The constant tapping on a keyboard and the clicking sound of a mouse sounded louder than it should be in the almost empty room. Besides himself no one else was here – here meant the trainings room of the Esports team Excellent Era. At the moment it was summer break, so most of the professional gamers, his teammates, had left and tried to relax a bit with their families at home. For him, the club building was his home. His parents were dead and back then he barely had the money to pay rent for a flat, so when he became a part of Excellent Era he decided to live there, since it was more convenient for him and his job as pro player and it meant less expenses. Why wasting money to rent something, when he also could stay at the club, where he hadn't had to pay or care for anything, well besides things like clothing or toiletries? Also living in the club building made it easier for him to play Glory – the game, which caused the Professional Alliance to be created in the first place. Su Muqiu was the star of Team Excellent Era. He was considered to be the best among all the pro players – even the best among the so called god level players. Even when he lost a match, everyone knew that no one could compare to him. His knowledge of the game itself was astonishing and something remarkable. Adding to this he also was the player with the most titles and awards – no one doubted that Muqiu would go down in Glory's history. The life as professional gamer was quite short, especially for those of the first generation. When the Alliance had been created a player had to be at least eighteen years old and with twenty-five a player was already considered old – too old. Of course, there were chances that a team would keep their player, even when he was older than twenty-five, as long as the player did not drag down the team or no better suited player was insight. Players of the first generation hadn't switched their teams – if they left the team than simple because they decided to retire. This was also Su Muqiu's plan. Team Excellent Era was his home, was his team and to say it in a melodramatic way, they were his family. Despite their current winning, pardon, losing record, Muqiu had not even once thought to leave the team. There were many other teams out there that wanted him, but until now he always had refused and he would do so in the future as well.
During the summer break there also were many transfers, so Muqiu had to deal with all the invitations from other clubs, although the team had made a statement at the last press conference that Su Muqiu would stay the captain of the team. And if he still was the captain then how could his contract not be extended? How could he suddenly leave the team for a different club? But strangely no one seemed to care. Even the media was still guessing whether he was transferring this year or not – somehow everyone had forgotten about the press conference. Or they acted like this to make things appear more interesting than it actually was? Or they hoped for him to transfer, so they could make a big deal out of it – well, it would be a big deal anyway, but with Excellent Era first stating that he would stay and him leaving then, would be even bigger! Honestly, he did not look for this kind of gossip, but it was hard to ignore. Differently than most other pro players, he often spent his free time with playing in the normal servers. He had at least one account for every server, except for the newest, the tenth server. He was too busy with his other characters and helping his team's guild Excellent Dynasty that he had not made another account for the tenth server and he was not in a hurry to do so. For the guilds it was important to gain as many achievements as possible, like the first kill of hidden bosses or dungeon records, but for him in his free time he did not care much about such things. Excellent Dynasty had enough experts to ensure a lot of achievements and therewith rare materials.
His sister Mucheng, on the other hand, had made herself an account on the tenth server and she seemed to enjoy it every much – thanks to her the guild gained many rare materials and was on the top of the leaderboard. She was also the one, who urged him to come to the tenth server, because there was a very talented player. Muqiu was indeed curious about said player, but robbing in talents was the duty of the guild and not his. Now that he had more free time due to the break he could pay a visit to the new server and take a look at the player his sister talked so much about. To be honest, Muqiu was a bit jealous that his sister praised another man so much. They were surrounded by young, talented and good-looking men, like Zhou Zekai, but she had never made such a fuss about any of them. His brother instinct immediately assumed that Mucheng may be interested in the other player, despite not knowing him. If this was like in her dramas than the other one should be either a very handsome and intelligent young man – probably with a dramatic background and rich parents – or the other one was a pervert, a psychopath that tried to lure innocent young girls into his house and then do something horrible to them – but before that could happen the hero, in this case Muqiu would play the role of the hero, would save the girl. If he had to choose between those two options, Muqiu obviously would choose the first one. His sister deserved a nice relationship, although the thought of it made him a bit sad, since this would mean less time for them together, but they both were grown-ups and had to go their own ways.

