Leo surveyed the entire room in an attempt to understand the details of the trial. The Giant Wolf had completely faded away and the boss room was devoid of any life besides Leo. The ground began to shake and split apart. A rocky hand appeared from the cavern floor and quickly transformed into a 5-meter tall golem.

The golem had two giant swords in both of its hands. Its eyes glowed a pure red which was only highlighted by the cavern’s dim lighting. Leo inspected the golem with anticipating eyes.

Guardian Golem (Leader)

Level 5

Health 1,500

The golem’s health was fairly high for a level 5 monsters, but Leo did not worry about it at all. His attack could hit in the 50s even slightly higher now that he had upgraded his spear. Leo walked towards the Golem without making a single sound. His steps were so light that anyone would find it difficult to hear them. He slowly closed the distance.

30 meters

20 meters

15 meters

5 meters

The golem continued to stay still as if it hadn’t detected him yet. Leo gazed at the golem in confusion.

“Are you blind or something?”

Leo had only murmured the words but the golem still heard it. Its gigantic swords came down like a meteor and created a large crater where Leo stood just a second ago. Leo realized that he had moved without making a sound. Some monsters have great hearing and can detect players even before seeing them. Leo had fought such monsters so many times that his movements have become silent by default. It’s not completely soundless, but it's more than enough to fool monsters.

Leo quickly sent out an attack with his [Spear Thrust] skill and followed up by a normal attack before moving away once more.

-28

-29

-27

-39

The golem’s defense was quite strong but he still dealt enough damage to slowly chip away at its health. Leo danced around the golem, constantly attacking from behind. The golem cried out in anger at being played with but its movements were too slow to keep up.

Leo thrust his spear at the golem over and over until its health fell to 60%. The golem let out an angry cry, its eyes changing from red to blue. It quickly locked eyes with Leo as if to announce that its eyes were working again.

Leo curled his lips into a smile and continued attacking. Even with its eyes working, Leo did not have any fear. He continued dodging its slow attacks with ease and countered with his spear.

The golem’s health slowly decreased.

50%

40%

35%

At 35% it once more made a move. Its eye changed to green and its swords began to shoot out magic. Leo moved in a predictable pattern and changed the direction the second the magic attacks flew out from the swords. Golems were all brawn and no brains. Even as a Leader rank, the golem couldn’t comprehend why its attacks continued to miss.

The golem’s attack increased in speed but Leo could still easily avoid them. The golem’s health slowly decreased and Leo was assured of his imminent victory.

30%

20%

10%

5%

4%

3%

The golem was about to die when a sudden magic attack flew towards Leo. He quickly threw his body to the side and narrowly avoided the attack. He turned around and heard a loud boom as the cavern walls crumbled from the impact. Leo shuddered at the thought of what would happen if he took the attack head-on.

Leo quickly gazed towards the attack’s origin and saw a woman in a white dress standing in the corner. Her lips were pressed together and her eyes stared daggers towards Leo. He could easily see that she was annoyed by missing her attack. Leo quickly saw that she had a green name over her head, indicating that she was a friendly NPC, or she should at least be friendly. He could barely read the name ‘Liana’ before she disappeared again. Leo could no longer detect her presence and switched his focus back to the golem. He was far more on guard against a second attack but nothing happened. He finished killing the golem and quickly moved his head in every direction to see if Liana had appeared again.

System: Guardian Golem (Leader) defeated! Awarding 100 EXP!

Leo had his guard up for a solid 15 minutes before deciding that she probably wouldn’t attack again. He had no idea why she attacked him in the first place. He walked up to the golem and picked up the loot.

[Black Cloak (Bronze Quality)]

Level requirement: 0

Class restriction: none

Item category: Back

Special trait:

The cloak hides a player’s name, class, and level. Perfect for anyone looking for anonymity. It can be seen through by certain skills and NPCs.

The cloak was fairly useless as a piece of equipment but Leo could see many non-combat related uses. This was not the item he was excited about though. The second and last item was a plain looking gold ring.

[Ring of Saint Ferima (Legendary Quality)]

Level requirement: 0

Class restriction: none

Item category: Quest item

Special trait:

Unlocks the Legendary Questline ‘Finding the Saint’s Scroll’.

System announcement: You have found the Ring of Saint Ferima and earned the right to start the Legendary Questline ‘Finding the Saint’s Scroll. If you choose to accept the quest, you will not be able to refuse later on. There will be severe consequences for failing the quest. It is recommended that only those willing to start their character all over again in the event of failure, accept this quest.

Leo let out a laugh after reading the announcement. He was very familiar with the Saint’s Ring and its questline. He had spent 8 years completing it in his past life and earned the right to enter the Saint’s Gate to participate in the Saint Trials. He knew better than anyone how difficult the quest was, especially the consequences for failing.

