Its limbs curved like fangs, made from the fused wood from Shademere with something else I haven't seen so far. The string was durable but flexible, made out of Broodspider Silk.

  And the skill was the ultimate movement skill. It was much more versatile compared to Catapult Legs, even though it also had a larger cooldown. If I mastered it, I could be a virtual Spider-Man.

  With all the bonuses to applying poison, I felt really good about the upcoming tournament. Not just my stats, my skill repertoire was also perfectly suited for pvp combat now. With all the boost to agility, I should have also been faster than most players, since AGI was a pretty lackluster stat and I couldn't imagine many people wasting points on it.

  I tested the draw. Smooth. Whip-fast recovery. The new arrows had also felt lighter than the ones before, despite giving +6 attack power now.

  "I imagine it will take a moment to master it, but when you do?" Kev noted. "You'll be flying over rooftops."

  He wasn't wrong.

  "The Wolfclaw Winged Arrows are based off of the Sandsting wings and poison glands. Mostly aesthetic, but the attack value is pretty good."

  "You guys really went all out." I nodded to all of them, while examining the inventory window.

  "You earned it," Danzaburou said. "We don't put our names on anything less than exceptional. And this?" He nodded at the full set. "This is exactly that."

  "You'll look like a freakin' raid boss," one of the two unknown crafters added, grinning.

  "Yes," Danzaburou agreed. "But Orion... Don't be too cocky."

  He paused, changing a look with Kev.

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  The two of them sighed in unison.

  "This is some of the best work we have done to date," Kev started.

  "But it is not the best," Danza finished. After a while he continued.

  "We have made three full sets so far, with set bonuses. Yours is the second strongest one by the looks of it. It doesn't fall behind too much, but it's still obvious."

  "One of the Guardians have comissioned an armor and we have made him a set, and it came out slightly better. Maybe it's because heavy armor is a bit overtuned for now, but he became a juggernaut for sure," Kev added.

  I pondered for a moment. This armor set was top notch. To go up against something even better made me feel... excited.

  "Don't worry," I said. "That's just the natural course of crafting. And in all honesty, I love a challenge."

  "That's good," one of the crafters said. "Because players from the other three villages have been seen going through Carpa in the direction of Oakenlight, and from what we have seen, it will surely be an intense event"

  That was something I hoped for.

  "Also, Orion," Danzaburou said carefully, and I started to wonder if they were doing this to me on purpose.

  "What now? "I said, feinting annoyance.

  "We might have made a level 15 Epic staff for one of Carpa's Arcanists."

  This final information made me freeze in my thoughts for a bit. I immediately thought of Cyrus and his Flaming Hydra spell. I haven't seen many top tier mages, and he was a logical guess as to who could afford the price of a level 15 Epic staff's craft.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Who was it?" I asked, but I knew it was futile. These crafters were some of the most loyal people I have met in the game, after all.

  "Sorry, client-crafter privilege. But we can tell you one thing: don't get hit."

  I shrugged. Despite my high quality equipment, I was almost certain someone like Cyrus could still one shot me with his epic spell if he had an epic weapon.

  "Not getting hit is my specialty," I smiled.

  "Yeah, we know," he smiled back. "So payment is due next week, I presume?"

  "The moment I win, I will send you the remaining 14 gold."

  "Alright, but don't forget: it's 34 if you don't place," Kev added with a mischievous smile.

  "Don't get your hopes up," I laughed. "With these items there's virtually no way for me to lose."

  "We will root for you, Orion," Danza said, shaking my hand.

  I thanked them for everything and decided to start my journey south, towards the village of Oakenlight.

  Despite their warnings and dire information, I was not worried.

  I might have almost died a couple times during the week. I might have almost fallen to Lorrando's ambush and I might have struggled against the Broodspider.

  But it was time for me to stop worrying about my identity.

  It was time to play the way I hadn't played in a long time. And a tournament was the perfect ground for that.

  It was the perfect ground to be Bow God Zephyr.

  The village glowed with early afternoon gold, shadows long across the plaza, festival enjoyers living their lives without any worries. I stood at the village's soutern gate, just beyond the blacksmith's, by the stone bridge.

  I had about five hours until 8 pm, my usual logout time, and the trip to Oakenlight was a bit more than two hours. It was a straightforward road following the river from start to finish.

  I wanted to spend a bit of time scouting around Oakenlight, so I decided to head there early. With the Threadweaver Longbow slung across my back and all the warg-hide armor I wore, snug and perfectly contoured, I let loose of a Silk Shot and jumped up a tree with it.

  It was a delicate skill, but I figured it out right away. It needed precision and balance to work as intended, but precision and balance had already got me to the top of the world once, and it was going to do it again.

  The path from Carpa curved gently through open hills at first. Here, firefly-like motes flecked the vicinity. They shimmered in and out of the bushes lazily. A few players gathered near an old stone bridge, fishing or chatting casually. None of them recognized me, but I did catch a couple awed glances. A full black armor like this definitely caught attention.

  As the path sloped downward after about two hours, the terrain shifted. The air grew warmer, touched with the tropical feeling of sea wind. I was getting closer.

