The Second Life of Adam Cosmos

Blazing Will! Fire Enchantment!

Tyler felt his attack improve by a small yet noticeable percentage. His physical abilities increased by a small notch; his movement became faster, his strength greater, and his heavy armor felt marginally lighter.

To test his current buffed state, he swung his greatsword at the nearest monster.

Searing Slash!

[You have dealt 172 damage to Steel-Fanged Wolf Lvl. 68.]

Blazing Thrust!

[You have dealt 185 damage to Steel-Fanged Wolf Lvl. 68.]

Combusting Blow!

[You have dealt 195 damage to Steel-Fanged Wolf Lvl. 68.]

[You have slain Steel-Fanged Wolf Lvl. 68. You have absorbed 820 Essence.]

Although it comes at the cost of a consistent health drop and not being able to heal for the duration of the buff, he is overall happy with the benefit he gained from Blazing Will that he unlocked after reaching the intermediate rank of the Flame Swordsman class.

He acquired the class tome that he and his team found while exploring the catacombs during the first quest. He decided to learn the class himself as he felt it would help him boost his power.

His decision was proven right; he felt an explosive boost to his damage output after the class upgrade and has been grinding with more intensity ever since.

As a result, he is now Level 74 and is currently the Number 1 ranked player in the Lorikan server.

After testing the effects of Blazing Will, he decided to wait for the cooldown to wear off before re-joining the fight. He decided to push himself and fight the boss solo, then have the rest of his team take care of the minions to ensure he was not disturbed.

"Aaron, take over," said Tyler, addressing his second-in-command. "Make sure the team is still organized while I fight the Alpha Wolf alone."

"You got it, Tile," responded Aaron. "Team, you heard that? Our boss will focus on the enemy's boss."

The team reassembled their formation to take into account the absence of Tyler for the duration of the fight.

Tyler dashed forward to face the boss, a Level 70 Alpha Wolf.

He reactivated his three buffs, Blazing Will and Fire Enchantment. In this state, he is dealing far more flame damage than physical- which is well and good as the enemy is a beast-type and has a natural tendency to feel fear when near intense flames.

Searing Slash!

[You have dealt...]

Blazing Thrust!

[You have dealt...]

Combusting Blow!

[You have dealt...]

Meanwhile, his team is doing an excellent job taking care of the rest of the wolf pack. The team demonstrated why Maxima is one of the top pro gaming companies in the world. Their teamwork is flawless and even the high-leveled wolf pack didn't stand a chance.

As for the Alpha Wolf, Tyler was able to take it down with little issue; the Blazing Will is proving itself to be a valuable ace in the fight as the extra 12% boost for a greatsword-wielding warrior is a huge advantage. Furthermore, Fire Enchantment increases that damage even more due to adding the fire buff to his greatsword and essentially turning half of his total damage output into fire-type damage.

And since the Undead Region is full of undead and beast-type enemies, he has a considerable elemental advantage in combat.

But despite his impressive firepower, it is not gaining the expected attention that the company was hoping for.

This is because their publicity department originally projected that Tyler would be able to showcase his abilities in public during the Battle of the Chamber of Sacrifice.

Upon finding out that the players in the chamber were low-level and outnumbered, he was instructed to wait until the projected time it would take for the chamber players to be annihilated came to pass. And then, only then will Maxima head to the chamber and become the guild that saved the day for the rest of the players. Then, their social media plants would start the #TylertheFireMaster campaign to dominate the internet traffic and promote the Maxima name.

Or, at least, that was how it went on the drawing board.

The whole plan crumbled when the battle took an entirely unexpected turn. A lone player single-handedly turned the tide of the battle and the supposed hero, Tyler, became just one of the late-arrival extras that swooped in to help clear the leftovers.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the unknown player turned out to be a fire user as well. This ended the #TylertheFireMaster campaign before it even began.

After all, who would be accepted by the public as a Fire Master? A mysterious single player fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds and prevailing, or a guild master who arrived after the battle is as good as won? The answer is painfully obvious and it's not Tyler.

Maxima's team cannot think of any way to convince people otherwise. Even their staff has to admit that the mysterious player made a spectacular performance that no other player in Pangea has so far surpassed.

Entertainment experts project that if this mysterious player ever uploads his recording of the fight, it will undoubtedly garner millions of views and advertising offers within minutes. There is nothing more breathtaking than seeing the fight from the point of view of the man who turned things around for the entire Lorikan player base.

This is why Maxima refrained from uploading their recordings of the battle as it would look downright pathetic in comparison to the real hero of the show. And this is something that the other pro guilds followed.

Sometimes, the best PR move is to not make a PR move.

Other than the chamber players who were part of the battle from the start, no other major guild uploaded a recording of the fight.

Surprisingly, even after several days, no such post from the top contributor has been seen by the public. It has become similar to an elusive unaired finale of a popular series.

