I knew it would happen but I didn’t expect it to happen this soon. I ran into The Italians before I knew it. They stepped into my domain and I addressed them before they got any closer.

“What the fuck do you want?”

I clenched my fist and gripped my sword while my pets were growling at the uninvited players.

“Easy easy, I only came to talk, Nos here told me he saw a familiar face running with wolves and to my surprise, it was you, Ghost.”

“...”

I didn’t respond, as a matter of fact, I didn’t even want to see this guy’s face or his goons. The Yari’s name is Nosferatu and the Barto’s is R4mbo. I only stared at them as Iano continued to speak.

“I want to ask, how is it that you have this many monsters following you? I didn’t see a class that could summon or tame monsters this early in the game.”

“…”

I continued to stay silent I didn’t want to say anything he didn’t need to know. Nonetheless, I know he is going to make problems for me.

“R4mbo here also has never seen such a class before and he’s been playing for a while, isn’t that right R4mbo?”

“Yes boss”

R4mbo was a buffoon that couldn’t think for himself and only did his master’s bidding. He migrated to MARE when it launched, there was no doubt he is a high-level player at this point. But Iano and Nosferatu were both forced here by the merge.

It became clear that Iano’s only purpose is to harass me, all I have to do is endure it until they leave. PK isn’t possible in Initium after all.

“See even R4mbo has never seen this before. So how do you do it? Is it a quest? Or a special class I missed? Or…”

A smug grin crept onto Iano’s face before he continued “are you hacking again?”

Iano loved to accuse others of hacking especially my brothers and myself. Even though he always followed us around as an attempt to learn how to hack himself, he was a hypocrite.

“Don’t you have anything better to do? Or is being our fan the only thing you do?” I said.

Iano always tried to smear us or talk shit, it’s his favorite hobby.

“Haha you’re pretty cocky for someone who is all alone”

Iano stepped forward as if he was trying to pick a fight, did he not know this wasn’t a PK zone? He felt he could do whatever he wanted because R4mbo was next to him. It was then I decided to take a gamble.

“Alone? can’t you see him? Oh, that’s right! Only party members can see assassins in stealth. You do remember Viciouz right?”

As soon as I mentioned his name Iano stopped in his tracks.

“... you’re lying”

Iano was calling my bluff.

“Don’t believe me? Well, doesn’t matter to me” I shrugged my shoulders

I could see the panic on Iano’s face, it seemed he didn’t know that Initium was a no PK zone. But I’m sure that R4mbo at least explained the rules of PK.

“...”

Iano didn’t say a word as I could see the cold sweat running down his face.

“What’s wrong? Are you scared?”

I provoked him as he fell for my obvious bluff.

“Haa… w-why would I be?!”

Iano began to take out his sword with a quivering hand.

I had not seen my brother in this game yet, but anyone who played RO knew the name Viciouz.

Iano must be counting on R4mbo to protect him.

“Boss… What are you doing?”

Iano fumed in anger at R4mbo’s question “What the fuck do you mean what am I doing?! We’re going to kill this asshole, back me up, idiot! don’t let Viciouz kill me! You too Nos, help me teach this guy a lesson."

Nosferatu hesitated but stepped forward anyway.

R4mbo stood there looking dumbfounded as he spoke to Iano “Boss… you can’t PK in this area”

Iano had a blank stare in his eyes as he lowered his sword and stared at R4mbo for a few seconds. “What do you mean… There’s no PK?!”

“Hahahaha!” I grabbed my belly as I couldn’t hold it in and burst out in laughter. “Dumbass haha!”

“There’s no pk in low-tier regions…” R4mbo murmured.

Iano face turned beet red, he closed his eyes and sheathed his sword after R4mbo’s words.

“...we’re leaving”

He turned away from me and started to retreat as he called out to his goons. Before leaving he turned around and to face me.

“Don’t think you’ll always be safe in these safe regions and Viciouz won’t always be around to protect you either.”

“Sure haha” I was still laughing as Iano continued to walk away.

* * * * *

“YOU FUCKING IDIOT!” Iano shouted at the top of his lungs “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THIS WAS A NO PK ZONE?!”

“Sorry boss...” R4mbo could say nothing else as he was on his knees and staring at the ground.

“I looked like a fool!” Iano’s face turned red from thinking about the whole situation

“Come on it’s not that bad” Nosferatu tried to calm him down.

Iano glared at Nosferatu and grit his teeth. He opened his mouth to say something but decided it would be a waste of time.

“FUCK!” Iano shouted as he kicked the rocks at his feet in frustration.

“.....”

“..…”

Nos and R4mbo couldn’t find any more words to say.

“Was Viciouz even there, R4mbo?”

“I’m not sure, it didn’t seem like anyone else was there”

“Then was it a bluff?” Iano became even more furious at the thought that he fell for Ghost’s bluff.

“Goddammit… if he was there would you even be able to beat him?”

R4mbo hesitated and thought for a second before looking back at the ground and answering.

“No…”

“No? have you even fought him before?”

“I have faced him a few times”

“How many times?!”

“I’m not sure, many 20 or 30 times?”

“Out of those 20-30 times, how many times did you win? How strong is he?”

R4mbo raised his gaze off the ground and looked straight into Iano’s eyes before speaking.

* * * * *

“It’s getting dark”

The day turned to gray as the sun was beginning to hide behind the distant mountains.

Running into Iano’s group left me in a sour mode.

I was heading back to town when I spotted another red wolf pack. I didn’t want to be out in the darkness when all the monsters had the vision advantage.

But I thought “why not?”

