Her name was Molly Howns. She was nineteen years old. Her clan "Lucky Dice" was in the top 10 in any game they played. The last game "Dark Gates" was no exception. She was a pro player and often occupied top-20 lists.
"Empyrean" was another game in which she, along with her friends, planned to take a place at the top. The girl was a natural leader and knew how to manage her clan well. The result showed this perfectly. She had no end of contracts and sponsors, and her videos were always very popular.
Like her friends — avid gamers and professionals — "Empyrean" made a great impression with its perfect realism and delightful graphics. The first day broke all records for game entry. Crowds of newcomers wandered back and forth shouting:
"Wow!"
"How awesome!"
"Cool!"
"Is this really a game?!"
"Lucky Dice" chose the third floor for their main base and developed bustling activity in leveling players, farming loot, and establishing their clan. They were recruiting newcomers, expanding the already huge number of guild members.
It was harder here than in other games. Items dropped very rarely. Money even more rarely. In a day she collected only twenty-one silver coins. Compared to "Dark Gates" — mere pennies. There she collected five and a half gold on the first day of playing. This said a lot about the game.
Her name was Grey Cardinal. The girl exited the game and tiredly closed her eyes. It seemed that here the path to the top would be very difficult.
Her family had their own business producing new generation capsules, one of which stood right in the girl's room. Making tea, she tucked her legs under herself and sat at the computer.
First thing she checked the player rankings. First place was held by Crimson Berserker. This nickname was familiar to Molly: it was the main fighter of the "Fortune" clan. Former clan leader who later left this post.
Currently, he was level four. Only he could gain such amount of experience in one day. Molly had been fighting with their clan throughout the last three virtual reality games. Places from second to tenth were shared between three players from her clan and their rivals. First days meant nothing, true, but it was unpleasant to observe the emerging gap.
The girl took a sip from her cup and moved to the forum, looking for something new. Soon the tea ran out and she, thinking a bit, decided to go to sleep.
Two days passed, she continued steadily destroying monsters and handling guild matters. And after yesterday's ranking check, Crimson Berserker was level five.
Now Molly with her team was in Rikal caves: here lived Coal Mantises, grey monsters of levels three to five and, as follows from the name, very similar to mantises. This was a good place for leveling which they claimed for themselves. The presence of her sworn enemy in first place didn't please her, but the girl couldn't do anything about it.
"Hey, Cardinal?" — called out the healer with nickname Enchanter. "Something weird is happening in the rankings!"
Molly frowned, as she didn't want to think now about her enemy becoming stronger with each minute.
"Bucky," — this was his real name, — "I monitored the ranking yesterday, what could have changed during this time? Did Crimson Berserker get another level?" — She didn't even turn around, killing another monster.
"No, no!" — In his voice was clear amazement and incredible shock. — "This is some nonsense! Just look!"
"Listen, I swear, if this is some nonsense, I'll send you to respawn." — Grey Cardinal was already starting to boil, opening the ranking page.
"What the hell?! L-l-level nine?!"
"That's what I was saying!"
"But how is this possible?! Damn...! His nickname is hidden! Who is this?! He's ahead of Crimson Berserker by four levels already! Only three days have passed!"
"I don't understand anything myself..."
She wasn't the only one in shock. All players who saw the anonymous player's level number froze for a couple minutes, trying to understand what was happening. Forums already raised noise demanding game administration punish the brazen cheater. Crimson Berserker, who never looked at rankings and leveled separately, also wasn't an exception when he received a message.
"Whoa, friend, did you see the rankings?"
"No, why would I look at them?" — The guy smiled to himself, thinking his friend wanted to praise him. — "You know I always level quickly." — He couldn't even think his words would sound somehow inappropriate.
"Uh... I think you should first look at the rankings. You've been moved."
"You're joking?"
"Just look."
Crimson Berserker, interested in his friend's behavior, who was also deputy clan leader, didn't put this matter off. After he saw the mysterious player's level, thoughts left his head for several moments. And then...
"What the hell?! Are you kidding me?!"
"Hey, what does this mean? Who could rise so high?"
"Don't know, friend..."
==
Three days after killing the first rat, Kane had already risen to level fourteen. He didn't know he had become a subject of discussion, as right at the game's start he disabled the ability to show his name in rankings. He planned to work quietly and not attract unnecessary attention, just in case.
Returning to the game, RAVen found that the rat had indeed respawned. This simultaneously pleased him and made him write to Park requesting to forward him bolt packs worth ten silver. With light, holy magic, or fire damage.
"Come to daddy! He-he."
Although it was monotonous, his heart was filled with anticipation from killing all these monsters below. Loot left from killing the first rat lay in place.
It looked like a small dense bag. The guy was interested in how many levels he would gain, if there would be more titles, and if there would be enough levels by the end of their extermination to exit beyond the village borders? Kane thought about this while continuing to shoot and reload the crossbow. Thanks to level ignoring, raised stats, and bolt change, his damage sometimes reached high values.
The maximum he dealt was "21". Click. Bolts, without changing target, fly to the bloodied monster and dig into its skin. The rat screeches, and its friends don't lag behind. Yes, those monsters that ran out then after death didn't go back down.
-12
Miss
Miss
-11
After four and a half hours, its health bar showed.
[Name: Cursed Rat
Level: 40
Health: 781/4600]
This was the fourth rat he had killed over these days. Although damage increased, their health points were still incredibly high for his level. As Oldak said, holy magic and light magic dealt additional damage to cursed creatures.
Therefore, the number of bolts spent on them was much less than usual. Fire also took their health down nicely, sometimes even setting the victim on fire for several seconds. And the higher his level became, the longer the DOT from fire hung. The measured attack continued, and after an hour and a half the rat took its last breath and left their company...
[You gained a level...]
RAVen reached level fifteen and spent about ten hours killing it. No more titles were given yet, but he wasn't upset. Park sent enough quivers with bolts, so the hunt would continue until he could kill all rats in one day. Otherwise, he couldn't reach the loot. Looking at the built-in clock, RAVen didn't continue and, leaving the game, settled with food at the computer.
Topic: Who is this player?
Caliber: Clan "True Peace" invites the player from first place in rankings.
Eternity: Clan "True Peace" sucks! We're waiting for you in our clan "True Chaos". You can contact us anytime.
Just a guy: Hey, stop flooding the topic! I'm just interested in who this guy is. Maybe someone saw where he levels?
Bright Flash: You idiot, how will you recognize him if his name is hidden?
Wheel: Yeah. What, gonna approach everyone and scan their level? Ha-ha-ha. Good luck LOL.
==
There were about twenty topics like this but with different names, and Kane, interested in what all the fuss was about, went to the game's ranking page. The bun he was eating froze halfway to his mouth.
First was an unknown player of level fifteen with seventy-five influence points. Second was Crimson Berserker of level eleven and forty-two influence points. Third was a player with the funny name Desperate Killer of level eleven and thirty-three influence points.
"Oh..." — was all Kane could think. He understood from the level and influence points that the unknown player was him. Shrugging his shoulders, he continued consuming food and scrolling through the forum looking for something new.