While Alvian disappeared into the rotting veins of the forest, another storm was brewing back in the main arena.
Valeria's silver boots pressed down on the crushed skull of an Armored Beetle...Level 6, maybe higher, not that it mattered. The creature's shell had burst like glass under pressure, fragments glittering in the dust. Her claymore thrummed faintly, the blue glow crawling along its edge as if alive.
She turned in one smooth motion, steel whispering through the air, and two more beetles split apart before their mandibles could even close. The weapon was too heavy for most, yet in her hands it looked almost weightless.
[Ding! You have slain [Armored Beetle]. +80 Exam Points.]
[Ding! You have slain [Armored Beetle]. +80 Exam Points.]
[Your party member, Jax, has leveled up!]
"Another wave down! Valeria, you're a monster!" shouted Jax, a burly warrior with a tower shield, panting as he held the frontline. "Your score must be through the roof!"
"Focus," Valeria's voice was sharp, cutting through the celebratory mood. "There's another nest 50 meters northeast. We move in two minutes. Lia, mana check."
"Seventy percent," a timid-looking mage in the back replied, her staff glowing as she prepared another volley of fireballs. "Ready when you are, Val."
Valeria was precision wrapped in flesh. The moment she set foot in the Battle Grid, order followed. Mobs, routes, spawn rates...she broke them down like equations. Within minutes, she had a party formed, balanced to perfection.
Every move was calculated, every strike deliberate. Strategy came to her as naturally as breathing. She wasn't just following the rules...she'd outgrown them, rewriting the margins as she went.
Among hundreds scrambling for rank, she stood apart...efficient, relentless, and frighteningly good at it.
Her current score was a testament to her ruthless efficiency. She was systematically clearing the highest-density monster zones, her point total climbing in a steady, relentless stream. She was playing the game perfectly.
Which is why the figure that suddenly emerged from the supposedly impassable, high-level cliff face to their right was such a jarring anomaly.
He was alone. His gear was pathetic...the default cloth tunic and trousers that every player started with. He wasn't even wielding a weapon. He moved with a strange, unhurried calm, his eyes scanning the path ahead as if he were out for a casual stroll.
"Who the hell is that?" Jax grunted, gesturing with his sword. "Look at him. Level 1. How did he even get this far without getting torn to shreds?"
"Maybe he found a safe-spotting exploit," another party member, a rogue named Kael, sneered. "Probably just hiding and letting others do the work. A parasite."
Valeria's eyes thinned to slits. She'd seen him once before...back when the trial began, in that wild scramble for points and kills. He'd ignored everything, skipped the easy mobs, and vanished straight into the trees. She'd written him off as another clueless beginner destined to respawn. Yet now he came walking out from the direction of DeathWood Arena...a place even elites avoided...and his gear wasn't torn, his body unmarked.
No logic in it. The system had rules, boundaries. This felt like a glitch. And Valeria didn't tolerate glitches.
"Halt." Her voice cut through the tension like a blade. She stepped forward, claymore grounded between them, the earth groaning under its weight.
Alvian stopped. His gaze rose to meet hers...steady, empty, unreadable. No shock. No fear. Just… nothing. That stillness crawled under her skin.
"This zone's above your level," she said, the words sharp and cold. "You're alone. Level 1. Explain."
"I walked," he answered, tone flat, almost bored.
The sheer audacity of the simple answer made Jax snort with laughter. "Walked? Through the Gloomfang packs? Don't lie to us, slacker. You found a glitch, didn't you? Trying to get ahead without doing any of the work."
Alvian's eyes flicked toward Jax...just a glance, nothing more. Yet the laughter cut off, strangled mid-breath. Something in that look. Cold. Hollow. Like a beast sizing up prey it had already decided to kill. Jax didn't know why, but his grip tightened around his sword.
"I'm done here," Alvian muttered, gaze sliding back to Valeria. He stepped to move past.
She shifted instinctively, steel scraping against dirt as her blade blocked his path again. That quiet, measured defiance unsettled her more than open aggression would have. Weaklings begged or boasted. This man did neither. He simply was. Empty, detached, unreadable.
"The exam's about strength," Valeria said, her tone sharp. "You skipped fights, avoided routes no one crosses. You're not proving anything."
Something twitched at the edge of Alvian's mouth. Not a smile...something smaller. Distant amusement, like a teacher watching a student proudly solve the wrong equation.
"We're not in the same game," he murmured. "You're chasing points. I'm chasing something else." His voice thinned to a whisper. "Purpose."
Then he moved. No flash, no burst. Just motion...clean, deliberate. He slipped past her stance like her guard wasn't there at all, as if the world itself made space for him. By the time her brain caught up, he was already walking away, calm and unhurried, while her entire party stood frozen, unsure what had just passed them by.
"Hey! Get back here!" Kael the rogue shouted, taking a step to pursue.
"Stand down," Valeria commanded, her voice tight. She didn't turn around, her eyes fixed on Alvian's retreating back as he calmly walked towards the DeathWood Arena, a place her party wouldn't dare approach for at least ten more levels.
"But Val, he's clearly cheating!" Jax protested.
"Is he?" Valeria murmured, more to herself than to her team. Cheaters exploited the system for gain...experience, items, points. This man had none of those things. His level was still 1. He had no gear. His exam score, if he even had one, must be zero. He was gaining nothing.
So what was he doing?
A seed of doubt was planted in her mind. Her meticulously planned, perfectly executed strategy was the pinnacle of what a player should be doing. It was the correct way. The only way. And yet, the absolute confidence of that lone, Level 1 player as he walked into a death zone made her question everything.
For the first time in her life, Valeria felt a sliver of uncertainty. A profound, irritating curiosity took root. Who was he? What was his purpose?
"Forget him," she finally said, turning back to her team, her expression hardening into a mask of cold determination. "He's either a fool on his way to a quick death or an anomaly that doesn't matter. We have a nest to clear. We will take the top rank. We will prove that hard work and strategy are the only things that count."