The whole place was white as snow. Completely blank without the tiniest speck of dust. This was the resurrection space of the world of Parallax. According to rumors this place was located within the Pagoda of the Beginnings. Any player who dies, appears here before being resurrected by the system.
The players with a red name if killed outside a city also appear here but if they are killed by NPCs within a City's or a Town's jurisdiction, after getting resurrected they are escorted to the particular City's or Town's Jail.
"Three minutes, Huh?" asked Cao Huang with a bitter smile while waiting for the time to end.
To stop players from immediately resurrecting, the system has placed a five minute time duration before a person can resurrect. As usual this rule has its own set of advantages and disadvantages with regards to different players.
"Still worrying about the pain?" asked Vilariun.
"Don't worry about that. As you said the pain is necessary for achieving my goals and I have to achieve them at all costs. It's just that I have never thought of being a Dark Player before. I was thinking if I am really suitable to walk that path."
From the beginning, Cao Huang had been a gentle and kind-hearted person. He had been beaten up by his schoolmates, kicked when he was down by his relatives and insulted by various people. Despite all this he had never resorted to violence and disrespect. In fact he had always treated them gently and even helped them on various occasions but still people were there to take advantage of his soft-hearted nature. Again and again repeating this cycle of fickleness.
"User you are too kind-hearted for your own good. This is a world were kind-hearted people are like sheep waiting to be slaughtered. I am an Artificial Intelligence. I don't deal with emotions but calculate everything logically. And logically I find that your kind-heartedness is your biggest flaw."
Cao Huang patiently listened to what Vilariun had to say and after analyzing his life from Vilariun's perspective, he started to infer that this was the case.
"You must have heard of a saying; a Saint dies quickly while a Tyrant lives for thousand years. User, I don't want you to become a Tyrant. And a Saint, even more so."
"For if you want to change your destiny, first you have to change yourself." said Vilariun like a wise sage.
Cao Huang stood there without moving.
Not anymore. Cao Huang vowed that from this day onwards, he won't allow anybody to take advantage of him ever again. Those who are sincere with him, he will help them the same. And those who try to hurt him and take advantage of him, he will return the same to them several folds over. He silently swore to himself while wiping away tears that marked his face.
Swoosh!
Cao Huang was resurrected back in the town. Without Vilariun's reminder he rushed outside towards the area where the players were most concentrated and again attacked a random player.
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An enormous damage appeared on the player's head. It felt like Cao Huang's attack was fueled by his burning desire to change. Every strike was aimed at the player's vital points and filled with the intent to kill. But how can a beginner like Cao Huang match up to several players at the same time.
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Soon his health faded out and he returned to the resurrection space.
Similar scenes started appear in the other areas of the town where the players were randomly attacked by a crazy player without no reason whatsoever. At the first and second time he was quickly dealt with by the players. But the third time he was relatively harder to deal with.
Every cut and bruise Cao Huang took, every magical attack he suffered from made him wince out in pain but he gritted his teeth and started to adapt to the fighting. By the fourth time, he was able to somewhat freely control his movements and started to dodge some of the attacks, albeit barely. By the fifth time he didn't attack a single player but started attacking every player in the party.
He dodged attacks left and right, brandish his daggers taking out a large chunk of the player's Health bar. Dodged the sword attack by tilting his body to the left, rolled over to avoid the axe aimed at his head, used his daggers to deflect an other dagger. He clearly had many chances to kill the players but he started using them as a form of training.
As he fought he came to the realization that his reflexes had started to become sharper, if he tries to ignore the pain and continues fighting his focus started to increase. His concentration also started to increase. The more exhausted he became, the more he felt that his body is changing.
"What the heck! Why is an Assassin fighting the players face to face in a close fight? Aren't they supposed to be the sneaky type, attacking players from the shadows with quick and fast movements and if their attack fail, retreat in an even quick manner. Forget even about that, how is he able to last so long against so many players?" Commented a Level 1 Assassin who was watching all this unfold from a distance.
"How is he improving so fast? I have seen last three of his fights and in all these fights he is constantly improving." said the Level 2 Berserker standing by his side in wonder.
"I was thinking of why is he constantly attacking the players. Now I get it! He is an expert who has just started playing the game and is trying to familiarizing himself with his body." concluded the Level 1 Elementalist who looked like their teammate.
"Ahh! So this was the case. From the lack of Guild emblem, he doesn't seem to be a part of any guild yet so If we can get him to join ours, the Boss will surely promote us to be inner guild members." Said the Level 2 Berserker excitedly.
"Go! Quickly record the fight and send it to the Boss. Tell him that we have founded a lone expert, so he should come quickly to make him join us."
If Cao Huang who was fighting knew what other players were speculating about him then he wouldn't have known whether to laugh or cry.
Soon, Cao Huang under repeated attacks lost the little bit of Health Points he had left. He was soon resurrected inside the town.
"Now only dying by the hands of NPCs is left." Cao Huang murmured to himself. He quickly walked towards the NPCs in the town's Central Area.
"Wait." Said Vilariun suddenly.
"Why?" Cao Huang stopped abruptly.
"You need to do something before being killed five more times the NPCs." Vilariun answered.
"What do I have to do?" questioned Cao Huang slightly sulking.
"We need to buy poison." Vilariun said.
"Poison? But why? I mean now if I had to face a Player, I can kill him directly without resorting to such means."
