Started with a 10,000x Multiplier in a Game World

Dante held the dark gray Spatial Stone in his gauntlet. He was ready to crush it and jump directly to the Ash-Wastes.

Before he could apply pressure to the artifact, the system interface in the corner of his vision began to aggressively flash with a brilliant blinding countdown timer.

00:00:03

00:00:02

00:00:01

[System Event Concluded: The Cosmic Menagerie.]

The twenty-four-hour global event officially ended.

Across the entire server, the massive swirling portals leading to the exclusive pet dungeons slammed shut. They permanently barred any remaining players from entry.

Inside the central courtyard of the Astral Emporium, the effects of the conclusion of the event were immediate.

Midnight, the newly hatched Fire Roc sitting in the lap of Aria, suddenly let out a sharp piercing trill. The starry black feathers of the tiny bird ignited.

Aria gasped and dropped the bird onto the white stone floor. "He is on fire!"

"Do not panic," Dante said. He lowered his hand and stepped back. "The flames are not dealing damage."

He was right. The dark purple fire rolling off the tiny fledgling didn’t scorch the pristine marble.

Instead, the flames rapidly expanded upward and swirled into a massive towering column of iridescent light.

The heat in the courtyard vanished and was replaced by a profound ancient calm.

The pillar of fire shifted and took the unmistakable majestic shape of the adult Fire Roc.

The massive bird looked down at the squad. Her glowing purple eyes rested gently on Aria and the tiny hatchling at her feet.

This wasn’t a rushed frantic phantom desperately trying to save its child.

The dungeon was closed. The system had finalized the data. The soul of the mother had finally found peace.

"You have given my lineage a future," the Fire Roc spoke. Her voice resonated through the courtyard, smooth and incredibly warm. "The corruption is purged. My daughter will grow in the light of your sanctuary."

The massive spirit extended her burning wings and cast a protective shadow over the entire seven-man party.

"I return to the code," the Fire Roc whispered. "Take my final blessing, Champions. May you rise from the ashes of your enemies."

The spirit didn’t explode into loot. She simply burned away.

The massive projection of the Fire Roc turned into a shower of brilliant golden ash that drifted softly down over the squad.

The ash didn’t dirty their armor. The moment it touched their avatars, it absorbed directly into their digital skin.

[Ultimate Reward Distributed.]

[Passive Skill Permanently Bound: Fire Roc’s Nirvana]

The system locked the skill into their core character data. The auto-resurrection mechanic was now a permanent irrefutable part of their builds.

"I can literally feel the extra life," Casanova murmured. He shivered slightly as the golden ash absorbed into his chest. "It feels like wearing a very warm and incredibly expensive vest."

The system wasn’t finished.

The sky above Aethelgardia tore open.

The bright afternoon sun was completely eclipsed by a massive blinding banner of golden text that spanned the entire horizon.

[GLOBAL SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT]

[World First Victory Secured!]

[The guild ’Aegis Vanguard’ has flawlessly conquered the Cosmic Menagerie Event.]

[Rewarding Event Completion Bonus: 10 Free Attribute Points.]

Dante watched the golden text burn in the sky.

Ten free attribute points for an event clear was a staggering reward.

At Level 74, the experience required to earn that many raw stats through standard leveling would take weeks of non-stop sleep-deprived grinding.

He opened his character sheet immediately. He didn’t hesitate. He dumped all ten points directly into his Strength stat.

[Strength: 5,110]

His physical attack power crept even higher into the stratosphere.

He flexed his dark purple gauntlets and felt the raw undeniable surge of kinetic potential lock into the muscles of his avatar.

Around the courtyard, the rest of the squad was busy allocating their own points.

"Ten points to Agility," Nyx stated and swiped her datapad. "I need the evasion scaling to keep Violet in stealth."

"Pure defense," Garrick cheered and slapped his silver kite shield. "I am becoming a mountain of absolute spite!"

Aria smiled and fed a small cracker to Midnight. "I put mine in Mana! More songs!"

Dante dismissed his interface.

The event was officially in the history books.

Aegis Vanguard had secured the absolute monopoly on the highest-tier pets of the server, claimed the ultimate survival passive, and padded their raw stats.

It was a total unmitigated victory.

"Lock the doors, Sera," Dante ordered and turned back toward the exit. "I am leaving."

***

Deep inside the sprawling heavily fortified headquarters of Vanguard’s Legacy, the atmosphere was completely toxic.

Silas sat at the head of the massive mahogany table in his war room. The pristine white walls of the guildhall felt like a prison.

