The hum of the virtual world settled back into its default state: a low, ambient symphony of whispering leaves and distant bird calls. His quest log was a paradox wrapped in an enigma. He was back to being a ghost.
Perfection.
Before taking a single step, Kage froze. One operation was complete. Now came the post-mission analysis. His gaze flicked to the corner of his vision, his entire user interface expanding into a semi-transparent overlay.
[Character Sheet: Kage]
Level: 2
Experience 0/400
Class: Warrior
Title: -
Fame: 0
Physical Damage: 29
HP: 120/120
MP: 70/70
Weight: 3/61
[Attributes]
Strength (STR): 21
Agility (AGI): 21
Stamina (STA): 10
Intellect (INT): 5
Artistry (ART): 5
His stats were minimal, a pittance compared to the riches he'd briefly held, but they were his. Earned. Permanent. His eyes scanned further, past the health bars, past the pathetic mana pool of a Warrior, and landed on his equipment screen.
A single icon glowed with an angry, pulsating red.
[Novice's Rusted Sword]
Durability: 5/20 (CRITICAL)
The metal was practically vapor. Another dozen swings, maybe less if he had to parry anything substantial, and it would shatter into a sad puff of pixels. He had run it to the absolute breaking point.
Kage closed the menu, the world snapping back into sharp focus. The Legendary quest beckoned from his log, a promise of world-altering secrets. The Mythic quest hinted at a story that could unearth a part of the game's history.
The Operator's voice, cold and brutally pragmatic, cut through the noise in his head.
A Legendary quest is irrelevant if the primary tool fails. An operation cannot proceed with faulty equipment. Before I can find a blank page in the world, I need to solve the logistics problem.
The weight of his empty inventory felt heavier than any Unique-grade sword. He had traded literal gold for a breadcrumb trail. A fascinating trail, yes, but one that didn't pay the bills. The money from Founder's Justice could have covered his mother's care for months. Now, he was back at zero. A low-level player with a broken sword and a mountain to climb, both in-game and out.
There was no time for regret. Regret was an inefficient emotional state. It was a net loss.
He opened his map. The path back towards the starting town was a winding, indirect route through the lower-tiered section of the Whispering Woods. A beginner's path. For him, it was now a hunting ground.
The objective was simple: farm enough mobs to afford a new tool. And a spare. He needed a backup so the current situation wouldn't repeat itself.
***
The forest on the return journey was a different beast from the one he'd charged through on his way out. The system, it seemed, populated areas based on the general player density. With thousands now flooding the starting zones, the ecosystem had come alive.
His first target appeared as a blur of russet fur and cunning yellow eyes.
[Sly Elven Fox - Level 4]
HP: 170/170
The fox darted left, feinted right, and then lunged with a speed that would have caught most new players completely off guard.
Kage didn't move. His posture was rooted, his sword held in a low, ready stance. He didn't follow the feints. He watched the creature's shoulders, the subtle tensing of muscle that preceded the actual attack animation. An old lesson from Master Jin surfaced without bidding: "Don't watch the blade. Watch the man. The steel only goes where the spirit directs it."
The fox lunged. Kage's sword moved in a short, sharp arc.
Clang.
A perfect parry. The fox was staggered for a fraction of a second, its attack pattern broken.
[Target Staggered!]
Kage didn't waste the opening. One smooth step, and the rusted edge of his sword slid across the creature's flank. A flash of red numbers.
[Critical Hit! -58 HP]
[-29 HP]
He immediately stepped back, resetting his stance as the fox recovered, its AI recalculating.
It circled him, more cautiously this time. The speed was a good test for his 21 points in Agility. The parry window was tight, but consistent.
The second lunge was faster. Kage's parry was just as fast. The counter-strike was clean.
[Critical Hit! -58 HP]
[-29 HP]
A small shower of EXP motes erupted as the fox dissolved.
[You have defeated Sly Elven Fox!]
[EXP Gained: 25]
[Loot Acquired]
- [Coarse Fox Fur] x 1
- 6 copper
He scooped them up. A familiar rhythm began to take hold. Find target. Analyze pattern. Execute. Loot. Repeat. It was mechanical. It was efficient. It was work.
