MMORPG: The Elementalist

Due to limited space within the city, the four Leagues had to monitor the number of players entering the city—there was simply not enough space to fit thousands of people in the Fallen Angels’ city all at once. As a result, not many people got to enjoy the majestic sight of the first player-made city from within. Other than a handful of players who had Angelic Wings and flying pets, thousands of players could only stand outside of the city walls and looked on enviously as the Fallen Angels and their handpicked comrades marched into the city.

This was the first time they got to step into their city.

First time! Into their home! How exciting!

A week ago, the place was nothing but an empty barren land. Now, there were buildings standing tall and proud around them. They couldn’t believe it—the place was now an actual city!

Qin Ruo was even more awestruck as he dove from the sky. Before he dove through the barrier, there was nothing but sand and soil below. Suddenly, a huge mighty city emerged right after he passed through the blue barrier!

“Wooooohooo!”

Watching all of this from the sky, Qin Ruo felt a surge of excitement running through his veins as he cheered loudly!

Suddenly, a system message rang in his ears.

“You have entered the city.”

“The League Leader of the Fallen Angels League has now been promoted to be the Castellan of the new city.”

“You have acquired the authority of a Castellan.”

“Please bestow the city a name, Castellan.”

Qin Ruo felt a slight headache after hearing this series of system messages. Name! He needed a name for the city. After pondering for some time, Qin Ruo decided to decide the name together with his brethren in the League.

***

“A name for the city?”

“Cool! We get to decide the name for our city?”

“This is so awesome!!”

After hearing Qin Ruo’s announcement, a loud cheer was heard in the League’s chat channel—so loud that it almost made Qin Ruo deaf.

“Let’s call it… the ‘City of the Dragons’!”

“How about ‘The Ark’? You know, the mighty ark that descends into the Underworld from the Mythical Continent…”

“Sky Palace!”

“We’ll call it ‘Los Angelus’!”

“No way! We’ll call it ‘The Forbidden Zone’!”

“Oh, for f*ck’s sake… can’t you guys come up with something better? We need a name that gives a mighty, intimidating vibe! We’re the top League in the Mythical Continent!”

“Yeah, that’s right! You big brothers and sisters are the seniors here! Come up with a cool name for the city, will you? Make it an unforgettable one!”

“Ah, I got one! I got one! How about… the ‘City of Glory’?!”

“Hell no!!”

“Which idiot was it? Bring him to the guillotine!”

“Yeah, that’s a bad name! It sounds so stupid!”

“If you don’t have any good one, just keep quiet. That name totally killed my ears, dude!”

“…”

“What about… the ‘Phoenix City’?” Suddenly a girl squealed in a timid voice.

Everyone couldn’t help but cringe. This name was even worse than the previous one!

However…

This time it was a lady. So naturally, they couldn’t treat her as harsh as the one earlier.

Thus, they rejected her name with a gentle critique—another sign that the world’s still far from reaching the ideal of men and women having equal rights and footings.

Then, the debate continued and became more and more heated by the minutes.

Qin Ruo and his higher ranked Fallen Angels were taken aback by this much passion from their underlings. Violet Orchid and Xiaoxiao were impressed by Qin Ruo’s idea of allowing everyone decide on the city’s name.

Allowing the League members to decide on the city’s name was quite clever—it would be like deciding the name of a newborn baby together. Having a hand in the city’s name, everyone would then be emotionally invested in the city—treating it like their home. They would take great care of the city and invest in its development.

Violet Orchid was overjoyed when she saw everyone being passionate about the city. Back then, she had doubts that Qin Ruo could ever be a good Castellan. Yet now, she was certain that this Winter Demon had grown to be quite a leader.

***

Nonetheless.

Even though the idea of asking the League members to decide on the city’s name was a brilliant one, having over fifty thousand people to do just that would take days of discussion. And it was impossible to please everyone too.

Therefore, Qin Ruo had decided to have all the five Clans within the League to make polls on deciding the city’s name. First, they had to nominate the names and then they would need to vote on the name they thought was the best.

As for the reward for the person who came out with the best name… it would be a piece of Legendary equipment, which was dropped by the Grand Reaper, and a hundred thousand gold coins.

The reward for naming the city sparked a massive interest from within the League. A legendary equipment! This thing cost at least over a million gold coins! For an ordinary player to own it, it would be like winning a lottery.

In an instant, various creative names were thrown at the five Clan Leaders.

Due to the great reward for winning the “naming competition”, the names that everyone came up with were now much classier than before.

***

After a long time filtering through all the names, the Clan Leaders had finally narrowed down to one name each from their Clans.

The Ascendant Clan’s best name was “Dragon City”.

The Fallen Angels’ was “Forbidden Zone”.

The Executors’ was “Demon Palace”.

The Bauhinia Clan’s was “Valhalla”.

