Back in his room, Nate hooked up the new helmet and dropped into the game.He opened his eyes in a forest. This was well past the grassland now—level-five country. Spiders the size of millstones scuttled between the trees.His pack was stuffed with potions looted off the Sovereigns, so he didn't need to run back to town to restock. This was as good a place as any to grind.He picked a spider and walked at it. The things had quick reflexes—aggro at three meters, eight legs scissoring as it charged.Nate struck first, spear through its head.*Ding.* **-42.****Wolf Spider — Level 5 | HP 500 | Attack 45 | Defense 20.**Good. He could break its armor.The spider's legs came down. Two front legs, like twin blades, slashing.**-20.** He dodged one leg and ate the other. Trading evenly was a bad idea—the spider had more HP than he did. One of these things could grind him down if he got sloppy. He had to be careful.H

**Black Dragon Medal****Quality: Special****Strength +1 | Vitality +1 | Agility +1 | Intelligence +1****Luck +1****Note: Exclusive medal of the Black Dragon Legion. Bearers may apply to join the Legion.**All stats plus one, and on top of it a brand-new hidden stat—Luck. He had no idea what Luck did, but anything hidden was never trivial.He'd never heard of the Black Dragon Legion, and the game hadn't announced it. Probably a faction inside the world. Whether he joined it or not, the stats were real. He strapped it on, and a black medallion showed up on his chest. It looked serious.He dumped the three first-kill attribute points into Strength and gaped at his own sheet.**Wren — Level 4****Strength: 15 | Vitality: 6 | Agility: 6 | Intelligence: 6****Attack: 60 | HP: 700 | MP: 300****P.Def: 30 | M.Def: 18****Attack Speed: 1.6 | Move Speed: 1.7****Rootedness: 1 | Luck: 1****Basic Spearplay Lv

*Ding. Congratulations. Level up! Now Level 5.*White light, a chime. He put on the Exquisite Straw Sandals and the Wild Plate Armor, dropped the free point into Strength. It looked ridiculous—a patched-together mess, uglier than starter clothes—but the numbers told a different story.**Wren — Level 5****Strength: 15 | Vitality: 7 | Agility: 8 | Intelligence: 7****Attack: 63 | HP: 1000 | MP: 350****P.Def: 38 | M.Def: 21****Attack Speed: 1.8 | Move Speed: 2****Rootedness: 1 | Luck: 1****Basic Spearplay Lv4 (+1) — spear damage +50%.**He took Wade's location, shouldered the spear, and ran, leaving the boar thicket a wreck behind him.* * *Ten minutes later, he found Wade. It was a canyon, and the mouth was mobbed with spectators."Wade? What's the damage?"Wade was there, and Sloane was right beside him, sword out, face closed off as ever."Bad. The Sovereigns hired outside help. Three hundred-plus players on the boss now, and it's down to about thirty percent.""First they tried

**Serpent Spirit Ring****Quality: Silver | Req: Level 6 | Attack +10 | Strength +2 | Vitality +2****Skill: Spirit Serpent's Ward. Summons a guardian serpent. Reduces damage taken by 50% for 5 seconds. 1-hour cooldown.****Serpenthide Gauntlets****Quality: Bronze | Req: Level 6 | P.Def +10 | M.Def +8 | Strength +1.**Both were good. Both went straight on. Five seconds of half damage might save his life once—but out here, even fifty seconds wouldn't get him out.Nate looked at the cliff behind him. A stupid idea started to form.If he was dying today, he was not letting them loot the Silver off his corpse."Kid." Rex had caught up, laughing. "You run so fast. What's the matter? Keep running!"Nate stood the spear upright, looking like he'd given up. "Hah. Little Rex. You think you've already won?""Today I grind you until you delete the account. We'll see if you cross the Sovereigns again." Rex threw up a hand. "On him!""Hah. Sovereign puppies." Nate grinned. "You want the Silver ge

An hour later, Wren drove his spear through the Monkey King's chest and took the last sliver of its health. The golden-furred body hit the grove floor like a felled tree.It had shrieked that stun-scream a few more times through the fight. Wren had learned it early—he slipped back a breath before the skill fired, ate the damage, but never the stun. Stunned was how you died. Not stunned, you bled peaches and kept swinging.The drops were sad. Two gold and a handful of silver. The drop rate in this place was a joke. But the XP was fat—he was already level six at seventy-two percent. If he pushed, he might grab two levels in a day.He logged out at eight that evening, starving enough to chew through a wall. He didn't even wait for delivery. He ran downstairs to the little noodle place on the corner.The city's nightlife died early. By eight the streets were half-empty, and the only person in the diner was the owner, wiping down the last table."Ma'am, one pepper-and-egg, one sour potato