Infinite Realm

The interior of the command tent was similar to the setting of a meeting room. A round table was set up with 6 chairs circled around it. Seating at the chair directly facing the entrance was the leader of the Howling Wolf Battalion team for this raid, Silver Wolf, while standing behind him was his deputy, Iron Bear.

"Azure Dragon is it? Aren't you a bold one to waltz in here without fear of getting killed. What's even more interesting is that you brought a [Druid] with you as your bodyguard." Silver Wolf displayed a mocking grin on his face.

"Unless you're either an idiot or a fool, you wouldn't attack us even if we wouldn't resist. That's quite disappointing for someone who is known to fear nothing." Azure Dragon lashed back as 

As they say, two tigers can not occupy one mountain. While Battle Wolves was currently based in Black Mountain town and Emperor's Might was based in Riverdale town, this was only for the early stages. Eventually, the players and guilds of the 3 novice towns of Black Rock province would have to go to the city if they want to improve better. And in this regard, there was only one city for the 3 areas, Black Rock City. This meant that while the guilds of the 3 towns fought separately for domination of their regional areas, the true battle would only begin at the city, where the ultimate ruler of the province would be decided. This meant that the 2 reigning guilds of Riverdale and Black Mountain town -Emperor' Might and Battle Wolves respectively- would duke it out at the city for who will stand supreme. Hence, there was no need for the duo to be acting with courtesy.

"Haha. As smart as the records say. That's good." Silver Wolf said with a fake smile. 

Azure Dragon simply smiled without saying a word.

Seeing as his guest had yet to speak, Silver Wolf cleared his throat and said.

"Well you see, my purpose in inviting you here is for us to plan the strategies we would utilise in the raid." 

"The others haven't arrived yet. Don't you think it's a bit too early for that?"

"We will of course do the final strategising when the others are here, but as the first to make it this far, we should have a framework ready for them to evaluate." Silver Wolf answered.

"True. However, isn't that the job meant for the role of the raid leader. And isn't that role decided by the first to make it here. Who are you to suddenly squeeze into the same rank as my guild." Azure Dragon narrowed his eyes.

"Hehe. Your guild's rank? As far as we all know from the surface, we both made it here at roughly the same time if not the exact. Rather than make things difficult, conceding to a shared control would be the best option for us both. Don't you think so?" Silver Wolf asked.

In the minds of the two leaders, their respective teams were the first to make it to the 10th floor and none would want to concede defeat to the other. The reason was simple; the position of 1st was extremely valuable to either side. 

"Hehe. Roughly the same? I wouldn't be so sure about that." Azure Dragon smiled confidently.

While the question of who came in first was still unanswered, there were numerous ways of finding that out. The easiest method was for the two guilds to compare the time they had arrived on the 10th floor to the other. By simply checking the two values, they could easily point out who the winner was. Even if one of the guilds tried to fake their time, the spies hidden within both sides would eventually reveal it to the public and this would affect the guild's standing in the gaming community. The only reason that the spies from either side haven't revealed the time was because every player was currently under surveillance. Once any of the spies from either side had any chance, they would pass on the information to their heads.

Emperor's Might had a spy amongst the men following Silver Wolf and it was due to this that Azure Dragon was confident. Even though they had yet to hear anything from that player, once the mole is no longer being monitored, Azure Dragon was sure that he would deliver the information regarding their record time.

Also, considering the fact that their guild had more men and more elites, Azure Dragon refused to believe that the Howling Wolf Battalion beat them to the 10th floor first. In his mind, agreeing to Silver Wolf's suggestion of the two of them taking the roles as the leaders of the allied raid team was the same as giving their adversaries an advantage for doing nothing.

"I'm giving you a way out now but you're refusing. Don't come begging later." Silver Wolf said with a dark face.

"What do you mean?" Azure Dragon frowned as he released his aura. 

The entire temperature of the entire tent suddenly dropped by a few degrees as Azure Dragon's killing intent pervaded the area. Iron Bear, who stood behind Silver Wolf, suddenly felt chills run across his spine as he pulled his sword out of reflex. Even Silver Wolf couldn't resist moving his hand over to his sword.

Azure Dragon was a 'false king' which meant that his strength was close to that of a pinnacle rank Expert. Underneath the title of 'King' or 'Queen', he was a player that shouldn't be taken lightly. Only Silver Wolf was capable of holding him down for a while but Iron Bear wasn't. Having walked through countless battles, Azure Dragon had gained an aura that could stir the inherent primal instincts of humans. By simply releasing it, Iron Bear's battle reflexes had kicked in as he took a battle stance, seemingly as if he was about to face a BOSS-level monster.

'So this is the strength of the famed 'Dragon'.'

In VR gaming, while it was true that players were allowed to take on any name, in the community, especially in big guilds, there was an unwritten law that prohibited certain names or titles from being used by players. These names or titles only be rewarded to one after great merit or a ground-breaking achievement had been fulfilled. A good example was the title 'God', which was only left for god-ranked Experts; or names related to the 4 heavenly beasts[1], or the names of certain legendary beasts.

Azure Dragon originally went by the IGN "Azure Wind" but after achieving great merits for Emperor's Might as well as having great battle records that were unsurpassed by many, he changed his name to "Azure Dragon" and no one had any complaints about it. The guild had even commended him for that and rewarded him with his own personal team. After that, they went on to give him more opportunities to bring glory to his name and the guild by assigning him the role of branch guild leader and delegating two pinnacle rank Experts directly under him. If that wasn't enough, after Azure Dragon had been officially recognised with the name, the number 1 VR game 'Conquest' had created a special limited edition medal only for him. Though it had no special features, it was the same as acknowledging his title as the 'Azure Dragon'.

This was the value of such great names and the names alone had the ability to instill fear in the hearts of players, what more the player themselves.