Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations

“Puuuu…”

When Wang Yu had fallen off his pole, he still had about 50% health remaining. Even the Rippling Wave that he fired off was overwhelmed by Khmer’s Flames of the Nether.

Looking at the roaring flames that were surging towards him, Wang Yu immediately dropped to the ground, barely dodging the Flames of the Nether…

Khmer was roughly the same height as an average human, which caused the Flames of the Nether to roughly come from it’s waist level. Wang Yu had just barely evaded it.

“I was right!”

Wang Yu happily cheered when he saw that his health was no longer steadily decreasing…

Wang Yu raised both of his hands, firing off Rippling Wave in his right hand and Void Seizing Palms in his left. Holding Khmer still and forcing his to take Rippling Wave head on…

“Kacha!”

Another Mystic Snare had activated, sealing Khmer once again. Not only did Spirit Charge and Flames of the Nether suddenly dissipate, even its Hell’s Cry stopped mid scream.

…

Wang Yu quickly launched a violent offensive, taking advantage of Khmer’s sealed state.

Just as the three minutes were about to end, Wang Yu used Void Seizing Palm, pulling Khmer towards yet another Mystic Snare…

With a mere 6 minutes to spare, Wang Yu had finally killed Khmer! Completing his quest. Khmer turned into a black ball of smoke, returning to the altar from which he came.

When Wang Yu had kept the Abyssal Bones in his inventory, rumbling sound tore through the Burial Site dungeon, throwing him out and sending him straight to the Sanctum of Darkness.

Wang Yu silently celebrated as he admired the Abyssal Bones in his inventory. It was over, this ridiculous quest was finally over…

Two days, he had spent two full days completing this virtually impossible quest that had nearly driven him insane…

Right as Wang Yu was about to leave, Apostle Dwayne suddenly appeared before him: “You really didn’t betray my expectations! Noble Martial Artist, you have passed the trial of your predecessor.”

“It was just a fluke!” Wang Yu sighed. If he had not taken the gamble to try to dodge the Flames of the Nether by staying close to the ground, he would never have been able to complete this quest.

“Isn’t luck a part of strength as well?” Dwayne lightly chuckled: “Noble Martial Artist, the Sanctum of Darkness is lacking men of talent such as yourself. Do you have any intentions in working for Sanctum of Darkness?”

“Faction… isn’t that only available after level 25?” Wang Yu hesitantly asked.

“But you aren’t the same as other players. I’ll make an exception for you, you can join the Sanctum of Darkness anytime you wish.” Dwayne warmly smiled.

“Er… I’ll have to think about it…”

Wang Yu had rough idea of how the factions worked after listening to the other members of the Quan Zhen Sect discussing it at Sky Dragon City previously.

Joining a faction would grant players a decent buff and even give them the opportunity to learn an uncommon skill from the faction… the uncommon skills from these factions were one of a kind. The early a player joined a faction, the more extreme the benefits were.

What was even more enticing, was the fact that killing players from the opposite faction would earn the player faction contribution points. These points could be exchanged for top tier equipments…

Top tier equipments… these things were the most precious items that every player would covet.

But Wang Yu was in no rush to join any faction. After all, the Quan Zhen Sect was located in Twilight City, within the territory of the faction of light. It was hard to say if the other members were willing to leave their home turf to join Wang Yu.

“How’s everyone doing?” Wang Yu messaged the guild chat.

“F*ck you! Are you being chased again?” Everyone angrily replied. They had already gotten used to the fact that Wang Yu attracted trouble wherever he went, hence they had assumed that he had gotten himself into trouble once again.

“What are you guys saying? Do you gentlemen think that I am such a despicable person?”

“You mean you aren’t?” Fearless mocked.

“About that…” Wang Yu was at a loss for words. Regardless of what he said, the evidence was simply stacked against him.

“Well I have 200 merit points for the faction of darkness now. Apostle Dwayne has invited me to join the faction of darkness, do you guys think I should?”

“An apostle invited you??? You aren’t joking right?” Spring Halo asked.

As a beta tester himself, Spring Halo knew that one could only join a faction after level 25 and you even needed to complete a series of cumbersome quests.

During the two months of the beta testing period, most of the players were frantically trying to level up and challenge bosses and dungeons alike, hardly anyone wasted any time on those quests.

Even a veteran player like Spring Halo had never heard of a case where an apostle had personally invited a player to join a faction.

