Heartbreak makes you grow

Ethan paused for a moment before speaking in a low voice. "It's all in the past… No need to bring it up again."

"Whoa!" Emily's eyes widened in disbelief. She circled Ethan, scrutinizing him like he was some kind of scientific anomaly. Then, as if making a groundbreaking discovery, she clapped her hands and nodded knowingly. "They say heartbreak makes you grow, but I never really believed it. Looks like it's true after all… The results are this good? Maybe I should give it a try too?"

Before she could finish, Ethan moved.

Smack!

A crisp sound echoed as his palm landed on Emily's smooth, fair forehead.

At the same time, Ethan narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning 'dangerous.' "What was that you just mumbled? Say it louder—I didn't quite catch it…"

Emily shuddered instantly, flashing an ingratiating smile. "Nothing! Nothing at all! I was just saying my dear brother is incredibly handsome! Sophie dumping you? That's her loss! She must be blind… But hey, lucky for you, Harvard's got plenty of gorgeous girls—curvy bombshells, long-legged queens, sweet campus belles, adorable cuties, voluptuous babes—uh, wait, wait, wait! Forget that! What I meant to say is, I know a lot of stunning girls, all top-tier. How about I introduce you to someone, my dear brother?"

"Get lost." Ethan spat out the words coldly, his face expressionless.

Then, his eyes flickered as he changed the subject. "How's your situation in the game lately?"

At that, Emily's playful demeanor shifted slightly, turning more serious.

She hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip and cautiously said, "Hey, bro… I've got something cool to show you."

As soon as she finished speaking, a mysterious energy surged from within her.

Rumble!

A glowing magic circle appeared on the floor, and a pillar of light shot up, engulfing the entire room. Moments later, as the light faded, a majestic griffin stood in the middle of the house!

Ethan's pupils contracted instantly, his heartbeat accelerating.

He locked his gaze onto the creature before him.

"This is a Castle faction Tier 5 unit… a Griffin… Wait, no—this is a Tier 6 unit, a Royal Griffin?"

A standard Tier 5 Griffin had a brownish-blue coat.

But a Tier 6 Royal Griffin? Its upper body was pure white, exuding an even more regal and powerful aura. The difference between the two was exactly as described in Glory Lords X!

As a top-tier player of Glory Lords X, Ethan wasn't ignorant.

Even though the game had now become a reality worldwide, most mainstream players were still stuck with Tier 1 or Tier 2 units.

If someone managed to get their hands on even a handful of Tier 3 units, they'd already be considered a rising star.

For the majority of players, their current reality was leading a small squad of Tier 1 units—maybe a few, maybe a few dozen—struggling to survive.

After a year or two, many still couldn't even complete the lowest-ranked E-tier quests. And they had to stay constantly on edge, fearing encounters with powerful wild monsters or ruthless bandits who could wipe them out in an instant.

If a player's hero died, they'd be forcibly downgraded by one level and required to pay a 'resurrection fee' of varying amounts.

Losing a hero wasn't the worst part—after all, they could be revived, and levels could be regained.

But losing units? That was a different story.

Unless a player owned their own castle, any unit that died was gone for good.

Which basically meant starting over from scratch.

And so far, according to all available online data, the total number of castles owned by players worldwide—out of a staggering 2 billion players—was exactly…

Zero.

That's right. Not a single one.

So for now, that wasn't even worth considering.

In this world, Ethan had been playing the game for over five years now.

And yet, all he had to show for it were eight measly Tier 1 pikemen from the Castle faction.

Why?

Simple.

He had restarted his progress from scratch at least thirty times.

And honestly, that wasn't even that bad—just about average.

There were plenty of players worse off than him.

Brutal? Yeah. But that was just the reality of the game.

Leveling up heroes and acquiring stronger units? Insanely difficult.

Which was exactly why Emily summoning a Tier 6 Royal Griffin from the Castle faction into the real world—just one of them—was a huge deal.

It meant she was a top-tier player. A real pro.

With a Tier 6 Royal Griffin under her command, Ethan was starting to suspect that this little girl's in-game ranking might actually be in the top 10,000 in the entire NA region.

And that? That was insanely impressive.

After all, the NA region had a total population of 500 million.

More importantly, Emily was still young. Really young.

And youth meant potential.

Endless possibilities.

If word got out about this, it would definitely cause a stir.

Ethan fell into thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, that's a Tier 6 Royal Griffin from the Castle faction, no doubt about it."

Emily pouted and nodded. "Yeah! I found this super strong NPC hero in Winterkeep. He helped me train my griffin into a Royal Griffin, but it cost a fortune! 10,000 gold! I dumped my entire savings from the past year into it, and I could only afford to train one… It was so expensive!"

"The more expensive, the more worth it," Ethan said, shaking his head. "A single Tier 6 Royal Griffin is way more valuable than a few Tier 5 griffins… But an NPC hero who can train griffins into Royal Griffins? Could they be an unclaimed Rare-tier blue hero?"

"That kind of strategic hero talent is insanely rare. If word gets out, the top ten guilds will be all over it. They'll swarm in like vultures…"

Ethan's mind was racing. After a moment, he spoke again. "You should try recruiting that NPC hero. If you can pull it off, the benefits will be huge."

"That's exactly what I was planning to do!" Emily nodded eagerly, then suddenly gave Ethan a curious look. "Wait… why do you sound like a completely different person? You never used to know this stuff…"

"…Didn't you say heartbreak makes people grow?" Ethan kept his face calm, but inside, he was panicking.

He quickly changed the subject. "Alright, go to class. I need to log into the game."

At this point, he had figured it out—on this version of Earth, the game was everything.

And honestly? He was really curious to see what this so-called parallel universe was all about.