'[Acquired Title: Top...'

After we beat the Easy Mode boss we all got titles and credit as the first people to beat the dungeon and then the first people to beat it in Easy. The Easy Mode title increased our loot and experience parameters for three percent while wearing it in Silk Spitter's Sepulcher while the general one passively raised our dungeon loot and experience in general by two-percent.

However, we quickly moved on the Normal Mode and did our best to just rush while my buff was still in effect. Even though it would be refreshed when it ended, I doubted I would get the same buff twice even if I tried to do it with feeling. Thankfully, even though none of the enemies were below fifty in this mode the difficulty was roughly the same.

It took us til the end of my buff to beat the Normal Mode dungeon and receive another title for the mode. Then we stopped for a brief meal and rest before repeating the Normal mode. Without using my buff until the final fight it took us over forty-five minutes to get to the boss room.

When my own stats were now all above one-fifty thanks to the compiling of titles, ten-percent had raised each of my stats by at least fifteen points while raising my movement speed, attack damages, and defenses by the same percentage. However, when I cast Divine Intervention the second time I only received half an hour of half the original buff. As if Melpomene were teasing me with how great the original buff had been.

By the end of the third Normal Mode run, though, I had reached level thirty-five and the others were all right behind me somewhere in level thirty-four while Papi and Skooma were somehow neck and neck at thirty-six. Even though we were not on the current level ranking list, the last fifty names in the top thousand were only at level-thirty-nine and most of those thousand people had been playing since the beginning.

However, nobody in the top one hundred were currently below forty-three and that was almost two thousand experience per level higher than where I was right now. Forty levels for someone with a class was two hundred free points, then add achievements and equipment. Forty levels for me was forty points per stat, then add achievements and equipment.

Going through my insane list of high value titles, few of which were below blue Rare in grade, I wonder at how I actually stacked up against those top rankers. Like me, they had to be very skilled or at least very experienced and surrounded by people they could rely on to make it where they were. For a brief moment I thought of the sun eagle wings and other potential powers I might have if there was nothing holding me back from it.

Then again, if I was on this mantle mission by myself, would I have visited the lodge? No, I would have set off toward the closest compass point from the road and never looked back. My current position would be completely different in some not very good ways if not for my team.

Smiling while looking at my Luck skill that started as the highest and was now my second lowest, I close my menus and say, "Have I ever told you guys how happy I am that I met you and you're still here? Just so you guys know… You're the best."

"NOW he realizes," Merch remarks from where he was lying on the ground nearby. "Took him long enough."

"Agreed," Papi mutters, flashing me a rare smile before going back to his food.

Not much later as we were leaving for the highway, though, I received a pleasant notification.

[You have officially locked in place your position in 1st place on the Reputation Ranking]

[Acquired Gold x1000]

[+1000XP]

[+100 Reputation]

[Acquired Title: Top Ranker]

[+500XP]

[Top Ranker: Legendary. Passive. Temporary? For securing taking, holding, and securing the first place position of any ranking in Bygone Era, you have achieved the Top Ranker title. To commemorate this achievement, you receive +10% XP/Loot/Healing. +50 Imperial Reputation]

Plus ten percent to healing?! "Hermes, hand!" I call out, holding my hand out to my familiar who was ten yards away. A single leap and draw of his sword into a Flying Guillotine was all it took to flash passed me into a landing almost six yards ahead of me.

"Fuck! First-Aid!" I cry out as the pain from losing my hand lances up my arm and straight to my brain. Because my body was now made up of parasites, losing a hand did not take as much damage as it did previously. However, it was much more than ten percent of my health but all of it and my hand was replaced by First-Aid.

First-Aid now did twenty-percent heals for me? "Go, hold out your arm for me?" I ask hopefully, making Hermes look curiously toward Go and stop in the process of putting his 'scythe' away.

"Go, put your arm down," Ivana snaps when Go holds his arm out and Hermes takes his sword back out. "Leo, what the hell?"

"The Top Ranker title I just got comes with plus ten percent to healing, I need to see if it only works on me or can work on you guys. My heal skill does fifteen-percent PHYSICAL RECOVERY for other people, which is both stamina and health. If the healing works for you guys, that's one quarter of your health. Every five seconds if necessary."

