**

In the brick paved roads of Prontera, Albert and Lily are competing with each other to see who could be the first one to arrive at the Blacksmith Shop. At the moment the two are enjoying a free day from adventuring and killing monsters. This is because the they both have just cleaned their gears from the stench of Prontera Culvert sewers and for now their clothes are hanging some where to dry. As the two continue to chase each one another in the streets, they would accidentally bump into other adventurers walking and minding their own business.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"I'm sorry ma'am!" Lily apologized as she continue to out run Albert towards the Blacksmith Shop.

"Lily! Stop running into people!"

"You're just mad cause you can't catch after me."

"You're just faster by a bit because I haven't allocated my free statistical points yet!"

When they both woke up this morning, during breakfast, Lily consulted Albert on where she should input her free attribute points. After suggesting Lily where she should allocate her free attribute points, Lily stated and described that suddenly, her body felt different after allocating the statistical points. Lily described it as if her body had become lighter and at the same she stated that parts of her body had become more toned because when she added some of the points into her Strength and Agility attribute.

Albert didn't mind Lily running ahead of him. He enjoyed the sight of Lily laughing and running carelessly as her golden blonde locks drifted behind her. It was quite a sight for Albert because most of the time Lily hardly looked happy the first time he had met her. Also since the two didn't look like adventurers at the moment, no one noticed them at all. In the eyes of the public they look just like ordinary kids playing around in the streets of Prontera.

While the two continued to run towards the Blacksmith Shop, Albert noticed posters all over Prontera that's titled "War of Emperium". Albert remembered the events of 'War of Emperium.' very well in the game 'Deaths of the Gods'. He remembered that various clans fought one another to take control of a certain castle. Albert had only taken part of the event 'War of Emperium' twice. He remembered that the clan that he belonged to in the game, had to help their allies defend a castle from other clans, to prevent the stronghold from being taken control by opposing clans.

Since Holy Light at the moment only consist of three people, its highly unlikely that they'll even participate in the event. Because in an event like 'War of Emperium', numerous clan with more than dozens of members participate and compete with other clans.

Albert slowed to a walking speed and began to listen in to the adventurers who were discussing about the up coming event through out Midgard.

"This is going to be exciting." Says a Bard standing next to one of the posters.

"Are you going to participate in the War of Emperium?"

"Of course! My guild has been the owner of Kriemhild castle for almost a decade now."

Then from out of nowhere a Knight class adventurer walked towards the Bard.

"You really think you're clan will be able to keep that castle to your selves? I heard many of your members are retiring soon. I think my clan the 'Overlords' will be its new keepers."

The Bard class adventurer clenched his teeth when the Knight class adventurer declared that his clan will be taking over.

Albert decided to walk away when he felt the tension in the air. This was suppose to be his day to rest and he didn't want to get involved with such trouble. So he decided to head towards the Blacksmith Shop so that he could catch up to Lily. When Albert arrived in front of the Blacksmith shop, Lily was already there waiting at the entrance.

"Haha I won against you!" Lily's face had a large smile as she celebrated her victory against Albert.

"Well let's go inside. I'm sure Athos will be waiting for us." Albert smiled at Lily.

Albert and Lily entered the Blacksmith shop so that they could meet with Athos, the third member of their clan. Once the two were inside the shop, they were surprised that there were so many adventurers waiting in line.

Albert and Lily attempted to go towards the counter but as they got closer to the counter they were stopped by one of the adventurer's in line.

"Hey! What you doing? Cutting in line? I've been here for an hour and both of you think that you can just skip ahead in front?!"

The disgruntled adventurer riled up the rest who had waiting as long as him.

Albert paused and turned to the man.

"I have some business to attend to with the owner of the shop."

"Well so do we! and If you want to do your 'business' you have to wait in line like everyone else!" The adventurer's determination to prevent Albert from getting to the counter was unwavering and it was causing the rest of the adventurers in the line to be hostile towards him. Then suddenly out no where Athos came out from the back of the shop.

"Ah clan leader, I apologize but I am quite busy at the moment."

"It's fine Athos, I was just here to drop off this. I'll come back here this evening."

Albert placed an item on the counter.

"Is this. . ."

"It's our clan's arm band." Albert grinned at Athos.

"Let's go Lily, let's come back later."

Albert and Lily walked out of the Blacksmith shop. Once they were in the brick paved streets, Albert noticed that a big crowd that was following a Swordsman class adventurer. Out of curiosity, Albert asked around to figure out what was happening.

"Excuse me. Sir? Do you know know why a big crowd is following that Swordsman?"

"Word around the street is, that particular swordsman stuck the final blow to a unique monster in the sewers of Prontera Culvert."

"What was the monster called?"

"I have no idea, but rumors has it that it was a Golden colored Thief Bug."

Albert's eyes widened in shock when he heard that the man clearly describe a monster called Golden Thief Bug. The Golden Thief Bug in the game 'Deaths of the Gods' is a boss type monster that is sought after by many players. In this world, he has never heard of adventurers going out to slay boss type monsters. Maybe its because he was still low leveled and he hasn't associated with any high leveled adventurers yet.

While Albert stood there watching the swordsman class adventurer being followed by the large crowd, he noticed that the swordsman was about to enter the Item Shop. In Albert's mind, there are two reasons why an adventurer would go into the Item shop. First was to buy items right before departing for an adventure and second was to sell items that was obtained from a a previous adventure.