“I’m not, I’m standing beside him right now. If you guys really don’t believe me I can just get him to greet you guys…”

“Er…” Everyone knew that Wang Yu wasn’t the type of person that would try to lie to them, but this situation was still pretty hard to accept. People would have to exhaust a tremendous amount of effort in order to join a faction, but this idiot had somehow been invited to join one… the disparity was simply too great.

“Ask him what benefits he’ll give us!!!” Ming Du excitedly replied.

“That’s not very nice…” Wang Yu was extremely hesitant to do so. How could he repay the apostle’s kindness with such base behaviour? Not only did he expect the apostle to readily accept him, but to give him other benefits as well?

“Che, since he already gave you such a juicy offer, why not just take it?” The other members of the Quan Zhen Sect advised.

“…”

As a NPC with an extremely advanced AI, Dwayne could roughly tell what Wang Yu was thinking by looking at his expression. Laughing as he spoke: “Relax, as the the first person to join the faction of darkness and as someone that I have personally invited, you can choose an uncommon skill and a piece of equipment suited for your job!”

“He says he’ll give me an uncommon skill and a piece of equipment!” Wang Yu excitedly messaged the guild.

“What the f*ck! Just join his faction! Items from these factions are all at least Obsidian tier equipments!” Ming Du immediately replied.

“Alright then!” Wang Yu turned to Dwayne as he spoke: “I accept!”

Dwayne’s expression hardened after Wang Yu had agreed, seriously warning him: “You have to think about this carefully. Once you join the faction of darkness, all your friends in the faction of light will immediately become your enemies. You’ll have to kill them on sight!”

“Oh? Hold on!” Wang Yu hurriedly shook his head, turning to message his guild mates: “Are you guys willing to join the faction of darkness as well?”

“We didn’t think about that. I don’t think Fearless can join the faction of darkness, since he’s a priest that’s in service of god.”

“That’s right!” Fearless indifferently replied: “And we have a territory here, I don’t plan on joining the faction of darkness.”

“Alright! I know what to do!” Wang Yu replied as he closed the chat, turning towards Dwayne once more: “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can accept your offer!”

“That’s a shame!” Dwayne sighed: “This is a once in a lifetime offer. If you reject it now, you can still join us in the future, but only once you’ve reached level 25 and you’ll have to follow the normal procedures. You should know that the earlier you join, the merit benefits you’ll reap.”

“Ha ha! I’ve already made up my mind. Thank you for your hospitality and the help you’ve given me lord apostle!” Wang Yu respectfully bowed before leaving the Sanctum of Darkness.

Even though Wang Yu was new to the gaming world, he was no fool. This really was an insignificant matter for him.

Wang Yu hardly had any friends growing up. It wasn’t until he met the players of the Quan Zhen Sect did he know what friendship meant. Even though these guys were shameless and crude, they were still good people at heart. They had never let Wang Yu down and were always willing to lend a helping hand when Wang Yu needed help. Even though he wouldn’t admit it, Wang Yu would never abandon his friends from some in-game benefits.

He could always hunt for equipments and skills, but friends were hard to come by…

The players from the Quan Zhen Sect were deeply shocked when they heard that Wang Yu had rejected the invitation to join the faction of darkness.

Once they reached level 25 and started the quest to join the various factions, they would finally realise the folly of their actions. Because right after they completed their quests at level 20, players were given an opportunity to choose their jobs again. Meaning Fearless could choose to become a Dark Shaman…

Upon returning to Twilight City, Wang Yu noted that it was still as lively as before.

The special new year’s quest was still ongoing, but because the information about the fire crackers had been leaked, many players had given up training and swarmed the lands in search of Nian’s, hoping to earn some easy cash.

Strong players hunted the Nian to collect points, while weaker players hunted them to earn some money… these players really were wasting the bonus experience points that came along with this event.

Wang Yu strolled along the street before finally arriving at the alleyway the informant was bumming around at, opening a bottle of alcohol and placing it beside his instructor.

Only after smelling the sweet smell of alcohol did the informant respond, flipping over and impatiently glaring at Wang Yu: “I’ve already told you! This quest was created by the Martial God himself! It isn’t as easy to complete as you think! You can’t take any shortcuts!”

“Huh? I can take shortcut’s for the other quests?” Wang Yu asked.

“Er… of course not! Speak! What do you want?”

“I’m here to complete my quest!” Wang Yu indifferently answered.