When Mucheng entered the room, Muqiu had just finished a dungeon in the eighth server. Although all of his characters were already in the Heavenly Domain, he preferred to play them in the normal server. Maybe it was a bit mean towards the normal players, when a pro gamer like him entered the field, but it wasn't like he did such things on a daily basis and there were many dungeons that waited to be conquered, many bosses to be stolen and even more records to be set. There was always something that could be achieved. Also despite a pro player being very skilled and normally were better at tactics than the normal players, they all barely had any experiences in large scale wars like the ones that always happened whenever a wild boss appeared. In the professional scene the fights were limited to either one versus one or five versus five. Hundreds versus hundreds were not a thing. However, Muqiu was different, because he often participated in such wars to help his guild, still he always listen to the guild leader in their instructions – of course, he sometimes would state his opinion about how to proceed, but most of the time he just followed the orders. The guild leader knew, who he was, but most of them knew Muqiu for quite some time and therefore didn't act like some stupid fanboys around him – besides the guild leaders no one in the guild knew about his activities in the game. It was better that way. First of all, he didn't want to deal with all his fans that would spam him with messages. Secondly he didn't want anyone to interrupt his free time. He only wanted to have some fun. Although he like fighting against others, competing with other, he also sometimes just wanted to have fun. Run around in Glory, kill monsters, create some Silver Weapons and try out new moves. Doing these kind of things made him remember the time before the professional scene was created. During this time he used gaming as a way to make money for himself and his little sister – quite funny that now he was still doing it, but as an accepted job.
Su Mucheng sat down next to her brother and started the computer. While it started she took a look at her brother's screen.
"Another record?", she asked in a tone that made her question sound more like a statement than a question.
"Yes, but I think, I could beat it again, if we have the right people to come along", he replayed honestly and then logged out of his eighth server account.
"Are those right people other pro players? I doubt that besides you and me anyone else would be willing to "waste" their free time with playing around in the normal servers for some dungeon records."
A sad truth.
"Yeah, you're right. But this doesn't change the fact that it would be possible to break this record. Nevertheless, you're helping out in the tenth server again? Or are you just playing around with your new friend?", Muqiu honestly curious asked, while taking a look at his sisters screen, which now showed her tenth server avatar "Cleansing Mist".
She played a Luncher, which looked a lot like Dancing Rain – her character in the professional league. At first he had been a bit worried that people might discover her, but until now nothing like this had happened. Maybe the other gamers thought she was just a big fan of Su Mucheng and Dancing Rain and therefore decided to choose the same class, a similar name and a similar appearance – it was nothing unusual for fans to try to imitate their idols.
"Oh, I left the guild three days ago and no one knew it was me anyway", Mucheng answered nonchalant with a smile.
For a few seconds Muqiu was startled. She had left the guild? Why?
"Why?", he asked.
"Because it would be a problem, when I hang out with Lord Grim and be a part of the guild. Somehow the guild was able to stir up some trouble with Lord Grim. So I think it might be better to choose one side."
Sounded reasonable, but then she should have chosen Excellent Dynasty and not that Lord Grim dude.
"But some people will still know that you, that "Cleansing Mist", once was a part of the guild."
"But I was with Lord Grim first."
"So, the guild tried to rob the two of you in?"
It wasn't surprising. One duty of the guild was it to find new talents and get them to join the guild and hopefully, when they skill level was good enough, the pro team. Mucheng was already a pro player, but this was something the guild didn't know in this case, so trying to rob her in, was a normal behavior of them.
"No, they tried to rob Lord Grim in and thought he would join, if I did. But this did not happen, so I think they do not care much about me leaving. You shouldn't worry too much."
Muqiu really wasn't sure what to think about this Lord Grim person. Most players would feel honored to be asked by the guilds to join them, because this meant that they skills were recognized and there was a chance for them to join the pro league. Of course, there also were those kind of players that only played for fun and had no interest in the pro scene. However, most of those players often did not have enough skills to join anyway or were barely recognized since they did not play for long. But how those the saying go: "The exception proves the rule."
