Chapter 245 a.s.sembly of Champions!
Translator: ASB Editor: _Lunaelle /EndlessFantasy Translation
In Moonrise City sat Moonlit Restaurant.
Within Moonlit Restaurant, there was the Great Winter Hall.
As the premiere (and most costly) restaurant in all of the Angel Faction, there was virtually no one who had not heard of Moonlit Restaurant.
There were many high-level players of some achievement who, besides comparing equipment and levels with their peers, also took pride in their capacity to visit Moonlit Restaurant as a spending customer.
First of all, in all of H&G, Moonlit Restaurant had the best and most commanding vista, with the highest vantage point of any restaurant, giving one that superb feeling of having risen above the common rabble!
Furthermore, the appointment and décor of the interior was the epitome of luxurious elegance! A glossy silver floor, clear enough to see your own reflection in… golden drapes, intricate carvings… the whole place was suffused with an air of chic tastefulness, as though you had stepped into a real palace from the Renaissance. Beautiful without equal, it was—for most female players—the ideal place for a romantic confession of true love.
It was highly sought-after by all players!
But even within Moonlit Restaurant, the Great Winter Hall was clearly a cla.s.s apart. It called to mind an emperor"s personal garden, and it was not a place just anyone could gain entrance to.
Great Winter. Great is the winter. It alludes to how cold and lonely it can be at the top.
This was symbolized by the height of the Great Winter Hall. In fact, there were three ways that the hall invoked this theme of height!
Firstly, the Great Winter Hall was located upon the highest level of the Moonlit Restaurant—considered to be the highest floor in all of H&G. In the Demon Faction, the names of restaurants tended to be a mystery, and players of that faction seemed to favor cozy little antique-style bars.
What else was high? The prices in the Great Winter Hall, for instance. The cost one had to pay to enjoy its unique qualities was enough to make one"s hair stand on end! Fifty thousand gold per hour—not only was it enough to make the average player lose their appet.i.te; even the majority of players in H&G who considered themselves to be someone of note would balk at the sight of such an astronomical rental fee.
And the final symbol of high position: standing!
There were three sorts which were not welcomed into the Great Winter Hall!
Firstly, common players below Level 50 were not welcome. (The power level of a Warrior was not sufficient.)
Secondly, common players who were not the leader of their own Clan were not welcomed. (Those who commanded neither position nor prestige were not acceptable, even if they attained Tier 5.)
Thirdly, players with less than a thousand Honor Points were not welcomed. (If a player lacked proof of substantial contribution to their own Faction, even if they fulfilled the previous two requirements, it would still not be adequate.)
Only upon satisfying all three of these requirements would one be allowed the use of the Great Winter Hall. Following that, with an invitation from the host who had opened the hall, one could visit as a guest.
Players who had not fulfilled all three conditions, regardless of how much they were prepared to pay, or whoever they were outside the game—be they the child of a prime minister or a president—they would be denied entry.
To date, those who were eligible to gain access to the hall amounted to less than ten players, all of them leaders of Leagues and Clans within the Angel Faction. It was exceedingly difficult to get an invitation to the hall from any of these supreme champions.
Because of these harsh requirements, millions of players had never once set foot into the Great Winter Hall, so it became one of the most sought-after mysteries in the game—accessible only to the most powerful, wealthy, and prestigious!
Today, there was an extraordinary commotion within the Great Winter Hall!
The rarely seen champions of the Angel Faction, the likes of Dark Annihilator from Netherspirit"s Claw or Steel Dude from Bauhinia Clan, they were only small time here; the true powers in the room were the supreme Tier 5 champions such as Homme Fatale, Ghost Hand, Bloodl.u.s.t Warlord, and so on.
A hundred people were gathered in the Great Winter Hall, conferring and arguing—a true a.s.sembly of champions!
The doors to the Great Winter Hall opened and closed, and an unknown man and woman entered, although no one paid any particular attention to them. Entry into this hall was granted only to the stout-hearted and worldly-wise, the greatest of champions.
As for the Ron Couple, clad entirely in Gold equipment, they were instantly dismissed as the least among those present. Here, Gold or even Dark Gold-quality only signified that even if they were the Field Commander of their League or Clan, they were relatively limited in ability.
Ron and Ron"s Mistress, upon arriving on the scene, immediately began sharing whatever they knew.
Those were the rules!
This time around, three great Leagues had collaborated to organize this a.s.sembly of champions, gathering together nearly all the top players of the Angel Faction. The idea was that before the "Entrance to the Graveyard of the G.o.ds" event, everyone should get to know each other, make some friends, so that once it came time to venture into the Graveyard of the G.o.ds, they could all work together against the fearsome Demon Faction.
