Hao and Rayan exchanged phone numbers together before he left the gym. He came here just to train, but he ended up facing the game world of Dawn.
It was still a little weird to him. He knew this game would cause a deep sensation worldwide.
Going to the gym and facing up with Dawn world was still unexpected even to someone like him. And what surprised him more was that guild.
If there was one, then it wasn't that impossible to find more. More guilds meant more competition, letting him start to worry even about his dorm mates.
During his walk back to the dorm, Hao's mind was heavy with thinking about this situation. He thought he had an advantage here, but he realised he was wrong.
He underestimated the players community too much. As someone who spent most of his gaming time in the pro world, he was used to how big names used to do things.
They were like big brands in any business, never moving to do anything without good and extensive planning. But this guild was formed from a local team, not even so good to be famous all over the states.
The question about how they looked for funding wasn't the real problem here. Anyone interested in gaming or any business related to it would have a tip or two about Dawn. So it wasn't that hard for anyone to secure a fund.
But what he seriously considered was how big this funding was. Rayan told him they got a base already. That meant they had good funding, enough for them to do such a major move.
Having a base was like a team having a headquarter in the pro world. It was a big milestone, separating local amateur teams from those big sharks in the pro world.
"So they have funding, but is it enough to recruit a big number of players and arm them with the latest stations?" Hao muttered to himself before reaching the dorm door.
He stood in front of his car, leant over it while thinking about this. "At least they didn't aim at other game players," he muttered to himself, while being lost in thoughts.
"Who are they?" Just as he was deeply thinking, a familiar sound came from his back.
"Hil, good morning," Hao turned and gave her a warm smile.
"Why do I feel you are a little agitated this morning? What happened?" She indeed had keen senses like any girl. Hao's smile slightly faded away as a serious face replaced it.
"Have you ever heard of the Eastern Eagles team?" he directly asked, and she simply nodded.
"It's a local team of good players," she said, telling him she knew lots of information about that team, yet missed establishing a guild move by them.
"Are they this good?" he asked.
"They play well," she said, "but why such interest in them? They aren't the only good team in the region."
"They established a guild," Hao blankly said and Hil's eyes went wide. She had little knowledge about the guild concept in Dawn game, but she knew Hao and Cher placed a great deal over such a thing.
"This fast?!"
"It's just expected," Hao bitterly smiled, "the game is about to launch anyway."
"Then good for them," Hil didn't get what was wrong here, "I still don't see why we should busy ourselves with them."
"Not only them," Hao corrected her, "but every other guild in the area."
"For what?"
"They are our future competitors," Hao touched his fancy car hood before adding, "we are like this car, so good and fast but moving from zero to maximum speed is the slowest and hardest period we'll ever face."
"Aha, I see," Hil nodded before adding, "I planned to visit them and try to recruit their players. Plan failed, lol."
"Do you know other teams around here?" Hao looked at her in full attention.
"There are seven famed teams in the city and areas around it," she said, "I planned to visit their known places to gather at and try to recruit them."
"You… have to first look if they turned into a guild or not," Hao warned before adding, "don't rush into inviting any of them yet. Just know if they built a guild or are planning to join another."
"Won't we try to recruit them?" she gave him a weird look. After all, the two agreed on going out on a scout trip today.
"It's not that easy anymore," Hao started to give her a brief about what he experienced in the gym. "As one team already did it, more might also had."
"Ah, but…" Hil's thoughts reached the same conclusion as Hao. she turned her eyes towards the dorm, silently telling Hao what she was thinking about.
"We need to clean our own home first," Hao was decisive in this, "anyone not joining our guild will have to find another place to continue learning at."
"This… Isn't it a little too much?" Hil wasn't approving of his actions, but Hao wasn't fazed with her reaction.
"Last thing I'd love to see is our place filled with spies."
"Speaking like this is going to be a battle!"
Hao looked in silence towards her. Of course she didn't see things the same way he did. After all Hao's true ambition wasn't to just create a normal guild, but something that would rival those super guilds built by teams like his previous one.
He knew his journey wouldn't be smooth sailing, so he had to clear his house from the start.
"This academy accepts students based on their game skills, and now it's going to change to those joining its guild. What's wrong with that?" Hao simplified things to her, stating it in just these few words that made her unable to refute any back.
"So you are going to expel anyone not joining our guild?"
"We fund their college years and give them a place to stay and have fun at. We even funded their computers and let them game. It's normal to not accept those who aren't standing in the same line as us," Hao said before adding, "but first let me talk with them. After that you'll run a survey over their decisions, and based on it we'll act."
"A meeting… We can have it tonight then."
"That would be for the best," Hao didn't reject her suggestion, "also I want you to start selecting the best players here to depend on them at first days in the game."
"That… might be a little challenging," Hao knew she told him before about their poor performance in games. Of course he wasn't speaking about old Apex players, but also about players just like Rayan.
