Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 345 The Fate Of Fate

 

It was Ye Ci’s first chance to go offline in days. 

 

The same could be said for Bai Mo, who had been online since the beginning of the fort’s construction. 

 

Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan were overjoyed to see the two finally getting off the game. And with Tan Polang coming home on that day, the dishes on the dining table were rich. Ye Nantian had even poured each of them a cup of wine. 

 

Despite Tan Polang’s exams, he was still involved in things happening in the game. Even a player who had not gone online would have received news of what was going on in the game after the video of the battle was promoted by Fate developers. 

 

Ye Ci, Bai Mo, and Tan Polang were having a small conversation on the balcony after dinner. Tan Polang was still soaked in the glory of the moment where Ol’ Six’s one-sided battle against the low level accounts of Golden Era. 

 

The boy spoke as if he was right there in the thick of the action. Ye Ci and Bai Mo who were part of the battle could only smile at the boy. 

 

“By the way, Sister Ye, won’t you be able to just hold off an entire army on your own with Ol’ Six by your side?” Tan Polang could not suppress his excitement after seeing the ferocity of Ol’ Six in the video. 

 

Ye Ci cast a glance at Bai Mo after hearing the boy’s words. Bai Mo was not as knowledgeable in aerial steeds, but he was not as optimistic as Tan Polang, “I don’t think so. It’s barely a year and a half since the game started. If they release more creatures like Ol’ Six, it’ll completely break the balance of the game. I don’t think the developers are that stupid.” 

 

“He’s right.” Ye Ci nodded, “The only reason Ol’ Six was basically invincible during the battle was due to the lack of aerial steed. And don’t forget that we were fighting against low level accounts. Aerial steeds would usually be able to launch attacks that are stronger than that of a player. An aerial steed could easily defeat a player of the same level, not to mention low level accounts. Ol’s Six will not be as scary as it is now when more aerial steeds are made available to players and when the average player level increases.” 

 

Fate was a well balanced game. Even a powerful life form like a Dragon has its counter in the game. 

 

“Even then, Ol' Six is a Dragon! Even when aerial steed becomes more common in the game, Dragons are still very rare! You’ll still have a huge advantage with Ol’ Six. I bet it’ll be able to take on at least three opponents at once!” Tan Polang was still highly optimistic. 

 

“Even a Holy Dragon is not invulnerable. It has its own weaknesses as well.” Ye Ci laughed. 

 

“What can kill a Holy Dragon?” asked Bai Mo and Tan Polang simultaneously. 

 

Ye Ci stood up and stretched her legs, “There’s a book called ‘Legend of the Dragon Slayers’ in the National Library. You guys can check it out.” 

 

Ye Ci had come across the book in her last life as she was hiding from her people after her life. She had always dismissed the stories depicted in the book as mere legends until her encounter with the Skeletal Dragon as a mercenary. 

 

“Eh?” the two shared a look. They were not happy to be kept in suspense, “Come on, tell us! Is there really a way to deal with a Holy Dragon?”  

 

“Working for that knowledge on your own is the best way for you to remember.” responded Ye Ci before she disappeared back into her room and logged into her game. 

 

The most direct counter to Dragons was right under their noses. It was the Mithril that Ye Ci was trying so hard to protect. 

 

As a large part of a Dragon’s attacks was Magical Damage, a piece of equipment made from Mithril could help in reducing that damage. Players armed with Mithril equipment would not suffer from a one-sided slaughter with Mithril in their arsenal. 

 

Of course, this applied to every aerial steed with Magical Damage as well. 

 

But even when a player receives reduced damage from other steeds, this did not necessarily mean that their steed would enjoy the same protection. This was why Tan Polang was still correct to a certain degree. 

 

But this was something that would happen quite some time in the future. It would take at least two years for the game to reach that state yet. This was why Ye Ci was careful to not leak any information she had about the future of the game. Ol’ Six could be say to be a very overpowered presence in the game, and she must tread carefully so that the developers would overlook her Dragon. What she must do was to not attract too much attention or the developers’s hands would be forced to nerf the Dragon. 

 

And in actuality, the players of Golden Era had already thought of such a thing, and were in the process of reporting Ol’ Six to the developers. 

 

Wang Jiangnan happened to be the manager on duty of the day. He was able to call up the data on Ol’ Six with a few strokes on his keyboard, and his lips twitched when the owner was revealed to be Ye Ci. His lips continued to twitch when he saw the source of the Dragon. 

