We still had about 4 hours before we needed to log out.

  Athos and I decided to go back to Twinfire and take the next boat to Oakenlight. It was an hour-long journey, much faster than it would have been on foot.

  The village looked about the same in the afternoon hours as it had been in the morning; not many players were lurking around the ashen forests and hills of Twinfire.

  Partly because the scenery was much less welcoming than the likes of Carpa, Shadowreach or Oakenlight, and the weather got uncomfortably hot at times, but the biggest reason was simply that Twinfire was not in the way.

  Most of the eastern villages of the county were secluded and had no immediate reason to be visited.

  Sure, they all had interesting quest lines that players could capitalize on. Plenty of personal quests were acquired from the likes of Twinfire, Dukewood, Maelridge, Mudhelm or Twinsong.

  However, players didn’t go there to trade, meet up, or complete Association quests. They didn’t go through these villages on their way to Oakenlight, Shadowreach, or Tidemark. At most, they would see them from a boat, much like we did on our first trip to the county’s capital.

  “How do you think Kara’s doing with her quest in Dukewood?” I asked Athos.

  “She’s handling it, probably,” he answered. “She’s tough.”

  “That Double Cast passive of hers is something that’s definitely putting her way above other support players,” I nodded. “Bard is really hard to play correctly, but with her talent and rare skills, she’s definitely someone I’m glad to have on my team.”

  “That’s the only reason you’re glad to play with her, huh?” the Swordsman teased me. “She fancies you, you know?”

  “I… noticed,” I smiled awkwardly.

  I didn’t have much experience with relationships. I ended my only one when I moved to Scotland, not too long after Avalon got stolen from me.

  Thankfully, Athos didn’t pry further.

  We watched in silence as the boat slid into its designated area in the docks, and boarded the vessel as soon as we could.

  The sea was calm, the breeze was gentle, and the boat sped through the waves with no resistance.

  Oakenlight came to view, and it felt like coming home from a field trip. The thatched roofs and seastone walls of the village’s houses felt like long-time-no-seen friendly faces, and even though the tournament was barely a day ago, I suddenly realized just how homesick I was towards the Carpa and Oakenlight regions.

  We got off the boat in a fast fashion. The docks of Oakenlight were bustling with activity: sea merchants selling their catch of the day, players looking through the booths, and villagers shopping for today’s dinner flooded the seaside market.

  To our surprise, Lothras was standing right next to one of the fish-booths, paying for a big chunk of dried salmon as we reached him.

  “Dinner?” I asked. He almost jumped, startled.

  “Don’t do that again,” he scolded me. “And not dinner. Supplies.”

  There was a new shield on his back. It wasn’t a tower shield like the previous one. It was a heater-shaped one, much like the ones used by medieval European knights. It was smaller, lighter, and, if I had to guess, probably offered less defense but had some kind of offensive value as well.

  “Nice shield.”

  “It’s pretty good!” His face lit up, then returned to his standard expression: arrogant. “I spent fifteen gold on it, but it was worth it. That reminds me…”

  He gave both Athos and me ten gold coins. “Your parts, here.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “You sold everything already?”

  “Of course. I have connections,” he smirked. “Got a pretty good price, too.”

  If we all got 10 coins each, that meant he sold the items for 40 gold coins, which was more than what we expected. Nice.

  “I see you have reached level 18. About time,” he said after inviting us into a party once again.

  “We killed a level 20 Elite,” Athos started the recap. He told Lothras everything.

  “Good, you’re going to need that bow. Your damage was lackluster.”

  “Sure.”

  Truth be told, in comparison to his Radiant Edge, my damage still didn’t catch up. My sustained DPS was still higher than his, but he had to tank the boss while damaging, while I had free rein to do so.

  My strongest attack was Fan of Arrows, and there was no denying it was a heavy hitter, but it was also situational. I couldn’t always use it to its full potential, and even when I could, it was just a basic skill.

  Now that all changes.

  Arrow of Ash&Flames was a nuke. Dealing upwards of 300% of my physical power to a single target meant I could deal over 600 damage with a single shot, from range.

  I need to reach level 20 as soon as possible, I thought.

  We resupplied, then decided to have a fancy dinner at one of the seaside restaurants in the village.

  The course cost about 40 silver coins per person, but we decided it was a treat we deserved. A couple days ago, it would have been wild to pay more than a gold for the meal of three people, I thought. But now we have money to spare.

  It was true. Even after buying quite a few medium and small health and mana potions, food, and Repair Kits, I still had 200 gold and 20 silver coins left.

  My companions weren’t that well off, but Athos still had his second-place money, and Lothras was obviously not in dire need of funds either.

  We thanked the waitresses and left the building.

  "So what's the plan?" Lothras asked as we made our way through the market. "We have about an hour left before eight."

  "We should wait for Kara," I said. "She must be on her way from Dukewood by now."

