NOVEL NEXT Chapter 87: Reflections in Blood Gorge
Ryan stretched and finally dragged himself out of bed. The past few days in the new house had left him feeling perpetually underslept. Lately, he even needed Mia to wake him up.
He gave the two girls who were teasing him a playful tap on the head before watching them clear the breakfast table. Then he retreated to his room and logged into the game.
The day after moving, he'd called his parents and helped settle a portion of their debts. The few millions he'd acquired still remained mostly untouched; most of what he'd sent home came from his earnings from Sky Dragon Roar.
At first, his parents hadn't believed a word of it. But after he and his sister reassured them again and again, the news finally sank in. They cried over the call, overwhelmed with relief, and promised to end their grueling work as soon as possible and return home.
Meanwhile, Featherlight—Ryan's in-game persona, was rising in fame. The forums had even shortened the payment settlement period for popular creators like him to just twenty-four hours, meaning he could now receive money from his paid videos the very next day.
In the past week, he'd uploaded a flood of new content, his reputation and earnings climbing in tandem. Based on the surge in views and downloads, Ryan estimated that by the time his parents came back, his savings would probably hit a million.
But rebuilding the family fortune would take far more than that. His parents still dreamed of reviving their old company. To them, a business meant safety and stability in the real world. For Ryan, though, his battlefield lay entirely within the game.
He knew which company they should acquire when the time came—he'd lived through this once before. But the initial capital would need to be enormous. Just keeping the company afloat without immediately going under would cost at least thirty million.
The number had seemed insurmountable at first. Then Ryan did the math. In just a few more days, he'd have over four million—already thirteen percent of his target. If he pushed harder, maybe he could amass the full amount before the corporate wars began a year from now… and then take over those companies himself.
He shook off the thoughts before they could spiral further. He had work to do.
A blink later, Ryan appeared inside the Astral City Inn. His experience bar was full—enough to reach Level 20. He let out a breath and hit the upgrade button.
For three straight days, the great battle in Blood Gorge had raged. Every Human and Orc player in the region was drawn into the chaos. In that war zone, if you didn't die at least once a day, you couldn't claim to have truly participated.
At first, the Orcs had crushed the Human faction so hard that players leveled up almost overnight just from the sheer pressure of survival. But by the end of the first night, the Humans had rallied and shoved the front lines back to the center of the map. Millions of players bled their stamina dry that day—falling to their enemies over and over—until they finally dragged the Orcs down with them.
Neither side backed down. Even after losing a full day of leveling, both factions threw themselves into the second day's battle with reckless fury. By then, their progress in Blood Gorge had fallen several levels behind the other factions.
The relentless bloodshed only deepened the hatred between them. Fights erupted nonstop in the gorge, and when players were forced to wait for stamina to recover, the war spilled onto the forums. Arguments flared, insults flew, and soon the other factions were treating it like a spectator sport—placing bets on whether the Humans or Orcs would finally break the stalemate.
While the raging war in Blood Gorge thrilled PvP fanatics like Moonlight Beauty, it was a nightmare for players who just wanted to level up—especially healers like Riverbank Grass.
She hated the endless outdoor skirmishes. Yesterday, she'd learned that someone had already hit Level 21, and the pressure had finally broken her patience. Determined to escape the chaos, she dragged Ryan and the rest of their group into the Outer Corrupted Forest dungeon, hunting Level 15 and 16 monsters in relative safety.
Ryan went along without complaint, though dungeons weren't his first choice. The night he'd rescued Moonlight Beauty, he had already scored the ring he wanted from a dungeon run with other players. Grinding instances endlessly held little appeal—especially once the monsters were three levels below him, making the experience gains crawl.
But after one particular quest had gone horribly wrong—when their five-person party was ambushed and wiped by a full Orc raid group—Ryan conceded that slow dungeon leveling might be the lesser evil. At higher levels, Human and Orc faction quests inevitably overlapped, forcing players into the same areas. Completing objectives meant slaughtering wave after wave of enemy players, leaving his entire party exhausted.
Meanwhile, the wider war had shifted. In other contested territories, the Level 20 Guardians had all been slain—the last one falling just last night. But in Blood Gorge, the Guardian still stood, a stubborn symbol of defiance. Both factions were desperate to claim its head first and seize the morale boost.
"Whatever. It's none of my business," Ryan muttered as he watched another frenzied battle unfold in the distance. "I'll just finish this quest with Moonlight, turn it in, and get out of Blood Gorge. These battles are insane… they're killing my progress."
He sighed, a little bitter. He'd come to Blood Gorge chasing its lucrative rewards, thinking it would speed up his leveling. He never imagined the fights would spiral into this endless meat grinder.
"Forget it. At least I earned a Glorious Achievement," he consoled himself. "Even if I'm leveling a little slower, there are always ways to catch up later."
Pulling the Book of Light from his bag, Ryan prepared to enhance his talents. He pressed his palms together for luck.
"Spirits of the land… give me something good this time."
He took a deep breath and decisively selected Shielded Armor in the second tier of his Protection talent tree.
—
Shielded Armor (5/5): Increases your armor value by 10%.
—
After maxing out Parry at Level 14, he'd avoided sinking points into deeper talents. Sure, the 10% physical damage reduction talent was tempting, but it was situational—it only triggered on a successful parry, and with his current build, he barely parried 10% of incoming hits. In a boss fight, the effect might only trigger a handful of times.
Instead, he chose Shielded Armor for its reliable, flat damage reduction. It would pay off immediately, whereas Enhanced Parry wouldn't shine until late-game content.
As soon as he confirmed the selection, a new talent glimmered to life. Ryan blinked, momentarily stunned.
—
Resilience Armor: Your armor reflects the next spell cast on you for 3 seconds. Costs 5 Divine Power.
—
Ryan froze—then his eyes went wide.
"A warrior's… spell reflection?!"
He couldn't hold it in. A bubbling laugh burst out of him, echoing in the inn room.