Game’s Dogma

After a while, Hagrid stood up and said, “Alright, while there’s a lot more to chat about, this is… someone else’s place after all. I shouldn’t intrude too long.” He shook Drako Yau’s hand and continued, “This is a pleasant meeting, don’t you think? Since I’m a bit older than you, if you don’t mind, we shall be brothers from today onwards.” 

This… This godlike man sees me as a brother?

Hagrid wasn’t taken aback by Drako Yau’s lack of words and instead laughed. “That’s set then. As long as you continue your journey, I’m sure we’ll meet again one day, brother.”

Hagrid’s hand glowed, revealing a scroll. He tossed it to Greenstone and said, “I got this by chance. It should suit you quite well.”

The words “Tai” and “Chi” were written on the scroll in lively calligraphy. Drako Yau’s heart skipped a beat when he saw it—he had a yin yang symbol that originated from Tai Chi within him as well.

“Brother, I can’t foretell your future, for you might tread a further path than I can imagine. I won’t interfere because the path you discover yourself is the best and most suitable one. Brother Greenstone here has a weaker foundation than you, which is why I aided him. If I do the same to you, it’d only mess up your foundation.”

A blank scroll appeared in front of Hagrid’s chest. He bit his right thumb, then started drawing at inhuman speed, so quickly that Drako Yau couldn’t see the movements despite having his senses enhanced by Frost Form. Before Drako Yau knew it, a golden scroll was completed and wrapped into a roll.

“Traversing the world of cultivation alone is too lonely. This is a contract scroll I’ve made. You can call forth a demonic beast and perform the contract. Of course, the contract will only be valid when both man and beast agree. Also, I cannot grant you a master-servant contract at my rank, so this is an equal contract.”

Drako Yau had no idea what sort of “rank” Hagrid was speaking of, so all he did was accept the scroll silently.

“It requires a special talent to form contracts with demonic beasts, so I can’t mass produce this scroll. Treasure this opportunity, okay?”

Drako Yau thought of Zephyrwolf when it came to summoning a familiar. Perhaps he has this special talent? No no no, it’s just a class in the game. I’m overthinking things. But… this man… Hagrid… Is he really from the game?

Hagrid then took out three items and gave them to Drako Yau. “These are for your comrades who gave it their all to defend Stygien. Guess you can call them ‘quest rewards’.”

Hagrid walked over to the frozen Chau Yu. With a smile, he plucked the feather fan out of Chau Yu’s hand. He closed his mesmerising eyes as his long hair wavered in the air, and soon two beams of silver surged from his forehead, one into the feather fan and the other into Chau Yu’s forehead.

“Whew…” Hagrid heaved a sigh. Chau Yu was bonded by blood to his past companion, so he wasn’t to treat him poorly either. 

“Brother Yau, although you’re at odds with this Lee fella over here, trust me on this one—you two will become comrades one day.”

Drako Yau didn’t take those words seriously and merely nodded. Do you know how many times this guy has tried to kill me?

“Let’s get all of us out of here first then.”

Drako Yau nodded and stood up. He saw a corpse with a bloody face lying on the ground not too far away. The corpse wasn’t refreshed nor transferred back to the resurrection altar in a white glow, for it was truly dead.

Tigeroar—guild master of Roaring World, an evil hero, and the only other Maverick Drako Yau knew of—was dead.

Drako Yau found Tigeroar’s death weighing on his mind. He had slain countless people before, but they were all players who could respawn. Now, the corpse of a once-living person lay before his eyes. Although he didn’t kill Tigeroar personally, seeing the corpse still bothered him greatly and made him slightly nauseous.

Having felt Drako Yau’s emotions, Hagrid walked over and furrowed his brow. “Brother, aren’t you a little too soft-hearted? I’ve seen through this guy’s memories, and all he ever thought of was to kill you, even after you let him off the hook once… Sigh…”

Hagrid wasn’t a villain, but he’d mercilessly slaughter anyone who could threaten his life and his loved ones’. He couldn’t help but worry about the young man’s future; he had seen many like Drako Yau, and most of them died early.

Drako Yau shook his head and said, “It’s a life taken after all…”

Hagrid ceased his persuasion and glanced at the white tiger lying on the ground. He waved his hand and commanded, “Your master is dead. You are free, go wherever you want.”

The white tiger whimpered and left the village in a flash. Hagrid turned his gaze back to Drako Yau, who was still looking at Tigeroar’s corpse with troubled eyes, and sighed.

Moments later, Drako Yau seemed to have recovered and walked towards Tigeroar. He searched through the body and realised that he could pick up Tigeroar’s item bag. The massive greatsword had also reverted to an ordinary-looking greatsword. Since no notifications popped up when he tried to pick both the item bag and sword up, he didn’t hold back and hauled all of Tigeroar’s armour into his own item bag.

After he was done, he stood up and looked at Hagrid.

“Let’s go then,” said Hagrid as one of his fingers gave off a bright silver glow.

Drako Yau’s vision pierced through the glow and saw a glowing dragon-shaped brand on the finger. Soon, he felt a moment of weightlessness and they all vanished. The star pattern covering the skies disappeared without a trace as well.

Down on the ground, the villagers regained their NPC tags and their mobility.

“Big… sis…?” the young girl who had been calling Stygien her elder sister mumbled.

An auntie picked her up with a big smile and said, “When did you ever have a big sis? You’re my only girl! Come, it’s time for dinner!”

When Greenstone and Drako Yau’s were no longer blurry, they found themselves in a forest. Hagrid walked over to hold Drako Yau’s hands and soon let go. In those hands were two coin-sized jade tokens.

“This is my mental brand. If one day, you manage to break free from this place, crush it and you’ll know where I am roughly.”

Drako Yau suddenly asked, “You trust me so much?”

Hagrid grasped Stygien’s hand and levitated the both of them into the sky. “I’ve trusted the wrong people when I was young, so many times that I’ve since learnt my lesson. Now, I shall never make the same mistake again.

“My brother, let us meet again in Worlds Aplenty someday! Some alcohol will surely be nice!”

Hagrid’s candid guffaw was the last thing Drako Yau and Greenstone heard from him.

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