This Lord Grim seemed to be the exception.

"How did the guild get into trouble with Lord Grim?", Muqiu asked after a while of silence and watching Mucheng clearing a dungeon with Lord Grim and a group of other players.
"I'm not so sure. Maybe they are angry, because he helped some of the other guilds to get dungeon records and first kills?"
Mucheng did not pay much attention to her brother and his question, because she had to focus on the dungeon. Luckily Muqiu stop asking further and decided to look through the Glory forum to find some information on Lord Grim. He had done so before, but since now and then some time had passed and a lot could have happened. Maybe he could find out what happened between Lord Grim and the different guilds. It would be a shame, if this player decided not to join Excellent Era or their guild, because of something small like a few records and first kills – Mucheng said that the player of Lord Grim was quite talented, so Muqiu believed her. As pro player it was easier to judge the skills of other players, so if one of them acknowledged someone and their skills this was not meant to please someone, but because it was true. However, just because she praised his skills did not mean that he was also good enough for the pro scene, whether this was the case, had to be decided not only through the skill level of someone. Being a pro player was a hard job – even when most people thought it was easy to play games all day, this was not true at all.
When he had first searched for some information on Lord Grim, there only was a bunch of people – or better said one person and stirred everyone else up – that accused Lord Grim of tricking his teammates by not healing them and then stealing a hidden boss. Also he had seen some post about the three big guilds that used Lord Grim's help to set records. Never had he seen any posts about Excellent Dynasty being involved in any of that. Of course, they would be affected by such a behaviors, because this meant losing rare material and dungeon records were important to show off to the other gamers.
Now that he was searching he could find a lot more. Seemingly some players had reported Lord Grim to the Alliance, because they thought he cheated. A reasonable thought considering that the weapon of that person was quite unique. From the posts on the forums Muqiu found out that the weapon could change its form – so it was safe to assume that it was a silver weapon, which was quite impressive to be in the possession of a normal player. Lord Grim was a so called unspecialized character with a unique silver weapon called the "Myriad Manifestation Umbrella". Very eye-catching. No wonder all the guilds were after him. Maybe it was finally time to pay a visit to the tenth server – and maybe he should have a talk with Chen Yehui, who was the guild leader of the tenth server, to get some information about the current situation of the server and the relationship between Lord Grim and Excellent Dynasty. Maybe there was still a chance for them to rob this player in!
After his little search was done he watched his sister playing with her new friends. Besides Lord Grim there were four other players that helped to set a new dungeon record and from the way their coordinated with each other, it seemed that they were no strangers to each other. One of those four was Mucheng and her Luncher, than there was a Battle Mage called Soft Mist – despite that name she was far away from being soft –, a Brawler named Steamed Bun Invasion – what a name – and a Ghostblade with the Name of One Inch Ash. The Battle Mage and the Brawler seemed to be new to the game, since they often made beginner mistakes. However, many of their mistakes seemed to be covered by their fast movements, which led to the assumption that those two had a very high hand speed. One Inch Ash was nothing remarkable. He had a consistent performance and was quick with his decision making – probably an experienced player. As pro player one did not only need a high hand speed, one also needed to be able to make quick decisions and grabs the situation on the battlefield. Mucheng for example was nothing outstanding in the pro scene. Her hand speed was mediocre, but she was a great support. She knew very well, when she had to act, when to stay behind and when to use which skill. Her ability to observe and judge the situation in front of her were great. This also seemed to be the case for this One Inch Ash. However, Muqiu didn't want to come to a conclusion too fast. Maybe that person was just lucky and the other twos unlucky. Most of his attention was drawn in by Lord Grim anyway.