I was strong enough to fight a pack of 15 wolves and I knew I had to get stronger. Iano wasn’t going to stop getting stronger either so I couldn’t fall behind.

“Let’s go” I called out to my pets as I ran towards the wolf pack. There were around 12 of them this time. I didn’t need to make a special formation to fend them off I could rush them by myself and kill them all.

The wolf pack noticed me as I was around 50m away from them. A few moments later they were within my domain.

“He’s here”

The last wolf I was looking for was within my reach, I chose to leave him for last. I raised my hand and cast cursed arrow and a gray mass shot out from my hand at a tremendous speed and hit its target. The wolf’s body shot up a few feet in the air like a ragdoll as soon as my spell made contact. It was as if a cannonball had stuck it, it’s body mangled and bloody. The lifeless body plopped to the ground and shocked the rest of the pack for a moment.

It happened too fast for even the wolves to react. I didn’t miss my chance and cast fear as my pet wolves rushed at them and started tearing them apart. I recast cursed arrow over and over as soon as it was off cooldown.

Unlike my other battles, I finished this one in less than 2 minutes.

“Wow, that was easy.”

A single wolf left. it was growling as it stared me down. It was angry at the slaughter of its companions. I could see it’s trembling, I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or if it was afraid for its life.

Lo, Bo, Ro, and Jo blocked its escape path. I approached the wolf and stopped when it was within an arm’s reach. As we stood in a field of the wolf corpses I could only stand there and stare down at the wolf that was still growling at me.

‘Why am I doing this?’

I couldn’t help but question why I even started to hunt the wolves down and slaughter them in the first place. Because I was angry? Because I wanted revenge? Because I didn’t want to feel afraid?

Everything seemed so petty.

‘It’s only a game, isn’t it?’

I knelt down until I was at eye level with the wolf. It continued to growl but I could see its trembling legs and the fear in its eyes. I began to feel a bit of compassion and empathy for the wolf.

“Your scared aren’t you?”

I talked but I knew it couldn’t understand me.

To my surprise, its growling stopped and its trembling diminished until it ceased. The wolf seemed comforted by my words.

‘Did it understand me?... Is this really... a game?’

I asked myself those questions as I contemplated everything that happened up to now. My rage against the wolves that mauled me was now redirected towards Iano. I didn’t want to make this wolf suffer as I did to the others.

I stretched out my hand as the wolf hesitated to move.

“…..”

It stood there not knowing what to do as I asked a question.

“Do you want to join me?”

“…..”

The wolf lowered it’s head in submission as it seemed to accept my offer. Or because it knew there was no other choice.

“Come here then, it won’t hurt, I promise.”

The wolf moved towards my stretched out hand. It only took a step or two for the wolf’s head to reach my hand.

I began to stroke it’s head as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The wolf closed its eyes and I put both my hands on its head.

[Vampire's Touch]

I cast my spell and life immediately left its body.

[Acquired 1 Red wolf doll]

[Would you like to use Red wolf doll?]

[Yes/No]

The same monster that I had summoned many times before appeared in front of me.

I knelt down and stroked the wolf’s head as I did moments ago.

“Welcome to the family.” I had a smile on my face as I said those words.

I now had a total of 7 summoned pets, of those 7, 5 are wolves.

I looked at my new summoned pet and gave it a name.

“Your name will be… Luna!”

Luna wagged her tail, a clear sign that I had given her a good name.

I began to head back to Anka as the sun had finally set and darkness covered the sky. Even with the pitch black darkness my [King’s Domain] made it hard for anything to sneak up on me. I also had many pets to protect me from anything that would come my way. But to no surprise, there were many things that came my way. Goblins, spiders, snakes, bats, a lot of the monsters started to creep out as soon as the sun finished setting. It was a good call to head back.

I killed many monsters before I reached the front gates of Anka.

“Stop right there!” As I approached town the guards stopped me and pointed their spears toward me before I could enter the town.

“Is there a problem sir?” I asked with a tilted head

The guard pointed his finger at my pets

“Are those yours? Monsters aren’t allowed inside the town”

“Ah, yes, of course, I’m sorry I completely forgot” I de-summoned my pets as I apologized

Once I put my pets away the guards changed their demeanor

“Welcome to Anka!” They said with a smile as they greeted me and stepped to the side

“Ahhh, yes thank you.”

I still wasn’t very good with social interactions even with NPCs.

I walked into the town and found a bench to sit on.

I played MARE for almost 2 days straight with very few breaks, I was very exhausted and wanted to sleep on my bed.

I worried about my encounter with Iano. I was planning to tell Maico as soon as I could but I knew it could wait until tomorrow.

[Are you sure you want to log out?]

[Yes/No]

-------------------------

*Knock knock*

I woke up the next morning with a knock on my door

“Yes?”

I shouted to the person on the other side of my bedroom. The door opened and my mom peeked her head inside my room.

“Good morning sweetie”

“Hi…”

No matter how old I got I felt like she always treated me like I was still a kid. I didn’t mind it since she has taken care of me the entirety of my life.

“I made breakfast, do you want to join me?”

One of the perks of still living with her was the constant home cooked meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She made sure I ate since I couldn’t bother to feed myself.

“Of course I’ll be right over”

As she was about to leave and close the door she stopped and peeked her head back in my room.

“By the way, Maico called earlier, he said he wanted to talk to you”

I picked up my phone that was sitting on my nightstand. I had a missed call and a text message, it seems I slept through it.

“You should give him a call, but don’t forget to eat breakfast first okay? I love you!”

“Okay, I love you too”

As soon as she closed the door I opened up the text message, as soon as I read it a huge grin appeared on my face.

‘Hey bro, I got a few of those items you wanted ">’