MMORPG: Rise of the Strongest Shadow God

Flynn moved against the tide of players streaming out of the mine, slipping between bodies as they pushed their way toward the exits. Even though the Black-Iron Mount had several entrances, every single one of them was choked with people being forced out, and he found himself wondering just how massive the interior really was, or if the mountain had already been hollowed out entirely from within.

At the main entrance, two players stood guard, intercepting a group of rival guild miners while keeping a sharp, watchful eye on the independent prospectors shuffling past. One was a Duelist, the other a Ranger, a simple but effective frontline and backline pairing. At this stage of the game, guilds were still loose, informal things built on personal connections rather than any official system.

The real Guild System would not unlock until players left the Aenoth District and stepped into the wider world. For now, even established names like Wind-Dance and Aether-Reach only had a small number of core members present. To make up the difference, they recruited local muscle and relied on Tailors to craft unofficial insignias that marked their people.

Technically, these groups existed in a gray area. Anyone could slap on a fake badge and cause trouble, and it happened often enough that guilds took it personally. Imposters were tracked down, blacklisted, and hounded until they quit. It was less about justice and more about reputation. No one wanted their name dragged through the mud.

The two guards at the entrance did not have visible guild tags, but both wore bronze pins stamped with the name Aether-Reach.

Flynn remained in Stealth, lingering in the shadows as the crowd gradually thinned. The entrance itself was barely two meters wide, and with the guards holding position and people constantly passing through, slipping by unnoticed would not be easy. One careless bump would break his cloak instantly.

Eventually, the last of the miners cleared out, leaving the two guards to themselves. Their conversation drifted into idle chatter, the kind that came from boredom more than anything else. They talked about loot drops, about who had gotten lucky, and about which girl in the guild was seeing who. At one point they started complaining about pretty flowers being planted in manure, though whether the boyfriends in question deserved that description was another matter entirely.

Most players assigned to guard duty were not particularly driven. Level thirteen or fourteen at best, content to earn steady pay rather than grind endlessly for experience. The guild compensated them well enough to tolerate the monotony, and every so often one of them would wander off to take a few swings at a vein, pocketing a bit of extra silver on the side.

Flynn studied their positioning carefully. Both were leaning against the same side of the tunnel wall, leaving the opposite side relatively open. After a moment’s consideration, he decided to hug that wall and slip through.

He had barely crossed the threshold when a purple crystal mounted on the ceiling flared to life, flooding the entrance with a harsh, unnatural light.

His Stealth shattered instantly.

Flynn froze, his gaze snapping upward. ’What the hell is that?’

The two Aether-Reach guards were just as startled at first, but they recovered quickly, drawing their weapons as grins spread across their faces.

"Think you’re slick, don’t you, Rogue?" one of them said, clearly pleased with himself. "You’re not the first to try and ghost past us. Not gonna happen."

Flynn frowned, still staring at the glowing crystal. "What is that thing? Why did it break my cloak?"

The other guard let out a short laugh, his expression dripping with smug satisfaction. "A True-Sight Crystal. Never seen one before? It’s one of Aether-Reach’s little toys. No Rogue gets through here without us knowing."

"Can’t say I have," Flynn replied with a casual shrug, forcing an easy tone. "Look, I’m just here for a quest. How about you let me through?"

"A quest? Down in the deep shafts?" The guard snorted. "Who are you trying to fool? Get lost before we decide to cash in the bounty on your head."

Flynn let out a quiet sigh. He had hoped to talk his way past them, but it was clear they were enjoying this too much to be reasonable.

"Fine," he said. "Then why don’t you ask your boss if I can go in?"

"Our boss?" The two guards exchanged a look, uncertainty creeping in despite themselves. Flynn’s calm confidence gave them pause. If he really did know someone higher up, this could get awkward, but if he did, why sneak in at all?

They hesitated, then leaned closer to each other, whispering briefly before deciding to check their messages.

By the time they looked back up, it was already too late. Two fist-sized iron spheres were flying toward them.

"What the—?"

The bombs detonated before they could react, erupting in a roar of fire and thick black smoke that swallowed the entrance whole. For a brief instant, Flynn’s silhouette flickered through the flames, and then, as the smoke began to clear, he was gone.

"Dammit! Alert the inner circle, we’ve got an intruder, a Rogue!"

