The faint echo of Kael’s voice still lingered in Rai’s mind as he stood at the forest’s edge, as he stared into the soft shimr of dawn seeping through the leaves, he could still rember the overwhelming pressure he had felt —an oppressive aura so heavy it crushed the breath from his lungs. And that dangerous and suffocating pressure wasn’t even from Kael himself, but from the second ape beast, that had appeared deep inside the cave.
Rai had tried to appraise and get info about it using his low-level Identification skill, but no stats had shown up—hell, not even a na had co up. All that ca up was a blank screen, void of any information. That only happened when the level disparity between the appraiser and the target was too vast to bridge. Which ant...
"That thing was beyond my level. Way beyond," he muttered to himself.
And even then, Kael had treated it like a pet. A glance here, a flick of the fingers there, and the monstrous ape had obeyed with perfect submission like it was his captured pokemon.
A tar. But not just any tar. A master beastkin tar, soone capable of commanding beasts that should have required entire player parties to handle. That alone put Kael far beyond what was expected this stage of the ga. Heck, even at a much higher level npc’s like Kael who knew so much about fate and players were rare.
But what troubled Rai the most wasn’t the beast or Kael’s overwhelming strength—it was the na. ’Kael’.
Rai had lived through this ga’s tiline once already. He knows about almost all the major powerful NPCs and obscure factions. And while the nomadic clans of Zeir did appear far later in the story, usually tied to the continental wars arc and another obscure arc, he had never heard of anyone nad Kael.
Why now? he thought, frowning.
He sat on a mossy rock near a shallow stream and pulled up the ga interface, letting the familiar HUD float before him.
[Title: Child of the Ruin (Cursed)]
It flickered for a brief second, as if mocking him. That title again. It wasn’t random. It couldn’t be random.
"This title... it’s not just an ordinary passive modifier," Rai muttered. "It’s pulling toward... sothing. And it is also pulling others towards . Kael said that the treasure he wanted wasn’t here maybe it was cause of this title that made him co here."
The thought chilled him. And yet, he couldn’t deny the rush of excitent that fluttered in his chest. Whatever fate was being spun around him—it was big.
He shook himself from his thoughts and stood up. It was ti to get out of this forest. Whatever mysteries lay hidden in this world, he wasn’t ready to face them just yet.
[Location: Elorin’s Rest - Outskirts]
As he stepped out of the forest’s embrace, the warm hues of the village greeted him like an old friend. Elorin’s Rest was simple—stone cottages, thatched roofs, and cobblestone paths—but to Rai, it felt oddly comforting. Perhaps it was the mory of his first life. Or maybe it was the fact that this small village had beco the start of his new destiny.
He passed by familiar landmarks—the fountain near the plaza, the old bridge arching over the stream, and the tavern with its crooked sign. On his way, he hunted a few weaker beasts that loitered near the edge of the woods—Forest Striders, Horned Boars, and a pair of Needleback Hedgehogs.
They were low-level, and their movents were sluggish compared to the jackals and slis he’d faced earlier. Still, the experience added up.
[Level Up! You have reached Level 4.]
A soft chi rang in his ears, and a warm golden glow enveloped him for a second before fading.
He opened his status panel:
Na: RaiClass: NoneLevel: 4Health: 240Mana: 380
Title: Child of Ruin (Cursed)
Reputation: Forgotten Spirits’ Blessed
Affinities:
Shadow Affinity: 75%
Darkness Affinity: 40%
Ti Affinity: ???% (Locked)
Class Skills:
Phantom Step (Active) – Instantly dash a short distance, ignoring enemy collision. Can be used mid-air. Cooldown: 8 sec.
Shadow Rend (Active) – Slash with shadow energy, ignoring a portion of defense. Deals bonus critical damage if attacking from behind.
Passive: Death’s Whisper – Chance to evade death once per day. Triggers slow-ti reflex boost along with immortality for 2 seconds.
Class Perks:
Hidden Paths: Able to access shadow-locked areas others can’t.
Blade mory: Can record the motion of unique sword and dagger techniques and replicate them at reduced efficiency. Also increases talent for learning and using blade techniques.
Legacy Veil: Class and skills cannot be detected by others unless Divine detection skills used.
"Finally," he whispered with a smile.
