Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 90 - Cottage

It was a very strong armed message, and he was sure that it would encourage a fair bit of contrarianism.

Yes, there would be that fair share of players offended by the notion of being given orders or directed to be kind, and proceed to intentionally be assholes.

That was okay.

There were two main reasons.

One, players doing that now rather than later was preferable. That would get them blacklisted by various NPCs, which would end up suppressing their growth.

While a death wasn’t the end of the world for a player, it still came with a respawn period, EXP loss, and certain other conditional penalties.

Memories made their way back to Lumi.

In every major city, there would be a common sight uniting them. A giant bounty board, full of players. Only players, marked to be killed. Every kill granted rewards, making many powerful natives farm the heck out of certain players to repeatedly cash in the prize.

Many players would have no idea, until one day a village guard quietly slid their blade an inch out of its sheath as they walked by.

There was no UI pop up for infamy. No ’You are now disliked by X faction.’ If you didn’t pay attention, you could play yourself into a corner you’d never crawl out of. For players who would bring chaos, it was best for them to get screwed over now, rather than when they were higher level and capable of fighting back.

He sat back and refreshed the thread.

Already seven replies. Not bad.

One of them was the kind of comment he expected.

GANKxLORD99:

"lol this some LARP nerd RP shit LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Renan shook his head. Some would learn, some wouldn’t.

Which brought him to his second point.

For players who simply wanted to advance and get stronger, they would see that being with him was preferable to being against him.

It was simple logic. Even devoid of morality, if your goal was to get stronger, then you wouldn’t do things to antagonize the top player, who was also organizing events others could join.

He typed nothing in response to that guy. He had no need. Players had their own informal hierarchies, and most of them weren’t fond of people who made things harder for everyone else.

Besides, Lumi didn’t need to defend himself. His reputation would do that for him.

By now, most of the community knew who he was, even if they hadn’t met him directly. His guide post had done wonders for spreading his name.

With that done, he headed back into Masteria.

...

Lumi found a fishbun in the guest room as he logged back in. He grabbed it, starting to munch idly. He left back into the Glacial Observatory. The skies gleamed a bright light, drawing him to the balcony. Lumi stood at a balcony of the Glacial Observatory, staring out into the sea.

Apart from a very faint purplish hue to the water, it looked okay. It was beautiful, even. The crisp, salty air breezing against his skin, the open blue sky, and the expanse of glacial seawater all made him want to relax.

Except...

"Ugh. Can’t even enjoy this." Renan sighed wistfully. He began to turn, however something interrupted him.

[System Alert - Player "Renee" is the first player to obtain Rank Two in a class. Extend our congratulations to "Renee" for his feat!]

"Who." Lumi clutched his head with his hands, leaning against the railing. "Who the hell are you?"

Renee?

Who is that? Who is Renee? How come I don’t know your name? These random people appearing out of nowhere!

His eyes closed.

These people! I know that most of the people who ever appeared on a System Alert became extremely important top players.

So why are you here, Renee? Who are you? If you got Rank Two, that means you are at level thirty. That makes you the highest level player right now.

So why don’t I know you!?

"Lumi-"

"Hey!" Lumi instantly reacted, turning around. "Oh, hey Valeria."

She gave a curt nod. "I see you were lost in thought. I noticed your movements. Just came to tell you the team is all ready. So is the ship."

"Oh, is it?" Lumi stuffed the fishbun away. "Let’s depart now, then. To Darkwitch Mika."

Before they went any further, he directed. "When we get near, let us announce our presence first, rather than instantly landing and striking."

"We don’t want to harm an innocent." Valeria agreed, yet pointed out, "Still, announcing our presence ahead of time is dangerous. Are you sure?"

Lumi nodded.

They departed as soon as possible. As they sailed, the water grew darker and darker as they neared the island, proof of the growing corruption. The team was somber, each lost in their own thoughts about confronting someone who might be responsible for such widespread devastation. Even Lumi forged a serious expression. It wasn’t strictly necessary, given that the Knights already knew he was special, but still.

"The contamination is so dense. If the whole sea became like this, it would be uninhabitable." Marcus spoke with worry on his face. "The very concept of corruption has taken physical form."

"That ship sailed a long time ago, buddy." Jin responded with a light eyeroll. "Forget the part where we fought literal pollution?"

Strange shapes moved beneath the water. Those creatures may have been regular animals once, but now they were clearly changed by the corruption. They didn’t attack, but their presence was ominous, a constant reminder of what the mission was for.

"There." Elara called out, her sharp eyes spotting their destination. "The witch’s island."

It wasn’t what they had expected.

Even Lumi had never been here, only heard of it.

Instead of a barren rock housing a dark tower, the island was surprisingly green. Plenty of plants grew despite the corruption due to being cultivated behind wards. A modest cottage sat at the center, with smoke gently rising from a chimney.

"That’s it?" Valeria seemed surprised.

Even Lumi was slightly taken aback. Plenty of perfectly legitimate mages preferred towers. If someone actively chose to live in a remote ice block, a miniature island within the sea of an island, it suggested they wanted isolation.

Therefore, a cottage was highly out of place.