The morning sun broke through the roof tops of surrounding buildings.
It felt like every day in the city of Spehel: noisy streets, the smell of cheap bread and grilled meat, merchants yelling over each other like their lungs had HP bars, and Kael and Lunara cutting through their usual route to the Adventurer's Guild—
A tangled mess of narrow alleys, sharp turns, and rickety wooden bridges between rooftops.
It was faster, sure, but it also had the general vibe of,
"you could get stabbed here and nobody would know."
Unfortunately, today, someone did know.
They'd barely made it halfway through the maze of shortcuts when a squad of uniformed city guards blocked their path. The lead guard — a broad man with a voice that sounded like gravel grinding against gravel — stepped forward.
"Road's closed. Multiple casualties here yesterday, or was it the day before yesterday...time really flies huh.."
*Clears throat* anyways—
"Ten high-levels — level fifties — got wrecked, absolutely defeated."
"Signs show this happened 2 days ago or so, but it's just this morning we discovered them still unconscious."
"When we woke them up, they claimed that they were attacked."
Kael tilted his head, confused.
Then—
Something clicked.
His eyes narrowed. The bandits.
The same ones who'd thought ambushing him in an alley was a good career choice. Apparently, they'd changed the script from
"violent thieves" to "poor innocent victims."
A bitter rage overcame him at this moment.
His thoughts spiraled out of control.
> It's always the wrong ones that think they're in the right. If I wanted to I could've killed them, and got away with it too .... But I didn't, I guess this is how I get repayed, if they find out I was the one who attacked them, I'd be in the wrong, but if they'd attack and killed any of the innocent civilians living here it'd just be classed as natural selection for living in such a dangerous area.
"How fair..." He mumbled under his breath.
Kael's jaw tightened. His mood soured.
Lunara, sharp-eyed as ever, caught the shift in his expression. But before she could comment, he smoothed his face back into that fake "everything's fine" look.
"Ah. Okay then." Kael shrugged, already turning away.
"Guess we'll just have to take the main square."
As he walked, he flicked his fingers behind his back — A little hand sign gesture that basically meant "c'mon, we're bailing."
Lunara followed without a word.
-–---
They walked for a few minutes in pure silence, then he muttured.
"It's only like a ten-minute difference. No biggie."
Kael said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as they emerged onto the main road.
Lunara's gaze didn't soften. She crossed her arms.
"You beat those guys up, huh?"
"Your body language gave it away."
Kael froze for half a second before turning his head to blink at her — too quickly, too many times.
"They were trying to kill me! They had daggers! I nearly died!"
His pout was so childish she almost laughed.
Lunara looked away, worry flickering in her eyes.
"Even though they were way higher level… you still won."
Her tone was quiet, almost hesitant. Her arms shifted into a slightly awkward position, one hand rubbing the other.
Kael chuckled and waved it off.
"Guess I'm just built different."
The rest of the walk fell into an awkward silence, the kind that felt like neither of them was entirely sure if they were still arguing or not.
---
That's when Kael stopped dead in his tracks.
Lunara, still walking, only noticed after a few steps.
"What, are you staring at women's breasts again?"
she asked flatly without turning around.
"Wh—no! What the hell—not today." Kael started, but she'd already turned to follow his gaze.
It wasn't a person. It was a massive, colorful banner strung across the square.
"Grand Tournament – Duos Only – Any and Every Weapon Allowed! First Place Reward: Mythic-Class Loot!"
Lunara's breath caught.
Mythic-class loot wasn't just rare — it was absurdly rare.
The kind of gear you only saw in the hands of people who'd conquered A+ dungeons hundreds of times over and lived to brag about it.
One piece could outclass an entire set of any rare gear.
She turned to Kael. He was smiling at her with an expression so innocent, it was almost insulting.
"C'mon. Please."
He tried the wide, puppy-eyed look. It failed miserably. But when she glanced back at the reward list…
…she cursed herself for even thinking about it.
Because she knew he could fight.
In PvE, higher level usually won. But in PvP? Experience mattered more.
And Kael had the kind of combat experience that could make level 100 adventurers sweat.
The problem? If any legends joined…
[ Legends — the term for adventurer's above level 150. People who'd grinded for years, conquered nightmare-tier dungeons, and stacked stats so high they could sneeze and cause property damage. Facing one of them wasn't "dangerous." It was "life insurance won't cover this." ]
Still, after a long, reluctant pause, she nodded.
"Fine."
Kael pumped his fist.
"Knew you'd say yes!"
~ Smack!
---
The days leading up to the tournament passed in a blur.
Kael claimed he was doing "secret training," though he was suspiciously vague about what that involved.
The morning of the tournament, Lunara was confident. In her mind, Kael was going to crush the competition. His level was probably in the 90s by now, right? Maybe even triple digits, he somehow seems to level up and at insane pace.
Meanwhile, Kael was staring at his stat screen like it had personally betrayed him.
Level: 35.
I'm screwed.
Why?
Because yesterday — in a move only he would think was smart — he'd prestiged.
"+ 3.2× XP multiplier, baby," He'd told himself.
"I'll get my levels back in no time."
And even though he spent a the majority of the night grinding, He infact did NOT get his levels back.
Now, here he was. No time, no levels, and a partner who thought he was still overpowered.
---
Lunara tightened her gloves, ready for the first match.
Kael's got this in the bag.
His experience is key.
Kael, sweating slightly, muttered under his breath.
"It didn't work out…"
And for the first time in weeks, he was really hoping she'd carry.