Little Pink Starfish

To be honest, most players were quite shocked when the long-lost main quest suddenly appeared. The game had been in open beta for a while, and all this time, there had been no trace of a main storyline—until now.

“I swear I’ve played so many games, and this is the first time I’ve seen a main quest appear this late after launch.”

“Hahaha, I seriously thought this game didn’t have a main quest apart from the faction stories.”

“Honestly, nothing so far even felt like it was building up to one.”

“Maybe the game needed the plot to reach this point before the main quest could be triggered. Like, now that the Light Church’s calling us Abyssal aliens or whatever, then the quest shows up.”

“Good point. But the Light Church is still kinda far from our Frost Maple Territory… Wouldn’t doing the quest be a pain?”

“Hahahaha, I spawned in the Holy City of Light and have been living like a wildman forever. Finally, it’s my time to shine!”

“Yeah right, with your low level and empty skill tree, you’d just be cannon fodder against the Light Church.”

“Chill everyone. This looks like a long-term quest. No rush.”

“……”

On the point about it being a long-term quest, most players agreed.

Just then, another “ding” echoed across screens—this time surprising even more players.

Ding!
Faction Main Quest: Thorned Rose Faction

“Faction leader Eagle Lanno, Count of Lanno, has successfully awakened the Seed of Light after the schemes of Leiser of Esmia and the Light Church—but it left behind a hidden danger. The Light Church seeks to extract the method of awakening from Count Eagle, but he refuses to yield. Steward Pei Sen of Red Maple Castle proposes a direct strike against the Light Church—aiming to take their Holy City.”

“Eagle Lanno and Pei Sen will personally lead a force to the mountains near the Holy City to install a teleportation array. Once it’s operational, players will be able to freely travel between Frost Maple Territory and the Holy City.”

“Red Maple Castle is now recruiting volunteers for this mission. It is dangerous—proceed with caution. (Minimum Level: 40 required to join.)”

This quest only appeared for players who had joined the Thorned Rose faction, and it had a strict level cap—those under level 40 couldn’t even accept it. Naturally, players quickly posted the quest details on the forum. High-level players who hadn’t yet joined the faction began making their way over.

“If you’re not in Eagle’s faction, you can’t even see this quest!”

“Damn, I knew the little count’s faction was going to be awesome. This is basically a main story quest.”

“Probably is. Also, Pei Sen’s NPC role is pretty much designed to be our race’s main guide.”

“Usually games have faction wars… but this one’s had only one main faction the whole time. Kinda odd.”

“You can still join the Barst Empire’s faction. I hear they’ve got people active in the capital, probably enemies with the little count.”

“Or go to Adrien City, Esmia’s royal capital. That King Leiser definitely doesn’t like our count either.”

“Don’t bother. Players have tried starting a faction over there, but not only was it impossible—they couldn’t even accept quests. The NPCs just ignored them. They died a few times and gave up.”

“Hahaha yeah, the fun of this game is in exploration, but let’s be honest—the only reason the Thorned Rose faction’s easier to join is because they have a guide NPC. The others? Good luck figuring them out.”

The discussion soon shifted toward the quest’s key feature—the teleportation array.

“With the teleport array active, we’ll finally be able to run the main quest more easily.”

“Do we know if non-faction players can use the teleport array too?”

“No clue. If not, then we’d better just join the faction. We’ve been sticking around Frost Maple anyway.”

“AAAAAA GM please spare a thought for the poor souls who spawned in other regions! We need teleportation too! I’ve been stuck in this hellhole for a month and I can’t take it anymore.”

“Bro above, same. I’m seriously gonna delete my character. The NPCs are hostile, the quests don’t work, I’ve been scammed so many times—I’m done. I’ve cried too many bitter tears.”

Meanwhile, back in-game, countless players were already rushing toward Red Maple Castle. Eagle’s faction now controlled a significant amount of land, and some players were still far from the base—so they set out early.

