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“…?”

A question mark seemed to float above Zane’s head—not because he had a problem, but because something was clearly not right. This double standard was ridiculous!

Wait—beginner accounts shouldn’t even trigger this kind of storyline, right?

“Shiu!”
“What? I’m busy here,” Shiu grumbled.
“Did you pick up that rabbit-hunting quest?”
“Already finished it. I’m working on the follow-up quest now.”
“Is everyone getting the same quest?”

“Of course! Beginner quests are always the same. The rabbits at the village entrance get snatched up as soon as they respawn. If you don’t hurry, you won’t even get a chance to pick up scraps!”
“What?! It’s that competitive?”
“Yeah, get grinding, or you’ll fall way behind later when more people flood in!”
“Got it.”

…

At least Shiu’s quest was the same as his.

Could it be that Starry has some sort of special advantage? With that thought, Zane opened his character panel.

His stats were weak—just as expected. Almost all his equipment slots were empty, except for the default starter cloth gear (with no attributes).

Sitting in his inventory was a single Worn Iron Sword. He inspected it, and its attributes popped up.

Zane equipped it immediately, and his attack jumped to 11-12. Finally, he wasn’t completely useless. As he glanced over his equipment slots one last time, something caught his eye.

Wait—why is the necklace slot occupied?

He quickly opened the necklace attributes.

At the end of the ancient necklace was a crimson gemstone. Isn’t this the very same necklace I had worn since childhood?

“…”

Forget it for now. Zane decided to check Starry’s stats panel instead.

What the heck? Attack power 30-35?! That was completely broken! And she was only level 1?

He quickly checked her equipment slots. There was the default starter cloth gear and a Worn Iron Sword in the inventory.

Wait—her weapon slot isn’t empty.

Rare?!

Was this a joke? According to the official site, the game had a strict drop rate and equipment tier system.

The equipment tiers were: Common → Uncommon → Rare → Epic → Unique → Legendary → Mystic → Spirit Artifact → Terra Artifact → Heaven Artifact → Sacred Artifact → Divine Artifact. Beyond that, no one even knew.

But now, just minutes into the server launch, she already had a rare weapon?!

“Shiu, did you get any equipment drops?”
“Nope, this crappy drop rate is ridiculous. If you get a common weapon before level 10, consider yourself lucky. Why? Did you get something?” Shiu asked without looking up.
“Nah, just asking,” Zane replied casually.

He wasn’t ready to share any of this yet and brushed it off as nothing.

The Autumn Moon Sword—the very sword left by Starry’s master before his disappearance—had appeared alongside her in the game. Honestly, things were getting harder and harder to understand.

“Hey, miss! All by yourself? I can help you level up~” A flirtatious young man sidled up to her.

“No need. I’ll level up on my own.” Starry felt disgusted that someone would even try to flirt with her.

Better to head out and start grinding mobs.

This was the golden moment of the server launch, and every corner of her view was crowded with players. Clearly, Dreamscape’s promotional efforts had paid off.

Leveling up came first. Starry might have impressive attack power, but her HP was nothing special. If she rushed to the cave north of the village too soon, she might get killed instantly.

So Zane and Starry walked side by side toward the village entrance.

Along the way, many players marveled at Starry’s stunning appearance. However, with time pressing during the launch, no one lingered to disturb her further.

…

The rabbit spawn point at the village entrance was already in complete chaos.

The moment a rabbit appeared, at least five players would immediately stab it with their swords.

The freshly spawned rabbit had only 50 HP. How could it withstand such torture? It didn’t even last 2 seconds before dropping dead.

As a side note, in Dreamscape, the damage mechanics were not strictly determined by raw attack and defense values. Factors like the force of the strike, angle, weak points, and skillful breaks all influenced the final damage numbers.

Because of this, the gap between skilled players and beginners would only grow wider, making the gameplay feel far more realistic.

How am I supposed to compete in this chaos? Zane felt his head ache.

Suddenly, a rabbit spawned right next to Zane’s feet.

Almost instinctively, Starry’s body reacted first, delivering a clean, decisive strike.

The experience bar visibly jumped forward by a small notch. It seemed that defeating 10 rabbits would be enough to reach level 2.

“What the heck?! This player just one-shot a rabbit at level 1? Are you serious?” a nearby player said in disbelief. If they hadn’t seen the damage numbers themselves, they wouldn’t have known what had just happened.

“Probably just got lucky—a crit plus weak point hit and a skill break or something. Besides, look at her weapon. It’s clearly different from ours. Maybe her attack power is a bit higher. Nothing to fuss about. Let’s keep grinding. This place is only getting more crowded.”

“Ah, makes sense. Alright, let’s get back to work.”

Hearing the two players’ conversation, Zane wiped the sweat from his forehead. Thankfully, they rationalized it themselves. Only he knew the truth—there was no crit, no weak point hit, and no special technique. It was just an ordinary sword strike that one-shot the rabbit…

Clearly, this wasn’t the place for Starry to make a move. Better to let his male character handle this instead.

…

And so, Zane joined the ever-growing army of rabbit hunters. After 30 minutes of intense focus and monster-sniping, he finally managed to hit the quota of 10 rabbits.

The challenge came from the sheer number of players in the area, as only the player who landed the final blow got credit for the kill. Some players didn’t even bother to return to the NPC to turn in their quests. Instead, they just stood around poking rabbits. As long as they landed a hit, they could still get a sliver of experience when the rabbit died. It wasn’t efficient, but it was definitely more relaxing.

“Finally… I’m done with the rabbits. That was exhausting,” Zane muttered absentmindedly in the living room.

“What? You just finished now? I’m already level 3 and killing slimes!” Shiu scoffed, his voice filled with disdain.

“Shiu, you’re amazing. I’ll be counting on you to carry me from now on!”

“Trash,” Shiu replied, utterly unimpressed.

…

“Grandpa, I’ve already taught those rabbits a lesson! They definitely won’t cause any more trouble!” Zane said smugly.

A flicker of surprise flashed in Harold’s eyes, as if he hadn’t expected such a frail adventurer to actually complete the task. “Come now, Emberveil, this is your reward.”

Zane’s experience bar jumped to level 2, 33% progress.

Meanwhile, Starry was still stuck at level 1, 10% progress. It seemed he needed to take on a higher-level quest. Starry’s overwhelming attack power gave Zane plenty of confidence to do just that.

1. I spent more than an hour on this chapter alone just to format these tables >.>

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