Liam hovered next to the lake, watching the chaos he created. It took a few seconds until the first monsters began to die. His gaze was focused on a spot where two elites clashed against each other. The piranha fell back into the water, only to instantly jump again, aggressively tearing at the bird. This went on for a few seconds. Finally, the seagull covered itself in a layer of white light. It let out an enraged cry, sent one last glare at the piranha and flapped its wings.

However, the bird didn’t come far. The poison in its body flared up, dealing a terrifying damage of 10 points. Usually this wouldn’t even cause an itch to the level 72 elite monster. But now, with only a single point of HP left, it was instantly overwhelmed. The bird froze and fell into the water, sinking sadly to the lake bottom.

A notification rang in Liam’s ears. For killing a monster of such a high level, the rewarded EXP were extremely generous. With 8200EXP he only needed to kill about twenty elites to level up. In the group he had just agitated there were seven elites although three of them only faced common monsters as enemies and thus were unlikely to die. Only four elites were fighting against each other. Two of those would certainly die, netting Liam 16.400EXP in total.

Liam was satisfied as he rejoined his friends. He was met with a bunch of apprehensive faces.

“Expert. Isn’t this too dangerous? I feel like one mistake, and we will turn into bird food. Or even worse, fish food!”, exclaimed Cyclone as her body shivered. The others shared her concern but upon hearing the second part they couldn’t help but feel strange.

“Why is being fish food worse than being bird food?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Because fish are lame, and birds are cool!”

Watchful Eye was taken aback. He looked at his flying mount, a gorgeous, colourful dragon carp, and then at Cyclone’s flying mount, a ferocious, dignified hawk. Both mounts were great in their own right! The taciturn man shook his head, but he didn’t argue.

Cyclone’s words somewhat dispersed the tense atmosphere. The friends gathered around Liam, asking him for tips and tricks. After a few minutes the fight below had stopped. The place where Liam passed through had thinned out, but the most important elite monsters were still present. Furthermore, Liam only affected about a twentieth of the lake. If done right all of the friends could go at the same time. However, due to the varying width of the lake it was difficult to distribute the lake fairly. It took a while for the friends to figure out a plan so everyone could level effectively.

“Let’s go!”

Liam took the lead, ascending again. The others followed with mixed feelings. However, Liam had reminded them multiple times that the worst they could do was slowing down out of fear. Thus, everyone adjusted their minds, suppressing all distracting emotions, focusing entirely on the upcoming manoveur. The one straggling the most was unsurprisingly Radiant Shield. But even he gritted his teeth. He knew that he simply didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t allow his fear of heights to hinder his gaming career.

The friends exchanged a few encouraging last words. Finally, they turned into lights of various colours and dove towards the lake below. Everyone still had Liam’s movements in mind. Before crashing into the mountain they switched to horizontal flight, shooting over the lake. Some were a bit early, but it was better than being late.

An unprecedented carnage thoroughly disturbed the lake’s peace. The friends came to a stop and watched the chaos with mixed feelings. Especially Cyclone and Silver Blade enjoyed the rush of adrenaline, eager to go again. Radiant Shield suppressed his shivering hands, somewhat embarrassed as he opened the poison pouch too late. If he had reacted in time, he would have been able to kill one more elite. Fortunately - or unfortunately in his mind - Radiant Shield would have many more attempts to do better.

After everyone understood what they had to do, the tedious grind began. For some the repetitive action was boring, others thought it was the most exciting and satisfying way to level up they had seen so far. Hours passed and the friends tirelessly caused chaos on the lake. Their EXP were rising at an insane speed. If the elite monsters didn’t need an entire hour to respawn, the levelling would be even easier. But even so the friends had made large strides towards level 62 when they left the game in the evening.

In the real world the topic of the dungeon was still the number one topic in everyone’s conversations. The Dream Avenue members living in the guild house all gathered around Hotpot, clamouring about the challenge and the reward issued by Star Energy. In forums there were constant discussions. The opinion of most people was that Hotpot would easy get the first clear. However, there were also many people who liked to stir up chaos, happy that Hotpot seemingly met a worthy opponent.

Cynthia was reading these discussions together with Serena and Mel. The three girls could only scoff at these players. With their new levelling method, they would leave everyone in the dust. This ‘The New Number One’ team could count themselves lucky if they even saw the interior of the dungeon before Hotpot cleared it.

Noticing how her friends became increasingly agitated reading the online discussions, Silva approached them with a chuckle:

“Girls, stop getting rage-baited. Come on, it’s time to go to the gym. You should vent your energy there.”

“Hah, I know it but when I see those comments I just can’t help myself. Look at that idiot here. ‘I think Hotpot has already reached their peak. At the beginning they learned faster than others but now people are catching up.’ That guy has no idea how hard we are working! We are training every day, out skills are improving constantly. How dare some random… hey!”

Cynthia let out a startled shout as Silva took the tablet from her hands.

“Some random stranger on the internet. That’s what you were about to say, right? There is really no need to waste any time on them. If you want people to shut up, do so by getting the first clear.”

“Silva is right, Cy. Come, let’s go to the gym.”, agreed Mel as she patted her friend’s shoulder.

“Ok, ok. I know.”

With that Cynthia and Mel left to get their gym clothes.

“You’re awesome, Silva!”

Suddenly Silva froze. She turned towards Serena who looked at her with admiration in her eyes. Silva felt a warmth in her chest and couldn’t help but smile. At the beginning Serena had been apprehensive towards her. Silva always tried to do her best to get the girl to feel comfortable in her presence. Now it looked like her efforts had paid off.

The two women smiled at each other. Serena had just said this because Silva reminded her of Merida in her maturity and calmness. In Serena’s eyes those were traits an adult should have.

Silva was in a great mood. She placed the tablet away and went to the gym together with Serena. Later during their spar Liam could feel that Silva’s movements were lighter than usual. He found it quite difficult to cope. The spar ended in a draw, but if Silva had more potent offensive skills she would have most likely emerged victorious.

After dinner Silva still felt full of energy. A certain sensation hit her. One she had been searching for for a while.

Going back to the gym Silva entered one of the small personal training rooms. She slowly began going through the movements of the Rising Dragon Martial Technique. After practicing so often, the movements flowed like water, incredibly elegant. At the end she stomped her foot on the ground and raised her fist high. A ferocious energy erupted within her, like a dragon rushing to the sky. It built up swiftly and suddenly there was a muffled sound like a dam breaking. The energy returned to her body, mixing into her blood, nourishing her body. She had broken through the fourth stage of martial arts, blood strengthening!

Silva suppressed her joy. She slowly calmed down, savouring the sensation, and allowing the energy in her body to settle. Finally, she couldn’t help but jump and let out a shout to express her joy.

Blood strengthening at twenty! Now strive towards the fifth stage, constellation, and become a real starlight master. There is hope for reaching the tenth star in the future!

Afterwards Silva went to shower again. When she joined her friends who were watching a movie, they quickly noticed that there was some change. Silva didn’t have a reason to hide it and told everyone about her breakthrough. Congratulations and praise came from all sides.

Suddenly Cynthia thought about something and snickered. She turned towards Liam.

“Haha, Liam, now there is no need anymore for me to find out about the result of your spars. There is no suspense left!”

Liam was unable to retort.