2 | Sooner than Later

A ping from somewhere above him makes Synz jump up and scramble towards the still-open device. He knows that notification sound. It's the sound he had set as a notification when an email from a particular site comes in.

"What is it? Did the guild announce a raid[1]?" Synz mumbles to himself and sits up on his bed. He crosses his legs and picks up the small device he carelessly threw on the bed when his boss called to fire him. With a few clicks, the call screen switches over to a different one.

The new screen is different in many ways to the dull blue and black static video call screen. The background itself is a bright white with colorful animations rolling on the holographic screen as it loads. Even Synz who had expected the screen flinches at the brightness, his fingers rapidly tapping to reduce the brightness. After it is lowered to a more bearable level and finishes loading, he immediately taps on that device and the screen opens one of the emails.

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You received an announcement from the guild 〖Double-Edged Wraiths〗

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From: Catastrophic Realms Online (no-reply@cronline.com)

To: Me (midnightsnow.heretic00@nmail.com)

Date : May 30, 2903, 02:32 PM

The guild has announced the following to all its〖Elite-Grade〗members!

"Territory open @ sector C, elite only

Dices & Hellion r there, prepare 4 war

2343:0191:018 3pm sharp last" -- the Guild Master

Join your guild mates' calls for adventure and log in to Catastrophic Realms Online now!

〔Start the Game〕

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Looking at the terribly shortened announcement from the guild master[2], Synz snorts a laugh and shakes his head a little. He has been playing Catastrophic Realms Online—or CR Online—for approximately two years now. Although considered one of the latecomers in the game, he doesn't lose out to the veterans in terms of level or strength. In the beginning, he had been hopping through low-tier guilds to garner items and money while he levels up and collects more strength. As soon as he became notorious in the forums as a hideous low-tier guild killer (although none of the guilds really died. They just lost the opportunity to ever go back to being a prosperous guild), Synz didn't hesitate and immediately announced his presence while saying that anyone in his level who can beat him will get his recognition and will be graciously given the opportunity to invite him to their guild.

Of course such claims were replied with many scornful hate messages and comments.

The nickname "Realm Night" quickly spreads through every layer of CR Online's society. The newbie who challenged every guild, the killer of small guilds and the hateful〖Realm Night〗's infamy lasted for a few months at least. Originally, Synz never intended to blow this all up. He just wanted to rile up those small guilds so he can gain more profits. Even on the young age of thirteen, Synz is very profit-minded and very proficient in taking advantage of the situations at hand. Even the most unfortunate situations (a.k.a. being expelled from school) are made into the most profitable outcome by him (a.k.a. ending up being offered scholarships again and again when they realised their mistakes).

When players challenges him out of spite, they were easily rejected by the very same reason every time.

"Sorry, wrong level."

Many people were agitated by this very phrase and soon, people from his level pours in, all of them challenging him. He easily beats them all down. While they did only try for fun, several guilds sent their best players with the best equipment sets to challenge him. He did gather numerous profit from the PK[3] drops. What he didn't expect was for large guilds to also send challengers against him.

Once, he had even been shamelessly "recruited" by a certain large guild. In public.

Of course Synz declined as bluntly as he could. He is a man of his word and he doesn't like the constraints called guild rules. Soon thereafter he met 〖Two-Edged Spear〗, a unique level 37 Master of the〖Double-Edged Wraiths〗 Guild. Where most guild masters are at the top of the level leaderboards[4] reaching level 67, Spear is only a little more than halfway there. At the time, Synz's level was the same measly 37 and he found it funny how this desperate master is challenging him just to fill in his guild's gaps. Turns out, Spear wasn't even serious about roping him into his guild either until their fated spar.

Synz found out exactly why Spear can lead people whose levels are even higher than his whereas Spear is excited at his discovery of the hidden-talent called Realm Night. Despite winning, Synz decided to settle into Spear's guild and he immediately soars into the 〖Known-Grade〗Member[5] spot.

Ever since then, Two-Edged Spear is known as the Night Subduer though that wasn't even close to the truth. It is a silent compromise by everyone who knew the truth to just ignore the fact that even Spear lost to the infamous Realm Night and just let Spear keep the so-called guild killer. Seeing Spear's usual blunt and short message without a shred of professionalism, Synz couldn't help laughing as he flops back down on his bed. With a dangerous name like Two-Edged Spear, Spear isn't even close to being that sharp or "dangerous" as a person. Spear is a brilliant leader, but he never acts the part. Synz continues to stare at the shadowed ceiling of his apartment before sighing.

"What am I even doing with my life." It didn't sound like a question even to himself so he didn't bother answering it.

When the silence starts weighing down on him, Synz sits up and strengthens his resolve. Even though he is an〖Elite-Grade〗member and just barely a month since his promotion at that, Spear had once specifically told him that he doesn't have to show up on the guild conflicts and wars[6] too often. The man truly believes that he should keep the "hidden talent" that is Realm Night for the last finishing blow and only if necessary at that. Sometimes Synz couldn't comprehend Spear's logic which is why the man is very interesting, at least for Synz.

Still, he felt that he should at least appear in Yggdrasil Server's Sector C. Yggdrasil is one of Catastrophic Realms' five main servers connected only by the True Servers[7] and also the server Realm Night and Two-Edged Spear are. Synz has always believed that sooner is better than later after all.

Well, except for getting fired. Getting fired sooner is always bad.

Facepalming, Synz didn't forget to scold his dumb brain for adding the unnecessary detail while reaching out for the small device he left somewhere on his bed.

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[1] Raids are when guilds do dungeons or fight for an established territory

[2] The guild master is essentially the leader of a guild, the founder is generally called the Admin while the "leader" given the title of Master by an Admin are generally called Heirs

[3] Player Killing

[4] A level leaderboard ranks every player according to their levels. Other things that are ranked in CR are Character Grade, Job Proficiency and Time Spent.

[5] A list of the grades and ranks will be in the auxiliary chapter(s) if I decided to make it. There will be an explanation in the future chapter(s) even if I don't though.

[6] Different guilds often have conflicts be it territories, items, or other disputes which can result to a guild war. There are player-arranged wars, system-arranged wars and events. More in upcoming chapters.

[7] Will be explained in upcoming chapter(s).