Valek is a professional power-leveling gamer who makes extra money by helping people grind monsters and level up.
On the first day of the open beta for Eternal Throne, players can choose from five difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Abyss.
He chooses Abyss without hesitation. Only Abyss offers a chance at great starting stats, and that makes an account valuable.
He doesn’t even notice the tiny print on the last line of the user agreement.
When he opens his eyes again, he’s in Mistbrook Town, the starting village.
He’s spawned here thousands of times and could run the eight-minute speedrun route with his eyes closed.
But something feels wrong as soon as he strikes with his first sword swing. Why is my health bar UI gone?
On the second swing, the blade meets real resistance as it cuts into the goblin. Warm liquid splashes across the back of his hand. It’s red.
Why is the blood in the game red?!
Suppressing his unease, he opens the System menu to log out and check the announcements.
Inventory, map, quests, settings: every option a game should have is there.
Except the exit button...
