Compared to the Borg the Silver-Fang in the open world, Kaka'u was on a completely different level.
Open-world bosses, especially high-level ones, were monsters that demanded entire armies. Dozens, sometimes hundreds of players coordinating just to bring one down. Dungeon bosses were another matter. Since dungeons restricted party size, their difficulty had to be tuned accordingly. Otherwise no one would clear them.
Strictly speaking, Kaka'u's Trial Dungeon barely qualified as a proper instance. There were no trash mobs, no branching paths, not even side rooms. Just a staircase, a cellar, and the boss himself. It was crude, almost barebones. But this was the Starter Zone. It existed to give players a taste of mechanics, not to trap them in some labyrinth they would grind a thousand times.
Eight minutes later, Kaka'u fell.
Death Ray was terrifying, yes, but it was a one-time opener. Not-A-Bystander's health was already pushing five hundred. One beam left him dangerously low, but not dead. The moment the beam hit, Let-There-Be-Light chained two healing spells in rapid succession, dragging his health bar back up.
After that, the fight stabilized.
Flynn, as usual, made things slightly chaotic in his own way. Instead of remaining safely behind the boss, he shifted positions from the rear to the front-side, standing nearly shoulder to shoulder with Not-A-Bystander. Hair-Stays-Perfect was forced to retreat a step to avoid overlapping aggro zones.
"It's easier to land criticals from here," Flynn explained casually.
Annoyingly, he was right.
More than half of his attacks crit. When the damage meter popped up at the end, the numbers were absurd. Flynn alone accounted for thirty-four percent of the total damage.
There were seven people in the party. Four of them were pure damage dealers. In this early stage of the game, with minimal gear differences and limited skill kits, for one person to shoulder thirty-four percent of the output was ridiculous. Amy, who ranked second, only reached twenty-eight percent.
"This guy's a freak," someone muttered.
The sentiment was mutual. But at the same time, they were grateful. If not for Flynn's output, losing Beast-Lover at the start would have made the fight painfully difficult.
As a quest boss, Kaka'u's personal loot was minimal. He dropped only the stolen Spatial Crystal. The real reward came from completing the quest itself: a large chunk of experience and a green-grade Sturdy Chest that guaranteed at least Bronze-quality items.
"It's finally over," Beast-Lover groaned from the floor as he released his spirit and began his corpse run. There was no experience penalty for dying inside the dungeon, and the Spatial Crystal had automatically entered his inventory, but he still needed to run back to revive properly. Reviving at the respawn point would have slapped him with a temporary Weakness debuff.
The others climbed the stairs, passed through the portal, and returned to the NPC's house in the village.
Just as they reached the doorway, Flynn suddenly halted.
"Wait," he said sharply. "Don't go out."
But it was too late.
Let-There-Be-Light, leading at the front, had already stepped across the threshold.
Right then, spells and arrows exploded toward him from every direction.
An Arcanist's fireball struck first, followed by a volley of arrows. Warriors and Rogues surged in from both sides. The damage stacked so quickly that his health bar evaporated before he could even raise a shield.
He dropped instantly.
Sky-Slasher and Hair-Stays-Perfect, directly behind him, were caught in the crossfire. Their health bars plummeted to zero in seconds.
"Damn it!" Hair-Stays-Perfect shouted. "It's those foreign guys! They came all the way here? Are they insane? This is the Starter Zone!"
He and Sky-Slasher tried to retreat, but two steps back was all they managed before collapsing.
In a single ambush, half the party was wiped.
Only Not-A-Bystander, Amy, and Flynn remained inside the house, spared because they had not stepped outside. Let-There-Be-Light's message appeared immediately in the party channel.
"Retreat. Back into the dungeon. Now."
Amy and Not-A-Bystander reacted instantly. Flynn had already moved before the message finished appearing. The three of them darted back down into the cellar.
The Trial Dungeon would disappear once the quest fully concluded, but until then, it remained a safe pocket.
Inside, Amy's voice trembled slightly. "Light… I thought PvP wasn't allowed in the Starter Zone?"
Before he could respond, Hair-Stays-Perfect's furious message appeared. "It's the group from the Murloc Cave. They brought reinforcements. At least a dozen of them. We got deleted instantly."
"All foreigners?" Amy asked.
"All of them."
Let-There-Be-Light added calmly, "PvP isn't strictly forbidden here. You can attack, but guards will respond. They're probably dead already. Wait a moment before going out."
Beast-Lover, who had revived inside the dungeon, was livid. "Those idiots dared to come here? Let's go out and kill them again."
A few seconds later, Let-There-Be-Light's message appeared again.