And lastly, the Violent Army Clan’s was “Winter Demesne”.

And finally, after a long voting session, “Winter Demesne”, a name that a Level 43 Warrior came up with, emerged as the victor.

And so, it was decided!

The Fallen Angels’ city would be…

The Winter Demesne!

***

Qin Ruo didn’t expect that his own moniker, the “Winter Demon”, would be used as a reference to name the Fallen Angels League’s city.

The other four Clan Leaders didn’t expect that either.

They didn’t think that Qin Ruo had become so renowned that the members in their Clans would revere him so much.

***

As the four Clan Leaders were surprised by how much admiration their Clan members had for Qin Ruo, the person who came up with the city’s name—Reon, a Level 43 Radiant Swordmaster from the Violent Army Clan, was sent straight to the Warp Portal of Winter Demesne. Standing in the middle of the portal, Reon couldn’t believe that he was the one who held the honor of naming this mighty city.

“F*ck, a Level 43 newbie? What a lucky bastard.”

“Oh, don’t be jealous, man. It’s not easy to come up with a cool name like that.”

“Yeah sure, I was jealous alright! That’s a darn Legendary equipment! Tsk tsk… I’d be filthy rich by now if I own it!”

Hearing this, Reon couldn’t help but feel a tremendous anxiety burning in him. He had never even got to own a piece of equipment that cost above 2,000 gold coins.

A Legendary equipment…

And 100,000 gold coins!

If the League Leader kept his word and awarded him the Legendary gear, this would be his very first huge paycheque after graduating from college. Due to social anxiety, he wasn’t able to secure a job yet. This would help him pay his bills.

Is this a dream?

Reon was deep in his thoughts, afraid to move a muscle, as everyone cheered for him. He feared that if he moved a step from the Warp Portal, he would find himself waking up in his bed, finding that this was all but a dream.

The more expectation he had, the greater the disappointment he would suffer.

He didn’t want to be caught in such dread.

Yet, the Legendary equipment and 100,000 gold coins… these were too tempting for him to let go.

To a boy who grew up in a middle-income family, that was a lot of money.

After standing in the Warp Portal, lost in his thoughts, for a long period of time, Reon suddenly heard a private message ringing in his ears. Yet, due to the tremendous anxiety, he couldn’t move at all. Then, a familiar silhouette, flapping his Angelic Wings, descended from the sky.

“Aw, man. What’re you standing here for? And you’re not replying to my private message too. You got me worried there.”

Seeing the person who approached him from the sky, Reon was so shocked that he was out of words.

It was Dinosaurcerer. His Clan Leader!

On other days, he was but a small fish that no one would notice. And yet, now his Clan Leader, clad in a full set of Legendary gears, standing next to him and talking to him.

“… huh? Oh… a private message? Oh… I’m… I’m so sorry… Clan Leader. I… I didn’t hear it…”

A flush of red blushed on Reon’s face as he stuttered in reply to Dinosaurcerer.

“…”

Dinosaurcerer looked at this timid shy boy and frowned. A Level 43 Radiant Swordmaster? He didn’t know he had a newbie this weak in his Clan.

Oh, so be it.

The kid’s good with naming stuff.

Winter Demesne… that was some fine name right there.

“Hmm…”

Dinosaurcerer looked at Reon and said.

“You’re just Level 43… how about this? You get to pick a Tier 4 Radiant Swordmaster Legendary equipment if you don’t want the loot from the Grand Reaper. Just tell me what you want. I’ll get it for you.”

“Oh!”

Reon’s eyes lit up bright with hope.

“So… I get to have a Legendary equipment? Really?”

“Of course. You think our League Leader was messing with you?”

Dinosaurcerer scorned at the young Swordmaster with a long face. The latter then scratched the back of his head shyly, like a mischievous student being scolded by his teacher, before replying with a stutter.

“No… oh, no… I just… just… I just thought…”

Looking at the anxious newbie, Dinosaurcerer smiled and replied, “Alright, don’t worry. I’m not mad at you. Now, tell me. Do you want the Tier 6 Legendary equipment or would you rather take a Tier 4 one? Be quick, boy. I’ll need to attend a meeting after this.”

“Oh, okay… erm…”

Reon felt a huge relief hearing this—the League Leader was indeed serious in giving out the Legendary gear as a reward.

Trying very hard to suppress his excitement, Reon replied, “Then… I want a Tier 4 Legendary gear.”

“Smart boy. A Tier 4 Legendary equipment is quite valuable in the market right now. You better take good care of it… Hmm… but… look at you. You don’t even have a full set of decent gear. Perhaps it’s best that you sell them off to buy yourself a set of Dark Gold equipment.”

As Dinosaurcerer was about to leave, Reon mustered up his courage and asked shyly, “Then… Clan Leader, perhaps I could ask for a full set of Dark Gold gears instead of that piece of Legendary equipment?”