MMORPG: Rise of the Strongest Shadow God

Flynn had just finished distributing the loot when his communicator began vibrating nonstop.

The caller ID showed Chad. After giving the group a quick heads-up, Flynn logged out.

The moment he removed his neural linker, he found Chad staring at him from across the room, eyes bloodshot and full of restless excitement.

"Alright," Chad said immediately, leaning forward. "Spill it. How did you guys beat Markel? That old man Edruson stopped helping us the second the shield broke. After that we were completely stuck. How the hell did you pull it off?"

Flynn stretched lazily, then patted Chad on the shoulder with an annoyingly smug grin. "Is that any way to ask for help, kid?" he said. "Where’s my late-night snack?"

Chad rolled his eyes.

"Fine, you win. Let’s go grab something to eat and talk. I’ve actually got something I want to ask you about anyway."

Flynn chuckled mischievously, grabbed a jacket from the chair, and followed Chad out the door.

The night air outside was cool and refreshing, but the street near their apartment was still lively. Several late-night food stalls were open, their bright lights illuminating small groups of night owls gathered around plastic tables.

The two of them sat down and ordered a few snacks and drinks. Chad lasted barely a minute before his curiosity got the better of him.

"Alright, enough suspense," he said, leaning forward. "Tell me how you killed Markel."

Flynn took a long pull from his beer before answering. "You know each of Markel’s three heads gives him a buff when it dies, right?"

"Yeah," Chad replied immediately. "Red boosts his damage, blue slows down his casting, and gold heals him. We figured that part out too. We’ve killed all three heads before, but we can never get them down fast enough."

He let out an irritated sigh.

"That NPC talks forever. By the time he finishes his speech, there’s barely a minute left on the timer. It’s just not enough time."

Flynn nodded.

"What kill order did you use?"

"We tried a bunch of different setups," Chad said. "But the one that worked best for us was blue first, then red, then gold."

Flynn shook his head.

"We went red, then blue, then gold. One try."

Chad rolled his eyes again.

"I already know you one-shot it."

He paused for a moment, thinking it through.

"Actually... that order does make sense. Get the damage buff first so the rest dies faster." He frowned slightly. "But we tried leaving the gold head for last once, and its Divine Grace resurrected the other two. The whole fight basically reset. We couldn’t recover after that."

"That’s just a DPS problem," Flynn said with a shrug. "When you’ve got a pro like me on the team, the damage output is on a completely different level."

Chad snorted.

"Yeah, yeah, you’re good. I’ll give you that. But Amy and Peerless Blood-Sword? Their mechanics are average at best."

He squinted suspiciously at Flynn. "Seriously though... where did you learn to play like that? It’s ridiculous."

Chad had already watched the recorded footage of their second boss fight, and his experience allowed him to judge the skill levels of each player fairly accurately.

Flynn gave a faint, crooked smile. Some questions were better left unanswered, especially questions about his past.

So he casually steered the conversation in another direction. "That reminds me," he said. "Want to know why our damage was so high?"

Chad narrowed his eyes.

"Why?"

"Potions."

"Potions?" Chad looked skeptical.

"Look up a guy named Bitter-Melon," Flynn continued. "His potions are about twenty percent stronger than the standard ones."

"No way."

Chad raised his hand and gave Flynn a playful middle finger, but a relieved smile had already spread across his face.

"So that’s the secret. I’m tracking down this Bitter-Melon the moment I log back in. If I can corner the market on those potions..."

Flynn laughed and then walked him through the mechanics of the Duke Ceylan fight.

Chad understood almost immediately.

The Duke himself wasn’t particularly dangerous. The real problem came from the spectral phantoms he summoned. They were incredibly durable, turning the fight into a long battle of endurance.

In essence, the entire encounter was a test of the healer’s stamina. If the team could survive the slow drain on resources, victory was inevitable.

The final phase, however, was the opposite. It was a pure damage check. Clearing the dungeon required a well-balanced team and strong individual mechanics across the board.

Of course, Flynn quietly skipped over one important detail.

Even with Bitter-Melon’s enhanced potions, their run would have failed if Flynn hadn’t stepped in to tank the boss at the critical moment. That brief window had given Let-There-Be-Light the time he needed to recover his mana.

Without that, the fight would have ended right there. And they definitely wouldn’t have earned the Glorious Achievement.

Flynn kept that part to himself.

"It’s too late to run it again tonight," he said casually. "But do you want me to help your team tomorrow?"

Chad shook his head immediately. "Nah. You should just focus on leveling."

He leaned back in his chair, a sly grin spreading across his face.

"Once everyone catches up in levels, I’ve got a few other dungeons I want to take you through."

His grin widened.

"So stay away from any new instances for the next few days. Don’t even worry about grinding. Tomorrow we’re going to spend the whole day gathering intel on other dungeons."

"And then?" Flynn asked.

"Then we bring you along as our secret weapon and start sweeping up a few more Glorious Achievements."

Chad suddenly leaned forward again. "By the way, what was the reward for this one?"

Flynn blinked. "The reward?"

He scratched the back of his head. "I haven’t actually checked yet."

Chad stared at him in disbelief. "Are you serious? That’s the most important part! Check it the moment you log back in and tell me!"

