It was three hours before the clan wars begin. Lucas had spent the day familiarising himself with other aspects of the world and completed a few daily quests. Navigating the lands, he pretty much understood how it worked here. Most things functioned the same way as if he were playing the game.
There were still certain things that he wasn't able to find out yet, like how he would learn new skills and fight in the game. After all, he was a newbie who had only one technique - Basic Attack. All he needed to do was swing his sword and damage would be dealt. Other complicated skills required a combination of keyboard controls and mouse clicks but Lucas had no idea yet how he could execute these skills without those tools. Maybe he'd need to learn how to fight for real.
Looking at his Stats Screen, he sighed. There were lots of Stats in DOJ but the most important ones were:
Attack - The amount of damage he could deal
Defense - How well he could stand up against other players and NPCs
HP - Health Points
Intelligence - How well he could master a new skill
Mana - Magic power that is required to cast certain skills
Stamina - His endurance level
Agility - His attack speed
Luck and Chance - This affects the rate of getting rare items from doing any sort of quests, dungeons, or during special events
There were a bunch of others such as elemental damage percentage but those were more of bonuses. These were the main stats he needed to concentrate on building to become stronger. Ash Knight had an Attack strength of around 100,000. He looked at Lucien Cavalier's stats again:
[Lucien Cavalier - Level 3]
Attack - 300
Defense - 150
HP - 500
Intelligence - 50
Mana - 100
Stamina - 70
Agility - 60
Luck and Chance - 8%
Although his stats was no way near Ash Knight's, he gleamed upon seeing the that his Luck and Chance rate was 8% - most newbies started with 5% or lower. This rate would change during the gameplay and no one knew what were the factors that influenced it. Some say this was just random but a group of players speculated that the actions one does in the game had an effect on the rate.
The clan wars would begin in a few hours. No one would have guessed that Ash Knight was now a Level 3 newbie sitting under a tree, lamenting at his miserable stats.
[Public Chat Channel]
"That's strange, Ash Knight has been rather silent lately."
"The calm before the storm. I'm sure he'll kick ass in the clan wars later."
"Yawn, why couldn't they attack earlier? I want to sleep…"
As usual, the Public Chat was flooded with discussions about Ash Knight whenever there was a clan war. There was nothing much he could do about tonight, he'd leave it to fate or perhaps…
He stopped when he passed by a temple and saw some players praying at the altar. There were several places where players could make a wish in the game like wishing wells and temples. People made all sorts of wishes here, some hoped to find their other half while some wanted to obtain rare weapons. There were also those who wished for good luck.
Lucas felt guilty for 'abandoning' his clan, leaving the family he had built to fend for themselves. What kind of irresponsible leader did this sort of thing? He rarely made wishes in the game but there was no harm in asking for some virtual blessings for his clan.
"Please bless Knights of Freedom to win the clan wars…no, win every clan war, no wait…ugh," he couldn't even make a proper wish.
"Please bless Knights of Freedom to do well even without their clan leader."
He sensed a gentle breeze blowing across his face after making the wish. Was it a sign that his wishes had been heard? Maybe it was just his imagination.
———————
Time passed and it was nearing 11 PM. Every clan had its own chat channel which was only accessible by members of the clan. At this moment, Knights of Heroes were figuring out why their clan leader was still offline.
[Knights of Freedom Chat Channel]
"This is weird, Ash hasn't logged in for days. Does he knows we have a war today?"
"He never misses a fight, there's still some time. I think he'll make it."
"Anyone has a way of calling him or something?"
"Guys, c'mon. Let's team up first and decide which 30 of us should enter the arena."
Some clans believed that as long as they gathered their strongest members together, they would stand a higher chance of winning the clan war. That wasn't the case. If the top 30 members in the clan were all Swordsmen who specialized in dealing damage, then it's as good as sending them to their death. With no Healers and Tankers, it wouldn't work.
That was why Lucas always gathered a mixture of players from different roles for the clan wars. He hoped his clan remembered this without him reminding them.
10.50 PM. No sign of Ash Knight.
[Knights of Freedom Chat Channel]
"PandaHero, you guys always team up with Ash. Any idea what's going on with him?"
"Do we enter without him?"
"Even MysticSlayer isn't online. That's unusual of them."
