“Could we somehow meet Heywin outside the tower?” Veyra wondered. “Maybe we can send him a letter with a pigeon or something?”

  “He’s still an NPC,” I said. “Chances are, he’s coded to not leave the tower.”

  Veyra sighed. “True enough.”

  We were talking in a random tavern again, since the guild hall was off limits. The wooden walls were far from the most aesthetic place to hold meetings, but we’d be leaving soon anyway.

  [Your Great Mithril Boots were sold at the instant sale price to an anonymous buyer for 1200 gold.]

  I smiled internally at that, but focused on the task. “We can rely on two factors,” I said. “The most important is Heywin himself. He’s our friend, and we’re visitors in his home. He’ll dissuade a fight from happening. The second thing we can probably use is confusion and confidence.”

  Veyra tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

  I thought about my words for a bit. “Imagine this. You’re the guild leader of Syntrix. You’re an arrogant high level top player. You believe you’re the first player to find the wizard tower in a deadly area. And as you’re sitting there, two low level players suddenly walk in like they own the place.”

  Veyra tilted her head at me. “Well, I’d be confused, and then I’d probably order the two to stop right there and kill them if they don’t.”

  “And what if those two newbies totally ignored your order?”

  “‘I’d kill them,” Veyra said.

  I sighed. “That’s because you’re smart, and you’re using logic. Syntrix would be totally taken off guard. They won’t know how to deal with this. Trust me, I’ve used a similar trick before.”

  She gave me a doubtful look.

  “It’s a simple plan,” I said. “And it’ll require some acting, but I’m positive it will work. I have two ideas on how we’re going to trick them. Let’s decide which will be plan A and B.”

  ***

  After sharing the plan, preparations took around thirty minutes. I found myself surprisingly focused on the job. Completing the quest was an engaging enough goal to distract me from my nervousness around Veyra.

  The most important thing for the plan was to change our outfits. All of our legendary and epic items were placed into the safety of our private storage chests, replaced with the shittiest gear we could find at the auction. Stuff like, Worn Black Leather Cloak (Common), or Bad Boots (Common). Basically, items that made us look like total noobs. I only kept The Immortal on me out of my main set. There was only a one in nine chance I’d lose it, and it could easily save my life if we had to make an escape.

  Going in with low-level gear had two benefits. It would make acting easier, as Syntrix would be more confused, and we couldn’t lose our gear pieces if we failed—though if a fight did break out, our chances of winning would be zero.

  “Ugh,” Veyra said in her brown robe. Her eye-roll looked cutely uncomfortable. “If this works, this is the stupidest plan ever.”

  “Nah, it’s genius,” I said. “It will work.”

  “And if it doesn’t, we lose all of our frostfang feathers,” Veyra said. “But I guess you’re right. We won’t get anything done with other approaches.”

  I nodded. “I’m ready when you are.”

  She sighed. “Let’s go.”

  “Just remember to smile at them with your usual confidence,” I said.

  “I’m better at acting than you’d think. Let’s just go.”

  I held her hand and initiated the teleport.

  [You have arrived in the Wizard’s Tower]

  [You are in the Wilderness. The average monster level here is 315.]

  We woke up on the same bookshelf-covered middle floor of the tower. The powerful scent of books hit my nose to the point that breathing was almost uncomfortable. Dirty boot marks filled the carpets. People had been here.

  Unexpectedly, the tower itself was silent. I couldn’t hear anything from above. No humming from Heywin, and no tippy taps of his cats. Nothing came from below either. The entire tower was eerily vacant.

  [Warning! You are about to experience something disturbing (Bloody). Proceed with caution.]

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “What the hell?” I asked, glancing at Veyra. From the look on her face, she’d clearly seen the same message.

  The game always gave that warning whenever something potentially traumatizing was about to hit the player. Probably to avoid lawsuits.

  “A trap?” Veyra asked.

  I sniffed the air, and another strong scent hit my nose. A metallic one, as if I’d had a strong nosebleed.

  “Is that blood?” Veyra asked, pointing cautiously at the ladder.

  Upon her words, a red droplet fell from upstairs, from the gap of the ladder opening. It dripped down to a crack in the wood, which had turned crimson from the blood dripping onto it.

  “Oh, shit,” I said.

  We stared at the ladder silently for a bit like some idiots in a horror movie. We weren’t exactly equipped to deal with any monsters right now.

  “I’ll check,” I said, knowing that all of my equipped gear was currently garbage.

  I climbed up the ladder, mentally ready to [Shadow Dash] out if anything ambushed me. Nothing did, however, and I climbed safely to the top level of the tower. Veyra followed closely behind.

  Heywin, the Great Mage, sat on his seat with his face resting on his table—pale, bloody, and very much dead.

  The stab wound in his back and through his heart spread blood to his clothes, which pooled underneath as it hit the ground. There was quite a lot of it, and it appeared fresh, and realistic. A sick feeling welled in my stomach, and I suddenly understood why the game had given us a warning.

  “Oh wow,” I managed to say.

