When Miana, the four other Arch Elders, and the white-spotted tiger strode into the observation deck of Starbough Village, more than a few players took notice.
"Holy crap. Five level-60 bosses just walked in."
"That white-spotted tiger's level 60 too."
"What are they here for? Congratulating Dawnbreaker, or wrecking the place?"
"Not wrecking it, right? If that giant tiger felt like it, it could probably tear through all of Starlight Town on its own."
"What are you guys even talking about? Those are the Arch Elders of the elven race. Obviously they're here to congratulate him."
At that point, every player was still waiting to see how the system would reward Kael—or Starbough Village—for its overnight transformation.
What they got instead was the white-spotted tiger's roar.
"Crap! The tiger just lost it!"
"Oh, this is bad. They really did come to start something."
"I heard from players who've been to Silverglade that the elves over there don't get along with ours."
"I heard that too. Silverglade's governor is Miana—a female elf who rides a white-spotted tiger."
"White-spotted tiger? Female elf? Then the one who just walked in is..."
"It's over. It's all over. The village hasn't even stood for a week and it's already finished."
"It can't be that bad. Worst case, Dawnbreaker loses control of the World Tree."
"You're all worrying about nothing. What does it matter to us who owns the World Tree?"
"Exactly. We're just here to run quests either way."
Before long, they watched Miana and the others storm out with dark expressions.
The players immediately started guessing what had happened inside.
"Looks like the big bosses got the short end of it."
"No way. Dawnbreaker took on all six of them? All top-tier level-60 bosses?"
"Bullshit. You could beat me to death and I still wouldn't believe that."
"Wait. Check the level rankings. Why is Dawnbreaker's name gone?"
"Let me look... Holy crap. It really is gone."
"He's not even in the top 100!"
"Did Dawnbreaker get crippled?"
"No way. No freaking way!"
"Hahaha! Best news all day. I'm telling my guild leader."
...
"Dawnbreaker fell off the level rankings!"
The news spread like wildfire. Within minutes, it was the hottest topic online.
Dawnbreaker—the number one player in the world—had dropped to zero.
A bombshell like that was impossible to ignore.
At first, plenty of players felt sorry for him. One post even chronicled Kael's entire journey, and the poster was clearly a die-hard fan, because it included plenty of details most people had never heard.
First to open a level-10 dungeon.
Slaughtered hundreds outside Starlight Village.
Backed the Blackwind Brotherhood into a corner.
Used the Blackwind Brotherhood, a hundred players, and a band of bandits to repel ten thousand attackers.
The appearance and auction of the Sunfire Bell.
The assault on Starlight Village.
Founded Beryl Creek.
Opened the Verdant Pool dungeon.
Opened the hidden realm, Land of the Behemoth.
Opened Clearwind Haven.
Drew the Warchief's invasion down on the starter village.
Threw Thaloria into chaos.
Opened the hidden realm, Tydrisa's Quarry, and put gemstones within everyone's reach.
Used the Mythic Staff of Whispering Clouds to solve Starlight Town's teleportation problem.
Battled the Argent Coil.
Opened the Blight Swamp dungeon.
Destroyed Grom'kar Outpost.
Founded Starbough Village.
And then—
Fell.
The poster had to be an old Starlight Village player. He knew nearly every major stage of Kael's rise. He'd missed a few things—the Van Tassel Hidden Realm, Blackheart Mine—but on the whole, the post captured Kael's two or three months in the game remarkably well.
At the end, the poster wrote:
"From the very beginning, Dawnbreaker left his mark—not just on himself, but on his village, and on the entire server.
"We look forward to the rise of the next Dawnbreaker.
"A player like him is a goal worth chasing.
"We will always remember him."
Kael read the post himself. On the whole, he thought the summary was accurate.
That last line, though, felt a little off.
The early replies followed the poster's lead, everyone solemnly "mourning" Kael.
Then the thread took a hard turn.
Some players had no real ties to Starlight Village, so their comments ran colder.
"He just got lucky."
"His ending proves luck only carries you so far."
"The times made the hero. All his glory came from getting into the game early and hogging the resources."
"Exactly. Make him compete with hundreds of millions of players for quests now—could he still climb?"
Those comments stung, but at least they had some logic to them.
Then the vultures descended.
"Serves him right. I've hated that bastard forever."
"He was always greedy. Threw up artificial barriers just to line his pockets."
"Right? How much dirty money did he rake in from Land of the Behemoth and Tydrisa's Quarry?"
"I heard he made three billion in Thaloria alone!"
"Damn, three billion! Why didn't he donate it? There are a billion players. Give each of us one billion, and he'd still have two billion left over."
"Uh... buddy, maybe finish elementary-school math before you post again?"
...
Of course, where there were attackers, there were defenders too. But once Kael's level reset to 0, the defenders thinned out while the pile-on grew. Even stray dogs seemed eager to lift a leg on him.
Kael had weathered ten years of highs and lows in the game, so the noise rolled right off him.
Lila, however, couldn't stand it. She wanted to drag Kael online and make him set the record straight.
At first, Kael refused.
Then Isolde showed him Starlight Town's traffic data. Visitor numbers had plummeted.
That genuinely rattled him. He'd poured too much into the town to let its growth collapse over this.
So he took Lila's suggestion and posted a screenshot of his attributes online.
The sour mood across the forums evaporated almost instantly.
"Level 0. Three hundred thousand HP."
"Over thirty thousand attack."
"What the hell..."
"That has to be his stats with Ascendant gear equipped."
"No, wait. Why is his HP growth 30 per point?"
"Did this guy reincarnate or something?"
"Changing race doesn't reset your level or base attributes."
"Then did he switch to a hidden race?"
"Damn it. How is his luck this good?"
"Holy crap. This isn't a fall. This is hibernation."
"Can I take back what I said earlier?"
"Mom, I need a diaper change."