Herald Center of Universe or HCU is one of the safe zones, meaning no battles happen here, including player versus player (PvP), player versus environment (PvE), or PvPvE. That's why this place is chosen as the starting point for every player who just logs into WoW.

As a safe zone, HCU looks similar to other safe zones. Surrounded by steep hills, it only has one one-way entrance, allowing only those from HCU to exit and not the other way around. This is a logical reason in the game why no enemies can come and attack players when they're in HCU.

The HCU doesn't look any different when Petra comes back compared to the last time he was here. Unless there are a bunch of people or players around.

It makes sense since maybe they all can only play WoW after the exam, just like him. Plus, with the major update resetting their characters, it brings back all the players who used to play WoW to gather in HCU.

Oddly, before the major update, every new character coming to HCU had to go through a tutorial first. The tutorial was pretty easy, just introducing the names of features on the UI and attacking enemies. But this time, there isn't a tutorial.

Maybe because of a major update, tutorials got removed, or maybe Patrick already had an account before, so he didn't need to go through the tutorial again.

But, it's actually bothering him. TAGAR is a new technology that he hasn't mastered yet, so he needs to figure out a few things about using TAGAR in WoW, and a tutorial should've been helpful for that. Unfortunately, there's no tutorial.

So, as a substitute for the tutorial, Petra tries to get himself moving and explores his slightly different Self-UI. Even though TAGAR is a new technology, and he's not used to it yet, but the instincts of a true gamer can help him pick it up quickly.

After getting used to his TAGAR, Petra then walks into the main lobby of HCU.

Before the major update, the main lobby of HCU was decorated with weaponry that players could choose. Players could pick, try out, and then take one weapon and one armor. However, once again, that feature disappeared after the major update.

The main lobby of HCU is now just filled with characters wandering around with their own business. Since there's nothing to do in HCU, Petra just heads to Hill Gold.

Hill Gold is a hill located behind HCU. Actually, this hill doesn't have an official name, and even among fans and players, there's no agreed-upon name. But the Preta group uses this name to distinguish it from the other two hills.

The hill in front, stretching to the left of HCU, is called Hill Silver, while the smallest hill on the right side of HCU is called Hill Bronze. There's no specific reason for these names.

Following his previous instructions, Petra heads straight to Hill Gold.

On the way to Hill Gold, Petra noticed some players had already formed their groups, while the rest ran towards each group, asking to join their groups or offering alliances with their groups.

"Sorry, may I know you?" asked a player approaching Preta.

The player chose a human species with the Hors race, evident from their large, muscular build and slightly tall stature, with reddish skin.

Preta looked at the person carefully, "Have we met before?"

The Hors human just smiled, "Seems like it. Are you Preta played by Patrick?"

"Depends on who's asking?"

"Dungeon of forest is burn-"

"Then we go to war," interrupted Preta, cutting off the other person's words. "You've been waiting long?"

"No, I've been looking for weapons and items in HCU, but it seems there's nothing. Did you get a weapon?"

"Dens, I assume you're not blind," Preta replied with a smile.

"No, but I hope you have one. We can't do anything without weapons here."

"Yeah, let's look for them once we're down. Have you met the others?"

"No, I just met you because your unchanged Norigon made it easy to find."

"By the way, are you Hors?"

Dens grinned, showing off his muscles. "Hors, the main strength is in the body, that's what Tanks need. This is more better than all those Araguf races."

Preta looked towards Hill Gold. "Thought that place would be empty, turns out it's not."

Dens glanced in the same direction. "With this many players in HCU, no way it's empty."

"You still wanna look for it?"

Dens shook his head and walked towards Hill Gold. "Nope. If I look closely, none of the players here are carrying weapons. Maybe because of the update, so no weapons around."

Preta walks up to Dens, "By the way-"

"Sorry, have you guys formed a group?" asks a wood elf with pointed ears and whitish-greenish skin approaching them.

