"Ding! You have received a new friend request!"
A crisp system notification chimed in his ears. Kalis glanced at the pop-up; the sender was none other than Lia.
This was already her third attempt to send him a friend request.
The first time had been back in the Novice Village, when her snarky comment about him being a "rich fool Mage" had infuriated him so much he'd almost snapped and fought her then and there. Naturally, he'd rejected the friend request without a second thought.
The second time was at the gates of Galewind City. He'd been in a hurry to get moving and hadn't bothered to waste time bickering with this petty little girl, so he'd hit reject again.
But now… they were going to be party members tackling a Mythic quest together. Turning her down again would just be needlessly petty.
Kalis thought it over for a moment, then tapped his finger lightly and selected accept.
"Let's get rid of your red name first. Once it's gone, we can head out to do the quest." Lia's message popped up right away, her tone sounding more like a request than a demand.
Being red-named meant he couldn't enter any main cities, not to mention use teleportation arrays. It was basically a death sentence for getting anything done.
"Fine." Kalis agreed without hesitation.
Truth be told, he wasn't big on partying up with other players. Unless it was with close friends like Lenore and Eira, he always felt out of place. But he was the one who'd snatched this quest out from under Lia in the first place—leaving her behind would be both unreasonable and unfair.
Besides, the quest panel clearly stated that the Divine Dew Spring had to be collected while both players were in a party. If he dared to sneak into the Abyssal Realm alone, he'd probably end up getting zero rewards for his trouble. That would be a colossal waste.
"I know a shortcut straight to the Abyssal Realm, but we'll have to wait an hour for the dungeon cooldown to reset," Kalis added, tossing in a warning for good measure. "I'll take you through it later, but don't you dare start nickel-and-diming me over silver or gold coins again. I swear, I'll lose my mind."
The shortcut he was talking about was the portal at the end of the Level 75 dungeon Silverpeak Mine, which led directly to the outskirts of the Abyssal Realm. The catch? The dungeon could only be entered once per day, and there was still over an hour left until the in-game clock rolled over and the cooldown refreshed.
"Got it~" Lia sent a cheeky grinning emoji, clearly getting the hint, and agreed readily.
The next second, the party leader's permissions were transferred to Kalis. "You're the captain now. I'm counting on you for the rest of this!"
Keeping their party status active, the two headed straight for the wilderness maps.
The monsters around Galewind City were generally low-level, mostly between Levels 20 and 30. With him at Level 59 and her at Level 39, grinding these weaklings to lose his red name would take forever, literally until the end of time.
After some quick deliberation, they decided to venture further afield, setting their sights on the Wasteland, where Level 50 monsters roamed.
As they walked along the forest path, a cool breeze carrying the fresh scent of grass and trees brushed against their faces. Lia's gloomy mood began to lift, and the frustration from getting scammed by Denise faded away bit by bit.
The moment they stepped into the Wasteland's monster-infested territory, Lia whipped out the spellbook at her waist. Moonlight swirled around her fingertips, and several soft yet sharp lunar spells came screaming down on a group of corrupted hares nearby.
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Bright red damage numbers popped up one after another. The low-HP mobs didn't even have time to squeal before they collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Whoa, not bad." Kalis raised an eyebrow in genuine approval.
"Of course it's not bad! Did you think I leveled up this high by lazing around?" Lia lifted her chin proudly, her face glowing with self-satisfaction.
While her level couldn't compare to Kalis, who was sitting pretty at the top of the leaderboards, she was still a well-known top-tier player. As a hidden class chosen by the Moon God, her base attack stats were already sky-high, and with the three bound Mythic items she wore, her power was on par with Eira's.
At this stage of the game, players only had a handful of skills at their disposal, and their attack methods were pretty one-note. With the skill gap still relatively narrow, as a Lunar Magister who could both heal and deal damage, her damage output was nothing to scoff at.
She'd always leveled up solo in the past, yet her progress had been faster than that of many party players. What's more, she'd even managed to solo a Legendary BOSS by exploiting a terrain glitch, which had catapulted her experience points through the roof and secured her a spot near the top of the level rankings.
If she hadn't run into a monster-tier player like Kalis, he number one on the leaderboards, she'd never have to play the role of a "dead weight" tagging along with anyone.
"Still, this kind of damage won't even tickle the monsters in the Abyssal Realm." Kalis didn't hold back, pouring a bucket of cold water over her excitement.
Lia let out a dejected huff, unable to argue with that.
The weakest monsters in the Abyssal Realm were Level 100 and above, and the level suppression there was absolutely brutal. Her current strength would be no different from an ant's when facing those ferocious beasts.
"What about you? How much damage can you deal?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Me? Oh, just your average run-of-the-mill damage." Kalis curled his lips into a smirk, deliberately playing it down.
Before the words even left his mouth, he raised his staff high above his head, and brilliant arcs of magical light burst forth one after another.
Lightning Bolt!
Fireball!
Magic Missile!
The three spells shot through the air almost simultaneously, slamming squarely into a corrupted giant bear up ahead.
