Second World

"I never saw his real appearance, but I think he is the genuine Spring Crown," Paytowin answered.

"Why does he join World Maker?" Jack asked.

Paytowin shrugged. "Power maybe? Probably that Master fellow you mentioned offered him a high position when he rules this world? Maybe this number one gamer we know is someone with the ambition to stand above others."

"By lowering himself to another person? I am disappointed. I used to look up to him."

"Yeah, I know. We watched a lot of his gameplays together."

The two of them were silent as they watched the one that was called Spring Crown. He was of the vampire race. His face looked young, but if he was the real Spring Crown, Jack knew that the man was in his mid-thirties. This supposed number one gamer never let his real face photo be shown in news articles, but his other data were known to the public.

"All three of them are from different races, which means they can't fight in the team match. Are they participating in individual matches?" Jack asked.

"You are correct," Paytowin answered.

Which meant he won't be meeting them in combat, Jack thought. A weapon master, a battle-monk, and a gunner. He looked around for the persons he knew who would clash with these three. Kill Order and David would clash with them, but he didn't know them well enough. He was not ready to share the reality of this world with them yet.

He couldn't find Leavemealone anywhere. F*cking loner. The guy might have left and gone someplace else to be alone.

He then saw his grandfather who was talking to a dwarf, rather intimately at that. How did his grandfather know a dwarf player? He was about to go over when he noticed Anotherday and Handsome Joe. These guys would clash with that World Maker's gunner and Weapon Master. Additionally, these two were Wilted's lackeys. They were sure to have a better idea of why the World Maker's people were here. Probably they were here for the same reason. So, Jack went to them instead. Paytowin trailed along behind him.

"Yo! Wilted's lackeys, how are the two of you doing?" Jack called out when he approached.

"Who the f*ck do you call lackeys?!" Joe said, clear annoyance in his expression.

"I'm just joking," Jack laughed. "Seriously, where is Wilted? Why is she not here?"

"She has some other duties to attend," Anotherday said.

"I see. By the way, this is Paytowin," Jack introduced.

"Yo!" Paytowin imitated Jack's greetings. Anotherday nodded, while Joe intentionally looked the other way.

"I guess you two are here because those three World Maker's people?" Jack asked.

"So you've found out about them," Anotherday asked. "But no, we are here for another matter. But seeing them here, we can hazard a guess as to what they are planning at."

"Oh? Care to share?" Jack asked.

"This is our business! Why do we want to share with you?" Joe uttered.

"Dude. Don't you remember I am also their enemy? Doesn't that make us the same side? Wasn't that why Wilted searched me out in the first place? To work together in the future? Now, tell me what you know so I can help," Jack said.

Joe showed conflicted expressions. He knew Jack was right, he just didn't like the guy.

Anotherday, on the other hand, kept his half-covered emotionless face. He said, "They are after an item."

"What item?" Jack asked.

"I heard you helped Wilted save Syndrillis from Master's keep," Anotherday said.

"I did. What about it?" Jack was confused why Anotherday asked this question instead of answering his.

"Syndrillis has not yet fully recovered, but since last month she has come to help the rightful ethereal king in suppressing the rebellious prince."

"At a right time, I must say," Joe joined Anotherday's tale. "The Liguritudum royal force keeps on getting pushed back, they had lost around seventy percent of the land to the rebel force. If that guardian dragon didn't come to aid as she did, the royal force would be close to falling by now."

"Maybe that's the reason she returned. She knew she couldn't delay any further, even if she has not yet fully recovered," Anotherday said. "Even so, her return only caused the conflict to come to a gridlock. She couldn't turn the tide."

"That's a pity," Jack said. "I take it that you mentioning this is indicating the presence of those three here has something to do with the situation in Liguritudum?"

"We can venture two guesses. First, they might after one of the items in this council's vault, the Draconic Suppression Crystal."

"What's that item for?" Jack asked.

"It's a unique-grade item that can weaken a draconic creature's power by a great deal," Peniel explained.

"It's a similar item Master used to weaken Syndrillis the first time, except one grade lower," Joe said. "He must be planning to use it to weaken Syndrillis again."

"That item is one of the rewards for winning this tournament?" Jack asked.

"No. Although there is such an item in the vault, it is not included among the rewards," Paytowin informed.

"It is not. But if two first-place winners forfeit their rewards, they can choose one item from the vault, as long as it is not legendary-grade, unique equipment, or unique tools," Joe said.

"There is such a rule?" Jack asked.

"I'm not aware of it," Paytowin said.

"Trust me. There is," Joe said.

"Well, their boss did design this game world. I guess we can take their words for it," Jack said.

"Wilted is not our boss!" Joe uttered.

"So, you two come here to prevent them from getting what they want?" Jack asked.

"No. We don't know at first they will be here. We are planning a similar approach but targeting a different item," Joe answered.

"What item?"

"Draconic Revival Blood. It is to help Syndrillis fully recover."

"By the way, you two are pretty confident. You need two winners to allow you to choose an item from the vault, right? Even World Maker sends three participants. You two are positive to be able to become the champions of this tournament?"

"We are not just two, there are four of us."

"Four?"

"The other two are over there," Joe pointed to a pair of ethereal man and woman standing not far away.

Jack used Inspect on them. The man went by the alias Blackhole, a level 46 Elementalist. The woman was called Darkradiant, a level 46 Assassin. The gossip he had overheard was right, if he only see these ethereals' faces without seeing the feminine body of the woman, he wouldn't be able to differentiate the gender between the two.

"You four are one camp? Then why stand so far away from each other? Do you have a beef with them?" Jack asked.

"We have the same goal, doesn't mean we are friends. Same as our relationship with you," Joe uttered.

"Tsk, with your attitude, I wouldn't blame them for not treating you as friends," Jack said

"By the way, you mentioned you have two guesses about why those World Maker people are here. What is your second guess?" Paytowin asked.

"Master probably heard that we are joining this tournament, so he sent those three heavenly enforcers to hinder us," Joe said.

"The two other than Wong are also heavenly enforcers?" Jack asked. He thought it made sense for Spring Crown, with his gaming skills, he had the right to carry that position, but that means the cowboy guy was also at the same level as the two.

"What do they want to hinder you with?" Paytowin asked.

"Another secret feature of this tournament," Joe answered. "If three first-place winners forfeited their rewards, they can request the Council of Virtus to send their elite forces to aid in a country's war effort for a half year period."

"This… this can turn the tide of war in Liguritudum," Jack uttered. He had seen the might of the warriors in this place. They were all averagely more powerful than a normal country army. "The ruler of Liguritudum should have focused his effort to get the best outworlders to win this feature."

"It's not that simple. First, the outworlders in Liguritudum were divided into two camps of either helping the royal army or the rebel force. The rebel force also provided quests with sufficient rewards for players. You know how we gamers are, we never truly care about the politics in a game, all we care about is who gives more rewards. Hence, not all the experts support the royal army. Another point is, not many have deep relationships with the royal ruler, which outworlders will be willing to forfeit their rewards for the sake of Liguritudum? In the end, the royal ruler doesn't truly pay attention to this tournament. The Liguritudum representatives present here are only the lowly officers of the country with the majority of participant selection organized by the League of Champions branch in Liguritudum. In other words, the ethereal participants here do not necessarily be the cream of the crops amongst players. Most of the experts in that country are busy getting rewards by involving themselves in that country's civil war."

"Additionally, to get this elite force, one of the three winners has to be from the team match," Anotherday added. "So, they actually need seven outworlders to forfeit their rewards.. That is a rather tall order."