002 Dwarven Paladin!

Not Equipment!

What disappointed Morning Breeze was that the orange treasure chest didn’t yield equipment. If it had, it surely would have been teleportation gear—what a pity! The odds of legendary equipment emerging from an orange chest were never high, and Morning Breeze felt he simply wasn’t destined for gear. Still, obtaining an orange treasure chest was already an impressive feat.

The earlier one entered the grand map, the greater the chance to discover chests and strongholds. Morning Breeze knew his mad rush was the right move; at least he’d been rewarded with an orange chest.

A token? Morning Breeze pulled a black token from his pack; its name glowed orange. At first, he lamented the lack of orange equipment, but upon seeing the token, he wondered if luck had truly smiled upon him—for this token was even more potent than legendary gear.

[Main City Token]: Token item. Essential for dominion over a main city.

The description was brief but powerful. The Oggras grand map housed many main cities; even if a player conquered a city and slew its lord, without the Main City Token, dominion was impossible. In-game, stronghold tokens were already rare, let alone main city tokens.

In his previous life, Morning Breeze left the game after four years of operation, and only three players had ever possessed a main city. It was clear just how elusive the token was. Often, even after conquering a city, players were forced to abandon it for lack of the token, and the city inevitably reverted to the tribes. The chance of it dropping upon slaying the city lord was minuscule—so low it could be ignored.

To think he had acquired a Main City Token before owning a city—Morning Breeze was elated. It would be a long time before he could take a city, and besides, cities varied in strength. He had no interest in a garbage city; only a royal city would do.

So many treasures beneath the sea?

Morning Breeze wasn’t in a hurry to search for the Assault Shard. He considered further exploration of the seabed. Few people ventured there; with only a hundred or so in the grand map at present, Morning Breeze felt he should seize this quiet window to find more treasures. If another Main City Token appeared, he’d be rich.

Go!

He continued the underwater adventure, confident his luck would prevail, only to find reality disappointing. Not only did he fail to find another orange chest, he didn’t even see a silver one. Even when he encountered underwater herbs, his harvesting skill wasn’t enough to collect them.

Had his luck run out?

By the time he reached the southern islands off Ghana Sea, Morning Breeze had nothing to show for his efforts. He felt his luck had truly been exhausted. Since he was already at the southern islands, he abandoned further underwater wandering and decided to search the ninety-eight islands for the Assault Shard. It was a massive undertaking; searching blindly would make it nearly impossible. He’d brought two shards with him, and when close to another, they would glow—more shards meant brighter light.

If he truly had to search every nook and cranny of those ninety-eight islands, even three months wouldn’t suffice. Upon landing, Morning Breeze shifted into a crow and flew over the islands.

Each island housed four strongholds at cardinal points, patrolled by hordes of trolls, undead, orcs, and goblins. Some trolls even rode giant birds through the skies; orcs typically paired with bloodthirsty wolf mounts. If discovered, escape was impossible—not even stealth could save him, given the wolves’ powerful tracking abilities. Goblins were particularly devious, their short stature making them hard to spot in the woods; encountering a goblin rogue would be even worse.

A map for levels thirty-three to forty!

Most patrols were level thirty-six, far stronger than those in the national zone maps. Morning Breeze, in crow form, circled briefly before flying away; he had no intention of lingering, much less fighting patrols. Unless he could swiftly kill them, their numbers would only increase.

“Hey, Breeze, how’s the grand map? I’m level twenty-nine now!” The usually restful Monk had been frantically pushing for level thirty, eager to enter the grand map. He’d thought he’d be the fastest among the five, only to find Morning Breeze had beaten him—even while carrying a group. Had Morning Breeze leveled solo, he would have been faster still.

Morning Breeze, never one for modesty, showed Monk the Main City Token, saying, “I happened upon an orange treasure chest and got a Main City Token. Might have a city to my name someday!”

“Damn it, Breeze, on behalf of Earth’s population, I despise you! Share the wealth!” Monk was green with envy. Had he known the grand map was so rewarding, he’d have rushed levels from the start. Whenever someone got good gear or loot, Monk demanded treats or a cut.

“Get lost!” Morning Breeze couldn’t be bothered to argue. He’d shown Monk the gear to spur him into the grand map.

Just as he was about to end the call, Monk interrupted, “Hey, Breeze, I’ve got a buddy who wants to join our team; what do you think?”