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A flurry of astronomical damage numbers exploded above the bear's head. The beast, which barely had over ten thousand HP, didn't even get a chance to struggle before it crumpled to the ground, reduced to nothing but ash and dust.
"Uh…"
Lia stared at the screen, completely dumbfounded, her mouth hanging open so wide she could've fit an egg in it.
Earlier, when Caelum had said he'd taken over twenty-two million damage, she'd thought he was exaggerating. But now that she'd seen the damage Kalis could dish out with just a casual flick of his wrist, she finally understood just how insanely overpowered this guy really was.
"That damage… It's absolutely insane." She muttered to herself, completely awestruck.
But Kalis didn't seem to care. He strode forward confidently, scanning the area for more monsters and flinging spells to clear paths ahead, looking every bit the self-assured powerhouse he was.
His damage output was this terrifying, after all. There wasn't a single player who'd partied up with him who hadn't been left speechless by those numbers. It was no exaggeration to say that tagging along behind him to leech experience was the ultimate dream for every player in the game!
To Kalis, Lia's dumbfounded expression looked painfully familiar; it was exactly the same reaction Lenore and Eira had had when they'd first seen his damage output.
Not that he could blame them, of course. After all, there was only one player in the entire server who was this strong and this handsome!
The two walked side by side, cutting through monsters as they traveled. The speed at which Kalis's red name faded was nothing short of astonishing.
Kalis could take down a monster with a single spell, and every now and then, he'd whip out a Tempest or a Gust to clear entire swathes of enemies in one go. While Lia's damage spells were mostly single-target, they cast quickly, allowing her to one-shot any straggling mobs and actually pull her weight for once.
During lulls in the fighting, Lia would thoughtfully reapply her three powerful buffs on Kalis, pushing his damage output even higher.
Of the Moon Sorceress's three support skills, only Dark Moon Enhancement had a 40-second cooldown gap. The other two, Lunar Blessing and Lunar Aura Shield, both had 30-second durations paired with 30-second cooldowns, meaning they could be refreshed seamlessly, providing non-stop coverage.
Thanks to this, Kalis's base attack power was permanently boosted by 10% while in the party, breaking through the 896-point mark in one fell swoop.
A 10% boost might not sound like much on paper, but for him, it translated to an extra million damage per hit—an absolutely devastating effect.
Sure, one-shotting a monster with ten million damage versus eleven million damage might seem like the same result, but the visual satisfaction? It was worlds apart!
His 50 points of criminal karma faded far faster than either of them had anticipated. In just two short minutes, the blazing crimson glow above Kalis's head vanished completely, reverting to his normal white ID.
"Where to now?" Lia leaned in, asking curiously.
Kalis checked the system time, then replied casually. "We still have an hour until the dungeon cooldown resets, can't go in yet. Let's find something else to kill the time."
"Which dungeon are you talking about, anyway? Is it super hard?" Lia blinked, her eyes full of curiosity.
Kalis quickly explained how the portal at the end of Silverpeak Mine led straight to the Abyssal Realm.
"Oh! That makes sense now!" Lia's eyes lit up with realization, then she grinned. "Wait, wasn't it you who got the first clear on that dungeon? The system announcements spammed it for days!"
"Basic operation. No need to clap." Kalis replied with a nonchalant shrug, his tone oozing with understated arrogance.
"Since we've got an hour to kill and nothing better to do… hey, how about we go pay someone a visit first?" Lia seemed to remember something all of a sudden, a mischievous smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth as she made the suggestion.
"Pay someone a visit? Who?" Kalis looked at her, confused.
"Denise!"
Lia enunciated the name slowly and clearly, her eyes glinting with the light of revenge.
"Uh…"
Kalis froze for a second.
Denise—the NPC girl in the white dress who'd tried to scam him out of gold coins with that ridiculous act.
So Lia was planning to get revenge for getting swindled out of a thousand gold coins.
"You've got such insane damage output, taking her down would be a piece of cake! Then we can get my money back and split it fifty-fifty!" Lia rambled on excitedly, grabbing Kalis by the sleeve and tugging him in the direction of Galewind City.
"Keep the money. It's just a favor." Kalis waved a hand dismissively, not caring the least bit about the five hundred gold coins he'd be missing out on.
"No way! I never take handouts from anyone for free. You're helping me, so you have to take the reward!" Lia insisted firmly, refusing to back down an inch.
"Ugh… fine, fine, have it your way."
Remembering how this girl had cornered him twice over a few measly silver coins, Kalis wisely decided not to argue with her. Trying to haggle with her was more exhausting than fighting a BOSS.
Fifteen minutes later, the silhouette of Galewind City came into view in the distance.
On the narrow wooden footbridge outside the city gates, the blonde girl in the white dress, Denise, was strolling back and forth leisurely, a bouquet of wildflowers in her hands. She hummed a little tune under her breath, looking every bit the picture of innocent serenity.
Seeing her, Lia clenched her fists tightly, grinding her teeth as she hissed. "That sneaky NPC! She's still here putting on that cute act! Kalis, let's go! Let's beat her up!"