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[Welcome to Goldmine Town: Nard has recognized your strength and sent you to me. Please make yourself at home. You can first rest at the town's inn and get some helpful information there.
Quest Objective: Speak with Innkeeper Anna 0/1
Quest Reward: 200 Experience Points]
—
Upon entering the town, Ryan followed the system's prompt and made his way to the town hall. After a brief conversation with the local Warden, a new quest appeared in his log.
"The game has truly begun."
Ryan grinned at the thought and headed straight for the inn. A few players had already gathered inside, each settling into their own rhythm of exploration.
He walked up to Innkeeper Anna, exchanged a few words, and completed the quest, receiving 200 experience points. Per her instructions, he approached the grand fireplace and picked up a Hearthstone resting on the mantle. The item allowed him to teleport back to this inn—The Gilded Hearth, once every four hours, no matter where he was.
He held the Hearthstone up to the light for a moment, then returned to Anna and linked the item's teleportation point to this location.
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[Congratulations, you have unlocked Stamina!]
[Congratulations, most game lock functions are now available. You can find all unlocked features in the help menu!]
—
"Finally unlocked! Guilds, teams, teleportation, professions... things are about to get interesting."
Ryan placed the Hearthstone into the first slot of his inventory, then settled into an empty seat in the corner of the inn. He bought the cheapest fruit wine available and leaned back, sipping slowly.
His current Stamina stood at 900 out of 1000. The fruit wine he ordered granted a higher recovery rate while resting—exactly what he needed.
Stamina was a core stat in Kingdom Forge, one that didn't even exist in the starting zone. The game held off enabling it until players left the tutorial area and entered a proper settlement like this one. Only after reaching the first inn would the Stamina mechanic unlock.
In combat, one Stamina point was consumed every minute. Entering a dungeon cost 50 points. Being killed in the wilderness? That would cost another 50. Later on, once PvP between hostile factions became available, dying in those fights would take away 10 Stamina per death.
Running out of Stamina had severe consequences. Every attribute would be halved, almost like suffering a penalty from a forced resurrection after talent specialization.
And there was no way to increase the maximum cap—Stamina remained fixed at 1000. Once players drained it, they had no choice but to take a break or shift their focus to non-combat activities—things like crafting, trading, or sparring in safe zones.
Fortunately, recovering Stamina was straightforward. Sitting anywhere would regenerate one point every two minutes. So, theoretically, a player could rest for 40 minutes to prep for 20 minutes of battle.
Still, the best way to restore Stamina was to stay inside an inn and order something—food or drink, anything would do. As long as you didn't step outside the front door, you'd receive a fast recovery buff. Whether online or offline, that buff restored five Stamina points every two minutes.
It was the game's way of pushing players to pace themselves. To sleep. To rest. To log off every now and then.
Ryan, for now, was doing just that—recovering his Stamina while casually taking care of some important side work.
Yesterday, on the first day of the server going live, he'd already raked in over $50,000. Compared to his previous life's salary, that was half a year's earnings—smashed in a single day.
Originally, Ryan had planned to move on with the next steps in his strategy. But after seeing his sister Mia clear a dungeon earlier that morning, he shook his head and scrapped the plan altogether.
Things were already starting to diverge from the timeline he remembered from his previous life. What was supposed to take two days had now been done in half the time. If even the early content had changed so drastically, could he really count on what happened next to stay the same?
He wasn't sure anymore.
Back then, most of the professional players dominating the scene had come from other major titles. They hadn't taken Kingdom Forge seriously—after all, it was a new game with a modest player base of under a million. At most, only fringe members of large guilds dipped their toes in.
But that all changed when the Federal Government officially endorsed Kingdom Forge as their official competitive title.
Suddenly, every top-tier professional player swarmed in. The moment that happened, Ryan knew his original money-making routes were in danger. He also knew just how sharp these pros were—he couldn't expect to keep profitable strategies hidden from them for long.
His next big plan had revolved around the level-ten profession change.
Once players hit level ten, they could take on a specialization quest to unlock their profession. Ryan had intended to build a small fortune helping players clear the required dungeon for that quest.
He'd mapped it all out: reach level ten, learn some starter skills, pick up decent gear, then guide other players through the specialization dungeons. It was an easy, scalable source of income.
Those dungeons were just regular ones, repurposed for the profession quest. Entry still cost 50 Stamina points, meaning players could only run about twenty of them per day.
But now, with the flood of pros speeding through early content, the starter dungeons were getting cleared out at lightning speed. By the time the average player hit level ten, who would even need Ryan's help?
More importantly, Ryan had to wait for other players to reach level ten before he could even start leading them. But most of the players leveling that fast were professionals. Why would they need help? Accepting assistance from someone like Ryan would only damage their pride—and their reputations.
In short, that entire income stream was effectively cut off before it even started. So, Ryan had no choice but to pivot and brainstorm new ways to generate gold.
Still, it wasn't all bad. One bright spot was the surprising success of two paid forum posts he'd written. Together, they brought in nearly $30,000—making them the most profitable posts on the platform to date.
It was almost on par with what Sky Dragon Roar had splurged on just the day before.
Smiling to himself, Ryan pushed his financial concerns to the back of his mind—for now. The early game wasn't built for huge profits anyway. This phase was all about accumulation, laying groundwork, and taking small wins where you could find them.
He knew the real gold rush would begin once players hit the level forty cap and started raiding team dungeons. Resources needed for those runs—especially rare consumables—could be hoarded and sold for a massive return.
With that in mind, Ryan stood up abruptly, remembering something important.
Now that Stamina and other functions had unlocked, he could finally visit a professional trainer to choose a profession.
Several players nearby glanced over in surprise. After all, Ryan had just sat down with a drink and was now suddenly leaving, barely ten minutes later. It looked like a complete waste.
Even if fruit wine wasn't expensive, it still cost five silver coins—and for most new players, that price tag wasn't exactly pocket change.