The roar of the crowd slowly faded behind them as Seojun, Luma, and Rui stepped away from the giant screen.
Noel Williams’ team wipe was already replaying again, the burning street lighting up the display as the crowd cheered.
Luma shook his head.
“Remind me not to fight horse guy.”
Rui laughed.
“You’re just jealous.”
“Of the horse?”
They continued walking through the massive arena, blending into the flow of players and spectators moving between stands and
Giant posters of different VR divisions hung from the walls.
Vendors lined the walkways selling snacks and drinks to the thousands of people filling the venue.
Then the smell hit them.
Sweet.
Fried.
Covered in powdered sugar.
Luma immediately stopped.
“…Funnel cake.”
Rui followed his gaze and smiled.
“Oh absolutely.”
Two minutes later they were gobbling up the cakes.
“This,” he said, mouth half full, “is the real reason to come to tournaments.”
Rui nodded in complete agreement while tearing off another piece.
“Worth it.”
Meanwhile Seojun stood beside them with a tall cold energy drink in his hand.
He took a sip while watching the crowds pass by.
“Healthy choices all around,” he said.
Luma waved the fork at him.
“You got caffeine.”
Rui pointed her fork too.
” it’s overdriving your brain that cannot be good for you”.
Seojun shrugged.
“…Fair.”
Above them, another massive screen switched highlights again, the arena lights flashing as the commentators shouted about strategies and hyping up the crowds.”
But for the moment
The three of them just stood there in the middle of the busy venue, eating junk food and taking advantage of the thirty minute break.
While they’re eating, the arena speakers suddenly boom.
Arena Announcement
“Participants, ten minutes please start heading back towards the chairs”.
Then the screens reveal the next hints on what to do next.
Seojun stood nearby, sipping his energy drink while watching the crowd move through the massive arena concourse.
The giant screens above continued cycling through highlights from different tournament.
Footsteps approached.
“Well… that was so fucking tiring.”
The three of them turned.
A tall player with cornrows stepped through the crowd with two others behind him.
Seojun recognized him immediately.
Noel Williams.
Up close, Noel looked relaxed, glancing between them before his eyes stopped on Rui.
“Portal player, right?”
Rui smirked.
“Horse guy.”
Luma groaned quietly.
“Great a crowd might form around”.
Noel chuckled.
“I didn’t see what exactly you did,” he said, nodding toward the huge screens above them.
“Different sides.”
“But I heard something crazy happened with a sandworm.”
Rui shrugged.
“Something like that.”
Noel blinked.
His attention shifted to Seojun.
“You were in that hunt too?”
Seojun nodded.
“Yeah.”
Right then an arena staff member called out from across the concourse.
” Kingdom and Hellgate players!
This way for next round prep!”
Noel glanced toward the call.
At the same time, Seojun stepped forward to move past him.
They bumped shoulders slightly as they were going towards the same area.
Both paused.
Noel looked back at him.
Seojun says
“You’re entering this tournament too?”
Noel nodded.
“For the kingdoms side.”
Seojun raise his eyes slightly.
“But you were just in the shooter match.”
Noel says calmly
“I signed up for two tournament.”
Luma choked slightly on his funnel cake.
“You what?”
Seojun looked confused.
“You’re playing both tournament.”
Noel shrugged.
“I joined the 5v5 bracket last minute and I finished it during the break.
Noel stared at him for a second.
Then he laughed.
He shook his head with a grin.
“Well.”
“Guess I’ll see you soon.”
Few minutes later, the concourse had mostly emptied.
Players returned to their sections as arena staff directed them back to their seats.
The rows of sleek VR chairs glowed faintly under the bright stadium lights while technicians checked cables and consoles.
Seojun dropped into his chair and leaned back.
Luma sat beside him, adjusting the straps on his headset.
“Round two,” he muttered.
Rui spun her headset once before lowering herself into her chair.
“Let’s hope nothing bigger than a sandworm shows up.”
