The Gnome turned on the cot and stared at me, scoffing. "Dude, chill out. I'm roleplaying."

My face scrunched up in confusion. "What?"

She sat up, choking out strangled noises. "How are you playing an MMORPG and you don't know what roleplay is?"

I scowled. "The only one playing games here is you. You still haven't answered my question!"

"Wha-oh, are you going hardcore?" she nodded. "I can act edgy and stuff for my class but pretending I'm in the game is a little too intense for me."

She eyed me, her eyes roaming my chest. "Nice character, by the way," she murmured. "Muscular black guys are kinda hot...Wait, is that racist? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," I interrupted, brushing off her concern. "Your class, what is it?" Perhaps that was what she had used to evade [Lesser Radar]? If she had a powerful enough class, she could probably escape the skill's notice. Were there stealth skills? If there were, I'd have to find some way around them....or train up [Lesser Radar] enough to nullify the effects. If this Gnome had turned hostile while my back was turned, she could've gotten the drop on me.

I don't believe that backstabbing would be beneath someone worthy of being thrown in the donjon.

You were, too, you know.

Shut up. My case was an accident!

Do you call threatening to mutilate a government official an 'accident'?

"My class?" the Gnome said shyly, leaning back in her cot. "I'm, um...I'm an {Assassin}."

I narrowed my eyes. An {Assassin}? The only reason she could be here was to kill off one of the keep nobles! I held back the urge to take her right then and there. I had no idea what level she was; if she was high enough level, she wouldn't even need a weapon to kill me.

"What level?"

She deflated when I asked her that. "Still level one! I evolved from {Thief} after I killed somebody but I was totally in the right! Some douchebag tried to skimp out on giving me my half of the rewards on a quest I mostly finished!" Can I butt in here? No? Okay. "But nooobody wants to hear that. As soon as they learn it's an evolved class, all of my party requests get turned down! And I know what you're thinking; just lie and get it over with but it seems like everybody has [Inspect] these days and they can still see it on my status page-" She's still talking. "I wish Raidscape would add a way to hide that but they haven't yet so I'm stuck. So here I am, coming to this low-level keep in the butt end of nowhere - I hate snowy regions, you know, so I never really come out here." My goddess, she's worse than Frost! "Anyway, I was gonna train up my level one class skills [Stealth] and [Backstab] but I had no idea there'd be so many {Guards} in a low-leveled keep! I was, like, this close to taking out the {Keep Lord} when-agk!"

The Gnome finally shut up when I lunged forward and grabbed her neck. Her eyes bulged as I squeezed, slamming her back against the wall. "Invader scum," I growled, ignoring her weak punches against my chest. "How dare you try to make friends with me after trying to kill my {Lord}?"

"What the f*ck, man?" she screeched. "Let me go! It's just a game, what is wrong with you?!"

Hypocrite. I tightened my grip on her neck, pushing with all of my 23 Strength. Her face changed from red to blue before finally losing color as the life faded from her body. Sniffing with disgust, I dropped her corpse and kicked it under the now unoccupied cot.

A familiar ding took my attention and I opened my notifications.

You have killed a Player one class rank above you! You have gained 1,235 Class EXP!

For killing a potential high-class threat to your Lord, {Guard} has leveled up to level 3!

For fighting with your bare hands for the first time, you have gained the Class {Pugilist}! You now receive +2 Attack, +3 Defense, and +3 Agility every 5 levels.

You have gained the level one {Pugilist} skills [Kick] and [Punch]!

Huh. This was weird. Since when did I get class exp and skills at level one? Status...

Name: Flake

Class: [F] Guard - 3 (0/300), [F] Pugilist - 1 (0/100)

Experience: Class (1,235)

Stats: Health (100), Stamina (100), Attack (7), Defense (8), Vitality (5), Agility (8), Perception (5), Magic (0)

Guard Skills: Spoiler

[Measure Bribe] - 1, [Lesser Radar] - 1

[Measure Bribe] - 1, [Lesser Radar] - 1 Pugilist Skills: Spoiler

[Kick] - 1, [Punch] - 1

[Grapple] - 1, [Punch] - 1

No. No, no, no, no!

Everything I'd worked so hard for, every life I lost, every bone I broke, was gone. Stolen right from underneath me.