The only saving grace in their bid for fame is that Tyler is currently the Number 1 player in the Lorikan server and Number 3 in the Unified Rankings.

But it seems fame and glory are proving elusive for Maxima, and by extension, Tyler. Despite him becoming the Number 1, there are many who claim he only became the top player due to the real top player choosing to remove himself from the rankings.

The complication doesn't stop there. As Tyler is technically the top player, Maxima is finding it difficult to recruit the mysterious player as doing so might be interpreted as admitting that Tyler is not the real number 1. Besides, they can't think of a way to contact the player.

To add yet another layer of insult to their PR injury, Maxima has been noted to be publicly buying potions set up for sale in the Mercury Auction House. Although they are not the only guild to do so, one couldn't help but comment that their perceived superiority over other guilds is becoming less and less concrete for every bottle of potion they purchase from a user called My Alchemical Romance.

The reason? It is believed that the seller of the potions is none other than the mysterious player himself.

The top contributor happened to have a title called The First Potioner the last time his name was publicly announced. At first, the players assumed he manually edited his name to show it. But then other pro gamers discovered the existence of titles and achievements after they had begun exploring the Undead Region. As a result, several notable players had unlocked their own titles and achievements which now show on the leaderboard.

It is ironic how a company with a team of specialists capable of formulating complex strategies to secure worldwide fame and glory, is buried in the shadows of a player whom no one knows anything about.

As for Tyler himself, he doesn't really care much for fame the way Maxima as a company desires it. However, he understands that his career's success is directly tied to Maxima's prestige. In turn, Maxima's prestige will come from fame and glory. Since he is the face of Maxima, his fame becomes Maxima's fame, which is converted back to him in the form of financial gain and world recognition as one of the best in the VR gaming world.

And all of these are in an awkward phase due to a player that he doesn't even know of. Anyone else would have been understandably angry or at least upset with the mysterious player.

Tyler, on the other hand, kept his professionalism and just focused on what he should be doing- developing himself and his guild. After all, that is what a guild master should be doing in the first place. Or at least, professionally, that is his stance and actions observed by the public.

Privately, he has been spending personal resources to find out about the mystery man's identity and whereabouts. Once he does, he would either offer him to join his underling or put a permanent bounty on him to ensure he is always targeted by hunters for as long as he is in the World of Pangea.

From the recordings of the battle, Tyler is convinced that this mysterious player has also found a Flame Swordsman class tome and learned it. Just like him, the mysterious player can also engulf his sword in fire and perform swordsmanship that can only be accessed by a Combat Paradigm player.

While the mysterious player can also cast missile-type and AoE spells- which are spells that so far haven't been shown as an available option for him, Tyler assumed the man had a high Mystery stat that allowed him to unlock more spells to purchase. As for the alchemy-related title, Tyler doesn't particularly care for it; he assumed he found an Alchemy class tome and learned it to compliment his style.

And so, he instructed the hunters to prioritize Combat Paradigm players who might have the same class as he does. Unfortunately, the hunt has proven to so far be fruitless. And until there is new actionable intel, Tyler has no choice but to be patient and wait.

For now, he turned his attention to the more immediate goal of reaching the Sanctus Lux Fortress. He offered the Hao-Wei an alliance to work together to complete any and all quests that they would get from the fortress. Fortunately, Hao-Wei accepted.

And so, the two guilds had reached an agreement: Hao-Wei would focus on finding the route to the fortress, and Maxima would explore the Undead Region to secure the best grinding spots for their alliance to use a farming spot. After all, even if the Undead Region is large and obviously unexplored, players would not want to spend a long time traveling on foot just to farm essence or materials.

All seems to be going well as Maxima not only has the numbers to protect a huge territory but also has a decent supply of items to ensure their elite members' equipment is a notch above others. They are more than capable of defending any land they declare as theirs against other rival guilds. Or at least, that was the case for a short period of time.

Recently, there had been a few skirmishes against rival guilds and various independent teams over the good grinding spots that they claimed. Maxima had been able to defend their declared territory initially.

But then, Flora Guild retaliated and managed to win several succeeding skirmishes. After an investigation, Maxima discovered that every member of Flora is now equipped with mid-level equipment. Although their equipment looks to be of low durability, the damage is about 10% better than what the majority of Maxima has.

This alone has become a major headache for Tyler and Maxima as a whole; only the elite members of Maxima have top-tier equipment and the rest are still using the common weapons they found in the Forgotten Temple. In comparison, every Flora member is now equipped with mid-level equipment than what the majority of Maxima has. Of course, a select few of Flora also have the same tier of weapons that Maxima's elite has.

In simpler terms, for every 10 elite members of Maxima with top-quality gear, there are 90 members with low-quality gear. On the other hand, Flora has 95 members with mid-quality gear and 5 elite members with top-quality gear. In this regard, it can be said that Flora is the better-equipped guild.

