Game’s Dogma

Divine powers or whatnot… After the old geezer bluffed so many times about the powers of divine items, Drako Yau had little hopes about his armour.

As long as it doesn’t bother me; I don’t expect any extraordinary powers from it anyways.

No one knew what the maximum level for subclasses was. The highest known level, for now, was Level 5, and that was levelling up the subclass right from the start. The player was entirely focused on the subclass and didn’t level up or fight monsters.

Even so, the subclass veteran was still at Level 5…

As expected, the main class and subclass complement one another.

Drako Yau was silently crafting scrolls in the conference room in Howl of the Tempest Wolves’ base because no one could disturb him there.

When subclasses reached Level 3, the experience needed to level up grew exponentially. It was also one of the reasons why the First Scrollcraft Scholar deleted his account.

Suddenly, a notification flashed across the global channel.

‘Rumours say that great treasures have appeared on Mount Soughslit. Head for the mountain to find the hidden treasures.’

Drako Yau stood up.

The moment the notification appeared, he knew it was happening.

It was a large-scale encounter quest, or in other words, a public encounter quest to draw players to a certain region. A battle of luck and strength was bound to ensue to determine who could get the rewards.

Soon after the announcement was made, he received a handful of private messages from his companions.

‘Meet up beneath Mount Soughslit.’

Mount Soughslit was a region within the Highlands of John.

Hinted by its name, Mount Soughslit was a dangerous mountain with few routes available. Adventurous players had once pioneered their way up to its peak; the game never lacked curious players, but their only reward for climbing the mountain was self-satisfaction.

Around Mount Soughslit were where Level 28 monstrous eagles resided. They were scarce in numbers, had lengthy respawn times, and scattered spawn points, making them poor monsters for farming experience. Monstrous eagles were also tough opponents due to their quick flight speed and agile reflexes. Few ventured to Mount Soughslit for such reasons.

However, the mountain now seized the spotlight. Countless players rushed over for the supposedly hidden treasure. Because it was the official system that made the announcement, the ‘rumour’ was very likely to be true. It was up to them to take the prize.

Drako Yau, now in his Skeleton King Armour set and Mask of the Hidden Dragon, was standing under a tree, waiting for his comrades to arrive. Players who saw him stood aside and kept their distance.

Mask of Yoda, a simple name—such a name invoked everyone’s fear and admiration. All who had heard of Mask’s feats would never dare to disturb him.

‘What do you think about all this?’

A voice reached Drako Yau from behind. A group of players, just five to be precise, walked towards him. Their ID and guild emblem indicated their out-of-the-ordinary status.

Underworld!

Hades was curious about how Drako Yau had been doing lately. They hadn’t met in a while now, so he thought the masked man had probably undergone class progression at this point.

His basic attacks are already terrifying…

Hades halted his thoughts; he dared not to imagine any further. Still, it wasn’t as if he looked down upon himself. Mask wasn’t the only person who had been improving.

Drako Yau said without a tint of emotion, ‘Let’s just see how it goes. I’m lucky if I can get it, but it might be destiny if I don’t.’

Hearing Drako Yau’s voice, Hades’ sights turned towards the Necklace of Deceit.

‘Right, forgot to ask you about it back when we were killing the world boss. It’s an epic outfit item? Good stuff, where’d you get your hands on it?’

‘Ohoho, it’s our keepsake of love.’ Another voice, this time an eerily gentle and soft one that seeped into their bones, emerged nearby. Dakki joined them with an elegant stride and touched Drako Yau’s shoulders with her tender hands. ‘Isn’t that right?’

Drako Yau laughed wryly and was about to say something when…

‘Hands off,’ said a deep voice.

Greenstone, Zephyrwolf, Dumbgirl, and Windstrider had all arrived. Greenstone went between Dakki and Drako Yau, separating the two as if she was some sort of threatening beast. Such action made Drako Yau laugh.

‘You should be thankful Poet and Ki-boy aren’t here.’ Ki-boy was their nickname for Sasaki.

Greenstone had a serious look as he stared at Drako Yau, seemingly unhappy about his boss’ attitude. Not that Drako Yau could do anything about it either; Greenstone was someone who didn’t know what humour was, even more so than himself.

‘Let’s go,’ Drako Yau said and led the way.

Encountering Allurers and Underworld wasn’t part of the plan, but when there were treasures to be obtained, it was obvious that no one would want to miss out.

As they got closer to Mount Soughslit, the place was crowded with more and more players. Soon, they knew the reason—someone blockaded the mountain.

‘Assassination Coalition is clearing a quest here! Any unrelated personnel, leave at once!’

The sight of a guild blockading the entrance to a mountain with numbers was rather spectacular. More so when the guild members all wore leather armour—they were all of the hunter class, either as rangers or assassins. 

‘Assassination Coalition is quite the unorthodox guild.’ Bloodless Bladester was displaying his ability as person-in-charge of external guild affairs. ‘It has no guild base, nor is it based in a city. Its members come from all three cities, and they only have one recruitment requirement: only hunters can join.

‘It isn’t powerful in terms of combat strength, but its players were exceptionally united as a guild. Some second-line guild once killed a player from Assassination Coalition for personal grudges three times. The entire guild swarmed from their hidden dwellings to avenge their guild member at any cost. While it put a great dent in their overall status for a while, almost everyone in that second-line guild lost at least three levels and fell into oblivion ever since.

‘Yet Assassination Coalition still exists. After that incident, no one dared to get on their bad side. The weak fear the strong, the strong fear the gruff, and the gruff fear the crazed. No one wants to get involved with a guild that’s full of crazy fellas who don’t fear death.’

Drako Yau had heard about the incident from the forum, but he didn’t think he’d make contact with them so soon.

Even with their reputation as lunatics, their numbers were starting to come up short against the crowd. As more and more players arrived at the scene, the crowd was gradually losing patience. After all, only a hundred or so players were maintaining the so-called blockade, while the players gathering at the entrance numbered over a thousand and were still on the rise.

‘Get out of the way!’

‘Crazy dogs! Be a good boy and piss off!’

As more and more players joined the fuss, everyone was starting to get over their heads.

Among them, an assassin who led the group scanned the crowd with a cold gaze. His ID was Judge Chui.

He silently took out a notebook from his item bag. Yes, a notebook. In the current era, barely anyone still used pen and paper. However, when he took out his notebook, everyone turned silent.

‘Judge Chui and his Book of Life and Death.’

It was a rumour, a legend even, spread throughout the playerbase. Of course, it didn’t mean Judge Chui had control over a player’s life and death, nor was the notebook a special item. It was its contents that made it special: favours and wrongdoings towards Assassination Coalition.

Back when the second-line guild offended Assassination Coalition, the entire guild was naturally recorded onto the notebook.

A week later, the second-line guild fell from grace and vanished.

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