The Boss Behind The Game

Prior to the launching of the new server, Reinhardt could not help but log on to the official forum of Battle Online.

Seeing the European server's discussion area being occupied by the original players, he laughed and typed a line of words.

[The first player of the European server reporting. Original players, are you ready to be defeated?]

He was bombarded with replies shortly after his post was sent out.

Crayon_Shinchan: "Jeez! Look here kid, I'm not trying to brag but to be honest, I can take dozens of punches from you first when you come to Beiqi. Don't say that I bully you. (smirk)"

Reinhardt replied to Crayon_Shinchan: "Wow! The future almighty contrarian of the entire forum. Hey bro, please remember me. Let's take a group photo. (camera snap)"

Invincible_Loneliness: "Sorry to burst your bubble but the reality is cruel. We have a lot of hackers in our zone. So just face the facts. (smirk)"

Reinhardt replied to Invincible_Loneliness: "Demonic God idol! This is your first time replying to my post, come let's take a group photo. (camera snap)"

Commander_Of_Demolition_Officers: "Is the server launching over there today? All the best! Let's meet on the battlefield in the future! (smirk)"

Reinhardt replied to Commander_Of_Demolition_Officers: "Wow, wow, wow! Is this the King of Wrestling? Let's take a group photo. (camera snap)"

Reinhardt: "So many big bosses here and you guys even replied to my post. How blessed I am! But since we are rivals I shall show no mercy. This time, the European server is going to be the world's number one server in the future!"

Ao_Family_Sword_Style replied to Reinhardt: "Hopefully there will be more elites for me to challenge. Don't disappoint me."

Reinhardt replied to Ao_Family_Sword_Style: "Boss, you will have a freaking awesome existence in the future when everyone calls you the Forbidden Sword Saint. That is super cool!"

Ao_Family_Sword_Style replied to Reinhard: "What?"

...

Reinhard was flushed with excitement upon looking at the replies from these big bosses who would be unreachable for him in the future.

That was because he knew that he would be among the top players of Battle Online, just like them.

Reinhardt opened the homepage of Platform173 occasionally to check on the countdown ticker while chatting in the forum. He could barely contain his exhilaration.

As the clock struck 10pm, he promptly clicked on the pop-up game downloading button. Following that, he turned his head and shouted, "McCray, come quick! The game is starting!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" McCray who was in the middle of cleaning immediately tossed the tablecloth aside and hurried to his gaming table.

With the extremely high network speed in the year 2319, Battle Online was downloaded within a second. Before Reinhardt started the game, he turned around and looked at his best buddy McCray.

"Brother, you go for level-up right after the server launches. I'll come back to you after I finish my business."

Reinhardt put on the virtual helmet as he finished his words. He then selected the Battle Online icon and entered the game.

...

At this moment, Lu Wu and Bei Li were observing the increasing number of players in the European server.

Thanks to their local server's super high evaluation score and publicity for the 100% reality simulation gaming claimed by Platform173, the game managed to hit 200,000 downloads within the first hour of launching. Countless players swarmed into the game and their souls were simultaneously bound by the artifact.

"Wu, the person whom we arranged is online," only then did Bei Li speak abruptly.

Hearing that, Lu Wu nodded with a trace of eagerness on his face.

"I hope he won't let us down…"

...

A momentary sense of weightlessness struck Reinhardt as he entered the game, followed by the beginning animation.

In the scene, millions of black steel riders who were under the leadership of several Ghost Kings bellowed at the man who stood at the top of His Excellency Cangxu's palace. The battle soon began with one versus millions. However, the man shuttled freely among the armies like a descended demonic deity and kept on slaying the enemies...

Words in the background appeared right after the beginning animation ended.

[The betrayal of the clans in the Land of Cangxu unfolded under the lure of profit. Deity Xu could barely withstand the unceasing attacks from millions of troops despite his psychic power. Even though he survived a close shave with death, he was severely injured and his power weakened drastically. The flame of revenge was ignited now. As the heir of Deity Xu, it's time to shoulder the responsibility of reconquering the entire Land of Cangxu.]

Following that, the words faded and a Character Selection Menu appeared in front of Reinhardt.

[Please choose your character class: Barbarian, Dead Spirit Warlock, or Knight...]

He chose the Barbarian character class in his previous life. In spite of his brutal attacks, vulnerability was his Achilles' heel. This time, Reinhardt decided to be a knight after knowing the ways to acquire the inherited character classes.

At once, he reached out his hand to touch the petrified knight.

All of a sudden, stone pieces fell off the knight. Following that, the knight blazed brightly and a golden thorn aura radiated below his feet.

After plunging the great sword in his hand into the ground, he rested his right hand on his left chest and knelt on one knee.

"I will keep in mind the virtues of humility, mercy, justice, honor, sacrifice, bravery, spirituality, and honesty. I shall dedicate my soul and life to fight for justice. I shall shed my blood in honor on the battlefield. Here and now I vow my loyalty to my horseman sword that I will never betray it and may it be blessed for its everlasting sharpness. Till the day its owner surrenders, it shall never be broken."

Reinhardt smiled upon looking at the knight who was kneeling on one knee, "Confirm!"

Immediately, he was blinded by darkness.

After a moment, he restored his vision.

[Place of birth: East Side of Cangxu, Hidden Dragon Valley]

The name of the zone came into his sight before it started to fade slowly.

Gazing down at Hidden Dragon Valley amidst the billowing clouds, Reinhardt raised his hands and took a deep breath, "New world, here I come! Let's welcome your future king!"

