Thousand Army Break!-958!-1855!-965!The horizontal sweep caught the melee ring at knee height. Five warriors went flying. Wren walked forward through the gap, Soulreaper trailing, and popped out the other side.Then he turned around.Goldenward refreshed. Shadowchase came back on cooldown. He was alone now—Momo was safe in the crowd—and he had thirty people who wanted his gear.Good.Rising Dragon Strike!-1857!-1965!-857!He blurred into the next wave of warriors. The combo hit the front line like a truck. Two of them flashed white before they even got their weapons up.Thousand Army Break!-1855!-785!-1898!Another sweep. Another half-dozen down. The healers in the back were scrambling—Wren's damage was coming in faster than their hots could fill.Mountain Splitter!He brought the spear down. When the dust cleared, there wasn't a melee warrior left standing between him and Rex.Rex watched him come. The archer's bow was shaking. "Stop him! Somebody stop him!"Wren moved. His

Wren didn't stress about the leaderboard. He'd shown up late. First and second were gone. Third was still up for grabs, and third still paid.He turned back to Ewan and went to work.The Bronze puppet came at him with a real sword. Sword Heart active, +50% attack. On a Bronze boss that was still a joke compared to what Wren had tanked yesterday. With the Peach-blossom Wine buff and Cloud's Battle Shout, his normal hits were doing five hundred a swing.Momo and Jay stood behind him and threw fire and arrows. Cloud threw heals that Wren didn't need. Ewan's health dropped in a smooth line."Hey." Momo was watching the forum feed on her phone. "Some guilds are livestreaming. The first two teams are already done. We're third if we finish before the others.""Then don't stand around." Wren landed a Mountain Splitter. Ewan's health hit one third.The boss's eyes went red.Scarlet Crane Dance!Ewan sheathed himself in sword-light and moved faster than anything Wren had seen from a Bronze mob.

Wren stared at Sev's party invite for three full seconds."You're kidding.""Wouldn't waste my time." Sev grinned. "Ash over there wants you bad. He's got a whole guild. But I've got something he doesn't.""What's that?""Me." Sev spun a dagger on his finger. "You want to take first clear of Hell mode? You need a real assassin on your team. Breaker's an archer. Greedy Wolf is a tank. Haven's a healer. Cinder's a mage. I'm the only high-burst assassin on the server right now. Ash's team has one. Mine's better."Wren looked at Ash, who was watching with arms folded. Then he looked at Sev. Then at Momo, who was bouncing on her heels.Wren thought about it. Ash had offered a clean deal—join Azure, split loot. Sev had just burned his own team to do it. Sev was the bigger risk, but Sev was also the bigger payout. The assassin knew it.Wren looked at Ash's team. They were all in Azure Cloud Hall colors, all geared, all looking at him like he was a prize. He'd be a number on their roster. Goo

Wren opened with Rising Dragon Strike.-1958! A gold crit. Ewan's head snapped around. The puppet's eyes locked on Wren, and the boss came off the rock he'd been sitting on, sword already in hand.Wren met him.The spear and the sword rang together. Wren's Basic Spearplay at effective rank six meant he could parry Ewan's sword strokes almost by reflex. Ewan's attack stat was brutal—fifteen hundred—but his swordplay, as Wren had learned last time, was beatable. The boss swung in patterns. Wren read them.Left-right-left. High-low-high. Wren's feet moved without thinking. He was back in the old training yard with Rowan, the spear master, repeating the same drills a thousand times a day. It paid off now.Sev was watching. The assassin had melted into the shadows at the start of the pull, and Wren knew he'd strike the second Ewan's back was turned. Momo and Jay were throwing small damage from the back. Cloud was standing by, staff raised, waiting for Wren to call for a heal.Heavensbreake

They logged out that night. It was past midnight. Wren's eyes burned. He was done.Before he pulled the plug, he used his two banked Primordial Soul Cores.The pain hit him the second his consciousness left the game.It wasn't a headache. It was deeper than that. Like someone had reached into his chest and pulled every nerve out through his fingertips. He convulsed in the pod, back arching, teeth clamped so hard he thought he'd crack a molar. He couldn't scream. He could only ride it.It went on for what felt like an hour. Then, slowly, it receded. A warm tide moved through his body, following the same paths the pain had cut, knitting everything back together. He passed out.He woke up when the sun hit his face through the pod window.The nutrient fluid inside was murky. He popped the lid, climbed out, and stood there naked, shivering. He felt… incredible. Like he'd slept for twelve hours after a month of rest. He'd never felt this good in his life.He walked to the bathroom, took a s