Chapter 105- Logging in.

Chapter 105: Chapter 105- Logging in.

Leo woke up in an unfamiliar room—new, untouched by fire, and situated right across from Elona’s room. Sitting up, he spotted a second bed against the far wall, where Rook was still out cold, snoring softly.

He checked the time. The countdown had nearly hit zero—two minutes left before everyone could log back in.

He got up and walked, only to immediately stumble over something on the floor: the RP-1 fuel engine, still sitting where he’d left it the night before. Elona had told him he could keep it to study.

He picked it up carefully. The metal had gone cold overnight, and he turned it over in his hands with more caution than it probably needed, half-afraid he’d damage it further and ruin whatever was left to learn from it. His high stat synchronization was still something he hadn’t learned to control properly. He set it down gently on a nearby table.

Then he crossed the room and shook Rook awake. "Master Rook. Get up—the cooldown’s almost done."

Rook stirred slowly under the shaking, blinking against the light.

"Mm... morning already?" he mumbled, yawning. "Alright, let’s log in."

Leo caught his arm before he could move. "Wait—let’s get Elona first. We’ll log in together."

He glanced down at himself, then at Rook. Both of them looked rough after the night before; they’d done some sparring, and Rook had decimated Leo as always. "Let’s clean up first."

They freshened up, changed into clean clothes, and knocked on Elona’s door. A minute later she answered—already put together, back in her signature black suit.

"The richest woman on Earth, who apparently owns nothing but black suits," Rook remarked.

Leo quickly cut in before that could go anywhere. "You look great. Don’t mind the old man. Ready to log in?"

Seeing Leo step in, Rook just clicked his tongue. "Tsk."

Elona nodded, calm and composed.

"Alright, then."

The three of them connected, and a wave of golden light swallowed them whole.

Leo found himself back in Iron Haven Square, exactly where the forced logout had caught him. The plaza was lighting up in bursts as players streamed back in around him.

Something about the login felt slightly different this time—like a subtle shift in gravity, barely noticeable but present.

He pulled up his status panel, checking for changes. Nothing major had shifted, except that his previously locked stat points were now free to allocate.

He almost did it right then. But he stopped himself.

Not yet.

He’d learned the hard way that raw stats only carried a player so far. Skill and technique mattered just as much, if not more.

If I dump everything into Strength and Dex, I’ll just be brute-forcing my way through fights again—and that’s a losing bet against anyone genuinely skilled, human or NPC.

He closed the panel and pushed through the crowd toward the beginner zone, looking for Elona.

When he got there, he found her already surrounded—her secretary, a cluster of staff, and, for reasons Leo refused to accept, a very familiar dog sitting at her feet, tail wagging.

He stopped dead and muttered to himself, "No. There’s no way she actually brought Bubbles in."

He approached anyway, wearing what he was sure was an incredibly dumb expression.

Elona spotted him and waved.

He nodded back as she introduced her team. "These are employees from SpaceZ and Nexus AI—some of the sharpest minds who helped build both companies into what they are. I expect just as much from them here."

Then she turned and introduced Leo as the blacksmith from the world announcement.

Leo handed over a rare-rank sword and a set of beginner-appropriate armor pieces he’d had on hand to Elona. "You’ve got a solid team behind you, so you should be fine. Go ahead and unlock that unique class you mentioned. I’ll be off grinding levels on my own—text me if anything comes up. My in-game ID’s just Leo Stone."

The whole group looked at him like he’d said something ridiculous.

They started whispering.

"He used his real name....?"

"Is he an idiot?....."

.....

Seeing the situation growing awkward, Elona stepped in.

"My ID in-game is RICH Young CEO," Elona said.

Now everyone turned to stare at her instead.

"...Seriously?" Leo asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

Leo and the rest just shook their heads, deciding not to push it.

He texted Rook that he didn’t need to stick around—Elona clearly had things handled—then headed off toward Hugh’s smithy to check on the old man and the cubs.

Hugh was mid-forge, hammering away while grumbling at a girl standing nearby. "You’re a loyal customer and all, but making me forge while you just stand there watching? Not cool." Despite the complaint, his hammer never slowed.