"Shit, he's even more broken than before," Ivana says with an audible tsk. "Grats on the ranking, though. I honestly can't believe it took so long, you've done enough crazy shit to get banned for hacking."

[I know you were not hacking, Hack, do not worry]

"At least Melpo believes in me," I say while wiping away a fake tear.

[I never said that]

"Eh, who knows, right?" I ask the system prompt with a sly smile, knowing the others could not read it.

Then the others started snickering and I looked up to see they all had blank system prompts in front of them that were suspiciously the same size as the one in front of me.

[Everybody knows, duh]

"Let's just get back to the wagons before dark," I say miserably, turning and walking away without even bothering to test the healing function anymore. I almost wished I could go back to when I showed everybody my appreciation and then just take them back to the other night when I told everyone to fuck off about my rights.

Along the way back I could not help but notice that kobolds rewarded four and eight more experience than previously. I did not notice much change in loot since my Luck stat was probably one of the highest in its own right but it did seem like kobolds now dropped at least one core or bezoar with every confrontation. Maybe?

When we got to camp we all left Dew in charge and promptly went to sleep to start the next day early. Then we once again traveled irresponsibly by simply feeding and healing the dragons at midday before heading out. By early evening we finally came out of Fast Travel in chillier weather than when we entered it.

The forest was now looming large only twenty miles away but the game had kicked us out of Fast Travel half a mile outside of a small village that was parted by the highway. Off to either side of the highway in the middle of this village were two large white marble prism monuments bordered on the sides and behind by short flowering bushes. Only a few dozen yards out from these monuments were a few large business and an even larger inn that also functioned as the local Guild.

Spotting a smithy that was no longer open for the day, I decide to let the dragons and others 'sleep' in comfort by leading the way to the inn. We were met outside by a group of older boys between Lil's and my ages who efficiently took over the wagons for us. I tipped each of them ten coins and told them there was more after the dragons were treated luxuriously.

Each of our rooms turned out to cost ten gold a night so I started to feel like I cheated myself when tipping the kids. However, I had already told them I would pay them more so it was already too late to back out. That did not mean I had to give them the original fifteen when we left that I had intended.

When I laid down to sleep in the two-bed room Go and I were sharing to save on costs, I barely touched my head to the pillow before my eyes shut of their own accord and opened in a vast white world. Melpomene was there sitting in a chair that was not there and I was sitting in my old spot on the floor. "Hello, again," I say with an awkward smile and wave.

"Hello again, our newest Top Ranker," she replies with a similar wave. "It's nice to see you again, even though I spend a great deal of time watching you as it is. You spend too much time playing video games, by the way. Without a sponsor, you'd be penalized by now."

"Yeah, thank God my parents own and operate an MMA gym," I reply with a mock helpless smile. "I also work our daily and do chores in and outside the house, for your information. If not, I would have been penalized long ago. So, is this going to be another review?"

"Can't it simply be us having tea?" She asks while pretending to be offended, making a completely set round tea table and two chairs- one under her- appear. "But, yes, the excuse is to interrogate you. Have you been having fun?"

"Absolutely, just earlier I was leveling like I had just started the game again," I reply while casually getting off of the 'ground' and joining her at the table. "Believe me, my performance would not be anywhere near as good as it is if I did not enjoy what I was doing. Or if the game was any less realistic. My stats are close to the point of being an elite athlete or even soldier but I have been fighting the same way from the start."

"Wherever did you learn to fight like that?" Melpomene asks with honest curiosity. "The combat programming for the game is designed around existing martial arts and proper physics, so I can see influences of several styles in the way you fight."

"Most of what I know I grew up learning from my dad," I reply after helping myself to some tea and snacks that had no flavor whatsoever. It was like drinking and eating air. "Like I said, my parents own a pretty nice gym. Some stuff I taught myself because I liked the way it looked or worked, but I ended up getting into a lot of trouble in late middle school and early high school because of it."

"Ooh, what kind of trouble?" Melpomene asks with the wrong kind of trouble.

"Well, the usual stuff, getting into fights with other kids at school or kids from other schools," I say while looking away as if I was embarrassed. "There was this one time where I was out with friends and we ran into another group. Things got a little heated and even though we managed to take it somewhere out of sight we still got too much attention. There were no property damages and nobody pressed charges, so they basically put on a big show but the schools treated it a little bit differently. Luckily, since I was the guy who moved things out of sight but to the next stage I was the only person expelled on my side of things."

