Yi Qiang woke up to a blue screen hovering rudely in front of his face.

Emergency Protocol 94 has been activated.

A digital invasion of Ascend has been detected. All integrated players locked from interaction with the outside world. All normal players retain system functions. Ascend can no longer be edited or reached from any outside source, including but not limited to Universal Technologies. Protocol will continue until situation determined safe.

The archer furrowed his brows. ...What? He looked over it once more.

So, there's a virus... that's trying to invade the system? Okay, and now I can't contact Universal Technologies anymore? How does that affect me? Wait.

If there's an outside force trying to gain control over the game, well, that's just illogical. Mr. Yang told me this was one of the most secure servers in the world. What's happening? Is it possible it's not from the outside but the inside?

If so, I need to worry, because the protocol won't do anything. And, the moment they gain control, chances are the game isn't just going to stay the same. And all the integrated players are being carefully monitored at the moment, but if a different force takes over, I don't know what their goals are. What if they don't care about the people living in Ascend?

This is bad. I have to stop this.

Yi Qiang swiped away the blue screen, only to find another notification take its place.

You have received a quest!

Ascension(Difficulty: Divine)

Collect the Snow Qilin's horn, the Crimson Dragon's pearl, the Onyx Phoenix's core, and the World Turtle's shell, and bring them to the top of Ascension Peak.

Reward: Direct access and control over Ascend's AI.

Bewildered, Yi Qiang sat up, rereading the prompt.

Within seconds, a ray of hope flashed in his eyes. This was his chance, his opportunity to wrest control of the game before whatever else was trying to do the same succeeded.

He couldn't take the chance that the new controlling force would be just as benevolent and caring as Universal Technologies. He had to take his fate, and the fate of all the other integrated players, into his own hands.

He didn't know why this quest existed, or whether anyone else had received it, but he had to clutch this only chance to not subject himself to the risk of immortal life in misery.

Kia ducked to the side, dodging the punch rapidly approaching her face. She grimaced as she felt the flames wreathing it brush past her cheek. That would have been bad.

Taking the opportunity, she sent an upwards kick to her partner's rib. He stumbled back, and she capitalized on his response by darting forward and giving out a solid thrust punch to his solar plexus.

As he collapsed, Kia retreated to the border of the stage.

"Man, it's getting easier and easier to take you on. You sure you don't want to remove the restrictions?" She asked, shaking her head when he looked up at her, fire in his eyes.

"I don't need to. Just let me hone my skills a little more and I can beat you." He had managed to climb back up and now hunched over slightly, limping out of the sparring area and back onto the punching bag.

She supposed that it was possible, but Kia couldn't help but feel it was a waste of time. From her perspective, the way to really get strong in this game was to specialize. This was even more so given the fact both of them were integrated, so they had even more time. However, her friend insisted on shoring up some of his weaknesses by pitting them against her strength. She had to respect him, though; she sure wouldn't be able to tolerate so many losses in a row.

"Alright, Aiden. Let me know when you're ready to go-"

Her voice was cut short when a blue screen, this time all bold, appeared in front of her.

Emergency Protocol 94 has been activated.

A digital invasion of Ascend has been detected. All integrated players locked from interaction with the outside world. All normal players retain system functions. Ascend can no longer be edited or reached from any outside source, including but not limited to Universal Technologies. Protocol will continue until situation determined safe.

When she read over it, she looked at Aiden, who had also frozen. "...D-did you get that too?"

"Yeah. What?"

For the second time, her response was interrupted by the appearance of a new box in front of her.

You have received a quest!

Ascension(Difficulty: Divine)

Collect the Snow Qilin's horn, the Crimson Dragon's pearl, the Onyx Phoenix's core, and the World Turtle's shell, and bring them to the top of Ascension Peak.

Reward: Direct access and control over Ascend's AI.

Yi Qiang knocked on the wooden door to the Second Prince's quarters. After receiving the blue screen, the marksman's mind had been too occupied to work on Qi Control, so he had just decided to train his body while trying not to wake a peacefully-sleeping dragon until it was late enough in the morning for everyone to be awake.

Around that time, a guard had come over and let him out, saying he had been cleared of all charges and let go.

Yi Qiang took that as his cue to visit the Second Prince and discuss a few things.

A brief halting of a maid and some ten minutes later, Yi Qiang found himself at the man's door. Shenyu was perched on his shoulder, unusually quiet. Yi Qiang didn't know why the Empyrean Dragon was so put out, but he attributed it to the marksman's own mood - Yi Qiang had a lot on his mind, and everything pertaining to the new quest was, more likely than not, a matter of incredible importance. Some of that weight would have undoubtedly transferred over to Shenyu.