“What class? Can he beat you?” Morning Breeze didn’t mind Monk inviting someone, but if the guy was useless, forget it.

“My pal’s a sharp rogue, highly skilled, over ninety percent skill completion. He’s still a bit green against me, though…”

Before Monk could finish, Morning Breeze cut him off. “If he’s worse than you, forget it.”

“Breeze, he’s a real pro, don’t waste the opportunity!” Monk insisted, but admitting the guy was better than himself was a step too far.

“Can he beat me? Warrior or shapeshifter account, either works!” Since Monk was pushing for him, Morning Breeze was curious just how good the newcomer was.

“Don’t pit a warrior against a rogue—your gear is too good, and you’ve got a hero skill.” Monk wouldn’t let the rogue duel Morning Breeze; even without considering the magic ring, Morning Breeze’s Iron Back skill was fatal for rogues. “With this account, don’t use the magic ring or fused gear—let’s keep it fair.”

“Do I need gear to crush you? Monk, let’s duel—loser does thirty minutes on the practice dummy!” Morning Breeze suspected Monk thought he was only winning due to gear.

Monk refused, knowing a match with Morning Breeze was just asking for punishment. “Forget it, Breeze. Last time you only beat me because of the Brotherhood Sword. I’m not in the mood—back to leveling!”

Ending the call, Morning Breeze resumed his aerial search for the Assault Shard.

“A dwarf? Paladin?” Morning Breeze was surprised to spot a dwarf player perched in a tree, spying on the goblin stronghold with binoculars.

Otres?

Never heard of him! Morning Breeze had never come across this name before—a player from the German zone? The dwarf paladin before him was clad in golden gear, with a shield, one-handed sword, and cloak, all epic-tier. Without a doubt, a formidable player. What shocked Morning Breeze further was that he had checked the world rankings before and never seen this player. Moreover, this guy was level thirty-two, two levels above the current top players.

He scoured the world rankings, but Otres was nowhere to be found. Clearly, Otres had a rapid leveling method and possessed equipment or items to hide his information.

Magic ring!

Morning Breeze noticed the emerald ring on Otres’s right middle finger, identical in style to his own magic ring. It was clear—Otres was the German zone’s ring bearer. Morning Breeze hadn’t expected the first person he’d encounter in the grand map would be the German ring bearer.

“Friend behind me, don’t make any sudden moves! We’re both ring bearers—why not cooperate?” Before Morning Breeze could act, the dwarf paladin Otres turned, sitting on the branch and gazing at Morning Breeze in crow form.

Unsure how to respond, Otres continued, “Duan Morning Breeze, berserker shield warrior, blood magic ring, two Brotherhood Swords, main class berserker, sub shield warrior. Possesses a barbarian shapeshifter clone, all-rounder, some info missing.”

“These basic details are correct, right? If you want a full rundown, I can tell you!” The dwarf paladin was rather smug, utterly unafraid of Morning Breeze.

How did he spot me? Morning Breeze had approached stealthily as a crow, fifty meters away, focused on the stronghold. How had Otres detected him?

Even Morning Breeze, a former psychic assassin, couldn’t figure out how Otres had found him or managed to keep his info hidden. This man was mysterious—Morning Breeze had never heard his name and had no idea how he concealed his data and discovered others.

“Oh? That sounds like my info before level thirty—haven’t you heard I’ve switched weapons twice now?” Otres tried to assert dominance, but with Morning Breeze, psychological pressure was futile.

This guy was intriguing—Otres knew Morning Breeze must have checked the rankings and wondered how he’d been found, yet remained calm when his info was recited. Otres was a bit surprised.

“Let me see, then? I want to update my database!” Otres tapped his head, beginning to take an interest in Morning Breeze.

Otres’s achievements came from his real-world wealth and game connections, plus his brilliant mind and skills. Yet he found Morning Breeze, from the China zone, extraordinary—without any real-world backing or game ties, Morning Breeze had achieved what no one else had, becoming the strongest in his region.

“You haven’t noticed I’m on my shapeshifter account?” Morning Breeze reverted to human form, unimpressed by Otres or, perhaps, noting Otres had his own blind spots.

Otres, unfazed by the remark, said, “You must have screenshots or remember your stats, right? Just tell me. If not, let’s talk business.”

“Business? You mean we fight right here?” Morning Breeze didn’t mind the change of topic; he was curious about Otres’s purpose.

