In the afternoon, Kiriya spent the entire day slumped over his desk, sleeping right up until nearly the end of the workday. Summer insisted on dragging him to the square for a walk, saying that a stroll outside would wake him up and shake off his fatigue.

  Mira was sipping tea, Rainie was browsing the web, and Petalia was flipping through a fashion magazine. None of them wanted to go out in the afternoon sun.

  So, only Kiriya accompanied Summer out of the company building. What surprised him was how fair Summer's skin was, with no trace of sun or wind damage you'd expect from someone who spent a lot of time outdoors.

  But the two wandered around for the entire afternoon and ended up buying nothing at all. Kiriya hadn't seen Lina once the entire day, and as the workday came to a close, a strange, faint sense of disappointment settled in his chest.

  He brushed it off quickly, though. Yukina had already told him Lina was still grinding levels in the game, so there was no way she'd be at the office.

  Summer offered to carry Kiriya through leveling, but he turned her down gently. He knew full well that if he partied up with Summer, he'd end up carrying her instead. A Summoner without powerful summons in the early game had barely any damage output at all.

  According to Mira, Snow Moon Studio wasn't fully up and running just yet, so everyone still logged into the game from their own homes.

  Before long, though, the company would purchase a property to build a dedicated grinding base for the pro gamers. All members of Snow Moon Studio would live there together, able to look out for one another and build a tighter team bond.

  Kiriya couldn't help but feel a spark of excitement for the studio life ahead of him. For now, though, he needed to head home and log into the game alone.

  A flash of white light, and Kiriya's figure materialized at the edge of the quiet forest. He opened his inventory and glanced through it. After his relentless grinding spree the night before, he still had plenty of health and mana potions left, more than enough to keep him grinding for hours on end.

  He was Level 18 now, and the Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizards in the Shallow Water Marsh could no longer satisfy his leveling needs.

  He had to push deeper into the wilderness to find a new grinding spot. What's more, players were leveling up at a breakneck pace now, and dozens of parties had already gathered here to hunt the Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizards.

  When they spotted Kiriya alone, their faces filled with confusion. They clearly couldn't fathom how a solo player dared to show up in a high-level area like this by himself.

  Kiriya pulled up the level leaderboard and found his rank had dropped from 83rd to 547th in the Azure Imperial Region. It was clear that a huge number of players had skipped sleep entirely, planning to grind 24/7 to seize the early advantage after launch.

  The top-ranked player in the Azure Imperial Region, the female mage MoonYuki, was currently shown as offline, but her level had already hit 23, holding the number one spot firmly in her grasp.

  At Level 18, hitting 23 wouldn't be hard for Kiriya. After all, he held the Bow of Glory, the most powerful weapon in Eternal Art Online at this stage. It would be downright embarrassing if he couldn't reach the top levels with a weapon like this in his hands.

  So he immediately turned and headed west on the map. The map marked that the nearby Tier 2 main city, Dawn City, lay to the west. Only in Dawn City could he complete his class advancement, and the adventurer's inn in the city also offered players a wide variety of quests.

  Right now, 7 players in the Azure Imperial Region had already broken through Level 20, and most of them had likely gathered in Dawn City already.

  With that thought, Kiriya left the Shallow Water Marsh at once and traveled west for roughly ten minutes. A mountain ridge wreathed in cold, howling wind appeared before his eyes, and the map labeled it: Wolfspine Ridge.

  Kiriya's interest was piqued at once. Was this the Wolfspine Ridge mentioned in the official promotional material?

  Half a month before the game launched, the pre-release hype for Eternal Art Online had mentioned Wolfspine Ridge as a paradise for low-level players, though it had never revealed exactly what benefits it held.

  The mountain wind howled through the trees, carrying the low, guttural snarls of wolves with it. In the distance, a dark figure paced beneath the trees, a massive, powerfully built wolf.

  Its blood-red eyes blazed with malice, drool dripping constantly from its gaping jaws. Along its spine, a row of blade-like spines jutted through its fur, glinting with a cold, menacing light in the dim forest.

  [Blade Wolf] (Elite Mob)

  Level: ???

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  Attack: ???

  Defense: ???

  HP: ???

  The screen was filled with question marks, a clear sign that Kiriya's level was too low to view the Blade Wolf's full stats.

  Without a second thought, he drew his bowstring all the way back and fired a Frost Arrow! A flash of icy blue light streaked through the air, and bitter frost wrapped around the Blade Wolf's body in an instant.

  The strike dealt a clean 312 damage. But it was immediately clear that the Blade Wolf's total HP was far higher than the Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard's. Over 300 damage had only shaved off a tenth of its health bar.

  Kiriya switched skills at once and fired an Armor-Piercing Arrow! The arrow thudded into the top of the Blade Wolf's skull, dealing a respectable 517 damage. It seemed the Blade Wolf's natural defense wasn't particularly high, so the defense-ignoring effect of Armor-Piercing Arrow didn't have much of an impact.

  So he immediately swapped to another active skill, Flame Arrow! After spending 5 MP, the tip of his arrow burst into roaring flames. The arrow streaked through the air as a searing blaze and slammed hard into the Blade Wolf's forehead. 1128! The damage number broke four digits outright.

  Kiriya was shocked and elated all at once. It finally clicked. The fire element of Flame Arrow had ignited the wolf's fur, which was why it had dealt such massive damage. Flame Arrow was the key skill to counter the Blade Wolf!