  Veyra and I stared at the corpse for a good five seconds, neither saying anything. Eventually, I turned my head and asked, “You good?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Realistic game, huh? That’s a shame. I liked Heywin. You think Syntrix did this?”

  “They would have a motive,” I said. “A level 390 named NPC will drop legendary gear and insane amounts of XP. Probably more than what the quest would have given. I’m just wondering how they ever managed to defeat him.”

  “I’ve killed named NPCs in their sleep before,” Veyra said. “The game gives a quadruple critical strike for the first hit. It’s possible they used a buffed-up attack to—”

  “Ahem,” a voice suddenly said behind, making both of us flinch. “Welcome, adventurers.”

  We turned, and faced the lone bookshelf in the room, where the voice had come from. Atop it was Heywin’s white cat, Snow. She sat in a loaf and calmly stared down at us. The voice echoed, as if coming from telepathy. It sounded like Heywin, though, and somehow, I felt like the voice was coming from the cat.

  “It appears I have died,” the voice echoed again.

  A nametag materialized atop Snow. It read, Great Mage Heywin (NPC, Cat, Level ???).

  “Heywin?” I blurted out. “What happened?”

  “I had some new visitors,” Heywin, the cat, said. “They weren’t nearly as nice as you, though.”

  “So,” I asked, “you turned to a cat?”

  “I switched from one mortal body to another,” Heywin said. He looked away dismissively, upset. “It’s unfortunate; I quite liked my previous body and equipment. But it’s far from the first time I have been robbed like this.”

  “Who killed you?” Veyra asked.

  “Adventurers,” Heywin said. “The same kind as you. They took my invitation and kindness as an opportunity to stab me and steal my stuff, I suppose.”

  “Definitely Syntrix,” I said. “I would not be surprised to see them auctioning Heywin’s gear soon.”

  “Regardless, I’m dead,” Heywin said. “My new body is weak. Snow was a fine cat, and a great friend, but unfortunately, she can’t equip a staff, and no magical robes have been created for cats. I must obtain a new body.”

  “Heywin?” Veyra asked. “This might be a bad time to ask… but are you still able to lift the curse on the egg?”

  Heywin’s cat ears perked up, eyes snapping to Veyra. “Oh!” he said. “Have you gathered the ingredients? So soon?”

  “Eight frostfang feathers, and four fire seeds,” Veyra said.

  Heywin stood from the loaf and stretched, a wide grin on his cat face. “Perfect,” he said. “Or should I say, purrfect. The deal is still up. I will hatch the egg, and I will keep the drake. And to make the deal more fair… I will allow you to take any remaining valuables from my tower with you. Books, keepsakes, whatever suits your eye. My work here is done regardless.”

  “Yes, thank you!” Veyra said.

  “Are we ready to start the ritual?” I asked.

  “Yes, I will perform it alone atop my tower,” Heywin said. “Feel free to search the lower levels while I work. Hand over the egg and the ingredients.”

  We laid out all the fire seeds and frostfang feathers for Heywin, and Veyra summoned the egg from her quest inventory. Heywin’s tail wagged slowly, as if looking at a bag of catnip.

  “Can you perform it without hands?” I asked.

  “Yes, yes,” Heywin said, and to prove his point, the ingredients suddenly lifted to the air by levitation. “I am not a helpless fool, no matter what my appearance might show. Now, leave me to work.”

  Veyra and I avoided the blood puddles as we headed downstairs. Light whooshes already came from upstairs as things floated about and Heywin prepared whatever ritual was about to take place. That was followed by a purple glow through the ladder opening.

  Veyra grinned and said, “So, I guess we’ll start looting now?”

  I nodded, and we began searching through bookshelves, chests, tables, whatever was there in the Wizard’s Tower. A lot of books were already missing, and the chests were empty. That made sense, considering that Syntrix had already been here. They weren’t idiots. They’d steal anything valuable.

  I checked the quest rewards again to see if anything had changed.

  Quest: Holder Of The Ray Dragon’s Egg (S+ Tier Event Quest) (Recommended Level: 270+)

  Quest Details: Heywin, the Great Mage, is performing a ritual to crack the curse of the Ray Dragon’s egg.

  Completion Conditions: Protect Heywin as he performs a ritual.

  Quest Reward: +10000 gold. +50 million experience. The contents of the Wizard’s Tower. Maximum affinity with Heywin.

  Bonus reward: Invitation to Worlds 2026 (Competitor), Gothenburg, Sweden, with flights and accommodation.

  It wasn’t completed. We had to protect Heywin. That couldn’t mean good.

  We have nothing to worry about, I told myself while continuing to search for any leftover loot. Everything bad that could happen has already happened here. There’s no way the game will make us fight something after we came here in common gear…

  I half expected to hear a screech of some boss monster attacking the tower or some bullshit like that. So much could be expected from Wonderwind, considering this was a World’s invitation quest, after all.

  It wasn’t, however, the game that decided to screw with us this time. While I was checking the last bookshelf, something flashed behind me, and a figure spawned in the Wizard’s Tower.

  [Syntrix] SoulShadow.

  The rank 2 assassin player, and rank 12th best player on the global leaderboard.

  20 chapters ahead on !