"Alright. You can come out. They're all dead."
The group exited cautiously.
Outside, the ground in front of the house was littered with bodies.
The foreign players had not released their spirits. Instead, their corpses lay there, hurling insults through text.
Beast-Lover's frustration finally found a target. He began firing back without restraint. "You killed three of us and got yourselves wiped. Genius move."
Among the bodies, Kazehana stood out.
Her two earlier deaths had knocked her down to level nine. Players under level ten could not engage in PvP, which meant she had not been attacked by the guards. Two other foreign players beside her were in the same situation.
Her eyes burned with anger as she shouted, "You despicable piece of shits. I'll make you pay. Just wait. We'll meet again."
The commotion had already drawn nearly every player in the village.
When they heard her arrogant threat, outrage erupted. It did not matter who started what. A group of foreigners had marched into their Starter Zone and started killing people. That alone was enough.
If their levels allowed it, many would have joined the fight immediately. Since they could not, they did the next best thing. The insults flew thick and fast, some of them so creatively vicious that even Flynn, who usually remained detached, felt slightly embarrassed listening to the barrage of inventive insults flying in regional chat.
It soon became clear that Kazehana's group had not only ambushed them here. On their way through the Murloc Cave, they had used their numbers to kill players grinding there as well. Only when they reached the central area had they become more restrained. And the moment they saw Let-There-Be-Light's group step out of the house, they attacked without hesitation.
Eventually, Kazehana could not endure the flood of ridicule and left with her companions.
Hair-Stays-Perfect was livid. He had died once again. His experience bar, which had been close to leveling, dropped another ten percent. Rage simmered in him, but there was nothing he could do immediately.
Once the crowd calmed, players began asking what had happened. Let-There-Be-Light explained the sequence of events clearly, then added, "This isn't over. The Teleportation Point quest is nearly complete. When it is, I'll personally visit their village."
Beast-Lover suddenly turned to the crowd with a sly grin. "By the way, the key to the Teleportation Point quest comes from the mini-boss Gulu in the Murloc Cave."
Understanding dawned across the listeners' faces.
Gulu was an open-world mini-boss. Anyone could kill him. If the foreign players could not access him, they could not complete the quest.
Hair-Stays-Perfect's mood lifted instantly. "Nice. Let's see how they finish it now."
Let-There-Be-Light smiled faintly. "So. Who's interested in paying our neighbors a visit?"
Not-A-Bystander raised his hand. "It would be rude not to."
Hair-Stays-Perfect raised both. "They owe me twenty percent experience."
One by one, the others agreed.
Then Let-There-Be-Light realized someone was missing. "Night-Stalker? You coming?"
"Killing people?" Flynn replied without hesitation. "Of course. But I'm turning in the quest first. I'm almost level twelve. I'll join after I learn my new skills."
"Level twelve already?" Hair-Stays-Perfect blurted out.
Let-There-Be-Light was not surprised. Since meeting at the riverbank, Flynn had torn through a mini-boss, a dungeon boss, waves of mobs, and multiple high-reward quests. If he had not leveled, that would have been strange.
They returned to the Elder's house together.
When all seven Spatial Crystals were handed in, a system announcement echoed across the zone.
[Starter Zone #4069 has gathered all seven Spatial Crystals. The one-way teleportation array to Moster is now activated. Players level ten and above may travel to the city.]
A ripple of excitement spread through the village.
Right then, Flynn's experience bar filled completely.
Level 12.
He received fifty silver coins and a green-grade treasure chest as a reward. The others also received theirs.
They exchanged glances, then, almost in unison, they opened the chests.
Light burst from each chest in a spray of color. Most contained one or two green items along with miscellaneous materials. Amy's chest, however, emitted a brighter gleam.
In her palm lay a silver-grade ring.
—
Elegant Roar of the Wind.
Agility +10.
Movement Speed +7%.
Attack Speed +5%.
Level Requirement: 11.
—
A three-stat ring, and every stat was perfect for her class. The group stared at it, the envy in their eyes was immediate and undisguised.
"That's ridiculous," someone muttered.
Not-A-Bystander had pulled two green items, which was solid. The others received one each, matching their classes.
Flynn's chest contained a dagger.
—
Glan's Thorn, Bronze-grade.
Attack 20–26.
Agility +6.
Requires Level 12.
—
Its raw attack slightly exceeded Borg's Fang, though it offered only a single additional stat. Typical for Bronze equipment. It was not extraordinary, but it was far superior to the white-grade dagger he had been using in his off-hand.
He replaced the old blade.
Two faint green glows shimmered around the daggers in his hands as they settled into place.