Teleported away, Sol-Ho finds himself at the foot of a dead tree that's surrounded by small rocks piled on top of each other

similar to the weathered stump he found in the Forest of Woes. He gathers his senses briefly and then a two messages appears from the system.

- TELEPORTATION COMPLETED -

- HIDDEN AREA DISCOVERED BY USER -

"What? Hidden area? I thought those were just a rumor spread by the guilds..."

"I should probably contact Beom-nim and the others and let them know to go through the stump to follow me."

Sol-Ho tries to open up the chat in-game but inevitably fails as a new system message appears.

- ALL ATTEMPTS AT COMMUNICATION, LEAVING AND LOGGING OUT WILL BE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED, COMPLETING THE HIDDEN AREA OR DYING IS THE ONLY WAY OUT -

"....what?"

"Excuse me? Game? Developers?"

"What the fuck do you mean by this? How is this fair?!"

After a few minutes of messing around with his menu and the HUD, Sol-Ho realizes its futile and decides to forge on ahead in the hidden area.

"I better check the map just in case."

A semi-large system box appears in front of Sol-Ho, it details the surroundings around him. As he examines the map, he gets to the top

segment of it and he freezes in fear at what he reads.

- HIDDEN AREA OF: THE ASHEN PLAINS -

"No way...you're fucking kidding me, the Ashen Plains!"

The Ashen Plains are one of the five areas considered as a death land to every player by the community. A grey land devoid of plants and

animals but also no towns or waystones exist in the entirety of the area, but there are also monsters ranging from levels 80-100 that are abundant.

However that is not the most dangerous aspect that deters players and NPCs from staking a claim in this god-forsaken land. The ash storms

that occur everywhere and every time, clouding vision, poisoning any living thing that's below level 75 to death and damaging the durability of even

the hardest metals and stones rendering weapons and armor to dust. Only someone who is a fool or has gone mad would dare to set foot here.

Sol-Ho realizes the disaster that has fallen before him falling to his knees and despairing in the fetal position.

*Sobbing*

"Why...what did I do to deserve this, my levels and items are going to be damaged and I won't be able to log in for a full day when I die!"

In the midst of his constant despair, an ash storm rolls in from the horizon covering the everything it sweeps over in a thick grey cloud.

"Of course there's an ash storm that decides to show up when I'm here."

Sol-Ho recomposes himself and stands up. Taking out a spyglass he bought from his inventory, he squints his eyes

and tries to look for any sort of shelter in the vast flat horizon before him. His sights land on a ruined tower in the far distance,

knowing his options are limited and his luck definitely not going to get worse than it already is he sets out and starts running towards it.

Half an hour later.

*Panting*

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"That stupid fucking tower is so far away...what kind of sadistic developer made this hidden area!?"

From above Sol-Ho's head a gust of wind can be heard.

"Huh?"

As he looks up, a large birdlike mass sweeps in and out of the clouds above.

"What is that?"

He puts in more effort to see the beast circling far above him and in a flash he sees it.

Jet black feathers accompanied by eyes spewing out thunder, a razor-sharp talon and beak colored in silver and scars. A level 85 Storm Crow.

"Oh my..."

Sol-Ho breathes in and out deeply, in his mind asking why the game has forsaken him over and over as he's set upon by disasters one after another.

A moment passes, the Storm Crow above still encircling him. He opens his inventory and takes out the only speed potion he could ever afford.

He looks upon the glass bottle hewn with a few cheap gems and silver lining and pops it open to drink.

"Goodbye my sweet potion, may you serve me well."

In an instant all of the fluids inside of the bottle go down his virtual throat. With the ash storm gaining behind him and a fearsome

Storm Crow encircling above, he realizes this hidden area was never meant to be completed and that he is royally fucked.

- MOVEMENT SPEED INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY FOR 5 MINUTES -

"Remember what that red car said...I AM SPEED."

Sol mutters to himself briefly before rushing forth like a water from a faucet.

The Storm Crow encircling above him realizes his prey's intentions and in a swift action dives down towards the unlucky bastard below.

"CAAWW!"

With the monster cawing down towards him at full speed, Sol-Ho realizes his demise and runs faster.

"COME AND GET ME!!!!"

Frantically running and yelling towards the ruined tower that grows closer and closer, his stamina already under halfway depleted

Sol-Ho opens his inventory whilst running and grabs all of the stamina potions he would have used in the raid earlier.

The Storm Crow cries out as he does this and lightning surges from its eyes to Sol-Ho's left side.

"AHHHHH!!!"

He shouts as the bolt of lightning narrowly missed his left arm. Sol-Ho drinks the stamina potions one by one while managing to dodge

another set of thunderbolts from the Storm Crow. System messages pop up one after another displaying the same thing.

- STAMINA RECOVERING GREATLY -

The monster realizes how futile it is to attack this prey like this and steadily opens its talons.

Cawing out one more time it swoops down in full speed towards Sol-Ho talons fully ready to rip and tear.

"Can't hit me with your little thunder now you want to go hand-to-hand bitch!?"

Sol-Ho taunts the monster in an effort to give himself some last minute dignity because he realizes he won't make it to the tower that's still a football field away.

The monster with its extreme speed, lunges at Sol-Ho with its talons. It successfully grabs his right arm while he is running giving him

no time to respond and in a flash-blood, lots of virtual blood spewing out as his arm was ripped off by the Storm Crow.

"YOU BASTARD THAT HURTS!!!! GIVE ME MY ARM BACK YOU-"

A hard thud on Sol-Ho causes him to fall back on his bottom side. He looks up and he sees he hit a ruined pillar that's close to the

ruined tower he desperately ran after. After standing back up, a cry from the Storm Crow is heard from above.

"CAAAAWWWW!!"

The monster above reminds Sol-Ho that's not out of the woods yet and panics sets in again for him.

"Shit!"

His virtual arm still bleeding profusely, Sol-Ho starts running towards the tower again as he checks his health.

- HP:14% -

"I'm gonna die because of this stupid overpowered bird, that lives in this death trap made by a sadistic piece of shit developer!!!"

The monster above him starts raining down thunder and Sol-Ho runs as useless as he can towards the ruined tower that gave him the last bit of hope.

"BOOM!"

A thunderbolt from the Storm Crow launches him forward face first into the door of the ruin, the force driving him powerful enough to

break the wooden door into splinters as he rolls inside crashing into the walls of the building, knocking him out for a brief moment.

"CAW! CAW!! CAW!"

The monster above hurls more thunder at the ruined tower but is stopped by a magical barrier.

It finally leaves after a few moments of failed attempts.

*A few minutes after*

Sol-Ho regains his consciousness and sits up.

"Damn this game, why did they have to make it so realistic?"

He looks around him while there is the ash storm raging outside, battering the ruined tower's stone walls and foundations.

A minute passes and he forgot that his arm was ripped off by the Storm Crow, Sol-Ho opens his inventory again and retrieves a

medium-grade healing potion to recover his health. With the pop of a lid he glugs down the pure red contents of the bottle and

the effects start to show. A magical aura appears from the location of his torn off limb and a small appendage forms.

"I guess it will take my arm a while to grow back...I should explore this place first."

Seemingly as to acknowledge his existence and motives, a system message appears.

- CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING IT TO THE END OF THE HIDDEN AREA, PLEASE COLLECT THE REWARDS TO BE TELEPORTED BACK -