"DesertWanderer has joined the guild."
"Milo has joined the guild."
"FirstDate has joined the guild."
"OliveDrab has joined the guild."
"StyleOverStats has joined the guild."
"DeathScum has joined the guild."
"David has joined the guild."
Collecting the seven signatures turned out to be even easier than expected. Gabryell had barely been shouting in Stormwind's Trade District for two minutes before the charter was filled.
He immediately turned it in.
The guild Fearless was officially established.
"Welcome to Fearless. Type /g to chat in guild."
Gabryell granted basic permissions to the new members.
"You can invite your friends too. Fearless is open to anyone planning to stick with the game long-term."
"Guys you are already such a high level! I've been playing for half a day and I'm only level 6. How did you level so fast? Is there some trick?"
DesertWanderer asked in guild chat, playing a Human Warlock.
FirstDate immediately chimed in.
"Yeah, exactly! The starting zone is packed with people. You can barely tag any mobs. One quest takes forever. I was just wandering around and somehow ended up in Stormwind."
He was also a level 5 Human Warlock.
"+1. Couldn't find anything to kill. I followed him and somehow ended up in Stormwind too."
The Human Mage OliveDrab spoke up.
"Do you two know each other?" Gabryell asked.
FirstDate replied, "Yeah. We're classmates. We're both in our third year at college."
Gabryell and the others exchanged knowing smiles. Their situation sounded almost identical to their own.
"There really are a lot of college students playing this game."
Turning to Carlos, he added, "In the future, we can schedule guild activities from 7 PM to 11 PM every night."
Carlos sighed.
"Being a student is rough. That schedule works perfectly."
At their university, dorm lights were turned off at 11:30 PM. Ending activities at 11 still left a little buffer time.
StyleOverStats said, "Hey everyone, Priest here."
DeathScum said, "Rogue. Nice to meet you all."
David said, "Man, this sucks! Warrior here. Can't get any mob tags, so I came to Stormwind to look around."
Gabryell smiled.
He didn't have the heart to tell David the cruel truth: solo Warriors didn't just struggle to tag mobs—they struggled to kill them efficiently too. Fighting one mob took forever, and pulling two usually meant taking your hands off the keyboard and doing a corpse run.
Paladins weren't much better.
Among all classes, they had the slowest leveling speed. You'd put up a Seal and slowly chip away at the mob. By the time you finished making a sandwich, it might finally die.
"It's fine, don't rush. Even reaching level 60 within two months wouldn't be slow."
He reassured them, worried they might quit if leveling felt too difficult.
Back in 2004 when WoW first launched, even reaching level 60 in three months was considered fast. The AoE leveling groups that appeared in later Classic servers didn't exist yet.
On top of that, the game used an hourly time-card system rather than a monthly subscription, so players couldn't realistically stay online all day.
"Thanks for the encouragement, boss," David said.
"You don't need to call me boss," Gabryell replied. "Just call me Ogabs."
David answered immediately.
"Then I'll call you Guild Master."
The others quickly agreed.
"Yeah, Guild Master."
Since Gabryell had registered the guild, he naturally became the Guild Master. He appointed Egides as Vice Guild Master and Grada as a Guild Officer.
The arrangement was only temporary. He didn't want Fearless to become a personal dictatorship. Once the guild started organizing group activities, he planned to reevaluate everyone's roles. If possible, they would even hold a vote after the first raid to elect leadership.
"Why hasn't Milo said anything?" Igor asked.
Gabryell had noticed that too.
Milo was a level 7 Mage — the highest-level player among the new recruits — yet he hadn't said a single word.
"Maybe he's just shy," Gabryell said. "Some people just don't like chatting."
He wasn't going to force anyone to talk. Whether someone spoke in guild chat was up to them.
"Everyone can head back to leveling. If you're not sure about something, ask in guild chat."
He continued carrying out his role as Guild Master.
"You can also form parties to quest together. It's much more efficient."
"Got it, Guild Master. I'm heading out to level."
"Wait for me, let's go together."
"I'm coming too."
"Invite me."
"LFG."
"A party only holds five people. OliveDrab, quest with me."
Very quickly, guild members formed two groups and headed back toward Goldshire to continue leveling.
Milo still hadn't said anything and didn't join either group.
Gabryell checked his location. He was currently outside Stormwind.
"This guy's probably the lone-wolf type," he thought. "Someone who prefers playing solo."
"Gabryell, where are we going next?"
Now that most of the guild had gone back to leveling, the three of them were just standing around the city.
Carlos was worried other players might catch up.
"Let's wait for Hugo first," Gabryell said. "Then we'll head to Westfall together."
He wanted the four of them to keep their quest progress in sync.
"Guys, don't leave me behind," Hugo said nervously.
He was worried they might go leveling without him.
"Don't worry," Gabryell replied. "We'll wait."
Igor frowned.
"We worked so hard to build this level lead. Won't we lose it?"
Gabryell shook his head.
"No. Most players are only around level 8. It'll take them at least two or three hours to reach level 10. We've got plenty of time."
He wasn't worried about being overtaken.
As long as there wasn't another reincarnator like him, he was confident he'd be the first player to reach level 60.
"Hugo, hurry up!" Igor urged.
Hugo groaned.
"I'm still half a level away. Give me a little more time."
At that moment, several notifications appeared.
"SevenDays has joined the guild."
"DontPanicHealz has joined the guild."
"Susie has joined the guild."
Three new members joined in quick succession.
David spoke up.
"They're my friends. I invited them."
SevenDays said, "Hey everyone. Newbie Paladin here."
DontPanicHealz said, "Priest here."
Susie said, "Female Warrior. And yeah, probably more reliable than David."
Gabryell laughed.
"Welcome to Fearless."
David immediately asked, "Guild Master, I recruited three people. Do I get a reward?"
"You get 1 silver," Gabryell replied. "I've already mailed it to you."
David responded with an ellipsis.
Susie said, "If the Guild Master mails me 1 silver, I won't complain."
"I'll take even 1 copper," DontPanicHealz added.
SevenDays laughed.
"David's rich, he doesn't care about money."
"Are the four of you playing together?" Gabryell asked.
"Actually five," David said. "There's also a Druid, but he's on another map."
"That's similar to us," Igor said.
Gabryell nodded.
"But you guys don't have a Mage. That's going to hurt."
Carlos agreed.
"Without a Mage to conjure food and water, you'll spend a lot of gold on supplies."
Right as they were talking about Mages, one appeared.
A level 5 Mage ran up to Gabryell and spoke in say chat.
"Hey, can I join the guild?"
Gabryell sent an invitation.
"Coldhands has joined the guild."
Another member joined, and guild chat became lively again.
"Welcome!"
"New members have to post photos first."
"Male or female? If male, please ignore my question."
Coldhands replied politely.
"Thanks everyone. I'm looking forward to playing with you all."
Less than ten minutes after the guild was created, it already had 14 members.
Adding BentArrow and Lunatori would bring the total to 16.
"Growing fast already," Gabryell said with satisfaction.
He was confident that within a day the guild could reach hundreds of members. By then, guild chat would probably be scrolling nonstop.
He set up a shout macro.
"Fearless recruiting! Anyone who wants to fight for the Alliance, whisper me! Limited spots — first come, first served!"
Gabryell planned to hit the macro once every minute, squeezing every advantage out of the fact that Fearless was the first guild in the entire game.