CHAPTER 51: FLOWING LIGHT, BURNING BLOOD

Early the next morning, after a warm bowl of Cereal prepared by his sister, Ryan logged back into the game.

Nothing new had surfaced on the forums overnight. The paid guide he’d posted the day before still hadn’t attracted any buyers. Most players were biding their time, waiting for the countdown to end before attempting that particular path themselves.

Shortly after Ryan had logged off the previous night, both the Night Elves and the Orcs had finally broken through their respective racial dungeons. The other two races soon followed suit. Now, the forums were buzzing with speculation—when would the Tauren players of the Dark Horde finally clear theirs?

The Tauren community, unfortunately, had run into a wall. Several of their top guilds—some of the largest and most organized in the game—were unable to break through. No matter what they tried, their strategy kept falling short. It wasn’t until one determined solo player finally cleared the dungeon on their own that the truth came out: the entire community had been operating under a fundamental misconception.

They had consistently mistaken the wrong method for the right one.

Because of that flawed approach, their tanks couldn’t withstand the boss’s attacks, leading to wipe after wipe. The breakthrough came when this lone player discovered a hidden route that allowed them to reach the final boss under completely different conditions. Only then did the Tauren realize that their previous strategy had inadvertently triggered a massive damage multiplier on the boss.

With that revelation, the road to victory finally opened.

Just as the Tauren completed their long-overdue dungeon clear, Ryan reappeared in the Astral City inn.

His Engineering skill had now reached 30 points in proficiency. Paired with the stack of Crude Gunpowder in his inventory, Ryan gave a small, satisfied smile. He deposited most of the powder into the Public Bank Vault and set off to find the Wandering Merchant.

Without the same stroke of luck he’d had yesterday, Ryan closed the purchase window without hesitation and made a quick return to Stormhold Fortress via the teleportation portal.

After arriving at Goldmine Town by gryphon, his first move was to turn in his main quest. The reward was substantial—several hundred reputation points with Stormhold Fortress—just enough to elevate his standing to Honored status.

In Kingdom Forge, reputation is everything.

The system divides reputation into nine tiers: Nemesis, Hated, Indifferent, Neutral, Friendly, Honored, Revered, and Exalted. Players begin with Friendly reputation toward their own faction and Neutral with others. To rise from Neutral to Friendly, one must accumulate 9,000 points with the chosen faction. From there, it takes 18,000 more to reach Honored. Each tier becomes exponentially more demanding.

Reaching Revered requires 36,000 points. To attain Exalted? A staggering 72,000.

Starting a guild isn’t cheap—it requires both Honored reputation with one’s faction and 1,000 gold. The gold part is easy. The reputation? Not so much. Most quests award only a handful of points. Even after grinding through every available mission in Goldmine Town, the average player had managed only around 3,000.

Ryan, however, was far from average.

His three Glorious Achievements had granted him a combined 15,000 Alliance of Light reputation. This wasn’t just some prestige badge—it was functional. The Alliance of Light reputation applied collectively to the three major races of the alliance. Each point earned counted equally toward all three.

Thanks to this, Ryan had earned 15,000 Stormhold Fortress reputation outright. Add in the human racial bonus—a 10% increase to all reputation gains—and a few more quest completions, and reaching Honored had been effortless.

Now, not only could he officially form a guild, but he also unlocked perks: a 10% discount on repairs and purchases from all NPCs in Stormhold Fortress.

Ryan didn’t even bother to check the quest rewards.

He headed straight to the guild registrar and, without hesitation, created the very first guild in the game.

Flowing Light.

As he stared at the name, a flicker of emotion crossed his face—a hint of sorrow buried deep.

In his past life, he had watched this humble guild fall apart. Once full of potential, it crumbled under pressure, eventually sliding from a second-tier force into complete obscurity.

Not this time.

"In this life, your name will shine," he murmured. "You’ll be known by all."

With that quiet vow, Ryan turned and left the hall. His next destination: Stormhold Fortress.

There, a choice awaited him. He could stay in the relative safety of the human heartlands and grind levels slowly, or he could step into the chaos of contested territory—Orc lands, where danger lurked at every corner and bloodshed was routine.

The first player to create a guild received a minor achievement—just a plain, unimpressive notification. No world announcement, no fireworks. It wasn’t a Glorious Achievement, so no one else even knew it had happened. Only when the second guild was formed would another player discover they weren’t actually first—and only then would the realization sink in.

That suited Ryan just fine.

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[Blood or Glory]:

As a newly appointed Knight, your confidence must be growing. Now, it’s time to head to Stormhold Fortress. Countless challenges await you there.

Seek out General Mars; he has much to teach you.

Quest Objective: Speak with General Mars

Quest Reward: 500 Experience, 1 Silver Coin

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General Mars was easy to find, just outside the gates of Stormhold Fortress. He patrolled with his soldiers daily, scanning the horizon for any signs of incursion from hostile territories.

Ryan approached, and after a brief exchange, a new quest popped up.

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[Blood or Glory]:

Excellent, Warrior! Humanity is pressed on all sides—civil unrest within, enemies at our borders. It seems fate brought you to me at just the right time. I have two commissions for you. Choose wisely.

Quest Objective: Speak with General Mars and choose your commission

Quest Reward: 200 Experience

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This was a branching point.

The path Ryan chose here would shape his leveling experience going forward. He could stay in the central regions, eliminating bandits and growing steadily—or take the more perilous road into contested zones along the Orcish front.

That second option came with real risk: getting ambushed by hostile players, losing progress, and even being corpse-camped for hours. But the rewards made it worthwhile.

In contested territory, a new system activated: Military Rank. Every time a player killed an enemy player, they earned Honor Points. Those points could be exchanged for rank promotions. And rank came with gear—Honor Equipment—built specifically for PvP.

Even better, Honor gear was equivalent to rare-quality equipment of the same level. In the early game, that made a huge difference. Players with Honor gear could overpower almost anyone in standard questing gear. Later, with enough kills and enough rank, players could buy epic-quality gear—items on par with dungeon loot.

For Ryan, the choice was already made.

His fourth Glorious Achievement was hidden somewhere out there—waiting beyond the border, drenched in conflict and chaos.

And he intended to claim it.