Running out of that burning, screaming apartment was a solid tactical decision, A-plus, zero deaths. Sticking to the shadows of a Chicago alley while wearing my two-sizes-too-small llama-print pajama pants? Less tactical. More humiliating.
My mana bar was still empty. My Level 1 body was already aching from the dive I took avoiding Thanatos's scythe. Thanatos. That f***er was supposed to be a scripted encounter in the Third Circle of Hell expansion, not an uninvited tenant in my closet.
"This is what I get for mainlining the lore," I muttered, checking my [Fusion Synthesis] skill again. It was still there, golden and smug, demanding more mana than I had in my entire nervous system. "The cheat code works, but it needs an energy supply the size of a small sun. Great."
The street chaos was insane. Car crashes everywhere. The air smelled like burnt metal and fresh ozone. Above the violet sky, you could actually see the outlines of giant, floating islands—pieces of the Mythos world just stitched badly onto Earth's atmosphere. Like someone forced a 4K texture pack onto a Commodore 64.
I had to move. Thanatos would respawn, or at least teleport, once he got past that two-second stun.
I pulled up the System Map. It was overlaid onto my vision, showing major Mana Hotspots and known Danger Zones. The map was already blinking red with new [Mob Spawns].
"Okay, let's see… Loop tunnel? Red. Park? Red. Hospital? Flashing red with the Rage icon. Probably a bunch of Level 1 healers trying to punch out a Level 10 Zombie, getting annihilated. Typical," I sighed.
My priority wasn't fighting. It was gear. You can't beat the endgame without getting out of the f***ing pajamas.
I needed to get to the old Tutorial Cache.
In the original Arcadia game, when you first spawned, the devs always placed a secret, low-level cache of starting items near the main Hub. It was usually dismissed by players as junk by Level 5, but right now? A single, quality dagger and five health potions were worth more than a PhD.
The cache was hidden in the basement of the old Public Library on 5th Street. Why? Because the developers were history nerds and thought hiding a magical entrance behind a wall of Greek mythology books was clever.
(It was.)
I started running, hugging the walls. The real drama wasn't the flying lightning or the purple sky. It was the people.
"Oh, God, my stats are blank! What does Agility do?" I heard a guy in a suit scream, swiping frantically at his eyes near an overturned taxi.
"Don't panic! Just find an item! I got this!" shouted a woman, who then proceeded to try and equip a discarded fire extinguisher.
[Item: Fire Extinguisher (Worn)]
[Damage: 3-5 (Blunt)]
[Class Requirement: Heavy Laborer (Level 10)]
You idiots, I thought, ducking behind a pillar. You don't just "equip" random junk. Every item has class requirements. You need to identify your base skill first.
"I swear, watching these people play this game is physically painful," I mumbled. "It's like they skipped the whole 1990s and video games never existed."
I had to get across the street. The closest safe path ran right by a [Newly Spawned Mob]—a small pack of Shadow Dogs (Level 5-8). They weren't powerful, but their [Shadow Bite] caused a nasty stacking Bleed effect.
A group of four college-aged guys, wielding baseball bats and golf clubs, were standing in front of the dogs. The one in the lead, a huge jock, screamed: "We're heroes! We got this, guys! Charge!"
They rushed the Shadow Dogs. It lasted about three seconds.
[-14 Critical Hit!]
[-16 Damage!]
The dogs moved too fast, and the jock dropped his bat and started screaming when his arm was bitten, blood pouring onto the pavement.
See? No teamwork, no focus fire, zero spatial awareness. Amateur hour. I waited until the Shadow Dogs got bored of the screaming appetizers and wandered off, then slipped silently past the wreckage.
Finally, the Library. It was intact, mostly, but the entrance was blocked by a busted-up city bus.
I squeezed through the gap. The inside was a mess of fallen shelves and panicked people huddled together, thinking books would save them. I found the mythology section. Hesiod's Theogony. The Odyssey. Bullsh**t History of Rome.
