MM - Chapter 88 - TURNING POINT

Melani Feladay

Mel couldn’t tear her eyes away from Raine. His scolding voice kept repeating in her head, reminding her to be aware of her surroundings but it was no use. Even breathing was hard and her vision continued to tunnel, focused entirely on the blue sheen outlining his muscled body. The bright coloration only barely allowed her to keep sight of his blindingly quick movements. He was a god of death, a meat-grinder without remorse or hesitation, weaving through his enemies and leaving only blood and equipment in his wake.

In the corner of her HUD, a blinking party-chat message caught her attention. Out of habit, she skimmed it.

“I read on the forums that a level ten Lustrous Blue sold for five million credits…”

“Hasn't he picked up at least fifty of those in the last few seconds? So… just how rich is he?”

The chat continued to scroll and Mel grumbled to herself, disappointed in the wasted two seconds of her life. Watching Raine was infinitely more important than the others coming to grips with how amazing he was. Every day since meeting him, she’d thanked her lucky star that she could read his surface thoughts. Otherwise, she would be just like the rest of them, or worse, not a part of his life at all.

From around a bend to the south, a relatively small force of soldiers came rushing up the road. The much larger army from the town was charging as well, and Raine was right in the middle of them. He showed no signs of caring, casually collecting tens of millions of credits like he was picking fruit from the side of the road. He abruptly finished off the last two survivors and claimed two more glistening blue pieces of gear. 

Her heart lurched when he ran directly toward the smaller force. She keenly remembered her muscles stiffening and the sweat running down her back as she walked through those very soldiers. They could have killed her at any moment, and she would have been powerless to resist. Raine fearlessly dashing toward them brought the realization that the only reason he didn't kill them earlier was to protect her.

I’m too weak to stand beside him. No wonder he keeps brushing me off about the contract. I’m not worthy of being in his eyes. I… I have to get stronger. I can’t believe I was messing around just to hear him scold me. What if he thinks I’m not worth it and doesn’t even do that anymore? What if he leaves me behind?

Mel shuddered and a tear leaked down her cheek. She felt her Stealth fluctuate from the minuscule movement and schooled her muscles with a vengeance. She couldn’t allow any more mistakes.

Little did Mel know, Celeste was having a similar epiphany, though for very different reasons.

[He’s a monster. An absolute monster. And here I am, so damn weak and useless that I’m not even worthy of collecting his loot. How am I going to crush him at this rate? I’ve been so idiotically complacent because he keeps thinking I’ll become some god or whatever. He’s down there right now, pulling even further ahead. At this rate, I’ll always be licking his boots. I want… No, I need to change. This isn't a joke anymore. I thought I understood, but I didn’t know anything. I’m such a fool.]

Celeste’s grip tightened around her staff. A churning blaze of desire raged in her gut. She wanted nothing more than to race down the hill and fight. She wasn’t the only one struggling, Fizgore and Rhino battled right alongside her. Discovering what Raine was truly capable of was an eye-opening experience that would drive them forward along their martial paths for years to come.

If Raine knew the depths of the impact he was having on these future powerhouses, he would have made the show a bit flashier.

Meanwhile, the chat between Richtor’s group flowed without end.

“Guys, I think he was serious about kicking the major guilds out of the area…”

“I’ll never be skeptical of him again. Does that mean we’re going to be a part of something so epic?”

“I don’t care how he changed so much anymore. I just want him to do the same for me! Can you imagine how awesome it would be to crush those uppity bastards with him? I have to pee just thinking about it!”

“Who cares about that! Look at all the loot! No wonder he said our real income wouldn’t be the salary he offered…”

By the time Raine killed half of the five hundred reinforcements, a matching blaze of desire and greed illuminated each of their gazes.

