[REWARD]

+5,000 RUNES

+Ephelias Elemental Magic Scroll (Rare)

Then the familiar prompt dropped.

[ACTIVATE GOD’S HAND: 100x REWARD SKILL. Y/N]

[ACTIVATE GOD’S HAND: 100x REWARD SKILL. Y/N]

King selected Yes. And QUALITY for both rewards.

[ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL]

[YOU HAVE RECEIVED 5,000 GOD RUNES]

[QUALITY OF ITEM HAS BEEN IMPROVED BY 100x]

[NEW GRADE UNLOCKED]

______________________________________

ITEM: Ephelia’s Elemental Magic Scroll

GRADE: Epic

______________________________________

King looks at the notifications, and closes the interface. Before returning to the crystalline lift, his mind already calculating how to optimize his newly acquired God Runes to rank up his classes. The platform hummed as it began its long descent through the core of the Grand Spire.

While King exited from the lift, he simply walked past Malachar, the NPC showed no hostility toward King and simply continued his routine stroll from the door to the end of the hall way.

King continued his journey down through the flight of stairs while navigating through his interface. He noticed his fan count was increasing, and the number climbed till 3000, Three thousand new fans had just followed him. He closed the interface, still wondering who these fans were. No one had texted in the chat or even sent a private request, the only one to communicate with him was still the Almighty.

He made his way outside the academy.

And as he stepped back into the shallow waters, walking a distance from the academy.

The edges of his vision flared into a violent, flickering crimson. A sharp, jarring alarm tone echoed directly in his ears, completely overriding the peaceful background music of the natural environment.

[WARNING: SYSTEM INTERFERENCE DETECTED]

[ALERT: YOU HAVE BEEN INVADED!]

King’s eyes narrowed. An invasion meant a real player or a unique rogue faction NPC had intentionally breached his instance using the systems’ player invasion function. He gripped his Magic Staff tightly, his eyes darting to his minimap, but the radar was completely jammed by the invasion interference.

{The invasion function allows a player or a Npc to lock down on a target and shut down their extra functions like the map and accessing their interface properly, while restricting them in a fixed red-zone, till engagement begins successfully, a downside to this function is that the invader’s name tag and identity will be revealed}

King turned around continuously, searching for the angle of the ambush. Emerging from one of the moss littered pillars, was a man.

He didn’t wear the robes of an academy mage. Instead, he wore dark, lightweight leather armor reinforced with metallic plating, built entirely for agility and combat, and a unique one-eyed glass. A pair of cruel, notched daggers hung from his belt, and his player tag hovered in a deep, menacing red.

[Riddin Blackcloak]

"Going somewhere, boy?" the man asked, his voice low and dripping with arrogance.

King didn’t drop his guard, keeping his stance neutral but ready. "Riddin Blackcloak?, Doesn’t ring a bell..." He then clenched a fist, "Who are you?"

"Let’s just say I’m an associate of the Hunters Association Guild," the man said, taking a slow step forward. "And you happen to have an item that belongs to us. Hand over the elemental scroll, and maybe I’ll let you leave this zone with your neck intact."

King’s expression remained perfectly flat, "The elemental scroll?. How do you even know I have it?"

Riddin Blackcloak chuckled, a mocking, unpleasant sound. "Did you really think you were the only one watching this place? I’ve been tracking your movements from the absolute second your boots touched the silver waters at the gates. While you were busy playing thief, we already had eyes deep inside this academy. We’ve had operatives taking the long route, just to get close to that scroll."

The man sneered, gesturing toward the upper floors of the spire. "And then you just stroll in here with a shortcut item and snatch it right from under our noses."

A cold smirk played on King’s lips. He didn’t look intimidated in the slightest; instead, he relaxed his shoulders and let out a soft, dismissive chuckle.

"Sounds like your loss," King mocked, his tone dripping with casual disdain. "A full Guild’s grinding just got outpaced by a single player. Maybe your guild needs better management."

The man’s face contorted with sudden rage, his hands dropping instinctively to the hilts of his daggers. The crimson aura around him flared violently.

"Watch your mouth, kid," the man hissed, taking a threatening step forward. "You might think you’re clever, but you’re playing a dangerous game. Do not make yourself an enemy of the Hunters Association. We’ve got numbers, control, and we will hunt you across every single region until you’re nothing but, dead. Hand it over. This is your last warning."

King didn’t even bother to give him a verbal reply.

He completely ignored the threat, shifting his staff to his side and walking right past the infuriated man. He didn’t draw a weapon, nor did he trigger a combat skill. He simply kept his stride steady, heading directly in the direction toward the fast-travel pool .

Riddin’s rage doubled at the blatant disrespect. With a fluid, soundless motion, his hands blurred as he drew his notched daggers. He lunged forward from behind, aiming a lethal, high-damage backstab right at King’s exposed shoulder.

He never even touched him.

King was too fast. Without turning his body completely, King pivoted on his heel with blinding speed. His hand shot out like a lightning bolt, bypassing the swinging daggers entirely.

Before the invader could comprehend what happened, King’s fingers locked around his neck.

King effortlessly hoisted the six-foot-tall attacker right off the ground with a single hand. The man’s boots dangled helplessly in the air, his daggers dropping into the shallow waters as he choked, his HP bar taking a chunk of grip damage.

It looked like King had used a skill, in truth it was nothing but his raw strength, the differences in their levels and stats, were clearly evident.

King leaned in close, with his eyes dead open.

"Don’t follow me, or I’ll kill you" King warned in a terrifying whisper.

With a brutal flick of his wrist, King slammed the man’s body violently down into the water bed. The impact left the invader sprawled in the pool, gasping for air, his face twisted in a mixture of pure hate and raw humiliation.

The man scrambled to push himself back up, his hands shaking as he reached for his fallen weapons, desperate to retaliate. But before he could take another step, a sharp, voice buzzed loudly through his earpiece.

"Stand down! Disengage immediately unless you have a death wish!" the voice barked over the comms. "You’re completely outmatched. Do not fight him!"

The invader froze, grinding his teeth in anger as he glared at King’s retreating back. King didn’t even look back as he continued his journey.

He eventually arrived at the location of the fast-travel pool. He stepped in, and waited. The fast-travel pool activated, his body dissolving into a shower of light pixels as he warped out of the zone. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

(UNDISCLOSED HIDEOUT)

A dark room filled with high-tech monitors. A group of figures stood in the shadows, silently observing the entire encounter through a remote, live-stream feed.

One of the operators leaned forward toward a desk microphone.

"Did you get a clean ID on his face before he left?" the operator asked into the comms.

On the other end, Riddin Blackcloak brushed the wet off his clothes, spitting into the water. "Yeah," he hissed into his mic. "Sending the capture file to the main frame now."

At the hideout, the monitors suddenly flickered. A crystal-clear, high-definition image flashed across the main screens. It was a freeze-frame of the exact moment King had grabbed the invader by the throat, lifting him into the air with total dominance, his cold, calculating eyes staring directly toward the camera’s angle.

From the darkness behind the operators, a tall, shadowy figure stepped forward into the glow of the screens. He stared intensely at King’s portrait, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across his face.

"Interesting," the man murmured, his voice dripping with authority. He turned to his subordinates, with a cold glare in his eyes.

"Find him."