"We need the crystal inside or we’ll never find him!"

They scrambled into motion, one remaining at the entrance while the other tore the crystal from its mount and sprinted into the tunnel.

Three meters away, tucked into a shallow depression in the earth, Flynn watched the entire scene unfold without moving a muscle. He waited patiently for his combat timer to tick down, then slipped back into Stealth and walked straight past the remaining guard as if he belonged there.

He had never actually entered the mine when the bombs went off. Doing so would have locked him in combat, making it impossible to cloak again, and with Aether-Reach members likely flooding the tunnels, that would have been suicide. Instead, he had gambled on the distraction creating an opening, though even he had not expected them to remove their only detection device.

Flynn allowed himself a quiet chuckle. ’Thanks for the assist, boys.’

Inside, the mine was pure chaos. Aether-Reach players ran in every direction, waving the crystal around as they searched for him, but the tunnels stretched far and wide, and one gem was nowhere near enough to cover it all. After several minutes of frantic but fruitless searching, they began drifting back toward the entrance, their urgency fading.

Watching from the darkness, Flynn considered his next move. Even without the crystal, he had a problem. He could not mine while cloaked, and the moment he swung a pickaxe, he would reveal himself. With so many players packed into the tunnels, there was nowhere quiet enough to work unnoticed.

So he moved deeper.

He passed through territory claimed by other factions, including several international groups. The alliance between the South American and European players looked shaky at best. Despite their supposed cooperation, arguments broke out constantly, and more than once he saw them teeter on the edge of outright PvP over the smallest provocations.

At one particularly heated standoff, Flynn could not resist. He tossed a couple of bombs into the middle of the argument and slipped away before the explosions even registered, leaving chaos blooming behind him.

After nearly thirty minutes of searching, he was close to giving up when he stumbled upon a secluded shaft. A line of shirtless miners worked along the walls with mechanical precision, their movements steady and repetitive. They did not look like players. They looked like NPCs.

Seven or eight heavily armored guards patrolled the area, their presence making it clear this place was different.

As Flynn approached, the squad leader, a Level 30 veteran, suddenly snapped his head toward Flynn’s position and drew his sword, pointing it directly into the shadows.

"You there, Rogue. Stop skulking and show yourself."

’Dammit, I’m ten meters away. How did he see me?’ Flynn muttered under his breath as he dropped his cloak.

The guards closed in immediately, surrounding him with weapons raised.

"Who are you? This is a restricted zone. State your business."

Flynn’s jaw tightened. He had not expected NPCs to be this alert, and eight Level 30 guards could erase him in an instant. He was already preparing to spin some kind of excuse when a sharp, piercing whistle echoed up from deep within the shaft.

The captain’s face drained of color.

"Back to the line, men. The things from the deep are acting up again."

He turned back to Flynn, his voice still harsh, but now edged with urgency.

"Rogue, I don’t know why you’re here, but there’s nothing for you in these tunnels. It’s more dangerous than you can imagine. Leave while you still can."

Without another word, the guards broke formation and rushed deeper into the mine. From the looks on their faces, it was not discipline driving them forward.

It was fear.

Flynn blinked, watching them disappear. That had been... convenient, but the captain’s warning lingered in his mind.

’Things from the deep?’

Whatever lay beneath this mountain, it was not just ore. These guards were not here to protect miners. They were guarding something else entirely.

For a moment, he considered following them, but if the captain could see through his Stealth that easily, chasing after them would be a losing gamble.

Behind him, the miners carried on as if nothing had happened, their pickaxes rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Their expressions were vacant, almost lifeless.

Flynn hesitated, then stepped toward a nearby vein and took a few experimental swings.

No reaction. The miners did not even glance at him.

"Well... alright then," he muttered, a grin slowly spreading across his face. The guards might care about intruders, but the workers clearly did not.

He got to work.

After a few strikes, a notification chimed, and a chunk of dark, metallic ore slipped neatly into his inventory.

Flynn paused. ’Wait. That’s not iron.’

He leaned in for a closer look. The vein was darker, denser, richer than anything he had seen near the entrance.

’Tungsten.’

He checked his inventory to be sure, then glanced at the vein beside it.

’Silver.’

A laugh broke free before he could stop it. "Jackpot. Tungsten and silver... Amy was right. This stuff’s worth a fortune."