Most players wouldn’t even hit Level 2 today. The more hardcore grinders who played professionally might squeeze into Level 3 by midnight. But Rai had already broken past Level 4 before the sun had fully set. And he wasn’t done yet.
Only a few nas would be ahead of him now—players who had either secured a lucky break, like rare quests or early-ga exploits, or those gaming geniuses who always managed to pull ahead.
Lyra Moonviel ca to mind. The beautiful prodigy mage and guildmaster of Crimson Iris. Even in his past life, she was a legend. And she’d probably already reached Level 5 or 6 thanks to her abnormal grasp of early magic chanics and her special growth type staff.
"I can’t fall behind her, otherwise she might beat up again." as he rembered his beating from the previous life, he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. Clenching his fist, he started to move forward.
As he walked through the village, Rai thought more about what he rembered of Zeir. They were one of the lesser-known factions in the early ga but beca pivotal in the second and third expansions. A congloration of beastkin tribes scattered across the Eastern Wildlands, the Zeir clans followed ancient traditions rooted in beast taming, their naturally enhanced strength, instincts, and spiritual rites.
They didn’t build cities or even live in them. Instead, they lived in vast roaming caravans or in hollowed-out forests and mountain caves. Most players never even encountered them, unless they actively sought the rare quests that led eastward beyond the human kingdoms.
But Rai rembered one key event—the War of the Azure Fla, when a Zeir chieftain and his army of tad wyverns laid waste to a an entire kingdom.
"That was supposed to happen two years from now," he thought, eyes narrowing. It was this even that had changed the ideas, about the power level of ga, of the players. Before this most of the normal players had never seen a top level npc fight, but this battle..... no this massacre was seen by majority of the player base.
Then who was Kael?
As he made his way back toward Elorin’s Rest, the forest behind him still buzzing with the chirps of night creatures, Rai took a detour. He wasn’t quite done yet.
"No rest until I squeeze out every drop of experience today."
He turned toward the quieter part of the woods—fewer players ca this way due to the increased risk, but that suited perfectly.
In the clearing ahead, he spotted a pair of creatures he rembered vividly:
Razorhide Gnolls – Level 3Lean, fur-covered bipeds with rusted cleavers in hand. An difficult to hunt creature in the ealy ga, what made them dangerous was their erratic movent patterns and unpredictable charge attacks.
He crouched behind a rock, studying and observing them carefully. He rembered that they were vulnerable during the two-second window after their leaping strike.
When the first Gnoll lunged, Rai ducked under and sliced upward with his dagger in one clean motion, using Shadow Rend to amplify the strike. Black tendrils of shadow flared briefly from his blade as it pierced the Gnoll’s neck.
The second one ca snarling. Rai feinted left, then rolled under its swing. A quick stab into its ribcage, followed by a clean downward slice, finished it off.
[EXP Gained][Loot Acquired: Minor Beast Hide ×2, Rusted Cleaver ×1, 13 Copper Coins]
"Not bad."
He kept going, pushing deeper, pacing himself.
Later, he encountered a Lurking Barkmaw—a wood-colored, ambush-style predator with bark-like skin and moss on its back. It disguised itself as a fallen log until soone passed by.
But Rai knew the trick. As he circled the suspicious-looking log with care, the creature sprang—and he was ready.
A combination of well-tid Fade and a spinning counterstrike left the creature screeching. It took three more hits to bring it down, but Rai erged mostly unhard.
[EXP Gained]
He could feel the familiar hum of progress run through his body.
[Progress: Level 4 – 52%]
"So more pushes like this," he muttered. "And I’ll hit Level 15 in no ti at all."
The moon rose higher into the sky, bathing the trees in pale silver light. The calls of distant beasts echoed through the woods, but Rai decided he’d done enough for one day.
Now at the midpoint of Level 4, he was far ahead of the average player curve. Few, if any, would match this pace without insider knowledge, and Rai had the benefit of an entire lifeti of experience.
As the final rays of sunlight faded, and Elorin’s Rest began to quiet, Rai passed through the village gates, to enter into the village again.
Lanterns flickered to life, laughter echoed from tavern windows, and players traded stories in hushed tones. Rai walked with calm determination, brushing dirt from his boots.
He made his way to the inn. He rented a room for the night, laid back on the simple white bed with a white coloured, and stared at the wooden ceiling.
[Log Out]
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