Money and Power

"Dropped from grinding monsters." Varek typed the brief reply and hit send.

At the same time, a notification chimed in his interface, confirming a deposit of 9,000 dollars from the auction house transaction.

Across the server, Highreach Guard stared at the response. "Holy crap," he muttered. "Glacial King, do you know some monster spawning spots where you can grind level 10 monsters without taking damage?"

Guard's shock was justified. The player named Glacial King was level 3. Taking on level 10 beasts head-on was a mathematical impossibility.

"Nope," Varek responded. He dismissed the chat window and drew another arrow, keeping his focus on the dark woods.

Guard, looking at the silver ring that had just transferred to his inventory, cracked a grin. "Not telling me, huh? Well, I'm coming to find out!"

The primary level 10 monster in this zone was the Warped Treant. Highreach Guild's exploration teams had pinpointed their spawn locations during the first hour of the game launch. Tracking Varek's rough coordinates to that specific dense forest edge was a simple task for a veteran.

Moments later, Guard pushed through the thick underbrush and halted. His eyes widened.

Ahead of him, the archer moved like a shadow.

-426

Red numbers floated into the air. Guard rubbed his eyes. Who could land a single strike for over 400 damage at this stage? The top-tier elite players in his guild, fully kitted out in the best available early-game gear, celebrated when they broke the 100-damage threshold. Varek was quadrupling that output against monsters seven levels above him.

"Glacial King!" Guard yelled, abandoning his stealth.

Varek paused, turning his head.

Guard practically bowed as he approached. Real-life obligations had forced him to enter the game late. His early-game progress was lagging far behind the pack. For a core member of a legendary guild who dominated every virtual reality title, falling behind was unacceptable.

"Glacial King, let's form a team," Guard pleaded, his tone desperate. "You can carry me to level up! I'll pay!"

Varek lowered his bow. His initial instinct was to ignore the wealthy guild member. Solo grinding was efficient. Carrying a dead weight cut into his experience rates.

Then, an image flashed in his mind. The sterile white walls of the hospital ward. Liora lying motionless in the bed, machines beeping a slow rhythm beside her.

He needed currency. He needed it now.

"Sure," Varek said, his voice cold. "But I want 300,000 dollars. Full payment upfront."

"Three hundred thousand dollars?" Guard nearly choked. The astronomical figure hung in the air. For that price, he could hire a small army of gold farmers to funnel him experience for a fraction of the cost.

"Today, I'll get you to level 10." Varek stated, his expression unchanging.

Guard stared at him, suspicion creeping in. It was barely four in the morning. Reaching level 10 in twenty hours, even skipping meals and sleep, was a fantasy for a new account. "Even so, your price is too steep." Guard had money, but he hated being treated like a fool.

"I know it's steep," Varek replied. "But how about I throw in an elite level 10 gear set?"

Guard's breath hitched. "Glacial King, you aren't joking, are you?"

"Nope." Varek turned back to the towering trees. Elite Warped Treants dropped full gear sets, provided a player had insane luck or an unrelenting kill count. Varek possessed the latter.

"Alright, how about I send you 50,000 dollars as a deposit?"

"No. 300,000 dollars. Upfront."

Guard hesitated. He glanced at the decaying pixels of the massive Treant Varek had just dismantled. The monstrous grinding speed was undeniable. Guard swallowed his doubts. "Fine. I'll transfer the funds."

Dusk of Divine Lords featured an integrated banking system, eliminating the need for external account details. A few interface clicks later, a system prompt chimed in Varek's ear.

*Ding! 300,000 dollars has been deposited into your account.*

Varek opened his party menu. "Wait a moment."

Before Guard could ask what he meant, Varek stepped behind the thick trunk of a nearby oak tree and dissolved into a burst of white light.

He logged out.

Guard stood alone in the dark, dangerous monster zone. The silence of the forest pressed in on him. "Wait, did I get scammed?" A sickening pit formed in his stomach. "Did you take the money and run? Damn it, I trusted you!" Disgust washed over him, a sour taste coating his tongue.

The heavy lid of the gaming pod hissed open. Varek ripped the sensory nodes from his temples, ignoring the slight sting. He grabbed his coat, sprinting out of his cramped apartment and into the damp night air.

The neon lights of the city blurred past him as he flagged down a transport. Within minutes, he burst through the sliding glass doors of the central hospital.

The bright fluorescent lights stung his eyes. He bypassed the triage area, heading straight for the intensive care wing.

Liora lay exactly where he had left her. Her pale skin blended with the white sheets, dark circles framing her closed eyes. The rhythmic beep of the heart monitor was the only sign of life in the quiet room.

Varek stood quietly by her bed. He reached out, his fingers hovering inches from her cheek before curling into a tight fist. The crushing weight of regrets from his past life threatened to suffocate him. He had failed her then. He let poverty and hesitation steal her future.

*Not this time.* He renewed his silent vow. *I will fix every mistake. I will tear this world apart before I let you suffer again.*

He turned on his heel and marched to the billing department at the front desk.