Otres shrugged. “I’m a pacifist—never liked fighting! Both ring bearers, but we don’t need to clash now. Why not join forces? I know ring bearers from other zones are teaming up; in the end, there’ll be four rings left.”

“Join forces? Then tell me, if we drop a ring, how do we split it? I’m not letting you take first pick!” Morning Breeze found Otres’s words sensible. Ultimately, four rings would remain, but what would happen next was uncertain. For now, they needed to get rings to empower their own. Players in advanced zones were already buying rings from weaker regions to boost their ring’s power.

Smart! Scheming! Confident!

Otres liked Morning Breeze’s confidence—he dared haggle and even tried to get the better deal. The first ring goes to you; let’s see if you can survive to claim it.

“The whole world knows Otres is the most honorable—what’s the harm in giving you the first ring?” Otres quickly agreed. Against a master like Morning Breeze, victory was uncertain. Otres preferred brains to brawn—not because he couldn’t win, but because he preferred certainty over chance.

Otres was a true master, equal to Morning Breeze. He was the quintessential gaming expert, investing early, leveraging connections for advantages, using command and skill to reap rewards and complete quests.

Of course, Morning Breeze wasn’t foolish enough to trust him. He rarely trusted anyone, even in games. He’d researched Otres online; the info was sparse but negative—robbery, underhanded tactics, ambushes, looting—his magic ring was won through treachery. Originally, he’d helped others complete a quest for free, but at the final boss, he betrayed them, killed the group, and claimed the ring.

Otres preferred using his mind, not force, to get what he wanted—quite the opposite of Morning Breeze. Yet he was powerful, being the first paladin with three talent branches, even more impressive than Morning Breeze’s two. Morning Breeze guessed Otres had fused at least three talent stones for this edge, though the odds of success were only one percent, entirely luck-dependent.

High intelligence, cunning strategies, stellar game stats, top-tier skills—every advantage was concentrated in Otres. Morning Breeze suspected he was a data analyst, like the Data Emperor, since both chose paladin and belonged to the high-IQ crowd, with huge early-game advantages. What Morning Breeze admired most was Otres’s abandonment of human racial bonuses—even though that meant an extra accessory slot, theoretically the greatest advantage. Dwarves, though, had unique strengths: besides talents, their short stature made them harder to hit. As for the human racial bonus, it could be replaced with the Alliance Badge. The dwarf’s Petrified Skin talent could remove persistent negative effects and boost survivability, not to mention treasure-finding.

“No problem! But don’t try anything sly—I can one-shot you anytime, even with your invincibility skill!” Morning Breeze added Otres as a friend and sent him a screenshot of a scroll. It was something he’d taken from the Alliance arsenal last time.

[Meteor Burn Forbidden Scroll]: Forbidden scroll. Tear it open to summon a meteor storm and incinerate everything within a 5,000-meter radius. Monsters killed by the scroll grant no experience or loot; non-red players drop no items. Usable once.

“That’s a fine item!” Otres’s face changed instantly. If Morning Breeze used the scroll, Otres would die unless he escaped the 5,000-meter range. On death, his ring would drop, even if he wasn’t flagged as a red player. Otres had hoped to lure Morning Breeze into the stronghold, then kill him for the ring. But with this scroll revealed, Otres wasn’t eager to risk it—he’d rather duel Morning Breeze.

Otres knew Morning Breeze must have researched him, so he used the scroll as a warning. Such forbidden scrolls were so rare that no one else likely possessed one. He didn’t know if it could kill everyone within range, but he knew for certain he didn’t want to gamble.

An orange forbidden scroll—Morning Breeze could have tested it on Otres, but he wasn’t sure it would work. After all, paladins could activate invincibility and hearthstone home. If the scroll couldn’t break invincibility, it would be useless. Besides, such forbidden scrolls were precious; best saved for city sieges. The Alliance arsenal only had one, which spoke to its rarity. If the odds of dropping a ring were only fifty percent, Morning Breeze wouldn’t waste it—even at one hundred percent, he’d hesitate.

A clever adversary! But if you want to match wits with me, you’re not quite qualified! Otres couldn’t help but praise Morning Breeze; it had been a long time since he’d faced a rival of this caliber. He’d encountered plenty who thought themselves smart, only to fall at his feet.

“With such a scroll, why don’t we team up for some quests?” The dwarf paladin invited Morning Breeze to join his party, making sure not to yield leadership. Once Morning Breeze agreed, Otres shared a quest with him.