The Prologue

Swordmasters has been the pinnacle of VR technology for the past six years, what started as a small MMORPG quickly developed into a fully-fledged second world, billions of people flooded to buy the VR cubicles when they first dropped, and the same billions spent most of their day playing Swordmasters, six years later it never changed.

When the game first came out, P2P (player-to-player) Trades were so common that major guilds established businesses in real life to regulate the selling and buying of equipment, materials and artefacts from the game with real money, despite drawing away a lot of white-collar and blue-collar workers, the governments didn't really care since they could tax the hell out of this new market and make major profits, additionally, not all of the essential workers were fans of games, so it didn't cripple the workforce to a noticeable degree.

Among the billions of people who played Swordmasters, six particular individuals stood out above everyone else, they called themselves: Highthorn.

Highthorn were a small clan consisting of six players, yet they were the icons of Swordmasters, role models that every player aspired to follow, they didn't involve themselves in business or artefact trading except for a few rare occasions where they needed to get rid of outdated artefacts, but despite being outdated to them, for the rest of the player base they were unique-class artefacts that surpassed the nine legendary stars wielded by the top nine guild masters.

Highthorn rarely appeared in the media and didn't really like attention, well except for Madeen and Sensei, these two really liked the spotlight so Rage the clan master chose them as the face of the clan, he couldn't care less since the clan barely made any announcements or participated in events aside from the annual world championship and the guild tournaments.

Highthorn's influence extended across five formidable fortress cities encircling their central clan house. Within these bastions, a multitude of meticulously crafted NPCs toiled as guards, maids, and laborers, their existence not only serving as a testament to the clan's prestige but also constituting a significant source of passive income.

Yet, these NPCs were not mere automatons; they possessed an intricacy that mirrored the complexity of human players. Conversing with them was akin to engaging with fellow adventurers, their diverse personalities, voices, and backgrounds contributing to the rich tapestry of the Swordmasters universe. It was not uncommon for players to find themselves ensnared in captivating dialogues, momentarily forgetting the distinction between virtual reality and the tangible world.

In the heart of the lava-filled cavern, amidst undulating waves of distorted air, Highthorn stood triumphant over the fallen behemoth, Gorthak. As the final boss of the current expansion lay defeated, the raid concluded with Madeen's trademark irreverence—a playful kiss blown to the camera before the feed winked out. His antics, though lighthearted, endeared him to the community.

Rage, overcome with exhaustion, slumped onto Gorthak's chest, his voice heavy with fatigue. "Four hours already? It felt like an eternity" he muttered, burying his face in his arms.

Madeen approached Gorthak's corpse plunging his scythe into its head pulling out a small red gemstone that resided on its right shoulder, "Last material for the fifth advancement baby! Take that Adrian you bitch" Madeen crowed, a smirk playing on his lips as fatigue finally overtook him, causing him to collapse onto the cave floor.

Adrian was the leader of the Azure knights, ranked second after Highthorn, the competition between both groups has always been fierce with both always being portrayed as rivals, but in reality, Adrian and the Highthorn were close friends, but again, clout is clout.

"Take a break.. will ya.." Rage managed between his breaths before Jimmy handed him two potions.

YOU RECEIVED A HEALING POTION X1

YOU RECEIVED A STAMINA POTION X1

"Alright, monkeys, the 3-minute grace period is up, it's looting time" Rage said after gulping both potions in one go before helping himself to his feet.

The clan approached the rewards room as the large stone boulder blocking the entrance slowly rolled to the right with a defeaning rumble, before the door fully opened Rage smirked at the rest of the clan members as they all braced themselves, the moment the boulder stopped moving was the moment the cave started shaking once more as they started casting spells and bashing shields to be the first into the room.

"Out of my way, bitch" Sensei growled, shoving Jimmy aside with a forceful motion. As Jimmy stumbled backward, he reacted swiftly, conjuring dark violet chains that burst through the rugged cave floor, ensnaring Sensei and pinning him to the ground. With a determined step, Jimmy vaulted over Sensei's immobilized form, dashing toward the rewards room.

With what felt like a sudden gust of wind, Rage flashed by Jimmy heading for the entrance before Phoenix stomped the ground knocking him off his feet, "Sorry boss, business is business" Phoenix chuckled dashing for the rewards room before Hunter shot two explosive arrows setting him off balance and making it into the room.

"Three points for the hunter baby!" Hunter exclaimed, flashing a thumbs up as he glanced back at his friends, who rose with annoyed expressions, exchanging looks of frustration.

