[Moon Sentinel General (Level 12)]
[Rank: Uncommon (Boss)]
[HP: 35,000]
[A general that commands the horde of moon monsters, taking pride in its duty.]
---
"Hm."
Karl narrowed his eyes at the figure standing ahead.
The general held a long silver spear, its sharp edge gleaming faintly under the moonlight.
With a slow, deliberate motion, it raised the weapon and pointed it forward, controlling the movements of the horde around it.
Karl recognized this monster instantly.
The [Moon Sentinel General]. An infamous boss of the plains.
It was hated by players for one reason: it was always surrounded by an entire army of monsters.
Killing it alone was nearly impossible unless you had overwhelming power.
Most players who ran into it did one of two things: run the other way and hope it didn't notice them, or pray that a higher-level player happened to be nearby to deal with it.
The general itself was merciless.
Its swings could deal up to 900 damage in a single hit, and it attacked with relentless precision.
As it turned its head, Karl saw its cold eyes fix on him.
The decision was made.
It had chosen him as its next target.
Karl didn't panic. Instead, he smirked.
He raised his staff and pointed it straight at the boss.
Annihilating Fireball! Frost Crystals! Lightning Strike!
Fwish! Boom! Zap!
-14,070! -7,500! -7,500! -7,500! -12,060!
The ground shook.
Fire and lightning swallowed the plains as Karl's spells exploded across the horde.
The monsters surrounding the general were completely vaporized, turned into glowing particles before they could even react.
The boss froze for a moment. It didn't understand.
'How can this be possible… such power…?'
Most monsters couldn't speak, but many of them, especially bosses, could think.
This one clearly did. Its confusion quickly turned into rage.
The general let out a thunderous roar and leapt toward Karl in a single bound.
SMASH!
Its spear slammed down like a hammer, colliding with Karl's barrier and shaking the ground.
The monster stepped back, growling, and then thrust its spear forward again.
RAH!
It shouted something, a command, and immediately the monsters in the area turned their attention toward Karl.
'Damn,' he muttered.
Slash! Slash!
The general swung again, fast and brutal.
Karl dodged sideways, his robes fluttering as the spear's edge sliced the air beside him.
Clang!
He deflected another strike with his staff, sparks flying from the impact.
A mage fighting hand-to-hand like this would've looked insane to anyone watching, but to Karl, it was nothing special.
This was the minimum required to survive.
Annihilating Fireball!
Fwish! Boom!
The explosion cleared out several more monsters, burning them to ash and hitting the boss.
Karl stepped forward, his staff glowing faintly, and aimed it directly at the general, just a few meters away.
Lightning Strike!
Zap!
-12,060!
The general's body convulsed as electricity surged through it.
It lifted its spear again, silver energy spiraling around its arms as it prepared to strike.
But before it could move—
Ding!
["Moon Sentinel General" has been stunned.]
A thin layer of lightning danced around its body, freezing it in place.
"...?"
The monster trembled, confused by its own paralysis.
Karl didn't hesitate.
Frost Crystals!
Zap! Zap! Zap!
-7,500! -7,500! -7,500!
Three glowing crystals shot forward, piercing straight into the general's chest.
The force of the hit tore through its body, leaving a trail of ice as it collapsed onto the grass.
The general didn't move again.
The plains went quiet.
When the nearby monsters saw their leader fall, many froze, then quickly scattered.
Some turned and ran in other directions, while others backed away cautiously, unwilling to approach Karl.
He didn't chase them.
He just stood still, eyes on the glowing system panels that appeared before him.
Ding!
---
[You have killed "Moon Sentinel General (Level 12 Uncommon-Rank Boss)"]
[You have killed x12 "Moon Boars (Level 12)"]
[You have killed x14 "Moon Bears (Level 11)"]
[You have killed…]
[You have gained 49,000 experience points.]
[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 11 + Level 12!]
[All your attributes have increased by 10, and you have gained 10 free points to distribute.]
[You have gained 9 Evolution Points!]
[You have gained 59 Lives!]
---
Karl exhaled softly. Two level-ups at once.
That was the true power of fighting bosses, or any monster stronger than you.
[Gods Ascension] had a system built exactly for this.
The higher the level of the monster you fought, the greater the reward.
Players called it the [Experience Boost].
It encouraged people to take risks, to challenge enemies that could actually kill them.
The more dangerous the fight, the more rewarding the outcome.
But the opposite was also true.
If you went back to fight monsters weaker than you, your rewards would drop dramatically.
A level 15 player killing a level 10 monster wouldn't just gain less experience, they'd also gain fewer Lives.
Both experience and Lives would decay the further apart the levels were.
These systems were known as [Experience Decay] and [Lives Decay].
It was one of the ways [Gods Ascension] kept players from endlessly farming weak creatures.
It forced them to progress, to move forward into harder zones. It was strict, but fair.
Lightning Strike!
Zap!
-12,960!
Karl turned and fired a bolt of lightning at a nearby [Moon Bear].
The creature dropped instantly, its body bursting into motes of light.
Ding!
[You have gained 200 experience points.]
[You have gained 1 Life.]
"Hah."
He shook his head with a faint smile.
When he'd killed the same type of monster earlier, back when he was level 10, it had given him 2,000 experience points and 4 Lives.
Now that he was level 12, the same monster gave a tenth of that.
At this rate, if he stayed here any longer, he'd get almost nothing.
That was why Karl never lingered.
The farther he went, the stronger the enemies became, and so did the rewards.
His high damage output made this possible, allowing him to fight things other players would never dare touch.
Still, one question crossed his mind.
'Do [Evolution Points] follow the same decay system too?'
He frowned slightly.
'There's no way there's [EP Decay]… right?'
He wasn't sure, but it didn't matter for now.
Karl adjusted his grip on his staff and started moving again toward the boss' corpse.
It had dropped an item after all.
[Moon Sentinel General Spear (Uncommon): +80 Strength, +30 Agility. Requirement: Level 12]
He stored it inside his inventory before running across the plains.
His boots brushed through the grass as moonlight shimmered around him.
Eventually, in the distance, he saw it.
The [Moon Temple].
A massive structure of white stone rising from the center of the plains, its spire glowing faintly under the night sky.
One of the best grinding zones for players at his level.
Karl took a single step forward, preparing to enter—
Ding!
[You are hungry.]
"Oh."
He paused, blinking once.
That was expected.
When a new player entered [Gods Ascension], their body still had to adapt to the game's synchronization system.
It wasn't just fatigue that carried over, hunger and thirst did too.
If he ignored it, the system would mark him as [Famished]. After that came [Starved].
Reaching that point wouldn't kill him, but it would lower his stats significantly until he ate something.
'Guess that's my cue to take a break,' Karl thought.
He had planned to leave soon anyway.
Ding!
---
[Do you wish to leave "Gods Ascension"?]
[Yes] [No]
---
He selected [Yes].
His body began to dissolve into streams of blue light.
Fwish!
The next instant, he was gone.
Moments later, Karl opened his eyes again, back in the real world.
Ding!
He saw a few panels appear around him, but Karl ignored them for now.
'Alright,' he thought, stretching lightly.
'Food first, then back in.'
But before doing anything else, he walked to the mirror in his bathroom.
He stared at his reflection for a long moment.
'I knew it…' he whispered, a grin slowly spreading across his face.
His eyes. They weren't brown anymore.
They had turned dark, almost black, with faint purple pupils that glowed faintly under the light.
The same eyes he'd seen on those strange believers inside of [Gods Ascension].
And the same ones as those two NPCs in the [Ruins of Oblivion].