Starting from Zero

We kept silent as we galloped through the mass graveyard outside the Lost City, which feels real strange. Yuri would glance at Rose now and then, while Rose fixes her eyes straight forward. I tried poking around the topic, and she just dodged them.

The uneasy atmosphere lasted until we reached the entrance of the Dark Valley. This is the first time they saw this place, including all those rotten zombies and crawling corpse worms.

"You...usually level up here?" Rose asked first.

I nodded. "Yeah, what\'s wrong?"

"Ughhh."

Yuri pinched her nose. "What\'s that smell?"

Rose frowned. "Don\'t tell me your sworn brother enjoys these things?"

"Oh no no. His camp is pretty clean." I summoned the Phantom Knights. "Am I right?"

"Not bad to me." Their leader nodded. "That fool isn\'t strong but I admit he\'s done a good job keeping the camp green."

"Green?" Yuri tilted her head.

The knight leader spoke to her: "You know, the Dark Sanctuary is filled with blood-thirsty warriors like us, no creature would get near around several kilometers around the perimeter, including plants."

"And?"

Another female knight continued: "And that couch potato found some sort of barren vines somewhere and planted them around the camp. Now they\'re everywhere. That thing grows flowers too, every spring some of us would fall on the bed cause of all the pollen. Me included."

"Ah hahaha! Hey Ziri, you said your brother is the commander of some terrible forces right? But he sounds funny!" Yuri laughed and almost fell from Night Shade.

This is the first time I heard about his gardening deeds!

At least the good laugh eased our mood. We ran around the weak zombies on the way. I\'m not that weak starter warrior anymore, if anything blocks us I can just pick it away easily with my lance. They won\'t give us anything now, we don\'t have to waste time on them.

We reached Domergor\'s front stronghold soon enough. A row of metal barriers split the valley in half. The gate guards raised their lances when they saw me approaching, but straightened up when they noticed the Phantom Knights.

"Where\'s your boss?" The knight leader asked the direct question.

"He\'s talking with the camp adviser inside. Do you need something, Ser?"

"We want to see him. Send him a message now."

Domergor told me these guys can do anything they like in the ranks. Now I see it again.

"Yes sir!" The poor soldier immediately ran into the camp, going as fast as he can. He returned within a minute. As I remember, there\'s still a good distance towards where Domergor stays.

"Come...come inside, my lord."

Thud, he fainted. Ouch.

We dismounted and walked into the camp. Along the way we saw everyone in the area running around in hurry. What\'s going on?

All the soldiers were more, well, composed, the last time I was here.

"Hey hey, stop." I pulled a petit soldier to a halt. "What are you doing?"

He only looked at me in doubt, but it quickly turned into shock when he saw the Phantom Knight leader waving a fist at him.

"There\'s a war coming up!"

"War?" I\'m shocked this time. "With whom? Someone is attacking this camp?"

"It\'s a routine. Lord Phantom Knight didn\'t tell you?"

I looked towards the said "lord".

"Oh, right. Here\'s the thing: a little further down this camp is the end of the Dark Valley, where the Dark Sanctuary is located, and the Dark Source is guarded under it. Our job is to protect it. The Dark Source is originally--"

"To the point. What\'s this war?" I\'m sure he\'s going to give me one hell of a history lesson if I don\'t say anything.

"...We assault a main system city every autumn, and those cities assemble their forces and attack us every spring. This has been going on for centuries and there is never a victor. End of report."

"So it IS a routine."

"It\'s January, spring is soon." Rose mentioned.

I released the soldier and came to Domergor\'s tent. He\'s already waiting outside.

" ‘Tis long time, brother. What brings you here in such a time?"

"Oh nothing serious. I want to talk some business with you."

"Business? You know I\'m no merchant, how do I do business? And as you can see, my hands are pretty tied up right now."

"Won\'t take long." I took out a small energy crystal. This is from Aldeina\'s pendant, I asked for it as a sample.

"You know this thing?"

"This is..." He looked at the object. "Let\'s talk inside."

He turned to the Phantom Knights: "Guard the door and don\'t let anyone get close."

"We’re not under your command now, mister."

"Do as he said." I had to give the order.

They formed up a circle around the tent. Yuri and Rose are already inside.

Yuri whispered to me: "This is your sworn brother? He’s cool! How did you meet each other?"

"Let\'s talk about it when we get back."

Domergor held up the crystal. "An energy crystal. So what\'s on our mind?"