"Just rank them according to your knowledge about how good they play," Hao ended this topic before jumping to another, "let's have breakfast. I'm already starving."
"Alright," she followed him back to his room as they ordered a meal from a nearby takeaway restaurant. During their wait, Hil kept asking questions about the game and Hao patiently explained things to her.
She was interested in basic things, like game play and how players would grow stronger and other stuff about the differences between Dawn and Apex games.
Of course in Hao's experienced eyes, these two games looked totally different. But he knew she didn't need to know all this for now at least.
Or else she would end up feeling lost. So he kept using the simple answers, avoiding the more complicated ones.
After the food came and they ate, Hao intended to have a walk in the dorm and experience players here first hand.
As for Hil, he sent her out to start her trip.
"Mr. Hao, is it?" but as he was about to take a tour in the bustling dorm, he was stopped by two men wearing tight formal grey suits and holding fancy leathered black suitcases.
"You are?" He looked at them and instantly guessed their identity.
"We are the lawyers sent from the lady," one of them said in a formal way, "can we go somewhere else to talk?"
They stopped Hao in the middle of the dorm corridor. The place was filled with shouts from many while playing their games, not suitable for any business discussion.
"This way," Hao led them towards his room. From his past experience in dealing with lawyers, he knew these two didn't come here just to sign the contract.
But Hao didn't show this on his face. He simply sat in the same place when he met with their boss. "Do you have the contracts ready and signed?"
"We have the contracts here," the one who spoke before said, while his face was covered with an iron-like expression. His partner opened his suitcase and took out a few papers from it and handed them over to Hao.
"You'll sign then the lady will sign later," the lawyer said in his friendly-void tone.
"I'll read them first," Hao knew he would find a surprise inside these papers. He leant his back and slowly went through the ten papers of this contract.
It was a really long contract. At first things seemed normal. The contract introduced both parties, spoke about the nature of this contract, then the main clauses came.
And just after reading the first five clauses, Hao found the first surprise. But unlike what I expected, there wasn't just one surprise, but four.
"Did Cher see this contract?" Hao threw the papers firmly on the table in between the two sides, while giving the senior lawyer a cold gaze.
"Cher?" the lawyer said in disdain, "someone in your situation shall only call her the lady."
"You are the ones working for her," Hao shrugged, slowly throwing his insults like salt over their ego wounds, "but for me, we are business partners."
"You…"
Hao adjusted his body, sitting erect like he was facing a keyboard in a formal competition, "You still didn't answer my question, did Cher see this sh*t or what?"
"Watch your tongue kid!" the other lawyer shouted, as if he was trying to scare Hao or something.
"Or what?" But who was Hao? He wasn't that young and inexperienced like any twenty years old youth. Shouting at him and trying to scare him? These were useless tricks to him.
"That means you didn't consult her at all," Hao jumped over his question, "That's something bad for such people waiting for their money at the end of every month like beggars."
"Don't be this rude kid!" the junior lawyer shouted in anger.
"Humph, speaking like an adult and looking like a little kid," the senior lawyer said in sarcasm, "our business isn't your business. This is our job and we are doing the best for our lady's interests."
"For Cher's? That's hilarious," Hao pushed the papers with the tip of his fingers in disdain, "I doubt this is her desire. To whom are you working for? For her or for who?"
"You have a sharp tongue kid," the senior lawyer said before taking out a cheque from his suit's inner pocket, "tell me how much will you take and get the f*ck off our lady's face?"
"Your expulsion."
"Excuse me?"
"I said my price is to get you two expelled," Hao pointed at the two before adding, "and I won't even leave her side when that happens."
"That's outrageous!" The junior lawyer was fed up with Hao's sharp tongue and attitude, stood up and seemed to intend to punch Hao in the face.
But Hao simply didn't move an inch. He watched the show unfolding in front of him as the senior lawyer stood up and held his partner off.
"The good cop and bad cop play won't work against me," Hao laughed before adding, "let's cut the chase here... Who sent you two?"
"We… Are the people who truly care for the lady," the two lawyers returned to their seats, feeling a little weird as their play failed. "We don't want to see the lady's interests get compromised by some dirty kid like you."
"I'm not a kid," Hao shook his head, ignoring the insult in the lawyer's words, "and Cher isn't a child."
"You don't know what you are doing," the senior lawyer said in a threatening tone, "many won't be happy with your actions."
"It's you who don't know what you are doing," Hao gave a final look at that faulted contract. It was filled with changed conditions, like him working for Cher for a salary and not acting as a partner at all.
The guild would be all owned by Cher's company. It wasn't even mentioned that it was going under her name directly, but under the company she owned.
That meant the ones who sent those two clowns here were members of the board of her fashion company, or the few who invested in that place.