Chapter 464: Siege
Sylvanas regained consciousness.
Where was she? Was she imprisoned in a basement? Why was it so dark? She was so angry. She was also unable to communicate with Arthur and the others!
Sylvanas sat up.
She strongly condemned Changan City for kidnapping her on the forum.
Her action only gained sympathy from the non-affiliated players. The Guilds allied with the Pioneer Alliance also gave her support. However, Changan City was unwilling to release Sylvanas.
Arthur informed Sylvanas in the Guild Wechat about their plans to attack the Changan Stronghold and rescue her.
Sylvanas had to be in the Changan City Stronghold for Arthur to rescue her. However, the chance was slim. Since the gamers could build their Stronghold outside of Eternal Kingdom with a one-time payment of Reputation Points and game coins, it was likely that Sylvanas was kept in a location outside of Eternal Kingdom.
Most Guilds didn't want to build their Stronghold outside of Eternal Kingdom since it wasn't safe. After all, other gamers could rob and destroy the Strongholds located outside of Eternal Kingdom without any punishment.
There were no benefits to building a Stronghold outside of Eternal Kingdom, considering all of the Daily Missions were to be completed in Eternal Kingdom. To earn Magic Stones, the gamers had to work in Winterfell. They were unable to build a Stronghold at the boundary of Winterfell because there were Garrison Guard patrols. The Guards would stop the gamers from building illegal buildings and demolish them. The offending gamers could also be fined.
Not many gamers were fined. When they revealed they were from Eternal Kingdom, the Garrison Guards would show their respect. The gamers of Eternal Kingdom had received high standing in Winterfell after they saved Winterfell a few times.
It even applied to gamers who didn't play the game for long.
The gamers suspected that there were two Reputation Systems. One was Group Reputation, while the other was Individual Reputation. However, there was no clarification on the official website, so the gamers weren't sure if there was such a differentiation.
However, Changan City wasn't a normal Guild. Even the Pioneer Alliance was going to the Surface City to build a Stronghold. Hence, it was expected of Changan City to build another Stronghold outside the safety zone.
Normal Guilds didn't want to build their Strongholds outside of the safety zone. This was because they couldn't ensure the safety of the Strongholds if they were discovered by other gamers. Every gamer could become a robber or vandal without being denounced or discovered.
Even if the offending gamer was discovered, their physical location couldn't be traced via the internet, and they couldn't be subjected to punishments.
Arthur could use similar methods to find out Sylvanas' hidden location and Changan City's Stronghold outside the safety zone.
He only had to spend some money, as it could make the world go round.
Sylvanas failed to establish her location by surveying her surroundings, so Arthur contacted specific members of Changan City. He also created an announcement on the forum to reward anyone with information of Changan City's Stronghold and Sylvanas' location.
Hundreds of gamers claimed to know the location of Changan City's Stronghold and Sylvanas and provided detailed information. But most of them were lies to obtain rewards. After checking through the information provided by the rest of the gamers, Arthur obtained two Stronghold locations of Changan City and a possible location where they would imprison Sylvanas.
The management of Changan City was resourceful. They had chosen locations outside the safety zone that gamers didn't normally visit.
They were at the corners outside the map of the Ogre Fortress.
The Ogre Fortress was located in the Sighing Wilderness, which was an accessible plain. The Sighing Wilderness was connected by many underground tunnels that were inhabited by Underground Spiders or Dire Wolves.
Only a capable Guild would be able to clear the tunnels of monsters and build their Stronghold.
The other Stronghold location was in the forest that Eternal Kingdom and the Merchant Alliance had previously signed an agreement on. It was no longer called a forest, as the last tree was cut down. It was now barren land. All of the wood required by Eternal Kingdom was supplied by Victoria City.
The gamers of Victoria City made their earnings from selling wood.
This was the reason Arthur and his members wanted to build a new Stronghold in the Surface World. Instead of spending a lot of money to purchase wood from the Victorians, it was better to obtain the wood themselves.
Arthur gathered his Guild members and started planning for the coming battle.
The news of the impending war between the Pioneer Alliance and Changan City spread like wildfire in the game. Other Guild members and non-affiliated gamers waited in anticipation. This was the first time since the start of the game that a Stronghold battle was occurring outside the safety zone.
...
The fully armed gamers of Victoria City were about to set off towards the Duke of York under the lead of Lancelot and his wife, Guinevere.
After Dragonborn and Hoodlum cooperated in a secret operation to capture the Wyvern, it hadn't appeared anymore.
Though Queen Lilo's order was still valid and the gamers had to capture the Wyvern, most of them didn't harbor any hopes of capturing it. Dragonborn had the Strange Encounter Mission, so it was unlikely that the Wyvern would appear again.
Lancelot only needed to bring a few gamers to the York Territory to build a Stronghold with a Teleport Portal.
Dragonborn, who was the protagonist of the Wyvern incident, was enjoying life in paradise for the past few days.
Besides going offline to sleep at night, Dragonborn was receiving tortuous and unbearable training. Each session was a breakthrough in his constitution and mental endurance.
He also sustained multiple injuries and fractures.
The fugitive Chief Imperial Guard was a powerful combatant and a priest with the Power of Sacred Light. Whenever Dragonborn sustained injuries or fractures during training, he would use the Power of Sacred Light to heal Dragonborn's wounds.
It was a new discovery that the Power of Sacred Light had healing effects on Humans. Dragonborn shared his discovery on the discussion forum, and the Human gamers did an experiment and confirmed Dragonborn's finding. The Power of Sacred Light could heal Fairies and Elves too.