Promptly, the door was opened by a lazily-dressed Second Prince, whose eyes lit up when he saw his visitor.

"Oh, Yi Qiang! What a pleasant surprise! Come in, I presume we have much to discuss?"

Yi Qiang nodded and walked in, taking note of the size of his living quarters - apparently, there was a need for a foyer and multiple doors in what was supposed to be a bedroom. Compared to when Yi Qiang stayed at an inn when he first arrived at Ascend, the difference was too stark.

The Second Prince led Yi Qiang through the center door, taking him into a living room of sorts, with a table in the center and some sporadic paintings along with miscellaneous decorations.

They both sat down. Shenyu hopped onto the table and lay down, carefully watching the Second Prince with his big, golden eyes. Yi Qiang was the first to break the silence.

"What's the plan?"

The Second Prince, hearing this, smirked and leaned backward.

"You sure you want to start with the hardest question to answer?" Upon seeing Yi Qiang's affirmation, he continued. "Well, it's complicated, and a detailed understanding of it would require experience with the politics of the kingdom, as well as tons of other miscellaneous little facts that would take an eternity to explain, but I can explain the gist easily enough.

"My plan has... 5 steps," the Second Prince said, clearly counting the steps in his head. "First, we need to raise publicity on our side. That work falls to me since you don't have the connections necessary to really effectively execute this part. You know what, on second thought, I'll just tell you what you need to do.

"Soon enough, I'll have you come back here. I can't give you too many specifics on what you'll have to do for me then, but it's combat-oriented. I'll essentially be showing you off to gather support for my act. This is all to gain control of the city. Then we take it directly to the king. If all goes well, and we both play our parts perfectly, we have carefully laid out the future for Chosen in less than two years. But don't worry, the brunt of the effort falls on me. You just need to do what I tell you when I tell you to. I don't mean this as an insult, but I'm sure you haven't grown up in an imperial court your whole life, which is why I can make the best use of you as a pawn. In the best way possible, but yes, essentially you'll be a weapon. That I wield. Sorry, but I won't sugarcoat it. If you're not content with that, we should break off the partnership here."

Hearing this, Yi Qiang couldn't help but grin.

"That won't be a problem."

He found the Second Prince's candor incredibly refreshing - the man wasn't interested in misleading or deceiving him, but instead willing to lay all his cards on the table to have a genuine partnership.

"Is there anything else you'd like to discuss?" The Second Prince inquired, casually lifting an eyebrow and smiling at Yi Qiang's smirk.

"Yes, actually," Yi Qiang responded. "This isn't related to our partnership, but instead I have a question about just the world. Do you know who the Onyx Phoenix, World Turtle, Snow Qilin, or Crimson Dragon are?"

Yi Qiang wanted to take the opportunity to dig for information on the new quest. He was sure it wasn't going to be easy, and it was almost guaranteed he'd need to be a lot stronger if he wanted to complete the quest, but Yi Qiang wanted to know just how far away he was from the completion of that goal.

The Second Prince chuckled. "Interesting that you'd ask about them of all things. Those four are widely reputed to be the strongest figures in the world. The Onyx Phoenix is the leader of the empire rivaling ours on the Gloom Continent- the Night Parade is what it's called - and well known as a cruel, tyrannical, but incredibly powerful leader. The Snow Qilin is, well, kind of a rumor, in that there have actually been no sightings of it since over 300 years ago, so we don't actually know if it's alive. It's extremely secretive, and most scholars agree it's alive but avoiding humanoid contact. The World Turtle, like its name would imply, is a huge tortoise that hibernates under the earth of the World Tree. There's not much else known about it since it's so passive. Finally, the Crimson Dragon is famous for its position as the ruler of the Blood Empire on the Demon Continent. It's incredibly powerful and famed for its ruthlessness and bloodthirst."

Yi Qiang nodded. That was quite a bit of information to digest, but he had one more question.

"What is Ascension Peak?"

"It's the highest mountain in the world. Nobody has ever been to the top, I think, because it's so cold at the higher levels that no one can survive. Also, other environmental factors prevent everybody from ascending the peak."

Yi Qiang grunted in acknowledgment and moved to get up. However, the Second Prince gestured. "Two more things! Come over here."

The Second Prince pulled out a green crystal from his pocket and handed it to Yi Qiang, saying, "This crystal is a Communication Geode. It will vibrate whenever I need to talk to you, and can hold a limited amount of messages."

"Finally, before you go, I wanted to inform you about a tournament that will be going down here in the city. The rewards aren't bad, so I advise you attend. You might meet some new people, just saying. Anyways, until our next chat!"