After that scuffle in the forest and the crazy discovery that I could actually copy skills, I knew one thing: I needed loot. Fast. There was one place I remembered. During a closed beta developer stream, they accidentally flashed a map segment showing a tiny question mark near the ruins of a collapsed watchtower. No quest markers. Just there. Hidden. Most players wrote it off as a texture glitch. But not me.
I made my way east of the starter town, past the Whispering Fields—a place that lived up to its name. The grass seemed to whisper all around me.
"Stinky Skunk."
"She's watching."
"You'll always be a loser no matter what world you're in."
I shook it off and pushed forward.
The watchtower ruins jutted from the moss-covered hill like a broken tooth. The slope was scattered with cracked stones and gnarled roots, the ground uneven and slick from recent rain. Thick vines drooped across the path like lazy, natural tripwires, and every step I took sent a crunch through the quiet underbrush. The air smelled of damp earth, moldy stone, and something faintly metallic, like blood that had long since dried.
A faint glow pulsed at the top of the hill.
I climbed toward it, cautiously. As I reached the summit, the glow sharpened—bright, steady, artificial. Someone was already there. A woman stood at the edge of the broken tower, backlit by the glow. Her outfit was built like a top player's outfit: a black, metal-plated corset with sharp trim and battle-worn edges. Her long white hair caught the light, gleaming like silver thread, and her crimson eyes locked onto me like she'd already judged whether I was a threat.
"She looks Russian…" I thought. "System, inspect the player in front of me."
A system window popped over her head:
[Player 7: Vladimir Alberka]
She held a crossbow, black and gold, covered in crimson engravings. The moment she slung it up, a window message flashed:
[Treasure Chest Item Obtained]: Warmonger (UNIQUE WEAPON)
I grit my teeth. "That was supposed to be mine, damn it!" I thought.
She aimed the Warmonger at the sky and fired. Thousands of bolts erupted upward, exploding into patterns that scattered birds and shook the clouds.
"What class is she? System, inspect that player's class." I said.
Then another system window blinked over her head:
[Class: Naval Commander]
My jaw dropped. "I-Impossible… that's a unique class," I thought. "She must've gotten it from the hidden chests. Lucky bastard."
She turned to me, calm and unbothered, then activated a class skill called Mount. Thunder cracked as a massive flying warship descended from the clouds with golden sails, glowing cannons. She stepped onto a shimmering platform that lifted her to the deck, then glanced down.
"That's what ya get for being late," She said. "Absolutely nothing."
I lifted my hand, ready to copy the skill.
But a sharp red system message stopped me cold:
[ERROR: Unique Class Skill – Cannot be Copied]
I stared at it. "Of course," I muttered. "Plot armor."
The ship ascended, vanishing into the clouds. All that was left behind was the empty chest she'd looted and the sky still trembling.
Then, just as I turned to leave, a golden notification blazed across the sky:
[A New Dungeon Has Spawned in Arkanos City. Awaiting Brave Challengers]
Cheers rose from the distance. Footsteps rushing off—desperate players and tryhard squads already racing.
I tightened my grip on my starter dagger.
"Tempting…" I muttered. "But not yet." I turned south toward the woods.