Chapter 1 And So It Begins

After chatting casually with Su Mucheng, it was time for dinner. The two went their separate ways to eat, but Chen Guo and Tang Rou still hadn't returned. After dinner, Ye Xiu wasn't in a hurry to log into the game. Instead, he went to the Glory official forums and took a look around.

The official forum had multiple sections, such as the technical area, equipment area, dungeon area, class-specific areas, league event areas, and so on. Each area had its own relatively popular topics, and they were all bustling with activity. However, if you wanted to see gossip and idle chatter, you had to go to the server-specific sections.

From the first server to the tenth server, plus the Realm of Gods, there were a total of eleven server sections, and the popularity of each was consistently high. Famous players, rivalries, and interesting anecdotes were the most common topics in these sections. In comparison, the Realm of Gods was undeniably the most popular, with the newly opened tenth server ranked second. The other servers didn't really increase or decrease in popularity based on the length of time they had been open; they were all relatively stable and didn't differ much. If the popularity of one server suddenly increased, it definitely meant that something noteworthy had happened.

At this time, the most eye-catching thing in the tenth server was undoubtedly Lord Grim. Starting from the novice village, he had been crushing all kinds of records along the way. As long as the tenth server players opened the leaderboards, they could see Lord Grim's name everywhere. Day in and day out, you never knew when the system announcement was going to flash this person's name.

Blue River Pavilion, Tyrannical Ambition, Herb Garden, Excellent Dynasty… even if you didn't know their background, just looking at their size in the tenth server was enough to know that they were the most powerful guilds.

Dungeon records had always been in the bag for guilds like these, but that wasn't the case in the tenth server. Dungeon records had become Lord Grim's to take. If the major guilds wanted these records, they had to go to Lord Grim for help.

These issues had long been thoroughly analyzed by the forum-goers. Some veterans of the game were even using this to discuss the development predicaments that the major guilds were currently facing.

In the tenth server, they hadn't been ignored yet, but compared to their glory in other servers, the reputation they had established in the tenth server was unprecedentedly low. Unable to take the records, they had lost the best platform for promotion. Currently, the means of promotion for each guild was to bring out their own backgrounds. They would boast about how awesome their pro team was, how awesome they were in the Realm of Gods, how awesome they were in other servers. It was only when it came to the tenth server that they were filled with tears.

In the tenth server, they seemed pretty awesome, but Lord Grim was even more awesome. Some people commented.

In Glory, the major guilds that could be said to dominate the world in each server were now only "seeming pretty awesome" in the tenth server. Seeming! That word alone made them want to bury their heads in shame.

There were no lack of defending voices in the discussion area, but in the face of the naked dungeon leaderboards, all defenses were pale and powerless. A simple sentence of "If you're so capable, then break a record" caused the major guilds to fall one after another.

In comparison, Excellent Dynasty unexpectedly had something to say. Frost Forest, although it was only the lowest-level dungeon, at least here, Excellent Dynasty's team really had suppressed Lord Grim. Just based on this, Excellent Dynasty was being praised on the forums, and it seemed that they already had the momentum to overwhelm the traditional three giants.

Looking at these discussions, Ye Xiu could only offer a slight smile. If this were ten years ago, if he had this ability, it would have been truly exciting. But now, his ideals, his pursuits, were no longer here. He had caused most of these situations, some intentionally, some unintentionally, but basically none of them were unexpected. In this kind of situation, how to obtain what he needed was what Ye Xiu was thinking about, and it was also what every guild was thinking about.

They were all the same, not treating this as just a topic or a show. The game was a game for them, but at the same time, it was also their profession. Their life goals were placed on it. Like everyone else, they sought survival and strived for their ideals. It was just that the place where they survived and struggled was this virtual second world.

After touring the tenth server, Ye Xiu also visited the technical area, equipment area, dungeon area, and all the other main areas.

The forum was a good place. It gathered a large amount of information and the wisdom of many players. It could be said to be the largest intelligence station in Glory. If you were good at observing, you could see a lot of things from here.

After browsing the forum, it was already eight o'clock in the blink of an eye. Ye Xiu got up and walked around. He asked at the front desk, but Tang Rou and Chen Guo still hadn't returned.

Ye Xiu asked a colleague for Tang Rou's phone number and then called her to ask.

"Hello? Who is this?" Tang Rou's voice was loud on the other end of the phone, and it was surrounded by noise, obviously she was in some lively place.

"It's me! There's a PK at 9 o'clock tonight, are you coming?" Ye Xiu asked.

"Ah… a PK!" Tang Rou's voice sounded quite excited, but after a moment of silence, she still said with regret, "I can't come back. I bought tickets with Guo Guo to go to the movies!"

"Oh, then have fun." Ye Xiu hung up the phone.

Tang Rou can't come…

This was a big surprise. When it came to fighting alongside each other, Tang Rou had been with him the most these days. Plus, she was someone by his side, so it was easy to contact her. Who would have thought that this girl would go out to play today?

Putting down the phone, Ye Xiu returned to log into the game. He checked his friend list and saw that Steamed Bun Invasion was online. He quickly sent a message to Steamed Bun Invasion: "Steamed Bun, there's a PK at 9 o'clock tonight."

