The tidal wave of players surged east. Kage walked west.
The casual gamer would instinctively think this is wrong. The game designers had placed a warm, welcoming town, a friendly tutorial NPC with a glowing punctuation mark over his head, and a field of docile, squishy monsters in one direction. It was a brightly lit path, a flashing neon sign that said, "START HERE."
To Kage, it was a different kind of sign. It said, "EFFICIENCY TRAP."
His internal monologue, a constant stream of cold calculation, kicked into gear.
The average player will spend the next hour learning basic controls they already know. They'll kill some Pygmy Slimes to complete a quest that gives them a common item. They'll feel a sense of progression. It's a carefully engineered dopamine loop for the masses.
He pushed through a thicket of ferns, the frantic sounds of the starting area already beginning to fade behind him.
That loop is a roadblock. Competition is highest where the reward is lowest. Low-risk, low-reward. A terrible investment.
His research pointed elsewhere. The Tyrant's insignia. The landmarks. The intersection point wasn't in the cushy, well-lit starting fields. It was in a zone that the map shaded a slightly darker green. A subtle but clear warning. Higher-level mobs. Greater danger.
High-risk, Kage thought, his eyes scanning the path ahead. High-reward. The only path that matters.
The forest began to change. The friendly, sun-dappled clearing gave way to a denser, more primal wood. The trees grew closer together, their branches twisting into a thick canopy that blotted out the golden sunlight, replacing it with a moody twilight. The cheerful chirping of birds was replaced by the low hoot of an unseen owl and the rustle of things unknown in the undergrowth. The path disappeared completely, forcing him to navigate by the terrain and the map.
This was the part of the game that made most players hesitate. The point where the hand-holding stopped.
Up ahead, he spotted a small group of four players. They were clustered together, moving tentatively. Their leader, a warrior with the same beginner's sword as Klaid, took a few steps forward, then scurried back to the safety of his group.
"You guys getting anything on the map?" the warrior asked, his voice laced with uncertainty.
"Nah, it's all blank out here," another player, a robed mage, replied. "Maybe we should go back? The quest was to kill slimes."
Kage moved past them without a word, his steady pace unwavering. Their brief conversation was all the confirmation he needed. They were tourists. He was an operator. They were looking for a guided tour; he was on a mission. Though, to their credit, they were smart enough to go past the starter area.
The party fell silent, watching him go. The one with the bow muttered, "Who's that guy? Think he knows where he's going?"
The healer, a woman holding a small glowing orb, shook her head, her voice a nervous whisper. "He's going to die. You don't go into a Level 3+ zone alone at Level 1. The first pack of mobs will tear him apart."
Their leader, the warrior, watched Kage's back for a moment before scoffing. It was a sound designed to project a confidence he clearly didn't feel. "Forget him. Arrogant fool. Some people have to learn the hard way."
The mage nodded in agreement, his gaze returning to the relative safety of the path behind them. "Yeah. Let's stick together. Safety in numbers."
Kage didn't look back. It didn't matter what they thought. He continued deeper into the woods, the quiet confidence of his stride a stark contrast to the nervous hesitation of the party he left behind.
His destination was the closest landmark that matched the insignia - [Grasping Woods].
Three red dots appeared on the mini-map.
Threat. Close.
With ease, he settled his weight, his hand tightening around the worn leather hilt of his [Novice's Rusted Sword]. His posture shifted subtly into shizentai, the natural stance. Ready. The stance felt like coming home. A home he'd locked the door on years ago.
A low growl ripped through the silence from his left. To his right, another answered. From the shadows directly in front of him, a third, larger shape emerged.
Three Vexing Forest Wolves.
They were lean, muscular creatures with mangy grey fur and eyes that burned with a malevolent, crimson light. Two were standard size. The one in the center, however, was a good fifty percent larger, a jagged scar running over one eye. Its nameplate glowed a faint, menacing red.
[Vexing Alpha Wolf - Lvl 5 (Elite)]
HP: 350/350
The others were Level 3 with HP of 150.
A perfect ambush. For a lesser player, this would be a death sentence. In fact, somewhere behind him, Kage heard panicked shouting erupt from the party he'd just passed.
