Game’s Dogma

The next day, the old geezer slowly opened his eyes. It had been a while since he could sleep soundly. What woke him up wasn’t the dazzling sunlight, but a savoury scent. He looked down to find Drako Yau roasting several fish above a fire.

The old geezer leapt down the branch. Drako Yau handed one of the roasted fish to him, and he dug in right away. The two ate silently while the old geezer sized up Drako Yau in secret. The child now had sparkling eyes and was full of vigour.

‘Kiddo, you’ve recovered quickly.’

The old geezer stood up and tossed the fishbone to the ground. Drako Yau also finished his fish and stood up to look at the old geezer, who nodded and put out the fire by kicking soil over it.

‘Take your wooden staff and follow me.’

The two passed through the dense forest with the old geezer leading the way. After a while, the thick woods gradually turned thin and revealed a large plain. The circular plain was surrounded by trees on all sides while all sorts of weird items were scattered around.

‘Kiddo,’ the old geezer grinned at Drako Yau and said, ‘welcome to hell.’

It had been a year since Drako Yau was brought to the mysterious wilderness. His childish and delicate face was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a tint of sun tan and slight wrinkles.

Right now, Drako Yau was entirely focused on the lazy old geezer while gripping his wooden staff tightly. He had never succeeded in this particular training, though countless other insane training awaited him.

‘Three, two…’ The old geezer counted down. He threw the thing in his hand at ‘two’.

‘Dammit! You shameless geezer!’

Drako Yau had goosebumps all over him as the basketball-sized object flew towards him—a hornet hive to be exact.

‘Hah!’

He swung his staff and knocked away the hive. Hornets rushed out of their hive and swarmed towards him like a black storm.

Calm down!

Drako Yau swung his staff rapidly at the incoming hornets. With every attack, he struck down several hornets. This was why his thrusts were now lightning quick. Still, no matter how valiantly he fought, the hornets were everywhere. One of them finally snuck through his defence and bit his right hand, numbing it and making him drop his staff.

A terrible scene followed. Countless hornets stung Drako Yau, the assailant who destroyed their homes, with their thick stingers over and over again. The old geezer glanced at the poor kid and waved his hand.

The hornets fled into the forest and disappeared, as if something was driving them away. Finally safe, Drako Yau lay on the ground as he took deep breaths, seemingly venting his frustration.

The old geezer slowly strolled over and sat beside him.

‘Hmph.’

Drako Yau no longer feared the old geezer after training under him for so long. Except when the old geezer came up with various insane training that was more like torture…

Geez, who the hell uses hornets for training?

‘Kiddo, you mad?’

‘Hmph.’

‘What about I tell you a story?’

Drako Yau turned his face the other way, but he secretly perked up his ears to listen to what the old geezer was going to say. The old geezer naturally saw through him and smiled without exposing him.

‘That world is a huge one. No machines, no technology, but there’s magic, martial skills, that sort of stuff.’

The old geezer slowly described what the world was like. Drako Yau was almost obsessed with it; focused only on his studies as a child, he had never heard about a fantasy world where dragons and magic existed.

As days went by, Drako Yau gradually grew up and became stronger.

When he could finally cope with the old geezer’s training regimen, the old geezer would increase the difficulty. Every day, Drako Yau was dancing on the borders of his limits. It was tiring, and he’d sometimes resent the crazy old geezer, but he was always rewarded with a story about the fantasy world when that happened.

A fantasy world was gradually forming within Drako Yau’s mind. He swore to himself that he’d become just like his father and present the world to everyone through a game.

Just like that, three years went by, and Drako Yau turned thirteen.

Drako Yau was standing steadily atop a series of wooden stakes scattered around in a random formation—‘Plum Flower Posts’, or so the old geezer called it. He had been leaping from stake to stake for over an hour, but his breath was still rather relaxed. It clearly didn’t pose much of a difficulty for him.

The old geezer, lying sloppily on the ground, squinted his eyes and casually flicked his right hand at Drako Yau. Two fruit cores whizzed through the air towards the youngster.

That much was within Drako Yau’s prediction. He bent his waist backwards and held onto two stakes before pulling himself up with a backflip and a steady landing. What awaited him was another flick of the old geezer’s hand.

‘Woah! You bastard!’

Two objects flew towards him this time. The first one was the wooden staff that had been accompanying him for the past three years, while the other was his nightmare—a hornet hive.

Drako Yau grabbed the staff and smacked the hive away, though the hive itself was never the true threat. Countless hornets flooded out of the hive. He held his breath, and everything in his vision gradually slowed down; his dynamic visual acuity was now pushed to its limits after he got bitten so many times.

His attacks were also a lot quicker compared to back then. The hornet hive training wasn’t a large threat to him now. The only thing limiting him now was the wooden stakes because he couldn’t move as freely. Still, he soon calmed down after the initial panic. After training on the Plum Flower Posts for so long, he could recall where every stake was with his eyes closed—a natural thing after training for over a thousand times.

Fifteen minutes went by, then half an hour. Hornets dropped to the ground one after another. With fewer hornets alive, things only got easier for him.

All of a sudden, the remaining hornets turned around and flew away. The old geezer signalled him with a wave and said, ‘Come down.’

Drako Yau climbed down, his breath slightly hastened. ‘What new stuff is it this time?’

‘Nothing more.’ The old geezer shook his head.

‘Huh?’

‘There’s nothing more to teach you. Now, it’s time for the final trial.’

The old geezer stood up slowly. His killing intent, now free from its seal, surged rapidly into the surroundings. All birds within a hundred-mile radius were petrified by the wave of killing intent and scurried away.

To Drako Yau, the old geezer now was nothing like an old man near his end. No, he wasn’t a person, but a lion finally awakened from its slumber, ready to pounce on its prey with its razor-sharp teeth.

‘The hunt is on. Survive.’

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