Vol. 3: Chapter 11
Inside the Orc Supply Depot near Starlight Village, Hazel’s formidable defenses finally paid off.
She tanked the Supply Depot Commander through four stacks of its enrage buff, holding on just long enough. After unleashing a series of massive AoE attacks that wiped out seventy or eighty players, the hulking commander finally crashed to the ground, dead.
Just like the previous bosses, the commander didn't drop gear directly. Instead, every participant was awarded a hefty sum of points.
Hazel and Rena, as the main tanks and top performers, received the most: 500 points each. Lila and the other core DPS players got 300, while everyone else walked away with at least a hundred or two. This was on top of the 400-plus points they had already earned from clearing mobs on the way.
A system alert, identical to the one Mordant’s group received, flashed in their vision, but the timer was even shorter.
System: The Burning Horde has learned of the Supply Depot Commander’s demise and has dispatched a legion of Worg Riders to the camp. ETA: 4 minutes. You stand no chance of victory. Evacuate immediately.
Lila didn't hesitate. “Fall back! Let’s turn in the quest!” she commanded.
“Yes, ma’am!”
The surviving four hundred players scrambled back to the safety of Starlight Village. Lila approached the High Steward and reported their success.
A look of profound relief washed over his face. “You have done an incredible service. Take the recovered [Military Rations] to the quartermaster in the Armory. He will allow each of you to select two pieces of equipment as a reward.”
A new notification popped up for all 500 members of the original raid party:
System: Congratulations! You have completed the quest [Raid the Supply Depot] with 100% completion, earning 1000 points. After turning in the [Military Rations] to the quartermaster, you may claim two Ascendant-tier PVE items.
The group chat exploded.
“Holy shit! TWO pieces of Ascendant PVE gear??”
“Is that a typo?”
“I’m rereading the notification… yeah, it says two. Two level 30 Ascendant items.”
“Wait, why does mine say two level 25 Ascendant items?”
“Are you level 30 yet?”
“No… Goddammit, that sucks. I should’ve just dumped my points into XP.”
“It’s not too late. There might be more quests like this. Might as well grind it out now.”
“Good point. Hitting 30 is the priority!”
Buzzing with excitement, the crowd swarmed the Armory. They found the quartermaster, turned in the quest items, and eagerly began picking their rewards. Lila chose a level 30 Ascendant necklace and a pair of level 30 Ascendant boots. She was still using a level 25 Legendary blade, but she passed on upgrading her weapon for now.
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She opened her friends list and sent a quick message.
Lila: You done?
Draevan: 10 more minutes.
Lila: I thought you said it might take all day.
Draevan: All day?
Lila: What? Second thoughts about tomorrow’s point earnings?
Draevan: A little. But this is more important. It’ll be ready for the day after.
Lila: Good. I’ll be waiting at the mailbox.
Draevan: Let me be clear. I expect to see what he promised me in that trade window.
Lila: Of course. You’ll use the mail’s COD system with mutual confirmation.
Draevan: I don’t exactly trust you.
Lila: I know. But you trust him.
Draevan: Yeah.
Lila closed the chat window, a thrill of anticipation running through her.
She headed to her personal stash and withdrew an assortment of materials she had prepared long ago.
While Lila was busy, raid groups from the other starting villages were also completing their quests. Across the 20,000 starter zones, the results varied wildly:
10 villages achieved 100% completion and killed the boss, earning their players two Ascendant items.
2,100 villages achieved 100% completion but failed to kill the boss, earning two Legendary items.
7,065 villages achieved 20-80% completion, earning a single Legendary item.
1 village, in a bizarre twist, managed to kill the boss but failed to destroy a single crate of Military Rations. Despite a technical completion of 50%, the system deemed their objective a failure, rewarding them with only a single Epic item.
The conditions for the Ascendant gear were brutal: 100% completion and a boss kill. Taking down a commander with four stacks of enrage was a true testament to a team's skill and coordination. When Caleb Mordant saw the server-wide results, his mood soured even further.
Twenty minutes later, Lila stood by a mailbox. Finally, the long-awaited message arrived.
[Attached Item]: Obsidian Greatsword
Lila opened the mail, and a confirmation window appeared.
[The sender requests a Cash-on-Delivery payment and requires mutual confirmation to complete the trade.]
She placed [The Way of the Swift Steel] into her side of the trade window, along with a verified electronic transfer for $10,000,000.
“Confirm send.”
She held her breath, waiting for the confirmation from his end.
System: Your items have been sent. You have received [Obsidian Greatsword].
Her hands trembled slightly as she inspected the Ascendant weapon. It had three ridiculously powerful stats: a cleave attack, lifesteal on kill, and a passive resistance buff. Every single one was incredibly useful. She could only imagine what the custom-forged blades, [Ashfang] and [Dragonbane], would become once this sword was used as their core material.
Shaking off her excitement, Lila reopened the mail interface. This time, she was the sender.
[Recipient]: Gilded Hand
[Attached Items]: Obsidian Greatsword, Crystalline Shards x10, Tempered Carbon x10, Mithril Ingots x20…
She then opened her chat with Gilded Hand.
Lila: I’ve sent all the materials you requested. Please check your mail.
Before she could even hit send, a message from him came through.
Gilded Hand: Received. Do not disturb me while I work. I will contact you tomorrow.
Lila stared at the screen, then deleted the message she had typed.
Definitely a weirdo, she muttered to herself. I wonder what Kael is up to? Has he made it yet?
Had Kael reached Elderbloom Valley?
Of course. He’d arrived a while ago.
The moment he’d looted the wings from that chest, he had gained an advantage that was almost game-breaking.
Wings weren't supposed to exist yet. They were a legendary reward from the next expansion, Arrival of the Gods, and even then, they wouldn't become available until midway through its content cycle. But Kael's insane Luck stat had shattered the game's intended progression.
From the system's perspective, the Second Chieftain's reward was simply meant to solve a logistical problem: travel. Any normal player, lacking the [Soul Cloak], would find it impossible to reach Elderbloom Valley in time. The chest was the game's solution.
Whether a player could actually open the chest and get the item inside was another matter entirely. The lock required a [Grandmaster] level skill, a feat that was virtually impossible at this stage of the game.
And even if someone managed to open it, without 999 points in Luck, the reward would have been something far less powerful, far less useful.
By the system’s cold logic, the Third Chieftain was doomed.
But the system had never accounted for Kael. His impossible luck had solved the game’s unsolvable problem.
Still, even with wings, the challenges ahead were far from small.