Rivalry: Infinite Buff

Chapter 1- Attack Bekal

It was 10 p.m., lights out was just called in one of the boys’ dormitories. The faint glow of cigarettes and smoke could be seen from a window in the corner. 

Ivan took one last drag of his cigarette and threw the butt down to the ground. Staring at the moonlight outside, he howled, “Freedom! I want my f*****g freedom!” 

He spun around and hastily grabbed his black jacket from his bed, nothing but paradise was on his mind- the cybercafé. His roommate Edwin pulled on his arm, trying to stop him, “Ivan, we have exams soon. Don’t get discouraged! If anything was to happen to you, I…”

Before Edwin could finish was he was saying, Ivan pushed him back down on his bed. He fixed his shirt and told Edwin, “Cut the crap! I am just going to play some games. Why do you need to say such things?” 

“Squirrel, are you coming with me or not?” Ivan said, calling Edwin by his nickname as he opened the door. 

Edwin hesitated but finally jumped up to follow Ivan. After all, they were brothers. 

All that Ivan could think about was the call he received a few minutes earlier. It was from the boss of the unauthorized cybercafé, Leo. He wanted Ivan to go to the café and log on to the game right away. 

“But I have exams soon! I’ll play during holidays, okay?” Ivan replied helplessly.

Leo wasn’t pleased with Ivan’s response, “Don’t you know this battle is important to Pursuer? We can win the championship this year by capturing Bekal! As the most powerful priest in our guild, you need to be here tonight. Otherwise, I don’t think we can be friends anymore.”

Ivan was still hesitant but knew he did not have much of a choice. Edwin was still trying to catch up to him but he was concentrating on the computer game and seemed to physically become a fearless bandit who knew no limits. Run-swirl-leap-fire in the hole replayed over and over in his mind as he flawlessly scaled a ten-foot wall. 

“Shall I attempt to make a 360-degree Thomas landing?” thought Ivan.

Edwin saw the shadow on the wall, and breathlessly yelled, “Bro, there was glass installed up there!”

“Damn it! You should have told me sooner. Ow! It hurts!” Ivan lost his grip on the wall and fell to the ground. 

The rest of the way to the cybercafé, Ivan complained that Edwin wasn’t a good friend and should have warned him sooner. Edwin only laughed and cursed at Ivan’s stupidity. 

…

The cybercafé was located in a secluded apartment building that was approximately twenty years old. When Ivan and Edwin arrived they knocked on the door for at least three minutes before someone finally answered. Leo opened the door, his tall body blocking most of the light coming from inside. 

“It took you long enough to open the door. I guess you are a busy man, Boss,” Ivan said with a big grin. 

Leo angrily slapped Ivan on the a*s, “Wipe that f*****g smile off of your face. Our association would be dissolved if you showed up any later. Log on to the game now!”

“Okay! Okay!” Noticing Leo’s anxiety, Ivan immediately stopped smiling and walked into the other room. The room was only several hundred square feet, but it was crammed with machines, and all of the Epic teammates were there. Ivan realized there must be a big event happening. 

Moving quickly, Ivan started his computer and logged on. He directed his character, Bishop, to purchase drugs. Bishop was a famous priest in the game, who wore a large cross around his neck and a golden robe. However, he had also reached the intimidating level forty-eight. Yet, what made him stand out from all of the other characters was his unique skill that had been lost for a long period- group healing. As Leo liked to say, he was the most powerful blood-refueling priest. 

After all of his drugs, amulets and poisons were replenished, Ivan asked Leo, “Hey Boss! How are we going to do this?”

Leo was pounding away on his keyboard, and without missing a movement, he said, “Download the divinity equipment, put on the memory suit, form a healing squad. And, replenish whoever I point to!” Though the memory suit was not as strong as the divinity suit, it had a special function—transmission, a truly extraordinary function. 

“Hey, I’m a living map. Don’t you remember? I’ve got all the Epic map coordinates installed,” Ivan replied with confidence.

Turning to glare at Ivan, Leo pointed to his head, “Alright, do it your way! Remember your priority is to protect the mage. Several guys in the Sovereign Guild are quite difficult to deal with.”

Just the mention of the Sovereign Guild made Ivan anxious because it was comprised of a lot of rich players. Amazing as his own divinity equipment was, it had been purchased with the collective wealth accumulated by the whole Pursuer Guild. However, more than half the people in the Sovereign Guild were equipped with the divinity suit or the guru suit. Besides, their boss, King, spent a huge amount to buy a s*******r sword. Ivan could be killed by him with a blazing fire in less than a second.

Ivan quickly brought his thoughts back to the game and directed the bishop to the battlefield known as Bekal. There was heavy fighting happening, and their guild was being tortured. The score was seven thousand to fourteen thousand, the Sovereign Guild only needed one thousand more points to win. 

“Hell! We have half the points that they do. How are we going to make it?” Ivan said in a weak voice. 

“Son of a b***h! Just continue to fight even though we are bound to lose. I have a bet with Sovereign on behalf of Pursuer, the one who loses had to dissolve his guild!” Leo snarled. 

“Damn you! You did that without consulting any of us!” Ivan was furious but he had no option other than to gather all of his strength and fight. He couldn’t lose the battle, the guild couldn’t. 