He then glanced at the surrounding players, who were stunned by the game's impressive graphics. He scoffed before rushing toward the center region of the village in Hidden Dragon Valley.

However, he could only jostle his way through the crowd of players in order to move forward from the place of birth. It took him some effort to reach the center of the village. As he swept his eyes around, he came across a house. He then pushed the door open and went in.

Meanwhile, Cangxu was in a daze at the moment with Xian Ke in his arms. He knew the person that Lu Wu mentioned was here upon seeing Reinhardt's silhouette. Hurriedly, he put Xian Ke's soul ball back into his personal channel before rising to his feet, "What's the matter, lad?"

"Clan leader, since you're seriously injured, let me bear the responsibility to reclaim Cangxu. I want to bring those Ghost Kings and Ghost Generals down."

His words somehow took Cangxu by surprise. He pondered his words before speaking, "Reinhardt, you have grown. However, you still have a long way to go before you're capable enough to reclaim the Land of Cangxu. Do not be repulsive."

"Clan leader, I know that I'm not strong enough. Therefore, I'd like to consult you regarding the ways to grow stronger. Whatever belongs to us shall only be retrieved once we grow stronger."

The determined look on Reinhardt's face made Cangxu want to laugh, but still, he managed to suppress his laughter.

"Ahem… good boy, I'm proud of you. Although I've lost most of my power right now, I do know a way to grow stronger. However, only a strong warrior is qualified for such an inheritance. I promise to pass you this inheritance if you're able to complete my trial!"

It was then a game notification came into Reinhardt's mind:

[Triggered the trial mission of inherited character class Dark Knight!]

As expected, it was triggered! Only the first person who took an oath to reclaim the territory in front of the village chief could trigger this hidden inherited character class. A look of ecstasy shot across Reinhardt's face.

"Yes!"

[The First Round of the Dark Knight Trial Mission Starts: Kill 100 wandering souls and three marsh crocodiles!]

"Go ahead, child. Go and finish the missions. After all, smooth seas do not make skillful sailors!"

Reinhardt hastened to assure that he would complete the mission as he listened to his advice. Soon after he turned around, left the village chief's house and ran toward the outside world.

While he was running, again he recalled the inheritance post in the forum shared by that professional player.

In the description of that post, there were six rounds of missions in the Dark Knight Trial. Other than the first round of monster killing, there were subsequent trials on stuff such as item hunting and so on.

Reinhardt could still remember the process of these missions clearly. In fact, the first round was the hardest for him. There were too many players at the current stage after all. These wandering souls without takers at the later stage were never easy to be found initially. That explained his hasty behavior as he ran outside.

At the same time, the reason that he chose the Knight character class was because that Dark Knight player was a Knight in his previous life, too. Thus, he chose the Knight as his beginning character class just to be on the safe side. This was to prevent the situation of the failure in triggering the missions for non-knight character classes.

During the early stage, a person's power was undoubtedly finite. It would be rather impossible for him to fight on his own, especially for the marsh crocodiles in the first round. With that, he opened his friend list immediately and sent a friend request to McCray.

After adding each other as friends, both of them made an appointment to meet at the entrance of the village. Shortly after Reinhardt had gathered some players nearby, the crowd headed to the Hidden Dragon Marsh under Reinhardt's lead.

Three hours later...

Everyone no longer looked at him the same way they used to when they saw the marsh crocodiles that had fallen into Reinhardt's trap again.

"How did you do that? Since when did you know how to set up traps? Moreover, you know how to lure the marsh crocodiles as well! Also, why would you have such a skilled battling style?"

Looking at the totally different Reinhardt, his buddy McCray could no longer stand it and asked eventually.

His words made Reinhardt smile confidently.

Of course, he would not say that he was once a poor player and could not even team up with anyone. Therefore, he ended up learning this trap-based attacking approach from the forum. It was the experience gained from innumerable times of practice.

As for McCray's so-called skilled battling style, it took him two years of hard work to master it.

...

Following that, their monster-killing efficiency was highly increased with Reinhardt's command on top of the simultaneous attacks of the team.

Soon, Reinhardt was acknowledged as a professional player on the team. Some even asked him whether he intended to establish a guild for they wanted to follow him.

This made Reinhardt feel rather pleased. Looking back at the past where he had been struggling at the bottom, he got a sudden feeling of rising from the ashes.

"I can teach you guys the trap-based attacking approach as well as the secret to practice battling style. However, you have to teach others whatever you've learned. After all, our future rivals are going to be intimidated with these so-called cheats. Just a powerful person alone can do them no harm. For this reason, we, the Army of Deity Xu have to develop ourselves in an all-round way. Forget about the establishment of a guild, but we can still team up and kill monsters," Reinhardt had no choice but to say so as he looked at those eager faces.

"A powerful rival? Do you mean the Ghost Kings and Ghost Generals nearby?" McCray asked curiously.

"No. They are worse. It is the Beiqi Army that belongs to the Fourth Disaster Faction, just like us. They are publicly known as the first army of the entire server in the future. Not only that, people have even dubbed them The Exclusive Hacking Zone!"

"You mean the original server that was launched three months earlier than us?" McCray asked curiously.

"That's right!"

"How do you know about this? I've been hanging out with you almost every day and I've never seen you paying attention to this game," McCray was shocked.

"I dreamed of it!" Reinhardt tried to act cool by blowing his hair as he spoke.