Game’s Dogma

Following Idyllic Poet’s gaze, they saw three people sitting on the floor in a similar space somewhere in the distance. Hades, Zephyrwolf, and Soulsmith also saw the two of them.

‘So it’s Greenstone and Dragonspear against three guys from Age of Scholars? Who’s in the elite squad of their guild?’

Soulsmith the secretary faithfully fulfilled his duties and answered, ‘Thousand Scrolls, cleric. Bookstore Clerk, ranged hunter. Handsome Scholar, paladin.’

They all had a long face upon mentioning the name ‘Handsome Scholar’. The difference between someone who had undergone class progression and someone who hadn’t was huge, not to mention that his combat capabilities were on a completely different level in the first place.

They tried to gang up on him, but Holy Bash alone was enough to knock their plan apart. It was a one versus three! To them, it was an utterly shameful display.

Hades gritted his teeth. This grudge, I’ll pay you back someday!

Zephyrwolf’s face darkened as well; never had he thirsted for power so much. 

On the other side of the vacant space, Booksy Swordsman had a triumphant look as he swept his gaze at the three of them. He couldn’t hear their chit chat, but he was in a good mood nonetheless. The enemy had only two members left and his confidence in Handsome Scholar was so great that he believed it was impossible for Mask to turn this around with just two of them. He knew how strong Handsome Scholar was after progressing his class.

Snickering, he made a thumbs down at the three opponents who were sitting at the other end, making Zephyrwolf grit his teeth even harder. However, a not-so-good news came in not long after.

‘Guild Master, we see Scholar. He’s duelling the masked guy.’ Thousand Scrolls and Bookstore Clerk were on their way to occupying another tower when they saw the heated battle between the two fighters going on in the distance.

Booksy Swordsman chortled and said, ‘So? Has he taken down the masked brat yet? Tell Scholar to take his time, it’s okay to toy that guy around for a while first. Ahaha!’

Thousand Scrolls and Bookstore Clerk had their mouths dropped open enough to fit an egg in them. ‘Guild Master… But… Scholar is at a disadvantage and getting pinned down…’

After getting used to the skills, Drako Yau quickly regained his own rhythm. He didn’t have any active skills that he could use, but his greatest advantage lay in his knowledge of the game.

Perhaps it was coincidence, or perhaps it was straight out plagiarism, his version of the game shared many similarities. Hence, he knew the skill set of each class on the back of his hand.

Level 20 paladin skills included Shield Mastery, Enhanced Blocking, and Holy Bash. The first two were passive skills which greatly increased survivability of the paladin class, while Holy Bash was a skill which contained elements of both attack and defence with its high super armour priority and charging bash. It could be used to break out of difficult situations as well as leading a charge at the frontlines.

The cleric class generally had ordinary skills before class progression, such as Shield Bash, Holy Blessing, Heal, and Holy Sword. He could even memorise the cooldown time of each skill.

After being on level terms briefly, Handsome Scholar, the genius shield soldier of the Fourth Eastern City, was once again getting thrashed. Looking at his own Health, it was below 30 per cent even after using Heal on himself.

It was Booksy Swordsman’s turn to frown after hearing the battle report from Thousand Scrolls and Bookstore Clerk. Idyllic Poet had a weird look on her face which quickly dissipated as she regained her cool. She was starting to get used to all sorts of unbelievable things when it came to the masked man.

Strength usually came along with pride. Idyllic Poet, with the aid of the Phoenix Ring, couldn’t be compared to ordinary mages. She believed that if she had to fight Handsome Scholar, she wouldn’t lose at the very least. No matter how great one’s combat techniques were, the main thing about fighting mages was getting close enough to utilise them. As such, she didn’t find it a surprise that Mask, who managed to defeat her, was able to gain the upper hand against Handsome Scholar.

Booksy Swordsman yelled in the squad channel, ‘Don’t just stand there you fools! Help him out!’

Thousand Scrolls and Bookstore Clerk send hesitant glances at one another before finally yielding to their guild master’s command.

A Heart-Piercing Shot and a Heal appeared on the battlefield simultaneously. The arrow was naturally flying towards Drako Yau, while the Heal spell landed Handsome Scholar.

How could a half-arsed Heal cast by a paladin be compared to a true Heal spell cast by a cleric? In the cleric skill tree, there was a passive skill called Healing Mastery which every healing-oriented cleric would max out, and Thousand Scrolls was no exception. Once the spell landed, Handsome Scholar’s Health shot up to 45 per cent.

Handsome Scholar turned around and glared at the two. ‘What are you doing!’

Drako Yau chose to sidestep instead of parrying the arrow. Heart-Piercing Shot had a high anti-super armour priority, hence he didn’t dare to parry it carelessly. It would be bad if he ended up with a whole in his body. 

After dodging the arrow, he simply looked at the three of them as he was in no hurry to end the fight. His confidence stemmed from his strength.

Thousand Scrolls and Bookstore Clerk had bitter looks. Because they knew Handsome Scholar very well and greatly respected the top fighter in the guild, they didn’t want to meddle in the duel.

‘We’re following the Guild Master’s orders…’

Handsome Scholar immediately opened up the squad channel. No wonder he hadn’t responded the entire time; it turned out he had it closed from the start.

‘Guild Master, what is the meaning of this.’

‘What is the meaning of this?’ Booksy Swordsman was so mad that he made a scornful laugh. ‘Handsome Scholar! Do you know our situation? Do you know Age of Scholar’s situation? Don’t you know what awaits if we fail to liberate Terrafirm? The entire guild will be done for! This outcome, can you take responsibility for it?’ Booksy Swordsman even yelled Handsome Scholar’s name one syllable at a time.

Thousand Scrolls and Bookstore Clerk were old buddies of Booksy Swordsman for quite some time, yet they had never seen him lose control in such a way before. He really must have been forced into a corner.

‘Once this battle is over, I owe you nothing.’ Handsome Scholar appeared the same on the surface, but he had tightened his grip on his sword as he said so. He turned off the squad chat and looked at Drako Yau. ‘Sorry, they’ll be joining me.’

Drako Yau nodded without saying anything.

Bookstore Clerk and Thousand Scrolls didn’t want to do this either, but they had no choice. As core members of Age of Scholars, they knew very well about the guild’s situation. Their guild would lose reputation and no one would ever join them if they failed to liberate Terrafirm.

Just when the fight was about to restart, a Heal spell silently landed on Drako Yau.

‘A cleric?’ Bookstore Clerk and Thousand Scrolls had shocked looks as they spread out to find where the hidden cleric was.

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