Resting in the cool shade of a tree, Daisuke gnced down at Zephyr still dozing peacefully inside his shirt. Theurned his attention to his status window and ruffled his hair roughly.

  Eight levels from a single adva quest—I still ’t quite my head around it. Then again, I guess it makes se’s a hidden css, and those dungeon mobs were all well over level 200. Holy, I had no business being there at all; definitely dozens of levels way too soon.

  And that freakin’ Gothor! That scheming bastard really thought it had me ered by droppiraight into that deathtrap. It might’ve worked, too, if I didn’t have the genial Deitle. Without it, Kaizyreus would’ve swatted me like a fly at his level.

  Anyway, that’s all behind me now. But there’s something strange—didn’t I just plete the adva quest? I’m certain I did, so why hasn’t my css ged?

  [Name: Haxks

  Species: Human

  Level: 43 | EXP: 40,959/288,906 (14.17%)

  Css: Dual Bder [!]

  Affiliation: Adventurers’ Guild | Merts’ Guild

  Title: Lone Wolf, Pathfinder, Unwavering Spirit, genial Denizen, Master of Divi, Devoted Huhe Liberator of Races, Master of Djinn, O Kill

  HP: 9656/9656 | MP: 1255/1255

  Strength: 102 (+22) | Stamina: 162 (+22) | Agility: 200 (+35) | Intelligence: 53 (+10) | Dexterity: 42 (+75) | posure: 28 | Indomitable: 16 | Perception: 5 | Stealth: 4

  Stat Points: 0]

  Active Skills:

  ?? Eye of Verity

  ?? Stat Reset

  ?? Alchemy

  ?? Intimidate

  ?? Magic Missile

  ?? Magic s

  ?? Impeccable Parry

  ?? Dash

  ?? ic Cutter

  ?? Meteor Smash

  ?? Shadow Veil

  ?? Bird’s-Eye View

  ?? Eagle Eye

  Passive Skills:

  ?? Αφιν?τη’s Blessing

  ?? Novice Dagger Mastery

  ?? Novice Polearm Mastery

  ?? Novice Archery Mastery

  ?? Lightning Edge

  ?? Sixth Sense

  Gold: 260,780]

  Clig on the iext to his current css promptly brought up a notification window.

  DING!

  [ons Master]

  [Status: Pending

  Rank:

  Cssification:

  Lvl:

  Proficy:

  Css advas bee accessible at every 25-level interval, granting you the opportunity to asd to the mastery stage. You will be eligible for this progression once you reach level 50.

  Current levels remaining: [7].

  Skill Effect:]

  Before Daisuke could express any measure of dissatisfa about the css description, a vague but uliion prickled at the back of his neck. He could sehe weight of various types of le scouting skills honing in on him, their attention sharp and predatory. In that moment, he experienced firsthand the raw feeling of being huhe metaphorical eyes that watched and scrutinized him from the shadows were cold and unfiving.

  In time, he could sense himself being surrounded by what felt like a small army. In preparation for the possible mayhem that was about to unfold, he donned his mask, pulled his hood over his head, and pushed to his feet, butterscotch eyes burning with an idifference.

  “Hey, is that really him?” murmured one of the many pyers who started arriving on the se in droves. “’t be… he’s just a kid.”

  “That’s definitely level-one gear for sure,” said another, brow furrowed in disbelief.

  “How’s he managing to take down so many rare mobs wearing that junk?”

  “Maybe it’s a skin?”

  “Skins are only avaible during special events, you dolt—and for limited times only. No way that’s just etic.”

  “I’m going to vince him to join our party,” one pyer decred.

  “Fet parties,” someone else interjected. “I pooled all the gold from my guild to offer as tribute if he’ll join us.”

  “Who the hell cares about partying or being guildmates with this guy; I just o know how he’s bee a mago Field Bosses and Hidden Dungeons.”

  “If he won’t share his secrets willingly,” growled a man brandishing a nce, his eyes narrowing, “I’ll carve him to pieces until he does.”

  Daisuke stood alone, fag down a mob of pyers whose i was clear from the glint of their ons and the cold determination in their eyes. A, he didn’t dispy any signs of fear—instead, a dark aura seemingly rolled off his body like a toxic miasma, a pair of golden eyes gleaming, pierg through the shadows that g to his bck-cd figure.

  Rather than charging in, the pyers—despite their clear advantage in numbers—remained rooted iheir ce now overshadowed by the dark, foreboding presence before them. Rumors of Haxks—only level 25—single-handedly taking down Field Bosses, even Gothor that was of a higher level, made them sed-guess every step.

  Their caution held firm.

  Except for one.

  “Idiots,” scoffed a man impressive leather armor as he swaggered forward, fidently takier stage. Behind him loomed ae of grim-faced meraries, their intimidating presence drawing gasps from the crowd. “He just soloed a Hidden Dungeon mere moments ago. Do you holy believe he has enough stamio stand up against a force like this?”

