He glanced at the real-world time. It was already past four in the morning. In another hour, the sky would begin to lighten with the pale glow of dawn.

  Yet Kiriya felt not a single trace of sleepiness. He gripped the silver-tier Bow of Glory tight in his hands, his heart hammering against his ribs. This was one of the absolute top-tier items in Eternal Art Online right now, and it was his. Even with legions of elite players spanning the globe, who could outmatch him, a player who'd barely started his journey?

  But he knew full well this was nothing but dumb luck. He'd just happened to take down the top-tier boss of the starting village. In two or three days at most, someone else was bound to get a new silver-tier drop.

  That's why he had to seize this precious window, to grind levels like crazy in the shortest time possible. Only with a higher level could he solo stronger monsters, and only then would he get the chance to farm more, better gear.

  For the first two weeks after Eternal Art Online's launch, the in-game currency-to-real-world money exchange function would remain locked. Any wealth players amassed in the game couldn't be converted into real-world funds for the time being.

  But half a month later, once the service to link personal bank accounts to game accounts went live, the conglomerates looking to make their mark on the game would flood it with cash. And he, a solo player who only wanted to farm a few rare top-tier items, take down a few griefers, and meet a handful of skilled players along the way, would be able to cash in his in-game earnings for real money too.

  Of course, none of that would matter if his level wasn't high enough.

  When Kiriya returned to the spot where he'd killed the King Golden Slime half an hour prior, the area was already swarmed with players. There was even a small crew of dozens camped out there. Every gamer knew the unwritten rule that a boss would respawn after a set period of time following its defeat.

  Kiriya chuckled to himself. Two weeks before launch, he'd pored over every last bit of Eternal Art Online's official lore and mechanics. The respawn cooldown for a proper zone boss was a minimum of seven days. Unless these players gave up on grinding levels, abandoned their main city quests, and sat here camping for a full week, they'd never see the King Golden Slime spawn again.

  He didn't linger. He cut straight through the basin and traveled onward for nearly ten minutes.

  The sky in-game slowly brightened, bringing the surrounding landscape into sharp focus. As daylight broke, dozens of diurnal mobs began to appear throughout the woods. Level 14 Iron-Winged Hawks, Level 15 Tusked Boars, Level 16 Great-Horned Antelopes.

  But Kiriya didn't spare any of these mobs a second glance. He had only one target for this trip, the Level 20 Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard.

  A shallow river wound its way through the jungle west of the starting village, an area barely touched by other players. Along the river's shallow banks and in the thick underbrush, Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizards lay in wait. Their thick scale-covered bodies were tucked into the grass, their glowing, icy blue eyes brimming with a chilling, bloodthirsty malice.

  At Kiriya's current level, he could just barely pull up the Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard's stat sheet. He focused on checking the details.

  [Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard] (Common Mob)

  Level: 20

  Attack: 48-72

  Defense: 62

  HP: 1300

  Attack Effect: Attacks apply a paralysis debuff. Hits have a chance to render the target paralyzed.

  "No way," Kiriya muttered under his breath. These stats were nearly on par with the King Golden Slime he'd taken down earlier.

  He was stunned. The Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard's stats were absurdly powerful. Not only did it have a sky-high maximum attack, but its defense was straight-up ridiculous. A full 62 points of defense made it a walking steel plate. If he hadn't been holding the Bow of Glory, the average player at the same level would never be able to pierce its defenses.

  With that thought, he nocked an iron arrow to the bowstring, drew it back to full draw in one sharp motion, and released. The arrow tore through the air with a deafening whistle.

  Thwunk! The arrow struck the Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard dead-center in the skull. The wounded monster staggered back two steps, a bright red damage number floating up above its head: 258.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Before Kiriya could even recover from his split second of surprise, the lizard launched itself at him. Its jaws flew wide open, and a slimy, reeking tongue shot out like lightning, slamming hard into his chest and draining 92 of his HP in an instant.

  Kiriya scrambled backward several paces in quick succession, nocking a second arrow and firing it off at once. This time, he activated the skill [Frost Arrow]!

  Crack! An icy blue burst of light exploded right above the lizard's head. Bitter frost coated its entire body in an instant, and its blistering movement speed dropped off a cliff.

  His gaze flicked across his skill bar, and Kiriya had a sudden epiphany. [Armor-Piercing Arrow]! The skill that ignored 50% of a target's defense was the perfect counter to high-defense mobs like the Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard.

  He backpedaled furiously to keep his distance, fluidly grabbing another arrow, nocking it, and drawing back the string. The moment the taut bowstring snapped forward, the Armor-Piercing Arrow streaked out in a milky-white beam, piercing straight through the lizard's skull. A jaw-dropping damage number burst high above the mob's head: 647.

  Kiriya stared, dumbfounded. He blinked instinctively, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. A full 647 damage, nearly half of the Level 20 mob's total HP, gone in a single hit.

