Game’s Dogma

The old geezer never answered him properly; he had always responded with only a chuckle. Now, Drako Yau finally understood what he meant.

It didn’t mean he shouldn’t think. Instead, it meant that he was so familiar with the countless variations in Dragon Seeker that they were embedded in his mind and body. When an enemy struck, there was no need to actively consider how he should deal with the attack because Dragon Seeker had already become an instinct.

Perceiving the enemy’s movement through the eyes and ears, sending the signals to the central nervous system, then delivering the command to the body was how one would normally react to an incoming attack. For masters in martial arts, the difference of merely half a second could mean victory or death.

Upon breaking through to the ‘thoughtless and mindless’ stage, Dragon Seeker was now a reflex action for him. His body would react to the enemy’s movement naturally without having to go through his mind, almost like an involuntary motion, just like how one would retract his or her finger upon touching something scorching hot. This alone sped up his movements and reaction time by over ten times.

Finger, claw, fist, palm… Drako Yau was using everything within his repertoire. No matter how fiercely John assaulted him, he still evaded the strikes and responded with strangling moves in an attempt to control John.

Though his only weapons were his arms and fingers, he wielded them like various different weapons. At times, he was like a raging wave, and sometimes he was as gentle as an autumn breeze.

Such was the might of Dragon Seeker—others couldn’t predict its moves, but it had everything one needed to deal with any situation.

‘Impossible! Impossible!’

John turned pale. He, who was the hunter not long ago, had now switched roles with his prey. Drako Yau was like a spider, carefully and swiftly weaving a web around him.

John’s vision turned hazy. The young man’s silhouette seemed to overlap with the old man who had defeated him a long time ago…

‘If I win, you’ll have to stay here and guard this place.’

‘Hmph! You’re like a god with a spear, of course I’m no match for you.’

‘I know that your White Jade Palm is unparalleled when it comes to strength. I’ll fight you without using movement skills and my spear. Just with my two arms.’

‘You’re too conceited!’

‘Only the weak can be conceited. It’s called “confidence” if you have the ability to back it up!’

‘How is this possible!’

‘Nothing to say now, huh?’

‘Ugh…’

‘Don’t worry, I will reward you for guarding this place for me. Leave the matter of your wife’s resurrection to me. When you’re freed from this place, your wife will appear before you.’

‘And when is that?’

‘One day, a young man will walk up to you and defeat you with just his arms. You’re free afterwards. Don’t go easy on him, okay?’

‘Then I’ll just kill him!’

‘Ahahaha! I’ve defeated you with Dragon Seeker, and my disciple shall do the same in the future.’

Drako Yau’s emotionless eyes suddenly brightened. An opening! Time to wrap it up!

Several whooshes woke John from his trip down memory lane. By the time he noticed, six attacks were approaching him—three from above and three from below. He couldn’t discern the true attacks from the after-images. So he howled and thrust both his palms out to intercept all of them.

A cool breeze washed against John’s face, and two ordinary-looking palms stopped right before they struck his face.

‘Thank you for your teachings. Well fought.’

John looked at the palms before his eyes. Though they weren’t as well-trained as his palms that were forged and cultivated in White Jade Palm, they were ridden with countless scars, especially near the palms’ centre. He could tell those were evidence of Drako Yau’s harsh training; there was nothing he could complain about losing.

‘You’ve won.’

‘Player ??? has cleared the dungeon, John’s Secret Chamber, for the first time.’

The announcement rendered everyone speechless. It had only been less than an hour since the dungeon was discovered, and he had already cleared it!

Drako Yau received a bunch of other notifications.

‘Successfully cleared John’s Secret Chamber. Reward: 5 points to Strength and Dexterity.’

‘Obtained title: Subduing the Great Scientist.’

John vanished the moment he admitted defeat. A large, golden-purple treasure chest spawned in the room, which was the reward for clearing the dungeon. Drako Yau went up and opened it.

‘Obtained production method of Mosquito Prickling Needle.’

‘Obtained production method of the scroll, Smokescreen.’

‘Obtained the secret skill book of White Jade Palm.’

(Note: Mosquito Pricking Needle is a poisonous assassination weapon in the form of a needle that appeared in the famous wuxia novel, The Heaven Sword and the Dragon Sabre by Jinrong.)

Drako Yau put away the three items into his item bag and quit the dungeon.

Now was not the time to see in detail what those items were. The entrance to John’s Laboratory was next to that of John’s Secret Chamber. Many guilds that were hostile towards him were already ambushing the entrance, waiting for him to appear and spring the trap on him.

The first player to clear a dungeon always received excellent loot. When Drako Yau stole the world boss, The Failed Rampaging Bear King, he also received a handful of items. As such, many were hoping that they could rob him of the drops by killing him the moment he left the dungeon.

Unfortunately, every guild had sent spies and was infiltrated by spies. Dragon Alliance naturally caught wind of their plans to ambush Mask. They gathered their players and entered a standstill with the robbers outside the dungeon, and things seemed tense. A tiny spark could mean war.

However, they all failed to notice that a player wearing ordinary common gear mixed in among them and left the place. Dragon Alliance soon received Drako Yau’s message that he had already left, and they all returned to Yoda merrily. Goemon even mocked the robbers by saying, ‘Has anyone ever seen Mask without his mask on? Think you can recognise him that easily?’

The moment John’s Secret Chamber was made public, thousands of players went to challenge it, many of which failed and were teleported back to the entrance. There was simply no way for them to identify Drako Yau from among the crowd once he took off his mask.

When everyone saw that Mask could clear the dungeon so quickly, they all thought that the dungeon shouldn’t be too difficult and felt at ease.

John’s Secret Chamber only had one difficulty. Players could only challenge the dungeon alone as well.

Many self-proclaimed veterans delved into the dungeon, hoping to clear it quickly, but many of them were cut to pieces by the miniature version of the Failed Rampaging Bear King.

Still, players were a powerful force when cooperating. In just half a day, guides and tactics for attempting the dungeon flooded the forum. Some players finally got the hang of how to deal with the bear king, and if they were skilled enough, even managed to defeat it.

Yet they all fell prey to the ‘real’ John.

John’s phantom didn’t limit players to bare-handed combat, but it still sealed all movement skills: assassin’s Lurk and Shadowstrike, warrior’s Dash and Spatial Rend, paladin’s Holy Bash, and many more. The phantom also had high attack and could kill warriors in just two to three attacks. Classes that had lower Health such as hunters and mages couldn’t withstand two hits.

Discontent rose among the players. Many self-proclaimed veterans stated that John was so strong that it wasn’t possible to defeat it even with a squad, let alone challenging him alone. Some of Mask’s haters even accused him of exploiting bugs of some sort and requested him to be banned.

This time, the game officials ignored their complaints and didn’t respond. No matter how mad the players were, the officials simply remained silent.

After all, how would everyone feel if they learnt that Mask’s challenge was way more difficult than theirs?

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