MMORPG: Rebirth of the Legendary Guardian

“World! Greeny! Fang! Foxey! Tonight, I want each of you to lead teams of your own. We will be carrying out a raid through the Front Wing and Middle Wing. I want all of your members to get qualified for entry to the Main Wing!”

Sky Shaman, the guild master of Sky High, was gathering elites in the guild to prepare for a large-scale campaign.

“Guild master, there are only 17 Level 20 players available at the moment! We can’t form 4 teams!” World Hunter was quick to address the guild master’s oversight.

“....H-How long? How long before we have 20 level 20 players?”

“About 5 hours, sir!”

“That’s too slow! I want you to arrange a team. I want all level 17 members to help those at Level 19 to level up! Within 2 hours, I want to see all of them at Level 20!”

“Sir, yes sir!”

Sky Shaman turned around and faced his members. His face, initially lined with worry and anxiety, abruptly broke into a broad, knowing smile.

“Brothers, Zhan Yu and his party may have left us behind for now. But, know this! They are in a bit of a pickle right now!”

Sky Shaman’s smiled with such confidence that if he did not know any better, victory was already well within his grasp.

“Guild master?” His guildmates spoke up uncertainly, not sharing his sense of conviction, as evidenced by their past repeated losses to Zhan Yu.

Sky Shaman’s smile only grew wider.

“They are currently lacking in party members! Take a look at their party formations. They have always been a wild bunch that charges into the fray like Leeroy Jenkins. They may have taken on both the Bangar Crypt and also part of the Marzerway’s Lair. Have any of you realized that to be the most likely scenario? We, Sky High have dispatched two parties to take down the Marzerway’s Lair. The same goes for The Dominators and Crimson Rage. Both guilds have dispatched 2 parties just like we did! However, it seems that the most Zhan Yu can cobble up together is one miserable party! This can only lead to one sad conclusion; they simply do not have sufficient Level 20 members!”

“The Main-Wing is a 20-man dungeon. No matter how strong Zhan Yu’s party may be, they are but a small team! How could they possibly take down the Main Wing with just 5 people?”

World Hunter and his party members’ eyes radiated with renewed hope at the prospect of victory, for once.

“Now listen up! This will be our secret strategy! Know that we must treasure every minute, every second of the day and fight! Fight for our guild’s honor! We shall go straight ahead with the Main Wing and start with the Normal Mode. There, we will take our time to gather intelligence on the boss! Discover every possible skill, explore every possible outcome! The equipment dropped in the Normal Mode are all Level 20 Black-Steel equipment, which are almost on par with Level 10 Green-Copper equipment! If you raid the Normal Mode of the Main Wing, it will be no different from raiding the Bangar Crypt Hardcore Mode! Furthermore, this nest will drop set-based equipment! Be it Black-Steel, Green-Copper, or even Grey-Silver, they will all be set equipment with potential set effects!”

Sky Shaman eyes gleamed with infectious excitement. He went on.

“The Hard Mode of the nest will drop a level 20 Green-Copper equipment! Which are the same drops as the Hardcore Modes of the Front Wing and Middle Wing! Which is why I have deduced that we could not possibly fall behind in terms of equipment strength! In fact, we could be even stronger than them! If my calculation is correct, we will have 4 days before Zhan Yu can even muster up a 20-man party! What say you my brethren? With a 4 days head start, with all the tactical advantage from all the recon we could carry out, is losing to them even a possibility?!

“Sir, no sir! We will win!”

“That’s the spirit! We will win! No, we must win! The “First Clear” Achievement of a 20-man Hardcore dungeon is much more valuable than a puny 5-man dungeon!”

“We, the Sky High guild...”

“ARE THE STRONGEST!”

Sky High’s burning passion to overtake Zhan Yu was truly admirable! However, if this so-called burning passion was to be witnessed by Zhang Yang, he would not be intimidated by one bit nor be in awe. He would, on the contrary, be laughing his head off sinisterly. A bunch of lowly players who think that they even matter in the big league! If they did not have Zhan Yu’s [Beginner Anti-Shadow Potion] to begin with, they would never ever get pass the fifth phase of the Marzerway’s! Yeah sure, the Normal Mode was practically a free service for you all, but the Hardcore Mode? If not for anything else pray that you could even end up walking out of the dungeon in one piece!

