Game’s Dogma

​​​​​​​Drako Yau and Zephyrwolf were fiddling with their weapons like kids having just received new toys.

Even though Drako Yau wasn’t Level 15 yet, he could still play around with the weapon, just that it was basically a plaything that couldn’t deal any damage.

Zephyrwolf went to check the global Weapon Rank immediately. As expected, Night’s Venator and Moon Gazer occupied the first two places. Still, they knew their glory would be short-lived now that players were gradually reaching the Level 20 threshold. The moment Level 20 epic weapons were introduced into the game, their weapon would quickly fall off the rankings.

Still, Drako Yau was more than satisfied with the results; the adventure was truly a fruitful one.

Now that he thought back about it, it wasn’t too much of a surprise. If they hadn’t cleared the entire second level before engaging the demon wolf king, they would probably have died when it had tried to summon its minions. It could be said that luck was on their side.

For him, the greatest benefit he got out of this whole venture was befriending Zephyrwolf. The battle where they had to put their lives on the line only served to further consolidate their friendship. After Zephyrwolf changed his class to Demon Wolf Hero, Drako Yau could call him and his demon wolf king to help out with dangerous fights in the future.

The moment they left the Demon Wolf Cave, Zephyrwolf was bombarded by his guild members via every available channel.

‘Calm down! Calm down! What the hell happened!’

‘Yes boss!’

‘Boss, it’s bad!’

After hearing his underlings’ explanation, Zephyrwolf finally had a general idea of what had happened while they were in the cave.

He looked at Drako Yau and said, ‘Someone’s Level 20 already.’

Drako Yau nodded. He hadn’t been idling just now either; he quickly read through the system announcement.

This siege event… It’s not as simple as it looks!

‘Just from reading the system announcement, it’s obvious they’re trying to separate players into two groups, those who successfully defend their cities and those who fail to do so. By making such a differentiation, they’re trying to create a competitive atmosphere so the players will be more committed to defending their cities…’

Zephyrwolf nodded along without understanding a word. Then he shook his head and chimed in, ‘I’m a boor, I can’t understand complicated stuff. My chaps are saying most players plan to leave Yoda. They’ll join the cities supported by the major guilds before the event starts, think we should follow them?’

‘It’s too late.’

Looking at Zephyrwolf’s bewildered look, he had no choice but to explain it to him. ‘Each city has a player capacity limit, or else there wouldn’t be four cities in the first place. There’s a ton of players, but if they’re distributed equally, the four cities can still hold them all. But now, even the weaker players are heading to the cities that seem more powerful.’

Zephyrwolf was starting to feel the pressure. ‘Then what now? Losing the city is hella bad! Just losing the grocery store that sells potions and the armourer and weaponsmith stores that fix our equipment is troublesome enough. There’s also stuff like the trading centre and the inns.’

‘I know. There’s no choice, we’ll defend Yoda. Let’s talk about it after we get back.’

The two immediately started sprinting back to their city.

Somewhere along the way, Drako Yau equipped his Mask of the Hidden Dragon and said to the puzzled Zephyrwolf, ‘Hiding my identity. Don’t call me by my ID in public, just call me “Mask”.’

Zephyrwolf acknowledged his request. After the battle with the demon wolf king, he felt nothing but admiration and respect towards the young man.

He achieved extraordinary results every time he followed Drako Yau’s instructions. Just telling him to not kill the demon wolf king alone was evident enough; it was Drako Yau who granted him the hidden class of Demon Wolf Hero.

As such, Zephyrwolf didn’t ask about his reasons. He simply felt that Drako Yau was different from others. His prowess and greatness, they were always shrouded by a cloak of mystery.

By the time Drako Yau and Zephyrwolf got back to Yoda, they immediately noticed that there weren’t many people in the city. It could be said that the place was desolate compared to its usual vibrance and liveliness.

In front of them stood a bunch of players, roughly several tens of them. They all had a prominent wolf symbol on them; they were Zephyrwolf’s underlings in his guild. The crowd all let out a sigh of relief upon noticing Zephyrwolf, but soon enough, they shot weird glances at Drako Yau who stood beside their guild master.

The man who wore a peculiar mask simply stood there, not uttering a word as he looked around.

Dogsnout was the first to speak up. ‘Boss, what do we do now? It’s impossible to defend the city with just these numbers, right?’

Zephyrwolf acted like he was deep in thought. In truth, though, he was actually sending Drako Yau a private message. ‘Hey, what now? What should I say?’

Vexed, Drako Yau replied, ‘You’re the guild master, not me!’

Zephyrwolf had an unperturbed look as he sought help. ‘You’re the brainy guy, of course I’m asking you! Everyone has their own roles!’

Drako Yau almost snickered before replying, ‘Go have a look and see if there’s space for us all.’

Zephyrwolf quickly ordered his subordinates to gather information. Soon enough, they came back to report.

‘Boss, Empyreon and Terrafirm are full. We received the notification that the player capacity limit has been reached when trying to teleport over using the teleportation array. As for Evergrand, they’re in a similar position like us. One of us went over to have a look, and he said there’s a bit more players over there. There’s also a guild called Underworld that’s gathering players to fight till the very end.’

Drako Yau scratched his chin, then sent Zephyrwolf a private message. ‘Let’s not wait for our deaths. Order your guild members to gather all players in Yoda to defend the city together. There’s still 20 minutes until the siege, I’ll go visit Evergrand. I’ll leave Yoda to you.’

‘Wait! Where are you going!’

Drako Yau had a serious look in his eyes. ‘We don’t know how strong the siege monsters are, but here’s my speculation. One or two cities will surely fall after the story quest ends. It is bound to happen. From the looks of it, it’ll be Evergrand and Yoda.

‘That’s why I must visit Evergrand right now.’

Drako Yau entered the teleportation array. In a few breaths’ time, the scenery in front of him was already distinctly different.

While the architectural style looked similar, there were several things that stood out and made it clear that he was at Evergrand. Momentarily after the teleportation array’s brilliance faded, several players who had been standing by the array were startled for a brief moment before they ran over enthusiastically.

‘Are you a brother of Evergrand too? We’re Underworld, I’m sure you know who we are. The siege event will start soon, and I’m sure you know that Empyreon and Terrafirm are both full by now. How about we join hands?’

Drako Yau sized up the players that greeted him. Surprisingly, they weren’t weak; even the weakest one was at Level 11.

A speech bubble popped up above his head. ‘I wish to see your guild master.’