  "I wonder if she finished her quest?" Athos asked.

  "We’ll find out soon."

  We found a spot near the fountain in the market square and settled in to wait. The evening crowd was thinner than the afternoon rush, mostly locals heading home after a day's work.

  Kara arrived fifteen minutes later, a satisfied grin on her face.

  "You look pleased with yourself," Lothras observed.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  "I am," she said, doing a little twirl. "Check out the new gear."

  She showed us the spoils. New boots, new gloves, a new hood; all level 15 rares with stats perfectly suited for a support Bard.

  "The missing villagers quest?" I asked.

  "Turned out to be a whole questline. Took me through three different areas, fought an elite at the end, and got showered with rewards." She examined her new equipment with obvious satisfaction. "This should help with the catacombs. Better mana regeneration, improved healing output, and some nice defensive stats."

  "Speaking of upgrades," Athos said, nudging me. "Show her."

  I pulled up the Emberwood Longbow and displayed it for Kara.

  Her eyes went wide.

  "What the— is that an Epic? Level 20?" She leaned closer to read the description, her shoulder brushing against mine. "Arrow of Ash and Flames... 125 attack power... Orion, this is insane."

  "Dropped from a level 20 elite in the Cinderbark forest," I explained.

  "So that's what you two were doing while I was gone," she said, then glanced at me with a sly smile. "Getting all hot and sweaty in the volcanic woods?"

  I felt my face heat up. "We were grinding—"

  "I bet you were."

  "Mobs. We were grinding mobs."

  "Uh-huh." She winked. "Well, if you ever need someone to help you... grind... I'm always available."

  Athos was doing a poor job of hiding his laughter. Even Lothras had the ghost of a smirk on his face.

  "Can we talk about the dungeon?" I said, desperate to change the subject.

  "Spoilsport," Kara pouted, but relented. "Fine. The Ravenmere Catacombs. What do we know?"

  "It's harder than the Twinfire Burial Site," I said. "Calian was clear about that."

  "The burial site nearly killed us," Lothras added, his expression sobering. "And that was with preparation, coordination, and frankly, a lot of luck. If the catacombs are worse..."

  "We need to be stronger," Athos finished.

  We fell into a contemplative silence. The fountain bubbled quietly behind us as players and NPCs passed by, oblivious to our concerns.

  "What level should we aim for?" Kara asked.

  "Twenty," I said firmly. "All of us. No exceptions."

  "That's going to take time," Lothras said. He pulled up his character sheet. "I'm level 19, about thirty percent through. Realistically, I need a full day of grinding tomorrow to hit 20. Maybe more."

  "The rest of us are 18," Athos added. "Kara, where are you at?"

  "Halfway to 19," she said. "The questline gave decent experience."

  "So you three will need two days, minimum," Lothras calculated. "Probably three to be safe."

  "We have time," I reminded everyone. "There's no rush. Better to be over-prepared than to wipe and lose progress."

  Athos frowned. "But what about other players? We unlocked the dungeon system in Tidemark. Won't someone else try the catacombs before us?"

  It was a fair concern. If another team cleared the catacombs first, would we lose access to the Tidemark Trident questline?

  "I don't think so," I said slowly, working through the logic. "The catacombs are tied to a specific storyline. This storyline was given to us. The key fragments are connected to the trident. I doubt the dungeon is even accessible to players who haven't progressed through the same narrative."

  "You think it's story-locked?" Kara asked.

  “For now? Yeah, I think so. At least as long as we don’t fail to clear it.”

  "That's a lot of assumptions," Lothras said.

  "It is. But it's what my gut tells me."

  Nobody argued further. In a game like Godsrealm, sometimes instinct was all you had.

  "So," Kara said, "where do we grind?"

  "The plains below Ravenmere," I suggested. "I saw them on the map. They're home to monsters between level 20 and 30. If we're careful, we can start clearing the lower-level ones and work our way up."

  "Let’s try not to run into a level 30 Elite." Athos sighed. "We’re good, but this is still a numbers game."

  "We stick to the edges, target isolated mobs, and retreat if things get dicey. With our coordination, we can handle level 20 enemies even at 18. It'll be slow at first, but the experience gains will be worth it."

  "I'm in," Kara said.

  "Same," Athos agreed.

  "You three can handle that," Lothras said. "I'm going back to Dryhollow."

  We all looked at him.

  "There's a spot in the mines," he explained. "A section most players don't know about. Good mob density, fast respawns, and the enemies are exactly my level. It's how I was already 18 two days ago while the rest of you were still catching up."

  "You just had enough of us, right?" Athos asked, though there was no real accusation in his tone.

  "It’s not that. A man needs his secrets." Lothras almost smiled. "Besides, it's better suited for solo grinding. The tunnels are narrow. More than two players and you'd just get in each other's way."

  "Fair enough," I said. "So tomorrow, you grind in Dryhollow, and the three of us hit the Ravenmere plains. We aim for level 19 by end of day."

