Chapter 3 Chapter 3: The Great First Step " And the Whole Sector Find Out
"Wait."
Alex stared at the prompt floating in front of him.
"Killing Derek Walsh counted as a first kill?"
He blinked. Read it again.
Then the biggest grin of his adult life spread across his face.
Of course it did.
Hide his ID?
The old Alex the one who apologized for existing, who ate lunch alone, who nodded and said yes sir while Derek stole his paycheck that Alex would have hidden it without a second thought.
But that man was gone.
He'd burned up with the old world.
"Don't hide anything," Alex said firmly. "Broadcast it. All three times."
He hit confirm.
【 !! REGIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT — NEW YORK EASTERN SECTOR !! 】
【 Congratulations to Adventurer "ACE" of the New York Sector for achieving the AREA FIRST KILL and unlocking the achievement: "THE GREAT FIRST STEP"! 】
【 Adventurers — take up your weapons. Be brave. Take that first step.
【 !! REGIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT — NEW YORK EASTERN SECTOR !! 】
【 Congratulations to Adventurer "ACE" of the New York Sector for achieving the AREA FIRST KILL and unlocking the achievement: "THE GREAT FIRST STEP"! 】
【 Adventurers — take up your weapons. Be brave. Take that first step. 】
【 !! REGIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT — NEW YORK EASTERN SECTOR !! 】
【 Congratulations to Adventurer "ACE" of the New York Sector for achieving the AREA FIRST KILL and unlocking the achievement: "THE GREAT FIRST STEP"! 】
【 Adventurers — take up your weapons. Be brave. Take that first step. 】
Three times.
Loud and clear, across every system interface in the entire New York Eastern Sector.
Alex closed his eyes for exactly one second and savored it.
That one's for two years of unpaid overtime, Derek.
The regional chat detonated instantly.
【 BrooklynBruiser 】: Someone already got a first kill?? I haven't even SEEN a monster yet what the—
【 ManhattanMilkTea 】: WHO is Ace?? That name just went sector-wide in like ten minutes flat??
【 RealTalkRyan 】: I'm standing right near him. Watched the whole thing. He's a mage who walked straight into melee range. Absolute lunatic energy.
【 ColdMedicine666 】: 666 respect no cap
【 JustAnotherGrinder 】: First kill, cute. I'm already hunting a boss. Wake me up when it's relevant.
【 ParkSlopePrincess 】: Okay but WHY does "Ace" sound like the main character of everything
【 TacoTuesdayTim 】: Bro walked out of corporate America and immediately committed homicide. Respect.
Alex read through the chat with mild amusement, then closed it.
He had ten minutes of out-of-combat recovery ticking — 1% HP and MP per minute and since Derek had only managed to nick him for a grand total of 3 HP, he'd be back to full before the timer even hit five minutes.
Right on schedule, the first kill reward materialized.
【 DING! Reward delivered to Adventurer "ACE." 】
【 Title Acquired: "THE GREAT FIRST STEP" 】
【 Gold Coin +1 】
He pocketed the gold coin and pulled up the title details immediately.
【 THE GREAT FIRST STEP 】(Rare-Grade Title)
(Title Tiers: Common → Excellent → Rare → Epic → Legendary → God-Tier)*
Luck +1 (Luck already maxed — converted to +1% Critical Strike Rate)
All Five Stats +5 (Physical Attack, Magic Attack, Constitution, Spirit, Agility)
+2 bonus Free Attribute Points per level up
"In a world full of unknowns, you were the first Adventurer to dare to move. May good luck follow you wherever you go..."
Alex read it twice.
Then he let out a long, slow breath.
Five stats. Plus five. Across the board.
That meant every level-up now gave him 5 Free Attribute Pointsinstead of 3. And the Luck overflow converting to Critical Strike Rate? That was just elegant. The system was practically rewarding him for already being maxed out.
He opened his attribute panel to see the new numbers:
【 ACE — Lv.1 】(Title: The Great First Step)
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Physical Attack | 15 |
| Magic Attack | 17 |
| Constitution | 10 (100 HP / 10 Phys. Defense) |
| Spirit | 11 (110 MP / 11 Mag. Defense) |
| Agility | 10 |
| Crit Rate | 1% |
He nodded slowly.
Most Lv.1 Adventurers were out there swinging novice weapons for 5 or 6 damage a hit.
His base magic attack was already at 17 — before equipment, before skill modifiers, before his 5% talent bonus.
"At this point," he said quietly, "most people probably can't even crack my defense."
