Guild Wars

Before Draco could think about troubling or investigating this strange and curious Angel anymore, he noticed a change in his character sheet. 

｢Name: Draco 

Class: Abyss Eternal 

Race: Hybrid (Human/Ultima Sunt) 

Rank: Demi God (5)/True God (???) 

Level: 247 

Exp: 76% 

Law Rank: Basic || Intermediate || Advanced || Master 

Divine Essence: 1,776,899/10,000 || 1,776,899/100,000 || 1,776,899/1,000,000 || 1,776,899/100,000,000 

Str: 255 (Current Total = 510,000) 

Dex: 255 (Current Total = 510,000) 

End: 255 (Current Total = 510,000) 

Int: 255 (Current Total = 510,000) 

Spr: 255 (Current Total = 510,000) 

Cha: 255 (Current Total = 510,000) 

Lck: 271 (Current Total = 542,000) 

Law(s): Law of True Destruction (Master), Law of Attack Velocity (Advanced), Law of Movement Velocity (Advanced), Law of Damage Avoidance (Advanced), Law of Malevolent Darkness (Intermediate), Law of Damage Enhancement (Intermediate), Law of Energy Fusion (Intermediate), Law of Energy Barrier (Intermediate), Law of Mystic Damage (Intermediate), Law of Mental Suppression (Intermediate), Law of Energy Restoration (Intermediate), Law of Vitality Appropriation (Intermediate), Law of Spirit Suppression (Intermediate), Law of Soul Defense (Intermediate), Law of Vitality Restoration (Intermediate), Law of Item Replication (Intermediate), Law of Dexterous Boost (Basic), Law of Racial Control (Basic), Law of Aspect Swapping (Basic), Law of Dark Afflictions (Basic), Law of Mystic Revival (Basic), Law of Dimensional Expulsion (Basic), Law of Alchemic Conversion (Basic), Law of Nature Summoning (Basic), Law of Warrior Summoning (Basic), Law of Elemental Empowerment (Basic), Law of Energy Empowerment (Basic). 

Combat Skills: Necrotic Hands, Malevolent Spirit, Cruel Beast Summoning, Evil Curse, Life Steal, Divination, Sinister Shot, Dark Resurrection, Beckon, Subsume, Angel's Blessing (Corrupted), Mind Blast, Charm, Spirit Suppression, Soul Fortification, Mystic Conversion, Duplicate, Elemental Corruption, Soul Warp, Banish, Cauldron of Evil, Generate, Dark Transmutation, Crone Summon, Swamp Fae, Talent Swap. 

Non-Combat Skills: Fae's Blessing, Soul Bond, Charm, Insight, Foresight, Flexibility, Illusion, Confusion, Evolution, Ultimate Stealth, Pinnacle Intelligence, Species Shift, Dragobond, Aether Conversion, Eternal Strength - Rank 5 (Passive), Eternal Speed - Rank 5 (Passive), Eternal Endurance - Rank 5 (Passive), Eternal Intelligence - Rank 5 (Passive), Eternal Spirit - Rank 5 (Passive), Eternal Luck - Rank 5 (Passive), Combine, Disseminate, Source Origin Stealer. 

Tradeskills: Smithing (Semi-Divine), Alchemy (Semi-Divine), Enchanting (level 100, 0%), Magical Engineering (level 76, 21%), Scrivener (level 85, 64%), Privateering (level 72, 32%), Dungeon Creation (level 34, 40%), Skill Fusion (level 34, 40%), Refinement (Level 0, 30%).｣ 

His Divine Essence had increased by 861,536! 

Not only that, but his Level had also increased by 2! 

What the hell? This was the Divine Realm, any player who came here should have long shed away their previous Class and Level, so it should not be possible to earn experience. Draco was confused and checked with Eva or Shuangtian to see if they had done anything to trigger this, yet neither one did anything to justify it. 

Shuangtian was still in the midst of training with Anubesetesh while Eva was currently supervising the clan on a training expedition without taking part in the actual fighting. What's more, she had not even joined their party. 

Draco then checked the battle logs to see if it would enlighten him to this strange phenomena, and eventually found an answer. From what he could tell, all of that came from the Grey Rot. Aside from the mist, his attack had destroyed hundreds of thousands of monsters at the Basic level. 

They had even left behind drops like Aether Coins, which was this realm's currency as well as equipment, potions and more, all at the Divine Rank, but with varying quality. 

Once Draco saw this, his mind virtually exploded as he understood everything. The biggest question he had asked himself after coming to the Divine Realm and going through their various processes was how a player was what a player was supposed to do to advance from this place? 

Not every player, or in fact, no player could be like him and have the luxury of possessing a Divine Trial Token to head to the Divine Trail and farm Divine Essence. In fact, the Morningstar Clan only got one token due to Sunna having to pay a fine for her retarded behavior, which could only be attributed to luck rather than hard work. 

So if Draco had come here straight, how was he supposed to advance his Basic Law(s) to the Intermediate Rank and above? After all, Barrado had clearly stated that there should be nothing to gain from fighting the Grey Rot except for their continued survival. 

Since it could be beaten back and dealt with easily by Laws, it was a very low apocalyptic power for True Gods. The reason why the Grey Rot was nevertheless considered a terror to the True Gods was that it did not benefit them in any way, only cost them. They only had the natural Divine Energy system which recharged relative to the energy around them or their own internal conversion or production rate. 

Their Law system was also naturally dependent on comprehension, which was how it should be. They could not use a game system to just accumulate exp and then level up and get all the hard work done for them, they had to sit down and learn. 