"Account number 449-A," Varek told the drowsy clerk. "I want to settle the outstanding balance and prepay the surgical fees. All of it."

The clerk blinked, pulling up the file. "Sir, that total is... significant."

Varek tapped his linked interface against the payment terminal. A green confirmation light flared.

"Payment approved," the clerk stammered, eyes wide. "The surgical team will be notified immediately."

"Make sure she gets the best," Varek said.

He didn't wait for a response. The crushing burden that had weighed on his chest for days vanished, replaced by a cold, razor-sharp focus. He rushed out of the hospital, hailed another transport, and headed back to his apartment.

Dropping his coat on the floor, Varek climbed back into the pod. The darkness consumed him, followed by the familiar flash of the login sequence.

10086 Novice Settlement.

Highreach Guard was miserably trying to recruit random passersby to help him hunt level 4 Wind Hounds. Every player took one look at his low level and ignored him.

Suddenly, a notification flashed in his friend list.

"Level 10 Warped Treant spawn. Come here."

Guard froze. He stared at the name 'Glacial King'. He thought the archer had vanished for good.

"Alright!" Guard replied. Despite cursing Varek's name to the heavens for the past half hour, relief flooded his chest. He abandoned the Wind Hound plains and sprinted back toward the deep forest.

When Guard arrived, Varek stood amidst the trees, his bow already drawn. He didn't offer a single word of apology for the sudden disappearance. He sent a party invitation and immediately adjusted the user interface settings. Loot distribution was set to leader-only.

Guard opened his mouth to complain about the loot rules, but the words died in his throat as he checked the party panel.

*Experience Point Distribution: 90/10.*

Varek took 90 percent. Guard received 10 percent.

"Glacial King, um..." Guard pointed at the floating menu. "Isn't the experience point distribution wrong?"

"Nope," Varek replied, stepping forward and drawing an arrow back to his cheek.

-426

Five rapid arrows sank into the thick bark of an approaching Warped Treant. Varek's attack speed wasn't blistering yet, but his precision ensured the massive beast crumbled into pixels within ten seconds.

Six kills per minute. Three hundred and sixty kills an hour.

Guard watched Varek's health pool remain untouched while the experience bar ticked upward. He stood speechless.

If Varek relied solely on raw, inexplicable damage, Guard might have chalked it up to a hidden item or a bizarre talent awakening. But the true terror lay in the execution.

Varek dismantled the massive Treants with effortless grace. His kiting technique was a masterclass in spatial awareness. He glided backward through the uneven forest terrain without ever glancing over his shoulder. The rapid repositioning, the smooth drawing of the bowstring, the pinpoint aiming, and the relentless loose of the arrow were executed flawlessly. Not a single wasted motion. Not a single stutter in his rhythm.

The towering monsters were decimated before they could take a step close enough to threaten him. Virtual reality games punished clumsy movements. Physical fatigue, uneven ground, and nerve feedback made kiting here far more demanding than tapping keys on a keyboard. It required intense physical coordination.

Even the elite archers in Highreach Guild struggled to maintain such a fluid cadence under pressure.

"This is pure art," Guard praised aloud, mesmerized.

He immediately opened his interface and tapped the built-in recording feature. He needed to capture this combat footage. The guild's ranged division needed to study these god-like mechanics.

"Glacial King, what was your previous handle?" Guard asked, watching another Treant fall. "With your kiting skills, you definitely weren't some nobody."

"Kiting?" Varek replied absentmindedly, eyes scanning the canopy for his next target. "Doesn't it just take hands?"

Guard nearly choked on his own spit.

To Varek, the statement was genuine. Basic kiting was a rudimentary survival tactic forged during the bloody, apocalyptic era of his past life. Almost every survivor had mastered it to outrun death. The true, pinnacle difficulty for an archer did not lie in walking backward and shooting.

It lay in mastering infinite critical hits and executing flawless battlefield crowd control.

Achieving a one-hundred-percent critical hit rate through raw attribute stacking was inefficient and foolish. True masters achieved infinite criticals through pixel-perfect vital strikes. Hitting the hardened sap core of a Treant, or piercing the exact center of a humanoid's eye—striking these micro-targets drastically multiplied the hidden critical modifiers. Even with a base critical chance of five percent, a master could trigger devastating damage on every single shot.

Crowd control was an even steeper mountain. Locking down a chaotic, shifting battlefield with nothing but arrows required anticipating enemy movements ten steps in advance.

Varek ignored Guard's starry-eyed awe. He didn't have the time or the inclination to lecture a stranger on advanced combat theory. He pushed deeper into the dangerous heart of the forest. The normal Warped Treants were no longer providing enough experience to meet the heavy leveling quota he promised. He needed Elite Warped Treants.

Behind him, a blown-away Guard quietly navigated his menu. He selected the captured footage and forwarded it directly to the top of his friend list.

Highreach Lupus. The guildmaster of the Highreach Guild.

A moment later, a reply chimed in Guard's inbox. The tone was laced with annoyance.

"Why are you sending me a video when you should level?"

Guard's fingers trembled slightly as he typed back.

"Guildmaster, check this out. There's a surprise."