The heavy oak door groaned open, revealing a room that smelled of old paper, dust, and something like ozone after a thunderstorm.
Sunlight struggled through a single, grime-caked circular window high on the curved wall, illuminating motes of dust dancing in the air. The study was a chaotic vortex of knowledge. Books were stacked in precarious towers that threatened to collapse with the next stiff breeze. Scrolls, tied with faded ribbons, overflowed from chests and spilled across the floor. In the center of the room, a brass orrery of Crown of Destiny's heavens turned with a soft, rhythmic clicking, its celestial bodies glowing with a faint inner light.
An old man sat hunched over a lectern, his back to the door. He was wrapped in robes the color of a twilight sky, embroidered with silver constellations. He didn't turn as Kage entered, his voice a dry rustle of parchment.
"The race is run. The thread is followed. The victor arrives, breathless and on borrowed time."
Unskippable cutscene. Exposition NPC. Probably has a long monologue.
Above him hovered his handle.
[The Chronographer]
Kage said nothing, he simply stepped forward and presented the final clue from his inventory, the ethereal tablet he'd pulled from the Sunken Stones. It hovered in the air between them, shedding a soft, blue light.
The Chronographer finally turned. His face was a roadmap of wrinkles, but his eyes were disconcertingly sharp, the color of molten gold. He waved a long, bony finger, and the tablet dissolved into shimmering particles.
A wave of notifications, the sweetest sound in any gamer's world, flooded Kage's vision.
[Quest 'The Founder's Legacy' Complete!]
[You have received 100 Fame.]
[You are the FIRST player in Crown of Destiny to complete a hidden World Quest!]
[Would you like your name, 'Kage', to be displayed in the World Announcement?]
He slammed the 'No' button with his mind before the prompt had even fully rendered.
[Your choice has been recorded.]
[Calculating Rewards...]
[Based on speed, efficiency, and discovery... your final reward has been multiplied.]
[You have received 50 Gold.]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 3!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 4!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 5!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 6!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 7!]
Kage's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Fifty. Gold. On day one. Other players were still zealous about silver.
At the current, insanely inflated pre-market exchange rates, that was… life-changing. That immediately resolved the 48 hour crisis and two additional months of maintenance. Maybe more. The weight on his shoulders, the one he carried every waking second, eased by a fraction.
He analyzed the rest of the rewards.
Five levels? Reasonable.With normal, optimized play, I would probably be around level 5 by now.
[You have received a new Title: The Frontrunner.]
He equipped it instantly.
[1/1 Titles equipped.]
[You have received +10 All Attribute Points due to the Title's effect.]
Ten to ALL? What? Who balanced this?
While it wouldn't be much later in the game, right now, it was a humongous boost.
[Artistry stat is above the baseline threshold of understanding the world. Restrictions lifted.]
Suddenly, the world was sparkled with colors. The constellations abo—
Doesn't matter.
[You have received the Unique item: [Founder's Justice]!]
An icon of a magnificent, silver-chased sword appeared in his inventory. It pulsed with a faint, golden light.
Just then, a sound like distant thunder rolled across the very fabric of the world. A sonorous bell chimed once, twice, three times, silencing the chaotic chatter of the entire server. Golden text scrolled across the sky, visible to every single player, from the deepest dungeon to the highest peak.
[WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: A great secret has been unearthed! A hero has walked the path of history and is the first to uncover one of the truths of Crown of Destiny! Congratulations to the player ****for being the WORLD FIRST to complete a hidden quest: THE FOUNDER'S LEGACY!]
The server exploded.
Kage didn't need to see the global chat to feel the seismic shockwave of that announcement. But a small, guilty part of his gamer brain couldn't resist opening the feed. It was pure, unadulterated chaos.
[Global] Pwnzerfaust: WHAT? Someone completed a hidden quest already? WTFFFF??? The game has been live for like, two hours!
[Global] Glitterbomb:who is ****??? is that a bugged name?? GMs!
[Global] Asura: ...
[Global] xXBladeMasterXx: LOL Asura probably got beat. Prolly some nerd who read all the books.
[Global] TraderTom: WTB [Founder's Legacy] quest info, 5 silver! DM me!
[Global] LilyPad: oh wow! that's so cool! i just equipped the pants from the Slime quest! good job mystery person! C:
[Global] Gragnok_The_Orc: EXPLOITER! IT WAS AN EXPLOIT! BAN THEM!
[Global] Dyxlesciamus: Anonyoeus? Someone just did a region first a while ago, also anonyoeus. Maybe the same guy…
[Global] GrammarGod:@Dyxlesciamus It's spelled anonymous.
[Global] Dyxlesciamus: ..,
Kage smirked. Let them talk.
He gave the Chronographer a curt nod, a silent dismissal. The old man had already turned back to his lectern, the transaction finished. Business was concluded.
Kage turned and walked out of the tower, pulling the heavy door shut behind him. He heard another player approaching, the sound of determined, rhythmic footsteps on the grass. Asura. Kage melted into the shadows of a nearby rock formation moments before his rival reached the door and found it sealed shut. He didn't linger to watch the fallout.
His mission was complete.
He found a secluded spot, a shallow overhang of rock half-hidden by thick, hanging moss about a mile from the tower. It was damp and smelled of earth, but it was safe. No patrol paths nearby. A perfect temporary office.