  To the south I could just make out the distant glimmer of open water. Oakenlight was known for it; the coastal breeze, the sea-washed cliffs, the gently humming waves and the blobbing of boats of multiple sizes gave it a very idillic, port-like atmosphere. Unlike Carpa's forests or Dryhollow's mountains, Oakenlight was open, inviting and built for breadth.

  I passed a milestone carved into mossed stone that showed the directions to Oakenlight to the south, Carpa to the north, Ravenmere to the south-west and Dukewood to north-east.

  I fired a Silk Shot again to a tree on the slope, let the thread yank me forward in a diagonal arc and took a breather after landing.

  God, this is fun, I muttered.

  I had to be careful though; I didn't want anyone spotting me using this skill. It could very well save my life tomorrow, when the tournament comes.

  Midway down the road, a few mobs appeared. Saltfang Hyenas and a bigger Reedback Jackal that prowled the fields near the coast. They were level 13 and 16 respecitvely. Easy enough.

  I cleared them with crisp precision, storing hides on the fly. The poison from my gear was nasty, stacking damage more often than one would think. I didn't mind bagging the EXP either.

  By the time i reached the Oakenlight northern gate, the sun had begun descending, casting long silhouettes over the half-sunken docks and the rooftops of the village. It was past 5 pm, and the ocean glittered beyond like a sheet of flame.

  Wow, this is new.

  Oakenlight was bigger than Carpa. Not a city, but a true hub with multiple vendor squares, tiered walkways, banners strung from the bell tower. Players filled the streets, some of them already training or brawling in test matches at the festival fields.

  I stood for a while, watching as new faces passed by in armor sets I had never seen, NPCs calling out from the broadwalks with sea-themed events and culinary sensations, fishing derbies and other things I had not yet experienced.

  For the first time in about a week, I felt like a newcomer once again.

  The air in Oakenlight was much heavier due to the sea. The wind brought salt and a mix of sounds with it; the cry of gulls, the creak of boats in the harbor, the laughter of players loitering near food stalls and open-forge crafting stations. The whole place pulsed with life.

  My boots thudded against cobbled stone as I wandered deeper into town. The central square was packed with players, some posing in flashy gear, most likely for screenshots, others were sparring with each other, but most were just enjoying the festival and the ambience.

  I was not new to tournaments, so I instantly spotted multiple people who appeared to be sizing others up, quietly exchanging info and forming last minute practice groups.

  I spotted a stand that had “Register for the PvP Tournament” on a makeshift billboard next to it. The line wasn't too bad so I decided to check it out, and I found the forum user Shieldbreaker there. I paid him 5 gold to officially take my spot in the tournament.

  "You're Orion from the forums! The one who led the raid against the Woe of Riverhear!" He said excitedly.

  "In the flesh," I smiled.

  "Yeah, you PM-d me on the forum so I kept a spot for you. Great to see you actually turned up! Tomorrows tournament is going to be insane," he looked excited.

  "I hope so," I agreed. "So single elimination, right? That means, 6 rounds until finals?"

  "Seven, actually. So many people have signed up we decided to expand it into 128 players."

  "Wow, that's a huge prize pool."

  "640 gold, yeah. It was prizing for top 8 only before, and we decided to keep it that way, just doubling the rewards. We ask every participant if that's fine with them or whether they want prizing for the top 16, but so far almost everyone was fine with keeping it as is. What about you?"

  "More gold for me when I win," I said.

  "That's the spirit! Alright, so a bit of briefing before tomorrow. We start at 9 and we will occupy all of the beach west to the village. Association workers are actually helping us setting it up as we speak. This game is insane, right? It's like we gave quests to NPCs," He laughed.

  It really was impressive. A player made event influenced not just the daily life of a single NPC, but changed how an official NPC organization worked for a whole day. That was not something I have ever heard of from other games.

  "Every round me and my two colleagues will cast one of the matches, so three matches per round are going to be recorded and uploaded later, when devs open access to youtube and other streaming services. We will obviously upload them to the forums ASAP as well. Both players in the match have to give consent to the recording though, so if you don't want to be casted, just say the word right then and there," He took a brief pause to catch his breath.

  "After we get to top 4, obviously there will only be 2 matches to cast, and then we will cast the match for the finals while a friend of ours, Zenith Blade will take over in casting the match for third place. He arrives in the evening, so he won't be joining us earlier than that."

  "Why not do 3rd place match and then finals?" I asked. "I'm sure many of the same people will be interested in both matches, and this way they can only watch one of them.

  "Time restriction. It's how we agreed upon with the Association," Shieldbreaker answered. "We'll be cutting it close as it is. Everyone can watch both matches on the forums."

  That was a fair reason.

  "Are you professional casters?"

  "Yeah, we have casted the german Valhalla regional scene," he smiled. "Nothing big or fancy, but we do have some experience."

  "Then I'm looking forward to it," I smiled.

  "So do we. Further briefing will start at 8.30 am tomorrow. Welcome to Oakenlight, Orion."

  "Thank you."

  With that I left the stand and decided to look for potential threats for tomorrow.