Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/4 hours later, close to midnight…/

The hours passed, and the moon had already risen to take the highest spot in the sky…

But Resko was far from being silent as it usually did.

All around were players, walking around with torches, making noise...

Others were talking to each other, discussing something.

But most were waiting around the Guild, waiting for their turn to get inside.

And worse of all, more and more players seemed to be entering the Village from the outside, it was as if their numbers were never-ending…

However, there was a continuous stream of players leaving the Guild through its backdoor, and almost immediately as they left, they ran towards the Northern corner of the Village…

Before starting to dig the sand there…

It was a very odd sight.

Still, it seemed that the number of players entering the Guild was slowly decreasing, and currently, there were less than 20 players waiting outside of it.

Even if a new player arrived, 3 more left through the backdoor…

Soon enough this would end, giving Misgurd and Edimund some time to rest.

As for the villagers of Resko, most of them avoided these newcomers, not trusting these Outsiders.

They were different from Dale, they came doing misdeeds and with an ambiguous purpose.

Dale, on the other hand, did many things for them, his position was already solidified in their hearts, even if only a small number of 3 days had passed.

This was how much he did to them in just that amount of time.

However… They were starting to find these newcomers annoying.

It was already late in the night, and yet, so much noise was being made…

Not to say, when they came back from the fields, tired and worried about the strange lights they saw over the Village, they were almost assaulted by this crowd of people.

It wasn't a pleasant first encounter.

...

"Hum..."

As for Dale himself, he was still sorting through the books in his private room, fascinated with his gains…

It didn't seem that he would be going to sleep anytime soon, he was too focused on his task at hand to even think about that.

As he read through the books, he couldn't help but think that tomorrow would mark the start of Resko's rise.

He was sure of it…

...

Going away from Dale for a moment, somewhere much further in the North, a trio of players, 2 red-haired girls, one taller than the other plus a black-haired man were currently leaving from a stone house with divergent expressions…

"They're ripping us off! How can they just pay us 3 Zulls of Iron for all of our pelts?!"

"The cost of fixing our materials plus our tools used in this hunt equals about half of that!" Said one of the red-haired girls, the smaller one

"It was always like this, we just need to accumulate enough for all of us to Rank Up and we won't be looked down upon any longer." Replied the taller red-haired girl

"Ahh… But how long is that going to take? We've spent our entire time since we entered this game farming gold!" The younger girl complained loudly as they walked on the illuminated street

"..."

'Sigh...'

The boy, however, remained silent, thinking deeply as his 2 sisters complained to each other, rarely asking him anything as he automatically replied with 'Uhum' or 'Yes'...

'It's been almost 3 full days since the game started, about 2 and a half days, though today does mark the end of the 3 in-game day players were active.'

'In our case, we spent the first full day in the tutorial, while part of the second day was spent on clearing some loose ends in the tutorial, and another part of it understanding our Spawning point.'

'It was also on the second day that we realized this place was much harder than its Level difficulty.'

'If the monsters' Levels weren't enough, the NPCs here are extremely hostile to all outsiders as if they're actively trying to have us leave.'

'Almost to the point where they would prefer to die than to be helped by us… However, that doesn't change the fact that this is our base. We need to make use of it.'

'The plan was simple, to hunt as much as we could and rake in as much gold and XP as possible so we could increase our Ranks and get access to more benefits.'

'The starting point we choose was the second settlement of the South, a Military Town on the Southern Edge of the Kingdom's territory…'

'Not quite 'edge' as the part of the desert further South isn't considered a part of the mainland.'

'The city is located North of a mountain range that runs through the Southern part of the Continent and it is also used as a border mark, anything below it is Wild grounds.'

'Even if that isn't exactly true due to a certain Village's existence.'

'This Village has been chosen by many due to its great infrastructure and Level range, in one day alone I identified at least 34 Super Guilds and even some Large and Lower-sized ones.'

'But enough of other players, we have our own problems...'

'The people in this Border Town don't respect us due to the way they see us, they think we're wimps and weaklings together with a bunch of shenanigans they have against outsiders...'

