World Online

Nolan coughed and started walking to the right, along the wall of the giant wall. Now that they were walking toward another direction, with the practicing men to the right of them.

And now that they were directly visible to the men, each and every one stopped what they were doing and looked at Nolan with a reverence.

This was a reverence that did not come with spending money. This was a reverence that could not be bought. It was one of true respect. These people looked at Nolan like he was a god. And that confused Jake. He was wondering who this mysterious man was, who he never heard of in the ten years that Horace dominated a part of the world.

"These people, they look at you with such respect. When others look at their boss, they look at them with fear, not respect. I wonder what you did to them. Did you save every single one of their lives?" Jake asked. There wasn\'t a hint of amusement in his face though.

This was a genuine question that he wants to ask this man. He was mysterious enough, having so much power, and yet was so weak in truth. Jake had an inkling of what was going to happen with Horace in the future. It\'s future was already decided because Nolan gave it such a wonderful foundation.

But he did not seem to have the best health. Jake presumed that Nolan did everything, but the reason that Jake and no one else heard of this man was because he had passed away right before he came to the limelight.

Jake shook his head though, and returned his gaze at the old man in front of him. Just five feet off the ground, with a hunched back taking away much of the height he had, this old man no longer seemed like the \'old fogey\' that was supposed to give way to the new generation.

This man was the person who would make new things possible. He WAS the innovator, and he was a precious addition to the world.

Looking at him, it felt like he was looking at a giant now. Not a normal person. He was going to be very, very important. The little time that Jake spent with Nolan, he was supposed to impress Nolan so that Nolan would be impressed enough to sign that contract.

But the exact opposite happened. Jake was starstruck in front of Nolan. Seeing the eyes of respect of the men he towered above, and making such contreversial investment that Jake just knew would give such a wonderful return, Jake was the one impressed here. Not the other way around.

They reached the very end of the hallway that they walked to, the second corner of the hall. Only the hundreds of players were visible, and nothing else. Jake didn\'t know what Nolan brought him here to do.

And the only thing that he could do was ask.

"What are we here for, chairman? Why are we here? You showed me your elite guard, but I canvassed your place outside. You don\'t have enough to get another whole hall in this place. There is no way that you have more place here." Jake asked.

"There is nothing good in learning something without a little fun, is there? Why don\'t we have a little suspense? Don\'t worry. I will to disappoint you." Nolan chuckled.

Jake froze for a moment. He knew these words. After all, once upon a time, they came out of his own mouth! And now, he was hearing them right now? It couldn\'t be a coincidence, could it?

But for a split second there, he understood what Myriad Arrows was feeling. Not being in the know sucked, and Jake understood that finally.

Still, Jake couldn\'t leave the matter for later. He stopped, thinking back. He knew what Myriad Arrows would do in the future if Jake didn\'t intervene one bit.

Myriad Arrows would juggle around a few small groups, making a name for himself, before finally settling down in The Roman Kingdom, the guild of Horace. It was a nerdy name, but it only meant dominance in the future that Jake lived.

It was easy, connecting the dots from there. The reason that the chairman made an exception to come out specifically, and to talk to him. He had to have some connection with Myriad Arrows.

But Jake decided against asking Nolan just yet. He wanted to wait it out. It was always better having the advantage of knowing more than the other person.

"You are absolutely right, Chairman. I completely agree with you. I shouldn\'t have been such a hypocrite when I believe in that philosophy myself. Please, lead the way, I am too curious to see what you have ready for me." Jake shook his head and bowed it down slightly, showing his defeat.

"You are humble as well. The more time I spend with you, the more I like you. If only you were one of my children. Then this whole place would b yours in a few years. But it is too bad. Whoever birthed you must be so proud." Nolan warmly smiled.

But the chitchat was over now. Nolan\'s smile faded away as he looked at the wall and then at the men behind him. Many of them stopped their practice and looked at the people that had arrived.

It was the chairman, someone who almost never came out. Who wouldn\'t want to see what this was about? And the chairman was actually accompanying someone? Who would have though that such a sight would ever be witnessed?

"What are all of you looking at, you lazy buffoons? What do you think I feed you for? Get to work right now!" Nolan suddenly shouted, his voice as hoarse as it could get by the end of the sentence.

He struggled a little, slumping down. But with no support to stand on, he was going down.

Jake moved like a flash, standing in front of the old man, and letting Nolan use his left shoulders a support to stay standing.

"Good. I should stop shouting at these stupid people, don\'t know how to do what is done. That is why this is not the main force of the guild, young guild leader. If this was what the guild was going to rely on, then all of us would be absolutely screwed." Nolan laughed as he turned around looking back at the wall.

It was just bricks there, and sure, bricks could mean that maybe one of them was a key to a secret entrance somewhere, but Jake highly doubted that. He didn\'t just walk into the guild hoping that everything would work out for the best.

He needed to study who he was walking into, so he cased the joint. This was a big building, but its boundaries ended where Jake and Nolan were standing right now. There was absolutely no way that there was a secret entrance-

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Nolan tapped on a few bricks on the wall in a seemingly random manner. But those bricks all caved inward, with a harry potteresque feeling to it.

But they didn\'t rotate like in the magical world to create a nice portal to another street out of nowhere. Instead, it started moving the floor beneath them. The very floor began to tremble.

Jake looked at the elite players behind him, but they didn\'t seem to be facing this problem. It was just him and Nolan. He looked down to see that the floor was distinctly cut into a single square that he and Nolan were on, and the rest of the hall behind him.

This was a different segment of the hall.

Click!

He could hear the sound of something clicking. And then, the ground started moving. Nolan was there, smiling straight at him, as the floor that he was on started descending slowly.

"I have to ask you now. How did you afford all of this? How did you find the gold coins you need to buy all of this?" Jake asked Nolan.

"There are ways to get gold coins within the game without some player selling them, Shadow King. You can trade silver coins for gold. Or do you not know that?" Nolan asked, chuckling.

"But that would mean that you would take a loss. You would lose money in the process! Who would ask for less than a dollar per silver coin?" Jake pointed out.

"If I kept waiting and didn\'t take this step, then with each succeeding day, the price of the gold coin would increase. I know that I need to put in everything that I have into the game, so I did. Nothing wrong in that." Nolan chuckled.

Jake was shocked still.

"What kind of intelligent monster am I standing next to? He saw through so many patterns with ease!" Jake gasped as he thought to himself.

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