Game’s Dogma

The moment they entered, a sweet fragrance of roasted meat wafted into their noses. It was the aroma of a special sauce made of caramel and soy sauce smeared on roasted meat, almost making Drako Yau drool.

They could hear a mixture of cooking sounds from the kitchen and yells from the servers. There were five tables scattered across the place, but only the one next to the window was occupied while the others were all vacant.

Drako Yau’s gaze turned towards the window table occupied by a male and female. The woman, who wore a beige long dress, had wavy long hair which reached her waist and a gentle and virtuous atmosphere around her.

The man, on the other hand, was a burly person who wore a tattered grey robe made of cloth. The robe had plenty of tears, but they were apparently patched up over and over again. Thick brows and large eyes, a tall nose and wide mouth, all seated on his large, square face. It was obvious he hadn’t taken good care of the scattered stubble on his chin as well. Despite wearing tattered clothes and not tidying himself up, he had the demeanour of a person who had gone through a lot.

Drako Yau confirmed his suspicions upon seeing the two of them.

‘You’ve drunk too much already. Don’t hurt yourself, okay?’ The young lady had a gentle voice which soothed the minds of everyone who heard her.

The burly man laughed and patted his chest. ‘Don’t worry, I’m strong enough. Even another dozen catties won’t be a problem!’

He had already noticed Drako Yau and Dumbgirl who entered the bar. When his gaze landed on the two of them, Drako Yau stiffened, as if he had been locked onto by a beast. Moments later, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down, then walked towards the table furthest away from the window table.

‘Excuse me, I’ll have a bottle of sorghum wine and a roasted beef platter.’

‘Oh?’ The burly man’s sights landed on Dumbgirl who sat next to Drako Yau.

Soon, a server brought the wine and beef over, and Drako Yau started digging in right away. The roasted beef was so appetising that even Dumbgirl couldn’t stop eating it. Food in this world tasted so good that it was no different from eating in real life in terms of flavour.

Drako Yau poured himself a small cup of wine. The refreshing scent of sorghum wine drifted into his nose. Drinking the entire cup in one gulp, a savoury taste flooded his taste buds and lingered on his teeth for a good long while. It was the nation’s renowned wine after all. It had been a long time since he had last drunk alcohol as well; he couldn’t help but exclaim how good it felt.

‘The wine is good indeed, but drinking alone makes it taste pale. Girl, up for a drink or two?’ The burly man shouted from across the bar at Drako Yau’s table.

Dumbgirl looked at the man and asked, ‘Are you talking to me?’

The man laughed and nodded. ‘Yeah, do you drink?’

Just when Dumbgirl was about to say something, Drako Yau tugged her arm and said in caution, ‘Dumbgirl, don’t talk to strangers.’

‘Oh…’ Dumbgirl nodded and ignored the man.

The man got anxious when he noticed he was being ignored. Drako Yau observed him through the mask; seeing him anxious brought a smile to Drako Yau’s face.

As expected, the man shouted again moments later.

‘Young man, why drink alone? Let’s have a drink together.’

‘Haha,’ Drako Yau laughed and continued, ‘I’ll take up your offer then.’ As he walked over to the man’s table, he told the server, ‘It’s on me.’

The man laughed heartily and said, ‘How generous of you!’

He then told the server to bring two large bowls over. Even though the young lady shook her head and smiled wryly, she still filled the two bowls to their brims.

‘A toast for you! Here!’

Drako Yau nodded and took off his mask, revealing his young and ordinary face. He picked up the bowl of sorghum wine and drank it.

Seeing how forthright Drako Yau was, the burly man was visibly delighted.

‘A candid young man indeed! Good!’ His eyes, however, were set on Dumbgirl. ‘May I ask who this young girl is?’

‘I’m her brother.’ Drako Yau lied without even batting an eyelid. Or rather, from the moment he entered the bar, he had been coming up with all sorts of responses to various situations and dialogues. He wasn’t confident he could deal with the burly man properly, but he just had to give it a go. The encounter quest was a significant one—it’d definitely help Dumbgirl out a lot if he succeeded.

Drako Yau’s expressionless face worked wonders this time round. Without flushing or anything even when lying, it made him sound trustworthy.

The burly man looked at Dumbgiel and asked, ‘Your brother’s such a good drinker. Can you drink too?’

As Drako Yau had ordered her not to speak to strangers, she didn’t answer and instead took over the young lady’s duty of pouring wine for the two drinkers. Such a response made the burly man overjoyed; to him, the girl was a calm and steady person.

‘Another twenty catties of sorghum wine!’

The bowls were fully filled again. In no time, Drako Yau had drunk his fifth bowl of wine already. Even though he had been trained by the old geezer to drink wine, the alcohol was starting to reach his head. The burly man didn’t react when he saw Drako Yau’s slightly drunk look, but Drako Yau could still sense the man’s disdain through his eyes.

Drako Yau forced himself to focus as his mind tumbled around like a raging sea. He knew the key to the encounter quest was how good he could hold his liquor. If the burly man wasn’t satisfied, the encounter quest couldn’t be triggered.

Pzzt…

When more alcohol entered his body, the dormant fire-elemental force lodging in his body acted up as if it had come across some good stuff. The force swarmed towards the alcohol and engulfed it. Meanwhile, the ice-elemental force, despite being disrupted by alcohol, didn’t idle around either. It continued to radiate a chilly sensation, forcefully bringing Drako Yau back to his senses. The troubling feeling of drunkenness immediately dissipated.

Drako Yau startled momentarily before he cheered in his mind and yelled, ‘Great!’ He then picked up another bowl of wine and downed it.

The burly man also shouted heartily in response. He thought the young man seemed a bit drunk just now, but it turned out the young man was as lively as ever moments later. The burly man was delighted at finding a person who could match him in drinking. Just like that, the two of them downed bowl after bowl of wine.

When they reached their twentieth bowl, the burly man laughed like a maniac, not caring at all about the wine splashing onto his robe.

‘Awesome! It’s been a long while since I last had such a good drink! Brother, since we really hit it off, I’ll cut right to the chase. I’m not old, but I’m certainly not young either. I’ve always wanted to find a successor, yet good buds are hard to find. Your sister’s a good young bud who’s well suited for my martial arts style. Whatcha think?’

Ding.

Dumbgirl heard the system’s voice which said, ‘Kiu Fung thinks highly of you. Will you become his disciple?’

Dumbgirl wasn’t sure what to do and stared blankly at Drako Yau. Taking advantage of all the alcohol he just downed, Drako Yau laughed as he was just as delighted.

‘Of course you’re gonna accept it. Why’d I drink so much otherwise?’

‘Okay.’

Dumbgirl, without understanding what she just received, clicked ‘Accept’. Immediately after she accepted it, she morphed into a lump of white light and vanished.

This encounter quest was based on the renowned martial arts novel ‘Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils’. Kiu Fung, chief of the Beggars’ Sect, had to find a successor, and the condition to triggering this quest was ‘a Level 20 starter who had yet to choose a class’. Drako Yau’s idea was that there wouldn’t be a lot of players who stayed classless at Level 20. If there was indeed someone like that, they truly deserved the encounter quest.

It took him an entire month to come up with the quest conditions and implement it into the game. However, his subordinates laughed at the quest in goodwill because the probability of someone succeeding in the quest was way too low. To the game designers who followed him, the quest was no more than a fancy knick-knack their boss came up with.

Indeed, Drako Yau admired Kiu Fung’s heroic and forthright demeanour. He put in so much effort to make the quest for that reason—it was his way of commemorating and paying tribute to the character.

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