They asked him if he wished to share the reward for completing the S quest with the server, and he said no.
Then another question appeared, asking if he wanted to place his name on the leaderboard. That was a tough decision.
If Alex said yes, everyone would see that he was already at level 10, which shouldn't be happening at that stage of the game. However, Alex also wanted to gain attention from others.
Why should he lay low? The game had a feature to hide his nickname, and there were items available to change his appearance. It wouldn't be the end of the world to become famous.
"Screw it. Let's do this! I also have an evil plan," Alex smirked.
After selecting yes for the leaderboard, Alex checked it by clicking on the menu. There it was, his name near the top spot. Shadowborn, level 10. Within seconds, the game forums were flooded with players who couldn't fully comprehend what had happened.
FriedPotatoes: Maybe it's a bug? Like a developer forgot to delete his character.
Lickinggirl69: Yeah, right, it has to be that!
Everyone was talking about it, and the players collectively agreed that a GM had forgotten to delete a character. However, that theory was debunked five minutes later when a game developer posted on the forums, stating that there was no bug and it was indeed a player, not a GM.
Naturally, no one believed that someone could level up that quickly. Regardless of their race or starting kingdom, all the players were eager to learn more about the person called Shadowborn. Alex had become a legend within his first day.
"You've improved so quickly," Shade remarked, staring at Alex.
Alex had rapidly leveled up to level 10, which surprised Shade as well.
"I can teach you how to turn invisible, but if you want to learn more skills, you'll need to upgrade your Umbra Blade. It's much weaker than your current power..." Shade explained.
That made sense. Alex had only recently obtained the sword. The good news was that the skill Shade had to teach him was invisibility, which was exactly what Alex desired the most.
Invisibility was one of the reasons he had chosen to become a Rogue in the first place, and now that he had switched to a new class, he was thrilled that it offered a similar ability.
[Shadow Cloak (LVL 1): Use the shadows to your advantage, completely blending with the ambient environment and turning invisible. Enemy detection takes into account factors such as range between you and the target, sound, smell, your level, enemy level, enemy's perception, and your Shadow Cloak level.]
[Cost: 1 Shadow Essence per second.]
[Cooldown: 0.]
"Also," Shade said, handing him over a black robe with a hood, "Use this if you want. It has zero defense, but it looks cool."
[Shadow Hunter Black Robe (Rare)]
[Defense: 0-0]
[This item works as a accessory, so you can use it alongside armor.]
After acquiring the new ability, and the robe, Alex left Shade's secret base and headed back to the village.
On his way, the wolves did not attack him due to his high level, just as it happened with Shade. But what was the evil plan that Alex had in mind? Well, before entering the city that unlocked at level 10, he needed to level up his Umbra Sword as Shade had advised.
While his level was high, his weapon remained weaker in comparison. This resulted in lower damage output, and he was unable to learn new skills from Shade.
However, even with a weaker weapon, Alex was still far more powerful than any player in the game, thanks to his high level. He checked his status screen, noticing that he had 45 free attribute points to allocate.
[Nickname: Shadowborn]
[Level: 10 (0/13000)]
[Health Points: 280/280]
[Shadow Essence: 70/70]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Shadow Hunter]
[Attributes:
[STR: 3]
[DEX: 10]
[VIG: 3]
[INT: 1]
[FTH: 0]
[LCK: 12]
[Free Points: 45]
"How should I distribute these points? My main attribute is LCK, but I also rely on DEX as a secondary one, and maybe VIG as the last? Let's increase LCK to 50 and put the rest into DEX!"
After making his decision, his updated status looked like this:
[Nickname: Shadowborn]
[Level: 10 (0/13000)]
[Health Points: 280/280]
[Shadow Essence: 70/70]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Shadow Hunter]
[Attributes:
[STR: 3]
[DEX: 17]
[VIG: 3]
[INT: 1]
[FTH: 0]
[LCK: 50]
[Free Points: 0]
Allocating a significant number of points to LCK might seem excessive, but at that moment, Alex desired a powerful attack that could defeat enemies in a single hit. He wanted to become a player killer (PK) right from the start of the game, shocking all the players who would never consider such a ruthless action.
They were mostly preoccupied with killing wolves and finding ways to level up faster after witnessing a player named "Shadowborn" reach level 10 in just a few hours of gameplay. It was as if their pride had been wounded.
As Alex entered the village, he was well aware of where all the players would be gathered. The moment his name, Shadowborn, appeared on their screens, a wave of gossip spread among the players.
Alex did not want people to know who he was, seeing the face of his character, therefore linking him to his IRL face. The robe Shade gave him helped him hide that, but it was just a temporary solution for a bigger problem...
Excited by the unexpected appearance of such a powerful player, many players quickly started recording their screens, eager to share videos of Shadowborn in the game's forum. Their goal was to gain views and potentially earn some money through ad revenue. That's how the world worked in the age of online gaming - turning every opportunity into a chance for attention and profit.
As Alex approached a player who was a Warrior, wielding a sword and shield, he couldn't help but notice the player's size. However, it didn't intimidate him in the slightest.
The player looked down at Alex and asked, "Are you Shadowborn? I thought you would be bigger."
Alex chuckled at the cliché remark. "Are you seriously using a tired catchphrase? Go to hell, noob."
With a swift motion, he activated his first active ability, Shadow Strike. Shadows coalesced around his Umbra Blade as he thrust it into the man's chest, dealing a massive amount of damage.
[207 Damage dealt]
[You killed a player]
[PK level raised]
The surrounding players, who were busy capturing footage and gossiping, were stunned into silence as they witnessed the brutal attack and its deadly outcome.
Alex did not CRIT, but it was more than enough to one shot the poor bastard, and that was only the first player to die during launch day!