Rai sat at the edge of his seat in the same pub, sunlight flickered through the window, his face still bearing the scorched scars of their previous battle in that dangerous dungeon. The echoes of victory had not yet faded, but Rai and his new guild members were already discussing the future.
Alex leaned back on his seat, fiddling with his staff. "So... are we officially legends now, or what?"
Eron snorted. "Legends with broken armor and no gold."
Rai turned toward them with a small smile. "We all did great, but we're just getting started."
He stepped forward, arms crossed, his gaze serious. "We may have chosen a guild name, but that's not enough. We need to become an official guild and as soon as possible."
Both Alex and Eron looked up, startled.
"A real guild?" Alex asked. "What does that mean?"
"Exactly," Rai said. "A real guild and not just any guild. An official one—recognized by the Kingdom and the game system."
Eron tilted his head. "Didn't know we could do that this in the game."
"We can't," Rai replied. "Not yet."
He knelt down and drew a crude map in the dirt. "To form an official guild, we first need to reach a major city. Not just a town like Elorin's Rest, but one of the major Cities or Principal Regions. There, the Kingdom operates administrative halls—Ministry of Order, Adventurer Bureaus, and Guild Registrars. Along with this there are many more features that we can gain, once we reach the cities."
"Once we're there," Rai continued, "We need to gain enough reputation points with the Kingdom. That means completing major quests, building rapport with influential NPCs, defending cities, or clearing major dungeons with high notoriety."
"And that's tracked by the system?" Eron asked.
"Yeah," Rai said. "It's all automated. And once we hit the required threshold, the system will allow us to register a name, banner, and base of operations. That's when we truly become a force, one that is recognized by the system and will let us wield real power in the game."
Alex whistled and said. "Sounds like a long road is ahead of us."
"It sure is a long one," Rai said, eyes gleaming. "But I already know the paths that work—and the ones that don't."
They shared a look, and Eron cracked his knuckles. "Alright then. But how many other players have such information. I mean you are a beta player, that is why you have all this information, right? How many other were able to become beta players and have access to this information."
Rai paused, and his expression became complex just for a second and then it softened once again. "You don't really need to worry about them, cause none of the beta players were able to get any major info except for me, even i gained all this info by mistake."
Alex blinked. "That's… unexpectedly cool."
Eron smirked. "Sounds like something out of a prophecy."
Rai gave a dry laugh. "Maybe it is."
While Rai didn't really like telling lies to his people, it wasn't as if he had any really choice. After all, if he tried to tell about his future self to these guys, then time space would froze. And he did not believe that even if he told them about the future, they most probably won't take him seriously.
Meanwhile…
Far to the northeast of Elorin's Rest, past the rolling hills and misted rivers of Aluin, a solitary tower pierced the clouds like a spear of marble. The Iridescent Spire, home to one of the many Arcane Orders in the game—The Crescent Circle. The crescent circle, believed and had faith in the Minor Moon Goddess of Renewal.
Within its highest chamber, filled with ancient scrolls and celestial instruments, a young woman with long violet hair stood before a moonlit window. Clad in silver-trimmed robes, her violet eyes shimmered with quiet disquiet.
Lyra Moonveil.
She held a scrying orb in her palm, its surface pulsing with arcane light. Her fingers danced across runes, trying once again to trace the source of the notification she had received earlier.
Party: Rai, Alex, Eron
Three names. Unknown. Unaffiliated.
Yet… the moment she saw the name Rai, something deep inside her tightened.
"Why does that name feel like I should know it?"
There was no logic behind it. No memory. Just a quiet, pressing ache in her chest, like something gone out of memory something she had memorized long ago.
Her hand drifted down to the smooth crystal embedded in the head of her staff — Veilstone, a moon-infused artifact she had earned through a hidden quest just days ago. It was this artifact that had led her here into this tower. It had reacted when she first held it, with a soft pulse of light… but now?
Now, it throbbed again — sharp, quick pulses — as though responding to a stimulus even she couldn't perceive.
She clenched her grip, her thoughts darkening.
