[Sent back to reality!]
Daniel's eyes shot open, and the world around him rushed back into focus.
The familiar sight of his luxurious room greeted him—lavish furniture, expensive paintings, and grand decorations—but none of it brought him comfort now.
His head buzzed with fury, his heart pounding like a war drum.
How had he lost to that insignificant mage? Worse yet, the other's fireball overwhelmed his own!
[You will be able to log back into 'Universal Descent' in 29:54 minutes!]
The message glowed in front of him like a taunt, reminding him of his failure.
"This is… FUCKKKKKKK!"
He began screaming as he broke and smashed everything he could get a hold of in his room.
There were expensive things, but to him it was like a drop of water in the ocean, for now, he just wanted to let his frustration go.
The door burst open, and Aurelia, his younger sister, stepped inside.
She was tall and striking, her long hair cascading over her shoulders and it was hard to believe she was an assassin with those giant mountains on her.
Her sharp eyes immediately scanned the wreckage.
"Brother, what are you doing?" she asked, her tone a mix of surprise and irritation.
For a moment, Daniel didn't respond.
His chest heaved with every breath, his eyes wild with fury.
He grabbed another expensive vase, ready to hurl it, but Aurelia was faster.
With swift, precise movements, she subdued him using a martial art technique she had mastered long ago.
Her arm snaked around his, her legs locked his body in place.
Daniel struggled, but the hold was firm, she had always been better than him at that after all.
"Calm down!" Aurelia demanded.
After a few minutes, Daniel's breath slowly evened out and he finally retrieved his composure as he got up, "This fucker…"
Aurelia raised an eyebrow, puzzled, "What happened?"
"FateBreaker," Daniel spat the name of his now biggest enemy, "I'm going to destroy him."
He stormed over to his bed and summoned his [Guild Chat] panel, and yes, you could use that in real life, the members of your guild receiving the notification both in the real world and in the game.
[MartialMage: This is but a small loss, members. The guy likely used a cheat. We will continue leveling up, but do note that the raid will happen today instead of tomorrow to reach the first city faster. if anyone sees the player 'FateBreaker,' do not engage him head-on. Sneak attacks only.]
He had changed the date of the raid because of 'FateBreaker': Daniel wanted to grow stronger to take his revenge fast, and this novice village wouldn't allow him to do that.
Meaning that his only choice was to get to the first city.
After typing his message, he turned toward his sister, "Get out."
Aurelia, used to her brother's moods, was already halfway out the door before he even finished.
"It's fine, Daniel, you complete the novice village assessment, you'll get your revenge in the first city," he groaned.
And so he began staring at the countdown timer still ticking in his vision.
"Fifteen more minutes," he muttered, "When I get back, FateBreaker… you're done."
Back to Alex, he had immediately ran away from the novice village square after causing chaos.
"What… the... puff... fuck!" Alice's voice rang out behind him.
She was trying her best to keep up but was clearly struggling.
Without hesitation, Alex scooped her up into his arms, her light weight hardly slowing him down.
"If we get spotted by silver-skins, its over."
He continued running for a while, and stopped when reaching a random alleyway, making sure no one followed him.
But, right as he stopped, he heard an announcement.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Server Announcement: Be careful of player 'FateBreaker', he is a criminal and an enemy of the silver-skins, anyone who kills him will immediately receive 100 silver coins.]
[Server Announcement: …]
The announcement echoed three times, and everyone in novice village 666, whether they were inside of it, in the farmlands, or the forest, heard it.
It was the village itself that put this announcement, probably since he was already at -1000 reputation, yet in addition to that killed three silver-skins and now caused havoc.
"Alex, what in the hell did you do," but surprisingly, Alice wasn't mad or fearful: she laughed, small tears appearing in her eyes as she couldn't hold herself back, flapping her legs back and forth as he still carried her, "Seriously… hahaha…"
Alex was confused, but a small smile formed on his face as he saw the girl, letting her go from his grip after a few seconds.
She had never had so much fun in so little time!
She was extremely happy she made the choice to create a party with Alex yesterday, best decision of her life!
But Alex knew that now that he was outed, it wouldn't take much more time before he was found, the silver-skin guards probably already looking for him, and some players too, though the NPCs would have a hard time with his mask.
"Hey, that guy has a mask!" Alex heard someone, and he noticed a group of four players point at him.
"Who else could hide underneath a mask, get his ass!" one of them was an archer, pointing an arrow at them.
But Alice was quicker, and without Alex even asking her, she sent an arrow toward the player, hitting him in the head, causing critical damage.
Poof!
That player vanished in a flash of blue light.
"THEY GOT CASPER! IT'S THEM!"
They immediately rushed toward Alex and Alice, but a few spells was enough to dispatch the three.
'Too bad I can't extract from players yet…'
As players didn't truly die during the first stage of the game, it was impossible to extract anything from them, the only thing he could possibly do is steal items.
"Hey, Alice," Alex sighed.
"Hm?"
"Stay back, they don't know you are with me, and I have something to do."
He planned to kill the [Silver-Skin Chief] today to get the rewards as early as possible, since the questline and first city had been unlocked on the third day of this game, meaning he shouldn't sit around doing nothing.
"O-Oh, alright, I think I'll level up in the forest, then!" she smiled adorably, and he patted her head.
"Alright," Alice quickly ran toward one of the novice village exits, wanting to level up to level 10 to catch up with Alex, "See you later, then!"
"See ya," Alex smiled, but when Alice was out of sight, he dropped his joyful expression, going back to his usual one, "Let's get that guy."
He was determined to kill the chief to get those rewards, as they would be greatly needed for later.
Back in the heart of the novice village, Alex stood before the massive stone building where the [Silver-Skin Chief] resided.
The entrance was locked, only accessible to those with 100 reputation point, but Alex had no intention of earning his way in.
With a flick of his wrist, he cast a Fireball spell, hurling it toward the door. The blast echoed through the square as the wooden doors splintered into pieces.
[You have entered the 'Silver-Skin Chief's' building!]
[Knock at the door in front of you to summon the chief.]
Alex stepped inside.
The lobby was dimly lit, dust hanging in the air.
And at the far end of the room, a heavy wooden door awaited him.
Without hesitation, he walked up to it and knocked twice.
"Pizza delivery."
The room grew eerily quiet.