Lyon’s words sent the crowd into a frenzy of gossip.

Ignoring them, Lyon led Igris to the very center of the hall. There, on a circular platform, sat a runic stone etched with complex, glowing symbols. An old man with a blind eye was dozing off next to it.

"Uncle Hades!" Lyon called out respectfully.

The elder, Uncle Hades, opened his one good eye and glanced at Lyon. "Oh, it’s you. Why are you bothering me now?"

"I brought a new member." Lyon stepped aside to reveal Igris.

"Another rookie." Uncle Hades looked Igris up and down. A flicker of surprise crossed his weathered face. "This one... is a little hard to read."

Lyon and the others were stunned. Uncle Hades guarded this runic stone all year round and had seen thousands of newbies. He never commented on them. Yet, he made an exception for Igris? And called him ’hard to read’?

Igris’s heart skipped a beat. ’Why are this old man’s eyes so sharp? Can he sense my Bloodline?’

"Uncle Hades!" Igris followed Lyon’s lead and bowed respectfully.

Uncle Hades nodded, not probing any further. "Place your hands on the Translation Stone."

Igris glanced at his team. Seeing them nod, he stepped forward and pressed his palms against the cool surface.

Uncle Hades didn’t move, but the runes on the stone suddenly blazed with blinding light. Igris felt a jolt of mental energy—similar to his system’s data transfer—rush into his mind.

A split second later, Igris felt the entire grammatical structure and vocabulary of the Ghadora Common Tongue implant itself seamlessly into his brain.

"Whoa..." Igris muttered—except it came out in the alien, melodic language of the plains.

Lyon laughed, replying in the same tongue, "Not bad, right? When the pioneers first came here, they discovered these Translation Stones. They allow anyone to learn the basics of a language in seconds. Learning it manually was practically impossible, so the big guilds shelled out fortunes to buy these stones from the locals to prep new recruits."

Igris nodded in understanding. Instant knowledge was terrifying, but he understood why it was strictly limited to languages. If you could download combat experience or mana cultivation techniques, civilization would stagnate. No one would train; everyone would just be a blank slate waiting for a download.

•••

After the download, Uncle Hades closed his eye to rest, and the team took the hint to leave.

They walked over to a bar stationed inside the guild hall. Lyon slapped the counter. "Six cups of Spiritual Grape Wheat Beer!"

The beer was a local specialty—low alcohol, incredible taste, and it passively regenerated mana. A Player’s favorite.

Lyon slid a small, leather-bound booklet over to Igris. "Everything you need to know about the Ghadora Plains is in here. Read up."

While the others drank and chatted, Igris absorbed the booklet like a sponge. It covered the races, the monetary system, the geography, and the dangerous zones.

By the time he finished, it was around 3 PM.

"Alright, let’s roll," Lyon commanded.

They hopped into a massive, heavy-armor vehicle from the guild garage. Its tires were as tall as a human, and the entire thing was covered in thick, rune-etched plating. It looked like a giant steel beast.

They rumbled out of Yong City—the fortress city built around the Earth rift—and headed into the wilderness.

Modern Earth tech was mostly useless here; only mana-powered and rune-etched devices functioned properly. The heavy armor vehicle, for instance, relied on runes to absorb ambient mana from the air to fuel its engine. Highly efficient, and environmentally friendly.

They drove off the main road, plunging into the desolate wilderness. Low bushes, dry ravines, and jagged rocks stretched endlessly into the horizon. Occasionally, the rumble of the vehicle startled a pair of wild beasts, sending them scurrying into the brush.

"Our destination is the Dark Mist Forest," Lyon shouted over the roar of the engine.

Igris nodded. The booklet had dedicated an entire Chapter to it. The Dark Mist Forest was a massive, largely unexplored zone crawling with high-Level monsters and restricted areas. Even Level 30 Players had vanished in its depths.

Two hours later, just as the sun dipped below the horizon and painted the sky blood-red, a vast, shadowy treeline entered their vision.

Lyon drove the vehicle to the forest’s edge, then slammed the brakes, drifting the massive car sideways. The giant tires plowed the dirt, leaving a deep arc in the soil.

A makeshift base camp sat just outside the treeline—a forward operating base for Players. Lyon parked the car, and everyone grabbed their gear.

"The Dark Mist Forest is a nightmare at night," Lyon said, checking his axes. "But you’ll have to experience it sooner or later. Since we’re here, we go in now."