“Squirrel, you direct the mage to give up the fire wall, use collective ice-roar. Keep your eyes fixed on their mage. Kill him on sight,” Ivan commanded calmly, “Don’t worry about the blood. Leave it to me.”

“No problem,” said Edwin.

Ivan’s participation gradually narrowed the gap between the two guilds. There were not many aggressive characters left in the other guild, so Ivan focused his eyes on the rival warrior.

“Coordinates (3320, 5566). There you are,” Ivan said to himself and then hit the enter key on his keyboard. The bishop was sent to an area not far from King. 

“Fire at King!” Ivan said as he replenished four mages’ blood with the group healing skill. He watched King murder a mage on his side with a brutal bump and two machete hacks. 

His gaze met King’s.

A short time later, the message “Bishop?” showed up above King. 

“Uh?” Ivan replied.

“You’re an excellent player and I appreciate your skills. Join Sovereign after Pursuer dissolves.”

“No way!”

“I’ll pay you. How does $5000 a month sound?”

Ivan was shocked. He couldn’t believe that King would approach him so openly, it was something he should have done privately. However, it was a very attractive offer. After all, Ivan was just a student with no income so making at least $5000 a month would be something he could be proud of. Besides, King said it out in the open and without hesitation, so he must be serious. 

At the very thought, Ivan typed, his hands trembling. “Well, perhaps I shouldn’t say no…”

Before he finished typing, King hacked Bishop to death with a blazing fire. Game over.

King only saw Ivan’s last word, “no.” He stomped down on Bishop’s dead body, “You son of a b***h! How arrogant of you to say no to $5000?” Then he picked up his s*******r sword and walked away. 

“Seriously, I just wanted to ask if you could make it $5100 more! If so I would make more than my dad.” Ivan stared desperately at the black-and-white screen. 

When Ivan logged back on to the game, his heart did a flip. Bishop was n***d and had no belongings, so Ivan hurried to check his equipment column and bag. He could only find a bundle of drugs, all of the other equipment he had was dropped. 

“f**k!” He mumbled under his breath and scratched his head anxiously, “What were the coordinates?” 

He remembered they were (3320, 5566) and quickly rushed to the area, not caring if they lost or not. He needed to get his equipment because it was the only valuable asset the Pursuer Guild had. There was no way he could afford to lose it but when he arrived there was no trace of it. Someone had picked it up from the chaotic battlefield. 

“Oh f**k! I am done for!” Ivan looked at Leo with a guilty conscience.

“Open the door!” Suddenly there was a loud banging on the security door, accompanied by shouting from several middle-aged men.

“Damn it! It is the head of security!” Ivan and Edwin jumped up with shock and exclaimed at the same time.

“What do we do, bro?”

“We run.”

The two of them pulled open the back door and slipped out like wind. 

“How did security know we were out playing games?”

“Don’t beat me when I tell you.”

“I won’t beat you! Just tell me!”

“It really isn’t a big deal. When I climbed over the wall, I broke one a large stick that may have woke up the dormitory caretaker. But don’t panic, as long as we return to the dormitory before they do, they can’t do anything to us,” Edwin said with a chuckle. 

“s**t, why am I so unlucky today? You stupid jerk!” Ivan yelled at Edwin. 

They ran toward their dormitory, while angry shouts and roaring barks echoed behind them. Someone yelled out in pain but they didn’t turn back to see who it was. They leaped over walls and finally reached the school but there was no way they could climb to their window. 

“Bro, let’s climb the pipe.” Edwin suggested with a smile, he was quite satisfied with his thought. 

“I am sorry, I am not Spider-man!” Ivan patted Edwin on the shoulder. 

“I’ll go first to show you it can be done.” Edwin rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the pipe. 

Ivan watched him, shaking his head and pointing upwards. Edwin lifted up his head and saw a white-haired old man waving at them with a smile from the fifth-floor balcony.

Ivan was an optimistic boy who always looked at the bright side. He sighed and said to himself, “Oh well, I got accept reality. The worst thing that will happen is I will be disciplined.”

He shook his head and sighed again, “Sir, we were wrong. Can you please open the door?”

The dormitory caretaker was amused. “Now you know you were wrong? I’m old, it’s not a good idea for you to wake me up late at night.”

“We’re so sorry. You’re a very kind man. Please forgive us and let us in. We understand that we will be punished.” Edwin said trying to convince him. 

“Oh, I will remember that you said that. I will let you in.” The old man went downstairs to open the dormitory door.

“Come in. It’s cold outside.” He looked compassionate.

Ivan couldn’t believe how nice he was being. He was old but still seemed to be concerned about the young students. Ivan thought the dedication to his work was admirable and he seemed to be a great role model. However, what the old man said next quickly changed Ivan’s opinion of him. 

“Since it’s so cold outside, you need to warm yourself up. I’ve prepared something for you. Empty the trash bin, mop the floor and clean the toilet. These are all good exercises that will get your blood flowing and warm you up.”

Seeing Ivan’s and Edwin’s face turn red, the old man questioned, “What? You don’t want to do what I asked?”

“Of course… not.” They both replied.