Arya Tafell Grandmaster Assassin of The Everlasting Phoenix Clan

On the far side of the valley, Arya watched the unfolding chaos with extreme trepidation. Her hands shook, sweat spilling from her pores. However, her terror had little to do with the man below, killing her nephew’s people without mercy. Since she was a child, Arya had seen her father—Tannis Tafell—winning resource and land duels for their family. She herself had participated in a few. She was no stranger to combat.

No, the scene unfolding below was not nearly enough to shock her—an experienced class six with over a thousand contracted kills. There was only one facet of the battle that caught her attention. The seemingly simple incongruity cascaded into another, then another, and before long, her entire worldview had drastically shifted for the worse.

It wasn’t possible to become even a class five martial without gaining a deep understanding of the human body. ZionLine’s recent update aligned real-world physiques with avatars, so she was one hundred percent confident that the mysterious Alaric was in fact, no more than a boy. What had truly unsettled her, was that he was a boy she didn’t recognize, and that should be impossible.

How could an unknown youngster be capable of fighting with the grace, attentiveness, and honed instincts of a peak class five master? The youngest peak master she’d ever met was over fifty. Someone like Alaric should have been on the cover of every official vodcast in the world, a guiding light and inspiration to budding martials everywhere.

She knew the answer to the question, and it shook her to her core.

From her first hour in ZionLine, Arya understood the game was a cauldron of potential. Even regular citizens thrown into it would find themselves stimulated in every meaningful way needed to march down the martial path. Before today, that thought had been one that filled her with excitement. Now, the true horror of this world was becoming clear.

If Alaric was merely the natural result of a regular youngster engaging in ZionLine, then that meant anyone could grow so capable. Sure, his single-handed defeat of hundreds couldn’t be replicated in real life, but that wasn’t the point. It was the combat experience he was gaining, and how quickly the time dilation allowed him to gain it. Her paltry thousand assassinations no longer felt like an accomplishment. It was a joke. This unknown boy had outdone her entire life’s work in two minutes.

Alaric weaved through several attacks, striking down another group of elites and tears leaked from Arya’s eyes. He wasn’t even trying to hide his martial techniques! They weren’t ones she recognized, either! That meant he learned them in the game. This one incident was going to spark a scandal that would take the world by storm.

What would happen if tens of thousands of normal people grew so quickly? If regular clan members, people that must be controlled in order for society to function, suddenly gained unimaginable fighting experience and martial techniques? Would they still be satisfied with their lot in life? No, of course not. They would join hands, and then, even the likes of the Tafells could be overthrown. The world order would be upturned. Chaos would swallow them all. It would be tens of times worse than the AI wars.

As far as Arya could tell, there was no stopping it. They couldn’t restrict access to the game. If the Phoenix Clan squandered the opportunity while rival families and territories didn’t, her clan members would fall behind and be reduced to ashes in a blink.

The more she thought about it, the more dire the reality became. The entire world was a tank full of hydrogen, waiting for a spark. Every faction, family, and territory eyed their neighbors’ resources with greed. They desperately searched for an edge, yet the Old Monsters had kept all the power to themselves. Suddenly, the gates to progress were being thrown wide open in the form of a game that already had an irresistible draw in the form of tripling one’s lifespan. 

By the time Alaric finished off the five hundred elites that came to pincer him, there was only one dominant thought that remained in Arya’s mind: The clan had no choice but to immediately invest everything into ZionLine. They could no longer afford to merely dip their toes into this newest fad to earn a few credits. It was time to go full force. If the people were going to grow stronger, then they would have to grow ten times stronger. This was an opportunity they had to seize, or only death awaited them.

Raine KongRu

After finishing the last of the reinforcements, the main army was almost on top of him. Raine wasn’t frustrated that he didn’t have time to gather all the loot. Afterall, anyone who stole from him would drop their ill-gotten gains so long as he found and killed them within two hours. He used the last of his Discipline to Lunge multiple times, quickly reaching a high ledge and breaking line of sight with the army—ending his combat state. From there, he activated his Premium Skydrifter and truly vanished behind a veil of impenetrable invisibility.