'I don't care what they think but it's true that this biased vision is getting in the way of our progress... Everyone's.'

'Larger prices for everything while lower rewards are only one of the many problems were faced with.'

'As long as we can increase our ranks, then even if they don't wish to, they'll have to respect us.'

'This leads us to the third day where we continued with our initial plans, and on a very successful note thanks to Dale's items…'

'More so because he allowed us to risk ourselves more in the tutorial, and thanks to that I managed to acquire enough Skills to give each of us 4 options to choose from, albeit the distribution was irregular due to our individual Classes and requirements.'

'Because of what I aim towards, I only learned 2 while I left the rest for my sisters to choose from, but I'm happy with this result.'

'Though... Speaking of him…'

The young man's expression twisted as he remembered his mistakes.

He looked at his sisters and shook his head.

'It doesn't matter anymore, they'll forget his face soon enough.'

[DING!]

As he said that, he received a notification from his system, and there was only one notification worthy of his attention…

His favorite streamer was posting a new video!

A bit excited, he checked his Streaming page to see a new video:

[The most pitiful heist of all Time, all ??]

Intrigued, he opened the video since he had nothing to do.

His sisters had decided to 'rest' by window shopping everywhere, so he sat on a bench on the side to relax a little.

So while they went on a shopping spree for items, he sat down on a bench near a weird tree and started playing the video…

And he immediately remembered something…

"Hm? Didn't he start at Resko like Dale?..."

As he read through the description of the video, his expression twisted.

"Damn, what a problematic situation, and it had to happen there of all places…"

'I hope Dale wasn't affected by these changes...'

[Play]

The video started by showing none other than Rodi's desperate face.

He started the video by apologizing for being silent and posting something he shouldn't, but in any case, since it slipped out, he decided to be open with it already.

"Oh yeah, I missed the chance to see that clip, because it was taken down almost instantaneously…"

'They said it showed the first Legendary Item... I wanted to see it...'

'I was thinking about taking a look at the leaked screenshots after I logged out, but that won't be necessary it seems.'

The video continued to roll, eventually showing the Sword talked about by all...

"Wow?! Is this the Legendary item?" Rodi said in awe as he looked at the description of the Sword

Even if most of its attributes were hidden, it was still an indicator of how strong the item truly is…

'So this is what the Legendary Item was...' He thought as his expression sharpened

'Its attributes are as exaggerated as I had expected, a minimum of 300 strength to use it? And that's only one of the few requirements...'

'The rest is all blacked out...'

"Interesting..."

'It's likely a High Legendary item, which is obvious due to Resko's base Level.'

"So it's going to start…"

After Rodi apologized and showed the sword, the video cut to several groups entering the Church hastily.

At first, they tried to negotiate and divide the loot equally, but the more they talked, the more groups seemed to arrive... And eventually, the negotiations broke down.

After that, the video showed how they fought each other for the possession of the items in the Church, using multiple Skills as they damaged everything around them.

All the while, Rodi's Clan remained on the sidelines, vowing to not interfere under any circumstances…

"This video is rather informative, with this, I can have an overall idea of what these big Clans Elites look like right now..."

'It's still too soon to make any assumptions, but these players will likely compose the backbone of their forces in the future and it also gives me an idea of what sort of Skills their players have.'

'Things like what kind of Skills they consider strong and what sort of Meta they'll pursue in the early game...'

'Once Guild Wars start being a thing, they'll be the ones that'll bring significant changes to a fight on the battlefield.'

'As for their leaders... They're all scattered throughout the Continent, each choosing their own starting areas to maximize growth and the specialties of their forces.'

'It would make no sense for a Guild that specializes and is known for their Craftsmanship to go somewhere where there are no resources for them to utilize.'

'Albeit that is an extreme thing to say...'

"Anyway, back to the video..."

He continued to study the conflict until... Midway through the fight, they were all forced to stop and look at the Church's door as someone walked from outside…

"Hm?... ??!?!?!"

'No... Way...'

