After demolishing a bowl of fall-off-the-bone pork stew and rich braised belly, Ryan exchanged a few words with his sisters and headed back to his room, already plotting his next cash grab.
What he didn't notice, though, was that not long after he disappeared into the room, Mia had gone oddly quiet in the living room. She paced in circles for a while, then whispered a few things to Molly before quietly slipping out of the house.
Ryan reconnected to the game, but he didn't rush to turn in any quests. First, he opened the forum.
And immediately, thousands of new private messages bombarded his inbox like a digital landslide.
He just shrugged and hit delete—all of them, without even opening a single one.
Then he checked the numbers on both paid posts, and the corner of his mouth twitched upward.
Sales for the Dungeon Scroll teaser video had already started slowing down—after the initial spike, the first wave had passed. Still, it had earned him over a thousand bucks, money he'd have access to in about a week.
But the real prize?
The Guardian strategy guide had now been purchased by over forty users, netting him more than twelve thousand dollars.
Ryan actually chuckled aloud.
He had expected, what, ten guilds at most?
And while he was eating, a new wave of pinned spotlight threads had rolled in. All the starting dungeons across the races had officially been unlocked during that short break.
The fastest to open theirs? Surprisingly, it was the same orc players who kept wiping earlier. Led by the Ironblood Covenant, a few of their elite members had finally unlocked the Howling Mines, the starting dungeon for the Orc faction.
The last to get theirs was the Shadow Legion from the Undead faction. They had unlocked Bonegrave Crypt, barely half an hour behind the Orcs. According to their combat reports, many of them blamed the delay on how much time they'd wasted chasing the Guardian.
If not for that, they might've even taken second place.
Unfortunately, aside from Ryan—who'd received the Glorious Achievement for being the first to open a dungeon—no one else got any fanfare. Every other dungeon unlock happened quietly. If players hadn't gone to the forums to post about it, no one would've even known.
Still, it made Ryan's Paladin build all the more eye-catching. Plenty of guild players had complicated, mixed feelings about him.
Ryan didn't bother with any of it. He closed the forum window, slapped his hands on his thighs, and strolled over to the nearest quest NPC.
After turning in a bunch of minor side quests, he approached Warden Nard to hand in his final two quests. A quick dialogue later, he received a chunky reward:
—
You received: Warden's Gratitude
You received: 1,000 Reputation with Gryphon City
You received: 5,000 EXP
You received: 1 Gold, 20 Silver
—
His EXP bar shot up in a flash, filling every last segment and then some. He still had over 3,000 surplus EXP. He could level up to 4 right now, no problem.
He tapped the upgrade button without hesitation.
Level 4, achieved.
The stat bonuses hit instantly: +1 Stamina, +1 Spirit, and a boost of +32 HP and +28 MP.
Ryan's total health now sat at 220, and his mana had risen to 195.
He stroked his chin, then made his way to Paladin Trainer Harnel. His final quest was from Harnel, and once turned in, he'd finally be able to pay for his level 4 class skills.
He handed over all 50 Graywolf heads, earning another 1,000 EXP and some gold.
And with that, Harnel finally gave him permission to purchase a new Paladin skill:
[Enchantment – Radiant Light]
—
Enchantment – Radiant Light
Imbues your weapon with radiant energy, increasing all damage dealt by 10%. Cast time: 1 second. Duration: 30 minutes.
—
It was a damage-boosting skill and the core offensive ability for Paladins in the early game.
After loitering in the starting village for another half hour, Ryan was finally ready to head out. His next and final push: Blood Hollow.
Before leaving, he used the Warden's Gratitude reward and received a new weapon.
—
Nard's Heavyblade (Two-Handed)
Binds on pickup
Quality: Uncommon (Green)
Damage: 20–31 (DPS: 7.159)
Attack Speed: 3.5
—
"A green-quality two-hander from a starter village quest?" Ryan blinked in surprise.
He wasted no time equipping the sword, then turned and jogged away from the village, heading straight toward his next destination.
Despite being one of the most recognized players in the game at this point, Ryan's departure didn't attract any attention. There were simply too many players coming and going through the village. Without a visible character ID, even someone as well-known as Featherlight was just another face in the crowd.
Still, Ryan knew he was likely carrying the strongest weapon available in the current stage of the game.
As he jogged past roaming monsters, his fingers twitched with temptation. Part of him desperately wanted to stop and test the weapon's damage output.
But the urgency in his gut wouldn't let him pause. He had responsibilities now—tw girls at home relying on him. He wasn't about to repeat the mistakes of his past life, where he'd lived like a lone wolf, taking care of no one but himself.
Carefully skirting past level 4 Graywolves, Ryan arrived at the Altar of Blood, where the portal to the dungeon shimmered with cold blue light.
That's when he stopped.
"Hmm?"
There were wolf corpses scattered all over the ground, arranged in near-perfect arcs—as if a high-level fighter had kited them into a kill zone and taken them all out in one sweep.
Ryan narrowed his eyes and scanned the area.
No signs of combat. No players nearby. Just silence and the smell of blood.
"Guild farming strategy?" he muttered.
It made sense. A common power-leveling trick: weaker players would stand still while higher-level members pulled monsters to them, cycling in a stream of mobs and using healers to keep the static player alive. If executed correctly, it was a nonstop EXP farm.
Judging by the neat spacing of the corpses, Ryan's guess was probably spot-on.
But he didn't care.
"So what if someone used a guild to hit level 5?" he muttered. "They'll still have to clear Blood Hollow. No one leaves the starter village without passing that test. Not even them."
His smirk deepened as he stepped toward the portal.
"Of course, if I wanted to… I could take them out myself."
With that thought, Ryan chuckled to himself and stepped into the shimmering light of the dungeon gate.
Behind him, a group of players slowly returned to the clearing, clearing stragglers along the way. Among them were two very familiar names:
Sky Dragon Iris and Sky Dragon Ascendant—the same players who had once traded with him.