"No good deed goes unpunished, but at least you minimized damages all around," Melpomene says as if trying to comfort me. "It says in your paperwork a few things about that, but it is good to hear you bring up your side of it. Your friends Go and Ivana also share the same sponsor, where they… there?"

"Go was, yes," I answer honestly. "Speaking of which, when we make a clan and potentially enter some a ranking somewhere, will the rest of my team be interrogated? I would like the records to show that I met the players I Got Skooma, Agnes, and Conansson in Bygone Era and they have so far proven reliable."

"I'm interviewing all of the, actually," she replies with a light laugh and tilt of her had as if to call me silly. "You might not have noticed it, but your leveling speeds… could get you banned. Which is why I took so much interest in you at the tutorial. Sure, you already knew what to do, but to pull it off… in one try, too. I have seen people pay to delete and restart as many as four times in order to secure Perfect Combo, as well."

"Wow… I wonder if I'll be seeing them in the rankings?" I ask with a smirk. "So, is leveling speed an achievement? I haven't gotten a title for it."

"No, but there will be a leveling speed ranking set aside from general leveling thanks to your team. If you can keep up your progresses all of the way to fifty, you will have set the initial bar. Less than one week, can you do it?"

"Possibly, since we'll be in Winter Wood and my team will be crafting new equipment soon," I say more hopefully than certainly. "With the way things have worked up up til now, I should be able to add ten damage to my sword with the next re-forging. With the couple hundred gigantula webs we have thanks to the dungeon, we should be able to increase the grade of our armor a bit and my own stats should be able to compensate for metal gear, now."

"That's good to hear. Now, about the dungeon, what did you think?" She asks now. "This is one of the simpler dungeons that were made easy to spot, but somehow the few dozen other people to travel the same road as all of you ignored or missed it."

"The dungeon itself was loads of fun, pretty simple in its design but the sheer amount of loot from the bodies and webs was a nice extra," I say mildly. "That Ancient Steel Scrap has my hopes up for the upgrades I plan to give my sword. As for the mobs, fighting the big bad guys has always been a pastime. Much more fun than fighting goblins by the dozens. Well, at this point in my character, anyway."

Nodding her head while looking through a system window in front of her, Melpomene remarks, "Ah, so it's the challenge that you find rewarding. I can already think of numerous players who would be content to use the Elder Oak Passage every day until they were at least level thirty. Then… why did you never attempt Difficult or Hard modes?"

"Because I'm trying to get on the first life ranking," I reply with a laugh. "Longest first life was my original ranking goal but reputation just kind of sneaked up on me. But, then again, I suppose it's about as good since it is basically a culmination of my achievements in points."

Finally helping herself to some of the tea and snacks, Melpomene says, "And right around the corner is the clan rankings. Many of them have a few dozen people who have varying values for your less-than-a-dozen group to contend with. Some have almost a hundred already. Your party has a few hundred now, though, so you're certain to make the Top Fifty at least."

"Speaking of which, am I allowed to ask about my competitors?" I ask curiously, knowing a few group names that had caught my attention for different reasons.

"At this time, no," She answers with another 'silly you' kind of laugh. "But even under normal circumstances when I can pull up information for you I can only pull up information you already have access to on your own or special permissions. Once again, no, we cannot discuss those things right now."

"But I rarely get to see you," I pretend to complain after finally finishing my fist cup of tasteless tea. "Oh well, maybe another time I'll get to sit down and bug you about the game. Next question?"

"Mmm," she hums thoughtfully, the sound actually coming out somewhat distorted as if there were an actual face and throat making sounds behind the mask. "Well, something I like to ask everybody is, 'in a game where you can do almost anything you want, what do you want to do'. I have asked you as much, before, but have there been any developments?"

Leaning back happily in my seat, I say, "Well, we'll be starting our clan sooner than we expected so we can work on its achievements. It will probably be after we enter Winter Wood and find the ruins so that the mission will also count to the clan before we attempt the Hard Mode for Silk Spitter."

"Are you sure you don't want to prepare for the ruins by completing Hard Mode?" She asks coyly before the tea-set table, chairs, white world, and even Melpomene disappeared.

*