"What’s gotten into you? Did you stay up all night playing the ga again?" Xiaxia asked Xin, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. He looked even more fatigued than usual as if he might collapse at any mont.
Of course, Xin couldn’t tell Xiaxia that he’d been staying up all night planning a sche to disrupt her ex-boyfriend’s upcoming wedding just a week away.
"Where’s mom?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Still sleeping. Hurry up and take a shower, and don’t skip breakfast if you don’t want to be late," Xiaxia replied.
Rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn, Xin went through his morning routine before both he and Xiaxia headed for the bus.
Xin was so exhausted that he closed his eyes in an attempt to catch a quick nap once they’ve ridden.
"I’ve told you countless tis not to let the ga consu you. You should have better self-control by now. You’re not a kid anymore," Xiaxia chided.
Xin managed only a halfhearted groan in response, already drifting into a half-dream state.
After reaching school, the day proceeded as usual. Xin found himself not needing to exert much effort to catch up with the lectures, as they were primarily focused on refining and applying their artistic techniques.
However, being first-year students, they still had to attend other subjects like history, math, science, and literature and even endure physical education classes that they found less than enjoyable.
During lunchti, Victor approached Xin at the cafeteria. "Are you holding up okay?" he inquired.
Xin nodded. "Yeah, just had an all-nighter."
"Video gas?" Patrick chid in with a grin. "Wait, do you play Guildbane too?"
Xin nodded again.
"I told you I’m not the only addict here," Patrick teased Victor, who rely shook his head with a chuckle.
"Let’s exchange IDs then," Patrick said eagerly, taking out his phone to get Xin’s account information.
Xin complied, as he had so important questions he wanted to ask Patrick anyway.
Victor interjected with a smirk, "Are you sure that’s wise? Pluto’s gaplay is so dreadful that you might reconsider."
Patrick shot a glare at Victor. "I’m not that bad. I just need a bit more practice."
"You’ve been ’practicing’ for four years," Victor retorted with an amused shake of his head.
Patrick brushed off Victor’s comnts and focused on Xin. "Lord Schrodinger? That’s an interesting choice of a na."
Xin couldn’t help but think about how ironic it was, given that Patrick himself went with the avatar na "Pluto."
"Co on, Victor. Add Xin, and let’s team up for an adventure," Patrick urged.
Victor agreed, albeit reluctantly. "I’d rather not team up with you, but I’ll add Xin."
Xin watched as Victor typed in his userna. "Grey Smoke." The na sounded familiar, and Xin couldn’t quite place it at first. Then, it hit him. He turned to Victor in disbelief. "You’re Grey Smoke?"
Patrick let out a sigh. "I know. It’s hard to believe, right? But yes, he’s THE Grey Smoke, one of the top fourteen Dual Wielders. It’s unfair how he acts all nonchalant about the ga, but he’s among the top twenty players in that category."
Xin’s eyes were wide with astonishnt. He couldn’t believe he was sitting next to one of the top twenty players in the ga.
Victor waved off the praise. "It’s not that big a deal if you based rankings on categories. And how many Dual Wielders are in the ga anyway? Not many. If you look at the overall, I’m probably in the top hundreds or sothing."
Xin couldn’t hide his admiration. "Still, it’s incredibly impressive."
Victor chuckled lightly. "Nah, not really. Money can take you a long way in this ga. Anyone can achieve that much with the right investnt."
Curiosity burning, Xin asked, "Are you a part of any guild?"
Victor shook his head. "I prefer playing solo. Guilds can be too constricting for my liking."
"You’re spot on," Patrick chid in.
Xin was intrigued, so he joined in the conversation. "But what do you do if you want to enter dungeons? Aren’t there usually restrictions on the number of players?"
"We often just form temporary groups with other solo players, or sotis guilds hire us as rcenaries," Victor explained.
Listening to them, Xin realized that he felt the sa way. Being a part of a guild with all its rules and responsibilities didn’t appeal to him.
"Hey, look at this!" Patrick suddenly exclaid, showing them his phone screen. "Venomous Spider is challenging Lake Fish for their two hundred spots."
Victor seed unimpressed. "Guild wars happen every few minutes. It’s not that big of a deal."
Patrick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but this one is different. It’s a battle for the hundreds, so it’s worth paying attention to."
Intrigued, Xin decided to watch the fight as well. "What rank is Venomous Spider?"
"I think it’s around rank three hundred or so," Patrick replied. "If they defeat Lake Fish, they’ll reclaim their spot in the top two hundred. Guild wars are one of the fastest ways to climb the rankings. But the real question is, will Lake Fish accept the challenge?"
Xin was puzzled. "Can a challenge be denied? I’m not familiar with Guild Wars."
Patrick explained, filling in the gaps. "Of course. You can’t just declare war whenever you feel like it. It requires a lot of resources, gil, and careful planning from both sides. The challenger guild also needs to offer sothing valuable as a prize if they lose to entice the defending guild to accept their challenge. It’s usually a hefty amount of gil or rare items."
Patrick kept on explaining without Xin needing to prompt him. "In this case, Venomous Spider is offering 10 Crystalline Ingots, 1 15oz of Dragon Blood, and 100,000,000 gil."
"Those two items are rare, so there’s no way that Lake Fish wouldn’t accept," Victor said and made a side comnt, "Looks like they really want that spot."
"What happens if Venomous Spider wins? What do they gain from the battle?" Xin inquired.
"If Venomous Spider wins, they receive EXP from the system, and Lake Fish would have to pay half of that 100,000,000 gil to them, and give up their rank to Venomous Python. Lake Fish, on the other hand, would assu Venomous Python’s rank from before," Patrick explained.
"However, if Lake Fish wins, they would get all those items, the gil, and the EXP rewards from the system and retain their rankings."
Xin absorbed the information. "So, it seems like Venomous Spider wouldn’t gain much from this fight, except for the rankings."
"Well, challengers are always at a disadvantage in these situations. But the EXP rewards from the system for the winner are substantial, and it helps increase your guild’s rank. Higher rankings co with benefits, like a 5% discount on items in shops, a 5% reduction in crafting ti, and various other bonuses, like a 5% increase in item drops. That’s why guilds are always engaging in wars."
"I understand now," Xin said, growing more interested in this aspect of the ga.
Victor chid in, "There are plenty of advantages to joining a guild, as long as you’re willing to follow their rules and guidelines."
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