664 Chapter 664 - Guilds, Charge! (1/2)
Gu Fei and Sword Demon had disappeared, and all those who sent messages to them received the system notification: [Messages could not be exchanged with hostile forces.] Deep Waters had to suffer having to message Young Master's Elite, and the ladies from Amethyst Rebirth had also come asking them what was going on. But how would any of the members in Young Master's Elite know anything? They had only realized that something was amiss only after these two guilds that depended on them came asking what was going on, and all of them proceeded to message both Gu Fei and Sword Demon, only to get the same result.
They were clearly online, yet nobody seemed able to contact them. Logic dictated that they would naturally share the same reason for being nowhere to be found. Outsiders might not be able to tell, but those remaining members in Young Master's Elite had already realized why even sooner than Gu Fei and Sword Demon themselves: The biggest point of similarity the two men shared was the fact they were both in a Faction, respectively!
But even if they belonged to Factions, where did they go? Nobody knew, so all they could do was continue busying themselves with their own business, waiting for the City Wars to end so they would naturally learn of what happened. In the end, it was around the time Young Master Han sought to observe the enemy via his spyglass when he coincidentally spotted those two in the process of scanning the battlements.
Young Master Han habitually turned around in hopes of finding someone to discuss this with, only to recall that he was currently engaged in a unit activity with the guild after he turned around. Those men that he would drown in contempt as he refuted every last point they made were nowhere near him at the moment. Helpless, Young Master Han could only type it out in the mercenary channel.
”They are up on the battlements? How did those two get themselves up there?” The channel immediately exploded into activity when they heard the news.
”If they are inside the city, that would make them the enemy! Could it be that the players who belong to a Faction are all considered as part of the system's forces?” Brother Assist instantly made a deduction.
”The system has not made any sort of announcement to this effect!”
”Why would they make an announcement? If the system were to mention Factions, only a handful of players would have any clue what that means, why would they need to make a public announcement about it?”
As they continued to discuss the matter about how they could not contact either Gu Fei or Sword Demon, their conversation began to shift toward the situation with the many guilds.
”Wounds, what are you guys doing over there?” Royal God Call inquired.
”What else can we do? Recklessly charge in, of course!” War Without Wounds replied.
”How barbaric, that's the limit of skill that a bunch of old meat hands have, I guess,” Royal God Call scorned. War Without Wounds' guild was called 'Home of the Warriors' and they were all Warriors. This sort of guild would not be making any huge impact, which made the nature of his guild very similar to that of Amethyst Rebirth, Forever in Flower and similar small guilds. They were no more than a bunch of like-minded individuals who spent time together, but there were still quite several experts in this particular guild.
This sort of guild would have a different mentality when participating in this City Wars event, as War Without Wounds sneered at Royal God Call's comment, ”You guys have promise, so you must have gathered another crowd of players, prepared to just fire arrows, huh?”
Traversing Four Seas' Arrow Formation was already well known in Yunduan City.
”Tsk, I don't have a common language with you,” Royal God Call expressed his disdain toward speaking with a nameless guild, turning to ask another. ”Young Master, how about you guys?”
”I don't speak with low IQ people,” Young Master Han stated.
”Hahahahaha, that's right, me too!” War Without Wounds laughed uproariously, leaving Royal God Call feeling extremely despondent.
At the moment, small and medium-sized guilds had finished gathering, while guilds of Traversing Four Seas and Carouse's size were also about done with organizing their men. Ever since Young Master Han discovered the two men up on the battlements, he had never once put his spyglass down, his eyes trained on the two men as he wondered what they were up to in the city.
Up on the battlements, after Gu Fei and Sword Demon had discovered the black and white-colored flag down below, they began to focus their attention right on it. The Black and White, Life or Death Federation was considered a rising star in Yunduan City, and the guild had already reached level 5 by this time. Even though they were incomparable against established guilds like Traversing Four Seas and Carouse which were filled with experts and elite players, they still had quite several talented individuals on their side, nevertheless. It was mainly this type of medium-sized guilds that were the happiest with the rules of this City Wars.
Small guilds had a lack of manpower, and the current rules made it so they were unable to compete with large guilds. But to medium-sized guilds, under this sort of rules, with meticulous planning and a bit of good luck, they might not be entirely incapable of contending with the large guilds. This ultimately would allow them to make a gambit for a good ranking, which would then be hugely beneficial to their continued existence in the future. Parallel World has a huge player base, so if anyone intended to develop a guild, the issue was not a lack of players, but talent. Take the indomitable figures like the Five Unyielding Experts, or the Ten Great Adepts; any guild that had one as their member would demonstrate their value as a guild with an established reputation. However, now that the difference between players' levels had been reduced, even being one of the Five Unyielding Experts was no longer something vogue. So what if they were one of the Five Unyielding Experts? With so many people sharing the same level, there was hardly any difference in strength as they vied for the top spots. As such, the talent that everyone was going for would be those with great renown in the game, players who distinguished themselves as a cut above the rest.
