The Silver-Clawed Ursa didn't just roar; it emitted a frequency that rattled the Silvas Guild's equipment. Duriz's heavy shield hummed with metallic fatigue, and Regra dropped her staff, clutching her ears.
"Aris, move!" Klynn's voice was strangled. "It's a Level 45! You're Level 1!"
To Klynn's eyes, Aris was still a flickering E-Rank icon. But Aris wasn't looking at Klynn. He was looking at the "hitboxes" of the beast—bright red geometric shapes that pulsed over the Ursa's chest and throat.
"I'm not Level 1, Klynn," Aris said.
He didn't draw a sword. Instead, he reached out into the air, his fingers twitching as if tapping invisible keys on a keyboard.
[ COMMAND INJECTED: MANA COMPRESSION ]
[ STATUS: OVERCLOCKING ]
The air around Aris's right hand began to warp. The light from Duriz's shield bent toward Aris's palm, swirling into a dense, vibrating sphere of turquoise energy.
The Ursa lunged. It moved with a speed that defied its massive size, its silver claws leaving glowing trails in the dark.
"Aris!" Mera screamed, reaching for her dagger, but she was too slow.
Aris didn't flinch. He stepped *into* the beast's reach. To a normal player, this was suicide. To Aris, it was a frame-perfect dodge. He slid his shoulder just three inches to the left, the massive silver claws whistling past his ear, missing by a literal pixel.
Then, he slammed his open palm into the Ursa's solar plexus.
"Delete," Aris whispered.
The turquoise sphere exploded—not outward, but inward. It was a concentrated burst of pure mana that bypassed the Ursa's silver hide and targeted its internal code directly.
*BOOM.*
The shockwave knocked Klynn and Duriz off their feet. The Ursa didn't fly back; its entire chest cavity simply collapsed as if hit by a hydraulic press.
[ CRITICAL HIT: SYSTEM OVERRIDE ]
[ BOSS DEFEATED: SILVER-CLAWED URSA ]
[ EXP GAINED: 45,000 (x∞ MULTIPLIER APPLIED) ]
[ LEVEL UP! ]
[ LEVEL UP! ]
[ ... ]
The notifications scrolled so fast they became a solid wall of white light on Aris's screen.
The massive beast slumped to the floor, its red eyes flickering out before its body dissolved into shimmering data particles.
Silence fell over the dungeon. The metallic roots that had sealed the exit began to retract, sensing the boss's defeat.
Aris stood in the center of the clearing, his turquoise hair settling as the mana-glow faded. He checked his screen.
[ USER: ARIS VERATIS ]
[ LEVEL: 34 ]
He turned back to the Silvas Guild.
Klynn Rys was staring at him, his mouth hanging open. Duriz had his shield raised, but his hands were shaking. Mera looked like she had seen a god descend into a trash heap.
"What... what are you?" Klynn whispered, his voice cracking. "That was a Level 45 Boss. You killed it in one hit. Your screen... it still says Level 1."
Aris glanced at the "Public" air screen he had projected. It was still showing his fake E-Rank stats. He flicked his wrist, and the fake screen vanished.
"The screen lies, Klynn," Aris said, his voice returning to its calm, steady tone. "In this world, the numbers people see are just the limits they believe in. I don't have those."
Mera stepped forward, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and awe. "You're a... a Prodigy? Like the ones in the Meta Guild?"
"No," Aris said, looking toward the dungeon exit. "The Meta Guild players are still playing by the rules. I'm the one who wrote them."
He began walking toward the exit, his leather boots crunching on the ore-shards.
"Don't tell the Union about this," Aris added over his shoulder. "If they find out there's a Level 34 scout in a Level 10 zone, they'll send the Moderators. And I'm not ready to meet them yet."
As they stepped out of the fissure and back into the sunlight, Aris stopped.
Standing on a hill overlooking the dungeon entrance was a figure in sharp, black-and-crimson armor. His fire-red hair caught the sun, and even from this distance, Aris could see the jagged, glowing crimson screen floating next to him.
It was **Enma**.
He wasn't attacking. He was just watching. He raised a hand in a casual wave, a mocking grin visible even from afar, before turning and vanishing into a blur of red light.
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: PRE-PATCH RIVAL DETECTED ]
[ DISTANCE: 400 METERS ]
[ ENMA'S LEVEL: 48 ]
Aris's eyes narrowed. "Forty-eight? He's moving even faster than I thought."
"Aris?" Klynn asked, sensing the tension. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Aris said, his turquoise eyes reflecting the horizon. "The game is finally getting interesting."