Kael felt like an idiot for ending up in that situation. Someone like him—someone who was once powerful, a deity—being dumb enough to just walk into that cave without seeing it coming?
He wanted to punch himself in the face.
"Maybe that's why the other gods betrayed me. I'm so damn stupid!"
He pushed those thoughts aside, burying the frustration deep in his heart, and focused on the task at hand: finding a way out of that cave.
The number of stone crabs around him was insane. At least fifteen of them were slowly closing in, surrounding him. There was no way he could fight them. It was just too many.
Even a full party of players would struggle against that many stone crabs.
"How can I escape this?" he thought.
Kael glanced around until his eyes locked onto a large rock—a real rock, not a crab. Without wasting a second, he bolted toward it.
Thanks to his current attributes, climbing wasn't that difficult. It took some effort, but he managed to scramble up.
From the top, Kael watched as the crabs swarmed below, trying to climb after him. He waited...
Waited until they were right against the stone, claws scraping, desperate to reach him. That was his chance.
Kael leapt off the rock, vaulting over the line of stone crabs.
When he hit the ground, he lost some HP and it hurt like hell, but he was alive—and that was all that mattered.
He didn't even look back. Kael just ran, sprinting straight toward the entrance of the cave. Only after bursting out into the open did he stop to catch his breath.
"That was way too close..." he muttered, panting.
For a second back there, Kael genuinely thought he was going to die—and worse, lose his precious EXP. That was not an option.
But things had worked out in the end, and that was all that mattered. He slumped against a tree, sitting with his back against the trunk, letting his HP and MP recover before even thinking about going back in there.
The EXP was really good. If he killed just a few more stone crabs, he'd hit level 3. That was huge.
While resting, Kael opened the rankings menu. He was still sitting at the top—rank 1—because his EXP bar was slightly higher than the others. But... there were already a few people who had reached level 2.
"This is impressive," he muttered.
Kael had leveled up quickly thanks to the ridiculously powerful skill he got early on. But seeing others at level 2... Did they also get something special? Hidden classes? Secret quests? He knew the game was full of secrets, so maybe he wasn't that unique after all.
As he was about ready to head back into the cave, his HP and MP fully restored, something caught his eye—a group of players.
No, not a group. Just two players.
Two women. And both of them were beautiful. One was a warrior wielding a massive two-handed sword, and the other was a healer. A pretty solid duo.
A warrior with a two-handed sword had more HP than most DPS classes but still dished out decent damage. Pair that with a healer buffing and healing, and yeah—they could clear mobs pretty easily.
What really caught Kael's attention was that both of them were level 2. He had just found two others within his level range.
That meant they were both likely in the top 10 of the rankings. Was it luck, or were they just that good?
The girls noticed him too. They started walking his way.
"Hey," Kael said, giving them a small wave. "How's it going?"
He tried his best to sound polite.
Kael had no idea whether those girls were friendly or not. The last time he ran into other players, they'd tried to kill him.
"What are you doing out here alone?" the healer asked, gripping her staff. "Are you really leveling up by yourself?"
Kael smirked, proud. "Of course I am. This place isn't dangerous enough to make me run. What about you two?"
"We're leveling up as well, but as a duo—as you can see. Mind if I send you a friend request?" the healer asked.
That was sudden. Kael wasn't sure what their intentions were.
"Why so suddenly?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
The healer explained, "It's really hard to find players who aren't already in a big party or part of some guild from other games... We just want some friends, you know, in case we ever need help."
She had a point. Kael knew that certain quests or bosses might require a full party to beat. Sure, maybe his special class could bypass some of that, but there was no guarantee. Having a few allies wouldn't hurt.
Lucas—his friend who started in the other beginner town—would definitely approve, especially considering these potential new friends were both beautiful girls.
"Alright," Kael nodded. "Send me the request."
As soon as the girls sent it and saw his nickname, both of them froze in shock.
"Wait... You're the top 1 player? No way!" the healer exclaimed.
The warrior, hearing that, tilted her head curiously. "How did you level up so fast... all alone?"
"I can't share my secrets... if that's okay with you," Kael replied with a slight grin.
"No problem at all," the warrior shrugged.
They chatted for a bit longer before the girls waved goodbye, heading off to continue their own adventure.
Kael stood up, stretched, and turned back toward the cave. He was fully rested now—good as new.
The cave wouldn't catch him off guard anymore. Kael already knew the monsters inside and understood that venturing too deep was a bad idea.
His plan was simple: hunt the first few stone crabs near the entrance and wait for them to respawn. No need to push further in. He was close to hitting level 3—and that was his main goal. He wanted to be the first player to reach it. No… he was sure he would be.
But before he even found the first stone crab, a sudden notification popped up right in front of him. A system message.
[You lost your ranking 1 position in the leveling ladder]