Many years ago Muqiu had also dreamed of a strong and outstanding unspecialized character. In the first years of Glory this character type was not seldom, because they had a hug advantage over the other classes. As unspecialized one could learn skills from every class – only low level skills, but when used right even those could be very powerful. The downside of this class was the fact that one needed to always have the right weapon with them to be able to use most of those low level skills. A lot of weapon meant a lot of weight and a lot of weight meant less speed. Also changing weapons during a fight, especially a PvP – Player versus Player – was more than impractical and could cost one the victory – so most of the unspecialized players back then always played in a preferred class anyway. Things got even worse when the so called Heavenly Domain and a "Class Awaking Quest" were established. Furthermore the level a character could have was raised up. Therewith playing an unspecialized was extremely disadvantage in the later stages of the game, thus became unattractive to almost every normal player. Muqiu had tried to find a way to solve the problem with the weapons, but after all these updates he gave up and put his energy into something else. Remembering his own unspecialized character made him feel a bit sad and nostalgic. Maybe he should pull that old character out of his drawer and start over again – where exactly had he put that card? Lord Grim's player had been able to solve this problem to some extent.
"Do you know how many forms the weapon of Lord Grim has?", Muqiu asked his sister, who had finished the dungeon with her group and leant back in her chair.
"I don't know. So far I've seen three of them", Mucheng honestly answered and switched her attention back to the game.
Someone had written something in the group chat. Although it was definitely not proper to read someone else's messages, Muqiu did exactly that and he wasn't subtle about it. So, in case his sister wouldn't like him to read the messages, she could stop him. Lord Grim was giving advice to his teammates, so it was mostly him writing. In the end the group decided to go into the dungeon again and try to improve – try to not make the same mistakes again. The second tour took longer, because everyone had slowed down to pay more attention to themselves and their teammates. A third round followed, in which everyone speeded up again – they did not make as many mistakes as in their first round. This was quite impressive, although a lot of the mistakes of the first round were probably done, because the player didn't pay enough attention to everything around. Now that they paid more attention to their surrounding – kept in mind that there was a surrounding, which could be interacted with – things were a bit better, but there was still a lot of room to develop.

Without saying a word Muqiu left the trainings room and went to the guild's department. If he wanted information on Lord Grim it was probably the best to ask Mucheng, but she didn't seem to be ready to tell him much – or she really didn't know much about the other player. When he had asked her, about the other members of the group, she also didn't say much. Soft Mist and Steamed Bun Invasion were indeed only beginners, who had never played Glory before – but their skills were impressive – while she knew absolutely nothing about the player of One Inch Ash. He had joint them not so long ago and seemed to know Lord Grim. However, he never really introduced himself – something no one had really done. They knew each other's in-game names and that's it. From the way Soft Mist, Steamed Bun Invasion and Lord Grim interacted with each other, Muqiu assumed that those three knew each other better, an assumption Mucheng had confirmed, when he had asked. Those two questions were all she had answered – and the only two he had asked her, while reading the chat messages and watching her clearing the dungeon. Mucheng had a look in the inside of Lord Grim's group and a different perspective on his actions and motivations, now it was time to listen to Chen Yehui and find out what that unspecialized had done to the guild and how the interaction between those two had went so far.
The room for the guild members were very spacious and friendly. Only guild members that were employed by the club would come here to play. Chen Yehui was one of those members. He had started as a trainee in Team Excellent Era's trainings camp and ended up as guild leader of Excellent Dynasty, since he was not good enough to be a pro player, however he had the right skills to be a guild leader. Such a position was nothing to look down upon. The guild was extremely important to the club, because the materials for the silver equipment was from the normal servers and those who got them were the players there. Consequently, it was the guild members that got all the wanted and needed materials for the club. Also the guilds were a way to advertise their respective clubs and find new talents. Without the guild and its members a pro team would have it hard – thing would surely be very different. When he entered the room, he greeted everyone and then went straight to Chen Yehui's computer – or the one the guild leader mostly used. Fortunately, he found the other one there. He was sitting in front of his computer and scrolling through the guild leader's group chat. Muqiu didn't want to be as intrusive as he had been with his sister. She would simply push him back, but wouldn't be mad at him. However, Chen Yehui wouldn't take it as lightly as Mucheng would. Moreover, Muqiu knew that the other one disliked him a lot, although he couldn't think of a reason for this dislike.
"Good morning", Muqiu greeted with a friendly smile.
Slowly Yehui moved his head from the computer to Muqiu. His expression was everything but friendly.