He was staring blindly at a glowing hard-light holographic keyboard projected onto the desk in front of him.

He was in the middle of drafting a guild-wide announcement. He desperately tried to spin their catastrophic failure in the pet dungeons as a tactical withdrawal to conserve resources.

It was a lie, and he knew it. His members knew it.

The heavy oak doors of the war room were shut tight. His remaining officers were standing silently around the perimeter of the room and were entirely unwilling to speak.

Elara stood right next to Silas, and her arms were crossed over her gray pantsuit.

"The logistics for the Ash-Wastes are finalized," Elara reported. Her voice was completely devoid of empathy.

"The transport is waiting in the courtyard. You need to leave now if you intend to deliver the [Three Star Rainbow Berries] to the Patriarch of the Scorched Earth before his curse consumes him."

Silas didn’t answer. He just stared at the holographic keyboard.

He had spent billions. He had recruited an army of five million players. He had deployed an elite mercenary squad.

And he had absolutely nothing to show for it.

Suddenly, the high arched windows of the war room flashed with blinding golden light.

Silas slowly lifted his head.

Through the glass, he saw the massive global announcement burning across the sky of Aethelgardia.

World First Victory Secured!

The guild ’Aegis Vanguard’ has flawlessly conquered the Cosmic Menagerie Event.

Silas stopped breathing.

He read the words.

He saw the name of the guild that had humiliated him, bankrupt him, and systematically dismantled his entire military infrastructure in less than forty-eight hours.

The silence in the war room was absolute.

Silas slowly lowered his gaze back to the desk. He looked at the half-written apology letter on his glowing keyboard.

He didn’t scream. He didn’t issue a maniacal threat.

Silas raised both of his armored fists high above his head and brought them down in a brutal devastating smash directly onto the center of the hard-light keyboard.

CRACK!

The physical force of the blow shattered the expensive projection emitter embedded in the mahogany table.

Sparks showered across the wood. The holographic keyboard violently flickered, split cleanly in half, and died in a burst of blue static.

"He took the pets," Silas whispered and his voice cracked. "He took the First Guild milestone. He took the open-world economy."

Silas stood up. His chair scraped loudly against the stone floor.

He turned around and marched toward the heavy oak doors. He completely ignored the broken hardware smoking on his desk.

He pushed the heavy doors open and strode out into the grand hallway of the guild base.

"I am going to the Ash-Wastes," Silas declared and did not look back at his officers.

"I am going to hand those berries to the Patriarch, and I am going to buy a hit squad that does not care about invulnerability frames or stat multipliers. I am going to erase Dan from this server."

Silas didn’t wait for an escort.

He marched directly toward the transport waiting in the courtyard and was completely consumed by a desperate blinding need for revenge.

***

Back in the pristine courtyard of the Astral Emporium, Dante watched the golden text of the global announcement slowly fade from the sky.

"It is done," Sera said and confirmed the system locks on her administrative interface.

"The Emporium is sealed to non-guild members. The automated NPC merchants are handling the storefront, and the vault is completely locked down. We are secure."

"Good," Dante nodded.

He pulled the dark gray [Spatial Stone] out of his inventory again. The Holy-Forbidden artifact felt cold and heavy in his palm.

"Are you sure you do not want us to come with you?" Casanova asked and adjusted his hat. "I feel like a billion bucks right now. I could definitely punch another boss."

"No," Dante said firmly.

"The Sect of the Scorched Earth is an endgame lore faction. They do not operate on standard aggro mechanics."

"If a fight breaks out, they will target the weakest members of the party first to trigger morale penalties. I need to move fast and hit hard. I work better alone."

"Just do not do anything stupid," Lila requested and petted Zephyr.

"I never do," Dante lied smoothly.

He tightened his grip on the [Spatial Stone].

He didn’t need to visualize a specific coordinate. He just needed to focus on the general geographic region of the southern Ash-Wastes.

The incredible systemic authority of the artifact would handle the rest and force a direct path through the spatial code of the game.

Dante crushed the stone in his dark purple gauntlet.

The artifact didn’t shatter into pieces.

It dissolved instantly into a swirling vortex of deep gray energy that completely enveloped his avatar. The ambient noise of the Emporium courtyard was silenced.

The transition was violent and ripped him through the server architecture at terrifying speed.

Dante didn’t close his eyes. He prepared himself for the hostile environment waiting on the other side.

He was going to find Silas.

He was going to intercept the transaction with the Patriarch of the Scorched Earth. And he was going to make sure Vanguard’s Legacy lost their final desperate gamble.

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