"Oh? Who's tired of living?" Steamed Bun Invasion had been killing all day yesterday and was also very arrogant.

"It's the group that had their Boss snatched yesterday," Ye Xiu said.

"Aiyo, they're still not convinced, huh? Perfect, I'll teach them another good lesson."

"Where are you now?" Ye Xiu asked.

"First Line Gorge."

"Any trouble?" Ye Xiu asked. Tyrannical Ambition might not cause trouble for them for the time being, but there were still six other guilds! It was peak online time for players, and Steamed Bun Invasion was probably one of their targets. Showing his face in First Line Gorge made it likely that he would be targeted.

"There's trouble!" Steamed Bun Invasion said.

"What?"

"I can't get out." Steamed Bun Invasion said.

"Are you being blocked?"

"No… I've never been to this place before, it's a bit complicated…" Steamed Bun Invasion replied.

"That place is a bit out of the way. Search for a map of First Line Gorge and take a good look at it. Remember to choose places with fewer people to walk, take more detours, and observe if anyone is following behind you." Ye Xiu sweated. Last night, Tyrannical Ambition and the others had desperately tried to hide with the Boss, and the final location was indeed a very remote place in First Line Gorge.

"Boss is wise! There really is someone following me," Steamed Bun Invasion said.

"Oh? Then what happened?" Ye Xiu asked.

"I'm charging up," Steamed Bun Invasion said.

"…" Ye Xiu was speechless. Did this guy only notice after he reminded him? Could he have mistaken the person?

Ye Xiu's suspicion was reasonable, but Steamed Bun Invasion hadn't made a mistake this time. The player following him was a player from Howling Heights, one of the seven guilds. After discovering Steamed Bun Invasion, he immediately reported it to the guild. The guild knew that Lord Grim's group were all very strong, and one person going up would likely not get anything good, so they only asked this person to carefully keep an eye on Steamed Bun Invasion's whereabouts and report at any time, while they would immediately gather manpower nearby.

This person followed Steamed Bun Invasion. At first, he was careful, but later he found that Steamed Bun Invasion had no awareness of it at all. There were two times when he turned his head and didn't dodge in time, and he was clearly discovered. He was apprehensive, but Steamed Bun Invasion continued on his way as if nothing had happened. So this player gradually didn't take it seriously anymore. He was now just wondering what Steamed Bun Invasion's intention was. This guy was turning around and around, and he didn't see him fighting monsters. He had passed by the same place three times.

"Could it be that he's lost?" This player was touching the truth. Steamed Bun Invasion turned around again. He didn't take it seriously and was still walking his own way, but Steamed Bun Invasion suddenly ran over to him. He stretched out his hand and flung a brick towards his head.

The player panicked and jumped away to dodge, but Steamed Bun Invasion completely stuck close to him. The player quickly sent a message saying "Discovered" and immediately started fighting Steamed Bun Invasion.

Of course, the guild's caution was not without reason. These ordinary players, or some of the stronger ordinary players, were really no match for Steamed Bun Invasion. This player exchanged a few blows with Steamed Bun Invasion, but in the end, he was unfortunately killed.

"Haha, he's dead. This kid, I was wondering why he was following me," Steamed Bun Invasion reported the good news to Lord Grim.

"Sweat, how long has he been following you?" Ye Xiu quickly asked.

"About ten minutes?" Steamed Bun Invasion said.

"Steamed Bun… you've been completely exposed. There may soon be many people surrounding you!" Ye Xiu said.

"Is that so? Then it seems that the only option is to fight," Steamed Bun Invasion said.

"Be careful of your weapon's durability," Ye Xiu reminded Steamed Bun Invasion after being speechless.

"Weapon… huh, where did my claws go?"

"Damn, did they break? Weapons will break when their durability reaches 0! Check your system log," Ye Xiu replied.

"Ah, this is terrible." Steamed Bun Invasion certainly knew the importance of weapons. He flipped through the system log and saw the information that his claws had been destroyed when he killed that player just now.

Ye Xiu didn't know what to say.

"Fighting without weapons is more difficult than I imagined!" Steamed Bun Invasion was still making grand remarks.

"Do you think you still have hope?" Ye Xiu asked.

"No, unless Boss you can come and save me," Steamed Bun Invasion said.

"By the time I get there, you'll have died and returned to the city," Ye Xiu said.

"In that case, Boss, why are you still coming back? I'll just return to the city directly, and we'll meet in the main city." Steamed Bun Invasion was really decisive and unrestrained. He went up to provoke the monsters with his bare hands, attracting a large group. The guild players quickly surrounded him. They saw that Steamed Bun Invasion was in the middle of the monster pile and shouted to them, "Comrades, you've worked hard!" and was directly bitten to death by the monsters.

"Damn!" Everyone cursed in unison. What was this Steamed Bun doing? He was turning around and around in place, making it difficult for them to judge. With great difficulty, they surrounded him, but this guy drilled into the monster pile and committed suicide to return to the city. Was that his goal?

The little monsters that bit Steamed Bun Invasion to death dispersed, and Steamed Bun Invasion's corpse was long gone.