"I will make it short. I need a card for the tenth server, because I want to take a look at that Lord Grim guy."
When he mentioned Lord Grim, Chen Yehui's expression darken even more. Seemingly the guild leader did not like Lord Grim.
After a few moments of silence, Yehui got up from his chair and went to a drawer.
"What class?", he simply asked.
He sounded sleepy. Had he worked all night? Or didn't sleep well?
"A would like to decided that later. Do you have a blank card?"
With a blank card, Muqiu meant a card without equipment or a class. Normally the guilds had a lot of account cards, but most of them were already used and had a set class and equipment. However, for his plan Muqiu needed or wanted to have character that he could form to his will – and one that wasn't in any guild.
When he said he wanted a blank hard, he got a blank stare form Yehui first, but in the end he got what he wanted.
"Lord Grim may be prejudiced towards me, when I would be a part of Excellent Dynasty", Muqiu explained himself.
"Can you give him some information on him and his group? I need to be prepared, when I meet him or want to gossip about him with other players."
Silently Chen Yehui returned to his seat and started to scroll through the guild leader group chat again – this time in the opposite direction, instead of downwards he scrolled upwards.
"Most of my information are second hand. Excellent Dynasty hadn't had much to do with him until now. It was Blue Brook, who made the first move and tried to rob him in. He helped them to set a record, but left soon after this was accomplished. He did the same for Tyrannical Ambition. As payment he takes rare materials – a lot of rare materials. Herb Garden hasn't made a move on him – at least they never had worked together. But that doesn't mean that they are not interested in him – or they know something about him, no one else knows. I have no information about the smaller guilds, but I am sure that, if Lord Grim had worked with them, it would have been known by us already. Also smaller guild probably cannot pay him the right amount of rare materials", Chen Yehui explained.
In the group chat he had stopped at the part, in which some of the guild leaders were laughing about Blue Brook and Tyrannical Ambition for paying Lord Grim so much materials for nothing. The conversation went back and forth and Muqiu had to admit that they sounded like a bunch of preschoolers.
"So, there is no bad blood between Lord Grim and Excellent Dynasty?"
When asked this question, Yehui didn't dare to look into Muqiu's eyes. It was hard to answer with yes or no. A "I am not sure" was probably the right answer, but he didn't want to give such an answer.
"Well, one of our members stole a strategy from him and set a dungeon record with it", he admitted.
He didn't mention the fact that said member was also a member of the main roster of the pro team. Liu Hao and Chen Yehui got along very well, but this was not because of their oh so deep friendship, no it was simply because they both disliked Muqiu a lot. Hate could connect people.
"Lord Grim set a new record, which was then topped by said player again. Since said player used characters from Excellent Dynasty the record was set our under name, but I am sure that the player did not use his guild tag or revealed himself as a member of Excellent Dynasty, when spying on Lord Grim, so I think that Lord Grim does not know, who the other one was. Consequently, there shouldn't be a reason for him to be hostile towards us. However, I cannot guarantee it. Besides that record thing, nothing negative happened between us. It is just extremely annoying and bothersome that he helps the other guilds with setting records."
Records were important to draw people towards a guild and hopefully those people would also become fans of the clubs. Every server had new players that weren't interested in the pro scene and therefore would not join a guild right away. A fan of Excellent Era would immediately join the in-game guild and not care about other guilds, while some, who weren't a fan of any guild wouldn't join from the start. Such people, in case they knew what advantages a guild had for a player, would join a guild that suited their taste or had most of their friends. And then there were those, who had no idea and either join a guild randomly, because they liked the name or because they felt like they had to do so. Of course, some would never join a guild at all, but those were often players that didn't care much about the game and only played it a few times. Those, who would chose a guild by its name, would also often choose a guild that had a lot of positive accomplishments. So, whenever a record was set, the system announced it for everyone to see and hear – also records could be always looked up. However, if someone took a close look, than one should see that those records were made under the name of the guilds, but all teams had Lord Grim as member. It was only possible for a player to be in one guild at a time. Switching guilds was possible, but there was blockage of a few days until a person, after leaving a guild, could join another one. In the end this method wasn't every efficient for Lord Grim and it could give the guild a bad name.