"This is a necessary step if you want to initiate the quest."
Cao Huang didn't ask anymore. He walked to the end of the market place where there was an alley. At the end of the alley, there was a small and battered shop. The only descriptive feature of the shop was a broken door hanging by the hinges. Players may have taken it to be a building from the slums if not for the sign hanging above it.
Just as he was about to enter the alley, his path was blocked by dozen players. Seeing this, Cao Huang quickly unsheathed his daggers ready to fight.
"Hold on we aren't here to fight." He heard a rough voice. From among the players a person stepped forward. The player who stepped forward looked to be around mid-thirties. He had squinty eyes making him look a bit menacing. Curly red hair with a subtle beard. He seemed to be the leader among the players currently blocking him. The players clearly belonged to the same guild as they all had the same emblem, an image of a field burning with crimson fire.
"Greetings Expert! My name is Crimson Fire, the guild leader of the guild Crimson Drought."
Expert? Cao Huang turned his head around to see if there was someone else standing behind him and found that there was no one here except him.
"Are you talking to me?" he asked with a puzzled face.
"Who else would I be talking to when there is no standing here beside you. You idiot!" thought Crimson Fire in his heart but didn't say it out loud.
"Yes indeed, I am talking to you." Said Crimson Fire with all smiles.
Cao Huang had seen many double standard people in his life. By seeing the smile on Crimson Fire's face he knew what he was thinking. So his face and voice turned extremely cold.
"What do you want?" asked Cao Huang coldly.
"I have seen Brother Experts fighting videos which my subordinates sent me and I must say Brother Expert is indeed one of a kind. Holding off against so many players is indeed a difficult job. So I humbly invite Brother Expert to join our guild." he said trying to sound humble.
"Go somewhere else I don't want to join your guild."
Now that Cao Huang realized what kind of player Crimson Fire was and what he wanted with him, he declined his invitation immediately without a second thought.
"Let me tell Brother Expert the benefits that be would receive after joining our guild. Not only we will help Brother Expert to grow quickly by providing him with good equipment, he can even directly join the guild as an inner member. Our inner members receive a monthly salary of fifteen thousand credits with several other benefits which includes lending him a C-Grade VR Gaming helmet in addition to the two bottles of C-Grade Nutrition Fluid every 5 months and one bottle of B-Grade Nutrition Fluid every year depending on his performance." explained Crimson Fire smiling even more to show his 'sincerity'.
Hearing this the players who came with Crimson Fire revealed envious expressions. Only those who had accumulated certain amount of contribution points for the guild have a chance to become inner members. An inner member's status in the guild is only below the core members, Vice Guild Leader and Leader of the guild himself. Becoming an inner members is every players dream. Not to mention the other benefits received by the inner members.
A salary of fifteen thousand credits is no small matter. It is enough for an average family to spend for three to four months. A C-Grade VR Gaming Helmet costs around a eighty thousand credits. A C-Grade VR Gaming Helmet can help the players to increase their performance ranging from 30% to 45%. The most important benefits were the acquisition of C-Grade Nutrition Fluid. Nutrition fluids helps a person in increasing their physical fitness, it rejuvenates a person's mind and body relieving them of their tiredness. It also has a great effect on a person's life span. A single bottle of a C-Grade Nutrition Fluid can increase a person's vitality by three to five months not to mention A-Grade or even S-Grade Nutrition Fluids. Each bottle of a C-Grade Nutrition Fluid costs about twenty thousand credits to thirty thousand credits while a B-Grade Nutrition Fluid is twice as expensive.
"Pardon me but for now I don't plan to join any guild." Cao Huang said without any expression.
It would be lie to say that Cao Huang wasn't tempted but he was reminded by Vilariun that this wasn't his true worth and that he was bound to rival or even surpass those top class players who received hundreds of millions of credits per month. So he should wait for his worth to show or he can even build his own guild after he's grown up.
"I ask that brother expert reconsiders. Our Crimson Drought Guild is run by the Crimson Drought workshop. Our workshop is backed by Beiming Industries so I advice Brother Expert to give me some face." Said Crimson fire with a slightly annoyed expression. His sentence carrying a clear meaning that he should join their guild or a nobody like him can easily be dealt by the Beiming Industries.
Hearing his tone that carried slight threatening Cao Huang turned even colder.
"Even if you make me a core member. I still won't join your guild. Although I might reconsider if you make me the guild leader." Said Cao Huang smiling faintly.
"Brat! Don't be full of yourself. The guild leader is already giving you face by coming here personally. Thousands of players will die for a chance that you have now. If it was someone else we would already have killed him again and again until he begs for mercy." said one of the Crimson Draught members unable to keep quite.
"SHUT UP!!!" Shouted Crimson Fire at his member.
"Good, Very good. I invited you really politely to join us but if still you are adamant on refusing then don't blame me for being impolite. Although we can't deal with you here we'll see how much longer can you keep hiding in the town."
"Well see." Said Cao Huang
Crimson Fire and his subordinates had no choice but to leave after seeing the crowd that was gathering here due to their bickering.
"Rolling Sloth, take some of the guild members out to guard the gates. When you see him leaving then kill him quickly. Be sure that no one sees you killing him." ordered Crimson Fire to the Assassin known as Rolling Sloth.
"OK Boss. He won't be able to escape from us." said Rolling Sloth said as he went to gather the guild members.