The moment they had eagerly anticipated arrived: the unveiling of their first Silver Chest. Even Zack couldn't hide a flicker of anticipation.
With a resonant clink, the chest popped open, silver light pouring out onto the scorched ground nearby.
[System]: You have opened a Silver Chest!
[Loot Acquired]
Emberplate Shield (Rare) – +25 DEF +40 HP, +8 STR.
Passive: Decreases Fire Damage by 25%.
Glacial Mantle (Rare) – +40 HP, +6 INT
Effect: 5% decrease to Fire Damage, 5% increase to Ice Damage.
Skill Scroll: Frost Shard (Elemental – Ice) – Launches a condensed shard of ice that pierces the target, inflicting 160% Ice Damage.
MP Cost: 16 | Cooldown: 5 sec.
Skill Scroll: Shadow Mirage (Assassin – Dark) – Creates a clone that imitates attacks for 8 sec (deals 60% of original damage).
MP Cost: 30 | Cooldown: 70 sec.
Skill Scroll: Molten Charge (Fighter – Fire) – Rushes forward, inflicting 200% Fire Damage and briefly knocking down enemies in a 2m path.
MP Cost: 22 | Cooldown: 30 sec.
[Sanctuary Field] (Priest – Support) – Forms a healing circle that restores 60 HP every 2 sec for 10 sec to allies within 3m.
MP Cost: 35 | Cooldown: 45 sec.
[Rejuvenate] (Priest - Support – Restores 40% max MP over 5 sec.)
MP Cost: 15 | Cooldown: 60 sec)·
Gold Coins × 40
Flame-Touched Ore ×6 (Crafting Material)
Each of their HUDs pulsed once afterward, a notification slid across their displays.
[Server Achievement Unlocked: First Silver Chest Opened]
Title Earned: "Silver Pioneer"
Effect: +10 Max HP, +1 Stat Point for each Silver Chest opened.
A soft hum rang out before dissipating, leaving a faint glow above each of their avatars.
Obi nodded slightly. "Just like the bronze chest, right?"
Point grinned, running her fingers through the glimmering interface. "Yeah, the same format as before but for Silver, we can now freely allocate the stat point. Nice upgrade."
Zack adjusted his dagger, his expression calm. "I anticipated that. The system rewards first-time discoverers. Bronze grants a title… Silver was bound to offer more."
Haze tilted her head slightly. "So, this was guaranteed?"
"More or less" Zack replied steadily. "Titles scale with exploration tiers. It's hidden from new players but once you notice a pattern, it's clear."
Iris's eyes lit up as she browsed through her status window. "+1 Stat per chest and 10 HP… that's quite good."
"Exactly why people rush for first discoveries" Point said with a grin. "Guess we're fortunate no one found a Silver chest before us."
Obi let out a soft chuckle. "Feels great to be ahead of the other players."
Point's smile broadened. "Now that's the kind of grind I enjoy."
Haze crossed her arms, half-smiling. "Yeah… kind of unfortunate we missed out on the bronze title and those early clears."
Zack didn't reply immediately, his gaze shifting through his status sheet. Damage output was fine for now. It was time to enhance his durability.
He allocated six points into Vitality.
[VIT +6 → HP Increased by 30 Defense by 6]
From his inventory, he donned the Glacial Mantle, replacing his previous cloak, the pale-blue fabric reflecting a subtle frost shimmer. The stats aligned perfectly with his hybrid setup.
He sighed softly. "That's sufficient for me."
[Character Status – Zack | Priest | Level 4]
HP: 470/470
MP: 490/490
Magic Attack Power: 220-227 | INT: 76 | VIT: 16 | Physical Defense: 34
Without a moment's hesitation, Zack gave the other remaining priest skill scrolls to Iris. You'll benefit more from these.
"Thanks" she said with a bright smile, quickly slotting them in.
Obi claimed the Emberplate Shield (Rare) ; its surface glowed faintly with runic embers.
Alongside it came the Skill Scroll: Molten Charge (Fighter – Fire).
He grinned. "Now that's what I call frontline material"
Point's grin stretched ear to ear when she received the Skill Scroll: Frost Shard (Elemental – Ice) exactly what she'd been hoping for in this zone.
Launches a condensed shard of ice that pierces the target, dealing 160% Ice Damage.
MP Cost: 16 | Cooldown: 5 sec.
"Finally" she said with a grin. Maybe now I'll at least hit half of Father Frost's numbers.
The last scroll went to Haze — Shadow Mirage.
Haze examined the scroll once, then activated it without a word.
Her shadow rippled, splitting into two faint silhouettes that mirrored her stance before fading into the haze.
"Good skill" Zack murmured, watching her expression.
A faint smirk ghosted across her lips. "Guess I'll take that as approval"
The party leveled up to 4, except for Zack, who was already lv 4 and now needed a hefty 16,000 EXP for the next level up.
With their stats freshly boosted and morale high, they pressed deeper into the zone, where the terrain grew harsher and the monsters stronger.
The inner region had transformed into a scorched wasteland, the ground split by charred fissures that pulsed with molten light.
