The Leaderboard

Varek stared at the glowing green tooltip hovering in his vision. *Withered Tree Reborn*. He realized why the colossal Nine-Headed Hydra Tree possessed a singular, overpowered skill during the boss fight. The creature's immense power was the result of magical sacrifices; it had cannibalized its own arsenal to forge one ultimate survival mechanic. Varek opened his spatial inventory. His gaze swept over the twelve extraneous Warped Treant skill books he had looted during the labyrinth run. They were useless clutter for his specific combat build, but they served a greater purpose now.

"Learn Withered Tree Reborn," Varek commanded the system interface. "Sacrifice skill books."

He deliberately selected ten of the rare texts. The leather-bound books dissolved into a cascade of emerald data streams, rushing into his newly acquired passive ability. A notification chime rang out in his mind.

[Withered Tree Reborn (Passive Skill) leveled up to 2 Stars.]

Varek pulled up the refreshed tooltip. The emergency threshold remained identical, triggering whenever his health plummeted below the ten percent mark. The recovery, however, had doubled. It now restored twenty percent of his total health pool, with a reduced cooldown timer of twelve hours. A calculating calm settled over him. Knowing this powerful heal scaled dynamically with his ever-increasing maximum health pool via his Heaven's Hand talent, Varek knew with certainty that this mechanic would remain an unparalleled lifesaver well into the late game. Right now, his total health hovered around thirty thousand points, meaning a clutch heal would restore over six thousand points in a fraction of a second. If his health pool reached three million, or even thirty million later on, that twenty percent margin would still apply. It was a flawless synergy.

He dismissed the skill window and checked his experience bar. He sat exactly halfway to level ten. Pushing for the milestone would only take him half an hour of focused grinding, but he felt no rush. He was building a foundation, not just chasing numbers.

Curious about the server's progress, he casually opened the global leaderboards to assess the current competition. The Leveling Chart displayed the expected hierarchy. A player named Ashura Emperor currently led the global charts at level eleven with twenty-five percent progress. Reverie Rime followed closely at level ten, ninety-five percent. Desireless, Highreach Lupus, and Truly 20 rounded out the top five. The gaps between the top contenders were razor-thin. Varek recognized most of the names from his previous life. Three of them were high-ranking guild officers backed by massive resource funnels, while one was a notorious rich kid from Eldoria who practically threw real-world currency at the game to secure an early advantage.

Varek swiped past the level rankings and brought up the Global Equipment Leaderboard. This section told a very different, satisfying story.

Second place: Thunderstorm Bow (Silver-tier).

Third place: Nine-Headed Shield (Bronze-tier).

Fourth place: Nine-Headed Shoulder Guards (Bronze-tier).

Fifth place: Nine-Headed Cloak (Bronze-tier).

He arrogantly claimed four of the top five spots, dominating the charts with his labyrinth haul. The sole outlier was the item sitting in first place: The Golden Scepter.

Varek’s eyes narrowed, a cold shadow crossing his face. *Just like in my past life,* he mused darkly.

The Golden Scepter was a Gold-tier artifact with a broken, pay-to-win effect. It granted the wielder the ability to summon six level-10 Black Iron bosses to fight on their behalf. Early in Dusk of Divine Lords, even a single Black Iron boss could flatten a leveling zone. Six of them meant unrivaled destruction.

And that scepter belonged to Reverie Rime.

Memories of his past life surfaced, carrying a bitter sting. Reverie Rime was the owner of Visionary Studio, his former employer. She possessed a striking beauty that drew players to her banner, but her management style was a toxic blend of arrogance and nepotism. She had a penchant for filling key guild positions with incompetent family members, turning what could have been a powerhouse faction into a dysfunctional mess. She had exploited Varek's labor, brushing aside his strategic contributions while elevating her useless relatives.

He dismissed the memory with a quiet scoff. None of that mattered now. Armed with his Super God-level scaling talent and foreknowledge, Varek was confident he would effortlessly surpass her in time. The Golden Scepter was a crutch; his power was fundamental.