Some large guilds even mobilized en masse. Since their guild bases were built within Frost Maple’s domain, they were automatically considered part of Eagle’s faction—just like nobles serving a liege.

These guilds took the quest very seriously, sending elite teams and even postponing dungeon raids to focus on this critical task.

Currently, Pei Sen was still the highest-level player in the game, even without grinding. Just the XP from selling magic stones gave him a massive edge. He had recently surpassed level 60 and was studying for his Advanced Mage breakthrough.

For most players, level 40 was already a tough threshold. Even those grinding hard during closed and open beta hadn’t gone much past level 50—and Bix Magic Cube’s level curve got steeper and steeper.

One player—known as “Designer”—sighed as he looked at the quest requirements. “Guess I really do need to level more if I want to join.”

“Level cap’s hard,” he said.

From the side, BraisedSpicySnack chuckled, “Told you to level up. Catching up now isn’t gonna be easy.”

Their party went to Red Maple Castle to sign up. BraisedSpicySnack’s group decided to explore the area for the evening before logging off—after all, the quest didn’t officially start until tomorrow. Besides, they had bought houses in the Lanno Domain, not Red Maple itself, so this was a rare visit.

They arrived to find the city already bustling. Almost all the players gathered here were level 40 and up—battle-hardened “veterans.” Swordsman, being the easiest and most straightforward class, dominated the crowd. Most who broke level 40 had already upgraded to intermediate classes—while those in closed and open beta were overwhelmingly swordsmen anyway.

Pei Sen wasn’t planning to bring low-level players along—not because of snobbery, but because the path from Frost Maple to the Holy City, through the weak and impoverished Tulip Duchy, lacked resurrection points. If you died out there, you might end up back at square one. It’d be meaningless to bring underleveled players who’d just die along the way.

Swordsmen, especially level 40+, had relatively high HP. They were much more dependable.

Everything was ready. Since they weren’t planning to sneak around, they outfitted Eagle’s luxurious carriage for the trip. Pei Sen removed all the flashy decorations and personally engraved several magic runes onto it—adding shock absorption, soundproofing, and other practical enchantments.

It didn’t look pretty anymore—just functional. In fact, the result was… borderline ugly. The once-beautiful carriage was now a patchwork of magical glyphs and metal plating, transformed into a reinforced iron lump.

Eagle looked at it with visible disdain. “Is this really my old carriage?”

“Don’t worry, young master. The interior’s still just as comfy,” Pei Sen assured him.

Eagle nodded. As long as he couldn’t see the outside, he could live with it.

Just as Pei Sen was climbing aboard, he paused. Something felt off—like he was forgetting something.

“Oh right! I forgot Pecks!”

Even though that cat was completely useless in a fight—always too scared and ready to betray its master—Pei Sen was a responsible pet owner. No matter what, he was taking it along. At the very least, it could leech some XP.

“Where’s Pecks?”

Aiken, who had come to see them off, scratched his head. “Haven’t seen it all day. Though yesterday I spotted it sneaking around outside Eagle’s study. That cat’s too smart—it is a magic beast, after all.”

Pei Sen chuckled. “Most magical beasts aren’t this intelligent. Pecks is rare even among its kind.”

Indeed, it was a five-skill legendary pet. Most magical beasts only had two or three skills, and their intelligence couldn’t compare. Pecks had a rare bloodline and top-tier innate abilities.

…Which only made its laziness more infuriating. Such potential, wasted.

Pei Sen opened the pet interface and hit the summon button. Since Pecks was bound to him, it had no way to resist system force.

Oddly enough, this was Pei Sen’s first time using the summon feature.

Suddenly, a shriek rang out—

“MROWWW!!!”

A fat black cat was forcibly yanked from the shadows, flailing its paws mid-air, with zero leverage. It hit the ground with a solid thump, then was dragged forward as if by some invisible force.

Pecks tried to claw into the carpet, leaving two deep gouges—but to no avail. In seconds, it was yanked across Red Maple Castle straight into Pei Sen’s grasp.