He pulled up the mini-map.
The Safe Zone marker pointed northeast — a location tagged:
【 RIVERSIDE HAVEN 】
Safe Zone — New York Eastern Sector
He studied the distance. Dense forest between here and there. Monster spawns almost certain. And his gray name meant other Adventurers could attack him without penalty until he cleared his Sin Value.
He needed to move. Kill monsters. Level up. Clear the sin.
Alex turned and walked into the forest.
Behind him, in the fading crowd of disoriented New Yorkers, a flash of white light bloomed.
Someone had just respawned.
Derek Walsh materialized on the forest floor with a gasp.
He was on his hands and knees in the dirt. His chest still felt like it was on fire where the fireball had hit. His hands empty now, the novice sword gone were shaking.
A notification chimed in his skull like a funeral bell.
【 DING! You have been eliminated by Adventurer "ACE." 】
【 Resurrection count -1. Current Resurrections: 0. 】
【 Level -1. Current Level: 0. 】
【 Item dropped: Novice Iron Sword. 】
【 WARNING: Your Resurrection count is now at zero. Your next death is PERMANENT. 】
Derek read the last line three times.
Permanent.
He sat back on his heels in the dirt, staring at his empty hands.
His suit jacket was scorched. His palms were scraped. His level had been knocked back to zero he didn't even know that was possible and somewhere out there, Alex Carter was walking through a forest with a gray name and absolutely zero regret.
A second notification chimed.
【 DING! You are the first Adventurer in the New York Eastern Sector to be eliminated. 】
【 Achievement Unlocked: "CURSED." 】
【 A Regional Announcement will be broadcast. Would you like to hide your ID? 】
Derek's jaw tightened.
Cursed?
He pulled up the title details with a sinking feeling.
【 CURSED 】(Rare-Grade Title)
Luck -1
All Five Stats -1
"You were the first Adventurer to fall. May this dark cloud lift from you quickly — because in this world, bad luck has a way of compounding..."
【 WARNING: Adventurer "Derek Walsh" — Luck stat is now NEGATIVE. Title "CURSED" has been FORCE-EQUIPPED. Cannot be removed. 】
Derek stared at the screen.
He read the last line again.
Force-equipped. Cannot be removed.
"I—" He stopped. Started again. "What do you MEAN it can't be—"
The regional announcement fired before he could finish the thought.
【 !! REGIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT — NEW YORK EASTERN SECTOR !! 】
【 Adventurer " " has become the first person in the New York Sector to be eliminated — unlocking the achievement: "CURSED." 】
【 REMINDER: Outside the Safe Zone, beware not only monsters but other Adventurers. 】
The chat caught fire within seconds.
【 WestVillageWendell 】: Wait someone DIED already?? First kill just dropped and someone's already dead??
【 QueensBeast 】: LMAOOO the first kill and the first death happened at basically the same time. That means—
【 BrooklynBruiser 】:Ace killed someone. Ace got the first kill AND made someone the first death. That's insane work.
【 HarlemHustler99 】:Whoever is... moment of silence. Actually no. That's hilarious.
【 ColdMedicine666 】: From zero to Cursed in under fifteen minutes. That's a speedrun.
【 TacoTuesdayTim 】: The audacity of hiding your ID after getting clapped that fast
Every single word reached Derek Walsh where he sat in the dirt.
He read them all.
His face cycled through red, then purple, then a pale, sickly shade of gray.
He reached up and manually switched his displayed name to anonymous the already showing and just sat there, breathing through his nose, staring at nothing.
Alex Carter.
The name moved through his teeth like broken glass.
"You just wait," Derek whispered to the empty forest. His voice was very quiet. Very controlled.
The kind of quiet that was worse than shouting.
"I will find you in this world, Carter. And when I do—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
Deep in the forest, Alex was already gone.
He walked at an easy pace, staff in hand, scanning the undergrowth through the translucent overlay of his mini-map. The forest had the strange, hyper-real quality of somewhere that used to be Manhattan he could still see the ghost outlines of buildings beneath the root systems, steel skeletons swallowed by bark and moss.
Something moved in the bushes to his left.
He stopped.
A round, gelatinous shape bounced out from between two roots and landed on the path in front of him with a soft, wet plop.
It was blue. Wobbling. Roughly the size of a basketball.
And it was absolutely, objectively adorable.
【 SLIME — Lv.1 】
Physical Attack: 20 | Physical Defense: 5 | HP: 100
Alex raised his staff.
Magic defense: zero. This thing has zero magic defense.
