Chapter 16 - Code and Guilds
After the events that had transpired the previous night, Kazama and everybody else spent the day checking out the various NPC shops and what not in the safe zone. Night soon approached them and they all went back to the cathedral to take it easy and get prepared for the next day.
“Alright guys!” Nabiki shouted with an enthusiastic smile as Kazama and everybody sat down in a private side room. “As you all know, we are a guild in the game of NWO! And that means we can take part in the guild wars and rankings!”
Kazama spoke up with a question, hand in the air and Nabiki beamed at her with a smile. “Um Nabiki?”
“Yes Kazama!”
“How do these guild wars work exactly? Do we just beat up on the smaller guilds, or what?”
Nabiki jumped at the question, excited to answer it.
“Oh Kazama, it’s so simple! One guild challenges the other for their territory and members. Thus the winning guild gains more territory and members. That makes the guild stand out more! Pretty neat huh?”
“Yeah, sounds cool. But how do we challenge other guilds to battle, can any member do it?”
“Heehee, no silly! Only the leader and sub leaders can send or receive challenges, which may be refused or denied. To be a winner, one side has to defeat all of the subs and leaders back to back to win control Once won, the opposing guild is joined with the winners. The former guild leaders and such can become a separate faction in the guild, built for their own thing. Kinda like the US armed forces!”
Hina, Shohei and Sheshiro watched in silence as Nabiki jumped up and down, happy with the connection from the real world. Yurei spoke up about the subject at hand.
“Basically there can be different factions based on say, classes? Like say a warrior of thief faction and ones that have their own playing style?”
“In the basic sense, yeah,” Shohei said to answer his question, making Nabiki sigh. “A good example would be the Blood Knights.”
“The Blood Knights? Who are they?” Kazama asked in interest, mostly because of the name of the guild.
“They’re one of the current top four guilds in Shara, and they rose very quickly in here because of those factions. They pretty much consist of fights and as the name suggests, knights. They live by a strict code of the warrior, and their leader and subs bleed it. Lucky for us they neither accept nor issue challenges, they could trash us in an instant.”
“So there really are four top guilds in this land? And it’s only the first world to boot!”
Nabiki was able to speak faster than Shohei and answered Kazama. “Ah! The top four are known for all having strong and tactful leaders and subs. They all play differently, such as the knights with sheer brute force. This may be the first worlds, but I doubt it will just be the top four for long.” She winked an eye at Kazama, which made Kazama slightly smile.
“Most of the players are scared to death inside this game, which majorly helped the four to get to the top without any degree of difficulty. But with our skills, I bet we could rise up even faster then them!”
“Alright then,” Kazama said as she stood up from her seat. “Starting tomorrow, we will challenge a few guilds. That sound good?”
Everyone else in the room responded with a resounding yes. Nabiki got up and ran out of the room saying, “I will go send out the challenges for tomorrow!” Yurei and Hina got up and walked over to Kazama. “Now that we have a plan for the future, perhaps we should speak of the past and the code?” Kazama looked at Hina after she spoke and nodded her head. “Yeah, let's go talk.”
She looked back at Shohei and Sheshiro and said, “I will see you guys in the morning. I have a few things to discuss with these two for a while.”
Shohei nodded and wished her a good night.
xXx
As the three walked out, Yurei spoke up to the other two. “This talk of guild wars sounds fun for sure, but I have no weapon to fight with anymore….”
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Kazama looked at him as they walked, realizing he was right. Earlier in the day Sheshiro had donated some of his “Thiefing” clothes, but when it came to protection against others, he was utterly defenseless. Kazama looked down at her triple katanas she had at her waist and pulled one out, scabbard and all. She dropped the sword in front of Yurei and he took it with surprise. “B-but this is yours…”
“It’s a gift. I was able to acquire that blade in a process that copied my original blade. I don’t really have a need for a third one, the two suit me quite fine enough.”
Yurei twitched a smile and placed the sword in his belt. “Thank you….”
Hina smiled and pointed something out to him. “Thats a copy of her original sword, so in some way you have a acquired a part of the original.”
“I guess, huh?”
