A Game

Splash! Splash!

Jason looked at the bright blue sky where white cotton-like clouds had gathered. There was even sunlight, making the weather warm. The weather was otherwise beautiful, but the strange thing was the ocean. The ocean raged as if there were a heavy storm.

It was as if the island were separated from the outside world. However, that wasn't the case. The vast ocean reached as far as one's eyesight could reach, and the large waves were crashing into the island bit by bit, as if they were trying to devour the island's land. However, the island was around 100 meters above sea level.

'Was Father talking about this island's weather? I guess it would make sense. Is this strange phenomenon because of this realm's strange weather or because False God's corpse is here? The historic texts said that False God's corpse wouldn't rot or decompose, meaning the corpse should look similar when he or she was still alive. Except the ice-cold skin that should have turned pale white.'

Jason hadn't forgotten his father's warning. If he met with any strange weather changes, he would leave this realm as soon as possible. Therefore, he didn't plan to venture too far. He had pulled out a map of this island from his bag, which he bought from the Adventurer's Guild. It was a hand-drawn map that was quite crudely made.

On the map, the island was circled with drawn images of waves surrounding it. The island was covered with poorly drawn trees, with a triangle-shaped building in the middle. Jason could only dryly chuckle and wonder if the person who drew this map was a kid.

After folding the hand-drawn map, he put it in his pocket and went deeper into the forest as the sound of waves reached him. He decided to stay near the edge of the island, so that he wouldn't even accidentally go closer to the False God's tomb.

There were occasional voices coming from the forest, as well as the sound of fighting. There were eager guilds and parties hunting creatures.

Jason drew his revolver, cocked it, and brushed past the hanging branches of nearby trees. From a gap between two bushes, he saw two long-nosed creatures. At first, they looked like anteaters, but their fur was black, as though they were painted with ink. Their disgusting stench also hinted that some part of them was rotting.

They were indeed quite unique creatures, which Jason had never seen before.

He straightened his revolver-wielding arm, took aim with his left eye closed, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

...

Forsaken Realm. Mach Island. Near the Triangular Tomb.

In the vicinity of the tomb, all the Seven Guild masters and their core members had gathered. The trees were thinned out around them, giving enough space for everyone to listen.

Percy had his arms crossed while leaning against a thin tree, which bent slightly as if it was about to be unrooted. Next to him and behind him, cloak-wearing men and women were silently listening.

"As we already decided beforehand, this is where we split up." Rosa Ferwett, guild master of the Scarlet Arrow, said. She pointed in the direction of the northwest and continued, "Around the tomb, there are ancient ruins. Some of them are half-buried, but with a shovel and some digging, it should be possible to enter them and find valuable treasures."

"Guild masters will enter the tomb meanwhile." Nicholas added from the side. Next to him were his guild members, who donned equally purple clothing and a half-mask that covered either the left side of their face or the right side.

"Whoever finds a valuable treasure or ingredient, shall keep it." The Poet said with a soft smile. "Even we, Guild masters, won't touch them. You are not allowed to fight for them."

Their subordinates listened with sparking eyes. This made it possible for them to receive some ancient treasure left behind by False God. It was an opportunity like no other. Still, some had expressions of slight greed, but they reigned it in.

Era Dark Sideray listened with his head hung low as he was sleeping. His subordinates gathered around him protectively. They wore similar iron masks as if they were trying to copy their Guild masters fashion style. It was hard to tell who was male and female, apart from their body types.

"Let's go." Percy stopped leaning. "The cockroaches from other guilds are nearing. Even if they don't dare to enter the tomb, they might go for the ancient ruins."

That caused a slight panic to arise in the hearts of the listening adventurers. They had to race against other guilds for the treasures, and if even other smaller guilds joined it, it was even harder to find a treasure.

"Good luck~" The Poet said playfully to his subordinates. His guild members wore greenish outfits with flowers embedded in their sleeves. Most of them were handsome and beautiful. They looked startled at first before they understood his meaning.

They ran off, shocking the rest of the guilds. Instantly, chaos arose as everyone except the guild masters began to race for the far-away ancient ruins.

"Let's go." Percy said, but didn't begin walking just yet. With a sidelong glance, he looked at Era Dark Sideray as if he were waiting for him to make a move. He felt instinctive respect for the oldest and strongest guild master.

Era Dark Sideray raised his gaze and nodded softly. They walked out of the forest and strolled down the long stone path before entering stone steps. There were only fifteen steps before the entrance. They carefully ascended the stairs and entered the dimly-lit tomb.

The walls and ceiling showed that the age of this tomb wasn't that old. The foundations were very solid, even though dust particles happened to fall from the ceiling's cracks. The first hallway after the entrance led directly to the first hall.

They had all already drawn their weapons.

Percy held two long-shafted hammers in his hands. They looked heavy. Still, to him, it felt as if he was carrying two sticks.

Rosa Ferwett had drawn her scarlet-red bow. There was one black arrow on the string, slightly pulled backward and held between Rosa's index and middle finger. Her deep gaze scanned the hall.

Stone columns held the ceiling strongly, with dust everywhere. There were steps and stone steps as if this place was formerly an auditorium. At the end of the hall, there was another doorway that led to another dimly lit hallway. At the end of the hallway, there were more steps that led to the next floor.

Ryan Crossword, guild master of the Metal Paladins, had drawn his longsword and a shield. He was the perfect image of a paladin. His heavy armor could barely reign in his bulging muscles as if they were about to burst. He was physically the strongest guild master.

He scoffed and was the first to leave the auditorium.

"Ryan, shouldn't we search this room before leaving?" North asked with a sigh. They hadn't even searched for treasures yet.