  He breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Thank god he'd learned all the core skills when he advanced his class. If he'd relied only on basic attacks, killing a single Blade Wolf would have taken him at least two minutes. With Explosive Arrow, his efficiency had doubled instantly.

  In the split second he was distracted by his relief, the Blade Wolf used the end lag of his skill to close the distance in a furious pounce. Its sharp claws raked hard across his chest with a sharp crack. Agonizing pain exploded through Kiriya, and his HP plummeted by 251 points in an instant.

  Panic surged through him, and he quickly chugged a Medium Health Potion. But the Blade Wolf was hot on his heels, sinking its jaws hard into his thigh for another 243 damage. In mere seconds, his HP had dropped to the brink of death.

  Desperate, Kiriya fired off a Frost Arrow as fast as he could. The Blade Wolf's movement speed dropped drastically in an instant.

  He used the opening to spin around and sprint backward, putting the maximum possible range between them. He raised his bow and fired a Flame Arrow that streaked through the air. 2264! A devastating critical hit!

  The fire element of Flame Arrow was a perfect counter to the Blade Wolf, and the strike killed it outright in one hit.

  A high-pitched, mournful howl tore from the wolf's throat, and its massive body crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. A piece of equipment and a dozen silver coins clattered onto the soft dirt.

  Kiriya's heart was still racing. He had no idea what level the Blade Wolf had been, but two attacks had nearly killed him outright. Thankfully, with the Bow of Glory in his hands, he'd managed to turn the tables and kill it first with his overwhelming raw damage output.

  He stepped forward and picked up the gray bracers and silver coins, checking the bracers' stats first.

  [Blade Bracers] (Bronze-Tier · Leather Armor)

  Defense: 37

  Agility: +5

  Required Level: 25

  Unidentified

  Kiriya stared in stunned disbelief. These Blade Bracers required Level 25 to equip.

  Per the game's standard mechanics, the level of equipment dropped by a normal mob is always lower than the mob's own level.

  By that calculation, the Blade Wolf he'd just killed was definitely over Level 25! He'd killed a mob nearly 10 levels above his own, and his experience bar had jumped a visible chunk.

  He quickly stashed the Blade Bracers in his inventory and chugged another potion to top off his HP. Now that he knew what to expect, he planned to use a rotation of Frost Arrow for slows and Flame Arrow for damage. It would keep him safe while maintaining a high grinding efficiency.

  Kiriya pulled another Blade Wolf to test the tactic, and it worked perfectly. He spent only a few dozen MP to take the wolf down easily, earning another dozen silver coins for his trouble.

  He picked up the coins with a grin, then looked up and spotted a small canvas tent on the outer edge of Wolfspine Ridge, with thin tendrils of smoke curling up from its campfire.

  Kiriya's interest spiked at once. A quest! He immediately slung his bow over his shoulder and hurried over. Two men dressed as hunters sat by the campfire, the older of the two with a scar slashing across his face. When he saw Kiriya approaching, his hand flew to the hunting knife at his waist, his eyes sharp with wariness.

  When he saw Kiriya was dressed as an adventurer with no hostile intent, the man relaxed his grip on the knife and spoke first, his voice rough and gravelly. "Young man, these mountains have been dangerous and chaotic lately. What are you doing out here alone?"

  Kiriya shook his head. "Don't worry. I can see you're camped out here. Have you run into some trouble?"

  The man let out a heavy sigh and tossed a dry log onto the fire, his eyes filled with exhaustion and lingering fear. "My name is Wieg, a hunter from the village.

  For the past two weeks, the blade wolves in these mountains have been charging the village like they're possessed. Word has it that a vicious Blade Wolf King has appeared deep in Wolfspine Ridge. Two days ago, I brought three men into the mountains to investigate. Only my brother beside me made it out alive."

  He looked up at Kiriya and spoke earnestly. "Young man, do you have the courage to challenge the Blade Wolf King?"

  The second he finished speaking, a crisp ding rang in Kiriya's ears.

  System Prompt: Accept quest [The Wolf King's Head]?

  Quests were rare opportunities, and more were always better. Right now, the entire server forum is filled with players complaining about the lack of quests in the early game. Kiriya had no intention of letting this chance slip through his fingers, and he hit confirm at once.

  Ding!

  System Prompt: You have accepted the quest [The Wolf King's Head] (Current Difficulty: 390)

  Quest Objective: Enter Wolfspine Ridge and slay Blade Wolves to collect 100 Silky Wolf Pelts. Journey deep into the heart of Wolfspine Ridge, kill the Blade Wolf King, and bring its head back to the hunter Wieg.

  Staring at the quest details on his panel, Kiriya's eyes went wide. The quest difficulty was a staggering 390!

  Per the game's rules, quest difficulty was represented as a percentage. A difficulty 10 quest meant a player of the recommended level had a 10% chance of failing it. A difficulty 100 quest meant a 100% chance of failure for a player of the current level.

  Of course, that was just player slang. The higher the difficulty rating, the harder the quest was to complete. And this quest was making it abundantly clear that challenging the Blade Wolf King was almost certainly a suicide mission.

  Kiriya looked down at the Bow of Glory in his hands, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Whether I pull this off or not is all up to you."