He sat down, cross-legged, the way Master Jin had taught him decades ago. His heart was pounding, but not with excitement. It was the calm, steady thrum of adrenaline after a successful operation. The grim satisfaction of a plan perfectly executed.
His internal monologue was already running the numbers, a clean spreadsheet of next steps.
Phase one complete. Initial capital acquired.
He pulled up the in-game interface for the secure, third-party currency exchange. The current rate was obscene. 50 gold. He typed it in, and the real-world conversion popped up. Enough. More than enough.
Log out. Make the transfer. Secure the escalated treatment and the next months. Inform Elara. No, don't inform Elara. Just send the confirmation email.
A wave of relief, cold and sharp, washed over him. The primary objective was met. Everything from this point forward was profit.
Phase two: market consolidation. With this lead, I can control the early market. The materials from low-density mobs… a monopoly is possible for at least 72 hours. Reinvest thirty percent of the initial capital into hoarding correct mats. The rest goes into a high-yield savings account.
He allowed himself a single, controlled exhale. He had won. Not just the race. He had bought his mother more time. He had fulfilled his duty.
With a thought, he inspected the sword.
In his equipment, the blade itself was a marvel, forged from some silvery metal that seemed to drink the light. A delicate gold inlay ran from the hilt to the tip, forming intricate, flowing patterns.
[Founder's Justice]
Quality: Unique
Type: One-Handed Sword
Weight: 6
Physical Attack: +55
Attack Speed: +30%
Attribute Bonus:
STR +10
AGI +10
Special Effects:
[Hero's Speed (Passive)]: Each successful basic attack grants a stack of [Haste]. Each stack increases Attack Speed by 2%. Stacks up to 5 times. Duration: 8 seconds.
[Tyrant's Decree (Active)]: Empowers your next strike to deal 250% weapon damage and inflict [Sunder] on the target, reducing their Physical Defense by 20% for 10 seconds. Cost: 50 MP. Cooldown: 1 minute.
Durability: 150 / 150
Requires Level: 10
Description: This blade was carried by Valerius, the King, in the final days of his purge. They called him the Tyrant of the Whispering Woods, the Iron Sword of the First Men. Each notch in its blade marks a rival subjugated, each glint of gold a treasure hoarded. It is a monument to the principle that true strength is not shared, but taken. It is the justice of the one who stands alone atop the mountain of his fallen foes.
He couldn't use it until level 10. Wouldn't take long.
He opened his character sheet.
[Character Sheet: Kage]
Level: 7
Experience 0/1,852
Class: Warrior
Title: The Frontrunner
Fame: 100
Physical Damage: 39
HP: 270/270
MP: 220/220
Weight: 6/71
[Attributes] (10 Points to Allocate)
Strength (STR): 31
Agility (AGI): 31
Stamina (STA): 20
Intellect (INT): 15
Artistry (ART): 15
The 10 permanent stats were a huge bonus. They would become less relevant later, but the early advantage was all he needed.
This was power. Quantifiable. Absolute. The tool that would guarantee his family's survival.
He was about to log out. His finger was hovering over the command in his mind. But something stopped him. The Operator's discipline. A final systems check.
You never deploy a new asset without reading the manual.
He focused his intent on the sword again, pulling up its detailed inspection window. The stats were glorious, a perfect symphony of numbers. He scanned the special effects. [Hero's Speed]. [Tyrant's Decree]. Good. Excellent. But… contradictory.
Then his eyes drifted to the final tab. The one most players ignored.
A paragraph of italicized text, the game's flavor text for its most prized possessions.
Kage's mind, a finely-tuned engine of logic and calculation, accelerated.
He read the text again. And again.
The Tyrant of the Whispering Woods.
A treasure hoarded.
The justice of the one who stands alone.
This was wrong. Completely, fundamentally wrong.
The quest he had just completed… The Founder's Legacy… had been a heroic tale. The hidden scrolls spoke of King Valerius as a benevolent ruler, a man who overthrew the actual tyrants of the age and shared his wealth with his people. The story was about a noble founder creating a just kingdom. He'd followed the clues of a hero. The world announcement had praised him for uncovering the "truth of Crown of Destiny story."
But this sword... this reward... told the opposite story.
It was a polar opposite. A full inversion.
It confirmed what his pre-launch research had whispered: Valerius could be the tyrant, hoarding power, purging rivals. The insignia could not only be a symbol of defeated evil; it could be his own mark.
The system had presented him with two contradictory, mutually exclusive histories for the same event. Both were presented as absolute fact.
That wasn't possible.
A story could have layers. It could have nuance. But a game's core code, its foundational lore, could not contain a paradox. A 1 and a 0 in the same memory address. It was an error state. A system-level flaw. A deliberate lie.
The triumphant feeling of victory, the cold relief of financial security, it all evaporated like mist in the sun. The 50 gold felt meaningless. The real-world consequences faded into the background.
His analytical brain, the part of him that saw the world as a complex machine, latched onto the inconsistency with the obsessive force of a particle collider. This wasn't flavor text. This was a loose thread. And pulling it might unravel the entire tapestry.
His mission was not complete. It hadn't even begun.
He stared at the beautiful, terrible sword. The question burned in his mind, eclipsing everything else. It was no longer a question of loot, levels, or money. It was simpler, and infinitely more dangerous.
Which one is the lie?