The Grey Rot gave them nothing. They had to constantly bombard it with AOE skills imbued with their Law and fuel it with their precious Divine Energy. After bombarding it for a while, the Grey Rot would manifest an auto defense mechanic which was to form the shape of a monster or NPC it had corrupted or consumed in the past and have it fight the assailants. 

This was truly the hardest part as this monster or True God would have the Laws and skills it did while alive, or at least, a mimicked version. This clone would have infinite energy and stamina supplied by the Grey Rot, so it was impossible to wear it down over time. 

You had to kill it immediately with greater force, which was why Basic Law True Gods were looked down upon greatly, while Intermediate and above were treated entirely differently. After all, the lowest level of Law was Basic, so even the weakest Grey Rot monster had a Basic Law. 

Sending other Basic Law users to fight it was basically just feeding the Grey Rot. There needed to be, at least, an Intermediate law user at the help to manage the issue, which led to the class shift, despite basic and Intermediate Laws not really being any different. 

One was 5% efficiency and the other was 10%, it really wasn't much.  I think you should take a look at

This led to the need to have specialized equipment for dealing with the Grey Rot, passive skills that could be shaped into AOEs and even potions as well as specialized fighting tactics like what Draco had seen those five do. 

To summarize, fighting the Grey Rot as an NPC True God was like working the rush hour shift of a very popular fast food joint as the chef, cashier and server, all at once… while receiving no pay whatsoever. 

However, what was Boundless? An expansive world that was trying to leave the virtual and become real! 

Err… too much? Okay then, let's simplify things. Boundless is a FIVR game! 

Who are games made for? Players! 

Boundless had always been designed with the players in mind! Whether it be the village chief NPC or the Final Dungeon Boss monster, the digital characters' main purpose was to provide the background for the players to enjoy the worldbuilding. 

So while it was a fact that NPCs were unable to gain any benefits and had to struggle day by day to maintain the status quo, much less conquer the Grey Rot, would it make sense for Divine Realm to hold the same restrictions for the players? 

Of course not! 

What was that noise? Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! 

No, it was a retarded player kamikazeing the frontline while wearing an expression of greed! 

The current situation was built for players only. 

A realm about to be taken over by a great and heartless evil? 

The natives on the verge of defeat who are in despair and need a hero? 

Only one last bastion of civilization remains across a large land that was once beautiful and full of life? 

My Brother in Christ, if you are an Earthling who plays any form of RPG, you have heard and seen this plot so many times you're probably ready to vomit. 

After all, this was the recipe to galvanize the enthusiasm of players. If it was built for players, then how could there be anything that was boring or discourage players? Rather, implementations had to be made to prevent NPCs from ruining player's fun and competing with them. 

Players only competed with each other, never mere NPCs. As such, there were no benefits for NPCs to fight the Grey Rot, but players could gain Divine Essence, drops and money just like they were in the Main Plane below if they fought the Grey Rot. 

As for a lack of energy? Motherfucker, we have the Divine Point system! All I need to do is spam my AOE skill that costs less than 1 Divine Point hundreds of times while imbued by my Law, and I haven't even touched my natural Divine Energy yet! 

Oh, they spawn monsters with infinite energy? Sure, you can resist 1 Basic law, but can you resist… 4 Basic Laws? 10 Basic Laws? 

What was that? Players should not band together in parties and rather be virtuous? Ganging up on poor monsterkind is shameless and lacks martial virtue? 

Hahahaha! 

The entire expanse of the Grey Rot was a calamity zone to NPCs where the slightest mistake could see them drowned in filth and become assimilated. Meanwhile, the entire expanse of the Grey Rot was a treasure zone to players and something they actively craved. 

Once players ascended with their numbers, NPCs would be dazed and left with complicated feelings upon seeing the crazy players spending 99% of their time at the frontline fighting like demons on steroids. 

The Grey Rot would be pushed back faster than the True Gods could fathom. Not to mention that with drops, players could revitalize the dead economy of the Divine Realm which had been stagnating due to the lack of True Gods and the lack of freedom. 

So to summarize, one man's meat was another man's poison. 

After realizing this, Draco's eyes became filled with greed. He had once though that the Divine Trial was his only way forward, but he sincerely regretted wasting all his points on Divine Essence. 

Even though most of the things in the Divine Trial shop were in the Divine Draconic Treasury, he did not dare touch those things without enough power on his side or an Origin God might come down and slap him to paste then delete his account. 

Not to mention, there were some top items that even the powerful Dragons back then could not buy, which Draco could have saved up for. Anyway, it wasn't really a big deal, without the benefit of the Divine Essence he got, he would not have as much confidence ass he did now. 

Whatever the case, he now knew how to easily farm Divine Essence and that was by giving the Grey Rot a very, very fun time! 

While Draco had been daydreaming, the world eventually reacted to the events as the surviving True Gods burst into chatter with fear and excitement at survival on their faces. Gabriel also glared at Draco with a red face and was about to question him for his impudent actions. 

However, at this moment, a severe pressure descended that forced all True Gods to their kneels and Angels flat on the ground. Only Justicar and Gabriel remained standing, but one could see that they weren't feeling too good. 

Draco was the only one who easily remained on his feet because even if his Eternal bloodline was sealed, how could mere divinity suppress the Eternal? 

A loud and majestic voice sounded out throughout the world, seeming like it came from the horizon. 

"The Supreme Council of the Pantheon has declared that all True Gods are to return to Supreme City immediately! Failure to appear will be treated as desertion. Also, secure and bring the True God who cast the previous ability before the council this instant!"