The young man, Ermin, almost fell from his bench due to the shock he was feeling right now.

His eyes open wide, his face was almost glued to the floating holographic screen.

'What are you doing Dale?!' He thought to himself as he saw his friend charge inside the Church alone

He knew Dale was strong, he was the first player to complete the tutorial, creating the small myth of the negative completion time.

However, even so, it was too intense for him to charge alone in a Clan fight like this!

He also knew that Dale was acting as an NPC for his own reasons… He appeared in more than one of the live streams made by Rodi after all...

This was also one of the reasons why he didn't want his sisters to see his face…

It was already too much for them to know that Dale was the player that held the unbeatable record, however, if they were to also know that he is acting as an NPC…

His plan may fall through due to his own mistake!

But this was only the start of Ermin's worries…

/Back to the Video.../

The players also thought that Dale was an NPC, so they immediately retaliated, thinking he was there to stop them!

And they were right. <subtxt> . </subtxt>

It was clear Dale was pissed, who wouldn't? Being attacked from all sides like this in his own territory…

/Tremble... Fwoosh!/

As if answering to his anger, the sword on the ground, the same incredibly heavy sword the players were unable to lift, suddenly flew like a comet in his direction!

And to this, Dale simply raised his hand, grabbing the heavy flying sword without moving!

"... This is my sword."

"And you're not worthy of hearing its name."

/FLASH!/

With a flash of light, the screen blacked out…

After this, the POV changed, showing the outside of the Church from the perspective of another player…

A massive ball of light had overtaken the Church, and from it, multiple white comets started to fall into the village below, killing dozens of players in the blink of an eye.

The video then ended with the POV changing again showing Dale's back as he held the sword, in front of him now laid a pile of items... And a survivor.

He looked at the man kneeling on the ground and said:

"You survived that?"

"Deeming by your face I imagine there won't be a second time."

And as if to mock him and all of the previous players, he grabbed a small rock on the ground and threw it lightly toward the player's forehead.

After the video ended, Ermin went to the comment section.

It was filled with all sorts of jokes and praises, some discussed the sword, others mocked the Guilds and Clans that participated in this, and a few others seemed more interested in discussing lore...

"..."

Ermin, however, couldn't believe what he had just seen…

But he had a wide smile on his face…

"Dammit Dale… So that's what you call doing well?..."

'You're a fucking menace and it hasn't even been 3 days since the game started!'

'To think you would be the first player to get a Legendary Item… That explains a lot…'

'His reason as to wanting to act as an NPC… He's probably trying to protect himself and control the growth of the players.'

'Did he plan this from the start?... Was that why he asked me to gather for him the Unique items within the Tutorial zone?'

'Is he really planning to have them all fixed?... It may be possible as Resko is a High-Level zone, given his position as an NPC, he may have the authority to request the services of its Smith.'

'I feel like something is missing though...'

He was quick to think, and from the few of Rodi's videos and streams, he saw he managed to deduce what Dale was trying to accomplish.

And he couldn't help but smile.

However...

"Was that Dale?" Asked a girl behind him

"?!"

Ermin suddenly realized that... He had forgotten a very important detail!

His sisters! They knew his appearance…

'I fucked everything…' He thought as dread took over his mind

As he despaired, the older sister approached the younger one to watch the video together, and towards the very end, she couldn't help but nod in respect.

"He's much more capable than I had expected…"

She looked at the sparkling eyes of her younger sister and at her younger brother's expression, thinking:

'One is amazed and the other is in despair, although it's pretty simple to deduce their reasons…'

'Well, I never had any intention of sharing his personal information, nor using it against him anyway, that's not how I repay my favors.'

'Though that doesn't seem to be how my brother sees me... Sigh.'

But she smiled slightly…

'So they were the same person all along... The player that caused a small commotion last time, is also the same person that is causing a commotion this time...'

'Resko… That's in the far South beyond the Desert… It seems it'll become the center of attention for a while.'

She patted her sister's head and started walking.

'I'll visit it soon.'

The trio continued on their way…

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