THE NEXT DAY

Morning light broke across King’s Land, golden rays filtering through the windows of the Victorian estate and spilling across the polished floors. King stood in the common area, checking his character profile to make some major upgrades before heading out.

He re-equipped the Grand Magus oathcloak, then proceeded to level-up with the rest of his runes. He checked the rune count. 205,800 runes. He just kept clicking the level-up option till it locked due to insufficient runes.

And after a while...

Click, Click

The count had stopped.

His current rune count was 7,800, and his level had reached 23!.

Almost two times his previous level. He had a whooping 110 pts to distribute to his stats.

King shared the stats points immediately. Placing 27 to Strength and Speed. And 28 to Mind and Constitution.

He tried to keep the all-rounder build constant, while still favoring his mage class, which was still his strongest class, and the most versatile for him. After fixing all stats, he saved the upgrade.

The updated display of his character hung in his field of vision.

CHARACTER DETAILS

NAME: King

RACE: Human

AFFILIATION: Kingsmen

ALIGNMENT: Null

SKILL:

-God’s Hand: 100x Reward (SSS)

-Ultimate War-Chief

CLASS:

-Mage

-Combatant

RANK:

-D

-F

LEVEL: 23

ITEMS:

-Grand Magus Oathcloak (equipped)

-Basic Construct Spelbook

-Arcbearer’s Hello

-Gauntlet Of Ruin [Legendary-Grade]

-Arcbearer’s Medallion [100]

-Basic Health Potions [3]

-Basic Mana Potions [2]

-Antidote Vial [3]

-[Stone Imp Fang x11]

-[Black stone Shard x17]

-[Minor Fire Resistance Potion x4]

-[Rusty Hatchet x4]

-[Flame Resistant Cloak (common)]

-[Red Imp Talisman (Rare) equipped]

ABILITIES:

-Basic Construct Spell (C)

-Ruin’s Touch (S)

_____________________

STATS

Strength: 62

Speed: 62 (+5)

Mind: 73 (+10)

Constitution: 63

____________________

HP: 630

MP: 730 (+100)

Runes: 7,800

POWER POINTS: 2,000

POPULAR POINTS: 4,300 (-1000)

FANDOM LIST: 33,001

______________________________________________________________________________________

King closed the interface, and felt the effect of his level-up almost instantly. His body felt refreshed, his senses heightened. He felt lighter and his muscles had toned a lot more, his physique getting visibly larger.

Step, Step, Step

Eli emerged from the hall way, fully equipped. The Calamity Long-Shoulder was strapped across his back, ammunition pouches secured at his waist, and the reinforced vest he’d purchased sat comfortably over his shirt. The older man looked ready for combat.

"All set?" King asked.

"All set, Master King."

Vi emerged from one of the side rooms with Maya, both of them still looking half-asleep but present for the sendoff.

King turned to Vi.

"The barrier’s always active, try to keep Maya away from the controls. And, If something happens, message me immediately."

"I will," Vi said. "Just be careful out there."

King nodded, then knelt down to Maya’s level.

"Listen to Vi while we’re gone, okay? And keep practicing with your system. We’ll work on your combat training when I get back."

Maya nodded solemnly, giving King a small wave.

King stood and clasped Eli’s shoulder briefly.

"Good luck with Black-Zero. Don’t underestimate the quest. The mercenary can be tricky."

"Understood," Eli replied. "You as well, Master King."

They exited the estate together, stepping into the cool morning air. The invisible barrier shimmered faintly as they passed through it, acknowledging their status as guild members.

At the edge of the territory, they parted ways. Eli headed east toward the coordinates King had provided. King turned west, making his way toward the fast-travel pool he’d marked on the map.

The walk took twenty minutes through open plains and scattered forests. King navigated with ease, following the glowing waypoints visible only to him. In the distance, he could hear the sound of a battle. Giant thumps, roaring and the charging voices of players engaged in combat.

It sounded like one of the NPC giants, a false Nephilim maybe, but King was not interested. He had one goal and he wasn’t going to be distracted from it.

He reached the clearing where the fast-travel pool was hidden.

The pool itself was unremarkable to anyone who didn’t know what to look for. A circular stone platform sat in the center of the clearing, covered in moss and etched with faint glyphs that glowed softly when you rested in it. The symbols were ancient, predating any known language, part of the game’s hidden mechanics that were never explained or announced.

King stepped onto the platform, and waited for a while. After a moment the glyphs brightened slowly.

Then an interface materialized in front of him, displaying a list of connected fast-travel pools across the world. Each location was marked with coordinates and a brief description.

King scrolled through the list until he found the one he needed.

[Northern Continent – Ephelia’s Magi Academy Front.]

He selected it and confirmed the transfer.

The world around him blurred.

Reality twisted, compressing and stretching simultaneously. The sensation lasted only a second, but it was disorienting enough to make King’s stomach lurch.

And then he was standing on a different platform, his body swayed from left to right before steadying. "so, that was why the characters always staggered after making a fast travel" King thought "the feeling was nauseous".

It was still weird that he was living the game he played over so many times, feeling what the characters felt.

His attention turned to the environment, the air was different here. Cooler and wetter.

King stepped off the fast-travel pool and surveyed his surroundings.

It was watery.

Shallow water stretched in every direction, covering the ground like a massive floodplain. The water wasn’t deep, maybe ankle-height at most, but it transformed the entire landscape into something surreal. Ruined buildings jutted from the water at irregular intervals, their foundations submerged and their upper floors crumbling. Some structures had collapsed entirely, reduced to piles of stone and rubble that protruded from the surface like broken teeth.

This region had been hit hard during the First Woe.

King recognized the environmental shift immediately. This area had been relatively dry before the topography change, but the reshaping of the continents had redirected rivers and created new water sources. The result was this flooded wasteland, a shallow sea that drowned the earth beneath it.

He turned west, scanning the horizon.

There.

The peak of Ephelias Magi-Academy rose in the distance, visible even from miles away. The structure was massive, a towering citadel of stone and magic that dominated the skyline. Multiple spires reached toward the sky, connected by suspended walkways and bridges that looked like something straight out of a fantasy game... because it was.

King marked the academy’s location mentally and began walking west.

The water rippled around his boots with each step, cold and clear. The flooded terrain made travel slower than usual, but King maintained a steady pace. Collapsed buildings provided occasional cover, and he used them to navigate, moving from ruin to ruin as he closed the distance.

After walking for thirty minutes, King adjusted his trajectory, turning northwest.

"It should be around here somewhere" King said, searching for something specific.

A shack.

Most players heading to Ephelias Magi-Academy went straight for the main gates, eager to register as students and begin the academy questline. But King knew better. The full registration process was long, tedious, and forced players into an alignment tied to the academy’s faction. Completing the arc took days, maybe weeks, and required following a rigid path with limited flexibility.

King didn’t have time for that.

There was another way in.

A shortcut.

He spotted the shack after another ten minutes of walking.

The structure sat on a small island of elevated ground, barely above the water level. It was crude, built from scavenged wood and canvas, more of a temporary shelter than a proper building. A figure in a red cloak sat beside it.

King approached slowly, his boots splashing through the shallow water.

The figure looked up as he drew near.