Chapter 425 Chapter425-Duke Arsena's Attention
"He actually succeeded! Not only has he gained the recognition of the Storm City guards, but his displayed strength even surpasses theirs!"
The level 75 Assassin Player, who had previously thought John was overreaching himself, was astounded at John's successful actions.
He had never imagined John could be so powerful.
To the average player, John's ability to ascend Storm City's walls and earn the Storm City guards' recognition already meant he was among the top tier of players.
His performance further indicated that his strength was much greater than that of the ordinary Storm City guards.
This meant that John's actions weren't reckless but justified.
"Who is he, anyway? Does anyone know him? Why haven't I ever seen him on the player rankings before?" asked a level 43 Wizard Player to those around him.
As a relatively new player, he was unfamiliar with the top players in the game.
He relied on the player rankings to get a sense of who the elite players were.
He was, of course, familiar with Blue Sea and Adam, as they were the guild leaders of the Blue Sea Guild and Genesis Guild, respectively.
As the guild leaders of the two strongest guilds, their top-tier status in the game was universally acknowledged.
However, the new player noticed that the guild leader of the Blue Sea Guild hadn't dared to climb the walls.
This observation led him to wonder if the player who did climb the walls was much stronger than the guild leader of the Blue Sea Guild.
The question posed by the new player didn't receive an immediate response.
After some time, a level 104 player slowly spoke up.
"I think the person fighting on the wall might be the anonymous player from the player rankings. Don't you remember? There was an anonymous player who completed many first kills of bosses and also had the highest Achievement Points among all players. I recall that before the new version launched, the Photonic Brain System mentioned the new version was triggered by the exploratory actions of an anonymous player."
As a player who had surpassed level 100 and was among the first to join the game, he had some understanding of the top players.
Although nobody had previously thought that all anonymous achievements were accomplished by one player, upon witnessing John's actions, it dawned on him that perhaps the anonymous player on the rankings could indeed be a single individual.
When this viewpoint was raised, it was met with disbelief from many players.
They found it hard to believe that one player could achieve all those feats.
The suggestion that John might be this prodigious anonymous player stirred a mix of skepticism and awe among the onlookers.
"Some of you might be overestimating that anonymous player's abilities. Sure, he climbed up the walls of Storm City and showed more strength than the other guards, but let's not forget that the brunt of the pressure is on Duke Arsena. He's facing the main assault of the Mystery faction. Without Duke Arsena, even the anonymous player wouldn't dare to climb the walls," a player pointed out.
Once someone speculated that the anonymous player could be John, Blue Sea quickly stepped in to explain.
He and John had an agreement not to probe into why John chose to remain anonymous.
Moreover, if someone guessed that the anonymous player on the leaderboard was John, Blue Sea felt obliged to help clarify the situation.
John did not want too many people to know his true identity.
As the guild leader of the Blue Sea Guild and one of the top players, Blue Sea's words carried weight.
His explanation quieted down the speculations, and the players refocused their attention on the ongoing battle on the walls.
After clearing the Mystery creatures around his part of the wall, John started to assist the nearby Storm City guards.
With John's efforts, the Mystery creatures were gradually pushed back, clustering around the area where Duke Arsena was fighting.
Duke Arsena, as one of the most powerful NPCs of the Order Faction, was actually quite pleased with the situation.
Confident in his abilities, he believed he could eliminate all the Mystery creatures by himself.
His greatest concern was the possibility of these creatures dispersing widely, which would make it difficult for him to quickly eradicate them all.
John's actions naturally caught Duke Arsena's attention.
When John climbed the walls, Arsena cast a Detection spell towards him.
Although John had the highest level among all players, from Arsena's perspective, his strength was just satisfactory.
The special attributes John possessed didn't seem particularly precious to Arsena.
He simply thought John's willingness to defend Storm City's walls demonstrated a commendable knightly spirit.
Duke Arsena planned to reward John handsomely after the battle with the Mystery creatures.
After all, up to that point, aside from John, no other player had dared to ascend the walls of Storm City.
However, as the battle progressed, John's displayed strength and strategy somewhat impressed Duke Arsena.
He saw a reflection of his younger self in John.
According to rumors, Duke Arsena was quite weak in his youth.
He had even failed to become one of the first selected knights in the Northern Myst Empire.
Duke Arsena's willingness to embrace adventure was key to his eventual knighthood and his significant achievements in battle, leading to his lordship over Storm City.
Despite facing enemies much stronger than himself, Arsena was always ready to initiate an attack.
He wasn't just courageous; he was also highly strategic.
When confronting overwhelmingly powerful foes, Arsena could identify and exploit their weaknesses to secure victory.
John's performance on the walls of Storm City mirrored the young Arsena's qualities – demonstrating both bravery and wisdom.
Unaware of Duke Arsena's attention, John was solely focused on quickly eliminating all the Mystery creatures on the walls.
During the battle, John discovered another pleasant surprise: the experience points gained from killing these Mystery creatures were significantly higher than those earned from completing other quests.
Simply by eliminating the Mystery creatures on half of the wall, John's level had increased by two.
Considering John's already high level, where each level up required an increasingly large amount of experience, this was a notable achievement.
If John hadn't climbed the walls of Storm City to join the battle, leveling up twice would have taken him a considerable amount of time.
This turned out to be an unexpected boon for him.
John's tactical acumen displayed on the city walls did not go unnoticed by the other players.
Those who had previously doubted him had now fallen silent.
Some even deleted their posts on the gaming forums where they had dismissed John as nothing more than a showoff.
Below Storm City's walls, Blue Sea was closely watching John's actions.
He felt a twinge of regret, wondering if he too could have earned the admiration of all the players had he joined John in the battle.
As he was pondering this, he suddenly heard Adam's voice behind him: "You two actually took action without notifying me!"
Adam had learned about the situation from members of his guild; without them, he wouldn't have even known that Blue Sea and John had come to Storm City.
Faced with Adam's question, Blue Sea was at a loss for words.
Indeed, their action in Storm City had been carried out without informing Adam.
This moment highlighted the complexity of relationships and alliances among top players and guild leaders in the game.
Blue Sea, as the guild leader of the Blue Sea Guild, reacted quickly to the unfolding situation.
He quickly came up with an explanation for their presence in Storm City.
"The reason we came to Storm City was because a friend of John's was targeted by the Darklord Guild. We originally came to help him out of his predicament. Who could have expected that we would suddenly encounter an attack on Storm City by the forces of the Mystery faction? Could you have anticipated that the main city of the Order Faction would be attacked by the Mystery faction?" he explained.
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