Kazama stopped and the other two did as well when they reached the rooms that SHohei had given them. Kazama walked in first and switched a light on, illuminating the once dark room. The room contained a simple bed and desk, with several chairs about. Kazama went for one of the chairs as Yurei did the same, with Hina choosing the bed. When all three had been seated, Hina began to speak. “As you may know by now, there is such a thing as the code. This code is wide and varying in what it grants to a player, such as the one I have and the one Yurei had. The code also can have effects, depending on it and who granted it.”
Kazama leaned back in her seat as she digested the new information. “The effects of the code Yurei had were very….psychological. The more he used it, the quicker he rushed towards enslavement to its will. Which in turn meant he was being enslaved to the one who granted it to him. And that person was-”
“The mistress,” Interrupted Yurei, now taking over the next part of the conversation. “Anybody can give a code to another, just so long as they have it in the first place. And thus I promised to live until I died under her, and she gave it unto me. The side effects are because of the one who granted it to me, which means I had a part of her in me…”
Hina nodded her head and helped explain it for him.
“Yes, The code can be warped and changed by the person who gifts it to another. That person may put their entire thoughts and soul into it and live in another body. In a way, it's a spell placed on the other player, making the giftee suffer from whatever was placed within it.” Kazama brought a hand to stroke her chin and was interested by this.
“You said there were side effect, such as the way he acted and his eye color. But what about you? You have this code thing too, so what the effects on you? “
Hina smiled and brought a hand to stroke her soft white hair. “I was gifted the code as well, however the person who gave it to me was not a player.”
“Haah? What’s that mean?”
“The person who gifted it to me was the game system of NWO itself.”
Kazama jumped up with her mouth wide.
“Whaaaaat?!”
Hina smiled with closed eyes, not noticing Kazama’s outburst. “The game system had its very veins cut open when the hacker messed up the game up. That tampering made the code leak from various areas of the game world...or worlds in a way. The system is worried about what the PC’s may use it for, and so it spoke to me. It sold me that it and I had a lot in common, that we both cherished the life of the PC’s and would do anything to protect them. And so it gave me my code, which in turn made my hair change to pure white. I guess you could say I like the light side of things better?”
Kazama was pacing the room, trying to understand the information dump Hina had dropped on her. She turned and squinted her eyes at Hina. “So that means that the… game system knows about that woman and her twelve.”
“Yes, the system know somewhat about her, it told me so. That woman is an unknown force inside this game words, and she along with her followers are unable to be tracked by the system. You see,” He interlocked her hands and laid them in her lap as she spoke to explain. “Everything PC and NPC can be tracked by the system of the game, yet somehow that woman and her followers can block it. Somehow she is able to put a dampening effect on everything she is involved with.”
Yurei sighed aloud and spoke to her. “Which would means she's stronger than you thought. Being able to hide oneself is a complicated task, which means you would have to be very strong. Of course, if she had a wellspring of code that she gives out…”
“She could somehow manipulate it to hide herself and the code with her! That's what you're saying!” Kazama exclaimed in realization, getting what Yurei was trying to say. Yurei nodded with another sigh, “That means somewhere in Shara is a giant well of code ready for her legions of followers. Just a little of that power handed out by her is too much for a single user.”
Hina leaned forward and looked down at the floor in a serious manner, making sure her next words were not taken lightly. “We need to find her somehow if she is allowed to reach the next world, there's no telling what could happen.”
“What could happen if she did make it out to the next world?”
“She and her twelve would be able to blend in even easier than they do now. Don’t forget,” She pointed to Kazama with a stern look, “This is a game with unlimited worlds, which means unlimited hiding spots. The more we unlock and travel, the more she is able to hide and grow.”
“How do we get to the next world? Don’t suppose the system would know?”
Hina nodded her head with a half smile, for the system did know how to get to the next world. “It only told me that the way up is to vanquish the cold hearted one. But I have no clue who or what the cold hearted one is.”
“We may be able to find out by this whole guild war thing. We need to get stronger and warn others about this.”
“I agree with you. And I will do everything in my power to help you Kazama.”
“As will I too Kazama,: Yurei spoke with a stern look on his face, nodding. Kazama got up and walked to the door, speaking as she left. “Then we best get our rest for tomorrow and the guild wars.”
The next day would be tough, but the guild would ultimately flourish from the next day's battles. As long as they kept to their strength in others, they would begin to grow quickly and hopefully begin to stop the woman in the mask. It all would begin the next day…..
End Chapter 16