And now, Tyler suddenly found himself in the middle of a guild war with a better-equipped rival. What's worse is that Flora has also started hiring independent adventurers to harass Maxima players. They put up a bounty that for every successful kill of Maxima members, there will be a reward of either a weapon or an armor piece.

At this stage of the game, bribing players with real-world money has little pull as it cannot be converted to good items in-game. Thus, Flora has the definitive advantage in the resource competition aspect of a guild war.

In order to tip the odds in their favor, Maxima has started to aggressively buy any and all items of note in the Mercury Auction House. Unfortunately, the selling of equipment has lessened lately as players hold more value to quality equipment than short-term financial gain. And so, the last remaining avenue that Maxima can tip in their favor is to try and monopolize as many consumable items they can buy from the auction house.

The potions up for sale are now being purchased aggressively by Maxima at nearly three times the usual price. But sadly, even this did not have any lasting advantage; the sale of potions stopped all of a sudden.

At first, Maxima thought that the potion seller had joined forces with Flora. But when their investigation showed that Flora was also experiencing a shortage in consumables, it was presumed that the potion seller had run out of materials to craft a new batch of potions.

Thus, the good farming spots that Maxima tried to hoard for itself are now being contested by Flora in earnest. After all, a guild with access to the raw materials can train alchemists to produce a steady supply of potions.

To say that there is a lot on Tyler's plate these days is putting it mildly.

It's bad enough that being the Number 1 in the Lorik server had given him no benefit whatsoever- not in Lorikan Republic and not as a pro gamer since its authenticity is being questioned by many through absolutely no fault of his own. Yet now, he is being pressured by the Maxima Administration to maintain the top spot as it's one of the few bragging rights Maxima currently has.

And his headache didn't end there.

He has received a report from Hao-Wei that they are no closer to finding a secure route to get to the fortress than they were at the start of their alliance. Of course, the report is worded in a much better-sounding tone, but that is how Tyler heard it when he found out his hopes of getting to the fortress first had been utterly squashed.

If Hao-Wei's report is to be believed, it appears that the second-rate guilds Dark Sun and Magick Maidens are getting closer and closer to the fortress. Maxima initially didn't take them seriously and assumed their social media updates were nothing more than just empty clickbaits to garner attention. Yet now, it is shaping up to be that these lesser guilds will beat them to reaching the fortress first.

It is obvious to anyone that getting to the fortress and gaining access to the quest before anyone else will grant them a massive advantage over anyone else. And now, Maxima won't get that either.

At this point, Tyler couldn't help but wonder if they were somehow cursed. It's as if one instance of bad luck after another just keeps on popping up on their side to make their lives difficult. Did Maxima do something bad in their past life or something?

This is what's running through Tyler's mind as he drinks his whiskey and smokes his cigarette.

Ding!

It was a text message from Aaron, his aide.

- Dark Sun and Magick Maidens just uploaded a video. They arrived at the Sanctus Lux Fortress. Check this link...

Crash!

"Fuck!"

He threw his glass to the floor, where it shattered into countless pieces. Then, he took a deep puff of his cigarette, and exhaled it, before extinguishing the cigarette's ember in the palm of his hands.

And then he watched the video sent by Aaron.

"What the hell is this?"

For one moment, Tyler thought Aaron sent him a bogus link. The video shows a group of scantily clad females with the most annoying Valley Girl accent that ever graced human ears. Noticeably, there appears to be a scroll lodged in their cleavage.

"Hello, dear viewers! As you can see, we have literally arrived at the Santa Lost Fortress!"

But the camera doesn't show their location, instead, it is focused on the chest of the speaker.

"Whoops, sorry, here is the fortress!" said another girl.

It is only then that a better view of the fortress is seen. And indeed he can see a group of soldiers- no doubt NPCs, in a mid-sized town inside it. Considering that no player has seen any NPCs or semblance of living civilization yet, this shot alone is proof that they arrived at the fortress.

"Please join us!" another girl said. "We will be selling scrolls so you guys can literally teleport here and join in on the fun!"

At this point, the girls pulled the scroll out of the cleavages and seductively licked it.

"We will be selling these scrolls at the auction house literally within 24 hours. Please support us!"

The video ended with the name of their auction house account put up for display: Maidens Selling Their Goods

Tyler sent a message to Maxima admins and requested a budget to purchase as many scrolls as possible. He didn't have to wait long to get a response and approval.

He sent his aide a text response.

"Aaron, send someone to buy the scrolls. Then, try to reach out to them to see if we can buy what they offer privately." he typed, then as an added thought. "Oh, and send my brother with you. I think he knows some of those girls."

***

Unbeknownst to Tyler, Aaron is currently with several of the Magick Maiden members in the real world. That is how he was able to hear the news so quickly.

"Your brother asked me to ask you to bring me to the Magick Maiden girls," he told his companion. "Don't tell him I was the one who brought you here, okay?"