"Wolves! I've got two on me!"
"Heal! HEAL ME!"
"I can't! TANK DROPPED THE AGGRO!"
"What TANK?!? I ONLY HAVE A SWORD NOW!"
A scream, followed by the faint, shimmering sound of a player character dissolving into motes of light. The party had been wiped out.
The Alpha in front of Kage lowered its head, its lips curling back to reveal rows of sharp fangs. It let out a piercing howl—a pack command—and the two smaller wolves launched their attack.
They moved with a fluid, terrifying speed. The one on the right lunged, its jaws snapping for his throat.
Lunge attack. Animation time: 0.7 seconds.
His internal clock, honed by his pre-launch research, made the calculation. He couldn't parry the lunge. It was too fast for his current Agility. Dodging was possible but would break his stance and expose his back to the second wolf.
He ignored the lunge.
Instead, his entire focus was on the wolf to his left. It was flanking, preparing a different attack. A heavy, clawed swipe.
Heavy paw swipe. Animation time: 1.2 seconds.
Viable.
As the lunging wolf's jaws were a mere inch from his avatar's neck, Kage moved. It was a single, precise step back and to the right, a fundamental footwork exercise from Kendo. The wolf's attack whiffed, its momentum carrying it past him.
At the exact same moment, the second wolf's paw swipe came in. Kage simply rotated his wrist, catching the wolf's forearm on the flat of his blade.
Clang.
A shower of yellow sparks erupted. The system registered the input.
[Perfect Parry!]
The wolf stumbled, its attack animation broken, a momentary opening created. For a player of Kage's caliber, a moment was an eternity.
He didn't shout a skill name. He didn't need to. The command was an extension of his will, a silent instruction sent directly to the game's engine. As his parry ended, he flowed into his counterattack. A faint, almost imperceptible shimmer of white light enveloped his rusted sword.
[Power Strike I]
The swing was clean, economical. No wasted energy. A precise cut aimed directly at the wolf's exposed foreleg. The game rewarded his precision on a staggered target.
[Critical Hit! -84 HP]
[Target Crippled! Movement Speed -30%]
The wolf howled in pain, its health bar taking a significant hit. But Kage's attention was already elsewhere. The first wolf had recovered from its lunge and was turning. The Alpha was now beginning its own charge.
Three targets. Prioritize the head of the snake.
He ignored the two crippled or off-balance lackeys. He turned to face the Alpha. Its charge was faster, more intimidating. It was preparing a heavy pounce, a body slam designed to stun and overwhelm.
He met the charge head-on. Just before impact, he dropped into a low stance, the sword held ready. The Alpha leaped. Kage used its momentum.
He swung his rusted sword in a basic horizontal slash. The moment the attack connected for minimal damage, he triggered his skill again.
[Power Strike I]
The system obeyed. The basic swing momentum was immediately canceled, superseded by the skill activation. The rusted blade, glowing with that faint white light, slammed into the Alpha's underbelly mid-leap. The wolf grunted, its heavy pounce knocked slightly off-course.
But Kage wasn't done.
He flowed the first Power Strike directly into another normal swing, a quick jab this time. Then, another intent-driven command.
[Power Strike I]
His mana bar dipped, but his damage output was immense. He was weaving basic attacks and skill activations together so seamlessly that the cooldown of one was masked by the animation of the other. It was a high-APM technique that most players couldn't even comprehend, let alone execute. To an observer, it would look like a smooth, blindingly fast flurry of strikes. To Kage, it was a simple rhythm.
Swing. Skill. Swing. Skill.
The Alpha landed awkwardly, its health already chunked down by a third. It was furious. It unleashed a heavy paw swipe, the same 1.2-second move its packmate had used.
Predictable.
Kage parried it perfectly.
[Perfect Parry!]
Swing. Skill.
Another chunk of the Alpha's health vanished. The two smaller wolves, one crippled and the other recovering, finally rejoined the fray. Kage now had three hostiles attacking from multiple angles.
His mana was now fully depleted after six uses of the ability.