......

Sky Shaman was not the only one that had a plan to counter Zhan Yu. The Dominator and Crimson Rage also had their eyes on the apparent weakness of Zhan Yu and had devised a plan to overtake him. The war for the next dungeon “First Clear” Achievement was going to get wilder and fiercer!

Zhang Yang logged into the game after his dinner.

He opened the guild member window and checked the members’ statuses. There were a total of 316 members. Only 11 players were Level 15 and 99% of the guild member had exceeded Level 10. They were all still currently raiding the Bangar Crypt.

Zhang Yang quickly invited Hundred Shots, Fatty Han, Drizzler, and Little Snow into the party and explained his strategy. Once he gained their approval, he turned to the guild channel and began his speech.

“Hi everyone, of the Lone Desert Smoke. I’m Zhan Yu, the new guild master!”

“Woah! Woah! It;s big brother Zhan Yu! You’ve finally shown yourself!”

“Wow! My idol! Ahh! Please come closer!”

“Please power level me!”

“Praise the almighty boss Zhan Yu!”

“Ahem! Everyone please calm down for a moment and let me speak!” Zhang Yang waited for a moment, until the members had calmed down. Only then he continued, “Some say when you receive a higher title, you would need to show your worth for it. Now that I have accepted the title of guild master, this is my way of showing my worth!”

“Hahahaha!” Everyone in the guild broke out in hearty laughter.

“In an hour’s time, Little Snow, Drizzler, Hundred Shots, Slim and Handsome, and I will lead two parties into the Bangar Crypt, Hardcore Mode! There, we will start to pick and select the best of you!”

“Awesome! I want in!”

“Oh! Me too!”

“Hey! I want in as well!”

“Big Bro Zhan Yu! Please take care of me!”

Everyone started to get excited as they heard that Zhan Yu himself will be leading them to a dungeon. When there was a chance to get better equipment, who would want to miss out?

Zhang Yang waited again for the guild members to settle down and then he continued.

“I’m sure everyone is looking forward for this, but keep in mind that there are only two parties available. There are limited slots! Which is why Drizzler and I have made a decision to properly solve this problem. Whoever has contributed more to the guild will be prioritized!”

“Big boss Zhan Yu. What is this guild contribution and how do we get them?” Most of the members started to echo the question.

“Hehe, this is a new invention of mine!” Zhang Yang explained.

“In the future, whenever we want to raid a dungeon, the members with higher guild contributions will have higher priorities in joining the expedition! To earn contribution points, you must complete a guild quest. I have already designed a few guild quests. Furthermore, you can also earn contribution points by raiding the specifically assigned dungeon! There are other ways for you to earn contribution points such as, donating items into the guild’s bank, obtaining special system rewards and help in promoting the guild’s name! However, these points aren’t just for show. You can spend these points to exchange equipment from the guild! That is why, everyone has the chance to do it!”

The guild got rowdy and some had even scooted away to carry out the new guild quests.

Guild quests were almost similar to that of daily quests. You could only complete 5 quests a day. However, these quests were repeatable. This meant that the quests could be repeated day after day. The quests were simple and easy to complete. Some of the quest were as easy as killing a certain number of monster, or running from places to places. All it would take was just a few moments of your time.

Zhang Yang switched to the party channel and spoke to the team.

“Later, I will bring a team on my own. The 4 of you will bring another team! Both Fatty and Hundred Shots are Beastmaster classes. Their two pets are almost the same as two tanks. With their level, they can easily take down a Level 10 Hardcore dungeon!

“Little Yang, can you really do it alone?” Fatty Han tried to reason with Zhang Yang. He was afraid that he might get over his head and fail to leave a good impression to the guild members.

Zhang Yang snickered. “If that’s the case. How about we make a bet? Let’s compete in a race for the dungeon speed run!”

Drizzler quickly replied. “Pfft! Puny little tank boy. We have 4 Level 20 players here including me. Even if you could fight with all your might, you could only be matched with both pervy-Fatty and Uncle Hundred. Plus, I’m a super sailor soldier! Just I alone would be an even match for 6 or 7 of your party members! Furthermore, we have my cousin here with her super-duper huge ‘support’!” Drizzler paused and grasped two invisible balls in her hands that seemed to be at chest-level. “Our team would only need one healer!”