Across the row, Mira quietly returned to her seat as well, already adjusting her earpiece before lowering the visor over her eyes.
Above them, the massive arena screens showed the countdown ticking down.
INTERMISSION – 00:15
Seojun pulled the VR visor down over his eyes.
Luma, Rui, and Mira did the same.
The stadium lights dimmed slightly as the arena speakers echoed across the building.
“Participants, please prepare for reconnection.”
The countdown reached zero.
A familiar system chime rang in Seojun’s ears.
Blue light swallowed his vision.
The arena disappeared.
Wind rushed past his ears.
And then
The desert returned
The massive sandworm corpse still lay half buried nearby, its enormous armored body stretched across the desert.
The torn wound where the explosion had ripped through its flesh was still visible.
Nothing had despawned.
Seojun stared at it.
“…So bosses just stay here?”
Luma tapped his staff lightly against the sand.
“Sometimes,” he said.
” Huge monsters like these don’t always disappear.
Tribes usually harvest them later.”
Behind them, the tribal hunters reappeared one by one in flashes of light as the session finished reconnecting.
Then a system chime rang out.
A window appeared in front of Rui.
Raid Contribution Reward
Top Damage Participant: Rui
Item Obtained: Dimensional Storage Pouch
Rui blinked.
“…Oh.”
Luma leaned over.
“What did you get?”
Rui opened the system window and a small dark pouch appeared in her hand.
The cloth shimmered faintly, the inside warping like folded space.
Seojun raised an eyebrow.
“Dimensional storage?”
Rui nodded.
“Looks like it.”
She walked toward the sandworm’s enormous corpse and opened the pouch.
The air warped.
Space folded.
The massive body suddenly collapsed inward, spiraling as if gravity itself had grabbed it.
Sand slid away as the entire sandworm compressed and vanished into the pouch.
Seojun blinked.
“…You just put a sandworm in a bag.”
Rui tied the pouch closed casually.
“Efficient storage.”
She reached back into the pouch and pulled something out.
A large glowing crystal.
The worm’s mana core.
Mira stepped closer, examining it.
” I guess you can use that now”.
Seojun crossed his arms.
“So the bomb earlier…”
Rui lifted the crystal slightly.
“My ability is Mana Siphon,” she explained.
“I can pull mana out of magical artifacts, monster cores, or areas with high mana concentration.”
The crystal dimmed slightly as faint energy lifted from it.
“I compress that mana into a single point and convert it into a spell with perfect efficiency.”
Luma nodded.
“So the glowing sphere earlier…”
“Was the mana from the dull crystal she has in her hand,” Rui said.
Seojun whistled quietly.
“That explains the power.”
Mira rested her pike on her shoulder.
“My ability is Dimensional Shifter.”
She raised her hand.
A small circular portal flickered open beside her before snapping shut again.
“I can create portals anywhere within a radius around me.”
She pointed to the place where the worm had been.
“When Rui condensed the mana…”
“I opened a portal near her and another one inside the worm’s body.”
Seojun nodded slowly.
“So the energy skipped the armor.”
“Exactly,” Mira said.
The sunlight glinted off her armor as she moved.
Seojun noticed it again.
Her armor was bright gold, the plates polished and engraved with tribal patterns.
Even the pike she carried had a golden shaft and a crystal set into the blade.
Luma tilted his head.
“…That armor is new.”
Mira glanced down at it.
“Oh.”
“This?”
She tapped the chest plate lightly.
“Questline reward.”
Seojun looked curious.
“What quest?”
Mira shrugged casually.
“I ran into a tribe a few zones back.”
“They had a king.”
She paused.
“…He was terrible.”
Luma smirked slightly.
“That sounds promising.”
Mira continued.
“He hoarded all the gold in the region and forced the tribe to mine for him. Executed anyone who disagreed.”
Seojun raised an eyebrow.
“And let me guess.”
“You killed him.”
Mira nodded.
“Pretty much.”
