My strength is 2 to the power of my level

Ares stared at the shimmering barrier, itching to take a swing at it.

Could he break it? He was tempted to find out.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted in the distance.

Ares's eye sockets flickered, but he remained uninterested.

Then, a girl's voice cut through the air.

"Whoa, is that an undead skeleton?"

"What? This isn't the Undead Valley. How'd a skeleton get here?"

Her words sparked curiosity, drawing a crowd.

Ares looked up. A whole posse of players, maybe two dozen, male and female, had gathered around him.

"Maybe it's a Necromancer's summon?"

"No way. The highest-level Necromancer on the leaderboard is only 13. Summons can't be more than 2 levels higher than their master. A level 15 summon would take forever to train."

"Yeah, and even a level 15 summon couldn't survive here. This is level 19 territory!"

A guy in silver armor pinged Ares's panel, letting out a gasp.

"It's only level 5!"

"And its HP is '???'. Hidden?"

The group buzzed with excitement.

"Maybe it's a zone boss?"

"But why is it so chill? Just standing there?"

"Should we… attack it?" someone suggested.

Ares's flames flickered. These guys thought he was a monster?

What was a "zone boss" anyway?

Ares listened intently, absorbing new words and concepts, his bony head filling with questions.

Too bad he couldn't talk.

Before he could ponder further, a fireball smacked him in the face.

Then, a kaleidoscope of attacks exploded around him.

Frost, poison, fireballs, light arrows, lightning…

The whole shebang.

Ares: "???"

The attacks didn't hurt his HP, but he felt… pain.

Not intense, but definitely there.

He hadn't felt anything from the monsters' attacks.

Ares was confused. So were the players.

"Wait, it's not losing any health? Is it that tanky?"

"Definitely not a normal monster!"

"This is our first zone boss! No system announcement, but I'm telling you, first kill bonus is gonna be huge!"

"It's not attacking us. Keep the DPS up! Healer, keep us topped off!"

"Mages, nuke it! Don't worry about mana, I've got potions!"

"Warriors, hold aggro!"

The six warriors in front exchanged bewildered looks. Hold aggro? The thing hadn't even moved.

The flames in Ares's sockets intensified.

As the players ramped up their attacks, the pain grew.

The pain triggered something. A surge of rage flooded his consciousness.

Fury.

Pure, unadulterated rage.

The green flames in Ares's eyes turned crimson, burning bright.

He raised his sword, and swung.

A golden crescent of energy ripped through the air, hurtling towards the players.

They didn't even have time to react. Expressions of shock froze on their faces.

Their bodies flickered, then vanished.

Items clattered to the ground.

With no target for his rage, Ares calmed down.

The crimson flames subsided, returning to their eerie green glow.

Ares's eye sockets flickered. He remembered everything.

He'd just one-shotted over twenty level 15 players.

They were as squishy as the monsters.

Ares shrugged and collected the loot.

[Level 1 Beginner Sword]

[Quality: White]

[Attack: +5]

Next.

[Level 1 Beginner Helmet: Equippable]

[Quality: White]

[Intelligence: +5]

And so on…

Ares continued looting, new concepts forming in his mind.

These were "equipment." Players dropped them when they died.

Higher level, higher quality, harder to get. Lower level, easier.

But kill enough, and they'd drop eventually. Unless they were soulbound.

Soulbound items were rare, but…

Ares glanced at his Gold Bone Sword. That seemed to be soulbound. Non-droppable.

He happily gathered the loot.

All white quality beginner gear.

Ares vaguely knew white was the lowest quality, but he didn't know the others yet.

Staring at the pile of junk, then at his bare-bones frame, Ares realized his mistake.

He had no inventory!

He'd just instinctively looted, knowing these things were useful.

But he couldn't exactly carry this stuff around while fighting.

An inventory would be nice…

As if on cue, his panel popped up, displaying a new section: Equipment Slots!

Four tabs: General, Special, Rune, and Skill.

A miniature Ares stood there, each body part displaying an empty slot.

[Head], [Chest], [Hands], [Legs], [Feet], [Accessories], [Weapon].

[Hands] and [Legs] had two slots each, left and right.

[Accessories] had sub-slots: [Neck], [Ears], [Head], [Hands], [Feet].

Ares noticed his weapon slot was now lit up.

A tiny Gold Bone Sword sat inside.

Below it, a message: [Soulbound Weapon, Non-Removable! Non-Droppable!]