MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

When he clicked into the post, there was a written description of a video showing the Three Major Guild Alliance’s Light Conference battle.

The party led by Defiantly Tyrannical had been stuck in Light Conference for quite some time. Since the common members of the Three Major Guild Alliance were all at low levels. They had been worn out thoroughly after fighting for more than a month.

From what Li Yi had seen in the video, half of their squad had been decimated by the time the Four Roaches’ HP went down by 50%. Logically speaking, they had no chance of making it through.

However, the mysterious sky suddenly spat out hundreds of players into the battle. Then, it had already been TPK for them when they reached the last 2% of the battle. Despite that, more and more players were still popping out nonstop from the sky. They continued to join in on the battle until the last 2% of the segment came to an end. With that, they had achieved first kill…

Li Yi tried and estimated the number of players that had engaged in that battle, and found to his absolute surprise that over 1000 players had participated in the dungeon.

‘I can’t believe they used 1000 men for a 200-man battle…’

There was an excerpt from King of Pantheon under the video in which they acknowledged the presence of a closed beta player.

[Player Defiant Feifei had exploited a residue bug from the closed beta to obtain the first kill of an instance dungeon. This is a major violation of the game’s rules and as such, the player’s account has been permanently banned. The player has also been recorded in the List of Unwelcomed Guests. The server will henceforth reject his attempt to log in.]

Following that, King of Pantheon’s official forum had disclosed the details of the 10 closed beta players. However, everyone aside from Defiant Feifei had their names redacted.

The list was as follows:

[Eastern Continent: Defiant Feifei; Qualified for the following instance dungeons during closed beta: Black Dragon Legion, Tidal Throne, Light Conference, Black Paladin, and Glory; Level reached during closed beta: Level 80.]

[Eastern Continent: REDACTED; Participated in closed beta for Arena; Level reached during closed beta: Level 90.]

[Eastern Continent: REDACTED; Participated in closed beta for lifestyle classes; Level reached during closed beta: Level 80.]

[Western Continent: REDACTED; Participated in closed beta for ‘expressions, mailing and emotes’; Level reached during closed beta: Level 80.]

[Western Continent: REDACTED; Participated in closed beta for ‘channel chat’; Level reached during closed beta: Level 80.]

[Western Continent: REDACTED; Participated in closed beta for trading, auctioning, item pricing, and similar others; Level reached during closed beta: Level 60.]

[Southern Continent: REDACTED; Qualified for the Epic Class Quests for Arcane Wizards. Level reached during closed beta: Level 90.]

[Southern Continent: REDACTED; Qualified for the Epic Class Quests for Dark Wizards. Level reached during closed beta: Level 90.]

[Southern Continent: REDACTED; Participated in closed beta for daily quests; Level reached during closed beta: Level 80.]

[Southern Continent: REDACTED; Participated in closed beta for lifestyle classes; Level reached during closed beta: Level 80.]

…

The list of closed beta players was revealed, and there was an overwhelmingly aggressive response from the players in the comment section. They were demanding Pantheon’s official forum to reveal the names of the other 9 players.

Pantheon’s official forum had clearly stated in the post that the closed beta’s environment was vastly different compared to the released product and that the closed beta players were only taking part in a half-finished product. They also mentioned that the closed beta players were only taking part in a small fraction of the half-finished product. A majority of the players still could not accept it in spite of the explanation given.

“F*ck, Dark Wing must be a closed beta player! There’s no way he could be that good!”

“I agree. He must be one. I also think that Amber Sword Heart is one of them!”

“Gives us their names! Give us their names!”

A petitioning mega post was created. It did not matter which camps they were from. All the players had set aside their grudges and came together in taking a stand against Pantheon’s official forum.

As Li Yi scrolled through the posts on the forum. Cold sweat was beginning to form on his face.

Li Yi had some recollection of Defiant Feifei in his past life. The guy’s actions were shady, and his response was even slower than Pretty Good Mood’s. He would end up dead every time he entered a dungeon, but Defiantly Tyrannical always kept him close for reasons unknown. To top it off, his position within the Three Major Guild Alliance was pretty high as well.

Now everyone knew why. He was a closed beta player, and the only one who was qualified to participate in the instance dungeons. No wonder!

Li Yi never understood it in his past life, but he was finally enlightened now.

It was obvious from Defiantly Tyrannical’s rash actions that he was desperate. After failing the Throne-claiming battle, the Three Major Guild Alliance had been pushed back so badly that they were at their wits’ end. The alliance would most likely perish if they could not produce any results.

It could be that Iron Alliance’s progress in Light Conference had put Defiantly Tyrannical on edge, causing him to carry out this reckless act.

To use a bug that put 1000 men into a 200-man dungeon was indeed vile…

Li Yi closed the web page with a smile on his face. “C’mon, make more ruckus. It’ll only make the situation worse.”

Now that the Three Major Guild Alliance’s first kill achievement was annulled, Iron Alliance, the second group to take down Light Conference, would naturally receive all the rewards.

As soon as Li Yi entered the game, he received a message from the system. Within it contained the rewards for getting Light Conference’s first kill and a compensation goodie-bag given by Pantheon’s official forum.

Red text was littering throughout the World Channel. Due to Defiant Feifei’s actions, Pantheon’s official forum had taken a step to issue goodie bags to every player as compensation.