"Sorry, little guy."
Fireball.
Bang.
-22!
The Slime lurched backward, its blue body rippling like disturbed Jell-O. HP bar down to 78.
The crowd that had apparently been watching — a loose cluster of shell-shocked Adventurers who hadn't dared engage anything yet — erupted.
"Did you see that damage?!"
"Twenty-two?! I'm hitting for five!"
"His talent has to be at least A-rank — look at those numbers!"
"I thought he was just some reckless idiot walking into the forest alone, but—"
"Pro. That's a pro player."
Alex tuned them out.
The Slime recovered from the hit with a sound like a rubber band snapping boing and launched itself at him with startling speed.
He sidestepped, leveled his staff, fired a magic bolt.
-17!
The Slime bounced off a tree root and came again.
-17!
Another magic bolt. Another hit. The Slime's movement was erratic — short, violent little hops that changed direction mid-air — and he found himself almost charmed by it, even as he was trying to kill it.
"Heh. Bouncy."
He backed up another two steps, watched the Fireball cooldown tick down in the corner of his interface
There.
Fireball.
-22!
The Slime froze mid-bounce.
Then it dissolved into white light and vanished, leaving behind a small scatter of loot that materialized in the air and floated toward him like it was on a string.
【 DING! Slime eliminated. EXP +1. 】
【 Copper Coin +1 】
【 Common Enhancement Stone x3 】
【 ITEM DROP: Common Staff (Bronze) — Magic Attack +5 | Level Requirement: 1 | Range: 10m 】
(Equipment Tiers: Bronze → Silver → Gold → Diamond → Epic → Legendary → Artifact)
Alex picked up the staff and felt the weight of it settle into his palm lighter than the novice one, better balanced, with a faint blue glow at the tip.
He swapped it in immediately.
Magic Attack: 20.
He exhaled.
Now we're talking.
He was about to move on when the sound hit him noise from somewhere ahead, chaotic and urgent, cutting through the forest quiet like a car alarm.
He looked up.
Through the trees, maybe sixty feet ahead, a crowd had formed in a rough semicircle.
At the center of it: a Warrior in starter gear, swinging a novice iron sword at something massive.
That something massive was black as tar, the size of a compact car, with tusks that looked like they'd been sharpened on concrete. It moved with the low, furious intelligence of something that had decided it was done being reasonable.
【 BERSERK WILD BOAR — Lv.2 】
Physical Attack: 25 | Physical Defense: 9 | Magic Defense: 5 | HP: 61
The Warrior's HP bar was a thin red sliver. He was one hit from gone.
"HELP!" he screamed at the crowd. "Is there a Priest anywhere?! Anyone?!"
Nobody moved.
The ring of spectators shuffled backward in perfect, choreographed cowardice pressing against each other, looking at the ground, finding suddenly fascinating things to examine in the middle distance.
And somehow, in the space of ten seconds, Alex found himself standing in the front row.
He looked left. Looked right.
Seriously?
He sighed, checked the Boar's stats one more time.
Magic Defense at 5. That was workable.
He stepped forward.
Fireball.
Bang.
-21!
The Boar's HP bar dropped by a third in a single hit.
The crowd behind him went absolutely insane.
"WHO IS THAT?!"
"Twenty-one damage?! That's not possible for a Lv.1—"
"His talent is at LEAST A-rank, I'm calling it—"
"I thought he was just some random guy walking up! He's a pro!"
The Boar disagreed with all of it.
It let out a furious SNORT abandoned the Warrior entirely and turned its full attention to Alex.
Oh.
It was bigger up close.
The boar dropped its head and Charged.
Alex threw himself sideways, got his staff up
-16!
The bolt slowed it. Barely.
It used Charge again this time Alex didn't have the angle to dodge cleanly.
The impact hit him like a car door swung open at full speed.
【 DING! Berserk Wild Boar attack received. HP -15. 】
"Ow"
He stumbled back three steps, teeth clenched. Fifteen HP in one hit. Real pain, radiating up through his ribs.
Right. This isn't a game.
He reset his footing, put distance between them, and raised his
staff again. The Boar was circling, head low, one small mean eye fixed on him.
Magic bolt. Magic bolt.
-16! -16!
The Boar's HP was collapsing fast. It made one final charge, head down, tusks gleaming and Alex stepped to the side at the last possible second.
Fireball.
-16!
The Berserk Wild Boar let out one last snort, stumbled forward two steps on sheer stubbornness alone
And dissolved into white light.