Dens and Preta glance at the wood elf. Both of them stay silent, examining every detail of the wood elf.

"Are you want to join or offering?" asks Preta to the wood elf.

"Offering. So, how many members do you have?"

Dens stays silent, watching Preta who's getting closer to the wood elf. "What are you offering? Have you played before?"

The wood elf looks confused, evident from furrowed eyebrows and a wide-open mouth.

Preta looks at Dens and smiles, then turns to the wood elf again, "You're a newbie, huh?"

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Still with his furrowed brows, the wood elf responds, "Yeah... I am."

"What's your name?"

"Anderson."

"Real name or character's?"

"Sorry... I thought real name, my character's name is Ghiota."

"Unique name, fits WoW. Next time, don't tell your real name to any player, just a tip from me." Preta smiles at him.

Ghiota nods and smiles, "Thanks for the advice."

"So, which group are you from and what do you bring to the table?"

"I just joined them," Ghiota said, pointing towards a group of players chatting near the First Herald of Buarth statue, "They're a big group, you'll be safe with them."

Preta glanced at Dens, "You can head to the Hill Gold and find others, I'll go to that group first for a quick chat," not forgetting to wink his right eye.

Dens just nodded and went to the Hill Gold.

"He's not coming?" Ghiota asked, watching Dens go to Hill Gold.

"No, he's meeting my friends. So, do you want to lead the way?"

"Oh, okay," said Ghiota, leading the way to his group.

###

Ghiota's group consists of eight people, but these are the main eight members, while the rest are still looking for other players.

As Ghiota and Preta approached them, one player who saw them immediately welcomed the two, "Welcome, friends. Are you-"

Preta raised her hand to interrupt the welcome, "Are you guys old-timer or newbie?"

The player who welcomed Preta smiled, "We're veterans, you can feel safe with our group. What's your name?"

"Preta from Sun of Lion Knight, who are you?"

Hearing Preta's name from Sun of Lion Knight made many people around them whispering.

The player who welcomed Preta looked like he swallowed his words and fell silent, frozen.

"You know who I am, so who are you?"

"I... I... am..." The player welcoming Preta struggles to speak, so he takes a deep breath and exhales, "Gerald."

"Gerald, what's your group's name?"

"Kurojin. It's from Japanese, meaning black people."

Preta glances at Ghiota, who's confused about what's happening, and points at Ghiota. "He's offering to make an alliance with your group, is that right?"

Gerald looks at Ghiota, trying to remember if Ghiota is part of his group or not. After recalling, he says, "Newbie, he just joined. Is he bothering you?"

"No, like I said, he's offering to make an alliance. Is that true?"

"Oh... sure, that's our assignment for him. So, did you come here to make an alliance?"

"Sure, we're always up for that, but before that, what do you have to offer for the Sun of Lion Knight?"

Gerald glanced at his friends standing behind him, whispering to each other. Then, one of them approached Gerald and whispered something to him.

After hearing the suggestion whispered by his friend, Gerald looked at Preta, "What do you want if we team up? We just want protection."

Preta smiled, holding back a laugh, "We can't guarantee your protection all the time. But, we can guarantee it until you reach your safe house, depending on the information you provide."

"What do you need?"

"Your group's numbers, when you're leaving the HCU, your safe house location, and most importantly, to make sure this works, we'll need your weapons."

"Please wait a minute..." Gerald asked for a moment and went back to his friends to discuss Preta's requests.

Meanwhile, Ghiota, confused until now, finally got a chance to speak, "You seem like a veteran player here."

Preta looked at Ghiota, "Sun of Lion Knight, that's the name of my group that used to be feared by many players until-"

"Slaughtered by Seamons," said one player approaching Preta, "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Nephoturo, Hades of Hells."

Preta glanced at Nephoturo, "Did you just log in, too?"

"Yup, and you still seem alone," Nephoturo replied, gently nudging Ghiota to clear a path for himself.

