Ironblood Blade hacked away at the endless stream of monsters that his guild mbers kept pulling toward him, his battle-axe rising and falling in a brutal rhythm. Yet beneath the clamor of steel and shrieks of dying beasts, unease gnawed at him. Sothing about that post Falcon had published didn’t sit right.
Directing such a reckless attack at Featherlight felt dangerous. For Featherlight to rack up one Glorious Achievent after another in so short a ti, there had to be real skill behind it. To write it all off as luck was absurd.
"Boss, still regretting letting Falcon put that post up?"
Ironblood Bard stood behind him, a healing spell already flowing from his staff, a grin tugging at his lips. "Personally, I think Falcon finally grew a brain this ti. The post was actually solid."
"Well-written? By him?" Ironblood Blade gave a sharp snort. "He probably just paid soone to write it for him."
He left it at that, keeping his attention on the monsters in front of him, determined to grind out every last scrap of experience.
"Boss, co on. We all watched your video. Honestly, no one else could’ve cleared it the way you did."
Ironblood Bard chuckled. "But even you admitted it—the luck you had at the end was absurd. Whichever path you took, no monsters spawned. Luck like that? If it keeps up, you’ll be hitting the lottery next."
"Soone wins the lottery every week," Ironblood Blade muttered through clenched teeth.
"Yeah," Bard said lightly, "but it sure as hell won’t be Featherlight."
His tone shifted, certainty anchoring his words. "I heard through a contact that Featherlight was already level twenty-six last night. He must’ve finished the Death Siege quest already. If he wanted to pull off the sa result as you, he’d have to do it on an alt."
"What?!"
Ironblood Blade froze mid-swing, his battle-axe suspended in the air. He spun toward Bard, disbelief twisting his features. "Level twenty-six? Last night? Where did you hear that? Why wasn’t I told?"
Bard lifted his hands in a helpless shrug. "A friend of mine in the Alliance. He knows soone who joined Flowing Light recently. They chatted, and the guy ntioned Featherlight logged off at twenty-six. If I hadn’t heard that myself, do you think I would’ve agreed to Falcon’s post?"
He shook his head. "And don’t forget, quests always boost leveling speed. With all the Glorious Achievents Featherlight’s stacked, his foundation must be stronger than ours. Naturally, he’ll clear quests faster, too."
"You’re right." Ironblood Blade’s grip tightened on his axe. "That one Glorious Achievent I just earned gave two Auxiliary Talent Points. Each one fully unlocks an entire talent tree. Just those two, and I already feel so much stronger. If Featherlight has gathered so many Glorious Achievents... the power he’s sitting on is unimaginable."
His eyes drifted away from Bard as his mind pulled him back to the mont he first gained a Glorious Achievent.
At first, when he saw the rewards announced on the forums, he hadn’t thought much of them. The Auxiliary Talent Points sounded minor compared to the raw attributes and health bonuses. The reputation boost had appealed to him in the beginning, but once he’d founded his own guild, that need had faded into the background.
No one had ever really explained what those Auxiliary Talent Points were. Most players assud they were just single points you could scatter into an off-branch of your tree—nothing special, weaker than a class’s main talents, hardly worth considering.
Ironblood Blade had believed the sa. Until the day he casually placed one into a random tree.
The mont the entire branch flared to life, glowing with a full 5/5 marker, his heart nearly stopped.
At that mont, only one thought burned in Ironblood Blade’s mind: he had to secure more Glorious Achievents. The more, the better.
But with that realization ca a weight he couldn’t shake. If just a single Glorious Achievent had transford him so drastically, then what kind of monster had Featherlight beco after earning so many more? The thought gnawed at him.
It was in that unsettled state that Ironblood Falcon had presented his sche. Blinded by jealousy, Ironblood Blade had agreed—only to regret it almost the instant Falcon’s post went live.
"Featherlight might be strong," Falcon had insisted, "but he’s still just the head of a small guild. If we can ruin his credibility now, expanding Flowing Light will be almost impossible for him."
Ironblood Blade hadn’t been convinced, but Bard had seed amused at the ti. Now, however, Bard’s smile slipped, his expression darkening.
"What is it? You look troubled," Blade asked, an uneasy pressure already building in his chest. A sense of looming disaster prickled down his spine.
"The forums," Bard muttered, his voice tight. Without another word, he pulled up the interface.
Blade finished off the monster in front of him, barked for others to hold the line, and hurried to follow.
The sight that greeted him made his stomach sink. The forums weren’t just busy; they were in an uproar, a storm of activity far louder than when he’d first arrived earlier. New posts flooded in endlessly, pushing old ones down the page, yet each post was still alive with comnts and heated replies. The chaos was impossible to ignore.
He skimd the top posts, his heartbeat quickening with each one:
Featherlight’s True Strength Finally Revealed!
Why is garbage like this even allowed? Featherlight a nobody? Absurd!
Ironblood Guild dares to boast after a single Glorious Achievent? Pathetic!
Featherlight is still the strongest—he just got unlucky!
Every headline was a knife to the chest. Blade already understood what had happened, but he forced himself to scroll further. At the very top, pinned in bold, was a post from Flowing Light.
Slap in the Face! A Lesson for the Arrogant Fools!
The post contained no text. Just a single screenshot. But that was all it took to destroy him.
[Escape from the Demonic Lair: Successfully completed the quest "Death Siege" with full health. Achievent earned.]
The na beneath the achievent was unmistakable: Featherlight.
And worse, the tistamp on the achievent showed it had been earned less than half an hour after Falcon’s post went live.
The realization hit Ironblood Blade like the title of the pinned thread itself—a slap in the face, brutal and ringing, leaving him red with humiliation yet unable to utter a single word in defense.
For a long ti, he simply stared, silent, as if all the air had been drained from his chest. Finally, with a growl of frustration, he exited the forums.
For now, he would let it go. But once the team dungeons opened, he would show Featherlight the overwhelming strength of a true major guild.
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