"Hahaha—"
"Call me the Murloc Slayer."
The ground around Grada was littered with Murloc corpses. After cutting down the last one trying to flee, he stood there like he owned the entire coastline.
"Igor, more Murlocs behind you—Old Murk-Eye just respawned, run!"
"Hold them off—we're falling back first!"
"I'm OOM, can't fight—falling back!"
"Holy crap, you heartless bastards—wait for me!"
Igor immediately turned and bolted. With the rest of the team already gone, there was no way a nearly OOM Paladin could handle a full pack alone.
The others stood in a safe spot, watching him panic and run in circles before bursting out laughing.
"Damn, where are the Murlocs?"
"Who the hell said Old Murk-Eye respawned?"
He slowed down and looked around. The shore was completely empty—just their five-man party and a field of dead Murlocs. That's when it hit him. He'd been completely played.
…
"Turn in the quests, hit 18, head back to Stormwind for training, then get ready for The Deadmines."
Not giving him a chance to complain, Gabryell jumped into the sea first, swam to the Westfall Lighthouse, found Captain Grayson, and turned in both "The Coast Isn't Clear" and "The Coastal Menace."
"The Coast Isn't Clear" rewarded each of them with 1,450 XP and 11 silver.
"The Coastal Menace" offered a choice of three green items, plus 1,550 XP.
Only the Buckler of the Seas was useful for the Grada. The rest just picked whatever would vendor for the most.
Golden light flashed as all five leveled up at once, going from 17 to 18.
At level 18, they met the minimum requirement for The Deadmines. With solid coordination and proper calls, a full clear wouldn't be an issue.
The only concern was team synergy. Dungeons weren't like the open world—they demanded tight coordination. One mistake could easily snowball into a wipe.
Softhealz: "Damn, guild leader's group already 18? I'm still level 8…"
Oldguard: "18 already?? That's crazy. How are they leveling so fast? I've died to Murlocs like a hundred times, swear."
NameTaken: "At least you can tag Murlocs. I can't even get a hit in. Fargodeep's packed—no Kobolds left. 30 mins, got 2 candles…"
ChargeUp: "Eastvale's the same. Just standing there waiting on respawns, spam clicking like crazy to tag logs."
Sevven: "Can't even touch Princess. Respawn's way too slow—she spawns and gets insta nuked before I can even target."
Pickpocketz: "Why did I roll melee man… ranged just snipes everything. Been here an hour, tagged one bear. Rogue life sucks…"
After a full day, the guild had grown to 119 members, all through player invites. He had barely needed to manage anything.
Now that the main group had hit 18, it stirred up quite a buzz. Guild chat exploded with activity.
Even as a hands-off guild leader, he couldn't stay quiet anymore.
"Everyone, keep pushing levels. The guild's introducing a reward system—the first 10 players to reach 40 each get a mount."
He paused, then added:
"Our group won't be participating."t:
He sent Lunatori a whisper, separate from party chat:
"Hit 40 and I'll cover your mount—100g."
Lunatori replied almost instantly:
"Thank you, guild leader. I'm already really grateful you're helping me level. I'll earn it myself—you don't need to."
Gabryell smiled faintly.
"It's fine. I've got gold."
"..."
The moment the reward plan dropped, guild chat went even crazier.
Quickslash: "Anyone know how much a mount costs?"
ShortShot: "Guild leader's crazy. Level 40 mount is 100g. Ten mounts = 1000g… I've got like 70s at level 9."
BigHeal: "70s is rich. I've got 30s…"
Nightlord: "Just bought 10 stacks of bread. Broke again. Warrior life…"
Deadeye: "100g? I'm no-lifing this. Gotta make top 10."
Manaspring: "Alright, going to grind. Anyone need group? Mage here—food/water."
"Inv."
"inv me"
"poor warrior looking for mage carry lol"
The reward system completely lit a fire under everyone. Guild chat quickly filled with group requests.
"Don't you think you're being a bit too generous? That's 1000 gold—we can't afford that."
He was stunned. He only had a little over 4 gold—saving up 1000 would take forever.
Carlos frowned. "Even if the four of us pool everything at 40, we'd barely afford one or two mounts. Ten mounts… we might have to buy gold."
Without saying anything, Gabryell opened his bag.
"Take a look—how much gold do I have?"
They leaned in—and froze.
Hugo: "Where did you get all this gold?"
Igor gulped. "27 gold?! Did you rob the Stormwind Bank?"
He laughed and broke it down—over 19 gold from flipping items, more than 4 from questing, and around 2 from selling drops.
"Damn… making money on the side and not telling us?"
Eyes still glued to the corner of the bag, Igor muttered:
"Should we camp the Auction House too?"
He shook his head.
"No point. Leveling comes first. We'll flip a few items whenever we're back in town—that's enough for now."
"Once we hit 45, I've got a better method. Several hundred to over a thousand gold a day."
There was also a trump card—something no one else knew yet: solo farming Zul'Farrak at level 45.
Too hard during beta? Skip the Blizzard kite build. Jump the wall and grind slowly with Rank 1 Blizzard. Three to four runs per hour—vendor loot alone nets 30–40 gold, and selling to players easily doubles that.
For a veteran Mage, gold was never the problem. The Stockade, Scarlet Monastery, Zul'Farrak, Maraudon, Dire Maul East—any of them could generate massive income in WoW vanilla.
Carlos gave a thumbs-up.
"I'm convinced. You've thought this through way more than I have."
"Let's head back. I'm gonna make some gold."
He was already itching to move.
Gabryell typed in party chat:
"Everyone, take a quick break, then reset. We're heading into The Deadmines next—full clear tonight. Let's hit 20 before 11."
He took a gryphon back to Stormwind first. The others followed right behind.