"Haha, if you want to, go for it." Ryan smirked at her before turning back to the hallway. He had a feeling that the true treasures were on the next floor!

The guild masters from other guilds followed after Ryan. The Poet shrugged his shoulders at North before entering the hallway.

North looked around the auditorium and sighed. With a one-handed sword in hand, she entered the dimly lit hallway.

They soon arrived at the stairs and moved over to the next floor.

They stepped into a large and dusty hall. The room looked to be shaped like a circle with small holes in the ceiling. The ceiling was held up by durable stone columns, but the room wasn't as dark as previous hallways. A tiny bit of sunlight seeped through the holes as if they were being filtered.

There were three doors in total, each leading somewhere different.

Percy stepped down a pair of stone steps and stopped in the middle of the circle room. He looked at the doors with knitted brows before suggesting,

"Should we split up?"

Ryan dragged the longsword behind him and laughed. "Yes. Now, it depends on one's luck whether they find anything!"

The rest nodded.

"There are three doors. Two of the doors will have two people going through each, while the third has to have three."

They turned silent. No one wanted to be part of the team with three because it would mean fewer treasures.

Then a voice happened to sound across the room.

"I will stay behind." The Poet lifted his hand with an innocent smile, surprising others.

"Are you sure?" Percy asked with narrowed eyes. "Why would you abandon the treasures?"

The rest also thought it seemed odd and turned suspicious.

"I will search in other places. We missed many places because Ryan rushed. I am assured that I will not leave this place empty-handed." The Poet said while caressing his chin and with his eyes swimming around the room as if he were looking for hidden treasures.

"Very well." Percy said with his deep voice and turned to the others. "Let's decide the teams."

"Yay, let's play a game!" North excitedly pulled out six coins from her pocket pouch. Two were gold coins, two were silver, and two were bronze. "Whoever gets gold coins will be a team; same with silver and bronze."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The Poet chuckled while taking a seat on the stone steps. With his chin resting on his palm, he watched in silence with a soft smile.

North retrieved her pouch from her pocket. It was as big as her palm. She then poured all the coins on the floor as if they were nothing but trash. After the pouch was empty, she placed the six coins inside and shook it around.

"Now, who wants to go first?" North asked with a sweet smile.

"I will." Percy brushed past Ryan and stopped in front of North. He then closed his eyes, turned his head around to face the left wall, and reached into the pouch. North also had her eyes closed, and she only felt the pouch shaking in her hands.

After a short while, Percy pulled a coin from the pouch and opened his eyes. There was a silver coin in his palm.

"Percy is part of the silver team!" North said excitedly, as if they were actually playing some kind of exciting game.

Percy snorted and tossed the silver coin into the pile of fallen coins. He then walked to the middle door, treating it as silver's room.

'He wanted to be the first one to decide the door? As always, sneaky bastard.' Ryan scoffed and walked to North with his chin raised. He closed his eyes, turned his head to the left, and put his hand on the pouch.

As he rummaged through the pouch, he felt five coins with a similar texture grazing past his fingers. He didn't care and took one of them before removing his hand from the pouch.

After opening his eyes, he saw a bronze coin.

"Ryan is part of the bronze team!" North shouted excitedly.

"Hmph." Ryan's eyebrow twitched as he tossed it over to the pile of coins. He felt slightly inferior, knowing that he had taken the coin that was worth the least. He walked to the third room and leaned against the door with crossed arms.

"Who is next?" North asked, her beautiful green eyes sparkling with excitement.

No one spoke a word. They instinctively turned to Era Dark Sideray, but after seeing him hanging his head low as if he was sleeping, they turned back to North.

"I want to be last!" North pouted. "Nicholas, you do it!"

Nicholas scoffed and flicked his sleeves. "Fine."

He walked over to the beautiful North and closed his eyes. At first, he had difficulty finding the opening of the pouch, but when he did, he snatched one coin very quickly, as if he didn't care.

After opening his eyes, he saw a silver coin.

"Nicholas is part of the silver team with Percy!"

Nicholas tossed the coin away and walked to the second door, where Percy was waiting. They shared glances before turning away, a tense atmosphere engulfing their team.

"Now, which one?" North looked at Rosa Ferwett and Era Dark Sideray with an excited expression.

"Senior?" Rosa spoke to Era and saw him nod gently.

Era Dark Sideray took a step forward and walked to North with a slightly hunched back.

North closed her eyes and waited with excitement.

Era Dark Sideray lifted his arm and slowly put his hand into the pouch. There were only three coins left. He took one of them and pulled it out. When he opened his eyes behind the mask, he saw that there was a gold coin between his fingers.

"Era Dark Sideray is part of the gold team!" North almost hopped with excitement.

'Damn!' Ryan cursed in his mind. He knew that Era Dark Sideray was an elderly man and slow. Therefore, he believed he could gain the greatest amount of profit if he was with him.

Era Dark Sideray gave the coin back to North gently and walked to the first door slowly. When he arrived at the door, he turned around and calmly smiled behind the mask.

"Rosa~" North smiled at the guild master of the Scarlet Arrow. "Bronze or gold, which is it?"

Rosa took a deep breath and put her hand into the pouch. She touched both coins before clenching her brows. After ten seconds, she let go of one of the coins and pulled out the second. When she opened, her shoulders slightly slumped.

"Rosa is part of the bronze team!" North shouted with excitement and pulled out the last coin, the gold coin. She was part of the gold team with Era Dark Sideray.

Rosa walked to the third room while coldly looking at Ryan. The Paladin scoffed and flexed his muscles.

North quickly picked up her coins and ran to the first door. She hopped with excitement.

"Good luck~" The Poet shouted after them and watched as everyone opened their doors and entered.