Lyon took the point. Igris was positioned in the middle of the formation—flanked by Yue and Lyra, with Felix and Jin guarding the rear. He smiled bitterly. ’I’m being babysat like a chick.’

As the sun fully set, the forest was swallowed by pitch-black darkness.

"Put on your infrared night-vision goggles. Stay sharp!" Lyon ordered.

Igris pulled a pair of black-rimmed, rune-powered goggles from his bag. He could easily use his high Perception stat or his Ashes Bloodline’s sensory abilities to see in the dark, but there was no need to show off his cheats to a team he just met. He’d save his energy for a real crisis.

"Wait!"

Just as they pushed deeper, Lyon raised a fist.

The team instantly froze, weapons drawn, ready to strike. Igris followed suit, crouching low, his hand tightening around the hilt of his Gratting Sword.

"Berserk wolves," Lyon whispered, pointing at the ground.

Everyone gathered around. In the dirt was a pile of... droppings.

A few handsome men and pretty ladies crouching in the middle of a dark forest to stare at wolf poop was a ridiculous sight. Igris wanted to crack a joke, but the grim expressions on his teammates’ faces shut him up. They weren’t fooling around.

"Shape, color, and... the smell," Jin pinched his nose and nodded. "Definitely a Berserk wolf."

"Observe and learn, Igris," Lyra whispered.

Igris nodded, memorizing the characteristics.

"Everyone, stay alert. This scat is fresh. They’re close," Lyon said grimly. "Berserk wolves hunt in packs. If we bump into them, it’s going to be a hassle."

"Their claws and teeth fetch a high price at the blacksmiths," Lyra patted her rifle. "If we meet them, we take them down."

"Don’t be reckless. We have a rookie with us," Lyon cautioned. "We need to focus on synergy."

"Leader, what Level are these Berserk wolves?" Igris asked.

"Regular ones are Level 10 to 12. A wolf king could be Level 15 or higher," Lyon replied.

"If we run into them, don’t worry about babysitting me. I can handle a Level 10 monster," Igris said calmly. He didn’t want to be dead weight.

"Are you sure?" Lyon looked skeptical.

"Igris, the monsters in the Ghadora Plains are battle-hardened from birth. They’re far fiercer than the training dummies at Marlin Academy," Lyra frowned. "Don’t push yourself."

Felix chimed in, "Especially wind-element beasts like the Berserk wolves. They’re insanely fast. Even we have to put in real effort to bring down a pack."

Igris gave a bitter smile, realizing they thought he was just being arrogant. "Alright, I won’t overextend."

The team moved forward. Suddenly, Jin’s blade flashed through the air!

A three-meter-long black snake was cleanly bisected, its two halves dropping from the branches above.

"You good?" Lyon asked.

"Fine. Just a poisonous snake, not a monster," Jin said indifferently.

Lyon nodded. Just as he turned to continue, his eyes caught a blur. His face changed drastically.

"SIX O’CLOCK! WAIST! CLAW ATTACK!"

Simultaneously, Lyon stomped on the ground, dodging right. The battleaxe in his hand carved a brutal semicircle, smashing backward.

Jin twisted his body at the warning.

SLASH!

A green flash of light grazed his waist. If he had been a split second slower, he would have been chopped in half. The flash didn’t stop—it shot past him and cleaved through two enormous trees behind them, sending the massive trunks crashing to the forest floor.

HOWL!

The howls of wolves shattered the tranquility of the night.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shadows darted through the underbrush. The rustling of leaves set everyone’s nerves on edge. Then, glowing green eyes appeared in the darkness. Seven to eight shadows exploded from the brush, pouncing on the Tiger Vanguard team!

"KILL THEM!"

Felix roared. His eyes widened as he charged forward, his mace whistling like a devastating cyclone.

BOOM!

The mace connected with a Berserk wolf, sending its broken body flying thirty meters into a tree. Dead on impact.

Yue thrust her sword with blinding speed. After parrying a wolf’s claw, her green blade pierced straight through its eye. Cold glint, splattering blood. Dead.

Jin, recovering from the ambush, decapitated the wolf that had attacked him with a single strike, then seamlessly engaged a second.

Lyra leaped onto a thick branch. Slinging her heavy machine gun, she pulled out a sleek, rune-etched pistol.

Bang! Bang! Bang!