The letter arrived the way everything important seemed to arrive in this game – with no warning whatsoever, and a sound effect that made me flinch.
Ding! ** You have been invited to the Guild: Ashen Vanguard.**
I heard about Ashen Vanguard once, from Dario. The way people talk about things that are a really big deal. Top twenty guilds on server Astia. Real life adults playing, some seemingly semi-pro, the kind of guild that had shown up in the highlight reels people watched rather than the games they were supposedly playing themselves."Why," I said out loud to nobody, "would a top twenty guild want a level thirty-something warrior who hasn't even evolved his class yet.
Tommy bent over my shoulder to read the invite. It didn't really work, because HUDs were personal, but he tried anyway because it was instinct."Read it out loud, genius."
**"Ashen Vanguard has taken note of your recent successes: Day 1. Ashback Boar (D Rank) Solo assisted kill. We are always looking for talent with an instinct that is unconventional. Response required within 7 days."**"They tracked that?" I said. That was a month ago. I threw a hatchet at him."The server rankings log everything," Dario said. 'Every kill, every drop, every server first. New guilds are always looking for 'notable early achievements' and there's a whole leaderboard out there. "You're on it, apparently."What name.Probably 'the idiot who threw his weapon at a D rank and somehow survived.' Which, again, I want this noted, this shouldn't have worked.'
Alex, who had suspiciously been quiet up till now, finally spoke up. "So, will you come?"
And the thing is, a month ago I would've said yes immediately, no hesitation, because a guild invite from a top server guild sounded like exactly the kind of thing that made the pinnacle of this game feel reachable instead of theoretical.
But I gazed at the party window. Five names. People I'd known since middle school or almost died next to on day one."Guilds can invite the whole party, can't they?" I asked. "Not just solos?
Dario's face changed, something guarded and faintly hopeful about it. Some can. "It is contingent upon the guild's structure.
I brought up the invite details again, scrolled down to the fine print one never reads until it becomes important.
"Individual membership only. Party members must apply separately and will be judged separately.""No," I said, closing the window."Nah?" Sana said again. Ken, this is Ashen Vanguard."And it's individual only, so that means it's asking me to go be somebody's talent scout project while you four apply through the normal front door and maybe get in, maybe don't, months from now. I didn't get to level thirty by myself. I'm not changing on my own. I'm not going solo guild either."
No one spoke for a moment. Tommy, of all people, was the one to break it, slapping me on the shoulder so hard that the game's haptic feedback actually caused me to stumble.But just for the record," he said, "you can be a little bit cool sometimes. Only occasionally. "Not very often."I'll take that as the compliment it barely resembles."
I sent my response to Ashen Vanguard. A courteous rejection, with a line I was unsure if I was permitted to add but added regardless, that I would reconsider if they ever instituted party-based recruitment. I didn't know if someone in a top twenty guild would ever read a rejection message from a nobody warrior. But it felt like the right thing to do, the kind of thing Dario would have done for me if I hadn't done it for myself, the kind of thing that was worth more than a guild tag ever would be.
The flickering icon in the corner of my HUD pulsed once, longer than normal, just as I sent it. It was like it was waiting to see what I should choose.
*To be continued …