Dave woke up after a good night's sleep, half an hour before his alarm normally went off. He felt refreshed and well rested. After getting dressed, he went to the kitchen and drank from a milk carton in his fridge. There was no one there to tell him to use a cup anyway.

He made some toast and made some fried eggs and bacon. Just as he was finis.h.i.+ng his breakfast his alarm rang. He needed to be in-game soon.

Dave went upstairs. The second floor had his bedroom and the gaming room with state-of-the-art tech. He laid supine inside the capsule and closed it. Soon after, the Conquest logo and greeting appeared in front of him, and he was soon diving back into VR.

Dave appeared on the Isla de la Muerta. He was alone on the beach. He looked at his friends' list, every one of them was online. They were ready for the upcoming event.

High up in Conquest's sky was a countdown for the first phase of the fights. He had a few minutes left before the event would start. There was no information on the forums regarding this event. So all the players were in the same boat. They didn't know what was going to happen, but they made sure that they were all in top shape and ready for anything.

Potions, scrolls and consumables were stockpiled and ready for use.

Dave gazed at the timer as it counted down until it reached 0.

A notification appeared in front of him.

***

Clash of G.o.ds

You have been chosen by the Undeath G.o.d Nicholas to represent him in the Clash of G.o.ds.

If you choose to accept, you will be teleported shortly to face your first opponent.

Every victory against a Legacy Holder will award you a certain number of points.

E Cla.s.s: 1 Point

D Cla.s.s: 5 Points

C Cla.s.s: 10 Points

B Cla.s.s: 25 Points

A Cla.s.s: 50 Points

S Cla.s.s: 100 points.

If a lower-cla.s.s Legacy Holder wins against a higher-cla.s.s Legacy Holder, they will be rewarded with the total number of points between the two cla.s.ses.

Eg. C cla.s.s legacy holder won a fight against an A-cla.s.s legacy Holder. The C cla.s.s legacy holder will obtain 50+25+10 Points.

In order for a Legacy Holder to upgrade their Legacy they will need 10 times the amount of points of the cla.s.s below them.

An A cla.s.s Legacy Holder will need 250 points, equal to winning against 10 B cla.s.s opponents or the equivalent amount of points obtainable by victory over any other cla.s.s.

Legacy Cla.s.ses can be upgraded only once!

Matches against other players will be viewable for the public.

By accepting, you will be teleported to Limbo to face your first opponent.

Do you accept?

Yes/No.

***

Dave read through the notification intently. Then groaned.

"Man, I'll need to win 1,000 points to upgrade to SSS cla.s.s. That's like, beating ten S Legacy Holders. s.h.i.+t, this is really hard. On the other hand, the S Legacy Holders have it easy. They can upgrade their Cla.s.s to SS by just winning 5 matches against other S Cla.s.s Legacy Holders, or beat the s.h.i.+t out of lower ranked Legacy Holders."

This wasn't the only problem. Most of the S Cla.s.s legacy holders were guild masters or high rankers in Conquest's Super guilds. If they met one of their underlings in a fight, the other party could simply give up the match giving the S cla.s.s legacy holder a free win.

Dave's expression became sullen. He felt cheated. The Guild Masters would have an easy time levelling up their Cla.s.s due to their influence.

Dave accepted the fight.

A black and purple vortex opened in front of him, it felt as if it was beckoning him to go inside. Dave heard low howls and shouts coming from inside the vortex. It looked like the pit of h.e.l.l had opened up and was about to swallow him whole.

Dave smiled and said, "h.e.l.l's Bells" then took a step inside.

He appeared inside a world that was a mix of black and purple. The sky up ahead had no stars. There was no moon and no sun. There was just a mixture of dark purplish clouds that writhed against dark ones.

Under him was an enormous square platform that spanned hundreds of meters in width and length.

Below the platform was a swirling sea of some red substance, it didn't look hot like magma, but Dave somehow felt that falling there would mean the end of him.

At the other side of the platform was a person wearing yellow leather armor. He had a large golden bow on his back and his blond hair was draped over his shoulder.

That was probably Dave's opponent.

The two players noticed each other and both started slowly walking towards the centre of the arena. However, when the Hunter saw the Draugr approaching him, he stopped.

The Draugr had a long beard, and he was clad in armor similar to that worn by human tanks. His s.h.i.+eld looked like a chunk torn from a metal wall, and his sword was a deadly long b.a.s.t.a.r.d sword that reached down to the ground. Every stomp from the Draugr's boot felt like it was stepping on the Hunter's heart and not the floor.

It didn't take a genius to know that he was facing the famous Mr Skeletal. Talk about c.r.a.ppy luck, facing one of the strongest and most intriguing players in the game in the first match. What luck was that?

The Hunter smiled ruefully. He didn't like his odds. He was just a B cla.s.s Legacy Holder. In front of him was a person who had shaken the world of Conquest and made it look easy.

The Hunter nodded towards Dave and said, "Skeletal. I won't go easy on you."

Dave inspected the player.

***

Ouba-No-Yami

Level 422

Cla.s.s Hunter

Legacy: Golden Bow of Aerial.

***

Dave nodded to the other man and readied for a fight. He put his s.h.i.+eld in front of him and drew and readied his sword.

He knew the Hunter would prefer to stay as far away as possible and keep his distance from Dave. The Hunter knew that kiting a melee champ was his only shot at victory.

