The silver token in Kael’s pocket had gone still since he’d left the village.
The moment his boots crossed into the blighted stretch of Graystone Ridge, it woke up a faint, insistent trembling against his hip, pulling gently toward a fold in the hills to the northeast.
The barrier’s this way.
He didn’t head for it. Not yet.
Officially, the job here was simple.cross into the sealed passage, cut down the Skeleton General standing guard, and haul the iron strongbox back to Widow Hargrove in one piece.
That box held the actual prize a relic Kael remembered clearly from his last life, one that had made careers and ended a few, fought over by players who never came close to understanding what they were holding.
But that wasn’t the only reason he’d made the trip.The thing guarding that box was worth more to him walking beside him than sitting dead on the ground.
Most Beastlords obsessed over two numbers when they went hunting for a new companion starting bloodline tier, and raw growth ceiling. Kael only cared about the second one.
Boundless Evolution meant bloodline tier was just a starting line, not a limit; feed a companion enough Evolution Points and its floor climbed as high as he was willing to grind for.
What actually mattered what couldn’t be brute-forced later was the shape of its potential. Star ratings. Skill design.
The kind of bones a creature was built with, before any of his talent got involved.
And by every account Kael remembered from his first life, the Skeleton General sleeping in that sealed passage was built from very good bones indeed.
It was the only Silver-tier boss anywhere in the entire starting region the single toughest thing any new player could encounter this early, full stop.
Beyond that, it held a rarer distinction still. across the whole of Ascension, it was the only level-10 Silver-tier boss that existed, period.
No other zone, no other server region, had anything that matched its bloodline grade at that level bracket.
Its skill kit was reportedly absurd for something guarding a starting-zone side quest the kind of overtuned encounter design that made veteran players in his previous life mutter about the devs overcorrecting on purpose.
A thing like that, contracted early and raised right, could become something extraordinary.
There was just one problem standing between Kael and that plan.
Second companion slots didn’t unlock until level 10, and level 10 came bundled with the game’s very first class advancement.
He wasn’t there yet. So he’d grind there first.
The ridge’s leveling grounds turned out to be crawling with exactly the right prey Skeleton Warriors, roaming in loose, aimless clusters across the blackened earth, each one carrying enough experience to make the climb worthwhile.
Kael vaulted up onto the Husk’s broad back without breaking stride, settling into the space between its shoulder spikes like it was built for a rider. He slung a quiver over one shoulder, drew the goblin longbow he’d looted off the Alpha days hours, really, though it felt longer ago, and nocked his first arrow.
The bowstring sang.
The shaft punched clean through a ribcage of brittle, sun-bleached bone, lodging deep in whatever passed for a chest cavity on something that had died a very long time ago.
A guttering flame kindled behind the thing’s empty eye sockets the closest thing to fury a Skeleton Warrior could manage and it turned, bony legs clattering, and charged.
It never made it more than three strides.
The Husk’s foot came down like a falling wall, and the Skeleton Warrior folded into a scattering pile of bone fragments, the necromantic flame in its skull guttering out mid-collapse.
Kael didn’t slow down to admire the kill. He was already drawing his next arrow, eyes tracking the next cluster of wandering skeletons across the blasted field.
They fell into a rhythm quickly Kael picking targets from range, pulling aggro onto himself just long enough to lure the pack toward the Husk’s reach, then letting its sheer bulk and thick hide soak up whatever the Warriors managed to land while he peppered them from above with arrows aimed at exactly the joints and skull-sockets that broke skeletal enemies fastest.
It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t meant to be.
It was efficient arrow, lure, crush, repeat a loop that chewed through the ridge’s population of Warriors with the flat, mechanical patience of something that had done this exact grind a hundred times over in another life.
The experience bar under his level counter climbed steadily, then quickly, then in visible surges as the pace compounded.
An hour passed. Then a little more.
Elsewhere, back in Haven’s Rest Millbrook Post, the mood was considerably tenser.
Ironclad’s starting five had cornered a Bronze-tier boss of their own the Azuremaw King, a hulking wolf wreathed in pale frost-blue fur, its health bar finally worn down to thirty percent after a grueling, coordinated fight.
Cynthia Miles stood well back from the melee, staff raised, threading heals into Ryan with practiced precision.
"Everyone hold at five percent!" she called out, voice sharp over the sound of claws on steel. "Let Ryan finish it he’s sitting on nine full levels and thirty-five percent experience. This kill puts him at ten, easy!"
She allowed herself a satisfied little smile.
"That server-first thief already stole the first two boss kills tonight. He is not taking this one too. First class advancement belongs to Ironclad."
The words had barely left her mouth when the sky lit up with the deep chime of a server-wide announcement, and every player on the continent looked up at once.
"Server Announcement: Player Unrivaled has become the first player server-wide to reach level 10 and complete Class Advancement. Rewards: +100 Reputation, +3 Luck, +100 Gold, Skill Unlocked — [Warden’s Mandate] (SS-Rank)."
"Server Announcement: Global Level Rankings are now live. The top 100,000 players server-wide can now be viewed."
The forums detonated.
"THREE server-wide announcements. In ONE NIGHT. From the SAME guy."
"At this point just rename the server after him."
"Wait Warden’s Mandate? That’s a Beastlord skill line. He’s a BEASTLORD?!"
"I could maybe buy a mage pulling numbers like this. A Beastlord? That class is supposed to be a slow burn!"
"There’s footage on the front page of him soloing twenty-plus Cartel players. Watch it. It’ll answer every question you have."
"...Okay, I watched it. I have no more questions. I have less faith in my own build now, though."
"How is this fair. Server’s been live for HOURS."Back in Haven’s Rest, five faces went rigid at once.
"Who is this guy?" Cynthia’s voice cracked with disbelief, staff nearly slipping from her grip. "I would have heard someone this good doesn’t just come out of nowhere!"
Ryan said nothing at first, jaw locked tight, color draining slowly from his face.
He’d had a plan. Push Kael out, absorb every scrap of Ironclad’s resources meant to build the next signature star, and step into that spotlight before anyone else could.
He was supposed to be the story tonight. Every early achievement, every server-first, was supposed to have his name attached.
Instead a stranger had swept all three off the table before Ryan had even cleared a single boss of his own.
His eyes narrowed to something dark and personal.
Unrivaled. Whoever you are it’s you or me from here on out.
Back on the ridge, none of that reached Kael at all.
A cascade of system text unfurled across his vision, one line after another:
"Level 10 reached. Class Advancement complete: Beastlord Adept."
"Stat growth increased: Free attribute points per level, 5 → 10."
"Companion capacity increased: 1 → 2."
"Class skills unlocked: Healing Light, Wild Awakening."
"Primordial Bloodline integration continuing current progress: 2%..."
"Primordial Bloodline integration continuing current progress: 3%..."