  "And the day after?" Kara asked.

  "Same thing. We keep grinding until we're all 20. Lothras can use his new breastplate, I can take my new bow for a ride, we can even get other items. Then we attempt the catacombs."

  Everyone nodded. It was a simple plan, but simple plans were often the best ones.

  "It's almost eight," Athos noted, glancing at what I assumed was his system clock. "We should log."

  "Same time tomorrow?" I asked. "Eight am?"

  "Works for me," Kara said.

  "I'll be online," Lothras confirmed.

  "Then let's call it a night."

  We said our goodbyes – Kara with a lingering look in my direction – and I opened the logout menu.

  The world faded to black.

  I removed my headset and stretched, trying to ease the stiffness in my neck and shoulders. Twelve hours in VR wasn't terrible, but it still took a toll on the body.

  Before doing anything else, I grabbed my tablet and opened the Godsrealm forums. The community had been active all day, and I wanted to see what I'd missed.

  The front page of the Tidemark sub was pure chaos. It wasn’t the first county to unlock dungeons, but it was the one I had to pay most attention to.

  Threads about dungeons dominated every category. Failed attempts, successful clears, strategy discussions, loot drops; it seemed like every major group had been pushing content while we were in Twinfire.

  I scrolled until I found a thread titled "Twinfire Burial Site - Full Clear Guide" by Cyrus.

  I clicked it.

  Cyrus's team of six had cleared the dungeon, as expected. What surprised me was the detail in his write-up.

  He'd documented everything: mob placements, patrol patterns, boss mechanics, optimal party compositions.

  But as I read, something became clear.

  The dungeon they'd experienced was different from ours.

  Both bosses were level 15.

  And they weren't Admiral Theron Trynd or Lord Aldmar Trynd.

  They were Captains and Lieutenants from the Trynd army. Still tied to the storyline, but clearly subordinate figures rather than the main antagonists.

  The dungeon got easier after our clear, I realized. The first clear was special.

  I thought back to Lord Aldmar's dialogue, his monologue about revenge and legacy. Cyrus's team wouldn't have experienced any of that. They'd fought other bosses with probably similar motivations, gotten their loot, and moved on.

  They cleared repeatable content.

  We'd gotten something more. Something unique.

  This was the pull of Godsrealm. With how their supercomputer worked, the game had infinite possibilities. First Clears, personal quests, and hidden secrets were tailored to one specific person, but there were so many of them that everybody could find something if they made the effort.

  I was sure that Cyrus and his group, and other groups as well, had found interesting quests that I would never be able to experience. Just like me.

  But it was not a bottleneck: the system had an infinite number of scenarios. New stories will come.

  Curious now, I searched for threads about The Woe of Riverhear, the level 15 field boss Olivier had transformed into when I'd confronted him with the stolen medallion.

  I found several.

  But the boss they described wasn't Olivier. It was just a field boss.

  A corrupted spirit that spawned near Riverhear at regular intervals, dropped decent loot, and could be farmed by coordinated raids.

  No stolen medallion. No implications of an unfaithful mayor. No NPC transformation.

  Just a repeatable encounter that existed because someone–me–had triggered it first.

  I leaned back in my chair, processing this.

  Other players could experience the dungeons, fight the field bosses, earn the rewards.

  But being first meant something more. First clears shaped the world. First encounters defined the narrative.

  Everyone who came after was following the path that pioneers had carved.

  Godsrealm isn't just rewarding skill, I thought. It's rewarding discovery. Exploration. Being willing to push into the unknown.

  And the fact that the possibilities were endless meant that anyone could experience this, one way or another.

  It made me more determined than ever to reach the catacombs. Whatever story waited for us there, whatever unique experience the first clear would provide, I wanted it.

  Starry-Eyed Hero

  by QuiteTheSlacker

  Ten year old Astra has always dreamed of reaching the stars.

  As a humble farm boy living in the countryside, Astra's been surrounded by forests and flowing rivers his entire life. It's a routine full of family fun, community, and good ol' hard work... but sometimes, he'd lay on the grass at night and gaze out toward those bright stars above.

  He'd reach out with his hands, and he felt a yearning to see them: to form a bond crossed in starlight, regardless of the vast space between. Thus was a wish sent to the cosmos. One day, he too would shine just as bright.

  That opportunity would soon come in the form of a galaxy-wide competition for the chance to enter the most prestigious school in the milky way, Excelsior Academy, where noble children from the kingdoms of the Twelve Constellations are raised to become leaders, scholars, and most importantly warriors against meteoric monsters from beyond the void. The encroaching slither of the Constellars.

  Astra doesn't have a special bloodline, belong to a royal house, nor is he the chosen one. But against all these kids with powerful backgrounds and fated destinies, Astra has only one wish.

  To shine bright as a starry-eyed hero.