 

He would never forget the day he handed the Mysterious Egg to Ye Ci. He seemed to have something to do with the appearance of the Dragon in the game.

 

The developers of Fate were split into two factions with differing opinions. One faction intended to work with Heaven and Earth Corporation in developing the next stages of their game, while the other faction wished to maintain independence. 

 

Some of the lead developers working for Glory Corporation had been poached by Heaven and Earth, and Glory Corporation's stocks were also suffering from their trade war with Heaven and earth Corporation. 

 

The entrance of Golden Era into Fate had also brought some form of impact to the player base of Fate. It might not be very obvious at this point, but the impact brought upon by Golden Era would definitely cause the downfall of Fate. From the statistics of player activity alone, the number of inactive players rose drastically after Golden Era entered the game. 

 

Glory Corporation would of course now bow down to Heaven and Earth Corporation, but the company’s wealth could simply not match its competitors. 

 

Big Zhang had even told Wang Jiangnan that many of the developers had already handed in their resignation letter. Two of the lead developers have already been guaranteed key positions in <Martial God Online> of Heaven and Earth Corporation. 

 

Wang Jiangnan was not at all surprised. He knew that something like this would happen the moment the director of Heaven and Earth appeared in the office of the Glory Corporation.

 

He thought of the big office on the developers’s floor. A third of the seats were already empty. If the situation continues, will Fate be finished? 

 

A Golden Era player was still complaining about Ye Ci’s Dragon.. Wang Jiangnan himself was annoyed by the call. He promised to look into the stats of the Dragon and that he would give a formal response in 24 hours before ending the call. 

 

Wang Jiangnan leaned back on his chair and let out a long sigh after ending the call. There was a huge weight on his chest. And it came not only from his worry for Fate, but also from an email in his mailbox. 

 

He had received an email from the human resource department of Heaven and Earth Corporation, offering him a high position in his company with twice his annual salary. The benefits and opportunities from his offer was so tempting that even Wang Jiangnan’s resolve was shaken. 

 

Should I leave like the rest of them? Or should I stay until the end? He was not one of the pioneers of Fate, but he had poured his heart and soul into Fate since he started his career in Glory Corporation as a low level developer. His name was only listed in a tiny corner of a long list of names of the many developers working on Fate, but it was enough for him. Do I… Give up? 

 

Wang Jiangnan’s thoughts were a jumbled mess. He pulled out his phone and stared at the group photo he took with Ye Ci and the World Conqueror guild for a long while before finally putting his phone away. 

 

He pulled out his character card from a drawer, and informed his subordinates to not redirect any calls into his workplace as he would be lagging into the game to check on an issue. He then made his way to the high end gaming cabin reserved for the manager on duty.

 

It was a gaming cabin designed for the development team of the Glory Corporation. The gaming cabin would not be bound to any character card so that employees could log into the game to check on any issues reported by the players. 

 

Wang Jiangnan inserted his card and climbed into the gaming cabin. He appeared in the game world shortly. He did a quick search on Gongzi You’s location, and found her to be online. And after inputting a series of commands, Wang Jiangnan appeared beside Ye Ci. 

 

But he did not expect Gongzi You to be in the air.

 

Gravity pulled at Wang Jiangnan the moment he moved to Ye Ci’s location. 

 

Ye Ci saw something appearing at the corners of vision, but disappeared just as quickly. She quickly looked at her surroundings, but could see nothing around her, “It must’ve been fatigue.” she said to herself. 

 

But who is Wang Jiangnan? He is a Fate developer. He keyed in a few more commands, and his fall from the sky halted. And he appeared beside Ye Ci once again with a Holy Dragon larger than hers moments later. 

 

Ye Ci was shocked by the sudden appearance of such a large object. A familiar voice rang out just when she was ready to launch an attack, “Long time no see, Gongzi You!” 

 

She narrowed her eyes, and saw Wang Jiangnan mounted on the Dragon beside her. Damn it! I thought it was some sort of BUG! 

 

“Hey, Wang Jiangnan, are you telling me that you’re using your admin privileges to do some sketchy stuff? Look at that tier 10 Holy Dragon with perfect stats! What are you trying to do?” 

 

“To show off of course!” Wang Jiangnan chuckled. He keyed in a few strings of command, and the Dragon disappeared. 

 

Just as Ye Ci gaped at the customer service employee, a voice appeared from behind her, “Say Gongzi You, where are a Red Name like you going?” 

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