“Wow, it’s a good thing that they don’t resurrect.” 6

The God of War Ares had once competed with Grid for the position of First King. He was one of the few players who had made Grid feel tense, one of the bigshots who had made Grid reach out to him first. Ares had been outclassed and hadn’t become the first king, but everyone respected him still. He was the first player after Grid to found a kingdom. 8

Ares had founded Valhalla, which became very powerful through a deal he had struck with Grid. In the kingdom’s early days, Ares used to bow to Grid to gain a supply of blacksmiths. But since then, the two factions had formed an equal alliance because Grid relied on Ares’ skills to train powerful soldiers.4

Interacting with Grid on an equal footing? This was rare for players, even rarer for NPCs. As Grid kept achieving great things, so did Ares. 5

“Grid and the Overgeared Guild have already destroyed over a hundred Full Moon Fortresses guarded by these monsters, right?” 1

Ares roughly wiped a cultivator’s brain matter off his clothes and took a refreshing sip of coke. Since Valhalla’s industry had been steadily...25