Chapter 6

Verdant Plains.

As the only leveling zone for Beginner Village #9527, this was hands-down the best place for new players to start.

But right now, not many players were out on the plains.

The reason was simple. It was hard.

The monster difficulty in Doomsday defied all reason.

Even a lowly level 1 slime could send a fresh player back to the graveyard without breaking a sweat.

The closed beta had only been live for two hours, and the Verdant Plains had already claimed more victims than anyone could count.

The only players still standing were either skilled veterans or whales who'd dropped some cash at launch to buy starter gear.

But even for them, leveling was painfully slow.

Not a single player had reached level 2 yet.

...

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Verdant Plains, Cole led Melz forward without stopping.

This was just the outskirts—mostly level 1 to 3 mobs. The experience gain wasn't great.

Cole's real target was the core zone of the Verdant Plains. There, mobs averaged around level 10. They gave much higher experience.

Of course, the difficulty was several times greater. But with a god-tier Cursemancer by his side, that didn't really matter anymore.

"Wait."

Cole suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Melz asked calmly.

"Saw an old enemy."

Cole's gaze landed on a goblin in the distance. The creature was swinging a massive spiked club, chasing two players who were screaming their heads off.

Familiar.

He knew this green-skinned menace all too well.

Right after logging in, this level 5 Goblin Warrior had chased him for over ten minutes straight with that spiked club. All the way to the beginner village's plaza.

If he hadn't run into it again, fine. But fate had dropped this murderous green bastard right in his path.

Oh, hell no.

Time to beat the shit out of this thing!

Cole pointed. "Kill that level 5 Goblin Warrior."

"Easy."

Melz raised a hand casually and tossed out a water sphere.

[-1,354,089]

A horrific number bloomed above the goblin. Then it disintegrated into dust mid-air.

"HOLY—?!"

"HOLY CRAP!!"

The two players who'd been running for their lives froze mid-panic. Their brains short-circuited. Curses exploded out of them.

What the hell was that damage?!

"S-SlickRod... tell me I'm seeing things. They just dropped a phone number on that thing!"

The player carrying a beat-up axe and wearing nothing but shorts—in-game name "CockyGiant" —stared at Cole's direction, his voice cracking.

Seven figures. Over a million damage.

"I don't think you're seeing things..."

The other player, SlickRod, looked equally dumbfounded.

The two of them just stared at each other, completely lost.

'Hello, police? Someone's hacking. Are you going to do something about this or not?!'

Make no mistake—SlickRod and his buddy were the real deal. They were hardcore VR veterans who had been through fifteen different VRMMOs in the past decade. They'd studied the genre inside and out. You could even call them small-name pros in the community.

When SlickRod—a mini-whale—first logged into Doomsday, he'd been blown away by the graphics. Dropped ten thousand gold right away, bought starter gear for himself and his buddy, and got ready to dominate.

But Doomsday had other plans.

Even these two seasoned pros hit a wall.

Killing a single level 1 slime required perfect coordination, patience, and grinding. In over an hour, they'd managed maybe ten kills.

Bad enough.

Then out of nowhere, a level 5 elite mob wandered in from the outskirts, spotted them, and started swinging.

It already sent one solo player to the graveyard.

Now it was chasing SlickRod and his buddy. They were cornered. Out of options. About to join that solo player in the dirt.

They'd already accepted their fate. Doomsday was a torture simulator designed by sadists.

They were ready to respawn back in the beginner village's plaza.

And then, some old guy dropped over a million damage in one hit.

If that wasn't hacking, what was?

"Dude. That's so busted."

CockyGiant was practically in tears. He thought about how hard he and SlickRod had fought to deal maybe ten damage to a slime, and his soul hurt.

Look at that guy. Waving his hand. Mobs turn to dust. Ruling the world.

That was how you play a game.

"Hacks! That guy is definitely hacking! I'm reporting him! Yeah, let's both report him!"

SlickRod was fired up. He'd always hated hackers with a passion.

Comparing that to his own miserable grind? It was just too much.

"SlickRod, I don't think that's hacking." CockyGiant kept his cool and analyzed. "The beta just launched. There are no hacks yet. Best case, that's a dev testing numbers."

"Even if it was a dev, they wouldn't be this blatant about it. So what are you saying?" SlickRod asked.

CockyGiant glanced at Cole's direction, eyes shining. "Look at that old man's robe. That thing is sick. Probably a really OP NPC. That guy might have triggered some kind of special quest."

"Damn. You're right."

SlickRod's eyes lit up. They'd played games like this before—where different methods unlocked powerful temporary allies.

This wasn't cheating. It was the game's system.

"I knew it. No way a game would be that hard. A level 1 slime shouldn't feel like fighting a brick wall. The devs aren't idiots. They wouldn't design a difficulty curve this sadistic. So the real way to play Doomsday isn't just grinding your face off. There's another way to survive the early game. This guy clearly figured it out."

SlickRod got so excited he slapped his thigh. "I'm a genius!"

CockyGiant nodded in agreement. "Totally. Should we go ask him? Because getting chased around by mobs isn't really working for us."

"Let's go."

No hesitation. These two had strong execution. They walked straight toward Cole.

Why suffer the grind when you could just hack—er, use game mechanics?

"Hey, buddy." SlickRod gave Cole a friendly wave. "Where'd you get that helper? That damage is insane—over a million. Mind sharing?"

Cole glanced at them, then turned and walked away. He wasn't in the mood for small talk.

But Melz, on the other hand, looked at the two players and chuckled warmly. "I'm from the Supreme Sanctum. If you're interested, you should pay a visit."

Not that Melz was particularly friendly. He'd just hit the jackpot with Cole—a walking gold mine—and now he assumed every new adventurer was equally loaded.

Why not make some easy money?

A day of smacking goblins for ten million gold? When the other old fossils back at the Sanctum found out, they'd owe him a thank-you card.

"Supreme Sanctum?!"

SlickRod's eyes lit up.

Just as he thought, this game definitely had hidden mechanics.