Yet before any of them engaged on each other, Albert appeared in between the two.

"Guys, before you fight, do know that I will be personally watching these games. Cheating is not tolerated. Losing on purpose to the other will disqualify both of you." Albert said.

Dave frowned, "That's not right either," Dave said.

"How so?" Albert asked.

"Well, if someone wants me to lose, they could just forfeit and I would be kicked out even if I'm not in cahoots with them."

"Don't worry. I have my ways in knowing if someone had given up because they knew they couldn't win, or if someone gave up to give the other an advantage or even if they had malicious thoughts into giving up to screw the other party. Like I said, your brainwaves are connected to the game capsule, and I can read them like an open book. Now please, enjoy your battles. And may the strongest win!"

Albert finished his words and disappeared from the arena.

"Okay then," Dave said and looked at the Hunter. "Show me what you got!" Dave stomped his foot on the arena floor. He wanted to end this game as fast as possible. He had an army under him. He was going to use it.

However, the summoning of his Undead failed.

The Hunter frowned, he didn't know what Mr.Skeletal was trying to do, but he didn't want to waste the chance. He stepped back and ran all the way to the other side of the arena. He needed to create distance with the melee champ.

Dave, on the other hand, had his eyes fixated on a notification that appeared in front of him.

***

You cannot summon your Undead to fight in the Clash of G.o.ds.

You have to prove your worth as a champion of Undeath as a solitary unit.

***

"Hmm. I expected as much. Fighting opponents with my Undead would be unfair to them."

Dave wasn't as bothered about it as he thought he would be. He didn't have access to his Undead. But that wasn't much to worry about. He was, after all, a fighter.

Dave noticed that the Hunter had created distance between the two of them. He then drew his bow and shot an arrow that splintered into thousands of other arrows that surged and fell toward Dave.

Dave looked in front of him, holding his s.h.i.+eld up and used [Stampede]. His avatar shot forward like a runaway train toward the Hunter. The arrows fell like rain on Dave's back as he barreled forward.

-120

-180

-120

-180

…

The Hunter was surprised. He had used this Skill many times, but it was the first time that it had dealt damage this low.

The Hunter quickly woke up from his dazed state. He didn't have time to think about what had gone wrong with his Skill. Dave was coming toward him like a runaway train.

The Hunter drew his bow again. He was preparing a Skill that was very familiar to Dave. [Breaking Shot], it was the first Skill Lone had used when he first met her. The Skill she had used to displace the wolves and make them enter Dave's Aggro Zone while she left by using a [Blink] and cleansing potion combo.

Dave however, smiled as he kept running toward the Hunter

The air arrow from [Breaking Shot] shot with a tw.a.n.g from the golden bow and it surged toward Dave.

Dave ignored the arrow as it blasted his face. The wind arrow turned to nothing as it hadn't even fazed Dave in the least.

"f.u.c.k! CC-Immune Skill." The Hunter groaned and waited until Dave was right in front of his face before he used [Blink], disappearing from right in front of Dave, and reappearing in Dave's wake.

He wanted to make Dave fall into the red pit, while he dodged him as a Matador would a bull.

Dave however, wasn't keen on letting the Hunter have his way. As Dave was still running toward the edge, he used [Immortal Apparition] disappearing the moment his avatar went past the edge and reappearing right behind the unaware Hunter, still under the effects of [Stampede].

The Hunter felt like his back had been hit with a wrecking ball.

[-192,000].

The Hunter was sent sprawling on the floor. His HP bar was barely half of its former self.

The Hunter scrambled to his feet. He was surprised both at the insane amount of damage Dave had done, and how he had managed to appear right behind him.

The Hunter retreated backwards several steps, a golden glow appeared over him and the shape of an Avatar materialized behind him. The Hunter wasn't going to take any chances with Skeletal. He had immediately activated his Legacy Skill.

Yet, Dave had already lost interest in the fight. The Hunter sure was quick but he wasn't quick enough. He wasn't sharp enough. This guy was a PVE player, any guy with PVP experience would have taken him down with ease.

Dave's hand blurred in ninja seals, he then raised a finger up and pointed at the Hunter who was still in mid-transformation.

In front of Dave's finger, eighteen infernal Spectral Skulls blasted forwards toward the Hunter. This was the fusion of [Spectral Skulls], [Dragon Ball] and [Twin-Strike] a skill he used on Du'Rhaza.

The eighteen fireb.a.l.l.s moved toward the Hunter like meteors.

The Hunter could only utter a partial swear before the fireb.a.l.l.s blasted him where he stood. Shortly after a notification appeared in front of Dave.

***

Congratulations, you have won your first match in the Clash of G.o.ds.

+25 points.

***

Dave was soon teleported out of the Limbo and back to the beach.

***

You have won your first match. You have disqualified your opponent. The next round will commence in 7 days- Game time. Be sure to be ready.

***

"Huh, that was easy," Dave said.

Dave wanted to see how his friends fared in the matches, so he called Lone.

***

You are not allowed to contact anyone that is currently undergoing the Clash of G.o.ds tournament.

***

The same message repeated when he attempted to contact the others.

"Oh, they're still fighting. I hope they're doing alright. Now, I have seven days of loitering around. I should probably grind a bit. Level 450, here I come."

Dave said to himself and tore a teleportation scroll to the Dead Realm.