By the time they finished eating and headed home, both of them were slightly tipsy, mostly Chad. His alcohol tolerance had always been terrible.

Flynn was fumbling with his keys when the apartment door across the hall suddenly opened.

Chloe poked her head out. The moment she caught the smell of alcohol, her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"What are you two doing out drinking this late?" she said. "Ugh, Chad, you’re a mess again."

"Hey, we just grabbed some late-night snacks," Flynn replied with a laugh. "Why aren’t you guys still in-game?"

He knew professional players usually stayed logged in until three or four in the morning, slept for a few hours, and then jumped right back in around seven.

The neural linkers used for Age of Conquest provided a form of light sleep while connected, which was the only reason such a brutal schedule was even possible.

Chloe giggled while still covering her nose.

"We’re done for the night. Sophia doesn’t like us staying up too late."

She tilted her head playfully. "Besides, a girl needs her beauty sleep."

Flynn laughed.

"Fair enough. Get some rest then, beautiful. See you tomorrow."

"See ya!"

Chloe stuck out her tongue before quickly closing the door again, her heart beating a little faster than usual. Behind the door, she was wearing nothing but a thin, sheer nightgown.

Back in their apartment, Flynn dumped Chad onto the guest bed before heading to the bathroom to wash up.

The next morning, when Flynn woke up, Chad was still completely passed out.

At some point during the night he had stripped down to his boxers. As Flynn pushed the bedroom door open, his eyes landed on something that made him stop.

A scar.

It stretched across Chad’s lower back, nearly twenty centimeters long. The jagged line twisted across his skin like a crooked snake.

Flynn stared at it silently. He didn’t remember Chad ever having an injury like that, which meant it must have happened sometime during the years they had been apart.

That didn’t look like an accident. Flynn frowned slightly. The scar looked far too clean, and far too straight.

More like a knife wound.

He knew Chad well enough to understand his personality. The guy could be lazy, shameless, and occasionally a bit of a pain to deal with, but deep down he was a genuinely good person.

So how had someone like him ended up with a wound like that? Flynn stood there for a long moment before finally shaking his head.

Then he walked over and gave Chad a sharp kick in the backside. "Wake up, you lazy bum!" he shouted. "The girls are waiting for us for breakfast!"

They had been shamelessly freeloading meals from their neighbors for days now. Chad groaned loudly, eyes half-open as he staggered toward the bathroom.

The morning passed quietly.

After breakfast, everyone returned to their rooms to log back into the game. Flynn never mentioned the scar.

If Chad had wanted to talk about it, he would have brought it up when they first reunited. Chad wasn’t the kind of person who hid things easily.

If he hadn’t said anything, then it meant he had chosen to bury whatever had happened.

’Maybe I’ll find out someday,’ Flynn thought. Then he logged back into Age of Conquest.

He had logged out inside the dungeon the night before, but since the instance had reset overnight, he respawned just outside the entrance.

The area was still packed with players.

Following Amy’s advice from the previous day, Flynn had hidden his display name. No one around him realized that he was the Night-Stalker who had just earned a Glorious Achievement.

The first thing he did was check his reward; Five random attribute points.

He had received +3 Agility, +1 Strength, and +1 Intellect.

That was the equivalent of two full level-ups worth of attribute points.

Individually, base attributes didn’t provide bonuses as dramatic as high-level gear, but over time they added up significantly. If each achievement granted five points, the cumulative advantage from multiple achievements could become enormous.

Flynn shared the results with Chad.

Chad was immediately impressed, and it only strengthened his determination to drag Flynn along for more achievement hunts.

A moment later, a message popped up from Let-There-Be-Light.

"Stalker, we’re planning to take a Whale through Hell difficulty later. You in?"

Flynn blinked.

’A Whale?’

He was still unfamiliar with some of the game’s slang.

Light quickly explained.

"Wealthy players," he wrote. "They’ve got money but not the time or skill to grind high-end gear. Since dungeon loot is soulbound for ten days to a month after pickup, the only way for them to get top-tier equipment immediately is to hire a team to carry them."

Studios like Byance specialized in exactly that kind of job.

Their Glorious Achievement had made them famous overnight, and requests for paid dungeon carries were already flooding in.

But Let-There-Be-Light understood something very clearly; Flynn had been the key to their Hell difficulty clear.

Even if the rest of the team now understood every mechanic in the dungeon, that didn’t guarantee they could repeat the victory.

Hell difficulty was designed for elite players. According to the developers themselves, fewer than one percent of properly leveled teams would be capable of clearing it.

With odds like that, Light couldn’t afford to take risks. Flynn’s participation was critical.

Unfortunately, Flynn rejected the offer almost immediately.

Earn money? Did he really need to?

He already had plenty of in-game currency, and as for real-world money... well, he was doing just fine.

Let-There-Be-Light had expected the answer, but he still couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. With Flynn in the party, he was confident they could clear all five bosses, even if the Whale turned out to be completely useless.

Without him, Light decided to play it safe. They would only sell progress through the first three bosses.

Of course, he wasn’t about to tell potential clients that the studio might lack the skill to handle the final two. Instead, he would simply explain that the studio needed the loot from those bosses for their own progression.