Game’s Dogma

However, Age of Scholars had actually underestimated the enemy during the siege event.

From their point of view, with over 100,000 players along with their original forces, a mere event was simply nothing. Booksy Swordsman had already been planning for the future before the event even began. Once they successfully defended the city, players in Terrafirm would hold Age of Scholars in high regard. They could then recruit members from all over the world and increase their influence in the game, much like what Chau Yu had been doing in Empyreon.

But reality was harsh—they had failed. The outcome was the complete opposite of what he had anticipated. Cries of discontent rose among players of Terrafirm, and with several hostile guilds fanning the flames, they started calling out Age of Scholars for their incompetence in leading the city’s defences and blamed them for the loss. Just like that, Age of Scholar’s reputation took a nosedive.

This challenge was the guild’s last stand. If they succeeded, they could restore their former reputation and probably even surpass their former selves. However, the stakes were high. They would forever lose the qualifications as a first-rate guild if they failed, and that was something the proud and arrogant members could not tolerate.

At where Terrafirm used to stand, a demonic city shrouded in black mist could be seen. The city gate had now become a teleportation array. Right now, there were five people present.

Booksy Swordsman, Level 17 warrior.

Handsome Scholar, Level 17 cleric (paladin build).

Idyllic Poet, Level 18 mage.

Thousand Scrolls, Level 16 cleric (priest build).

Bookstore Clerk, Level 17 hunter (ranged build).

This was Age of Scholar’s best squad. Handsome Scholar was a contestant of the game’s best paladin. Their main healer Thousand Scrolls was also ranked fifth among all clerics in Real World. The cleric class, the priest build in particular, had always been more difficult to level up due to the class’ nature, and the guild’s backing had played a major part in how he levelled up so quickly.

Booksy Swordsman turned around to look at his four squad members with sharp eyes.

‘This is our final chance. We have no room for failure! Remember the old days, we’ve never cowered before challenges. It will be no different this time.’ He swept his gaze across the four of them, his eyes staying on Handsome Scholar for a short while. ‘Let’s go!’

Handsome Scholar had great talent in virtual gaming. If he had not owed Booksy Swordsman a favour, he could have gone anywhere and still made a name for himself. Age of Scholars might seem like a powerful guild, but for Handsome Scholar who had the ambition of a dragon, the guild was no more than a small temple which couldn’t seal the dragon within him.

Under countless gazes, the five of them entered the demon city.

At the other demon city of Evergrand, players were cheering like a parade.

With Night’s Venator hung on his waist, Zephyrwolf was walking with relish while waving at players from Yoda. Of course, there were also those who shot him cold gazes, most of which were from either Terrafirm or Empyreon. They were originally from Yoda too, but they had switched cities right before the event started thinking that the other two cities had a higher chance of victory. Even so, they felt curious about the four.

Next to him was Hades who was surrounded by a thin layer of dark mist. The pair of small, sharp horns on his head fitted his style perfectly. This guy just keeps making a fool of himself! He thought as he scorned Zephyrwolf.

Soulsmith followed behind Hades with a bland look on his face, a longbow hung on his back. That was his weapon, and he himself shall serve as Hades’ bow and arrow. Drako Yau, on the other hand, had nothing but his mask on as he trod behind the three.

The four of them had created a private chat among themselves beforehand. ‘Let’s start with Easy to test the waters’, said Hades. Seeing Drako Yau who wore no equipment at all and had a look which suggested that he really was just going to do nothing and leech experience the entire time, Hades sighed and felt like he didn’t have much of a choice.

While their squad only had four members, they were by no means weak.

Dragonspear, Level 14 warrior… Let’s not count him in for now.

Hades, Level 18 hunter (assassin build).

Soulsmith, Level 18 hunter (ranged build).

Zephyrwolf, Level 16 warrior. While his level was on the lower end, his demon wolf king made up for the difference in level. It was almost like they had an additional member in the squad also.

The four of them also entered the dungeon’s teleportation array under countless gazes.

As for the challenge targeted at them? Zephyrwolf was too nitwitted to care about it, while Hades and Soulsmith had been used to such things and simply couldn’t be bothered with such a petty challenge. Drako Yau didn’t give it much thought either, completely ignoring the position Age of Scholars was in.

If those from Age of Scholars knew no one actually paid any heed to their challenge, they would probably fly off the handle.

Once they entered the demon city, a plain and open sight greeted them. It was a familiar one as well.

Intrigued, Drako Yau observed his surroundings. Apart from the demonic aura everywhere and the structures turning black, the demon city’s layout was identical to that of Evergrand.

The dungeon, Demon City, did not exist in Drako Yau’s version of Real World, which meant it was something the developers had added in. After experiencing so much, he had gotten over it already. Trying to spot differences between the current version and his own version of the game all the time was unnecessary at this point. His objective was simple—survive until he could find a way to leave the game. That said, he still subconsciously observed the changes in the game. It was his instincts as a game developer.

While he was casually looking around, the other three were already engaged in combat up ahead. They were simply walking down a straight, long road in the demon city, but countless monsters swarmed them from both sides and blocked their path. Most of them were skeletons; skeleton warriors who knew not what death was kept charging at the invaders, and skeleton archers fired arrows from behind.

Hades furrowed his brows and said, ‘Soulsmith, target those archers.’

Soulsmith nodded and started firing away. His accuracy took Drako Yau’s breath away; it was hard to believe that someone could be so accurate.

From his conjecture, ranged hunter was one of the most difficult classes to play. If your arrows couldn’t hit the target, it didn’t matter how high your damage was. The class tested one’s accuracy with the bow, and life was even harder for archers when aim assist didn’t exist in the game, nor did they have many targeted skills at their disposal.

However, Soulsmith barely missed the target whenever he fired a shot. Noticing Drako Yau’s admiration, Hades said proudly, ‘Soulsmith was CA’s world champion.’

Drako Yau quickly understood what he was saying. While War of the Daemons had been the most popular MMORPG, CA had been the most popular first person shooter with millions of players. The skill and dedication required to become a world champion… his current strength was only to be expected.

It was the Easy difficulty after all, so the monsters weren’t much of a threat and were swept aside as they continued on their journey through the city.

They soon arrived at what used to be the resurrection altar of Evergrand. It had now become an evil altar where a seat made of bones stood in the centre, and a gigantic skeleton donned in black armour was sitting on it.