The air itself writhed, shimmering with suffocating heat as if the land were breathing fire.
Then the earth convulsed; a deep, guttural rumble that crawled up their spines before a thunderous roar ripped across the field, shaking ash loose from the blackened stones.
[Field Boss Detected: Molten Drake (Lv.8)]
[HP: 132,000 / 132,000]
The Molten Drake erupted from a fissure in the scorched earth, scattering chunks of glowing rock. Its body was a living forge — scales the color of fresh magma, each plate pulsing with dull, molten light.
Heat shimmered off its frame, warping the air around it.
Cracks ran along its obsidian horns, glowing like veins of fire. When it exhaled, the breath came out as thick smoke laced with sparks. Its tail ended in a jagged chunk of cooled lava, heavy enough to crater the ground with every swing.
Its eyes, twin embers of molten gold, swept across the party, not with mindless rage but the calm, territorial malice of something that knew this was its domain.
Obi's's eyes lit up. "Okay, hear me out what if we could tame it? Imagine flying this beast around the map."
Point laughed. "Yeah and imagine the death screen right after."
Iris crossed her arms. "She's not wrong. You'd fall off mid-flight, probably while waving at people."
"Rude" Obi shot back. "I'd at least fall off in style."
Zack didn't even bother to glance over. "How about we focus before you volunteer yourself as the main course?"
The party observed the drake for a short while, as it stalked along the ridge, the heat causing the air to shimmer.
"We can't accomplish much with just five of us; we need more players to take this thing down. We'll leave it for now"
Zack placed a pin on the map without looking up. "Obi, get someone you know near the marketplace to spread the coordinates" he stated, his tone flat.
"Let others take the chances. We'll arrive later and snatch the boss mid fight."
Obi was already grinning before Zack even finished. The plan hit all the right notes; simple, risky and delightfully underhanded.
"This could really work" Obi said, pulling up his chat list. The notion of stealing from hundreds of players alone filled him with excitement. "Alright, I'll have someone market the coordinates in the plaza. Give it ten minutes — it'll go viral."
He began typing quickly, messaging a trader friend. In no time, the coordinates appeared with the label:
[Verified Field Boss Coordinates: Molten Drake (Lv.8)]
Purchase now before someone else claims the first kill.
Marketplace – Central Plaza
The plaza erupted the moment the notice went up. Players clustered around the board, shoving for a better look.
"Molten Drake? At level eight? What even is that?"
"Bro, this game's barely a week old, how do we already have dragons?"
A newer player squinted at the posting. "Is it a mini-boss? A raid boss? A pet? Someone explain!"
"Idiot, pets don't have 132k HP."
Another voice chimed in, panicked. "Wait—this thing's real? It has a verified tag!"
"Who verified it?"
"Your Mom"
A beat of silence.
The guy froze… then spun around sharply.
"WHO SAID THAT?" he barked, glaring at every face in the crowd. "Come on, say it again! I dare you!"
Players instantly avoided eye contact.
Someone pretended to read the notice board.
Another suddenly found the ground very interesting.
"I swear" he growled, pacing in a slow circle, "when I find you, I'm going to drag your level back to zero."
But the tension dissolved almost instantly as the reality of the boss hit everyone at once. Excitement rippled through the crowd, wiping away the awkwardness like it never happened.
"Forming party! Need tank and healer!"
"LF DPS — moving out now!"
"Bro, I'm level two… should I go?"
"Just run fast and don't die!"
Within moments, the plaza shifted from light bickering to full-on mobilization, players scrambling to recruit, restock, and sprint toward the coordinates.
The hunt for the Molten Drake had officially begun.
Obi laughed under his breath. "Tell you what, being the one pulling the strings feels pretty damn good"
Point smirked. "So what's next, boss?"
"For the moment" Zack replied, facing the ash plains ahead, "we'll disregard the drake. We'll look for a chest or an an unclaimed dungeon and we'll secure its first clear"
The rest of the party nodded in agreement and the group moved on, leaving the glowing fissure and the chaos they stirred behind.
The scorched plains gradually transformed into a canyon, its walls faintly glowing with molten rock veins. The air became hotter, each breath tasting of ash and iron.
After almost an hour of exploration, Haze halted. "Wait a sec… did anyone else notice that?"
A faint heat distortion blurred the cliff face ahead, like a mirage refusing to dissipate.
Zack raised a hand and cast Detect. A blue light sliced through the distortion.
[Hidden Dungeon Entrance Discovered]
Name: Ember Sanctum – Element: Fire
Status: Not Yet Cleared
A gigantic blackened stone gate appeared, adorned with runes that glowed like fiery embers.
Bursts of scorching heat surged out of the archway, feeding into the swirling crimson portal at its heart. The heat was so extreme that the group's HP bars started to decline by 2 damage per second just from being nearby.
Obi's grinned. "A fire dungeon. Of course. We're basically stepping into an oven"
Zack brushed him off. As the team's tank, he had already equipped three items that boosted his fire resistance. The heat barely impacted his HP bar.
While examining the portal, Zack confirmed its status as still uncleared.