For the gamers of Eternal Kingdom, the Power of Sacred Light could only aid in combat. It was unable to heal Underworld creatures.
The inquisitive gamers asked the Sacred Knight Mentor Beast, who replied, "This is a curse on all Underworld creatures. Most Underworld creatures aren't passionate about learning, so we were abandoned by the Holy Lord. If we persist in learning, the Holy Lord will accept us one day. Time is better spent learning than thinking of the impossible. Be a learned creature and obtain the essence of the Sacred Light. That is the Truth."
That was Senior Beast's advice for the gamers of Eternal Kingdom.
Dragonborn had a similar Strange Encounter to that of Hoodlum. Dragonborn's mentor was a powerful fighter. Besides physical training, he tutored Dragonborn in his studies. He had the intention to train Dragonborn like a Sacred Knight.
The reason the legendary fugitive Tomato was willing to train Dragonborn was that Dragonborn begged Tomato to teach him. Dragonborn expressed his hatred for King Potato II. Even if Dragonborn sacrificed his life, he wanted King Potato II dead.
Tomato felt that the curse was a blessing for Dragonborn, who was without any sense of pain. Perhaps, Dragonborn could finally defeat King Potato II.
Dragonborn's Weapon Level increased rapidly to Level 9 within a few days of training. He was now only second to Hoodlum's Weapon Level 10. It was only a matter of time before Dragonborn attained Level 10.
The young Wyvern was kept in the cage and fed with wood every day. Occasionally, the young Wyvern was let out of the cage for Dragonborn to be intimate with it. That was Tomato's request.
Tomato was worried that the large Wyvern would locate the young Wyvern's trail and find them. However, that didn't happen.
Tomato thought that the large Wyvern might have given up looking for the young Wyvern. He was curious why the young Wyvern was friendly with Dragonborn.
The young Wyvern was treating Dragonborn like its mother. Dragonborn said, "When the creature hatched, it treated the person that it saw as its mother." However, Tomato thought it was nonsense.
There must be a special reason this young Wyvern was treating Dragonborn like its mother.
Tomato didn't know the reason. He thought it was probably due to the curse inflicted by King Potato II. He would find out the truth in the future.
When Dragonborn woke up and was prepared for a day of training, he discovered Tomato wasn't in the small house.
He stood up and looked around for Tomato. When he walked out of the house, his mouth was covered from behind. His first instinct told him that it was Tomato.
Dragonborn didn't shout loudly or ask any questions. He followed the person to the middle of the house. He then heard some movements outside the window.
Before dawn, a few figures flashed by the window.
They didn't know who had besieged the small house.
"I wanted to wake you up, but I was unable to do so. You sleep like a dead person. Fortunately, you're still breathing," Tomato said behind Dragonborn. He was complaining about Dragonborn's deep sleep, something he had done many times.
As a fighter, it was important to maintain vigilance during sleep. However, Dragonborn was unable to do that.
When Tomato was about to abandon Dragonborn and his young Wyvern and leave with his two Forest Wolves, Dragonborn woke up. He was lucky.
"Who's outside?" Dragonborn asked softly.
"I don't know. I don't think they have good intentions. They destroyed the traps and alarms that I set up at the boundary and got in by stealth," Tomato said as he held a Bow and grabbed an arrow.
The two Forest Wolves were in the living room. They were ready to pounce and remained quiet due to Tomato's order.
Tomato gave an eye signal to Dragonborn for him to back up.
Dragonborn backed into a bedroom, and Tomato walked to the middle of the living room. Tomato placed his hand on a corner of the table.
He activated a mechanism that made the wall between the living room and the bedroom turn. The ground started turning and revealed an opening for a single person.
Tomato signaled for the two Forest Wolves to go into the opening.
Dragonborn gaped in astonishment. He had been living there for days, but he didn't realize that behind the wall was an opening to a tunnel.
Dragonborn immediately opened the Wyvern's cage and released the young Wyvern, signaling for it to enter the tunnel as well. The young Wyvern understood Dragonborn. It chirped softly and squirmed into the opening obediently. Dragonborn followed behind the young Wyvern.
The last person to leave was Tomato. He pressed a rock in the tunnel, and the wall returned to its original position, hiding the exit.
"Let's leave immediately. If they can deactivate the alarms outside the house, they can find the mechanism for opening the exit. Let's leave before we're discovered," Tomato said solemnly to Dragonborn. He walked to Dragonborn and led the way in front of the two Forest Wolves.
Tomato looked experienced. It wasn't the first time he encountered them. Dragonborn was puzzled, but he followed Tomato without asking questions. It was a tense situation, and it wasn't appropriate for Dragonborn to ask.
After walking for an hour, they arrived at a dead end.
Dragonborn didn't know if Tomato dug the tunnel by himself. It was awesome if he did. How did he manage to dig such a long tunnel?
There were intersections along the tunnel that led to different places. However, there were no indicators. Besides Tomato, nobody knew where they led to.
"Who are those people? Are they here to kill you?" Dragonborn asked Tomato after they exited the tunnel and arrived at a strange forest.
"They could have been sent by King Potato II, or they could be bounty hunters. I was in the Godly Kingdom before. I'm willing to train you because King Potato II has to be overthrown. I was unable to do so, but perhaps you can do that. However, you have to be prepared for death," Tomato said bluntly.
"Let's go. We have to leave this forest. It's a long journey. Take this, It'll hide our scents from the Forest Fairies."
Tomato handed a pouch to Dragonborn. The items in the pouch emitted a special smell.
Just as Dragonborn took the pouch, Mana energy accumulated above his head. Tomato pushed Dragonborn away, and a series of Mana bullets landed at their previous location.