  A rush of wild euphoria flooded his chest. To test his theory, he nocked and fired a second Armor-Piercing Arrow at once. This time, the brilliant glow of the arrow struck the lizard's skull dead-on, and an even higher damage number popped up: 702.

  Screech! The Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard let out a shrill, agonized wail. Its massive body crashed to the ground, going completely limp, and a handful of glinting silver coins spilled out beside its corpse.

  Killing a mob 5 levels above his own gave an insanely generous XP payout. That single lizard alone had earned him 580 XP, and overleveled kills also drastically boosted item drop rates. Of course, aside from the 5 silver coins, the lizard hadn't dropped anything else.

  This came as no surprise to Kiriya. The item drop rate for common mobs was pitifully low to begin with. He'd spent five full hours grinding slimes earlier and only walked away with a single white-tier basic item. To last in this game long-term, you had to get used to empty drops first. It was a mindset every player needed to have.

  He glanced around. This mini-map, the Shallow Water Marsh, was teeming with Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizards ranging from Level 20 to 25. More than enough to carry him all the way to Level 20. Then, at the edge of the forest not far away, Kiriya caught sight of a figure collapsed in the grass, a faint groan drifting over to him.

  His curiosity piqued, he broke into a quick run toward the figure. Collapsed on the ground was a middle-aged soldier, his dented armor caked in mud and blood, his legs covered in deep gashes down to the bone. He'd clearly been attacked by mobs.

  When the NPC soldier looked up and saw Kiriya, his dim eyes lit up with a flash of desperate hope. "Young adventurer, I cannot tell you how glad I am you've come. Will you help me?"

  Ding! A crisp system chime rang in his ears: Accept the Captain's Request?

  Kiriya hit confirm at once, and a second system chime followed immediately after.

  Ding! System: You have accepted the quest [Collect Scaled Lizard Hides] (Current Difficulty: 80)

  Quest Objective: Defeat Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizards in the vicinity of the Shallow Water Marsh and collect 50 intact Scaled Lizard Hides. Deliver them to Captain Aaron, and he will craft a tailored Fine Leather Armor for you.

  Kiriya couldn't help but snort a soft laugh. There wasn't a forge or an anvil anywhere in sight, and yet he could craft gear on the spot. The devs behind Eternal Art Online must have lost their minds.

  An 80 difficulty rating made this an extremely tough challenge. It made sense, of course. In the system's eyes, a Level 15 player taking on a horde of Level 20 Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizards was nothing short of suicide. But the system had missed one critical detail. The Bow of Glory in his hands was more than enough to shatter the balance between level and stats.

  With the quest to back him up, his leveling grind would be twice as effective with half the effort.

  Kiriya pulled up the level leaderboard for a quick look. He was currently ranked 4122nd in the Azure Imperial Region. Scrolling down, he saw that the player in 1000th place was only Level 16.

  "Alright, let's set a goal. Hit Level 18 before I sleep, and break into the top 1000 in the Azure Imperial Region."

  He set the goal in his mind, the fire of battle burning hotter in his chest. Sleep was the last thing on his mind.

  Filled with fighting spirit, he turned and fired a Frost Arrow at another Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizard nearby. Slowed by the frost, the mob could only crawl toward him at a snail's pace. In that window, two Armor-Piercing Arrows would guarantee a kill. If he landed a critical hit, even a single Armor-Piercing Arrow could one-shot the Level 20 mob outright.

  Driven on by the constant flood of generous XP, time flew by in the blink of an eye. When the first hint of tiredness finally crept into Kiriya's mind, the real-world clock had already hit five in the morning. His kill speed was insane.

  He was taking down 3 to 5 Blue-Eyed Scaled Lizards every single minute. In just one hour, he'd leveled up twice, hitting Level 17 directly. The 50 Scaled Lizard Hides he needed for the quest were already fully collected.

  It was getting late. He had to be at the studio for work at nine in the morning. If he went to sleep right now at five, he'd get three hours of sleep at best. But it would be enough. He could always sneak in a quick nap at work if he needed to.

  Then, when he got home that night, he'd dive right back into Eternal Art Online and keep grinding. Youth was his greatest asset. He could handle the late nights.

  He tucked the potions in his inventory away, turned toward the edge of the forest, and got ready to turn in his quest.

  From a distance, Captain Aaron, who'd collapsed on the ground earlier, was looking much better. After taking the 50 intact Scaled Lizard Hides from Kiriya, he let out a loud, hearty laugh. "Brave adventurer, your courage has conquered this treacherous marsh! Wait but a moment, and I will craft a brand-new leather armor for you!"

  Aaron's hands moved in a blur, with no forge or tools in sight. As swirls of iridescent magical light swirled and shimmered around him, a leather armor with a glossy, shimmering sheen appeared in his palms.

  Ding! System: Congratulations! You have completed the quest [Collect Lizard Hides]!

  XP Gained: 28000

  Gold Gained: 5

  Reputation Gained: 150

  Quest Reward Obtained: [Glimmering Leather Armor]