Leo knew about roughly 1,000 players who had received the ring one way or another. Only 99 of them managed to complete the questline while the rest deleted their characters and began anew. The penalty differed for each of them but he knew that one player had received a permanent 95% reduction in all attributes after failing.

Nobody knew when the rings would show up or why. Leo did not question why he found it this early. It’s not the first time they’ve appeared in the early zones. Leo accepted the quest and was greeted by a series of announcements.

System announcement: Congratulations on accepting the Legendary Questline ‘Finding the Saint’s Scroll’. You have taken the first step towards the Saint’s Gate!

System announcement: You have received the title of [Knight] in Ferima Province.

System announcement: You have received +50 global reputation.

[Questline - Finding the Saint’s Scroll (Legendary Rank)]

This is a Legendary Rank questline with multiple sub-quests ranging from Copper to Sub-Legendary in difficulty.

Time limit: 12 years

Rewards: Right to participate in the Saint Trials, ???

Failure: ???

Leo looked at the description of the quest. He was surprised by the time limit. Last time, every sub-quest had their own time limit but the overall quest never had one. He even had less time overall. 12 years of in-game time is equivalent to 3 years in the real world. He spent 8 years of real time on the quest last time and barely managed to finish it. How was he supposed to do that in less than half the time?

Leo pushed the time limit aside for now. If he only had 3 years of real time, then so be it. He pulled up the first quest from the questline.

[Sub-Quest-1: Visit Elion Themaer for further guidance (Copper Rank)]

Find Elion Themaer in his smithy ‘Flux Crux’ located south of the Auction House in Ferima City.

Bonus: If you visit Elion while near the owner of Saint Vialu’s Ring, you’ll both gain an extra reward.

Leo read through the quest. It was not uncommon to gain bonuses for being with other ring owners. Each of the 100 rings are connected to each other. Leo held little hope of meeting the owner of Saint Vialu’s Ring, his best shot would be to wait at Elion’s smithy and hope they turn up. Leo decided to not try too hard. If he finds them he’ll try to cooperate, if not, then so be it. If the quest proceeds like it did in his past life, the next quest after this one should be unique and only completable solo.

This is the only one that matters. If he fails the personal sub-quest, he’ll have to face strict consequences. The bonus quests will appear from time to time with a number of different ring owners. Leo could only hope to establish as many cooperative relationships as possible. He knew that it was unrealistic to expect every ring owner to cooperate.

Seeing that there’s nothing left to do, Leo once more tried to exit the dungeon. This time it thankfully worked and he quickly found himself transported to the outside. Leo slowly materialized in a cover of bright light. He saw Alex running up to him with a relieved expression.

“Finally! What took you so long?”

Leo shared the quests information with Alex. It was the fastest way to explain.

“Wow, just wow. There’s something like this in the game? I don’t know if you're blessed by the heavens or cursed by an evil witch.”

“I think it’s a good thing.”

“Sure if you can finish the quest. But what if you fail?”

“Then I’ll restart from scratch and try again.”

“I-I don’t know what to say. Okay. You have full support from me. If there’s anything I can help with, just let me know.”

“If you can have your guild’s information network search for the owner of Vialu’s Ring, that would be great.”

“Sure thing. I’ll send a whisper to Catty, she’ll have the team begin working immediately.”

Lily walked up to them and quickly introduced a new player to the party.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Snow and I am the current Guild Leader of Rising Embers.”

Snow was an elegant looking woman around 20 years old. Her skin was pale like snow with long black hair stretching all the way to her lower back. Her face was slightly rounded with deep blue eyes like the ocean. She carried a faint noble like aura and spoke with a firm yet gentle voice.

Leo quickly turned his head towards Alex but was surprised by his lack of interest. Snow was practically his dream type of woman yet he didn’t even make an attempt at a cheesy pickup line. Alex saw Leo’s questioning eyes and said “What? I know my limits”. Leo rapidly blinked his eyes in confusion. Today he learned that Alex had a limit.

Lily looked at both of them from the sideline and showed a clearly disappointed look on her face.

“Really? No reaction at all? How can you stay calm in front of a beauty like Snow? It seems you don’t understand. Let me educate you! Snow is the one and only heir to Maze Security, the biggest security firm in the world! Their systems are installed in homes from small apartments to luxurious mansions for the uber-wealthy. She’s also a professional gamer, martial artist and model. Surely you have heard of her before, right?”

Leo did not know who Snow was at all. When he thought about it, he could indeed recall a player called Snow from his past life but that one was a middle-aged man working in a restaurant chain. Leo had only interacted with him when he was negotiating the contract for leasing a restaurant in one of Elecur’s cities.

As for this Snow being the heir to Maze Security, it did not impress him at all. Being an heir is as the name suggests, inherited. He did think highly of her achievements though. He was especially interested in learning more about her martial arts background.

