Game’s Dogma

With Lunafilia’s buff, Drako Yau’s experience gain finally returned to normal. He cursed Tattered Armour in his mind for being useless; it had been so long since he started feeding it experience, yet it was still a piece of junk.

He didn’t dare say it out loud though—Tattered Armour had gained sentience. He had once muttered that it was useless and in response it grew spikes to stab him for a fair while, making him yelp in pain.

On the other hand, Drako Yau’s companions had always kept up with other first-rate players. Danting was even already at Level 35 and ranked twenty-fifth on the level rankings. The only one who wasn’t above Level 33 was Dumbgirl because she had fallen behind too much before. Even so, her 5-level difference with Drako Yau was now reduced to a single level as she reached Level 29. 

It wasn’t that surprising when he thought about it. She had pursued Yip Ku-sing for an entire day believing that he had killed her friends. If she was determined to level up, she would surely do nothing but farm experience day and night…

Though Drako Yau was leeching experience, he was also busy working. He sat there on the ground with blank scrolls scattered all around.

He was levelling up his level as a scrollcrafter. His expectations for Tattered Armour weren’t high; all he wished for was it to grow up and stop consuming his experience, and feeding it experience alone clearly wasn’t going to work. In that case, he had to explore the only other option: Holy Blessing Scrolls.

With Yoda the golden goose under his control, money was just a number for him. The issue was that no one sold Holy Blessing Scrolls. He had asked his alliance comrades to look out for any that were available, but since players might be keeping them for future use or whatever reason, they were unable to acquire even a single one.

If they couldn’t buy the scrolls, he could only make it himself. Only Level 7 scrollcrafters could produce Holy Blessing Scrolls though, which was miles away since he was just Level 3.

But hey, at least there’s a glimpse of hope. He thought. I’ve got nothing better to do now anyway.

After learning that there was a second Maverick in the game, Drako Yau always stayed alert, especially when this Maverick was so hostile towards him.

As a member of Heavenly Handlers’ inner sect, Judge Chui was undoubtedly one of the best intel gatherers out there. Drako Yau asked Judge Chui to investigate Tigeroar, and the resulting information was rather eerie.

Normally speaking, it wasn’t too possible for Tigeroar to hide himself as the guild master of one of the top three first-rate guilds in Empyreon. He also led the charge and fought upfront whenever there were battles and wars to be fought. With his unstoppable momentum, everyone believed he was a berserker even though he hadn’t admitted it.

However, no one knew how strong he was. Every player who died under his hands couldn’t recall how they were killed. They could name every skill Tigeroar used, but their memories of the killing blow were always hazy.

Tigeroar’s equipment was also of high quality. He wore a full set of Level 35 Arena equipment, the Feral Rage set. Every elite player had their own trump cards, and even Judge Chui couldn’t find out if it was the only set Tigeroar used.

Drako Yau also had Frost Form and Flame Form as trump cards. He simply couldn’t bring himself to think that Tigeroar, such a powerful enemy, didn’t have a few tricks up his sleeve.

Even so, Drako Yau feared nothing. Things had gone beyond the point of return for him and Tigeroar.

The rivalry between him and Chau Yu was on the level of a game because Chau Yu was just a player. Chau Yu had made many attempts to kill him, but the goal was only to hinder him by making him lose levels.

Things were different with Tigeroar—he had most likely guessed that Drako Yau was also a Maverick. Knowing that death in the game meant true death, he still laid down an ambush on Drako Yau.

Tigeroar’s attempt at murdering him was infuriating; he believed human lives shouldn’t be taken so casually, so cheaply.

Still, he didn’t act rashly. Dragon Alliance might seem unrivalled for now, but alliances and guilds didn’t function quite similarly. When important issues arose, an alliance could muster much more forces and supplies than a guild, yet it wasn’t without its restrictions.

If Drako Yau mobilised the alliance to attack Roaring World because of his personal matters, the alliance would stray from its original intent. It would then fall apart before long since players from Yoda only joined his alliance because they felt his desire to protect Yoda.

However, while Roaring World had much fewer players, they all took orders directly from Tigeroar.

Drako Yau wasn’t confident that he could defeat Tigeroar in a squad battle with equal numbers. To defeat Tigeroar, he must increase his strength rapidly.

Scrollcrafting was a rather brainless procedure that didn’t take a lot of his attention. His hands flowed smoothly as he crafted scroll after scroll while deep in thought. Suddenly, he recalled the Frost Form and Flame Form that simultaneously activated when his life was in danger during the recent ambush. 

No… Those aren’t the normal Frost Form and Flame Form.

Drako Yau had a basic understanding of his Cryoflame style, so he was quite sure about it. While the effects were similar, the degree and intensity were different.

During that ambush, the explosive power was thirty per cent more powerful than his usual simultaneous activation of Frost and Flame Forms. He probably couldn’t have escaped Tigeroar’s well-planned attack if not for that unexpected thirty per cent. 

What was that? Maybe there are some variations and combinations in Cryoflame style that I’ve yet to discover?

Drako Yau thought hard and long when a notification interrupted him. He was now a Level 4 scrollcrafter.

He let out a long sigh. He hated such repetitive and boring actions, but thanks to the old geezer’s inhumane training, his perseverance was something else as well.

Another month went by.

No major clashes between the three cities took place, but deep down, everyone knew this was the calm before the storm. Yoda’s victory in the City War had placed Empyreon at a disadvantage for so long, and they weren’t going to simply swallow it. It was only a matter of time before they took their revenge.

Player-wise, everyone was levelling up steadily. Apart from Hell difficulty, John’s  Laboratory didn’t give enough experience to make it worth their time. Elite players had already discovered the next levelling zones: Boneburrows and Elven Forest. There wasn’t any news on the next dungeon, however.

That didn’t matter too much for Drako Yau who was still falling behind in levels a fair bit despite his efforts.

On the level rankings, the mysterious leveller Barefooty Worldrunner still claimed the first spot at Level 40, the first player ever to learn all skills of a single class. It also went to show how difficult it was to level up at the later stages; two levels took him an entire month.

Tigeroar was still ranked second, though he was still Level 37. The difference in levels between Tigeroar and Barefooty Worldrunner had widened instead.

For every 1000, then 2000, then another 2000 Likes on all chapters (1000 -> 3000 -> 5000), there will be bonus chapters! Register an account on Penana and start Liking now for more chapters!