The girl said nothing, just watched.

Leo approached, and neither of them noticed him at first—too locked into the rhythm of the forge. It wasn’t until he was standing right in front of them that something about the girl clicked. He knew that face.

He tried to place her, but couldn’t at first.

Then he noticed the sword at her hip—a rare-rank blade. One he’d forged himself. Recognition hit him all at once: she was the royal woman who’d paid handsomely for that sword and left him a medal he’d never bothered to use.

The girl noticed Leo at the same moment, and her eyes lit up.

"It’s you," they both said at the same time.

Hugh’s hammer paused mid-swing. "You two know each other? Small world."

Leo explained the connection—just a customer who’d bought a sword off him once, nodding toward the blade at her waist.

Hugh squinted at it. "No wonder it looked familiar." He shrugged and went back to hammering.

"Got any new swords for sale?" the girl asked, practically bouncing with excitement.

Leo shook his head.

"Why do you even need more? You’ve already got one, and Hugh’s making you another."

Her expression soured instantly at the mention of it. "There’s this old man—thinks he’s hot stuff—who keeps shattering every sword I bring him. Says he’ll take me on as his disciple the day I bring him a blade he can’t break in two strikes."

Leo raised an eyebrow. A sword-breaking old man, huh.

"No sword’s survived even a single hit from him so far," she added, glancing down at the blade on her hip. "Except this one. It survived after taking one strike. And it’s already cracked, so I’m too scared to test it against him again."

"Well, you’re in decent hands," Leo said. "Hugh’s improved a lot lately. He’s not the same guy he used to be." He said it with the smug pride of a father bragging about his kid.

Hugh, still hammering, made an irritated noise but kept working, choosing to ignore the comment entirely.

Leo chatted with her a while longer, mentioned he’d swing by the palace sometime soon, and went to spend time with the cubs while the forging carried on.

Eventually he texted Shen: "You free right now?"

"I can talk," Shen replied. "Stuck doing some ridiculous quest though."

"I’m putting together a guild," Leo typed back. "Got a founding token. You’re joining."

He didn’t bother asking if Shen wanted in—just assumed it.

"Send the invite once you’ve made it," Shen wrote back. "Honestly, took you long enough to think of this."

Leo grinned and promised he’d send it first thing.

He found a quiet, closed-off room inside the smithy and pulled the Guild Founding Token from his inventory—a small, dark disc of metal, cool and heavy in his palm.

He held it up.

[Ding~]

[Guild Founding Token detected.]

[Do you wish to establish a Guild?]

[Yes] [No]

He selected Yes.

The moment he did, the token flared to life—glowing hotter and hotter until the room’s temperature began pulsing like a heartbeat. Runes surged wildly across its surface.

Outside, Hugh and the girl both noticed the shift immediately.

"That brat is going to burn my smithy to the ground," Hugh grumbled, starting to walk toward the door. The girl caught his arm.

"Wait. I think he’s doing something important."

Hugh shot her a suspicious look. "You in on this too? Helping him torch my shop?"

She shook her head. "The heat’s already settling. Look—nothing’s actually burning."

"Fine. Back to the sword, then." Hugh relented, hammer swinging again, black sparks flying with every strike.

Inside, Leo watched his status panel scroll through the process.

[Guild Creation initiating...]

[Identity: Leo Stone]

[System recognition in progress...]

...

[Congratulations! You are the first player to create a system-recognized Guild in Myth Online.]

[First-Guild privileges will be awarded.]

[Please state your Guild Name.]

Name... Right.

He hadn’t actually thought this far ahead. Maybe he should’ve run it by Rook and Elona first.

Forger’s Guild? Too plain.

Heavenly Guild? Too generic.

Since he’d eventually be crafting legendary gear—Legendary Guild, maybe?

He cycled through a dozen names, half of them sounding cool, the other half sounding embarrassing.

Then it hit him—he already had the answer, tied straight to his class, his forge dimension, everything he was building toward.

He didn’t need to overthink it.

The guild would be called "The Eternal Forge."