Game’s Dogma

While Chau Yu was staring at the scene again and again, Tripurity’s eyes were locked onto the masked man the whole time, for he also noticed how scary the spearman was.

‘His spearmanship is terrifying. In the final two seconds, he made seven thrusts, all of which landed on the ravon commander’s weak points and triggered the Weakness Exploit effect.’

The guild masters behind found his claim rather unbelievable.

Yeah, why don’t you exaggerate it even more?

What era do you think it is now? Martial arts masters? Ha!

Chau Yu chuckled at his answer. ‘I’m not as good as you in battle, but if we’re talking about vision, my eyes are the better pair it seems’, he said before showing a concerned look, which was rare for him. ‘It’s 12 thrusts in two seconds. This man is a formidable person. He’s above Zephyrwolf and Hades.’

The people behind him couldn’t even bother to sigh. What were they even on about? Were the two speaking the language of gods?

Chau Yu then turned around and smiled. ‘Fellow guild masters, I’ve heard that you all wish to challenge Yoda to let them know who’s the number one city in the game?’

He had originally thought that this was a terribly childish idea. What he pursued wasn’t this sort of meaningless fame. But after seeing this masked weirdo (let’s call him ‘Mask’ for now), he changed his mind.

Chau Yu sent his gaze far beyond the city, his eyes showing a rare tint of fervent zeal. If I could take this man in as my subordinate… He would be unstoppable in this game!

Meanwhile, Drako Yau was dragged away by Hades. Looking at Hades’ serious expression, he wasn’t sure what to say.

‘Um, is there anything you want to talk about?’

Hades only replied with two words, ‘Demon city.’

‘You mean liberating Evergrand?’ Drako Yau was quick to pick up on the idea. It was no easy decision to abandon Evergrand. Now that they knew a liberation system existed, it was natural that Hades wasn’t going to let the chance slip.

‘I think we should act fast, Terrafirm won’t just sit there and do nothing either. My plan is to team up with you, Zephyrwolf, and Soulsmith. We’ll find a cleric to join the four of us, then we’ll try and liberate Evergrand.’

Drako Yau immediately nodded. ‘Alright, sure.’ He had been the one who dragged Hades and his men over back then. It would be despicable to ditch Hades after taking advantage of him.

Sasaki beside them frowned and asked, ‘What about me?’

Hades found it a bit awkward to say it in Sasaki’s face, but he still told him the truth. ‘You’re strong, but… your levels are a bit lacking.’

Drako Yau also agreed with Hades’ opinion. ‘Your first priority should be levelling up.’ 

He then sent Sasaki a trade request. With a suspicious look, Sasaki accepted the request and soon saw a katana on the trade interface.

‘Kiku-Ichi.’

Sasaki quickly glanced through its stats and attributes, then compared it to the Weapon Rank list. He almost jumped as he said, ‘Ranked number 5?’

Drako Yau simply waved his hand casually and replied, ‘It’s fine, I don’t use katanas anyways. Take it and quickly get to Level 15. You can easily catch up once you can equip it.’

Sasaki didn’t pass on the offer. To be honest, with how wealthy he was, he could easily pay for the weapon. What he treasured was his camaraderie with Drako Yau.  As the saying went, scholars would die for those who see the worth in them. The simple-minded youngster felt hot-blooded all of a sudden.

‘Boss, wait for me!’ He then quickly ran off somewhere to level up, leaving Hades dumbfounded.

After sending Sasaki away, Drako Yau turned his focus back to Hades. He shrugged helplessly and said, ‘Look at me, all my equipment got destroyed by that crazy bastard. It’s almost like I’m naked now! You’ll have to let me buy some equipment first before we go.’ Cold sweat started running down his back as Hades sounded so eager to challenge the new dungeon. 

Hades turned silent. Soulsmith who had been standing aside the entire time asked, ‘How much more till you’re Level 15?’

‘Half the experience bar…’

Soulsmith then said to Hades, ‘With our current strength, it won’t be much of a problem to challenge the Demon City in Easy and Normal difficulty. We can let him take some of the experience so he can buy Level 15 equipment once he levels up. He’ll be stronger that way.’

Soulsmith was Hades’ right-hand man as well as one of the very few who knew that Drako Yau was the mysterious man known as Mask. Currently, the only people who knew ‘Dragonspear’ was ‘Mask’ were Sasaki, Hades, Soulsmith, Zephyrwolf, Bloodless Bladester, and Everlastor. Drako Yau had faith in them all that they were trustworthy enough to know his identity.

Drako Yau could only nod in agreement upon hearing Soulsmith’s suggestion. If someone was willing to carry him till Level 15, what reason was there for him not to get on the free ride?

Putting words into action immediately, Drako Yau, Soulsmith, Zephyrwolf, and Hades headed for the teleportation array. They didn’t have anyone in mind who could take on the role of a healer in their team for now, but as Soulsmith had just said, they could just brute force their way through Easy and Normal difficulty.

Zephyrwolf and his demon wolf king, Hades, and Soulsmith were all veterans in gaming. Also, the Easy and Normal difficulty were just warmups designed to prepare players for the real challenge which were Hard and Hell. The latter two were where the good drops came from.

Drako Yau, void of any equipment, strode casually behind his three teammates. How long had it been since he could be so carefree? A strange thought suddenly emerged in his head as he stared at the trio’s back.

 It feels good to have companions!

Just when the four of them were teleporting over to the demon city of Evergrand, things were heating up on the official forum.

It all originated from a single post—a challenge issued to Yoda by Terrafirm. The one who initiated the challenge was no ordinary person either. He was Booksy Swordsman, guild master of the famous guild Age of Scholars.

‘We, Age of Scholars, as one of the leaders of Terrafirm, have no excuses for failing to defend the city. Of course, luck was not on our side as we could not discover the Castellan’s Residence and request for reinforcement. Having learnt that Yoda has successfully defended their city, we wish to send you our congratulations.

However, as the losers of the siege event, we must play our part in liberating Terrafirm. We hereby challenge every player of Yoda! Although we lost last time, it is certain that we shall liberate Terrafirm and prove that we, Terrafirm, are stronger than Yoda!’

The post was by no means a lengthy one, but the message behind was worthy of rumination. In particular, the part which said ‘Luck was not on our side as we could not discover the Castellan’s Residence’…

Both Yoda and Evergrand had triggered the quest ‘Castellan’s Deal’, granting them reinforcements which saved them in the most desperate of times. The news of the sudden appearance of said reinforcements became known to other players after the event. It was apparent why Booksy Swordsman brought it up at this moment. His unspoken words were ‘You were just lucky that you found the hidden reinforcements. In terms of actual strength, you’re a lot weaker than we are.’

This post appeared to be nothing more than a childish and impulsive letter of challenge. Their challenge was mere words without placing anything tangible on the table. However, Age of Scholars had to do it because they were forced into a corner. Failing to defend Terrafirm had put a large dent in the guild’s reputation and image.