"What about the other members of his group?"
"Um, I heard from the other guild leaders that the Brawler is a total idiot. He and Lord Grim met, during a fight for a wild boss – well, fight may be big of a word. The other guild never had a change to even touch the wild boss, before it had been defeated by Lord Grim. The Battle Mage, on the other hand, is good, her fighting style it quite aggressive. But I think she is new to Glory, because she makes so many beginner mistakes. However, I think she and Lord Grim know each other personally. When she entered the game she more or less immediately went up to Lord Grim and since then those two are often seen together. The Ghostblade joint a few weeks ago, but barely shows up with the group – I guess, he had spent most of his time with leveling up. So we might see him more often from now on. Similar to the Battle Mage, Soft Mist, he straight up went to Lord Grim. So maybe those two also know each other outside of the game", Chen Yehui said, trying to sound as nonchalance as possible.
While he spoke he scrolled through the chat again, only this time he wasn't sure whether he should scroll upwards or downwards. Muqiu couldn't help him therewith, since he didn't know what the other one was searching for.
"So, besides Lord Grim, there are three more in his group?"
"Um, there also is a female Luncher. We were able to rob her in and hoped that Lord Grim would follow, but in the end he never came and the Luncher left the guild three days ago. Her skills a good, but nothing too outstanding. However, she and Lord Grim coordinate well with each other. This is a real problem, when fighting for bosses."
"How have you tried to rob him in?"
Slowly Yehui closed the chat group and went to the game itself. There he opened a chat between him and Lord Grim. Without a word he moved aside, so Muqiu could take a better look at the conversation.
Like the other guild he had tried to get Lord Grim by offering rare materials. However, apparently the other one already had a fixed list, which he had sent to Yehui. Upon seeing said list Muqiu was completely speechless. The items were hard to get, but for a guild it was easier than for a normal player. Only one item belong to a wild boss, which was quite hard to get. First of all the guild needed to get the boss and kill it, before someone else could do so, and secondly the wild boss must drop the needed item. If Lord Grim sent this list to all guild leaders, who wanted his help, the chances for him to get them was quite high. Even when Excellent Dynasty didn't have the wanted rare materials or wasn't able to get the boss, which had the item, another guild may have it. This was a shameless, but brilliant plan!
Muqiu started to wonder that Lord Grim's player was after. If he wanted to compete with others in-game, it was clear that this wasn't possible soon anymore, because with his silver weapon he already was stronger than most of the other players. Or did that person only want to complete his silver weapon. But what then? Stop playing Glory? Why had the started to play the game to begin with, if he stops as soon as his weapon was finished? Was Lord Grim a pro player that was on a secret mission? Maybe another team wanted to create a secret weapon and Lord Grim was the test version? Muqiu doubted himself, but this was an option. Most pro team already had a fixed style and barely any team would risk a complete make-over – not that it was impossible or never done before, but it was extremely rare. So, maybe Lord Grim belong to a future team? Every season there were two teams from the Alliance that got relegated. For those two teams, there were two new ones. One team would be enter through some kind of selection procedure and the second team would come from the Challenger League.
"Do you know, if Lord Grim is already in a team? One that will be part of the Alliance starting next season?", Muqiu asked.
"No. He does not have any guild tag and he also does not seem to be interested in the Pro League. I once told him that he might have the skills for a professional career. He only thanked me and that's it. If he is part of the Challenger League, I cannot say much. The registration hasn't opened yet."
Player, who were in a guild, could hid their guild tag, but Lord Grim was switching between the guilds, when they hired him, so it was hard to say whether he had a guild, which he was loyal to – or maybe even worked for –, or not. If he was part of a newly founded team than the guild of said team was probably small and did not have many materials, thus could not make any or at least many silver weapons – in the professional alliance it was normal to have silver weapons for every character. Consequently Lord Grim could be a part of a smaller guild and was collecting rare materials for them. This was still a shameless, but brilliant plan!
