Game’s Dogma

At the same time, many gathered on the top floor of the Holy Ground held by the West.

Olympus had a strict social strata system in place, distinguished by the Twelve Chambers, Five Palaces, Four Generals, and Three Gods. Zeus was the leader of the Three Gods, which also made him the leader of the entire server. Ordinary players were assigned to the Twelve Chambers based on their attributes, while elite players could join the Five Palaces. The Four Generals had no direct subordinates because the entire Five Palaces and Twelve Chambers were at their beck and call.

Every chamber master and palace master had fought their way to their current positions and were more than worthy of their titles. Now, they all gathered before their leader, the blonde young man, for his orders.

“Butcherer.” Zeus’ voice resounded throughout the room. “Tell us about your battle with that man.”

“Understood.”

Butcherer’s bulky body jiggled as he waded his way through to the centre. Although he looked like a ruffian, his strength was the real deal, or else he couldn’t have ranked fourth just beneath the Three Gods. No one dared to disrespect him for his strength alone.

Butcherer briefly spoke of his encounter with the masked man. His simple words made everyone gasp. While they were allies, they were also competitors among Olympus. Many wanted and tried to drag Butcherer off his seat as one of the Four Generals, but none had succeeded so far.

Everyone knew Butcherer was a berserker who took the path of Blood Ritual. All of his skill points were invested into Blood Ritual skills, making his buffs extremely potent. His major means of attack came from the skill he got from an encounter quest, Heavenly Demon Monostrike. The simplistic attack that could even slay gods and demons struck fear in anyone who went up against him; most who challenged him couldn’t even survive a single strike.

Someone taking on Butcherer’s terrifying strikes baffled them greatly. Apart from Zeus, even the Three Gods dared not to take on his strikes.

After saying everything he had to say, Butcherer returned to his spot, his vicious face oddly calm. Zeus nodded at his composure. Strong but not complacent, never fearful of challenges and failures; Zeus saw such qualities in Butcherer. He could even turn failures into stepping stones for his future.

“Now, does anyone still think that the Eastern server is an easy prey?”

Zeus’s voice reverberated in everyone’s heads. As their leader, he had to remind his subordinates to be vigilant at all times. This was a crucial part of how the current Olympus came into existence.

Silence ensued for a while before a voice interrupted them.

“Sir Divine King, I have intel on the East,” said Fenny.

Fenny’s strength wasn’t even worth mentioning. Normally speaking, he wasn’t qualified to be here in this meeting. However, his value lay in his ability to collect intel, and he was one of the few intel agents who could contact the Divine King directly. His identity as a member of Heavenly Handlers’ inner sect spoke stronger than words.

“Speak.”

Fenny nodded and continued, “Of the two Holy Grounds available, one is under our control and the other is occupied by an alliance known as Myriad Blooms from the East. It seems that the alliance master Hibiscus has no intention of granting server-wide access to the Holy Ground for teleportation and resurrection.”

“Woah…”

The important figures of the West were shocked. One of them snickered and said, “Heh, as expected of the East. They aren’t ones to consider internal and external affairs as one.”

As one of the palace masters, he was qualified to make such a comment. They simply couldn’t wrap their heads around why the East would make such foolish decisions; a war with another server was about to break out, yet they still had the leisure to fight among themselves! That was simply beyond foolish.

Along with the release of Warring Wastelands, the information blockade implemented by the game company was loosened. Both servers now had a general grasp of one another’s situation.

The West had a well-structured and transparent system in place: Three Gods, Four Generals, Five Palaces, Twelve Chambers. Things were a mess for their counterparts though, with four major factions each operating on their own: Evergrand’s Underworld, Yoda’s Dragon Alliance, Empyreal Spire’s Myriad Blooms and Empyreal Alliance.

Zeus frowned as he listened to Fenny’s report. He might be the only one worried about Mask. After some investigation, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out that the alliance master of Dragon Alliance was his fated nemesis. Players who wore a mask, wielded a spear, and could overpower Butcherer should be far and few.

He wanted to defeat Mask, he wanted to achieve total victory, but not in such a way. What he sought was a fair, toe-to-toe all-out war to determine the victor. The outcome was decided if the West assaulted the East at this very moment; the East had no more than a slim chance of winning the war.

“Musashi.”

At Zeus’ command, the person who stood in the front row next to Butcherer stepped forwards. His position was clear proof of his status as one of the Four Generals.

“Yes, Zeus.”

“Bring the Fire Palace and three chambers of your choice and head to the East’s Holy Ground. Slaughter anyone who leaves the Holy Ground.”

Everyone brightened up; the Divine King was finally making a move! However, the two standing behind Zeus furrowed their brows in silence.

“Musashi, can you do it?”

Musashi had silver hair tied backwards by a headband, making them look like silver spikes. His green eyes contained an unstoppable wildness to them.

“I shall not fail you,” replied Musashi.

The greatest disparity in strength between the East and the West was their average levels. Without the hindrances of infighting, the West could focus on levelling up their players. They had well over a hundred players who had reached Level 45, the level cap back then.

Level 45 was a bottleneck in the game. The West had been capped at Level 45 because none from the East had reached it, until the mysterious Barefooty Worldrunner broke the deadlock. The Warring Wastelands provided players with a way of levelling up even further, especially for those from the West.

But their level advantage wasn’t permanent. As the Eastern players had lower levels, they’d catch up at some point as long as they kept levelling up in the Warring Wastelands. It was a race against the clock where both sides were at a stage of rapid development, but just like in reality, competing enemies wouldn’t sit by and let the other party grow.

The West was undoubtedly the one in the driving seat.

Today was an unusual day. It was the third day since the Holy Grounds’ owners were decided.

Myriad Blooms was home to half the combat force of Empyreon, numbering around 50,000. Even those who had yet to reach Level 40 were freely travelling to and from the Warring Wastelands in squads. The monsters had high levels and gave plenty of experience, which made it a much better option than the obsolete John’s Laboratory.

A squad of five were chatting merrily as they left the Holy Ground—a skyful of magic awaited them. It was a barrage of Rain of Fire, the Level 18 Mage spell. While its damage wasn’t anything notable, it had reasonable cooldown time and low mana consumption.

Still, when a thousand mages cast the same spell simultaneously, the individual damage of each spell was of no importance. A storm of flames rained down upon the East’s Holy Ground as if it was doomsday.

Inheritance—Six Solar Palms of Mount Heaven

Description: A technique passed down by Hui Chuk, a character from Gum Yung’s (or Jinrong) Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.

Skill type: The unparalleled secret technique of the Carefree Sect. Utilising bold, solar force as the main force and supplementing it with gentler forces, its palm strikes can ignore the limitations of weight and are seemingly carefree attacks. The number “six” is considered the “earth’s number” in I Ching, an ancient divination book. It is also known as the Six Yin-Yang Palms of Mount Heaven.

Cultivation criteria: Friendly relations with Hui Chuk, fist fighter.

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