Legacy of the Betelgeuse

We found a pack of wolves. There are a dozen of them and there are 2 wolves that are leaving the pack. We both are looking at each other.

"Let's lure them away from the rest of the pack when they're far enough."

Becker nods with an agreement.

We are lurking towards them and when we are confident that the rest of the pack won't notice us we immediately attack them. I stab the wolf's skull and he whimpers and dies. Becker slit the wolf's throat and holds its mouth so he won't make any noise. We grab the loot and put it in our inventory.

I need 9 more while Becker needs 6 more. We approach the pack of wolves since there are only 10 of them left. The strategy is I'm luring the wolves while Becker will do the surprise attacks.

I throw a stone at them and they're starting to chase me. Becker is waiting at the top of the tree. The wolf that is far behind from the rest of the pack dies from Becker's surprise attack. Now the pack is split into two groups. I'm handling 5 wolves while Becker is handling 4 wolves. One of the wolf jump towards me and I punch its jaw with the bearded ax. I immediately stab its neck and run to find another opening. I look at Becker and he kills two wolves already.

One of the wolves bites my right arm and it feels like someone is pinching my arm. I slit its throat using my bearded axe while he's busy chewing my arm. I look at my HP bar and it barely moves. I have a feeling that hunting the wolves are easier than I thought. I let the rest of the wolves bite me. I look at my HP bar and as I expected that it barely does any damages. I swing my sword at one of the wolves and it instantly dies. After that realization, I kill them all immediately and approach Becker.

"I knew it. You're playing with me."

He laughs so hard and sits down.

"This is just a quest tester. Basically, this quest does not exist in the game."

He's pointing at the wolves that we just killed.

"Those wolves are actually a level 10 monster. We shouldn't be able to kill it even if we have dozens of new players with us. Since this is a quest tester, the wolves are basically one-hit kill. But, we get the EXP points like killing the real level 10 dire wolf. This map is actually different from the original map. When we left the southern gate, we were teleported to this map. A map for the quest tester."

I scratch my head.

"So you're saying that we can abuse this quest and boost our level?"

Becker nods.

"Yep!"

I sit down and look at my status screen. I'm already level 12. I put the extra points to luck. I look at Becker.

"Sev said that by raising luck status, there's a 0.001% chance to be lucky. What is that mean? I asked that to her and she only chuckled."

Becker grinning.

"That, you will know when you experience it yourself."

I sigh.

"Fine..."

I look around and stand up.

"Let's abuse this quest and boost our level!"

Becker laughs and nods.

We spent hours abusing the quest. My level already 27 and my current stats are.

STR: 1+0

AGI: 1+0

DEX: 1+0

LUK: 28+0

VIT: 1+0

CHR: 1+0

ART: 1+0

We both are resting under the tree. I check my inventory and there's an item that I don't remember that I have before. I look at the description.

[Dire Wolf's Soul Essence: An extremely rare phenomenon where the soul of the Dire Wolf became liquefy. Granting the holder a permanent status when consumed. LUK+1, DEX+1.

Cannot be traded/sold/dropped.]

I tell him about it and he was surprised.

"Wow! You got a soul essence?! The drop rate for that is below 0.001%!"

I grab it from my inventory. He's looking at me.

"Go ahead, consume it."

I swallow the soul essence and my stats increase. Then my stomach is growling.

"Wow, we can feel hungry in this game?"

Becker nods.

"Yep. It depletes your stamina slowly. When your stamina reaches 0%, you will die from starvation. Let's go back and complete our quest. Then we can eat at the pub."

I nod.

We left the forest and went back to Sarkh Village. We met Kalman and completed the quest. Then we go to the pub.

We are inside the pub, and I still can't believe that they're an NPC. The waitress comes.

"What can I get for you both? Today's special menu is roasted potatoes soup with chopped meat and veggies."

I nod.

"I will have that, and a beer. What about you?"

Becker nods.

"Same for me."

The waitress nods.

"Okay, please wait. It will be here in 7 minutes."

We both nod. I'm looking around and then look at Becker.

"So what is the max level here?"

Becker yawns.

"There's no cap on the player's level. It's the same as the monsters in this game, they also can level up at some circumstances."

I raise my eyebrow.

"Wait, the monsters here can level up?"

The waitress puts the beers on our table. I chug it and I feel refreshed. Becker takes a sip.

"Yes, the monsters here can level up. There are so many reasons why I made it that way. I'll give you one of the reasons for that. It's for the catching up system for the new players that start playing when the average player's level is already high. For example, that Dire Wolf has 1780 EXP points, later in the next few months, some of those Dire Wolf may or may not become stronger depends on the circumstances and their EXP points will raise significantly. When they're killed by the players, they will respawn with their latest stats. I made sure that their stats didn't increase that much from their original stats and I have tested it. So the new players will level up faster compared to the old players back then."

I nod.

"Interesting... so, what are those circumstances you're talking about?"

Becker is playing with the mug.

"It's the same as in real life. First, animals will try to adapt to the surroundings and survive from the predators. Here, a monster can fight with another monster to survive from the predators. The winner will gain EXP points from that. Second, some monsters here will immigrate to a different territory when the season changes. They will fight with each other since one of their territories is invaded by another monster. And some other reasons that soon to be revealed."

I'm humming with understanding.

"I see... wait... if what you said is happening already, doesn't that makes the high leveled monster will become stronger and stronger? Is that even possible to kill them when it's already too late for the players to reach their levels?"

Becker is chuckling mischievously.

"Just so you know. As we speak, hundreds of monsters are above level 1000 already and they keep raising."

I choked on my beer.

"Are you serious?!"

He nods while grinning.

"Yes. Those monsters are not the bosses in this game. They're not even the mini-bosses. I've been keeping this game online for almost 3 years. Those monsters originally were level 100. So far, I'm satisfied with the system that I created."

I shake my head.

"Are you not afraid that the players will be mad when they know about it?"

Becker shakes his head.

"Later, before the game got released, I will roll back everything to its original values. So you don't have to worry about it. You will enjoy it and having so much fun. I can guarantee that."

He smiles and drinks his beer. I scoff.

"You can call me, Trevor or Trev."

Becker nods.

"Then you can call me Becker or Becky."

I nod.

"Nice to meet you, Becker."

Becker smiles,

"Yes, nice to meet you too, Trevor."

The waitress then came and brought our food. We ate our food and talked about our lives for a bit. Then Becker looks at the time.

"Trev, I think we should log out for now. It's almost 3 a.m. and I have an appointment with the game publisher this morning."

I nod.

"Yeah, let's go. I also need to go home and get some sleep."

Becker raises his hand.

"You can sleep in the guest room, Trev. I don't know where do you live but I'm guessing it's far from my house. Rather than wasting your time driving back to your house, it's better to stay here and you can leave in the morning."

I scratch my head.

"Yeah, you're right. Is it okay for me to stay here?"

Becker nods and smiles.

"Of course! You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want."

I smile.

"Thank, Becker."

Becker chugs the beer and burps again.

"Use command Log Out to leave the game, Trev."

I nod.

"Log Out."