"Um… alright", Muqiu said without looking at Yehui and moved away from the computer screen.
Slowly he got up from his chair, put the card in his pocket and moved towards the door.
Before he left and turned around and said to Yehui: "I will message you as soon as I've created my character. However, it might be the best, when no one knows that the two of us know each other."
He was sure, Chen Yehui would understand that this meant that he was not going to help the guild, even worse may have to work against it. Not a nice thought. What should a bunch of normal players do against a god-like player? There was a reason, why Muqiu was called a god. A very good reason! When the door fall shot, Yehui sighed. Lord Grim was enough stress, now he also had to deal with Muqiu in the game. He appreciated the help of the other male in every other server and he had hoped that Muqiu would finally come to the tenth server to help out against Lord Grim – Yehui didn't like Lord Grim and his player, therefore he had not tried too much or for too long to rob the other one in –, but now he might have to fight against Lord Grim and Muqiu. The other three of the Lord Grim group were strong as well, maybe not as good as their leader, but definitely better than any other normal player and with a little bit more experience they may surpass some of Excellent Dynasty's long term experts. However, this was a thought Chen Yehui refused to think and successfully kept out of his mind. For him the others were just a bunch of beginners and would not come far without Lord Grim, therefore he focused the mostly on this player. The other guilds also didn't seem to be interested in the rest of the group.

Mucheng was still playing the game, when Muqiu reentered the trainings room. Instead of sitting down next to her, he chose a computer further away. He had decided that he did not want her to know that he now also played in the tenth server – although she would probably discover him as soon as he started to interact with Lord Grim. If she wouldn't be able to do so, he would be very disappointed with her. However, he feared that if he tells her right away, she might act suspicious and make Lord Grim warry of him. Before he sat down on his new place he watched Mucheng playing a bit. He couldn't say whether she was in a dungeon again or simply leveling outside – he could say for sure that she wasn't in the arena and that she was still with Lord Grim. He must be a very nice play partner. A bit of jealousy rose inside of Muqiu. Until now Mucheng never went to the game and helped him with helping the guild, but suddenly when the tenth server opened she was one of the first to make a new account – he hereby ignored all the guild members that got a new account the very second the new server opened – and now she was having fun with some random dude. Wait! Did this mean those two already knew each other? She hadn't been interested in all the other servers, so why the tenth? The only logical possibility was that she and Lord Grim already knew each other and when she probably heard that he was in the tenth server decided to also go there! But when did they met? Maybe during one of her jobs? Differently than him, Mucheng often participated in advertisements or interviews, so she also met a lot of different people – some of them were interested in gaming, others were not. On the other hand, just meeting once wouldn't make her run to the new server like that, right? Even if the other one was a fan of hers or of Glory, there was no reason to meet him in the game. Did they meet each other a long time ago and he hadn't realized that his sister had a friend? He knew her Glory friends, but outside of the scene he knew no one, in case she even had friends outside of Glory. Strange. Very strange! He didn't like it. But instead of saying anything or asking her, Muqiu focused on his plan. Since he had asked for a blank card, he had to choose a class and a name for his avatar himself. Sounded easier than it actually was. Until now he either had his sister, who named his avatars, or the guild provided him with a class and name. Choosing a class, wasn't much of a problem, since he was fine with every available class. However decided a name was quite hard for him. He wanted a name, that wouldn't stand out, but also shouldn't be forgotten the every second someone switched his attention away from him. Of course, whether one remembered another player was not always – well, most of the time actually – because of the name, but because of the skills. If he wanted a name that wouldn't stand out, he could simply look through the forums and see what kind of names were used by others. It took him a little bit longer than an hour to decide for a name and a class. He was extremely proud of himself, when he finally confirmed his name and class. Shortly after his confirmation, he found himself in a city inside of the game. Said city was called the "Beginner Village".

