Not many people knew what exactly the heretics were about. All they knew was that the Heretic Organization was one of the most powerful organizations in the underworld. However, the Hunter Association knew very well that although the heretics belonged to the underworld, they were on a whole other level. It was unlikely that they would create trouble and unlike other organizations where human lives were nothing. However, their members were untameable where they did whatever they wanted without thinking of the consequences.
After seeing the apology of the Heretic Organization's presiding judge, the executive officers of Division7 were upset. He managed to apologize within three minutes after the Hunter Association released the video, it was obvious that he came prepared. The apology was proper; he did not only apologize but he even wanted to pay for the damages and release the victims. However, could it be possible that he would dare use the people he captured? Who would know if the victims were not brainwashed?
It was a play well-done by the heretics as they knew the Hunter Association did not want that batch of people anymore but they decided to release them anyway. Even if they were not brainwashed, the Hunter Association would not be the only one who would not accept the 12,800 victims, but the other organizations as well. The only solution the victims had now was to join the heretics or they would remain an ordinary person for the rest of their lives.
However, it was nice that the heretics were willing to apologize so openly. There was nothing else the Division7 Hunter Association could do. Soon, they announced a cease-fire since there would be no good that could come was no good that would come out of the war. They would rather ask for more compensation.
The incident had captured the attention of many other organizations.
"The heretics are so smart. They let the Hunter Association go through the trouble of putting the participants through all the preliminary evaluation before they scooped the talents away. Wouldn’t the apology and compensation that come later be like buying people off with money? They even conveniently promote themselves on the video which was aired in 12 divisions. Tsk tsk, these people…"
"That’s right. I wonder which genius came up with this idea! Why don't we suggest this to our boss? We can do the same in June next year?" A person laughed.
"Don’t even think about it. We, the Purple Crow, would be dead to the Hunter Association if we did that. Division7 wouldn't be the only one to declare war on us, the other 12 divisions might do the same and band up with the Hunter Association. You should know that we're considered as a terrorist group within the Hunter Association. The heretics would only be labeled as mentally ill among the other organizations if we did that.
The Purple Crow were not the only ones. Other underworld organizations were tempted to do the same as well but they gave up copying the heretics when they thought about the uniqueness of what they did. The Hunter Association went easy on the first attempt. If there was a second time, the consequences would be dire. If the Hunter Association did not show what they would do to people who would dare repeat such an invasion, people would think that the Hunter Association was a pushover and there would be more attempts in the future. Taking these factors into consideration, the other underworld organizations decided not to follow them.
Since the incident happened, the Hunter Association was already up and running again. Xu Tianyu brought up the matter of including Lin Huang in the intensive training list again. When Xu Tianyu projected new documents of Lin Huang before the executives during the meeting, many thought it was strange. Old Li did not say a word but later proceeded to mention, "Old Xu, I know he’s your favorite. However, no matter how much we like this kid, there’s nothing that we can do anymore."
"What do you mean by that?" Xu Tianyu was confused.
Theoretically, Mr. Fu should have spoken to Old Li, why would Old Li intervene now?
"The kid has been taken in by Mr. Fu." Old Li shook his head, "It seems like we've lost a talent… Sigh…"
"Mr. Fu took him in?!" Everyone was shocked.
"Old Li, maybe you misunderstood. What did Mr. Fu tell you?" Xu Tianyu thought that Mr. Fu was making the matter of including Lin Huang in intensive training too complicated, giving Old Li the impression that Mr. Fu wanted Lin Huang.
"He sent me a message that says ‘I want this kid!’, before sending Lin Huang’s documents over. It seems like he has taken him as his apprentice. The message was served to us to inform us of this so that we won't enlist him in intensive training." Old Li explained.
"Mr. Fu has many apprentices, included Old Li too. I think it’s still possible that we insist to enlist Lin Huang in intensive training." Xu Tianyu said.
"That’s true. Moreover, we have been taking his advice throughout the years, he had taught us a lot. We respect him deeply and treat him as our master. However, he only had one real apprentice, the one he found 300 years ago. Since the death of that apprentice, he has never taken in any real apprentices anymore. Those who came later would address him as sir instead of master. That’s why we call him Mr. Fu; something everyone addresses him as right now. If it was not something out of the ordinary, Mr. Fu’s would not have sent me that message with his character." Everyone went silent after hearing what Old Li said.