"I knew you would know it." I put it away. "Clark told me you have these."

"That\'s right. This is one of the most important military supplies. Why do you ask?"

"I\'m looking for them, can you get me some?"

"...What for? There aren\'t many places you can use them. We only need these for crystal cannons and magic shields."

"You have magic shields too?"

So this means the three major system cities should have them as well.

"What do you mean \'too\'? Don\'t tell me you already gotten your hands on them?" He seems even more surprised than me. "But how are you going to use something that size? "

He looked at the guild emblem in front of my chest.

"Oh, a guild master. You built your guild city already? You can join alliance with the Dark Sanctuary you know."

"Not yet. I have only like ten people in my guild! But I have a friend who runs the biggest guild in the country. Maybe he needs to build a city. And what do you mean to join alliance?"

"When you have your own guild, you can seek asylum towards certain symbolic beings. But certain beings are opposed, you can\'t have them together. For example...you can\'t put a Temple of Chaos and Temple of Order in your city at the same time. Dark and Light, Warrior\'s Boon and Sorcerer\'s Statue, they can\'t co-exist. Of course, I\'m only talking about major gods. You don\'t have to worry about this for the lesser ones, like those Purity or Inspiration or something, you can place them however you like. So when you have your own city make sure you join us! Don\'t go to those bastards from the section of light."

"I can, but don\'t expect too much. It\'ll take a century for our small team to build a city. Back to topic, can I see that magic shield you mentioned?"

"That\'s no problem. Come with me, that thing\'s too heavy to move about. We have some smaller ones too, if that\'s okay for you."

"Let\'s see the small ones then."

"Guards!"

No response. The Phantom Knights are making sure "no one gets near"!

Domergor shrugged and went out of the tent himself, before he returned with several of his own guards, who are carrying a large object.

"This is it?" It looks like those voltage transformers you see on the street! Square, with a circle of heat sink around it.

Domergor flipped open a small lid and took out a palm-sized energy crystal. "This is a small-standard magic shield. It covers a round area with 500 meters in radius, any friendlies inside take 10% less damage. There is a big one in the sanctuary, a dozen times bigger. It covers the entire valley, and reduces damage by 25%. We only use the small ones when the legion is on the move."

I checked around the item. Sounds pretty good, I wonder if I can install it at the center of my ship.

"Do you sell it?"

"You were asking for crystals no? You want the shield now?"

"I\'ll buy anything that\'s good."

"Actually yes. Believe it or not, the Dark Sanctuary sells these to players to make profit. But they only sell the big ones, and only to players who own cities. Since it is you...I can find someone who can sell small ones, but they only go in sets, one big and four small at a time. You can\'t buy separate ones."

"It\'s fine. I just need to pay a bit more, right?" I sipped some tea and played rich.

"I wouldn\'t say \'a bit\'. Each set of equipment costs 30 million crystal pieces."

"Pfffff--" I spit all the liquid in my mouth. "You\'re joking right?"

"I don\'t joke." He waved a hand and ordered his men to move it away. "That\'s the price. Solid. I can\'t help you from my end."

"30 million for crying out loud! This is madness!"

Rose and Yuri haven\'t been saying anything, cause they\'re as surprised as I am.

"Don\'t buy then. You don\'t have a city anyway."

"Of course I\'ll buy it!" Now there\'s more motivation for me to get that money back by beating up Japanese pirates! "You sell energy crystals too right?"

"Yeah, they\'re not cheap either mind you."

"Wait, wait." I straightened up myself and held steady to my chair\'s arms. "Okay, tell me."

"They are sold by weight. 5 million crystal pieces for a kilo."

"God damn. These things are as heavy as gold, who can afford that price??"

I was planning to make a huge profit out of Atlantis, now it seems impossible!

I discussed with Rose and finally decided to buy a set of shields and 40 kilograms of energy crystals. I\'ll need to get more shipments of gold for more.

"40 kilos of crystals, one magic shield set."

"Got it. I\'ll tell them to prepare."

It only took a cup of tea\'s time. A large-sized wagon is outside the tent, pulled by 16 strong horses. There\'s the super big transformer, I mean shield, and four small ones on the wagon.

"The wagon is extra service, you can take it. You didn\'t bring any more people right? The shields are loaded with full-charged crystals. Oh, they don\'t count in those 40 kilos. That\'s all I can do for now."

"Thank you brother!" I jumped onto the wagon. "Do you happen to have spare crystal cannons?"