Leo had some strong thoughts about Maze Security but decided to not voice them. His former mansion had their very best security system installed and he was not particularly pleased with its performance. He doubted they would offer him a refund.

Leo was about to respond but was cut short by Alex.

“Of course we know who Snow is. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Guild Leader Snow. My name is Ace and I represent Moonlight as their Vice Guild Leader. I believe Lily has told you about the plan?”

“She has indeed. If what she told me is true, then I would very much like to see it for myself.”

Snow turned towards Leo and sized him up. She couldn’t see what Lily was talking about. How was he an expert? She looked at his gear but couldn’t tell its exact quality. It was clearly a set which was strange considering how few hours the game had been live.

Lily told her that he had a Hidden Class but she didn’t know it’s specifics. Snow had also gained the Hidden Class Warpriest but still felt that doing Nightmare Mode would be too difficult. Was his class more powerful than hers?

Alex flung his arm around Leo’s neck and forcefully turned him around, his back now facing away from the others. He brought his face chin-to-chin with Leo and said in a low serious voice.

“You trust me right? I have never once asked anything of you, right?”

Leo nodded in agreement.

“Good. I want you to let me handle this. I also want to reveal your ability to create equipment. I’ll make Snow sign a nondisclosure agreement and if she can’t keep her silence, I’ll hunt her down through every court in the world if I have to. You’re the only way I can get her to agree to an alliance with Moonlight. I’ll make sure you’re paid fairly for any help you provide and you can refuse any request whenever you want.”

Leo looked at Alex’s serious eyes. He could tell that this was important to him and agreed to allow him to handle the details. This was also a good opportunity for Leo to expand his network. He no longer had the near infinite resources from Elecur to complete his Legendary Questline and any help he could get would be worth fighting for.

“I’m sorry for being selfish. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“Don’t worry. We’re brothers, right? Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing brothers do for each other?”

“Haha, yeah.”

Alex turned around and spoke to Snow.

“Ms. Snow, I apologize for making you wait. I have a very lucrative proposal that will benefit both of our guilds far more than you could ever imagine.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“Before that, I need you and your party to sign an NDA. I assure you that the information I’m about to tell you is highly valuable.”

Snow frowned slightly at Alex’s request. She knew that Moonlight had been trying to gain favor with Maze Security in order to create an alliance. She hated that kind of behavior but if what Alex said is true, then she would be a fool to decline.

“Ok. I accept your condition but don’t hate me if I burn the relationship between Rising Embers and Moonlight to the ground if you disappoint me.”

“O-of course. I would never make you go through all this trouble for nothing.”

Alex and Snow talked to each other in private for a short 5 minutes after signing the NDA. Leo was surprised by the swiftness and feared that Alex had failed to convince Snow. They both walked up to him and explained the situation.

“So we will help Ms. Snow and her Guild gain the first clear record for the dungeon on Nightmare Mode. Ms. Snow has agreed to pay 20,000$ for the privilege, 200 pieces of Copper Quality equipment and 75 pieces of Bronze Quality equipment.”

Leo nodded agreeingly to Alex’s words. 20,000$ might seem like a lot for a simple announcement, but considering Maze Security is a multi-billion dollar company, this lump of change is hardly anything to them. Leo was more interested in the equipment he would get out of this deal.

“That’s a fair offer. I have no complaints.”

Snow walked forward and spoke in a soft voice, somehow different from just a few minutes ago.

“I would like to request weapons for Lily and myself. Ace told me that you can make upgradable weapons. I will of course pay for the materials and labor cost. Just name your price.”

“Did he also tell you that the weapons need to be constantly upgraded with high-quality material to be of any use long term?”

“Y-yes of course. I assure you that I can gather the funds and materials myself. You only need to do the upgrade, when it’s convenient, of course.”

Leo nodded with a slight smile. He found it funny how Snow’s personality made a 180 when she no longer held any power. Leo was probably the only player right now, and maybe ever, to make weapons like that. If she offended him, he could simply walk away and find someone else to do business with.

“What are you talking about? Let me in on the gossip! I want to know too... “

“Lily please behave. Do not make trouble for Zero and Ace.”

“As you command Miss Ice Queen.”

“I TOLD you to NOT call me that!”

“Scary!”

Leo turned towards Alex but he only shook his head as if to say ‘don’t ask about it’. He was left confused about why Lily would call Snow, Ice Queen. Is it an inside joke because of her name?

“I think we should get going. Don’t you agree?”

“Ah, sure. Lead the way.”

Snow initiated the dungeon on the highest difficulty. After hearing Alex talk about Leo, she no longer feared that they would not be able to get through the dungeon.

System announcement: Party leader [Snow] has initiated the dungeon [Wasted Mines] on [Nightmare Mode]. The death penalty is set to 5% EXP loss per death.