For a time, I couldn’t say anything. There were so many heroes in Sky City that the Top 15 players of the Heavenly Ranking—not just that, the Top 50 players of the level ranking—were all experts. Dominating Heaven Blade used to be the highest-leveled player in Floating Ice City, but here in Sky City, I couldn’t even find his name. Gods of Destruction was definitely at Sky City already, but no one in that guild was able to put their name up on the Heavenly Ranking.

On the other hand, the fourth place guild in China’s Guild Ranking, Warsky Alliance was technically behind Gods of Destruction in terms of placement, but their performance in Sky City was something else. Four of their players were on the Heavenly Ranking, and that wasn’t even the biggest shocker of them all. Three out of these four players had a golden emblem behind their IDs, the emblem that identified a player as a CGL Hall of Famer!

……

Beep!

I joined He Yi’s party and found Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, Yamete, Chaos Moon and more were all present. The situation was serious enough to warrant an impromptu meeting between all the core members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!

He Yi smiled and started, "What is your opinion about the situation in Sky City, Lu Chen?"

I replied quietly, "I have no opinion…"

"Fuck!" Xu Yang swore casually. "This level ranking sure is something, isn’t it? I wasn’t expecting Warsky Alliance to be able to recruit three CGL Hall of Famers, and I heard that October Rain is beautiful…"

Gui Guzi said, "That aside, I think Warsky Alliance will become our greatest enemy in Sky City. What do you all think?"

Du Thirteen said, "Agreed. If three CGL Hall of Famers aren’t a problem, I don’t know what is. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is strong, but Lu Chen is the only CGL Hall of Famer we have. Players like these are basically walking nuclear bombs who could cause havoc no matter where you dropped them. We can’t underestimate our opponent…"

I nodded. "October Rain and Laughing At The Heavens are ranked at 19th and 18th in the CGL Hall of Fame respectively, so they aren’t actually that threatening. Basically, they could beat Little Gui, but they can’t beat the Fruit Knife Goddess. What really worries me is the last CGL Hall of Famer of that guild…"

He Yi looked astonished. "You mean that assassin, Farewell Song?"

"Mn!" I said uneasily. "During the latter stages of Spirit of Grief, the ID ‘Farewell Song’ was almost synonymous to the Grim Reaper himself. He is an incredibly talented player and a top-tier assassin, and it was said that his skill was equal to the number one assassin at the time, Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow, if not better. During the WSL, Candlelight Shadow was barely able to defeat Farewell Song in a one-on-one fight despite having superior equipment. That’s how skillful Farewell Song was…"

Murong Mingyue exclaimed in astonishment, "What a shame that Warsky got to him first! Seriously, what a shame!"

I nodded apprehensively. If Warsky Alliance decided to declare war on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I didn’t think there was anyone except me in the entire guild who could handle Farewell Song in a 1v1 fight. Gui Guzi and He Yi might have a fighting chance thanks to the armor type counter, but the rest wouldn’t be so lucky.

I said, "Eve, can you run a background check on Warsky? Who is he, and how was he able to recruit three CGL Hall of Famers? He can’t be an ordinary person."

It would be an understatement to claim that all CGL Hall of Famers were prideful human beings. Most of the time, they were the ones who made others answer to them, not the other way around. I was an exception because I owed He Yi a lot of favors, and I wasn’t willing to leave her side...

He Yi smiled back. "Already done! Warsky’s real name is Zhu Tian. He was born in Henan, and his father is the chief of XX Bureau. He’s basically what you call a rich kid. But unlike most people, he’s actually a pretty good person. He isn’t overly arrogant, and he’s an advocate of the code of brotherhood. He has been addicted to games since young, and it was during this time he came to make friends with experts such as Farewell Song, October Rain and Laughing At The Heavens. Since his guild is rich and powerful, none of these CGL Hall of Famers are inclined to leave the guild."

I sucked in a deep breath. "Damn, he’s going to be a tough nut to crack. In fact, is it even safe to attack someone like him?"

He Yi giggled. "You don’t have to worry about that. Warsky is the kind of person who doesn’t let in-game grudges spill over to real life. In fact, there’s no one he hates more than scumbags who do that. Also, don’t forget who I am. His father may be the chief of XX Bureau, but he’s still not someone I can’t handle!"

I laughed. That’s right, I nearly forgot that He Yi was the Asia Region Vice President of GGS. Her connections would only be far greater than my imagination!

Xu Yang asked, "Should we declare war on Warsky Alliance first?"

He Yi looked to me. "What do you think, Lu Chen?"

I shook my head in response. "It’ll be a bad idea to declare war this soon. We should wait for an opportunity to present itself! Usually, there are only two reasons to start a war, and they are land—in our case guild territory—and beautiful women. For now, all of Sky City’s best women are belong to us, so there’s no reason to start a war with Warsky Alliance. On the other hand, if Warsky wants to claim our ‘From Water’ for himself, then a war is what he’ll get! Hmph hmph!"

