The moment the Talon Warrior activated Berserk, its attack speed skyrocketed instantly. The bone blade in its hand sliced through the air with a sharp whistle, hacking and slashing wildly after the Shadowwood Panther.

  Kairon issued an attack command to the Shadowwood Panther.

  In response, the panther pushed off the ground and leaped, soaring clean over the Talon Warrior's head. It unleashed [Rip] and [Claw Strike] in midair in perfect sync, both razor-sharp attacks landing with pinpoint precision on the monster's vital weak points.

  -82!

  -35!

  The moment it landed, the panther twisted and snapped its tail around for momentum, then drove a brutal [Rip] straight into the Talon Warrior's neck.

  -123! A bright red critical hit number exploded across the screen.

  The Talon Warrior let out a shrill, agonized wail, then crumpled heavily to the ground, falling still forever.

  Kairon bent down to pick up the single copper coin the monster had dropped, then slipped silently toward the next mob, the Shadowwood Panther falling into [Shadow Stealth] at his side.

  According to the System prompt, the quest item for the Moonfeather Owlbeast Summoning Pact quest had a mere 1 in 500 drop chance. That meant he had no way of knowing how many arakkoa he'd have to kill to get his hands on the quest item. With good luck, it might drop from the very next kill.

  With bad luck, he'd likely be stuck here grinding for hours.

  With the game's daily operating window drawing to a close, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to finish the quest before the servers went down.

  Luckily, the arakkoa granted a massive amount of experience, likely due to the scaling level mechanic. That single arakkoa he'd just killed had given him a full 120 experience points.

  With no other players around to steal his kills, even if he didn't get the quest item, grinding for experience here was more than worth his while.

  He killed a handful more arakkoa in quick succession, yet the quest item still hadn't dropped. Before he knew it, he'd pushed deep into the heart of the nest.

  Just as he was steadily advancing toward his next target, a commotion suddenly erupted from deep within the nest.

  Kairon looked toward the sound and saw a girl riding on the back of a Shadowwood Panther, sprinting straight toward him at breakneck speed.

  There was another Nature Mage player out here?

  The sight made him freeze for a split second, genuinely caught off guard. The Shadowwood Panther was a base summon for the Nature Mage class, not a mount-type summon unit by design.

  To pull off such smooth mounted control spoke volumes about just how skilled this female player was at commanding her summons.

  Hot on her heels, a Talon Warrior barreled after her, snarling furiously. A little further back, two Arakkoa Sorcerers raised their hands again and again, hurling instant-cast Curses at the sprinting Shadowwood Panther.

  In the split second he was frozen, the female player on the Shadowwood Panther sprinted right past him, dragging the lone Talon Warrior he'd been targeting right along with her in the process.

  The girl was clearly in a panic. While the melee Talon Warriors couldn't keep up with her Shadowwood Panther, the ranged Arakkoa Sorcerers had her locked on target. Their curses landed on the summon one after another, dragging down her own health bar right along with it.

  To be fair, this player's mechanics weren't bad at all. If she hadn't pulled extra mobs, she'd probably have whittled down the original Talon Warrior chasing her to death already. But now, with two Berserk-activated Talon Warriors closing in on her from both sides, she didn't dare stop to fight back.

  With her health bar down to a third of its total, Kairon thought for a moment. We're both Nature Mages, two poor souls stuck with the same underrated class. Might as well give her a hand.

  He immediately issued a command to his Shadowwood Panther, which used its stealth to slip silently behind one of the Arakkoa Sorcerers.

  At the same time, he used the cover to circle to the monster's rear flank, the power of nature surging around his staff, and struck in perfect sync with the panther's [Rip].

  -55!

  -135! A blazing red critical hit number.

  The Arakkoa Sorcerer's health bar dropped straight to zero. Caster mobs had inherently far lower health and defense than Talon Warriors, and the Shadowwood Panther followed up with a [Claw Strike], dropping the sorcerer to the ground instantly. It hadn't dropped a single thing.

  When the female player noticed someone had stepped in to help, she froze for a split second. That split second was all it took for the two Talon Warriors chasing her to land a hit, her health bar dropping sharply. She immediately directed her Shadowwood Panther to turn and keep running.

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  This time, though, she didn't just mindlessly sprint for the nest entrance. Instead, she directed her Shadowwood Panther to kite the mobs in wide circles around Kairon.

  Seeing this, Kairon nodded to himself. She wasn't an idiot, at least. His help hadn't been wasted.

  If she'd run straight for the exit without looking back, the mobs would have leashed and returned to their patrol path the second she was out of range, and Kairon would have become their primary target on the way back, swarmed and attacked by all of them.

  But by keeping the mobs in combat and circling them around him, she ensured he wouldn't pull aggro as long as he didn't attack, letting him take the mobs out one by one.

  This move alone proved she wasn't selfish. If she had been, she wouldn't have cared if the person who helped her got caught in the crossfire. She'd have just run to safety and leashed the mobs without a second thought.

  The biggest threat right now was the remaining Arakkoa Sorcerer. Its endless barrage of curses would whittle the female player's health down to zero sooner or later.

  Kairon broke into a sprint, closing the distance on the casting Arakkoa Sorcerer in a few strides. He leaped into the air, his staff wrapped in the power of nature, and brought it crashing down hard on the sorcerer's chest.