The goodie bag had included a 10-hour 5x EXP scroll, 10 Return Scrolls, and 10 bottles of Advanced-level HP Potion…

The items were neither good nor bad, but the official forum’s intentions were understandable. After all, LI Yi had never encountered such a situation before even in his previous life when he had played for as long as 7 years.

Things had changed. A lot of things had changed.

Many players were still protesting at the World Channel, asking Pantheon’s official forum to give them the list of names. However, there were also some who posted their list of closed beta players hoping that the official forum would verify it.

The busybodies were everywhere.

As the number one expert in the Invincible Continent, Li Yi was naturally included in their lists. Nevertheless, the other experts from other continents also suffered the same fate. In short, anyone who was a pro was included in their lists. There were a variety of name lists and at least a thousand players had been named…

The players’ response was overwhelming. When Li Yi reached the Celestial Capital, he noticed that there were many players within the capital’s walls. They were boisterously parading around.

‘Pantheon’s official forum announcing the name list has really blown this matter out of the water…’

To be frank, the official forum would have no way of explaining the event that occurred in the Party-level Instance Dungeon unless they announced the name list. In other words, they were forced to reveal the list…

Li Yi walked through the Celestial Capital once before his Friends Message Pane lit up. He opened it up and found that it was Xu Man who had sent the message.

“Where are you now?”

“I’m in the Celestial Capital.”

“Come to these coordinates: 12541111: 2113311 and look for me.” Xu Man issued him her coordinates.

Li Yi made his way there using Teleport.

When Xu Man saw him, she broke into a grin. “Our company would like to carry out an exclusive interview with you. Can you do it?”

Li Yi was taken aback. “Exclusive interview?”

Xu Man nodded., “Yep, a celebrity interview.”

Pantheon’s official forum had never held offline events before, but due to King of Pantheon’s massive influence, many companies wanted a share in it. Xu Man’s Flying Arts Media Company was one of them. Her company had been inviting famous players for exclusive interviews once a month ever since King of Pantheon made it big. Her company was pretty well known in the industry.

“This would be the very first exclusive celebrity interview. Although it’ll be our first celebrity interview, I’m sure that it’ll be a major hit. That’s why I’ve recommended you to Big Bro.”

“Big Bro?”

Xu Man nodded. “Yeah, my beloved brother is our company’s president. It was under his guidance that I became an artist.”

Li Yi smiled and said, “Alright, no problem. How can I reject a personal request by Superstar Xu?”

“Who’re you calling a superstar, don’t call me that. Lil Man is good enough.”

An exclusive celebrity interview…

Back in his previous life, Li Yi had admired the players who made it into the show. There was no way he would receive an invite with his background back then.

If a huge liar could make it into the show, then there was no point in carrying on with the show…

“What right do I have to call you that? I still think superstar fits you best.”

“Suit yourself…” Xu Man was annoyed.

After contemplating for a long time, Xu Man asked, “Oh yeah, I have something to ask you. Did you enter my room the day you were at my house?”

“I did.” Li Yi spoke the truth.

“W-What…W-What did you see?” Xu Man’s face was beet-red. The question she actually wanted to ask was: ‘Did you read my diary?’

“I saw a photo of a little girl wearing open-crotch pants.”

Xu Man stared awkwardly at Li Yi. After a long time, she finally opened her mouth to say, “You…”

Seeing that Xu Man was uncomfortable, Li Yi diverted the topic. “By the way, the interview won’t be taking place within these few days, right?”

“I think it’s tomorrow.” Xu Man heaved a long sigh. Her tumultuous emotions had calmed down a bit.

Li Yi pondered a while and answered, “Tomorrow’s no good. Push it back.”

“Why?”

Li Yi sighed, “It’s all because of the closed beta player fiasco.”

‘If I were to take part in the interview now, it would definitely bring in a lot of bad press. Better to take the interview after this closed beta situation is somewhat resolved.’

Xu Man nodded. “Alright then, I’ll inform the programme’s team.”

Xu Man shot a glance at Li Yi and asked, “Anything else? If not I’m going to log off.”

Li Yi chuckled. “Can’t get enough of me?”

“Of course not.” Xu Man’s face flushed red when she answered, “I actually have something to tell you.”

“What’s up?”

“My sister is in love with you, but she doesn’t dare to tell you.”

“Your sister is in love with me?” Li Yi pointed at himself.

Xu Man nodded her head seriously. “Yeah, she always calls out your name when she has nightmares.”

Li Yi shook his head with all his might. “This can’t be, I’m a commoner… By what right, what virtue that, I, Li Yi could attract her? How can this be…”

“Believe what you will. I’m not telling any lies, so it’s all up to you now.”

Xu Man left him with those words, waving her hand as she logged off.

As soon as he had parted ways with Xu Man, Li Yi’s Friend Pane lit up again. This time, it was from an NPC friend called Aurelia.

“Hero, please bring along a friend to see me.”

“Can I enter the dungeon now?”

“Yes, King of Souls’ seal has wavered, but the situation cannot last much longer. Please make haste!”

“Understood.”

Li Yi gave a curt reply and logged out.

He had yet to take breakfast and was hungry.

“Jiaojiao, it’s already morning—”

…