Pei Sen grabbed the scruff of its neck and tossed it into the carriage. “Let’s go.”

The fully armed Frost Maple Knights blew the horn of departure!

At the head of the caravan were the vanguard of the Frost Maple Knights and elite guild members. Eagle’s carriage rode in the center, flanked by four other carriages—two carrying supplies, and another holding Jekko, the Lich, two special players, and a pair of Red Maple manservants.

The Lich hadn’t originally been invited—Pei Sen hadn’t even considered him. But the Lich had insisted:

“If it’s a battle against the Light Church, I’m coming.”

Apparently, he had a grudge with them. Not unusual—most liches did. This one had clearly received formal training, likely had a mentor once, and judging by his hatred, that mentor had probably been killed by the Church.

Not surprising—over 80% of dead liches in Yarik were victims of the Light Church.

Jekko, meanwhile, had proven himself invaluable in logistics and resource management. He now handled almost all of Frost Maple’s military supplies, supervised by Ichabod. Though Ichabod wasn’t especially powerful, he was upright and fair—and had taken a real liking to Jekko.

This time, Ichabod had insisted on replacing the old, corrupt quartermaster with Jekko.

As for the two special players, neither had reached level 40, but both had performed exceptionally in the previous war.

One, ID: Drawn Blade, was known as a “military buff” among players. Likely a real-life officer, he carried himself with stiff, formal posture and a naturally imposing presence. His specialty was guerrilla warfare and strategic terrain usage—a born commander.

The other, Tianhe, stood out for leading a low-level team to several key victories. A real-world rich guy, he had bought a territory token and founded the elite guild Silver Frost River. Though small—under 100 members—each one was top-tier. Tianhe led the charge, while Silver Frost handled management. Their synergy was perfect.

In short: Drawn Blade was a real-world tactician skilled in historical warfare, while Tianhe was a top-tier game strategist.

Pei Sen had personally recruited both for this mission, and opened special slots just for them.

Behind the final four carriages marched the remaining Frost Maple Knights and many players—because the journey to the Tulip Duchy wasn’t just a trek; they were going to fight their way through.

From the beginning, Eagle had made no effort to hide their goal.

Fully armored knights and a party of elite level-40 swordsmen—it was a force the impoverished, feeble Tulip Duchy simply couldn’t withstand.

Pei Sen looked out the carriage window. Players lined the road, watching the grand procession, their eyes filled with excitement—even if they couldn’t participate, witnessing this departure was thrilling.

“So it begins,” Pei Sen whispered.

He was genuinely nervous. He had missed the last war while searching for Eagle in the capital. By the time they got back, it was over.

Forum screenshots and descriptions hadn’t felt all that thrilling, especially with system censorship dulling the imagery.

But now… there was no censorship. No pixelation.

This was real cold-steel warfare. Bloody. Brutal.

“I can do this,” Pei Sen told himself.

Beside him, Eagle patted Pecks’ round, furry head—completely ignoring the cat’s expression of utter despair.

“Don’t worry. The Tulip Duchy’s really weak,” Eagle said calmly. Then added: “Very weak.”

They’d been trampled by the Light Church for years. The duchy was practically half-converted already.

Everywhere on this land, the faithful of the Light reigned.

Eagle looked out the window, his gaze distant.

The Light Church would learn of this soon enough.

Their real opponent wouldn’t be the feeble Tulip Duchy—

It would be the Light Church’s elite knights.

He was curious.

The Light Church had always been low-key, slippery, and greed-driven—careful to avoid provoking anyone powerful.

Would they dare to show their true strength now?

At least, not until the army reached the gates of the Holy City.

They wouldn’t dare.

They were cowards, obsessed with politics and appearances.

Eagle smiled.

Pei Sen said they’d attack the Light Church?

Then they would.

The Light Church might be afraid. But he—Eagle Lanno—was not.