Afterlife Dream

The request was outrageous. Everyone in the squad, including Ingenious, protested loudly. HinoKun was weaker than even the weakest player in the squad. On what ground must he be allowed to join the run and one of them just sat on the bench? HinoKun reasoned that the squad was not going to suddenly make it after BlackPuma's success to solo the raid. Most likely, the same scenario would play out. They would all get wiped out at 50% boss HP and then BlackPuma would go out after wasting time and effort and potions for the first half of the raid. HinoKun was willing to use up all resources that he had to secure himself a helmet at the end, and BlackPuma had agreed to accompany him all the way. HinoKun wondered if any of them was willing to walk the same length to loot a Fire Golem helmet.

Spurned by this level 50 spearman who had been leeching off BlackPuma at every turn without the least bit of shame, Ingenious stepped forward and said that he also would do his best to survive until the end together with BlackPuma. They thus agreed to do just that, and looting priority was given to Ingenious first, and HinoKun second.

Only one helmet dropped in that second successful run. Ingenious very much enjoyed looting the helmet with a broad grin plastered all over his face. HinoKun's face was blacker than the bottom of a burned pot. Following the two successful runs, the other squadmates were slowly getting stronger and used to the Fire Golem's attacking pattern. It was thus no longer necessary for anyone to go solo or duo. Meanwhile, HinoKun had not been able to join the run ever since.

The pathetic leecher possibly went to whine at BlackPuma, saying that at this point, BlackPuma was helping Empire to become stronger while their Dominion would forever be a second-rate guild. BlackPuma thought about it and went to speak with Ingenious. He said that after he soloed the first successful raid, he had been contributing regularly to Empire's successful runs and allowing Empire players to loot one helmet after another. On the other side, his own guildmates were neglected. As a member of Dominion, naturally, he had to prioritize strengthening his own guildmates. He thus would like to refrain from running with Empire and want to focus on building Dominion so Dominion could also have its own guild raid runs.

All in all, BlackPuma's contribution was not negligible. There was no point running without him, so Ingenious agreed to negotiate the terms with BlackPuma. While gritting his teeth, Ingenious redid the Loot Order list, allowing HinoKun to join the raid and loot as the tenth person on the list.

Aurendiria joined the game when BlackPuma was level 80. She quickly attracted a lot of attention because her avatar was the prettiest of all and she also paid attention to her appearance greatly from day one. As her name rose in the fame ranking list, so did her reputation. When she finally met with BlackPuma, they quickly fell in love and got married.

Aurendiria was in the Empire guild at that time, and she refused to move to Dominion. BlackPuma was in a pinch, having to choose between his wife and his best friend. In the end, he left Dominion and established Twelve.

BlackPuma accepted members based on a first come first serve basis. After joining Twelve, Ingenious, Aurendiria, and HinoKun were named the Vice Guild Leaders. They quickly invited anyone they could grab from Empire and Dominion respectively. Two people worked faster than one, so Twelve ended up consisting of more Empire players than Dominion players. Those from Empire who refused to join Twelve after knowing that HinoKun was in Twelve ended up making their own guild, which they named Adventurers.

Ingenious, ArrowRain, and Aurendiria never liked HinoKun's leeching ways but ultimately it was between him and BlackPuma. Eventually, HinoKun rose up in level and became stronger and stronger. He stopped depending on BlackPuma and maintained a friendly attitude with those from Empire.

One day, a group of people came to complain to Oakstone Tavern. They said that HinoKun had been bullying them after a certain Love Dungeon run that did not end well. HinoKun and a level 60 Aladdin happened to have their eyes on the same treasure box in the looting stage of the Love Dungeon run, and the box dropped a Phoenix Mount Piece.

"A Phoenix Mount Piece? To summon a Phoenix as your mount?" I asked.

All three of them nodded. "Yup. Very rare. As rare as the Skill Reset Scroll, though maybe not as expensive because you need twenty of them to summon a phoenix."

"Oh."

Since both players hit the same treasure box, they both went to loot the item as soon as it appeared. HinoKun slipped and the level 60 Aladdin got it. After the run was done, HinoKun demanded the level 60 Aladdin to hand the mount piece over to him. Naturally, the Aladdin refused and from then on HinoKun followed him everywhere to KS him.

"That was not very nice," I commented.

"It was not," Aurendiria said. "In fact, that was quite repulsive."

After hearing the Aladdin out, BlackPuma talked to HinoKun and asked him to stop harassing the Aladdin. HinoKun said that he would stop if the Aladdin returned the Phoenix Mount Piece, and not before. More and more Twelve members criticized HinoKun for his actions, and HinoKun then decided to leave Twelve and returned to his old guild, Dominion.

At that time he maintained the steady position of the fourth strongest player in Afterlife Dream, so Dominion was growing under his leadership. After he left Twelve, Twelve members no longer had any say in that matter.

"What happened to the Aladdin?" I asked, feeling sick to the stomach. I doubted that HinoKun rose above the whole incident and stopped KS-ing the poor Aladdin. Well, he didn't.

"He continued KS-ing the Aladdin until he finally gave up and gave HinoKun the Phoenix Mount Piece."

"..."

I was speechless. If DragonTalon and PrecisionShot had been hitting the same treasure box and DragonTalon looted the Skill Reset Scroll ahead of PrecisionShot, Dominion might have come upon him like a typhoon, giving him grief day and night.

"So that was the real story of how HinoKun left Twelve, just so you know. I am sure that what we told you just now perfectly described his character."

All the respect that I had for HinoKun crumbled like a brick wall that had just been hit by a wrecking ball at a construction site. Yikes. I could not believe that BlackPuma was still willing to befriend HinoKun after that.

"As you can see, the leader sets the example for the members. Dominion players barely have any bottom line when it comes to forcing their way through anyone and anything to get whatever they want. Look at Ninja and PrecisionShot."

"Myea... talking about Ninja and PrecisionShot..."

I told them the story of my and DragonTalon's first Love Dungeon run and the Skill Reset Scroll that landed in PrecisionShot's hands.

"Hah!" Ingenious tossed out a burst of mocking laughter. "Why am I not surprised? Auren, Arrow, do I look surprised?"

The two girls shook their heads while sipping on their ice lemon teas.

"HinoKun not only likes to oppress those who are weaker than he is, but he also likes to defend his guildmates who do the same shit."

Ingenious drank his n-th glass of Ginger Ale and looked at me over his glass.

"What do you think, Antares? Are you still interested in joining forces with him? Just know that he is not the Messiah. If he suggests something, it is usually to get them to do him a favor. After the favor is done, he will toss you like a used rag aside."

After hearing what the three of them had to say about HinoKun, I was beyond appalled. Who would want to join forces with HinoKun ever? But then what about the Afterlife Dream realm? Obviously, they had also thought about this grand question.

"Let's agree to a ceasefire, but I would rather not run raids with them ever again. We will try doing the 110 raid tomorrow to get Auren her cloak. If we succeed, we really don't need them anymore. By the way, tomorrow the countdown of the Queen Spider raid will start. How is everyone doing? How many more people need to loot?"

"Let's check the guild raid schedule..."

We all opened our user interface screen and started scrolling through the schedule.

"Hmm, five more players left to loot."

"If we are lucky, that's two more runs to go."

Ingenious stared at me and wagged his index finger at me.

"Antares, your job is to level up. For all I care, let's all act buddy-buddy with Dominion players just for the sake of ensuring everyone that we all want to save the game. But sorry, I am not running any raid with them ever again. Except maybe the level 150 one, heh."