"We can’t enlist Lin Huang into intensive training anymore, however, he'll still remain as a member of the Hunter Association. His performance was good in the assessment, let’s make him a Gold Hunter. It should be sufficient for him." Old Li suggested.
Xu Tianyu had to accept the cold hard truth, he thought to himself that he should not have sent Lin Huang’s documents to Mr. Fu.
…
Meanwhile, Lin Huang turned off the apology video of the heretics. The lives of the victims that were captured by the heretics had completely changed. Even if they were released, they would be accepted by the Hunter Association anymore. No other organizations would accept them besides the heretics. Lin Huang shook his head and looked at the Hunter Association’s page. On the main page, there was a war declaration was posted on top, one in the middle and one on the right.
Lin Huang saw the posts but he did not click on them while he was looking at the eligibility of his account. It had a copper logo, he had been given the authority of a Regular Hunter. He found Hunter Arena on the download page and proceeded to download the game. Two to three minutes later, the game was downloaded and a plug-in page popped up. The plug-in download was fast, soon Lin Huang was on the login page with the background of an ancient hall.
Lin Huang scanned his ID and the log-in was done within seconds.
"Please register a nickname for yourself. This nickname will be used in battles." A lady in a pink dress said as she smiled.
"Sword Overlord!" Lin Huang thought of a nickname for himself.
"I’m sorry, this nickname has been taken."
Lin Huang raised his eyebrow, he did not expect this to happen in this world.
"Heaven's Sword!"
"I’m sorry, this nickname has been taken."
"This too?" Lin Huang frowned, he then thought of another nickname, "Sword Genius!"
The nickname ‘Sword Genius’ is available, are you should you want this as your nickname."
"Yes." Lin Huang nodded.
"Hi, player Sword Genius, the game will be controlled by your consciousness. We'll scan your body and create a body for you in the game following the data we extract from your body. All the bleeding, pain and death in the game would simulate 100% of what’s happening in real life…"
"If you're ready, please press 'Enter Game'. After the 10-second countdown, your consciousness will be pulled into the game.
Lin Huang nodded and entered the game. The lady in pink disappeared was replaced with golden three-dimensional numbers. It spun as it counted down from 10. A final beam of red light was shot out of the number to scan Lin Huang’s body. After the countdown ended, Lin Huang was led into darkness and appeared in a building that he had never been in before. He looked at his body, it was the same as before. He then looked at the cards in his body, they were all there.
"Xiao Hei are you there?" Lin Huang contacted Xiao Hei with his mind.
"Yes."
"Are you in the game too?"
"This is an incomplete virtual reality, it’s normal that I'm able to enter."
After chatting with Xiao Hei, Lin Huang began to look around. The enormous building was crowded with people. There were many commercial boards with a variety of elixir and weapons. However, the most obvious one was the huge three-dimensional screen in the middle. It was an introduction of the Hunter Arena.
Selected battle scenes were being played in the video, Lin Huang became exuberant after watching the video. Finally, there was a guide at the end of the video. All of the information was connected to the Emperor’s Heart Ring. As long as the ring was active, the guide would appear. Lin Huang opened his Emperor’s Heart Ring, the function was different than usual.
A lady’s voice was heard together with a golden arrow on the interface.
"There’s an image of crossed swords on the left. That’s the challenge button. When you press the challenge button, the system will randomly choose an opponent for you following your level and ranking in the game. The image of an eye on the left was the watch button. It allows you to watch all the live battles available within your authority level. The third button which was an image of a person would be your personal details. You can look at your personal details which include your ranking in the game…"
"The points system in the arena is set as below:"
"Win: 1 point."
"Killing opponents with one hit will get you double point, which is 2 points."
"Tie: 0 points."
"Achieving ties for 10 battles will get you 1 point"
"Lose: -1 point"
"Getting killed by your opponent in one hit will deduct double points, which is -2 points."
"Additional Rules: Win for 10 consecutive battles, 20 battles, 30 battles will double accumulated points.
Lose for five to 10 battles, point deduction will be doubled. Lose for more than 10 battles, point deduction will be multiplied by three.
If there’s a tie between a consecutive win or lose, the streak would be suspended."
After spending a couple of minutes listening to the introduction, Lin Huang knew how the game was basically run. He then tapped on the ranking board and looked at one of the silver-level players. Looking at the points of those who ranked in the top 10, Lin Huang frowned as the points were above 10,000.
"Without the double points from winning streaks, I would have to win 10,000 battles to get into the top 10. To accomplish this within two months isn’t easy…"