“Ha! That’s right!” Little Snow wrapped her arms underneath her chest and slightly raised them up, causing them to jiggle.

“Haha! I take it that you have accepted the challenge?” Zhang Yang intentionally provoked them.

Drizzler walked up to Zhang Yang with an intimidating expression. She patted her flat chest and said out loud, “We accept! Just you wait! You’ll soon be kneeling on the floor admitting your defeat!”

“Little Yang. Even though I’ve always been supporting your back, but now, I just want to defeat you badly!” Fatty Han rebelled.

“Zhan Yu. This is a fight for honor and pride. I will not hold back!” Hundred Shots declared.

“Alright, alright. I still have to remind you that the skill of the first boss, Black Claw, will increase the damage you take. It is not a conventional attack buff, but rather a debuff on it’s target. Very deadly. Even if you’re Level 40, your pet will still die in a hit if you let the debuffs stack too high! The best strategy is this. Have two of your pets go up and fight together to accumulate aggro. Pull back any one of the two pets that is the first to stack 2 layers of <Death Stare>. Have the second pet take over the aggro and hold on. When the second pet is inflicted with 2 stacks of <Death Stare>, pull it back and switch the other pet back in. This one of the many ways to ‘switch’ tanks.” Zhang Yang gave them the advice because he was afraid that they were not all free from chances of failure.

Hundred Shots and Fatty Han nodded together approvingly. They thought that Zhang Yang’s strategy made perfect sense.

One hour later.

The members’ contribution points started to have some visible changes. There were more than 10 members who had completed 5 guild quests and obtained 5 points each. Some others had stopped at 4 and 3 points individually. The guild experience points managed to accumulate to a total of 1%!

“Little Snow! You guys get to pick your party member first!” Zhang Yang smiled sincerely as he let them have the first pick.

Now that they had the chance, they did not want to lose to Zhang Yang’s little challenge. They then chose accordingly to their class and guild contribution and picked out 6 members to form a 10-man party. After they had form their party, Zhang Yang picked the next 9 members with the highest guild contribution points and also form a complete party.

Those who had been selected were happy and satisfied. This was not to say those who were not selected lost all hope. They knew that if they were not picked today, there is always a chance that they could be selected tomorrow! All members were more than eager to complete their guild quests.

“Gather at the dungeon entrance later. We’ll start the timer and go in together!”

With the strong intention to win the dungeon, everyone braced themselves to fight the dungeon with a welcoming heart. Even if they could not get their hands on an equipment, they would still fight for victory.

After 10 minutes, 2 teams; 20 players were gathered at the dungeon entrance.

“Little Yang. Competition comes before our friendship now. We will not hold back this time!”

“Hehe! Likewise!”

“To the dungeon!”

Zhang Yang switched to the party channel.

“Fellow members! Are you ready to lose to them?”

“Hell no!”

“Do you want to win?”

“HELL YEAH!”

“Awesome! Later, I’ll go ahead and kite the monsters, do not attack until I say so! If you cannot follow this one thing, please leave the dungeon now!” Zhang Yang’s tone gradually became stern.

“Roger that!”

Zhang Yang drew his blade and used <Charge> on one of the monsters. Following closely was a normal attack that dealt 364 damage and raised his Rage by 39 points. He immediately used <Horizontal Sweep> and dealt significant damage to the group of monsters.

He then shouted without looking back at his team mates. “Follow me!”

Zhang Yang moved further into the dungeon. The rest of the party were awestruck for a moment before quickly recovering and regaining their pace after his trail.

And just like that, Zhang Yang was at the forefront, closely followed by the monsters that he had not killed off, and the further behind were the party members.

In a short amount of time, Zhang Yang arrived to the second wave of monsters. Just as his <Charge> cooldown refreshed, he immediately used <Charge> and dashed towards them, leaving the monsters that were following behind further. He did a normal attack, following closely with a <Horizontal Sweep> and a <Thunder Strike>. The chain attack dealt a huge amount of damage and also caused a 5-second slowdown on the monsters following behind.

Zhang Yang moved on further into the dungeon and within 3 minutes, they had already arrived at the first boss’s entrance. Zhang Yang had kited not only the monsters but also the Bouncers that stood guard at the boss’s chamber. Zhang Yang had more than 10 monsters kited in a go!

T-This is, a straight flush!