Dreamland

As we approached the marketplace, we noticed that the sergeant was in the middle of a heated argument with a group of people.

Actually, to be more precise, the sergeant was ranting while the group mostly ignored him.

There were around 10 soldiers present, but the new arrivals, who were only half their number, didn't appear to be intimidated.

Suddenly, one of the newcomers headed straight toward me. I could tell he was a high-level character based on his impressive armor, but there was more; something about him made me uneasy. I couldn't accurately gauge his level, even with my special assassin skills, which set off alarm bells in my head.

As a high-level assassin, I could usually see through any level-disguising abilities, but not this time. It was a strange feeling as if the level was beyond my understanding. As soon as I tried to gauge his magic aura, my hair stood on end as if I were in a static field, and a shiver went down my spine, telling me to find cover and hide. Could it be that he was one of the legendary few?

Despite my instincts telling me to run, I decided to stay put since I was in a protected city, and there was no reason to panic. As I surveyed the group, I noticed that the members had magical iron collars around their necks, which meant they were his temporary servants.

This feature was a bit controversial: if you lost a fight with another player and bet with him, you could become his servant for up to an hour, depending on how much you've bet, or you could get a mission from him that you'd have to solve. There were standard quest templates to choose from: some fetch jobs, escort jobs, or the kind.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of this peculiar character. He was no taller than a gnome, with comically large, round ears that flapped in the air as he hopped around. I guessed he belonged to the gnome race, but his specific subrace eluded me. Despite his amusing appearance, there was no denying his fighting prowess: he had just taken down a group of other players.

Of course, you can log out and let your character play the hour, so in reality, this is an hour penalty for most players and a way to recruit a couple of helping hands for others.

PvP was possible without betting, and you could engage in non-lethal duels if you wished, but you couldn't bet directly on money. Betting on labor was recently introduced, and I wasn't a fan, but some people found it added to the thrill of the fight. It's fine if it's enjoyable for you, but leave me out of it.

“Well, well, what do we have here!?” - the gnome said, looking at me - "Would you fight me?"

I shook my head. “No, thank you, I am not interested in pvp!” (person versus person fights)

With a smirk, he responded, "But I am!"

He moved like a gnome, definitely a gnome rather than a goblin, even though he looked similar, taking big steps with his short legs and resembling a chubby hopping rabbit. Alice grabbed her bow and glanced at me. All I needed to do was nod slightly, and she would vanish from view to seek cover from which to fire her deadly arrows, but we were in a protected town; what could he possibly do?

Then, I remembered the banker's tale about Silver Town. That was also a protected city. Are these towns no longer protected? Is this the new version of the game? Did they make hardcore even harder?

I had wasted too much time with my indecision. He froze Alice in an ice block with a simple gesture of his left hand.

Oh, shit! Talk about a protected town! What the hell is going on here? And it proved my instincts had been right: to freeze Alice like that was not an ordinary feat since she had strong elemental resistance. Even a mage a few levels above me would not be able to accomplish such a feat. It made me wonder what level this guy was at since the highest-level players, the legendary five, were only at level ninety-eight.

After his attack, I immediately tried to use my <> spell on him, but to no avail. Either my magic was still blocked, or he was just incredibly strong. It was a new experience for me to encounter someone with such a hundred percent resistance. I wondered if it was just a one-off occurrence.

He just laughed at me and got even closer, then suddenly asked, "Have you ever played with liquid nitrogen?"

He made a few more jumps before continuing, "Have you ever seen what happens to a flower that's been plunged into it? If you let it fall, it breaks like glass!"

He then made another gesture with his hand and hit Alice with a snow bolt. Although it was just a snow bolt, it hit hard enough to knock the ice statue she had become off balance. Alice fell to the side, and my heart sank as I watched her shatter into several pieces.

The shock of what had just happened left me stunned.

He. Killed. My. Alice.

I now had five minutes to try to resurrect her, or she was definitively and irrevocably lost. NPCs die; she was not a summoned creature that I could re-summon. These low-level druids around here needed a whole body to work their resurrection magic, and there was no guarantee they even knew how to do it. Wounds they can fix, but not this? How could I organize a high-level druid here in the next 5 minutes? Would he let me do the resurrection if I kindly ask? Why did he do this?

Desperate, I begged, "Let me try to resurrect her!"

He replied with a sinister smile, "If you win our little fight, I'll have her resurrected. Care to bet now? Or shall I stay here, fight you, kill you, and burn any pieces of your little merc until no traces remain?"

I tiredly exhaled: “What do you want to bet on?”

He nonchalantly jumped up and down, flapping his big ears.

“As I said, if I lose, I'll have her resurrected,” - he showed behind him; there must be a druid or a shaman there that can resurrect - “if you lose, you come to visit me in the Silver Town within the next two days. And by the way, I heard there is an idiot player in jail. Free him and bring him with you!”

“Why do you need me there, and why don't you go check yourself the jail?”

“Because I am Grackak, and I want you to break the jail. Time runs out. Do you bet? Magic deal?”

I could try to make a run for it, but there was a good chance that I'd lose Alice forever by doing that. This slimy bastard would probably torch any remnants of her and wait there until the clock ran out. And if I ended up losing the fight, I'd be stuck accompanying Spartacius to that town within the next two days. That was something I could handle. As he had said, time was running out. I lifted my gaze and locked eyes with him, staring into his piercing orange irises.

“Deal!”

At this, the magic bet was completed, and a brief light highlighted the fight area shortly.