Kael didn’t know much about the [Lockpicking] skill, and even less about this legendary [Omni-Key] tier.
In the ga’s ta, [Lockpicking] was a core skill for Rogues. A common, and infuriating, tactic involved a high-level Rogue using stealth to bypass a boss, sneak to the final chest, and loot it while another party was still engaged in the difficult fight. They’d defeat the boss only to find the treasure room already empty.
It was the signature move of players like Nyxar, the Rogue who had screwed him over in the Hidden Realm.
The thought of Nyxar sent a jolt of cold anger through Kael. Nyxar… you’d better hope I don’t run into you.
After bidding farewell to Corin and Pip, Kael turned to leave the shack, only to stop dead in his tracks. A player was walking towards the entrance, a freshly picked [Ghost Orchid] held carefully in his hand.
Kael’s eyes t the other player’s. Recognition was instant.
“Nyxar?”
The other player was clearly just as surprised to see Kael’s ID. The na ‘Ullr’ had beco infamous server-wide after the day’s events, especially among the players of Crescent City.
They gave each other a curt, silent nod, then brushed past one another.
After exiting the shack, Kael didn’t leave. He scouted the area, then deftly leaped onto the roof, flattening himself against the dilapidated shingles. A hole in the roof gave him a perfect vantage point of the room below.
Corin and Pip were already putting Nyxar through his trials.
Nyxar was blindfolded, his hands outstretched towards a straw-stuffed training dummy. Kael recognized the test for the [Thievery] skill. A malicious thought sparked in his mind. He picked up a loose pebble from the roof and waited.
The very instant Nyxar’s fingers made contact with the dummy, Kael flicked the pebble. It landed on the dummy’s shoulder with a soft thwack, causing the poorly balanced figure to tip over and fall to the floor with a clumsy thud.
“What the hell?” Nyxar exclaid, thinking his touch had been far too rough.
Nearby, Corin’s brow furrowed in clear disapproval of Nyxar’s lack of finesse. “Pip. The next test.”
Pip nodded, removing Nyxar’s blindfold. He then produced a dozen thin ropes, each with a small, sharp knife tied to the end. He secured them to the ceiling beams, spaced less than a foot apart. Pulling them back at staggered heights, he released them. The knives began to swing back and forth like a chaotic pendulum, creating a simple but deadly gauntlet.
“Nyxar,” Corin said, his tone stern. “Pass through to the other side within one minute, without being touched by a single blade.”
Nyxar nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped into the path of the swinging knives. With his natural talent and high agility, dodging the blades shouldn’t be a major issue. He focused his mind, muttering a quick prayer to the RNG gods. Can’t screw this up like the last one.
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He moved with painstaking care, successfully navigating past the first three daggers. Only nine more to go.
On the roof, Kael picked up another stone. He let it roll from his fingers.
Clink.
The pebble struck the very tip of the fourth dagger’s blade, altering its trajectory just enough. It swung wildly off its normal path, arcing directly towards Nyxar’s head.
Schlick.
-393
“Ah!” Nyxar cried out as the blade grazed him. Another failure.
“What the hell!” he cursed, his face flushing with anger. He instinctively looked up, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes, but all he saw was the decaying roof. In a shack this decrepit, it wasn’t unusual for a bit of debris to fall.
“Damn, my luck is trash today,” Nyxar muttered, feeling utterly helpless.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Corin announced, his voice laced with disappointnt. “I will now impart the [Thievery] skill to you. Based on your aptitude… you have achieved the rank of [Journeyman].”
Outside, a grin spread across Kael’s face. [Thievery] was a notoriously difficult skill to level up. With only a Journeyman start, Nyxar’s dream of becoming the master thief he’d been in the previous tiline was now significantly harder.
He stole one chest from , and I just cost him a master-tier skill quest. An eye for an eye. Yeah, I definitely ca out ahead.
Kael’s mood lifted big ti. His burning urge to kill Nyxar ten tis in a row had cooled down—he could deal with that later. He slipped out of the shack carefully, headed back to the teleport nexus, and got ready to finally kick off his Treasure Map quest.
Just as he was about to select his destination, a friend notification popped up. It was Rena.
Rena: Dawnbreaker, you got a minute?
Dawnbreaker: What’s up?
Rena: The guild master is in a total funk. She’s barely talking to us. We figured… maybe you could cheer her up?
Dawnbreaker: Huh… Did sothing happen?
Rena: We don’t know. Lila just logged on and has been completely miserable. She won’t tell us what’s wrong.
Dawnbreaker: Okay. I’ll see what I can do.
Kael closed the ssage window, searching his mory for anything related to Lila at this point in the ga. But their real association hadn't started until a year or two after launch. He had no idea what she could be dealing with right now.
The only thing that ca to mind was the Sunfire Bell. Could her family be refusing to let her buy it? That seed unlikely. At auction, the bell would go for a hundred million at most. For the Whitmore Group, that was pocket change.
He opened a chat window with Lila, trying to think of an opening line, but a ssage from her appeared before he could type.
Lila: Dawnbreaker, are you free tonight?
Tonight? Kael blinked.
Dawnbreaker: Uh, yeah. I am.
Lila: Where do you live?
Kael’s heart did a little stutter-step. She was asking for his address? Did she want to… His face suddenly felt hot.
Dawnbreaker: Oakwood Apartnts, Building 11, Apt 601…
Lila: Okay. What’s your number? I’ll head over.
Dawnbreaker: (555) 867-5309
Lila: K.
And with that, her status switched to offline.
Kael stared at the screen for a mont. Then, the reality of his rundown rental apartnt hit him like a physical blow. He imdiately logged out.
Without a second’s delay, Kael launched into a frantic cleaning frenzy. He kicked scattered shoes and socks into the closet, and furiously wiped down every surface. Within fifteen minutes, the room was visually transford.
“What is that sll?”
He took a deep breath and was assaulted by the apartnt’s signature scent: a potent cocktail of stale pizza, foot odor, and sweat.
Ugh. The sll was overwhelming. This was the first ti Kael had ever really noticed how bad his place slled. He threw open the windows and the front door, trying to air the place out, but the stench was stubborn.
Air freshener! Right, I need to spray sothing!
He tore through his drawers and cabinets. Of course, he didn’t own anything remotely like cologne. Just as he was about to give up, he spotted a can of bug spray under the sink. He picked it up and sprayed a generous amount into the air.
Hmm. Slls pretty good, actually.
He stood with his hands on his hips, admiring his handiwork.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
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