'It's just a game. Just a game.''Why does it feel like… something that should've been mine has been taken?'
"Lady Moonveil."
The voice came from behind — soft, calm, and familiar.
She turned slightly. Eldrin, the caretaker of the observatory, stepped onto the balcony beside her. His silver-embroidered robes trailed the ground like threads of starlight, and his eyes — pale, ancient, shimmered with understanding.
"I felt it too," he said, not waiting for her to speak.
She looked at him silently, trying to keep her expression composed.
Eldrin continued, gazing out toward the horizon. "There's been a shift. Something quiet, yet deep. Like a tremor beneath the surface of a still lake."
Lyra remained silent. Her staff pulsed again.
He turned to her now. "Something that should have arrived in your hands… didn't. That path, the one written in the stars, has bent."
Her brow furrowed slightly. "What are you trying to say?"
Eldrin's gaze grew distant. "The staff you wield, Veilstone was destined to awaken alongside another two relic. Together, they were to serve the one chosen by the Goddess of moon. But one of other pieces... was claimed by someone else."
Lyra stared at him, heart ticking faster.
"You're saying... someone took what was meant to be mine?"
"I'm saying," Eldrin said gently, "that fate has diverged. And your thread, the one you walk unknowingly, has now become tangled with another's."
A strange silence fell between them.
Lyra turned away from him, staring into the moonlit forest below. She didn't know what to say. Her mind rejected it, all of it.
This isn't real. This is all code, story, design. This is just a game.
And yet…Her heart wouldn't stop screaming.
"I don't even know who he is," she said after a long pause, barely above a whisper. 'Rai' She thought in her mind.
Eldrin didn't answer immediately. When he did, his words were low, careful.
"Not yet."
The staff pulsed once more.
Lyra drew a slow breath. "Look into him for me."
Eldrin gave a knowing nod. "I will. But be prepared. Some names... are meant to be forgotten. Until they return."
She didn't reply. She couldn't even understand what he was saying.
As Eldrin stepped back into the tower and the wind swept across the balcony once more, Lyra stood alone beneath the twin moons. This world had not one but 2 moons.
She stood there still and silent.
For the first time since logging into this world, she felt... incomplete.
Not because of what she lacked and not because of what someone else had taken.
Deep inside her heart, behind the logic, the game mechanics, the disbelief, something whispered a truth she didn't want to hear:
You are meant to walk this path together.
Back at Elorin's Rest
Rai, Alex, and Eron sat by the merchant square under the soft orange sky. The plaza bustled with returning adventurers, hawkers shouting about healing potions and system-enhanced gear. A bard strummed a lute near the fountain, providing ambience.
Eron was eating skewered boar meat while Alex browsed through his interface.
"So," Alex asked, "What are we gonna do next?"
Rai glanced at the horizon. "If we play efficiently, in two or three days, we will be able to reach level 15 and enter the cities."
"There's a trade route from here to Velondar, right?" Eron asked. "That's a Kingdom-affiliated city."
"Exactly," Rai nodded. " Velondar is under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom. If we gain enough exp then, we can start the process."
Alex smirked. "Well, we've got a name. We've got a goal. And we've got a genius leading us."
Rai rolled his eyes. "Don't forget two future legends in training."
Eron pointed his meat skewer like a sword. "Oblivion's Ascent, huh? We're going from nobodies to nightmares."
They laughed, but Rai's eyes lingered on the faint glow of the Sigil in his inventory. He could still feel that strange resistance when he picked it up, like the item was hesitant to bind to him—until something forced it.
[Fate Divergence Detected.]
He hadn't told Alex or Eron about that.
He didn't know how to explain that the system itself had warned him—that he had taken something not meant for him. Something tied to a higher being's favor.
He didn't know why his soul felt fractured at the edges, or why flashes of light and a weeping moon plagued his vision the moment he equipped it.
But he knew one thing:
He wasn't supposed to have the Sigil of Verdance.
And yet, here it was. Bound to him. Radiating power.
The future was changing.