Shifting his focus back to his character progression, Varek pulled up his attribute sheet. He had fifty points awarded from the labyrinth first-clear burning a hole in his interface. He considered investing in movement speed for a fleeting second before confidently dumping all fifty points directly into his attack speed stat.

His firing rate surged from 2.63 to 3.63. This choice was deliberate. To synergize with his Heaven's Hand scaling and his new Withered Tree Reborn health regeneration, he needed to attack as fast as humanly possible. The faster he fired, the faster he healed. Speed was life.

Stats settled, Varek retrieved the ancient, rare quest scroll he had looted from the labyrinth boss. Scrolls of this tier triggered hidden lore events, often rewarding permanent traits or God Blessings. He unfurled the heavy parchment, expecting a standard heroic undertaking.

The archaic text glowed: *Beneath the Novice Settlement lies the sealed Zythera. If Zythera is released, it will devastate all living beings.*

*Quest Objective: Kill all NPCs in Novice Settlement and utterly destroy the resurrection altar, ensuring that all adventurers from other worlds can only spawn in the main city, never to return.*

*Quest Penalty: None.*

*Quest Reward: Unknown.*

Varek stared at the glowing letters, his face darkening with profound disbelief.

It was an outrageous death wish. The lore demanded a complete massacre of the very sanctuary meant to protect new players. In this hyper-lethal reality, NPCs were not fragile background characters. Even the lowly, seemingly innocent tavern keeper could casually dish out thousands of damage points with a single wave of his hand. Assaulting the veteran Settlement Keeper, or crossing blades with the heavily armored blacksmith, would invite instant deletion. Attempting to slaughter the entire town was tantamount to deleting his own character.

He quickly folded the scroll, the crisp parchment snapping shut, and tucked it away deep in his inventory. A quest offering no penalty but hiding an unknown reward usually masked a catastrophic catch. He decided he needed to think carefully before officially accepting such suicidal terms.

Varek turned away from the labyrinth area, ignoring the chaotic crowds of low-level players near the safe zone.

"Looking for a powerful priest with strong healing!" a warrior shouted, waving his weapon. "The team has two carries—an archer and a mage! Sustained and burst damage ready to go!"

"Has anyone besides Glacial King cleared the labyrinth yet?" a wealthy merchant-type player yelled over the din, holding up a bag of coins. "I'm desperately looking to buy gear! I’ve got money to burn!"

Varek walked past them, his face impassive. Novice Settlement 10086 lacked genuine pro players at this stage; the true elites usually clustered in more accessible starting zones. He adjusted his grip on the Thunderstorm Bow and walked in a different direction, purposefully heading toward the outskirts.

His overarching quest—hunting ten bosses for the Settlement Keeper—demanded continuous escalation. To maximize the lucrative rewards upon completion, he needed to hunt targets with rising levels and hidden mechanics. He was targeting an elusive creature: the Minstrel.

Rumors on the forums in his past life painted the Minstrel as a demonic, transformed yellow-fur weasel that had miraculously taken human form due to a stroke of luck. It disguised itself as a wandering musician, secretly plotting something insidious within the settlement's borders. The guides from his previous timeline lacked specific details, but Varek remembered enough breadcrumbs to track the creature down.

The sounds of the bustling player hub faded, replaced by the rustle of leaves and the snapping of twigs underfoot. The forest canopy thickened, casting long, erratic shadows across his path as he ventured deeper into the isolated woods.

Suddenly, a chill spiked down Varek’s spine.

His seasoned combat instincts screamed at him. The ambient noise of the woods hadn't changed, but the air pressure shifted. A razor-sharp tension instantly shattered his strategic calm. Someone—or something—was encroaching on his blind spot, moving with lethal precision.

Without turning his head, without even attempting to nock an arrow, Varek tightened his grip on the heavy Thunderstorm Bow. He twisted his torso and swung the rigid metallic frame fiercely backward, using the bow itself as a heavy blade to slash blindly at the sudden, unseen danger.

Swoosh!