They were getting anxious. Should they march into battle without Ash Knight or trust that he will appear at the very last second? It was the first time they hadn't seen their clan leader in days. Like all other members in the clan, PandaHero and Snowman found it odd too. But they had always communicated with Ash Knight through the game only, they never exchanged contacts, not even an email address. Their clan leader had been rather low profile about his identity.
They had MysticSlayer's phone number though and knew that he was friends with Ash Knight. It was their only chance left.
[Knights of Freedom Chat Channel]
PandaHero: Guys, let me try to contact MysticSlayer. He may have a way of reaching Ash.
Snowman: Maybe he's just sleeping.
PandaHero: Sorry guys, MysticSlayer's not picking up his phone or replying my messages.
The world did not know that MysticSlayer had murdered Ash Knight in real life. Such drama would have alarmed everyone in DOJ.
10: 57PM. Ash Knight was still offline.
[Knights of Freedom Chat Channel]
Snowman: Alright, this is just another clan war that we've fought. Even if Ash is not around, we'll just do the usual.
Since neither Ash Knight nor MysticSlayer was around, Snowman figured he would try to give some sort of instructions. Within the last few minutes of the game, he did what Lucas would've done and gathered a team of swordsmen, mages, healers, and tankers. If Ash Knight appeared at the very last minute, they'd make space for him. Otherwise, they would enter the arena by themselves once the clock strikes 11 PM.
11 PM.
[The Clan Wars between Knights of Freedom and Dream Heroes have begun. Players are welcome to watch the battle LIVE. Show some support for your favorite clan!]
In the battle arena, Snowman, PandaHero and their clan members had three minutes to prepare before the war begins. The audience who were watching the game didn't take long to realize someone important was missing.
[Public Chat Channel]
"Oh, wow, take a look a the list of players from Knights of Freedom. There's a SURPRISE."
"What? Just say it. Can't be bothered to click on that list."
"Why is my Ash Knight baby not on the team? Nooooooo!!
"Hey, even MysticSlayer's not on the list. They're a team, right?"
"Uhh, weird. Maybe Ash finally decides RavenX is not a worthy opponent, hahahaha."
"Maybe something unexpected happened to him."
The last comment in the Public Chat Channel came from Lucien Cavalier. Lucas knew no one would pay attention to this stranger and his comments would soon disappear in the sea of messages, like how the truth always gets buried.
Guys, your clan leader is ONLINE but in another form, Lucas thought to himself. He swiped open the list of players to check who had joined the clan wars. Good, there was a good balance of different roles from Knights of Freedom.
Looking at the list from Dream Heroes, he came across some unfamiliar names he hadn't seen before. They had fought countless battles that he already knew who their members were but this time, there were new faces. He also noticed that there were more swordsmen and tankers on their team. This was slightly different from their usual lineup.
He wondered if anyone from Knights of Freedom had noticed this. If he were to alert them in the Public Chat, he would draw too much attention to himself and people might think this was a smurf account.
Inside the Clan Wars battle arena, each clan had its own chat channel. Most members had switched to using voice chat instead. PandaHero was trying to give a motivational speech like a general would say to their soldiers to spur them on before they go to battle.
"Today, our sweat and tears mark the day of…" he sniffed and sounded as if he was really crying.
"Oh, shut up, Panda." Snowman cut him off. What the team needed was some instructions on what to do. He cleared his throat and recalled what Ash Knight would've said.
"Ahem. We'll do the usual, split into three teams. Five of us will form Team A and snatch the buffs in the arena before our enemies find them. Another five will form Team B and remain at base for backup and defend any unexpected attacks. The rest of you will form Team C and head towards the tower. Destroy it and kill anyone in your way. Team A will join in the attack once you've collected the buffs."
This was one of the usual tactics they used for clan wars. Snowman was confident that they would win this battle as long as everyone followed his instructions. On average, their members' attack strength was much higher than Dream Heroes'. This should end in fifteen minutes, just like how they did it before. Three minutes was up. It was clear that Ash Knight was not going to show up.
Time for war without their clan leader.
——————————
(Smurf: The term 'smurf' is used in gaming to describe a player in an online game that creates a new account to play against lower-ranked players, however, it can also be used as a term for describing a player who uses an alternate account or multiple accounts.
There are many reasons why players would create many smurf accounts. It could be to gain more weapons from missions and transfer them to their main account, buy and sell items to transfer their gold, etc. And sometimes, it's to hide behind another name so they can say whatever they want in the public chat/scold others, etc.)