"We seriously need to stop letting him get away with hiding and showing up at the last moment" Rage remarked, brushing dust off his clothes. Hunter turned his attention back to the room, only to spot Madeen emerging with a bunch of artifacts.

"What?" Madeen tilted his head in confusion, "Was I supposed to wait for y'all?"

With a weary sigh, Hunter slumped to the ground near the entrance. "You bastard.." he muttered; his tone tinged with defeat.

After a minute of looting the rewards room and getting out with as many artefacts as possible, Rage took out a scroll that was engulfed with a purple glow, "Return" He commanded as the scroll tattered into pieces, the purple aura engulfing his body as he was teleported back to the front of the clan house.

"We greet the lord" The two Highthorn Guards bowed their heads as the gate to the clan house was open.

The Highthorn base was very impressive, with five massive fortress cities connected through bridges to a central fortress that was twice their size, the clan base was mainly inhabited by demons, at first glance they would look like normal human beings, but the black eyes with the sharp yellow pupil distinguished demons from humans in the world of Swordmasters.

The demonic race was initially released in the beta versions of the game but was later removed, oddly enough the characters that were already made with the demonic race were not removed with the game developers stating that it was unfair to delete these characters after their owners worked hard on them.

Coincidently, all of the Highthorn members were demons, the demonic race wasn't much different from humans, while humans could wield all types of mana and auras, demons were only restricted to dark magic and demonic auras, but they were given the ability to contract humans, many players sought the players with the demonic race to make contracts to be able to use dark magic, a lot of players made a fortune out of it but Highthorn members were never interested, mainly because their contracts were almost at the fifth advancement so it would make a normal player straight up OP and unfair just as they contract them.

"Varon, where is varon?" Rage called out as a young knight who looked no older than 25 suddenly appeared.

"I'm here my lord" Varon kneeled as Rage gestured for him to open the advancement chamber.

Varon was not an NPC, unlike most other guards, he was a companion that they took in during the initial days of the clan, he excelled as a combat-type companion and later became the head knight of the Highthorn Guards and the castellan of the main fortress.

Varon quickly opened the advancement chamber as the clan members made their way in, it was a fancy chamber with engravings and floating magic circles that covered the entire space, in the middle of the chamber was a floating magical purple orb that emitted chaotic shockwaves that were held together by the core of the orb itself.

Each of the clan members offered an advancement material to the orb before Rage held out Gorthak's core, "Hey, wanna do it?" Rage offered the core to Varon whose eyes lit at the gesture.

"My lord i-i I'm not worthy!" Varon bowed his head before Rage shook the core invitingly, after a moment Varon gave in taking the core carefully from Rage's hand and offering it to the orb.

ALL ADVANCEMENT MATERIALS HAVE BEEN VERIFIED

INITIALIZING..

CALCULATING ADVANCEMENT REWARDS..

PLAYERS ELIGIBLE FOR REWARDS: 6

ADDITIONAL PLAYER DETECTED: VARON

Rage smiled at Varon whose body started to glow as he looked down at himself in confusion, he felt a surge of energy as a comfortable warmth filled his body, he looked around before he met Rage's eyes, deep down he knew that his lord handed him the last advancement material for a reason, but he never thought that that reason was to give Varon the blessing of the demon god, the blessing that's only reserved for nobles and heroes.

"Congratulations, Varon" Rage said warmly, placing a hand on Varon's shoulder. Varon, still reeling from shock, looked up at him with wide eyes. The demon god's blessing was Highthorn's special advancement trait, a reward so rare and powerful that it bestowed upon them a significant boost to their base stats, akin to gaining five additional levels. For an NPC like Varon to receive such a blessing was truly extraordinary.

Before Varon could find the words to respond, a notification appeared in Rage's status window.

ATTENTION ALL SWORD MASTERS!

THE FINAL RAID IN THE CURRENT EXPANSION "GORTHAK, THE EMBERSTONE BEHEMOTH" WAS FINISHED TODAY BY THE CLAN "HIGHTHORN" WITH THAT THE HARDEST ADVANCEMENT MATERIAL TO ADVANCE TO THE FIFTH STAGE WAS ACQUIRED; NOW WE ARE GLAD TO ANNOUNCE THE NEW EXPANSION DUBBED "THE EASTERN CONTINENT" WILL BE DROPPED TOMORROW AT 8:00AM GMT.

-Swordmasters Dev Team