System Break

The pristine white cape flapped behind him as he strode down the corridor. The light reflected from the shiny steel breastplate which was etched with twin crossed swords.

"Gentlemen," he said.

"Ying," they replied.

Ying sat with his four best, they made up the council for the guild. They also made up his team for tournaments.

He glanced behind at the large chest took pride of place in the leadership hall. "How goes the qi collecting today?"

A burly warrior grimaced. "Not enough - slackers - we have too many spoiled rich brats in our ranks."

Ying sighed. "It's not like we have much choice, we just have to beat some metal into them."

The burly warrior grinned. "Okay, you said it."

Ying waved his hand. "With finesse, we want to mould them not break them."

"Guild leader," the wiry rogue said.

"Ying is fine, we're friends first."

"Sir, we should go further out. There was another first kill today."

"I didn't see an announcement."

The rogue shook his head. "There was no announcement, but if you dig down into the logs you can see all the server firsts, tower times and discoveries."

"Really?" They all said, and their eyes glazed over as they accessed their huds.

"It's that Ailen and Sakaala again. And what sort of idiot calls themselves eleven?"

"Maybe its an AI assisting them," the rogue said. "Sir they're not in Dawnharbour. I searched everywhere and got player lists from all the guilds."

"Unless they're hiding their identity," the burly warrior said.

"Why would a guild leader allow them to get server firsts and not have his name included?" the rogue asked.

Ying nodded. "Unless the guild leader is eleven and he's hiding his name."

The rogue shook his head. "No, I have the guild leader official list and it's their official IGN."

"How do you get all this information?"

"He's a hacker in real life," another said and received glares from the group.

"Too far Sandor. We respect the game world, it's one of our tenants."

A flash of anger crossed Sandor's face. "You're all talking about server firsts, blah blah."

"That's different its something here," Ying said. "If its in this world its okay. That's how you know, but keep any talk involving the hud to private conversations."

Sandor grumbled.

Ying stared him down while the rest were quiet.

"Fine, sorry," Sandor said.

Ying tapped the table. "The white cloaks need qi, it's the currency of this world and its power. Trik keep gathering information, you keep surprising us. Well done. The rest of you, qi first, tower times second."

"First place in the tower has a reward," Sandor said.

"Some far-off assignment?" The brawler scoffed. "Sounds like a job, not a reward."

"No, the assignment is for the tournament," Ying said. "The tower level firsts have different rewards."

Trik raised his hand.

"Trik, this is not school. Speak."

"I think that the qi around here is thin because of the competition for spawns. If we were alone in a far-off outpost, then it would be different."

Ying stared at him. "You're a resourceful man Trik and I like the way you think. Agreed, we'll win this tournament and get this posting."

Ying stood and walked over to the chest with their collection of qi cores. It was filled with hundreds of tiny cores from easily to kill monsters. "It's a tough call whether to use it and make ourselves more powerful or purchase better equipment."

Sandor wore a katana at his hip. He was a swordsman like Ying. "We should increase our strength and take on tougher monsters. We'll get bigger cores from them."

Ying nodded. "Give thirty percent to the members, take twenty percent between us and save the rest."

"What if some sneak eat cores in the field?"

"We'll pretend not to notice and put them in the front line when we take on our first boss," Ying said.

"And if they leave before then?"

Ying scowled. "We'll kill them and take their core."

The burly brawler growled. "If they let in more than 250, we could be choosey. I hate the way it's done."

Ying turned and looked at his friend. "Everyone has the same issues and we do. And we have a strong core group." He then turned his attention to Trik. "Can you find out where the Dokkalfar are? We should buy our weapons directly from them and cut out the middlemen."

"Dokkalfar?" Sandor said.

"The dwarves," Trik said. "I'll try. I know the trade comes through Salastria, so maybe they're near there."

"Isn't that the other posting?" Ying asked.

Sandor said, "Yes, it's for second through fifth."

Ying scratched his chin. "Then if we don't win its not a total loss. What is not acceptable gentlemen is finishing outside the top five."

The brawler approached the chest. "Then we should dig in and go smack the crap out of this tower."

Ying held out his arm barring the brawler's path. "Moderation - eat a portion each day or you'll become bloated and sick like the guild leader from the bloods."

Sandor looked at Trik. "Who has the best time for the tower? How does the competition work?"

"It's only comes down to time for records and in the event of a tie. What actually matters is how far you get. No one has made it through the second level and only a few dozen through the first."

"How many levels are there?"

"No one knows. It's like an instance. You walk through a portal and the timer starts. It could be two levels or a hundred."

"Or infinite. They could just keep adding levels," Ying said.

They all knew what it felt like to die in the tower, its where they all trained.

The brawler slapped his forehead. "Of course. We enter the tower at the same time, but we're alone. It is an instance."

Trik cast him a sidelong glance as if to say – it took you this long to work that out?

Ying felt the pommel of his sword. "Can we make a profit in the tower?"

They all looked towards Trik. "We can, but it means ignoring your time and harvesting the cores."

Ying paced. "Okay, so we push hard and if our time is not our best we go back and harvest all the cores before passing through the portal."

The others nodded.

"Good plan boss," the brawler said the scratched his head. "But how do I know my time?"

They all stared at him except Ying who smiled patiently. "It's in your hud Mal."