  The five Nature Energy Stars he'd accumulated from his previous kills were full, making this the perfect chance to test the damage of his [Nature Blade]. These arakkoa were bird monsters, at the very least. A hell of a lot better than the pus-oozing corrupted abominations outside.

  He had zero qualms about getting up close and swinging his staff at them.

  Ding! [Nature Blade] cast completion rating: Average. Proficiency +2!

  -89!

  Kairon's brows furrowed slightly. The damage was about the same as his Shadowwood Panther's [Rip], but it was his first time casting the skill, so an average completion rating was to be expected.

  A skill's cast completion rating was ranked from lowest to highest: Poor, Average, Good, Perfect, and the highest rank, Limit Break.

  A Limit Break completion rating dealt massive damage, capping out at double the skill's maximum damage potential.

  In the late game, this was the pinnacle of mechanical skill that every pro player spent their entire career chasing. Even being able to hit a Limit Break completion rating 20% of the time in combat was enough to land you among the top tier of players in the game.

  He knew the brutal truth of the system all too well: aside from the starter skills granted on character creation, every learnable skill in the game capped out at level 20. Each rank bumped up the skill’s base damage, but the proficiency needed to level it was astronomical.

  Even in his past life, when he’d capped out at level 120, his most mastered skill had barely scraped level 6.

  He directed his Shadowwood Panther to land two consecutive [Rip] strikes, dropping the low-health Arakkoa Sorcerer to the ground instantly, then bent down to pick up the single copper coin it had dropped.

  He then turned to face the oncoming Shadowwood Panther, the two big cats passing each other in a blur. Kairon had accumulated exactly two Nature Energy Stars, and he swung his staff to cast [Nature Blade], landing the hit with pinpoint precision on the low-health Talon Warrior and killing it instantly.

  Right on its heels, the Shadowwood Panther landed a [Claw Strike], a blazing red critical hit popping up: -69! The strike successfully pulled full aggro from the last remaining full-health Talon Warrior.

  "What are you standing there staring at? Get over here and help!" Kairon shouted toward the female player a short distance away.

  After killing multiple mobs in a row, his energy was completely drained, and he'd lost a quarter of his total health. It wasn't like he was afraid of facing the Berserked Talon Warrior alone, but he wasn't about to do all the work while she stood there and watched.

  "Ah? Right!" A clear, soft female voice rang out, tinged with a hint of panic.

  She immediately directed her Shadowwood Panther to charge forward and attack the Talon Warrior, but the damage it dealt was underwhelming, to say the least.

  [Rip] -36!

  [Claw Strike] -17!

  No wonder she’d been struggling to make a dent. This was about the hardest she could hit; her summon likely running nothing but starter gear with zero enhancements, barely a third of the damage his own panther put out.

  Kairon shook his head in exasperation, and during the Talon Warrior's attack recovery animation, he spun around and swung his staff, casting [Nature Blade] once more. It was another Average completion rating, but the Shadowwood Panther followed up with two consecutive [Rip] strikes, dropping the Talon Warrior to the ground instantly.

  With a clatter, the monster dropped a skill book the second it hit the ground, along with a single copper coin and an Enhancement Stone. For the early days of launch, this was an incredible loot drop.

  Under the female player's watchful gaze, Kairon stepped forward and picked up every item from the ground. He opened the skill book, and a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. It was [Rake], exactly the opener skill he'd been missing most.

  When cast out of stealth, this skill applied a stacking bleed effect to the target. When cast from stealth, it also applied an additional 5-second stun effect, while retaining the bleed damage. It was far stronger than a Rogue's [Cheap Shot], which only applied a stun with no base damage whatsoever.

  The female player just stood there watching, not saying a word, which made Kairon feel a little awkward. He immediately shared the full loot information with her and spoke up. "Everything's here. Just say the word on how you want to split it."

  When he asked her, the girl hesitated for a moment, dismissed her summons, and spoke softly to Kairon. "I don't need any of the stuff. Thank you for saving me earlier. My name's Dreamshore."

  The second he heard that ID, a jolt shot through Kairon’s chest, a flood of memories from his past life crashing in all at once.

  Dreamshore. The only top-tier Nature Mage in the entire global World of Eldrath server. It wasn’t that her mechanical skill was unmatched; she was legendary for being the only player who’d stuck with the overlooked, underrated class through thick and thin, and forged it into something formidable.

  What catapulted her to infamy was a single siege defense battle.

  Everyone knew Nature Mages only earned a spot in late-game raid teams for their Ancient Tree Sentinel’s innate [Resurrect] skill: the only ability in all of World of Eldrath that could resurrect players mid-combat. Without it, almost no high-end raid would ever bring a Nature Mage along.

  But Dreamshore, through some hidden quest no one else ever uncovered, had unlocked the forbidden skill [World Resurrection].

  In that make-or-break siege, her guild had been on the brink of total collapse when she cast that single spell. Every fallen player within a three-kilometer radius was resurrected on the spot, turning the tide of the entire battle and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

  The cost was brutal: she lost 20 full levels instantly, and the skill carried a 180-day cooldown.

  Faced with this future top-tier player, Kairon couldn't help but feel a stir of emotion. What caught him completely off guard, though, was that she was just a girl, no older than twelve or thirteen years old.

  A thought slowly took shape in his mind. If he built a good relationship with her now, she would undoubtedly become one of his most reliable allies in the days to come.

  And as he followed that train of thought, he realized something else. Could he track down every other famous top-tier player from his past life and recruit them to his side before they'd even made a name for themselves?