Nephoturo glanced at Ghiota with raised eyebrows and a slightly tilted head, showcasing his arrogance. "Newbie?"

"Yup, he's a newbie. By the way, have you met your members yet or not?"

"Tigar and Frasis have already played, they should have prepared troops and weapons for me. As for Vestapa, Xhioln, Nypherm, and Hollus, they've gathered on the hill in front of HCU. And I'm still looking for Klopat."

"Lemus and Hulain?"

"They'll start playing tomorrow. How about you? Vector, Natasha, Hexon, Dens, Crocils, Zhendra, and Gans?"

"I just met Dens, still looking for the others."

In the midst of Nephoturo and Petra's conversation, Gerald returned after reaching an agreement with his friends.

"Alright, we agree to grant your request. But we ask for protection until level 10," Gerald offered to Petra.

Nephoturo looked at Gerald and then at his group, "You guys need protection?"

Petra looked at Nephoturo, "Do you want to negotiate? Do it after me."

Nephoturo smiled and chuckled softly with a mocking tone, "Preta... Preta... you're not aware that your group is still soft. You were great before, but you don't even have weapons now."

Preta tossed that smile, "Weapons are easy to find, my friend. Skills are what's hard to come by."

"No matter how awesome your skills are, Tigar and Frasis can easily beat you right now with the weapons they've got."

Preta grinned, "Is that a threat?"

Gerald, watching the two, touched their shoulders to get their attention, "Here's the deal. We just need protection up to level 10 or higher. Whoever can provide that, we'll roll with them."

Nephoturo smiled at Preta, "Did you hear that?"

Preta tossed that smile again, "Alright, besides, we don't really need an alliance. Sun of Lion Knight is strong enough."

Preta then left, leaving Nephoturo and Gerald. Nephoturo, on his own, teased Preta a few times, even mentioning that he would die as soon as he left the HCU, but Preta ignored it.

Ghiota, who had been watching all along, wanted to approach Preta, but Gerald stopped him and threatened that if he still approached Preta, he would be kicked out of Gerald's group.

###

Natasha, Vector, Dens, and Crocils had gathered at Hill Gold when Preta finished his climb and joined them.

Hill Gold is the highest hill compared to others in HCU, so normally, it should be quiet because of its difficulty to climb. However, not this time.

At that moment, there were seven groups with a total of thirty players on Hill Gold besides Preta and his friends.

Dens, seeing Preta's arrival, asked, "Success?"

Preta shook his head, "Nephoturo, Hades of Hells, he took it."

"Nephoturo is in HCU?"

"Yeah, he threatened to kill us. Why?"

Gans, who just arrived but overheard the conversation, immediately chimed in, "Tigar and Frasis are hunting players in Hill Bronze, an easy-to-climb spot turning into a slaughter arena."

"Have you been checking it since earlier?" Preta asked, sitting near Natasha, who was getting used to TAGAR.

"Yup," said Gans, followed by Dens, "I asked him earlier. I also asked Zhendra to keep an eye on Hill Silver, and Hexon to watch you —but it seems like he didn't find you."

Preta nodded approvingly at Dens' decision, "So, who's keeping an eye on Hill Gold, and what's the result?"

"Same, but I don't know the player who's wrecking them," Vector said, observing from the edge of Hill Gold.

"Hmm... what do they want? Weapons? Players in HCU don't have them." Gans asked.

"Troops," Natasha said next to Preta. "I counted seven people below, but that number keeps increasing to around a dozen now."

Preta glanced at Natasha, just realizing the species and race Natasha had chosen. "High Elf? You really only care about beauty, huh?"

Natasha smiled. "And you like it, don't you?"

"So, what's the plan, Pet?" Dens asked, walking towards Vector to check the current situation below the hill, the exit from HCU.

"We'll wait for everyone to gather and assess the situation. We'll still head down through Hill Gold," replied Preta, but her attention remained on Natasha.

"Got it," answered Dens.