"Don\'t tell me you\'re going to buy those too?"

"Do you sell it?"

"Hell of course. They\'ll give me a bonus if I sell more stuff for them."

"How much for the cannons?"

"There are four sizes. From the smallest to the biggest: 20 million, 40, 60, and 100 million. Each."

Thud! Rose and Yuri fainted.

"Forget what I said."

I picked the girls up and quickly ordered the horses to get moving. While my Phantom Knights help me secure our surroundings.

Even something built in pure gold is cheaper than those damn cannons!

"Have a moment, sir?" The knight leader suddenly asked.

"Hm? Go ahead."

"About that price. You may think it as too expensive, there\'s a reason for it."

"Reason?"

"What\'s the price for the crystal cannon you already have?"

"About 30 million crystals pieces, I guess?"

"That\'s it. Your cannon is only 20 million. The cannons in system cities are inferior, compared to those sold by the Dark Sanctuary. You already know that most NPC city guards are level 800, some of the captains are 850 or 900. While in the Dark Valley, the strongest ones you can encounter is 850, like us."

"Now you mentioned it... You\'ve been fighting for a long time right? Why didn\'t anyone win since they have more levels than you?"

"That\'s the problem. The warriors in Dark Sanctuary are weaker, but they have better provisions. The cheapest mobile crystal cannon we use is the same one on your ship. As for the most expensive cannon, I haven\'t heard of anything that can\'t be broken through with it. We\'ve been relying on all sorts of gear and equipment to be on par with the forces of light."

"You mean, the crystal cannon that costs a hundred million crystals pieces is actually worth the price?"

"That\'s right. I think you got the wrong idea because you thought the cannon is similar to the one on your ship, which is completely not the case."

"I see it. Many thanks! We spent all money we have though, maybe next time."

Rose and Yuri already woke up in the back of the wagon.

"Where are we?"

"We left the Dark Valley and are now on the edge of the forest. There\'s only the grassland between us and the port now. You can teleport back if you want. At this speed we\'ll need at least three days to reach there."

"You\'re not coming?" Yuri asked the obvious question.

I thumbed towards behind me. "Do you think you can teleport with all these stuff?"

Yuri lifted the blanket and looked at the 3-meter tall shield device.

"I don\'t think so."

"Clever girl." Rose rubbed her hair. We felt a lift in our mood and all smiled.

-----------

"Stop right there!!"

"Woah!"

The transport suddenly stopped, causing me to stumble away from my horse. I fell onto another horse at the front.

"Aw aw..." The two girls bumped their heads in the wagon and groaned.

"What the fu*k?" I jumped down my horse.

Someone, I mean, a lot of people, are standing in the middle of the road. Two of them stepped ahead, probably their leader or something.

"Give me all your money and--"

Shit. Not again. I didn\'t wait for them to finish their lines. They\'re outdated anyway. I raised a hand, and all the robbers just looked at me with raised eyebrows.

I made sure I caught everyone\'s attention, then moved my hand forward.

"Crush them!"

"Leave no one standing!!" The Phantom Knights immediately lined up and charged.

I leaned on the wagon and yawned. I\'m not interested in joining the chaos ahead.

"Ziri, what\'s happening?" Yuri asked while still rubbing her head.

Rose came out too and saw the battlefield. "Oh dear."

"As you can see, a bunch of hijackers."

A strange idea popped up inside my mind.

"Wait, robbers, pirates... Hey Rose? Remind me to make a skeleton flag when we get back."

"What\'s that for?"

"The Japanese pirates have been raiding our cities right? Let\'s make a pirate flag too and go mess up their cities for good!"

"Ohh that sounds fun. Remember I told you I want to be a mafia lady when we created our guild? A pirate lady is not bad either. Aha!"

Oh crap. I shouldn\'t have reminded her about that one.

"Sir, watch out!"

I moved my head to the side, when a lance stuck into the wagon plank instead of my left eye.

"Who did that??"

I soon spotted the attacker. A warrior, big. No, I mean, fat. He has a round and clumsy-looking body build but he\'s exceptionally agile. Two Phantom Knights are engaged with him and he still managed to throw his lance at me.

Most enemies are down for the count now. The fat warrior is still moving around but it doesn\'t look like he can hold on for much longer. Still, he must be pretty good since he survived until now under the attack of the knights. Even I wouldn\'t be able to do that if I don\'t summon any helpers.

Who is this guy?