“I challenged him during the tribe’s arena ritual. Beat him, executed him in front of everyone.”
She tapped the crystal embedded in her weapon.
“The tribe called it justice.”
“They gave me this armor, the weapon, and this stone.”
She pulled a small golden crystal from her belt.
” It’s probably with the quest line that you guys started”
Rui nodded.
Luma leaned on his staff, looking between them.
“So one of you steals mana from anything magical…”
He pointed at Mira. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“And the other opens portals directly into monsters.”
Seojun smirked.
“…That combo is terrifying.”
A blue window appeared in front of the players.
Quest Progress Updated
Quest Point Acquired
A second line appeared beneath it.
World Event Completed
Graveyard of the Necromancer — Exterminated
Luma frowned.
“…That’s not the sandworm.”
Seojun crossed his arms.
“Yeah. That’s a completely different objective.”
Before anyone could say more
Another window popped open.
Hunter Chat
Messages were flooding in.
Then one appeared from a familiar name.
Rexplosion and Lancerbot
Rexplosion:
YO WE JUST DID IT
Lancerbot:
Graveyard dungeon cleared.
Rexplosion:
There was like a hundred skeletons and a necromancer boss.
Lancerbot:
System just gave us a quest point.
Rexplosion:
Did you guys get the notification too???
Luma stared at the chat window.
“…So they’re the ones who triggered that.”
Rui nodded slowly.
“Looks like multiple objectives are happening at once.”
Seojun smirked.
“Good.”
Before anyone replied
Another system announcement suddenly echoed through the interface.
Global Hunter Update
New text appeared across the screen.
Questline Progress Achieved
ForgeNova and GraveBite
Fortress of the Wasteland Established
Quest Point Acquired
Seojun raised his eyebrows.
“…They built a fortress?”
Luma whistled.
“Okay that’s actually impressive.”
Rui looked at the quest tracker floating in the air.
“So that’s three points now.”
She began counting on her fingers.
“Necromancer graveyard.”
“Fortress establishment.”
And the dungeon cleared
System Announcement
A deeper voice echoed across every player’s interface.
Dungeon Level Two Activated
For a second, no one spoke.
Luma blinked.
“…Well.”
“That sounds like a problem.”
Rui folded her arms.
“Or the next objective.”
Mira glanced toward the horizon where the dunes stretched endlessly.
“Either way,” she said calmly, “everyone’s going to the same place now.”
Seojun nodded once.
“Then we move.”
A short time later
The group crossed the desert dunes quickly.
And they had reached level 18
And at the dungeon they had been before
As they stand in front of the dungeon entrance.
System Alert
Variable Questline Update
The Horseman of the fading dreams.
Luma exchanged a glance with Seojun.
“…I don’t like this,” Luma muttered.
Seojun’s smirk faded.
“Yeah… this is bad.”
Questline Status: Interrupted
The Unification of the Tribes has been suspended.
Cause: The Horseman of the fading dreams has destroyed 5 crystals, destabilizing the tribal network and blocking any progress.
Rui’s eyes narrowed.
“Five? That’s… catastrophic.”
Mira’s hand brushed against her golden armor.
“…No wonder the crystals stop glowing.
Luma shook his head.
“So we can’t continue the original questline at all?”
The system flashed a sharp red warning.
New Objective Path Unlocked
• Investigate unusual disturbances
• Follow signs of looming dreams
• Proceed with caution
Seojun frowned.
“So the main quest is basically gone, huh?”
Rui crossed her arms.
“Looks like we have to figure out what’s happening before anything else can continue.”
Mira’s says.
“…Every step counts now.”
A low, distant rumble echoed through the dungeon.
Dust shook from the ceiling.
And faintly… the unmistakable sound of hooves struck the floor of reality itself.
The Horseman of the fading dreams had arrived.
Once, he dreamt of bending worlds with a single strike.
The dream faded but he didn’t.
Now he rides, lance in hand, shattering dimensions to chase something that always slips away. i’m going to combine 2