The Ron Couple, having returned into the arms of the Holy Clan for whatever reason, had immediately both taken up the role of Field Commanders. Once they had joined their own people in a corner somewhere, Ron surveyed the raucous congregation within the Great Winter Hall with an insincere smile plastered across his face, cold eyes lingering upon a group from the Bauhinia Clan, on the far side of the hall.
"… and I"m not really sure what the purpose of this gathering is—making friends? What a load of c.r.a.p!" Ron muttered bitterly, clearly the least happy to be here. From the moment he came in and saw those familiar faces from Killer Bee Valley—Steel Dude and Homme Fatale—he had been in a foul mood.
Ron"s Mistress was faring no better, especially with that Steel Dude, who had crushed poor Grieving Arrow"s skull to a pulp. Once or twice she had caught that b.a.s.t.a.r.d looking their way and giving them a broad, enigmatic smile. She had rather not talk about it at all, she just could not wait to get away from this d.a.m.ned place!
But there was no way they could leave so soon!
Their hosts in the Great Winter Hall included Scarlet Bauhinia, leader of Bauhinia League, Ghost Hand, who commanded the Netherspirit"s Claw, and Majestic Hero, head of the Hall of Heroes.
These three were men of tremendous power and influence, and not to be trifled with in any way. If they should take a look at the guest list and notice that someone they had invited had left early, who knows what they might think of it? Even if Scarlet Bauhinia and Majestic Hero were no matter, they absolutely could not afford to offend Ghost Hand.
A baldy standing together with the Ron Couple chuckled upon hearing their subdued curses, to all appearances as though they were discussing some light-hearted affair.
"The two of you… you"re too hasty, too full of yourselves. You think we don"t stand to gain anything from this gathering? If it was such a meaningless affair, would there be so many people in attendance? Watch and learn—you may know a few clever tricks, but there"s still room to grow.
"Pah, looking for easy pickings, but you only ended up making powerful enemies. Even after losing your equipment, you still haven"t learned from it… What"s one Fire Elf"s Helmet—was it worth making such a big fuss over? You even tried to frame someone from Bauhinia Clan, I"m furious with you two!
"At first, I was hoping that the two of you could quietly raise up a second Clan—I never thought the secret would get out so quickly…"
The bald-headed man shook his head, lecturing the Ron Couple with patient authority. He was Raziel, the leader of Holy Clan, a Level 49 Electromancer.
"Boss, we—" Receiving this tongue-las.h.i.+ng from their Clan Leader, the Ron Couple felt a jolt of indignation, but they couldn"t quite find the words to defend themselves, and ended up just standing there in silence.
He was right, of course. After their defeat, they had been fearful of Qin Ruo"s vengeance, and that was the main reason why they had fled back to the protection of Holy Clan, hoping that their affiliation to a Clan would stay his hand.
Coming right down to it, all their troubles were because of Qin Ruo!
But now, it was too late to talk of revenge!
With the blessings of both Homme Fatale and Scarlet Bauhinia, the Bauhinia Clan had obviously taken Qin Ruo under their wing, so any further moves against him would be unwise. The Bauhinia Clan had sent two champions, on the level of Field Commanders, to aid Qin Ruo—including the second-in-command, Homme Fatale.
It was a clear sign of their favor for him—any further provocation might enrage Scarlet Bauhinia himself, which might prove catastrophic for the Holy Clan.
Even the hundred elite Bandits that had been sent out that afternoon had been recalled by the Clan Leader Raziel, followed by instructions to the Ron Couple to hold off on any hostilities towards Qin Ruo for the time being. Even if any action became necessary, they had to first ask for permission from him.
Raziel was aware that the Ron Couple was in low spirits. Since he had need of their skills, he couldn"t continue berating them.
Instead, he said, "There now, let"s not have those long faces anymore. There"s been quite a bit of excitement today, but at least you really did manage to turn that Tier 4 Aquamancer into a Devil. He won"t be able to show his face for a couple of days, so he won"t get much done in the Graveyard of the G.o.ds, either."
The Ron Couple brightened up ever so slightly, and quietly nodded a little.
As a Devil, he would be hunted by players from both the Angel and Demon Factions. What sort of adventuring can he get done? None at all! And don"t even hope to complete any quests from the NPCs back in town!
Even if he could hold his own against other players, he had to be very careful about how he did so. Though he had his Aquamorph technique, there would be millions of players flooding the Graveyard of the G.o.ds, including no small amount of opportunistic Bandits. The moment a lone player bearing a red tag appeared in their sights, every other player would be out for his blood.
If they were right, of the three days of the Graveyard of the G.o.ds event, Qin Ruo would have to sit out half of it. If something went wrong, he might even lose all of his equipment, and get locked up in the Underwater Prison in Sin City. That would not be something he could easily laugh off!