The first kill wasn't for loot.It was for dominance.
Ethan crouched behind a shattered pillar of obsidian steel, the flames of the ruined Ashforge casting long shadows. Across the clearing, two players in mismatched starter gear argued over which way to go.
They weren't coordinated. They weren't careful. They didn't even notice the tripwire across the doorway.
Click.
A hiss of metal. A scream.Then blood sprayed across the wall.
[Sawblade Tripmine Activated.][Player KodaWolf has died.][Reputation +1 | Ashforge Infamy Increased.]
The survivor panicked and fled—straight into a snare Ethan had laid beneath a pile of bones.
[Player BranVS has been immobilized for 7 seconds.]
Ethan walked into view, slowly, torch in one hand and his dagger twirling in the other.
"Please—wait—don't!" the player begged over voice.
Ethan said nothing.
He stabbed once, through the throat.Then turned off voice chat.
[Player BranVS has died.][Ashforge Killstreak: 5][You have earned the Title: Breaker of Ashforge.]Enemies in this zone will now hunt you with increased aggression. Rewards x1.5.
The viewership spiked again.
[12,846 viewers watching your stream.][You are now trending on VibeNet.]
[FIREUP99]: Bro WHAT. He just wiped two real players with one trap and one dagger?[MODERATOR_GRIM]: This isn't even a build, he's using trash-tier crap and bodying everyone.[DEEPSPINE]: Look at his pathing. That's PvP tournament-level map control. Who is this guy?
Ethan muted the chat.
The attention was expected. He had chosen this spawn zone for a reason: it was rare, unstable, and had an extremely high risk-reward factor. The early viewers were probably PvP junkies and pro guild scouts. Let them watch. Let them guess.
What mattered was this:
He was winning.
And not because of gear.
Because of preparation. Because of rage-forged reflexes and future knowledge.
But this was just the warm-up.
He returned to the bunker, took out the encrypted crystal, and slotted it into the scrapforger's toolbelt. The rig hissed as it decrypted and projected a three-dimensional map of the Ashforge.
[REVEALED: Hidden Vault Access | East Sector Ruins][Locked: Requires Explosive Force or Lv3 Tinkering.]
He knew what was behind that vault.
The Ashen Core.An ancient proto-reactor from Mythos' earliest beta lore. Useless to most—but not to a Junkforger-Tactician hybrid.
With it, Ethan could craft Ashen Devices—traps, mines, drones, and mechanical horrors. Limited use, but devastating power. They were patched out in Version 2.0 due to abuse. But right now, before anyone knew where to look?
They were his alone.
[Crafting Initialized.]Sawblade Mine x2 created.Scrap Pistol (Single-Use) created.Tripwire Detonator created.Emergency Injector: Adrenal Boost created.Toolbelt Level Up: 2 → 3
[You have unlocked: Remote Trigger Functionality]You may now detonate traps manually with custom delay or chain-sync.[Passive: Trapmaster's Discipline — Traps have a 20% chance to re-arm once used.]
Perfect.
Later That Night — Eastern Sector, Ashforge Vaults
He approached the old vault—half-buried in molten rock, guarded by a corrupted knight NPC known as the Charred Sentinel.
Level 12.
Immune to bleed.
Resistant to fire.
Weakness: environmental stun.
It took Ethan 30 minutes to position the terrain. He dug a channel behind a broken wall, lured the NPC into its line of sight, and baited it into a minefield composed of five chained sawblade traps synced to a torch trigger.
The Sentinel's scream was deep. Unnatural.
The fire damage didn't kill it.
But the fall into the trench and the crushing blow from a redirected ceiling trap did.
[Boss Defeated: Charred Sentinel (Lv12)][+844 XP | +2 Vitality | +1 Tinkering][You have looted: Flamecore Reactor Shard | Ashen Forge Key | Obsidian Bone Fragment x3]
He inserted the key into the vault.
Vault Opening… Stand by.
The door groaned open with a hiss of heat.
Inside, walls glowed with residual energy. Ashen nodes shimmered like veins of power running through the floor.
And there, in the center, hovering above a black steel pedestal, was the Ashen Core.
He walked forward, picked it up, and absorbed its code into the toolbelt rig.
[You have absorbed: Ashen Core Protocol v1.3]Unlocked: Tactical Forge Device — Build limited-use AI traps that track, trigger, or fight.Unlocked: Core Infusion — Bind mechanical tech to armor, tools, or terrain.Unlocked: Ashforge Domain Influence — +25% to crafting and trap control in this region.
Ethan grinned.
And just like that, Ashforge was his.
[Zone Announcement: A new power has taken root in Ashforge.][AshenGrim has unlocked a legacy protocol.][Server notification: All Ashforge resource spawns increased by 10%.][World Alert: Ashforge Domain Events have been unlocked.]
VibeNet Chat Feed:
[RAIDPRIEST]: WHO IS THIS DUDE??[FAN_PANIC]: HE'S SOLOING ZONE-WIDE WORLD EVENTS AT LVL 1 WHAT THE HELL[GM-VERIFIED]: No system exploit found. All actions are within current version mechanics.[EXPOSEDINTEL]: Is AshenGrim a dev alt? A corporate stunt? Or a returning god?
None of them knew.
Not yet.
But the myth was spreading.
A ghost had returned to Mythos.And he had made Ashforge his first kingdom.