He Was Probably The Highest Level In The Guid

A heavy silence followed. The weight of his words hung over the room, suffocating and oppressive. Julius could feel the reality of what lay ahead settling into his bones. The time for small quests, for easy victories, was over. Their purpose had come true, in the future they'd be called to fight against the true evil forces that wanted to rule and ruin this world, in return they'd recieve power, more than they had ever had.

Julius stood, his mind still reeling, but his body already set into motion. This reinforced his previous motto, it was time to become stronger, to rank high on the monthly rankings. To prove them all wrong... 

As he left, Dain walked past him alongside his entourage. He gave Julius a sour look, eyeing the Soul blade, and spat on the ground. Though no words were spoken, Julius understood his intent very clearly.

Dain's words rang through his mind. "You only got that sword from luck, you are weak. Your attitude is proof of that."

"I need to do more quests..." Julius muttered.

He checked his system for the monthly leaderboard.

{Monthly Rankings}

{Rankings will be updated next month}

{1. ???}

{2. ???}

{3. ???}

{4. ???}

...

He had to rank highly, he had to prove them all wrong. Everyone who had called him selfish and weak, he would show he had the power to do whatever he wanted.

21 Days later... 8 Days until the Monthly Rankings released.

A girl, wearing a pair of red-tinged glasses was walking through the base of the organisation. Her crimson hair curling around her neck, she had a swagger as she walked around. She had been lazy this week, so she had been forced to eat some of the worst food she had ever seen. 

"God, sometimes I miss Earth."

"System, how many quests are left?"

{There are no quests left today.}

"Ha? How is that true? There were so many up last week! This week there's rarely been one available."

{Certain individualds are rapidly completeing quests, at a pace which outmatches the rate of how many quests the organisation sends out.}

"So they're just hogging all the resources and rewards to themselves? It must be Dain's group. How insufferable, they should leave some for the rest of us."

She checked her level, a frown formed on her face.

{Rose-Level 14 Necromancer}

"I heard Dain's group are already at 20. Aww... The combination of Medallions for instant level ups and quest exp must be amazing."

As she was speaking to herself, carresing her worries, she noticed a boy run through the organisation, covered in blood and bruises.

"Healer." He yelled, agony stretching through his tone. "I need a healer." He had a pitch black blade, and he was constantly on edge. His look was new today, he had gotten a brand new cloak, a black masterpiece with golden embroidery running down the sides. His pale face was constantly rose red, stained with the blood of either him or his enemies, his eyes were sunken like a ghoul, he rarely slept it would seem.

His story was told through his level, that was ridiculously high.

{Julius- Level 23 Assasin}

He was a familiar face, at the end of every day he would run in bloodied and wounded, looking pathetic, with nobody around him. He was like a masochistic one-man team, the healers knew him by his full name. For the past two weeks, this had been his gig. Rose had seen him everyday, running by in pain. She really doubted his sanity sometimes, he would do anything for levels.

"Julius Ferd, the healers are at your service."

Once the healers finished their task, they left muttering about how reckless the boy was.

Rinsing the last smudges of blood out of his hair, Julius sighed aloud.

"I could've gotten 24 today... If I didn't mess up that last quest. It's a shame they forced me to retreat, I almost bled to death before I got here."

Rose crossed her arms, watching Julius from a short distance. His obsession with leveling up was... disturbing. She had seen desperate players before, but this was something else entirely.

"You know," she said, walking up to him, "you're gonna burn out at this rate. Or worse—die. I don't know how far gone you are, but surely you should... Take it a little easier."

Julius barely glanced at her as he finished wringing the blood from his cloak. "I'm doing it for myself, I don't think I'll die. I've learnt over these past weeks that these systems are amazing, I struggle to imagine dying with a system in hand. A fully functioning system makes you unbeatable, if you fight people who do not have such a tool. I trust the system, so don't worry, I'll be fine."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Wow, you're in love with the system. How poetic. And stupid."

Julius let out a short laugh, but there was no humor in it. "Look, I don't expect you to understand. I don't have a choice."

"Everyone has a choice," Rose shot back. "You're just choosing to throw yourself into the fire for... what? Rankings? Recognition? This attitude is probably why people stay away from you, like I heard you're the guy who stole the boss drop back in the forest."

Julius didn't respond immediately. Instead, he pulled up his system screen again, eyes scanning the empty leaderboard. He clenched his jaw. "I need to prove them wrong. I'm not a thief, I don't need to steal to be strong."

Rose sighed, adjusting her red-tinted glasses. "And who exactly is 'them'?"

Julius' grip on his Soul Blade tightened. "Everyone apparently, even you."

He looked down at his system coldly.

[Julius: Level 23 Rogue]

[Skills:]

[Stealth]

[Pickpocket] 

[Quick Slash] (A lethal strike, twice the speed of your average slash)

[Perfect Dodge] (Temporarily gain immense agility, dodge the next 4 attacks when activated, refreshes when out of combat)

[Attributes: Speed+++, Lethality+] Gain an attribute every 5 levels

Speed: Increase overall movement speed and agility

Lethality: Increase damage to unsuspecting targets

[Loot: Royal cloak [Lvl 22], Phantom Step [Lvl 5], Soul Hunter [?], 12 Medallions]

'I got the royal cloak yesterday, which was good. But I still haven't got any new boots, I had to drop my shadow veil too, since I'm not allowed more than one piece of armor. Also, the skill I got, perfect dodge has too long of a cooldown, I can only use it once per fight.'

[Royal Cloak]

[Underdog: When fighting an enemy superior to yourself, gain extreme power whether that be through magical boosts, speed or strength.]

The system only allowed one armor item, optional unique boots and then it didn't care for the type or number of weapons. Since human limitations took care of that problem.

"Haa." Julius smirked. He had made a lot of progress recently, he had danced a few times with death but in the end he could say it was worth it. After all, he was probably the highest level in the guild.