His Detect skill now provided more detailed insights; since leveling up, dungeon information had become much more thorough.
"Wonderful" he muttered.
Iris agreed, gripping her staff tightly. "Then let's make it official."
Zack unsheathed his weapon, his eyes reflecting the burning light filling the dungeon.
"Alright. Let's secure that first clear bonus."
[Entering Dungeon: Ember Sanctum]
50% experience boost and 20% additional drop rate.
The first chamber opened like a volcanic throat, rivers of molten rock on either side, an obsidian bridge cracked and crumbling. The moment they stepped onto it, something stirred at the far end, a sentinel, dragging a sword as large as a wagon.
[Lava Sentinel – Lv.6 (Elite)]
HP: 10,500
It let out a roar, scattering embers across the bridge. Smaller flame creatures emerged from the sides; sentries of flame and lava.
Zack commanded, "Obi, take the front"
"Already on my way" Obi sprinted forward, shield raised. The first Lava Spawn launched a ball of flame rock, Obi defended against it, heat exploding in his face.
–64 HP (Blocked)
Burn Applied – 15 HP/sec
He responded with a shield slam, the blow shattering the smaller creature's molten shell.
[Shield Bash] → Critical! (310 Damage)
"Go!" he yelled.
Haze zipped past him, blades glistening red in the glow. Her shadow split — a second silhouette mirroring her actions.
[Shadow Mirage Activated]
The two Hazes weaved around the spawn, cutting through molten joints.
Dual Strike – 182 + 120 (Mirage: 60%)
Bleed Applied – 36/sec
Steam escaped as Point and Shoot unleashed a cold flash from the rear.
[Frost Shard] → 502 Damage (Effective!)
The flame creature froze mid-attack, cracks spreading across its glowing core before it shattered completely.
[Lava Spawn Defeated]
EXP +120
The Sentinel advanced, each step sending vibrations through the bridge. Its blade glowed white-hot.
Zack lifted his dagger.
"Barrier up"
A pale dome of light flickered briefly.
[Divine Barrier]
The Sentinel's sword crashed down.
–142 (Obi, Blocked)
–41 [Fire Splash – Party]
"I'm okay!" Obi shouted through clenched teeth, pushing back against the blow.
Zack replied. "Then keep him occupied"
Zack lifted his hand, arcane energy gathering at his fingertips.
[Arcane Surge] → A lance of ice formed above his palm and shot directly through the golem's chest.
[Ice Lance] → 556 Damage
The red-hot armor cracked apart, letting out a sharp, steaming hiss.
PointAndShoot followed with another Frost Shard, the ice freezing part of its leg joint.
–509 Damage
Freeze Chance Triggered – Movement Slowed
Iris called. "Keep him there!"
She lifted her staff, golden light rippling outward.
[Sanctuary Field] → Heals +60 HP/2 sec for 10 sec (AoE)
Obi exhaled as his wounds sealed up, just in time for his counterstrike. He braced, charged his weapon and slammed down with full strength.
[Explosive Impact] → 250% Physical Damage = 495
The blast of molten shards illuminated the bridge like a second sun.
The Sentinel staggered, its left arm half-melted.
"Now!" Zack muttered.
Haze and her shadow blinked behind it — twin blades flashing.
[Backstab] → 410 (Critical)
[Shadow Mirage Combo] → 318 + 202
Iris swung her staff, whispering - Heal + Holy Ward
Zack lifted his dagger one final time. "Let's end this."
[Chain Lightning] → 368
The Sentinel's body overloaded, glowing cracks bursting outward before it crumbled into glowing remnants.
[Lava Sentinel Defeated]
EXP +550
Loot: Ember Core ×1, Blazing Gauntlets ×1 (Uncommon)
Obi grinned, sliding his sword back into its sheath. "Too easy now"
"Sure" Zack said, smirking.
PointAndShoot was already rummaging through the loot window, eyes bright. "Blazing Gauntlets—Uncommon tier. Check this out."
[Blazing Gauntlets (Uncommon)]
+15 Physical Attack + 20 HP
+8 Fire Resistance
+3% Critical Rate
As Obi already had a decent gauntlet, it went to Haze.
Haze stretched, rotating her wrists and opening and closing her hands as she tested the fit of her new gauntlets.
Zack's gaze followed the molten-lit corridor ahead. The walls breathed heat and the faint pulse of a glowing doorway beckoned deeper inside.
They moved forward as one. The next chambers threw everything the dungeon had left at them —
[Lava Hound – Lv.5]
[Molten Shrieker – Lv.6]
[Fire Sprite – Lv.7 (Elite)]
The team tore through each wave in practiced rhythm.
Obi drew their focus, shield gleaming red with reflected flame.
Zack's Ice Lances carved glowing streaks through the heat, while Iris's healing fields shimmered cool beneath their feet.
Haze and her shadow blurred in tandem, finishing anything still twitching.
Point And Shoot's Frost Shards exploded midair, leaving frozen scars across the burning floor.
By the time the final Sprite dissolved into cinders, the system pinged softly in Zack's vision.
[Dungeon Progress: 93% Cleared]