Yet, as he deflected another fox's pounce, the clear, ringing sound of steel on fang echoed in the woods. For a split second, a ghost of a feeling surfaced. The thrill of a clean deflection, the perfect flow of motion where thought and action became one. The ghost of the dojo. The echo of zanshin.
He crushed the feeling. That thrill was from a different life, a life that didn't pay hospital bills. It was a luxury stat he'd long since dumped.
His next encounter was less elegant. A crashing sound from a nearby thicket announced the arrival of a pair of boars.
[Orcish Boar - Lvl 3]
HP: 150/150
They were stout, ugly creatures of muscle and tusk, and they didn't bother with feints. Their AI was simple: point head at player, charge.
The first boar lowered its head, kicking up dirt. The charge animation was obvious, a 1.5-second windup. Plenty of time to sidestep. But there were two of them. Dodging the first would likely put him right in the path of the second.
A head-on confrontation, then.
As the first boar rushed, Kage lunged forward to meet it. Just as its tusks were about to connect, he activated [Power Strike].
[Power Strike I]
The system allowed the skill's animation to override his own movement, a classic animation-cancel. His sword glowed with a faint red light and slammed down on the boar's head a microsecond before its attack would have landed, staggering it.
[Target Staggered!]
[Critical Hit! -81 HP]
He was already spinning, his rusted sword swinging in a basic horizontal slash to intercept the second boar, clipping through the first one in the same motion.
[-27 HP]
[-27 HP]
The impact rattled up his arm, his blade's durability flashing angrily in his UI.
[Novice's Rusted Sword] Durability: 2/20
He was running on fumes.
He dispatched the first, wounded boar with two quick strikes, then turned his full attention to the second.
[-27 HP]
[-27 HP]
[You have defeated Orcish Boar!]
[EXP Gained: 18]
He counter-parried its next gore, the impact jarring.
[-27 HP]
[Novice's Rusted Sword] Durability: 1/20
One more. This was it. The boar roared and reared back for a final, heavy smash. Kage sidestepped, the hoof slamming into the ground where he'd just been. The opening was there. He thrust his sword forward, aiming for the creature's exposed neck.
[Power Strike I]
The blade struck true.
[Critical Hit! -81 HP]
And with a pathetic snap, it shattered.
The hilt in his hand was useless. The boar, though critically wounded, was still alive and turning on him, rage burning in its beady eyes.
No pause. No hesitation. Kage dropped the broken hilt and raised his fists. The boar charged. He sidestepped again, and as the hulking beast thundered past, he slammed his fist into its side. The damage was a pitiful number, but it was enough.
[-15 HP]
A final, agonized squeal, and the boar collapsed, dissolving.
[You have defeated Orcish Boar!]
[EXP Gained: 18]
A warm, golden light washed over him.
[You have reached Level 3!]
[You have unspent attribute points.]
One into STR, one into AGI. Same distribution.
He stood over the fading corpse, flexing his knuckles. Unarmed combat was a viable, if incredibly inefficient, fallback. Good to know.
[Loot Acquired]
- [Novice's Leather Boots (Common)] x 1
- 3 copper
An item drop? Lucky.
[Novice's Leather Boots]
Quality: Common
Type: Boots
Weight: 0,5
Armor: +1
Durability: 20 / 20
Requires Level: 1
Bind Type: No Bind
Description:Boots that make you wonder if you would be better without them.
One to flat damage reduction. He equipped them in his empty boots slot. Always something.
His pockets were starting to feel heavy.
In the distance, through a break in the trees, he saw players. A party of four, grinding on the edge of a clearing. A graceful female archer, her movements fluid as she loosed arrows. A stocky warrior with a heavy, double-bitted axe. A human mage and priest rounded out the group. Their chatter and laughter drifted on the wind, a reminder that he was not alone in this world, even if he operated on its periphery.
The warrior's axe, the archer's polished bow… they were already miles ahead of the starting gear. The efficient players, the ones who grouped up and followed the optimal questlines, were already reaping the rewards. He was behind.
A distant howl cut through the air. It wasn't the yip of a fox or the cry of a wolf. This sound was deeper, longer, filled with a primal hunger that made the hairs on his arm stand up. It came from the direction of the map's untamed edges, the high-level zones he'd skirted through hours ago.