I located the correct wall: the section on Minoan Labyrinths. I knew the combination from the old game: three knocks on the shelf holding The Myth of Theseus, then a sustained press on the one detailing The Minotaur's Rage.
I performed the actions. A faint golden shimmer appeared.
[Secret Mechanism Unlocked!]
A section of the shelving swung inward, revealing a dusty, narrow staircase leading down into total darkness. Perfect.
"Thank the f***ing developers for sticking to their lore," I breathed, pulling out my phone to use the flashlight.
I descended into the damp, cold basement. Down here, the ambient mana was lower, which meant fewer sudden monster spawns. Safety.
The cache was a simple wooden chest in the middle of a storage room. I kicked it open.
Jackpot.
Inside were five small [Basic Health Potions], three [Novice Mana Potions], and the grand prize: a shiny, low-level dagger.
[Item: Sentinel's Novice Blade]
[Damage: 5-8]
[Effect: Minor Defense Penetration.]
"Fifty times better than a steak knife," I whispered, trading the llama pajamas for a pair of black, slightly-too-small sweatpants I found on a busted shelf. I equipped the dagger. [Attack Power: 7]. Pathetic, but manageable.
But the most important thing wasn't the dagger. It was the item hidden beneath the potions, an item I knew was crucial for any high-level Fusion build.
[Item: Stabilized Alchemical Catalyst]
This was the key. It reduced the mana cost for [Fusion Synthesis] by 30%. In the old game, you needed to craft this, but in the beginning, they gave you one freebie.
"Okay," I grinned, gripping the catalyst. "Now we can actually play."
Just as I prepared to head back up, I heard voices from the top of the stairs. Heavy, loud, and confident.
"Did you hear that noise? Must be a survivor down here. Probably got good loot."
"If they got potions, they're ours. Rule one: Kill the weaklings and take their sh**t."
I rolled my eyes. Oh, look. The PvP trash finally spawned. This game is so predictable.
A group of three large, burly men in construction gear stomped down the stairs. They were all Level 2 or 3, wielding rebar and axes. They weren't monsters. They were worse. They were opportunistic human players.
The leader, a guy with a face tattoo and a bloody axe, saw me.
"Well, look at this. A little kid in pajamas playing hide-and-seek. Hand over the vials, or I'll test this Level 3 axe on your ass." He leered, flexing his [Axe Proficiency] skill.
I shrugged, leaning against the chest. My sarcasm mode fully activated.
"First off, that's not an axe, that's just a sharp, rusty shovel. Second, you just gave away your skill level, which is a rookie mistake. And third," I tapped the [Stabilized Alchemical Catalyst] in my hand, "I actually know how to use this sh**t. Do you?"
His face went red. "Smart mouth. Get him!"
Fine. Time for a real tutorial.
They rushed me, but they were slow. Predictably slow. I didn't need Level 99 strength. I just needed lore.
I waited for the first guy's swing, then dodged, not backward, but forward—a move I knew from fighting the faster Shadow Ninjas in the old game. As he stumbled past, I didn't stab him. I didn't even use my new knife.
I grabbed a handful of [Novice Mana Potions] from the chest and smashed them directly onto the metal railing near his hand.
The potions weren't meant to be weapons. They contained raw, highly reactive energy.
[Catalytic Reaction Detected!]
[Effect: Minor Mana Explosion (Unstable)]
The potions exploded with a harmless but blinding blue flash of light and noise.
The guy shrieked, dropping his axe and clutching his eyes. The other two froze.
"See?" I said, stepping past the blinded guy with a calm I didn't feel. "It's not about the Level. It's about reading the patch notes."
I sprinted toward the stairs, leaving the three stunned, clumsy players to figure out their next move in the dark. My adrenaline was pumping, but my mind was clear.
First objective complete. Gear secured. Now, I needed to get the hell out of Chicago before a Major Boss spawned on my head.