He didn't panic. He fell back on his deepest training, his footwork a perfect, economical pattern that kept all three enemies within his forward arc. He never let them surround him. He parried another swipe from the crippled wolf simply to create space, his mind a blade honed to a razor's edge.
This wasn't the serene awareness of true Zanshin. It was its brutal, logical imitation, a state of total awareness achieved through the sheer processing power of a mind that saw everything as data. Calculation became so fast it felt almost like instinct, a ghost of the effortless mastery he had long since abandoned.
The Alpha, wounded, made its final mistake. It reared back for its most powerful attack: a biting charge telegraphed by a deep red glow in its eyes.
Fatal flaw, Kage's mind supplied. High damage, but locks into long animation. A desperation move triggered below a specific percentage of health.
Parry wasn't needed. He simply took one calm step to the side. The Alpha charged past him, slamming into a thick tree with a dull thud. It was stunned.
Kage stepped forward and, with two more efficient slashes, ended it.
The massive wolf slumped to the ground, its menacing red glow fading before it dissolved into a shower of golden particles. A cascade of notifications filled Kage's vision.
[You have defeated Vexing Alpha Wolf!]
[EXP Gained: 100]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 2!]
[You have unspent attribute points.]
The notification chimed with artificial celebration. For a microsecond, his mind supplied an unwanted image: his mother clapping at his middle school kendo tournament, her face bright with pride over a meaningless trophy.
He closed the window. Focus. The only applause that mattered now came from bank transfer confirmations.
The remaining two wolves, their leader gone, whimpered once. Their AI flipped from 'Aggressive' to 'Flee'. They turned and bolted into the dark woods.
Kage let them go. Chasing them was a waste of time.
The fight had lasted less than thirty seconds.
He exhaled slowly, a controlled breath. The rush of a victory or a surge of adrenaline never came. That was for amateurs. Instead, he felt the quiet satisfaction of a successful operation.
Estimated net gain: positive.
Estimated time wasted by the noob party behind: catastrophic.
He immediately opened his character window.
HP: 120/120. MP: 70/70.
Leveling up tops your bars. Good to know.
He checked his sword's status. [Novice's Rusted Sword (Durability: 16/20)]. The high-tempo fighting had damaged the cheap weapon. A calculated expense.
He allocated his new attribute points without a second thought. One more into Strength, one more into Agility.
Finally, he approached the glittering pile of light on the ground where the Alpha had died. The loot. He reached out his hand, and the items materialized in a system window.
[Loot Acquired]
[Wolf Fang] x 4
[Mangy Pelt] x 2
[Uncommon Beast Core] x 1
[Tattered Scroll] x 1
17 copper
Vendor trash, mostly. The Beast Core was decent crafting material according to the description. His eyes locked onto the fourth item on the list.
[Tattered Scroll]
There it is.
A cold, sharp focus settled over him, the feeling of a cryptographer who has just found the key. He selected the scroll in his inventory and commanded the system to Inspect.
A detailed description window popped up.
[Tattered Scroll (Quest Item)]
Description:A piece of weathered parchment, torn and stained with age. Most of the script is illegible, faded beyond recognition. All you can make out is a single, crudely drawn insignia at its center: a stylized hawk clutching a broken crown, symbol of the tyrants Valerius overthrew to bring prosperity to all.
Kage's internal monologue, which had been a stream of combat analysis, stopped. The image on the scroll was an exact match.
The insignia matched my research. The tyrant's mark. But the game's flavor text frames it as a symbol of defeated evil, not the king's own. A clever misdirection? Or was my theory wrong? He dismissed the contradiction for now.
This wasn't just a random drop. It was the first breadcrumb. The first step on the secret path he had spent weeks researching. While thousands of players were still killing slimes and trying on their new +1 armor pants, he had just found the key to the game's first great treasure hunt.
He knew its value instantly because he had done the homework. The developers had hidden a treasure map in plain sight, and he had found the first piece.
For a moment, he glanced at the swarm of blue dots still clustered in the starting fields on the edge of his minimap. They were the background noise of the server, a chaotic symphony of inefficiency.
But here, in the quiet darkness of the deeper woods, he had just found the signal. They were playing the game the developers had laid out for them. He was about to take the one they had hidden. The race had officially begun.