"Something bigger," he muttered, his eyes narrowing as he mentally marked the direction.
Right now, he had a town to reach.
***
Oakhaven was no longer the quaint, sleepy village he'd passed through at launch. It was a chaotic, multicultural hub of commerce and confusion. The forge district was a cacophony of ringing hammers, sizzling quenches, and the boisterous shouts of a hundred different players.
A human player with a thick, pseudo-Scottish accent was haggling loudly with a merchant over the price of leather scraps. "Ach, ye call that a fair price? My grandmother could skin a boar faster and cleaner than this!"
Further down, a silent player in the tell-tale dark leather of a Rogue leaned against a wall, their full-face mask making them impossible to read as they scanned the crowd, likely looking for marks or opportunities. NPC Elves with their graceful frames moved through the crush of bodies with an ease that stockier Dwarves couldn't manage.
It was a perfect cross-section of MMO launch day madness. Kage navigated it with practiced ease, his unremarkable avatar drawing no attention. He was just another Level 3 nobody.
He found the NPC he was looking for: a massive, grizzled Orc blacksmith with a scarred face and one broken tusk. The nameplate above his head simply read, [Grak, The Smith]. He was pounding a piece of glowing metal on an anvil with rhythmic, powerful blows.
Kage waited patiently until the Orc finished, quenching the steel with a hiss of steam.
"What you want?" Grak grunted, not even looking up at first.
Kage opened a trade window without a word. He placed the [Coarse Fox Fur], [Tough Hide], and [Boar Tusk] on the trade slate. After a moment of inspection, Grak grunted again and deposited a small pile of currency. 67 copper. Added to what he had, it was more than enough.
Kage switched to the Orc's vendor inventory. It was filled with the most basic, mass-produced gear. He scrolled to the bottom.
[Novice's Rusted Sword] – 65 Copper
He tapped the quantity selector twice.
"Two?" Grak finally looked at him, one bushy eyebrow raised. "Most whelps can barely afford one."
Kage just nodded, confirming the purchase. Fifty copper vanished from his inventory. Two identical, slightly rusted shortswords appeared. He equipped one, its familiar, poor weight settling into his hand. The other he moved to his inventory.
Grak let out a short, throaty chuckle. It sounded like rocks grinding together. "Hmph. One to use, one to lose. Smart." He wiped a grimy hand on his leather apron. "Reminds me of my day. In the Bloodfang Legion, you carried your main axe, your backup axe, and three throwing axes. Anything less was an invitation to the ancestors."
Kage's mind immediately processed the information. Bloodfang Legion. NPC background lore. Potential quest trigger? Dialogue options?
He gave a slight, polite nod. "A wise precaution."
He could pursue this. Ask about the legion. See if it led to a quest. But a side-quest from a town blacksmith was likely a low-yield "gather ten rat pelts" affair. It was a distraction. His priority was the 'blank page' from the main quest. The signal-to-noise ratio was too low.
He turned to leave. The Orc seemed satisfied with the terse interaction, simply grunting and turning back to his fire. Connection averted. Efficiency maintained.
As Kage stepped back into the churning river of players, a loud, exasperated voice cut through the din. It belonged to a player wearing a guild tabard, trying to recruit new members.
"Looking for dedicated players! Crimson Lion is recruiting! We plan to be a top-ten guild by the end of the month!"
Another player nearby lamented. "Why did they lock the other races... It's so stupid. I wanted to play a Selkie."
Her companion lowered her voice, but not enough. "It's for balance. You gotta unlock them through special world quests or something."
Kage knew about this already - from one of the devs' interviews. Locked races. Unlockable via quests. Another layer to the game's complexity.
But it wasn't his problem.
His new sword felt solid, if cheap, in its scabbard. His backup was secure. The logistical error was corrected.
He turned and stepped back into the churning river of players. Their laughter and chatter were just packets of data, their bright, customized avatars just lines of code rendering a chaotic, inefficient ballet.
He melted into the current, his gray tunic and unremarkable face a perfect camouflage. He was a null value in their vibrant equation, a ghost in their machine. They were here to play a game. He was here to work. The hunt was over. The analysis was about to begin.