Chapter 8 – Level 10

Gritting his teeth against the biting wind, Yone drove his fingers into the jagged rocks as he climbed and climbed the 600 meter tall mountain separating the low level zone with the high level zone.

‘If this was after the first update, I wouldn’t even be halfway up this mountain.’ Yone exhaled, gripping a jagged rock as he hoisted himself up.

At the beginning of Eclipse Online ( First Version ), stamina loss didn’t exist. But once the first player reached level 10, everything changed. Running, climbing, and even dodging consumed stamina. There would be no more endless sprinting across the map or endless fighting.

‘Players truly have no idea what’s coming.’

At the top of the mountain, Yone gazed at the beautiful scenery of a deep, massive lake stretching to where his eyes could see, and then went to his profile with a thought as he checked the forums, he was curious what’s happening in the game right now.

(World Forum: All players can also choose to head to their respective kingdom or continents’ forums for more friendly vibes).

“Damn it, these assassin guilds and top guilds guilds are way too much, they bullying the weak time and time again! They just killed my whole party as we were leveling up in our guild’s zone, our spot snatched away and we cannot do anything against them.” A player that just hit half the bar of level 1 raged as he just lost all of it and returned to zero EXP.

“Hahaha, those are most likely End World top players abusing the fact that killing isn’t prohibited for now and doesn’t make NPC’s hate you or ban you from entering any town, city or kingdom.” A player commented, amused by the suffering others faced.

“Laugh now you d*ck head, I beg you to act this way when you just hit level two and get sent back to level one instantly. This is no joke, kid. The administration has to fix this issue as fast as possible. We newbies cannot farm a single monster before we get killed, or they will steal our EXP.” Another commented, clearly furious by the kid’s ignorant behavior.

“Cry me a river, just get better, xdd trash.”

The comments were mainly about the fact that killing other players wasn’t punished and that the star above their heads didn’t turn red but stayed green.

Yone scrolled through the forum, a smirk subconsciously forming on his face,” Newbies are already crying about PKers? Classic.”

He wasn’t surprised. Right now, the system didn’t punish player-killing, making leveling zones a bloodbath for all to join. It was the exact same in his past life.

But what everyone didn’t know was that in a few days, the first level 10 player will trigger an update.

“They think the top guilds are untouchable. Just wait until NPC’s start treating them like criminals inside the city.”

Eclipse Online’s AI enforced total player privacy. No favoritism, no interference, just pure competition. Nobody, not even its creators, could track real-world identities, much less other random players or companies.

This prevented outside human conglomerates from abusing new rising players and exploiting them in real life by threatening or taking them hostage, among other things. Eclipse Online AI cut its roots by protecting everyone’s information, even from its designers.

Obviously, such a mechanism was only allowed because everyone behind Eclipse Online approved of the AI’s taking absolute control. They will not be able to gain any control in the future except for basic things like arranging tournaments in real life or similar things.

To make matters even safer for players and more for newbies, several things that weren’t inside the last famous VR game called End World were existing inside of Eclipse Online and will be updated after the first player reaches level 10.

‘Right now, the top guilds ruled with no consequences. But soon? NPCs would start treating them like criminals. After five kills, players would be blacklisted. At ten, they’d be locked out of every town and city, forced to live as fugitives.’ He thought, clearly waiting for their reaction on that day.

Yone absentmindedly checked his profile, scanning his reflection in the character screen. His real face stared back at him, with tired eyes and a lean frame, every detail exactly as it was in the real world.

‘Tch. No wonder I got recognized so easily last time.’ Yone thought.

In his past life, guild elites or anyone worth something in the game never had this problem. Once Level 10 hit, top players or anyone that wished to hide their appearance for safety reasons could alter their appearance by 10%, just enough to avoid recognition.

A simple feature. But one he never used back then, thinking that none would choose to mess with him in real life given his bad gameplay.

‘This time? I’d make sure nobody recognized me. A 10% change might not seem like much, but it was more than enough, subtle but effective, and just enough to slip under the radar. Until then, I’d have to play it safe.’ He thought with a serious face.

In fact, Shen was about to have almost everything at some point until the world learned his real name. What started as admiration turned into suffocating pressure. If his identity hadn’t leaked, he could’ve reached the top. Instead, he had to lie low, afraid that if he made drastic moves in the game, his family would be targeted in the real world.

Dang!

Ping!…Ping!

Suddenly, Yone heard several swords and shields clashing against each other. ‘This…There shouldn’t be any players in this place, just an hour after the release, what’s happening here?’

Leaning closer at the edge of the mountain on the other side, he saw two parties fighting each other at the lake’s shore, each consisting of five members with levels varying between one and two.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep