Game’s Dogma

Levelling up five times a month was a fair rate, not too quick nor too slow. Of course, he’d have levelled up a lot quicker if not for the God-Slaying Demon Extermination Armour.

At least things were still alright for him now. He had heard that the frontier players who were already beyond Level 30 had loads of complaints. After Level 30, the experience required to level up was almost inhumane. Fighting monsters in the wilderness in the Highlands of John for over twelve hours and clearing the John’s Laboratory dungeon in easy mode till its daily limit only gave around ten per cent of experience.

The higher their levels were, the crazier it got. Most players knew the Highlands of John and John’s laboratory would only last them till Level 35. After that, new maps and dungeons would be made available, but all they could do now was to make do with what they had at hand.

As levelling up had gotten more difficult, players were no longer fully occupied with levelling up alone and started picking up subclasses as a leisure activity. There were all sorts of subclasses, such as chef, alchemist, and many more, each of which could manufacture or create various items. These items, apart from self-use, could be sold as well. Subclasses were something only casual players used to bother with, but it suddenly became popular among other players as well.

Not that such things had anything to do with Drako Yau right now. He was looking for someone—a strange opponent to be exact.

Drako Yau was now in a mysterious room inside the Arena.

The doors to the room were always shut, and no other player had ever entered the room, for it was under the system’s protection.

It was Ichor Hon’s residence. In such a place, Drako Yau was drinking wine while discussing the way of martial arts with Ichor Hon.

Ichor Hon glanced at Drako Yau and said, ‘You crazy kid, you’re improving so damn quickly. You only triggered your internal powers by luck just a month ago, but you’re already getting the knack of it now.’

Drako Yau didn’t say anything and simply sipped his cup of wine.

While Ichor Hon was a battle maniac and had little to say to outsiders, he was someone who didn’t mince words with those he considered friends, making him compatible with Drako Yau. As such, Drako Yau would sometimes go to Ichor Hon’s residence to have a drink or two whenever he felt bored.

After some time, Drako Yau stood up and said, ‘I should go.’

Ichor Hon shook his head. ‘Just a little longer, I need your help with something.’

‘Hm?’ Drako Yau was a bit surprised.

For the past month, he had been visiting Ichor Hon from time to time. As Ichor Hon’s techniques stemmed from slaughtering, it wasn’t very useful for him as a reference. Giving Ichor Hon’s strength, though, just his verbal mentoring was enough to have an impact; it was one of the reasons why he could quickly grasp Frost Form and Flame Form in just a month.

Yet Ichor Hon was asking him for help?

Don’t be mistaken by their previous encounter where Drako Yau survived ten hits from Ichor Hon. Even though he currently had a basic understanding of Frost Form and Flame Form, Ichor Hon could still easily kill him in a single strike.

Soon, the door opened, and a slightly ragged soldier entered the room. The emblem on his armour had a familiar vibe to it. Donned in a full set of pitch-black armour, the soldier bore a golden Oda family crest on both the front and back of his chestplate.

The soldier bowed and said, ‘Sir Hon.’

Ichor Hon waved his hand and asked, ‘What’s the situation?’

The soldier had a depressed look as he replied, ‘Sir Hon knows everything indeed. I have spoken to the family head based on Sir Hon’s instruction, but the family head believes Sir Hon is overthinking it, so he has already departed.’

Ichor Hon sighed.

‘Brother, our time together has been a short one, but there’s something I need your help with.’ He turned his serious gaze to Drako Yau. ‘Can you rescue my friend?’

Startled, Drako Yau stayed silent momentarily before asking, ‘How dangerous is it?’

Ichor Hon locked eyes with Drako Yau. ‘Almost certain death.’

‘Can I bring my companions?’

‘Yes.’

‘How many?’

‘Five.’

Drako Yau turned silent again as his heart dropped. The encounter quest was a very difficult one considering he could bring five companions.

There were three types of encounter quests.

The first type was ordinary encounter quests. This type of encounter quest was very much like other quests where players would follow the quest’s instructions and gain rewards after clearing it. Rewards were also given based on a quest’s difficulty. There were all sorts of requirements to trigger these quests, such as picking up a quest item, meeting certain NPCs by chance, or in Zephyrwolf’s case, having the word ‘wolf’ in his player ID. To sum up, these quests had requirements that couldn’t exist without the system or something players wouldn’t expect, and the majority of encounter quests belonged to this type.

The second type was staged encounter quests. The quest Drako Yau was currently offered and his previous encounter with Kiu Fung on Dumbgirl’s behalf belonged to this type.

Staged encounter quests, as its name implied, consisted of staged events. Players would take up a role in the event and had to not only complete the specified quests, but also consider how they interacted with NPCs during the event with caution.

Once they made a mistake somewhere along the way, they would fail the entire quest. For example, his dialogue with Kiu Fung might seem like nothing special, but the key to the quest lay in the drinking contest. If Drako Yau hadn’t triggered the fire-elemental force in his body to dissipate the alcohol, he would’ve failed the quest the moment he got drunk and blacked out. He wouldn’t know the requirement of the ‘Drinking Contest With Kiu Fung’ quest either if he didn’t design the quest.

Such was the brutality of staged encounter quests—you wouldn’t even know why you failed the quest. It would be too late once you failed.

The third type was purely luck-based, also known as chance encounter quests. From the perspective of game designers, those were ‘shitty luck quests’, meaning there weren’t any requirements apart from luck. A secret skill book might fall from the sky before your eyes, or an old master might suddenly tell you that you have a special physique…

Staged encounter quests were naturally the most difficult of the three. As the saying went, ‘good fortune follows upon disaster’. Along with crazy-difficult quest conditions came extraordinary rewards. In Dumbgirl’s case, she became Kiu Fung’s successor while Drako Yau, who wasn’t even the main player in the quest, also received the secret technique, Dragon Capturing Hand. It just went to show how much better the rewards staged encounter quests gave were.

Encounter quests sometimes allowed players to challenge the quest as a squad. However, it also usually meant the quest was so difficult that it was beyond a single player’s capability. Drako Yau couldn’t have defeated the demon wolf king without Zephyrwolf’s aid either.

The more players allowed, the more difficult the quest was; six meant it was almost impossible.

Seeing Drako Yau turn silent, Ichor Hon didn’t press on with his request either as he said calmly, ‘Take some time to consider it. If you’re going to accept it, bring your companions here in twelve hours. Otherwise… you don’t have to come back. Don’t force yourself, I understand that much.’

‘You have received the encounter quest: The Honno-ji Incident.

Player limit: 6 players (including the player who received the quest)

Accept: Commence teleportation immediately.

Reject: Favour with Ichor Hon will drop to zero.’

Drako Yau remained silent as he calmly left the Arena.

He really needed to think long and hard about it.

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