed the subject: “Hazel, you should think about joining them.”
