Afterlife Dream

I did not know how Ingenious found out about the little meeting that the six of us had with HinoKun and the other Dominion members, but his piercing gaze made my skin crawl. I did nothing wrong, but why did I feel guilty all of a sudden?

"Yes," I admitted.

Ingenious let out a heavy sigh as soon as he heard my answer. I was not sure what that meant. Did he expect me to lie? Did he expect me to tell the truth? Was he disappointed? Was he relieved?

I did not know what else to say, so I just said sorry. Ingenious waved his hand at me in a dismissing motion.

"No need to say sorry. We are not in a kingdom and I am not your tyrant king. What do you need to be sorry about?"

"I have a feeling that you are disappointed with me?"

"I can't say that I am not, but we all lead our own lives individually in this world. Who's to say whether I do right and you do wrong?"

I could not help but raise an eyebrow. I never knew that meeting with HinoKun would lead to such a philosophical discussion about life. All we did was talk. Was it even worth considering as the right or wrong thing to do?

"Um, Ingenious, what exactly are you talking about?"

I was trying to steer the ship back to the original course, but what I got was Ingenious' snappy retort instead.

"I am not going to blame you. I understand where you are coming from perfectly. So if you would rather not speak with Auren and Arrow, I can relay your message to them. You can leave anytime you want."

Ingenious's last words made my jaw drop. I gave him an incredulous look before I blurted out in consternation, "But I don't want to leave!!!"

Clearly, Ingenious did not expect me to suddenly say that. The severe lines on his face slackened and gave way to a shocked expression.

"Huh?"

"I do not want to leave!" I repeated. "I like Twelve very much."

Ingenious stared at me for a few seconds in disbelief.

"Uh... But... Didn't you come here to tell us that you want to quit the guild...?"

"No!" I said one more time. "I do not want to quit the guild!"

Ingenious grabbed his glass of Ginger Ale, finished it, and then grabbed one of the two glasses that he ordered for Aurendiria and ArrowRain.

"Excuse me," he said. "I need a drink."

"..."

Aurendiria and ArrowRain came together. They were both quite puzzled to see me sitting there with my back straight while staring at Ingenious who was drinking one glass of Ginger Ale after another.

"I wanted to say thanks for ordering us drinks, but I guess never mind," ArrowRain commented.

"Did Ingenious lose a bet or something? Do you need us to serve as a witness for his punishment?" Aurendiria asked with a frown.

"None of that," I quickly said. "Sit down first, both of you."

With Ingenious busy pouring himself one drink after another, I decided to speak first before Aurendiria and ArrowRain started to get ideas into their heads.

After I told them what HinoKun came to talk to me about, they exchanged awkward glances.

"Well, what do you think about his proposal, Antares?" ArrowRain asked me.

"I understand that Dominion guild is not exactly without fault, but I believe that HinoKun is sincere about fixing the relationship between the two guilds."

When I did not get any response from the three players in front of me, I continued.

"We still have to defeat the Dimensional Master. Right now both guilds are trying their best to level up to 150 as soon as possible. It will go a lot faster if the two guilds combine their forces. As for past grievances, HinoKun is ready to make amends. I believe it is best if all of you just sit down and talk about it."

ArrowRain pursed her lips.

"If we don't want to, what will you do, Antares?"

After having Ingenious think that I wanted to leave the guild, this question immediately rubbed me the wrong way.

"I am not going to do anything," I snapped at her. "Why does everyone think that I want to leave the guild?"

Aurendiria pushed my Ginger Ale closer to me.

"Have a drink, Antares. Sorry, we don't mean it that way. It's just that you are not the first person who came to talk to us about this matter."

"Oh?"

Aurendiria cut a bitter smile.

"Many did. We don't know what exactly HinoKun is doing. Why is he approaching our guild members one by one and trying so hard to change their minds about Dominion?"

"I will tell you what he is doing," Ingenious, who had remained silent for some time, spoke up. "He wants to cause division and cause unrest within Twelve. After being fed such black propaganda, players will think that it is Twelve's stubbornness and selfish pride that prevents Afterlife Dream to be saved as soon as possible. We will become the bad guys, and the Dominion will become the angels with HinoKun as their leading archangels."

I never heard HinoKun painted in such a bad way. It was rather surprising.

"It seems that the grudge goes beyond Ninja stealing the cloak from Auren," I commented. "What is the reason behind the existence of two strong guilds within Afterlife Dream? Was it really because the two leaders share different ideas about gaming ethics?"

"Since you ask, why don't we just tell you the full story," Ingenious said, narrowing his eyes at me. "This goes a few months back when Afterlife Dream was just launched."

When Ingenious started playing the game, only around ten players were around. BlackPuma was at level 20 and was the highest level player in Afterlife Dream. He was always one step ahead of all the players and was not very sociable. A lot of new players loved to stalk him to high-level areas just to take a look at him. Although BlackPuma tried his hardest to prevent these beginner players from dying, they still ended up dying from getting hit by monsters that were at least twenty levels above theirs. One of these stalkers was HinoKun.

Out of pity, BlackPuma helped HinoKun level so he could at least survive. That was how they got acquainted. Being a loner, BlackPuma was not interested to join a guild, let alone lead a guild. A lot of guilds sprouted like seedlings from the ground at that time, and all of them strived to invite the strongest player into the guild. Ingenious at that time was the second-highest level player in the game already, and he thought that it would be a good idea to join forces with BlackPuma. He messaged BlackPuma and introduced himself properly with the intention to ask him to join his guild, Empire.

BlackPuma thanked Ingenious for the offer, but he already agreed to join HinoKun's guild, Dominion. HinoKun at that time was a diehard fan of BlackPuma. He followed BlackPuma everywhere, and he got stuff and equipment from BlackPuma when the latter got himself a new set of equipment. To be able to use all of BlackPuma's equipment, HinoKun, who started playing as a swordsman, borrowed money from BlackPuma to change into a spearman. He never returned the money; BlackPuma never asked him for the money back. HinoKun continued to inherit spearman gears and weapons from BlackPuma. He had the equipment ready before he even reached the level.

Although they did not belong to the same guild, Ingenious and BlackPuma added each other as friends and often relied on each other to complete difficult quests together. Empire rose to be the number one guild because the guild consisted of all high-level players except BlackPuma. BlackPuma was still in Dominion, a guild that consisted of him as the star of the realm and a bunch of stalkers and beggars who just wanted to make use of him.

When more and more players reached level 50, Empire prepared to run the first Fire Golem raid. Naturally, Ingenious invited BlackPuma to join. Their first run was a fail, and so was their second run. On their third run, BlackPuma came fully prepared. All his squadmates died when the Fire Golem HP hit 50%, but he did not go out of the map. BlackPuma at that time was the strongest level 60 Spear Master there was, but it was still not an easy feat to handle the Fire Golem alone. Ingenious and his guildmates did not believe that he could make it. It would only be a waste of potions and food. Unexpectedly, BlackPuma made it. He claimed that three helmets dropped at that time, and he looted only one, leaving the other two to waste away.

When Ingenious invited BlackPuma to join their next run, BlackPuma brought HinoKun with him. HinoKun had taken fancy to the helmet that BlackPuma just earned, and would also like to have one.