The moment the real world stumbled back into gear, every news feed and social platform erupted like someone dropped a match into a fireworks depot. Overnight, gamers outshone actors, influencers, and even government officials. Aiden's name blazed brightest. Plenty of other high-tier players climbed fast, too. 'Breaking news: Grendola just got its second Level 10 player. NightTiger made it through. Same guy who carried his guild to three MMO championships back-to-back. Absolute monster.' 'NightTiger really doesn't miss. No surprise there. Heard RendBreaker already climbed to Level 9 and is basically one foot away from hitting Level 10.' 'StormHalo and ZeroFlux aren't far behind either. They're both hovering right under the threshold. Probably going to break into Level 10 sometime tomorrow and hit the central hub.' 'I'm pumped to watch these heavy hitters go all out. If anyone can chip away at Nighthale's lead, it's this group. The real game hasn't even started yet.' Outside Aiden, the top players advanced at roughly the same rhythm. Grendola's one-hour advantage helped them surge past elite players from other regions. The Leaderboard would probably look like a Grendola roll call by sunrise. ... Deep in a gloomy forest, a roar cracked through the trees. A torrent of blistering Dragon's Breath crashed down, wiping out the pale skeleton blocking their path in a blast of molten light. Ding! 'Your Health dropped by 12,650.' The attack hit hard enough to erase the Level 20 beast in a blink. The source was Gray. The system panel identified him as a Celestial Dragon, ranked among the Mythical Beasts. His Health sat at 39,900, with 47,080 Mana in reserve. His core attributes read clearly: Strength 1,995, Physique 1,914, Energy 2,354, and Agility 1,918.These were Gray's numbers at Level 20. Mythical Beasts didn't need brag sheets, yet the Divine Beastmaster buffs pushed those stats into absurd territory. Every core attribute hovered near two thousand, while Health and Mana rivaled low-tier world bosses. Beast attacks fired so frequently that the actual damage output broke past what the numbers implied. A Level 20 Normal monster meant nothing to Gray—less than nothing. Squashing it was like flattening a leaf under a boot. "This is getting ridiculous." Aiden rubbed his forehead, glaring at the endless rows of trees. A migraine threatened to bloom. The Tier Advancement Trial wasn't what bothered him. The walk was. The Trial Temples in Doomsday grew more isolated with every tier. Whoever placed them must have been a certified survivalist. Reaching the Level 10 Trial Temple earlier had taken a good chunk of his time. The Level 20 Trial Temple? Miserable. He had already traveled for over an hour without seeing a single trace of it, and that was with him cutting through routes nearly empty of beasts. Any regular player would probably spend an entire day hiking out here. Higher-level trials demanded more time, plain and simple. By the time Aiden reached the Trial Temple, his remaining playtime hovered near zero. Entering an Abyss Trial now would be pure stupidity. He weighed the situation and logged out. His phone erupted the second he left the game. Notifications flooded in until the screen froze for a beat. Most came from his class group chat. Vivian Paul: Martin, we seriously owe you. If you hadn't told me to stay at the spawn point, I'd be dead by now. Arthur Russell: Same here. My family listened too. I just watched the news—so many people died inside Doomsday today. That freaked me out big time. Chelsea Doyle: Thank goodness our class made it through. Looks like no one from our section got hurt. I heard Leon Kirby from the other class didn't make it. Martin: Don't worry about it. Piper and I joined the private beta launch. We just knew a few things in advance. Arthur: Has anyone seen Aiden? He hasn't been in school for weeks. Mr. Norman mentioned he didn't even file for leave. Chelsea: No clue. Did something happen to him? Doomsday is brutal, and he hasn't shown up once. Arthur: You don't think he... Chelsea: No way. Aiden, answer something. Arthur: Aiden? Vivian: Aiden? Aiden blinked at the screen. He hadn't expected the spotlight to swing to him. Judging by the frantic tone, they all genuinely thought he was dead. He took a breath and typed a reply, 'I'm alright. Thanks for checking on me.' Doomsday had only finished Day One. Chaos swept the nation, though order hadn't collapsed. Not yet, anyway.