He Yi immediately turned red in her avatar screen. "Fuck, what the hell are you talking about, boy? Do you think I’m Diaochan or something? I’m not an object to be fought for, and if Warsky really thinks that way I’ll teach him with my Soul Stealing Spear myself, hmph hmph!"

Everyone seemed surprised by her ferocity, but the reality was our beautiful boss was hardly just a pretty vase to look at. She was pretty, but just like roses, anyone who treats her carelessly would only be hurt by her thorns. Although her in-game skill wasn’t there yet, her Soul Stealing Spear was a top-tier weapon that would more than make up for her small weaknesses. Of course, He Yi had been working very hard to absorb everything about the game, and her growth was visible to everyone. It was a gladdening sight to say the least.

Long story short, guild territories weren’t available in the game yet, and I was just joking when I said that guilds would fight over pretty women. Not only was it unrealistic and stupid to do something like this in a game, Eternal Moon Corporation firmly kept vulgar designs like these out of their games. They didn’t even have a marriage system that one might see in other MMORPGs. Here in the games of Eternal Moon Corporation, you would only find epic wars and bloody battles!

He Yi said, "Anyway, the goal now is to solidify our footing and do our best to improve our levels and equipment while things are still peaceful. Let’s strengthen Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as much as possible before the first great battle. Also, there’s no need to worry about the enemy’s CGL Hall of Famers too much. Sure, Warsky Alliance has three CGL Hall of Famers, but our Lu Chen is a CGL Hall of Famer himself, the 12th place CGL Hall of Famer no less!"

Beauty Chaos Moon giggled. "Yeah, yeah, big bro Lu Chen is so amazing!"

Eh, why do I feel like I’m being made fun of?

……

After the meeting was over, everyone went back to their respective business.

I hadn’t been idle while the meeting was ongoing. I had killed at least a dozen or so Hellhounds while chatting, and I had gained quite a bit of experience and looted a lot of pelts.

It was at this moment a large pack of Hellhounds appeared in front of me. I counted about 50 of them. Considering that we were very close to the temporary supply camp, this was probably the strongest wave of Hellhounds I was going to face!

I charged toward the Hellhounds and ran a half-circle around them to draw them to me. Then, I moved to the perfect spot and launched a Thousand Mirage Slash!

Boom!

The densely-packed Hellhounds took a huge amount of damage immediately. The ones at the center were even one-shot due to the splash damage overlapping with one another!

I stopped and waited for the Hellhounds to surround me completely. Then, I activated War Crush and leaped into the air!

Bang!

Lightning flashed everywhere as the devastating blow annihilated most of the Hellhounds. It was exhilarating to be able to destroy mobs like this!

Two powerful skills later, only seven or eight low health Hellhounds were still alive to attack me, and I took my time cutting them down one by one. I mostly ignored their attacks because they could only deal 100 damage or so per hit, not to mention that I also had Regeneration of the Undead.

Crack!

After killing the last Hellhound, a blood-red skill book dropped on the grassy ground!

I picked it up and was pleasantly surprised by the contents—

Encourage III: Increases attack power by 7% for all allies within 1000 yards. Level Requirement: 60. Tactics Requirement: 50

……

I checked my stats and noted that I had 71 Tactics. Yep, it was definitely enough to learn the skill!

Swhoosh!

The Encourage III skill book vanished from my hand. It boosted my Attack by 7%—2% better than the normal Encourage—and since my attack power was 171%, 7% of 171% was equal to 11.97%. It was almost as good as a property of Outstanding equipment!

Deeply satisfied, I exited the party after notifying He Yi and the others and formed my own party. Then, I activated my General Skill, Encourage III!

The beating of a wardrum entered my ears as a glowing ring appeared around me. The skill boosted my Attack by almost 12%, and stacked together with Wild Roar for a total increase of almost 27%. I should be able to one-shot any Level 95 elite mob without trouble now.

The first group of civilians safely made it to the temporary supply camp while I was feeling very good with myself. There was a cavalry troop about a thousand-man strong in the temporary supply camp, so they shouldn’t have any trouble protecting the civilians. If they were just a bit braver and less wary of the Hellhounds, they wouldn’t have had to ask me, also known as cannon fodder, to help them.

Since this was an S Rank quest, the last couple of waves should be pretty powerful. I was looking forward to it, however. The stronger the wave, the more rewards I could reap from their corpses. In fact, the number of wolf pelts in my bag was growing constantly since the escort quest began. It was incredibly fun to say the least!

……

I was feeling as happy as an idiot as I headed back toward Dry Town to escort the second group of civilians. It was at this moment a chill overcame my body and paralyzed me. Shit! An assassin had ambushed me!

Beep!

Combat Log: Player "Farewell Song" used "Silent Punch", dealing 875 damage. You are stunned for 1 second!