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Jimmy's Revenge
While returning to the village, Jimmy was attacked by wild wolves. Though he managed to drive them off, the damage he took wasn't light. Now, he wants payback. Your job? Kill every wolf you can find. The more you kill, the greater the reward.
Objective: Wolves
Reward: Unknown
Quest Item: Weapon Oil
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Ryan glanced at the item in his pack and couldn't help but grin. He focused on the bottle of Weapon Oil, and a tooltip popped up.
Weapon Oil: Quest Item
Effect: Increases weapon damage by 20. Boosts damage against beasts by 50. Duration: 1 hour.
"Nice," he muttered.
Jimmy's Revenge was a rare one. A timed quest, and not the usual kind that kicked off the second you picked it up. The countdown only started once you applied the oil. When the effect wore off, the quest ended—no do-overs.
And Jimmy himself? That NPC only respawned every two hours. If Ryan hadn't been the first to heal him, he probably wouldn't have even seen the guy before leaving the starter zone.
The quest was open to everyone—but you had to heal Jimmy first. Whether by potion or spell didn't matter. Once healed, he turned into a quest-giver, and Jimmy's Revenge became one of the most valuable tasks you could get in the opening area.
The moment Ryan stepped back into the village gate, a system prompt appeared.
System Notice:
You have entered a combat zone. Player collision is now enabled.
Ah, right.
In towns and dungeons, the game used "character phasing"—players could stack on top of each other like holograms. It was also the backbone of the power-leveling meta later on—pull all the mobs, AoE them down, repeat.
But in the open world? That feature shut off. You moved like you would in real life. Bumping, squeezing, tripping over each other in a sea of bodies.
And what a crowd it was.
Ryan stepped past the gate and stared at the chaos unfolding just outside the village. A stampede of new players were wildly swinging their fists, ganging up on baby wolves like it was a Black Friday sale.
Every time a cub spawned, it was instantly dogpiled by five or six players, all flailing in a desperate bid to land the killing blow.
Those who managed it were grinning like lottery winners.
Those who didn't just scowled and waited for the next poor wolf to spawn, muttering under their breath.
Ryan took one look at the mob-fest and backed away. No way he was joining that mosh pit.
Instead, he sprinted farther out.
Beyond the starting area, level 3 monsters roamed—Frenzied Wolf Cubs. Mean little things with high attack and decent armor. Most newbies couldn't scratch them without dying in the process.
But that's where Harnel's Longsword—the objective for Path of Wrath—was located.
As he jogged through the hills, Ryan passed dozens of other players scrambling in every direction, hunting for spawn points like caffeinated treasure hunters. That was one of the annoying parts of Kingdom Forge—outside towns, monster spawns were completely randomized.
You couldn't camp a spot. You had to chase.
Still, luck seemed to be on Ryan's side. A few wolves popped right in front of him while he was running—but every time he reached for his weapon, a group of desperate players would appear from nowhere and tear the thing apart before he even swung.
He barely had time to blink before the thing hit zero HP.
One group even turned to glare at him afterward, like he'd tried to steal their spawn by breathing near it.
Ryan just rolled his eyes and kept moving.
He currently had no weapon, nor real combat skill. He wasn't about to throw punches just to win scraps of XP.
As for these guys, they were mere casuals. They'd talked to the village chief, picked up a side quest, and ran out swinging bare fists like it was a street brawl.
The real players—the ones who knew how this game ticked—were already hunting for trigger quests and hidden chains. Ryan smirked at the thought, then ignored the crowd and headed off toward his objective.
A few steps later, a system prompt flashed in the corner of his screen.
System Message:
You've discovered: Windrest Plains. +30 EXP
The Windrest Plains were crawling with Frenzied Wolf Cubs and adult Graywolves. Level 3 monsters which were dangerous by starter zone standards.
Fortunately, most of the mobs near the village were yellow-tagged—neutral types. They wouldn't aggro unless provoked. That meant Ryan could pass right through without getting jumped by something three levels above him.
Relying on memory, he soon arrived at a small gravestone. Whatever had been carved on it had long since worn away. This was the spot—Harnel's old longsword was buried here.
He dug for a second, then yanked out a battered two-handed sword. A quest ping confirmed it:
Quest Complete: Path of Wrath
Return to Trainer Harnel.
Ryan didn't waste time. He doubled back to the village and handed in the sword.
"I think I can trust your strength now," Harnel said. "But I've got another task for you."
"There's a place west of the village—Blood Hollow. Packs of rogue wolves prowl the valley. They've been a menace for too long. I want you to hunt them down. Bring back proof."
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Cull the Wilds:
The wolves in Blood Hollow pose a threat to the region. Hunt them down and return with their skulls. Trainer Harnel will reward you handsomely.
Objective: Wolf Skulls 0/50
Reward: 1,000 EXP, 1 silver
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Ryan accepted it instantly.
Harnel's Longsword (Two-Handed)
Quality: Crude
Level: 1
Damage: 1–5 (0.6 DPS)
Speed: 3.8
Not impressive, but it was a weapon—and more importantly, it let him use skills. Big upgrade from throwing fists.
He glanced at his EXP bar. Still a long way to go. He needed 8,000 XP to level, and so far, he'd scraped together about 400. Not even five percent.
So, Ryan got to work.
He jogged around the village knocking out a bunch of low-effort errands—mostly delivery quests and fetch runs. By the end of it, he'd climbed up to 1,600 EXP and picked up some basic gear.
Barebones stuff—mixes of cloth, leather, and scrap mail. They looked awful and also felt awkward. But hey, it offered more armor than nothing.
"Alright," he grinned. "Now the real grind begins."
He checked the in-game clock. Just over thirty minutes had passed since launch.
Perfect.
Time to hit his secret spot—and skyrocket his level.