Something changed. The dreamy look in Hound’s eyes vanished abruptly. She arched her nose in disgust, as if she had smelled something especially rotten, and took a hesitant step away from Jack. “What? You’re going to become a...Stagnant? You’re just going to give up? After half a lifetime of fighting? You’re just going to...stop? Just like that? Just.Like.That?” She said as she hid her face behind her fingers. 

“No, I’m not stopping. I’m still Bloodthirsty Jack, Hound, I still want power, glory, and for people to bow down before me. I do like it when they do that. That will never get old. What I am tired though, is being milked by our guild in return for superficial benefits, and our guild to be milked by this state in return for more superficial benefits. All they care about is farming us for gold and experience. I don’t want to give them an enormous cut of my experience and gold, anymore. Look around you, there are billions of people enslaved in small capsules, forced to slave away and give the majority of the experience and gold earned to the people which control these capsules.”

“And that’s what we want as well. That’s how the world works, Jack, get over it! You keep acting like that and they’ll pull the plug on you, just like they always do when players start acting up. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” Hound screamed, pulling on her hair. “There is no more Earth, there is no more sky, there are no more pretty trees and birds. Everything is scorched. All nations live in the dirt. All nations enslave their players in capsules for the rest of their miserable lives in fabricated worlds in order to become influential in those fake worlds, to become kings and queens. The only thing that matters are the fake virtual worlds, Jack, That’s where the world now lives. That’s our reality. Power there is power everywhere. It’s the only place where power exists. Each nation colonizes a stupid game, and the strongest empire rules the world over there, until someone creates the next stupid game!”

 “Yes, that is how it is,” Jack said simply.

“W-What? Then why have you deranked to E, why have you given up on climbing once again? Why-”

“I was deranked to E obviously because I had indirectly caused the death of an SS member, Hound, what else? It will take too long to retrieve my original rank. Besides, I want all the power for myself.“

“That’s exactly why we rank up! The tax rate after a month of play time for an S rank is only 40%. For an SS, It’s 35%, and for a SSS, it’s only 30%, and that’s without including the glory and the privilege of being in higher tiers guilds as well. Their advantages are far too large, Jack. What’s your tax rate? 65%, isn’t it? But fine, this is you we’re talking about. You’ll find or twist your way. But that’s not what you’re doing, Jack, that’s not it at all. You have given up. You’re done. You’ve broken your promise to me Jack, you’ve broken it. You’re a lying bastard. It’s all worthless if you can’t attain that SSS ranking. All worthless. All of it.”

“Power and glory, Hound, are not reflected solely based on how much gold and experience we get.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“No, Jack, no. gold and experience are what determines who wins. The higher level, and the one who could afford the biggest guns, the sharpest blades, the strongest magics, the toughest armor, is the one that wins.”

“In your world, sure, but not in Null Online.”

Hound did not bite.

Jack explained anyway. “Look, in nearly every game, a sword deals X damage based on level, stats, skill stats, weapon minus level, stats, skill stats, and armor--right?”

Jack waited for Hound to nod.

She didn't.

He went on. “In Null Online, there is no such thing as damage. A rusty knife is capable of piercing human flesh just as well master-crafted weapon. A level and item advantage no longer grant immunity against lower levels. Levels don't even exist. That’s the way the game was designed. That's the way it's gonna be."

“That’s nonsense. The United Nations would never allow such a world to exist--it would lose its control over its players if levels and gold no longer mattered. They no longer would be able to create and rule empires in these worlds if they are not able to tax player's their gold and experience.

“United Dictators, you mean. Hound, I’ve experienced it myself; I was able to kill a mob of goblin wannabe's by myself, simply by amushing them. A monster that would probably hover around 12 was killed by a starter player, Hound, and it wasn't even that hard. I did not make any exploits of the game, I just killed them because I'm fucking good at it. Most of the power comes from the title you attain and the training you go through, but most importantly, your skill. The capsules programming is not able to tax gold, either. They’ve been trying, but they haven’t cracked the code yet. Probably some drama occurred, since this type of technology is something only a nation can create, and not a batch of indie world makers. It was probably one of the losing nations with an insider who knows how the capsules operate that was able to create a program that prevents the capsules from accessing the game files beyond a certain point--and even that freedom, the game creators willingly created, to tempt the nations into allowing guilds to send their players into the game world. The capsules are not able to tax beyond 10%, and that’s only for gold. It’s perfect for me. Hound, absolutely perfect. This is the only way I'll be able to stay competitive with my low ranking. I haven't given up on anything, this is me giving it my all."

“Like I said, that’s not something the majority of nations would agree on colonizing. It would not pass the laws, nor the implementation process.”

“You’re right. They didn’t, and it didn’t.”

“What? You lost me” Hound said, before it realization slowly made its way onto her face. “Oh my god...you’re accessing an illegal world? That’s prohibited! How did you even do that? That’s enough to derank you to F rank, and you know what happened to F ranks. They get brainwashed into mining until their physical bodies fail, and then they get turned into energy, that’s what happens to F ranks! Faliures!"

Jack shrugged. “They’re not gonna do that.”

“Why wouldn’t they?!”

“Bitch, I’m too damn valuable!”

“Fuck you, Jack, fuck you! Fuck you a thousand times over! Why do I always have to keep up with your shit?” Hound yelled.

“See, I knew you would get like this,” Jack said, folding his arms.

 Hound took a few threatening steps towards him.

 “Away, you foul beast, away!” Jack yelped, jumping back a few feat. “They won’t dispose of me because then they’ll have to dispose of everybody. A few million players have already entered the Null Universe, from all nations I think. I was able to fetch myself an early entry from one of my contacts, but more will follow. At some point, too many people would have gained access to it. Currently, no state is able to fend off the virus. Once given the link, access to the game cannot be bared. Imagine all the chaos this will cause! The entire ranking system might collapse! They wouldn't dare to risk wiping out such an increasing amount of their players. Most likely, they will jump into the wagon and retain whatever limited control they still have."

“And you know all of this how exactly?” Hound said suspiciously.

He looked back at her oddly, as if she was some foreign creature. “That’s a silly question to ask of me, Hound.”