Game’s Dogma

After Book Lee died, White Lee hid at home and played games all day long without going to work, burning through his reserves.

The two brothers lost their parents at a young age and lived by relying on one another, which was why White Lee sent all his money to his brother during his days as a soldier.

Thankfully, his brother had saved up most of the money all these years. The money was naturally transferred to him after the accident. Still, the savings alone couldn’t withstand the trial of time. When White Lee finally spent all his remaining savings to purchase a brainwave helmet and entered Real World, Booksy Swordsman was the one who saved him at his rock bottom.

Those dungeon records held no meaning to him. He tried to improve his records only because Booksy Swordsman had asked him to, for the sake of making a name for the guild.

That was until today. Encountering the masked man had rekindled the flames of a hot-blooded combatant within him.

What he practiced was not martial arts, but army combatives. When two armies met, fancy techniques didn’t matter; it all boiled down to how effective a technique was at killing the enemy. It was also why Drako Yau was surprised. From a martial artist’s point of view, those techniques were considered somewhat despicable.

The move which Handsome Scholar just used to stab Drako Yau while blocking his vision was a common technique in the army called ‘Darkness Beneath the Lamp’. 

Drako Yau also knew of such techniques. The old geezer had once said that he had faced a woman who wore a long dress to cover her legs and hide her kicks. Hidden from sight, her legs would snap at the enemy like viper lying in an ambush.

The old geezer had also proudly proclaimed the method he had used to gain victory: he tore apart her dress with his spear… Drako Yau could still remember the haughty look on the old geezer’s face, as if the method had been some splendid technique. A shameless old man who had the skills but not the demeanor of a master—that was the old geezer he knew.

Drako Yau wasn’t childish enough to yell at the enemy for being despicable. Even though it was just a game, it was no different from real life for him. It was the battlefield. Victory was all that mattered, and no one would bother to care about the means to that end.

The two had crossed over a hundred blows without dealing any significant damage to one another. However, it was clear that Drako Yau had the upper hand.

Handsome Scholar was slowly losing his nerves. It had been years since he had fought all out, but he had never slacked off in training and tempering his body, and such efforts were reflected in Real World. Yet the man before him… even with the mask covering his face, he could tell that the man was probably younger than himself.

When ‘Handsome Scholar’ White Lee had been promoted to Lieutenant, over half of his colleagues of the same rank were middle-aged, which was why the general had recognised him as a future star. There wasn’t anyone in the army who could go up against him in combat even among those of his age. 

Right now, his opponent was not only younger than him, but also had much more terrifying techniques. The masked man seemingly held a spear, yet it would transform into a brutal staff sometimes and cut at him like a scythe at other times. The display of various techniques dazzled his eyes. If not for the tad bit of fanciness in those techniques, his simple yet direct army combatives would have come up short as well, which would probably result in his defeat in less than 30 exchanges.

Handsome Scholar was just barely holding on. On the contrary, Drako Yau was having a hell lot of fun. 

Such a rare opportunity!

Having been thrashed by the old geezer for hundreds of times, it was finally his turn! Letting out all his pent up frustration felt so refreshing that his spear was gaining more speed as the duel went on.

‘Am I going to lose?’ Handsome Scholar muttered to himself under the endless attacks Drako Yau threw at him. No, he knew had lost long ago. The shield techniques which he had been so proud of had been outmatched by the masked man’s spear. As a soldier, he had long lost.

White Lee could lose, but Handsome Scholar musn’t. The name ‘Handsome Scholar’ included not only himself, but also his brother’s pride in different online games!

He finally counterattacked when Drako Yau made a thrust. Suddenly bashed by the round shield, Drako Yau felt a massive force hammer his body as he took a few steps back involuntarily.

Level 15 Cleric skill, Shield Bash. Causes knockback.

This was the first skill Handsome Scholar used since the duel began. He had ditched his pride as White Lee the soldier and chose to use skills in the game to achieve victory. He wanted to win—he wanted ‘Handsome Scholar’ to win, he wanted his brother to win!

The aura around him intensified as he charged at Drako Yau like a tank, spewing chunks of soil and rock onto both sides along his path.

This guy… he underwent class progression already?

Holy Bash, Level 20 paladin skill!

Indeed. White Lee was a boring person; once he decided on something, he would pursue that path no matter what. Back then, he had believed that he belonged to the army, and that lasted for seven years. Now that he was fixated on inheriting his brother’s avatar, his mind was set on nothing but levelling up. He would farm monsters for experience alone when Booksy Swordsman and the rest had to go offline to rest. In the last few days, he had gained enough experience for class progression and completed the class progression quest to officially become a paladin.

Drako Yau didn’t take the skill head on. The moment Handsome Scholar chose to end the fight as a player instead of a fighter, Drako Yau had also started analysing his enemy as a game designer.

Holy Bash was a skill with very high super armour priority. There weren’t many skills in the game that could interrupt it, but its charge was relatively slow in exchange. Players with decent positioning and agility could evade it fairly easily.

Drako Yau didn’t fret at the sight of the charging paladin. Skills were a bit more troublesome to deal with, but that was about it.

Even if two kids started training martial arts at the same age, there would still be a difference in abilities after training for 10 years. Apart from innate talent, mentors also played a critical role.

Handsome Scholar had mostly been instructed by soldiers, and most of his shield techniques had been developed by himself. It could be said that he had been exploring uncharted territory on his own.

Drako Yau’s mentor was the crazy old geezer, a mysterious spear master. Added with the hellish training he had gone through as a kid, his combat prowess was incomparable to typical humans.

‘Tell me what’s going on right now!’

Booksy Swordsman was stuck in a peculiar space where nothing but whiteness ensued. Next to him stood Idyllic Poet, who was rather calm and showed not a tint of frustration at being defeated. It was a stark contrast against Booksy Swordsman who seemed very exasperated.

Thousand Scrolls and Bookstore Clerk had little clue about the situation either. ‘We have more towers under our control. We have two while they only have one.’

‘Hah…’ Booksy Swordsman sighed. Finally, the upper hand.

‘Eh?’ Idyllic Poet let out a sound out of the blue. Irritated, Booksy Swordsman glared at the woman. She was no doubt a beauty, but her attitude was unbearable. She gave him the feeling that the rise or fall of Age of Scholars had nothing to do with her.

Women should just shut up and listen!

Booksy Swordsman held himself back and hid those thoughts. After he took control of Terrafirm, this woman would kneel and serve him like a good girl.