Kael felt confident as he headed back to the starting village. His name was no longer red—killing all those wolves had reset it back to normal, and that was great news.
As he got closer to the area, he started seeing more players around. And to his surprise, he spotted the same group of players he had killed earlier!
They were trying to fight some wolves, but one of them didn't even have a weapon. He was just standing there, watching helplessly. Every now and then he'd throw a punch at a wolf, but it didn't really help much.
When the group saw Kael, fear instantly flashed across their faces. They looked like they were about to run—but in the end, they swallowed their pride and approached him.
The three of them knelt down in front of him. Other players nearby started watching the scene, clearly confused about what was going on.
"Please, forgive us!" one of them said.
"If you can give me my weapon back, we'll hand over all the money we have and every item we've looted so far."
Kael didn't feel bad seeing them grovel like that. In his mind, they had it coming after the way they'd talked to him before.
"Why don't you just use that money to buy a new weapon in the village?" Kael asked.
"The ones being sold there are worse than the starter weapons... Please, not having a weapon will really mess up our early leveling. We'll remember this—and we'll help you out if you ever need it."
The leader of the group was really humbling himself just to get that weapon back. Kael could tell he was being sincere.
"Alright," Kael said. "Give me the items and the money, and I'll return what you dropped."
"Thank you, thank you!"
They handed over all their wolf pelts and fangs, along with the coins they had received when they started the game. All that just to get back the items Kael had looted from them earlier.
After that, they even added Kael to their friend list. They wanted to keep a way to contact him—so they could repay the favor if he ever needed help.
After the trade was done, Kael kept walking toward the village. All the players who had witnessed that scene started whispering among themselves, wondering—just who exactly was Kael?
He gave off the vibe of a leader. Some even began to speculate that he might be the head of a powerful guild entering the game. But of course, no one could prove anything.
Kael had no idea any of that was going on. He was more focused on finding someone willing to buy his items.
Before looking for a buyer, he stopped by the NPC who had given him the initial wolf-hunting quest and turned it in. The moment he hit level 2, a glowing light surrounded his body.
"Adventurer, thank you for taking care of those wolves attacking our animals," the NPC said. "This means a lot to the village. Here, take these coins."
Everyone around saw it. And they all knew what it meant.
Kael was the first player to reach level 2—and the first to complete that quest. He received about 50 copper coins as a reward.
It wasn't much, but it was something. Enough to buy a few potions, at least.
All eyes were on him now. Everyone was reading his nickname—Kael—and the small "Level 2" glowing just beneath it.
"I wish I could hide that info already," Kael thought. "But I guess that'll only be possible later on. This might bring me some trouble early game."
As he walked toward the center of the village, a player approached him. Actually, it was an entire group—six players in total.
"Hey," one of them called out.
Kael ignored him. There was no reason to worry; no one would be stupid enough to attack someone inside a safe zone.
The player kept calling out, and eventually decided to grab Kael by the arm. That didn't sit well with him.
Kael turned around, slowly scanning the guy from head to toe, then locking eyes with him coldly. "Take your hand off me."
That was all he said.
The player held on for a moment longer, then let go and laughed awkwardly. "My bad, my bad. I thought you didn't hear me calling you, so I had to do that."
Kael stayed dead serious. "Oh, I heard you. Did you ever consider the possibility that I was just ignoring you on purpose?"
That shut the guy up—and annoyed the whole group. But Kael didn't care in the slightest.
"I don't get why you're being so aggressive," the player said. "I don't want us to be enemies or anything like that."
"I see. Then get to the point—I don't have time to waste here," Kael replied.
He was eager to sell his items, buy some potions, and head back out to hunt monsters in the area. He wanted to reach at least level 5 as fast as possible. Now that he had stumbled upon that field boss, he couldn't risk another group killing it before him.
Kael knew very well there was a bonus reward for the first kill—and he wanted it.
"We just want to understand how you already completed the quest and hit level 2. We noticed you're alone, and there's no way you did that solo," the player said, stepping a bit closer and whispering, "Are you using some kind of glitch? If so… could you share it with us?"
They actually believed Kael had done something illegal to level up so fast. That alone was enough to insult him.
"You kidding me?" Kael said. "Just because you're all incompetent—what, six of you?—and still can't even reach level 2, doesn't mean I'm some loser like you. Now get out of my way, I've got things to do."
He walked off without waiting for a reply. For a moment, he thought they might try to grab him again, but they just stood there, glaring at him with pure hatred.
And of course, they reported Kael through the game system, accusing him of exploiting a glitch.
It didn't take long for a global announcement to appear for all players:
[The player who reached level 2 before anyone else and completed the quest did not use any kind of glitch. Please note that false reports will result in punishment.]
Kael saw the message while selling his items to one of the village NPCs. When he read it, he couldn't help but smile.
"Bunch of idiots," he muttered.