When a server was newly opened the Beginner Village was filled with so many new players that it was almost impossible to move around, so one could say it was better to start later than the majority of the players. A quest that may only take a few hours could take twice as much. The problem wasn't the quest itself, it was the time one waste waiting to receive the quest. Luckily, Muqiu didn't have to wait long for his quests. After he finished them, he looked out for Chen Yehui's avatar and for information on Lord Grim. Logically the other one was already at a higher level and therefore wouldn't waste his time with the low level areas, which Muqiu had to use for now, since he wasn't strong enough. For now, all he could do was to gather information through other players and observe the movements of Lord Grim – which was mostly done by the guild, since Muqiu could not directly interact with Lord Grim, if the other one was in areas with a higher level and no, Muqiu had no intention of randomly writing Lord Grim. Last but not least he also could ask Mucheng about Lord Grim's movements or watch her playing with the other one. It wouldn't be suspicious for an older brother to be interested in his younger sister's in-game activities, right? He only was expressing interest in her and her life. There was nothing wrong or strange about that! In the past he had often asked her questions about her day and this would be the same now, just that he would asked about her day inside the game. Mucheng was used to his passion – obsession – with Glory, so she wouldn't think of it as strange or mind it. They often talked about Glory.

After finishing the beginner quests and contacting Yehui, Muqiu wanted to level up a bit, since he wanted to catch up to Lord Grim as soon as possible. So while he made his way to the leveling area, he moved slowly, because he also wanted to hear what other players around him had to say. Maybe they talked about Lord Grim. Thanks to the voice chat option, one only had to be close enough to another player to hear their conversation. Unfortunately, only one person talked about Lord Grim. It was a Blade Master, who acted as if he was the greatest expert in the history of Glory and said he would be friends with Lord Grim. When Muqiu asked him, why he wasn't with the latter one, the other one answered that he preferred to help the newcomers. While Muqiu's avatar didn't change his facial expression, Muqiu on the other hand raised his eyebrow upon hearing this. It wasn't like there weren't any players, good players, out there that really were so kind to help new players, but those were extremely rare and normally they wouldn't brag about it. Often those players also belonged to a big guild, which often caused the newcomers to also enter this guild. So helping out others was also a way to gain new follower for a guild. During the years before the professional league, Muqiu also had often helped new players. He wanted others to enjoy Glory as much as he did! To have fun, people needed to understand the game and have success. Always losing wasn't fun or needing weeks or months just to reach an acceptable level to get around in the game. Glory was a game that had a lot to offer and it would be sad, if someone never found out about all the possibilities this game had in store, just because the person was too frustrated or got bored.
Mucheng had already left the trainings room. From the sound of it, she had been quite busy with fighting or did she and the rest of the group had such an interesting discussion that she had to write on Huang Shaotian level? He doubted this a lot. So, she was probably fighting against monsters all the time. Only towards the end she slowed down and seemed more relaxed, less focused. It was summer break so she didn't have to train the whole day and logically could do whatever she wanted with her day. Maybe she wanted to take a little stroll through the city. Some stores had sales. Hopefully she would find something nice for herself. Now that he thought about it, he should probably buy her something nice too. She always was so happy, when he bought her a gift – which happened relatively seldom. Not that he did not care about her or didn't want to make her a gift. It was more that he often forgot about this kind of things and a part of him always told himself to save their money. The years in poverty had marked him and he didn't want to go back to those days – he didn't view his past as bad or dark, since he focused more on the positive aspects instead of the negative ones. Mucheng was probably the same. At least she never complaint about their past, when they remembered those days. She also never demanded anything from him. Thinking about it, she was such a kindhearted and sweet little sister. In the end Muqiu felt bad for not informing her about his plans, but he had made his decision and wouldn't change it now. For the next few days he would be busy with leveling anyway and later, when he would met Lord Grim and the rest, Mucheng would identify him immediately. She knew his playstyle more than anyone else, even when he tried to hide, she would see through him. So, just because he did not tell her directly, didn't mean she wouldn't find out on her own – also it would be strange, if he started to avoid her in the trainings room, so she could see what he was playing. Theoretically, she would probably find out about his plans very soon, since they often sat next to each other when playing Glory – he could also tell her, because it was so useless to hide it, but a decision was a decision, even when it was a stupid and useless one.