  “My ses exactly,” agreed a familiar individual who also took ter stage, the upper se of his wand adorned with the intricate and revealing form of a woman’s torso and arms, posed as if bound iude.

  “And just who irash like you?” the other man sneered. “I didn’t think Field Bosses and Hidden Dungeons had any appeal for your kind.”

  Bendova grinned, his gaze slig into Daisuke like a razor’s edge. “Even uild needs gold to fund our… preferred pastimes,” he defended smoothly. “And, let’s just say, I’ve got a personal score to settle with this little prick.”

  “I couldn’t care less about you or your petty grudge,” came the cold response. “Stand down, or I’ll start by cutting down you and your sorry excuse fuild.”

  Bendova chuckled. “I’d love to see you try,” he challenged.

  From the cover of the bushes, Nigel and his drone keenly observed as the fated frontatioween Haxks and a horde of indignant pyers unraveled. Several other freence journalists were already beginning to verge on the se, but aside from being far more promihan his terparts, Nigel had been the first to dig deeper into the story and had uhed a rare scoop worth its weight in gold.

  The camera shifted from Daisuke, panning over to the two pyers who had broken into a heated argument. Those who had tuned into the livestream were treated to an up-close view of both characters, their rising tempers and tense gestures added a fresh yer of drama for the audience.

  [NightShade13: Trust my guy o get us the inside scoop ahead of the game! Bro even found the perfect spot to give us a prime view of the a ??

  BzeOfGlory: Damn! I ’t believe it’s finally happening! ????

  GhostlyArcher: The fated showdown!

  ShadowKnightX: TAKE HIM TO THE GALLOWS! DEATH TO HAXKS! ????

  SteelVanguard: BRING HIM TO THE GUILLOTINE! ????

  Crimsore: Dude! Look at all those people! You’d think a World Boss was about to spawn there or something!

  RadiantKnight: It was iable, really. Uher games, SO doesn’t readily provide information through the System, f pyers to piece together every scrap of knowledge they find. It’s evident that Haxks has uhed some kind of cheat, and now everyone is cm for their share of the spoils.

  Irue: Gee, thanks for stating the obvious, nerd ??

  InfernoBde: Hey, isn’t that Bendova guy the Guildmaster of that infamous guild? What’s it called again?

  MysticShadow: Men of Culture.

  DarkOracle: Ha! That’s just a generous way of saying they’re a bunch of thirsty, desperate weirdos, always on the lookout for a new way to get their thrills at someone else’s expense. Damn perverts!

  Fiehey’re just low-key pedos.

  Stonebreaker: They don’t even bother to make an effort to ceal it in-game, do they? Did you all catch the rumors about what they’ve been doing to the Florians?

  NightHowl: Tragic…

  Sausage_Party: No lie, my raging hormones were kinda hoping they’d succeed with their pn. Bme God for creating puberty.

  SoulStealer: Brah.

  RiftWalker: You should be ashamed to fess such a thing ??????

  Sausage_Party: @RiftWalker: Lighten up, Moses—it’s just a friggin’ game!

  Meowster: It’s been bugging me for a while now, but who’s the guy arguing with the pervert? Doesn’t he look kinda familiar? ??

  BustyxBuster: Now that you mention it…

  Nigel: I suspect he’s from the Dragonsbane Guild.

  RustyNeedle: YOU’RE KIDDING?!

  RadiantKnight: That actually makes a lot of sense. Large guilds tend to earn bad rep when they interfere with low-level pyers, but this new guy isn’t widely know. If he’s part onsbane, he’s bound by loyalty to the guild, which means they trust him to rey any valuable informatiohers about Haxks.

  Pokégurl: I guess that also expins why he brought meraries along instead of his own guildmates.]

  DING!

  [Pyer | Bendova | Lvl 74 | Mage | Men of Culture]

  DING!

  [Pyer | FrostbiteNinja | Lvl 82 | Ninja | Dragonsbane]

  “I’m sure you kly why we’re all here,” FrostbiteNinja, otherwise known as Jace, s Daisuke, his tone desdie his efforts to sound inviting and charitable. “Your ret feats have caught the eye of many, including mine. As a captain of a well-respected guild, I’m not here just to extraformation like the rest of these vultures. I’m here to extend an invitation to join my guild and offer you our prote. Among everyohered here, I am the only oruly standing by your side.”

  “You iving little bastard,” Bendova scoffed.

  Disgruntled murmurs rippled through the crowd at the man’s underhanded ploy. Yet, if his cim held any truth—that he was ihe captain of a promi guild—none dared to raise their ons against him.

  While it was widely seen as bad form fuilds to bully low-level pyers, the dynamics shifted dramatically when such behavior was deemed justified. In such cases, guilds had a notorious reputation for pressuring pyers to the brink, often pushing them to their limits and driving them to quit the game entirely.

  “So?” Jace asked, extending his hand with a sly smile. “What do you say? Do we have ourselves a deal?”