Like Thousand Miles Drunk, for example! That man was not an Unyielding Expert or a Great Adept, but who would dare to claim to be more indomitable than him? Then there was Svelte Dancer. While she was no longer part of the Five Unyielding Experts, why did that matter? She's the world's number one pay-to-win player, and she could use her money to PK anyone to death. Who would dare to deny such an expert? However, this sort of expert was hard to meet despite being so highly sought after, so there were plenty of guild leaders who decided to explore new ideas. And since they were unable to find legendary figures to join their guild, they would be better off just making their own legend out of their guilds!
It was with such a thought in mind that a variety of methods were derived. Everyone out there was putting plenty of thought and effort into the various avenues of living in Parallel World, such as how everyone in a guild would wear a scarlet red cloak when they head out as a means to reflect their group's personality. Nevertheless, such a method of demonstration was no more than just for show, and it would never reveal the intrinsic value of a guild.
Thus, after the announcement was made for the City Wars event, plenty of guilds out there gave the order to all their members, that they must distinguish themselves in this battle, to show what they were made of so as to allow them to become the most eye-catching existence out of all the guilds during the attack, and become an unforgettable sight to anyone who saw them.
The guiding of people's psyche had always been a very vacuous endeavor. While what was being said made sense, there were never any instructions on how to achieve it, and it would just be empty words in the end. Now that the battlefield was upon them, many guilds were thinking about the importance of distinguishing themselves stylistically, yet nobody knew just how they could do so.
The Black and White, Life or Death Federation was one such guild, but they were a little more explicit as to the directive that they gave to their members. Their guild leader, White and Black had made the suggestion, ”During this City Wars event, we should be like a sharp knife, accurately plunging into wherever we point, always ensuring that we are the cause of a breach in the enemy's frontlines.”
The guild members all carefully analyzed this directive. A Warrior who was previously from Home of the Warriors discovered, much to his chagrin, that this order was very similar to the instruction of his previous guild, except they only used two words to convey the same message, ”Just charge.”
The sun was high up in the sky at this time, and the guild leader White and Black stood right under the shade of the black and white flag, immensely proud of his success. White and Black was a Warrior, and he had color-coordinated his equipment to reflect his IGN. This was the plan he had in mind when he first came up with the name. It was originally just a shining silver suit of plate armor, and a long black cloak that draped down his back, but he had recently gotten himself a pair of boots and belt with rather impressive stats to them, and it just so happened that these two items were black in color, which would then be visually jarring if he were to equip it against that shiny suit of silver armor he was currently geared in. White and Black was very depressed. He wanted to find someone to change the color of the two pieces of equipment to white, but the professionals he consulted pointed out to him that It was easy to make something white to be black, but there was currently no skill in this game that could force something to go from black to white.
White and Black was extremely flustered and troubled! He wanted to stick to the color scheme he thought up, and be purely white and black! Just what should he do now that two pieces of equipment were black? This was when the rascal had a brainwave; he was reluctant to give up on using the two new equipment he had obtained, so he replaced everything else he had equipped on him. As a result, he spent a huge sum of gold coins just to purchase and trade items until he finally got his entire suit of armor to be black before he procured a pristine white cloak, allowing him to still be decked out in pure white and black.
In the end, his happiness was short-lived, as in the span of two days, the new system update was announced, and the currency changes were implemented. Gone was the pure glee on White and Black when he first got back online after the update. For the entire day, the man's pallid complexion contrasted against that pitch-black armor, wanting to kick anyone he saw cross his path. Unsurprisingly, White and Black was still unhappy about the losses of his personal finances when the City War began. After he gave his guild his directive for the battle, the man simply stood under the flag with a sinister expression, not saying a word as he waited for his men to gather.
After some time, most of the members of his guild were more or less assembled, and the vice guild leader stood in front of White and Black. This man was a close friend of White and Black, so he knew that his guild leader was in a bad mood these past few days. Thus, the man did not bother to waste his breath as he directly requested for instruction, ”Everyone is here. Where are we striking?”
White and Black swept his gaze far out into the distance. There was not a single soul between them and the city that was several kilometers away, yet he saw no sign of anyone appear at all. Throwing themselves right at the walls of the city would not do either. So, the man shook his head, ”There's no rush. We'll discuss this again after we observe the situation a little. What's Traversing Four Seas up to?”
The vice guild leader was gleeful, ”The large guilds are still in a state of chaos by the random spawning, they have yet to gather their men yet!”
”Hmph. Don't they know how to make a flag?” White and Black belittled.
”They did make them, but theirs were not as vivid, and easily recognizable like our black and white combination. Our flag is just that much better, visually impactful!” the vice guild leader was quite the eloquent man.
”Guild Leader, there's been a situation!” While the two men were busy inflating their own egos, a guildmate who happened to be a Sniper came running over, pointing in the direction of Yunduan City's gate.