A short flight saw him alighting on the opposite side of the valley, where he assumed a meditative pose. With the help of an item he had in great quantity, he rapidly restored his depleted Celestial Power and Discipline.

[Regeneration Stone: (Common Grey) Boosts resource gains of regenerative stances by 1000% for 10 minutes (Uses: 4) (no cooldown) (cannot be used in a combat state)]

In less than three minutes, he was back in the air, swooping toward his enemies. They had spread out to find him, leaving the casters and rangers in well-defended pockets. He crashed directly into one such group—nearly five hundred strong. Over the next minute, four Ruptures and two Great Divides left their numbers decimated, and his pockets overflowing with loot.

He retreated again, restored his reserves, then struck once more. A few more rotations found them growing wise to his strategy. Lacking higher level skills like true teleportation to lock down his evasiveness, they were powerless to resist. They tried to send those tasked with picking up his loot back into the town for safety. He had been waiting for them to do exactly that, and dropped atop them, earning several thousand pieces of level ten and fifteen gear in only a few seconds.

Hundreds of revived soldiers rushed from the gates to stop him. Already down a level and piece of gear from dying once, they only added to the death toll. Dying a second time within two hours of resurrecting triggered the law of five, turning the usual five minute respawn into one lasting twenty-five minutes. That was more than enough time for Raine to clean up enough of their forces that they had no choice but to retreat behind the safety of the walls.

With the field clear, Raine angled toward the town and sent a message in the group chat, “Stealth to the southern gate, I'll meet you there.”

Their responses came instantly in a wave of enthusiastic assent, “Sir, yes sir!”

“Right away, sir!” 

“If I can’t complete such a simple task, there’s no need to throw me out. I’ll dig myself a ditch to lie in and never appear before you again!”

Raine nodded approvingly, “That’s the spirit. Good to see everyone so motivated.”

Raine arrived first and was greeted by thousands of Rising Endlessly members. They watched him with unmitigated fury marring their features. Raine returned their salutations with a cheerful wave. They offered too many colorful profanities to pick from while attempting to bodily obstruct him from walking down the main street.

He didn’t try very hard to push through. Within a few seconds of him being unable to easily progress, a powerful wave of energy slammed into their shoulders. Raine’s view of the town opened up as thousands of players fell to their knees. A roar dripping with threat had them clapping hands over their ears, “Queen Analice Celendine has decreed that none may inhibit the traversal of her streets! Travelers will obey the laws while inside my walls! This is your only warning. Further action will result in immediate death!”

None saw the Vaaterran whose thunderous voice alone decreased their health by fifty percent.

I see Salamon is as overbearing as always. What a perfect opportunity to teach these pompous assholes why you don’t cause such a large scene inside an intermediate town.

Unharmed by the tier four overlord’s rage, Raine hurriedly pushed forward into the still-stunned crowd. Blood still flowed from their eyes and ears and they were entirely unable to collect their wits in time to move out of his way. The few he collided with still had hearts filled with anger and frustration, now worsened by overwhelming pain. Since Raine gave them no time to recover, and they continued to not do everything in their power to obey his orders, the Vaaterran himself took action.

A shockwave passed through the streets from a lone figure in yellow robes jumping into the sky. He spread his arms and great, rushing tempests of air shot from his fingers. The driving winds turned dark and foggy. They swirled, rising high above and coalescing into a pitch-black thundercloud. Angry arcs of green and purple lightning gathering within.

“You were warned, feeble immortals! Taste my Judgement of The Unfaithful!”

Horrified, the players clogging the streets stumbled to their feet and fled in every direction. It was far too late. Much faster than natural lightning could travel, a thousand bolts zipped to the ground. They unerringly found those who were previously filled with the intent to bar Raine’s passage. Each bolt hopped from person to person, and in less than the blink of an eye, over five thousand players were reduced to puffs of stardust.