"That means he's about to sell some things to the Item Shop . . . That idiot!"

Albert quickly hurried towards the Item shop with Lily following him from behind. When Albert entered the shop, he's greeted by Amy the manager of the Item Shop.

"Welcome to the Item Shop. How may I help you. Ah! Albert I didn't recognize you there for a moment."

"Heh, yeah it's been awhile. How are things Amy?"

Lily gave Albert a stare when he began acting friendly with the attractive looking manager of the Item Shop.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce my friend Lily."

"Hello Lily, I'm Amy. I am the manager of this Item Shop." Amy waved at Lily.

Lily hid behind Albert and started to tug at his shirt.

"What is it Lily?"

"Why are we here?"

"I have to sell some items that we found in Prontera Culvert."

"Oh . . . okay."

What Albert had told Lily wasn't completely true. The reason why he was in a hurry to get into the Item shop was to buy certain items that the swordsman class adventurer was about to sell to Amy. While they were outside in streets, after hearing that the swordsman had the final blow on the monster called 'Golden Thief Bug', Albert had a gut feeling that the swordsman had an item that is extremely valuable. And that item was going to be sold to the Item Shop for less than a silver coin. Albert looked at the items that the swordsman had placed on the table. Then while scanning the table, he saw that the swordsman placed five monster cards on the table.

Immediately Albert went up to the swordsman to confront him about the cards.

"Uh. . . Excuse me, Mr. Swordsman"

The swordsman turned his head towards Albert.

"Yes?"

"I noticed you have some monster cards with you. Would it be possible to buy them off of you?"

"Hmm well I need coins at the moment. If you can buy it at a higher price than the Item Shop manager then I'll sell it to you."

"Okay."

Albert turned to his attention towards Amy.

"Ms. Amy, how much would you buy these cards?"

"Well I would usually pay adventurers twenty copper coins for each card."

"Then I'll buy each of these card for one silver each."

"Really?!" the swordsman was ecstatic when he heard that Albert would buy his card for one silver each. The price that Albert is paying the swordsman is eighty more copper coins than Amy the Item Shop maneger would have paid for.

Albert grabbed the five cards on the table and gave the swordsman five silver coins.

"Thanks!"

"No. Thank you."

"If I have more monster cards would you like to buy them?"

"Sure! My name is Albert and this is Lily."

"Pleasure to meet you. My name is Roan."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Roan. Thanks for the monster cards."

Albert grabbed Lily's hand and ran out of the item shop. He continued to run until they arrived inside the basement behind the Item Shop.

"Why were you in a hurry Albert? I thought you wanted to sell something to the Item Shop manager."

"Wait Lily, let me check something."

Albert's hand began to shake as he raised the stack of cards to his face. As he stared at the cards, he gave a deep sigh then started going through the cards one by one.

"Drainlair"

"Drainlair"

"Thief Bug Egg"

"Thief Bug"

A smile appeared on Albert's face when he saw the last card in his hand. While he stared at the card, he began to laugh.

"Hahaha. . "

"Whats so funny Albert."

Albert continued to laugh as he stared at the card in front of him. Then suddenly he began jumping up and down.

"Albert! Are you okay? You're scaring me!"

"We got it Lily!! I can't believe that we have this card!"

"What card? Why are you acting like thing over a card?"

"Lily what do you know about monster cards?"

"Well all I know is that some people collect them and most adventurers just sell them to the Item Shop for a few coins."

Albert's eyes widened in shock when he heard what Lily had said.

"Lily what i'm about to tell you is a secret between us. The truth about monster cards is that they have magical uses. Every cards have different special effects."

"Really? Then how do you use them?"

"Have noticed that some of our equipment have slots in them?

"I have. I think our baseball bat has four slots on them."

"That's right. The slots means we can put four monster cards in our baseball bats."

"Oh! That's incredible!"

"Yes it is. But we have to be very picky on the card that we put on our precious equipment."

"Why is that?"

"Because once the card is magically attached to a certain equipment, It can never be retrieved."

"That's scary."

"It is that's why we have to be careful."

"Then what about the effects? You said different monster cards have special effects. How do you know what their effects are?"

Albert became stumped when Lily asked the question about how he has the knowledge of the each monster card's special effect. The reason why he knows the effects is because of the game 'Deaths of the Gods'. So since he couldn't say the real reasons how he knows the special effects, so Albert made up a lie.

"Do remember when I told Athos that the baseball bats are from my master?"

"Yes."

"My master made it his life's work to figure out the effect of each monster cards."

"Wow! You're master is really amazing. I wish I could have met him."

"Yeah . . .He died a long time ago." Albert looked down in grief to make his lie look a little more convincing.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Let's go get something to eat. I'm starving. Then afterwards, let's go to the Free market to buy some equipment."

"Okay!"

Albert and Lily left the basement to head to one of the restaurants in Prontera. On the way there Albert had a lot of things in his mind. In his mind, he's thinking that at the moment, If no one knows anything about the special effect of monster cards, then Albert is at a great advantage. Right now he's more than content about being able to buy the Golden Thief Bug card at such an extremely cheap price.

This is because the Golden Thief Bug card is very special. It's special because first it is extremely hard to obtain such card. Also once the card is inserted to a shield, it allows the wearer of the shield to nullify all magic spells. This includes supportive skills such as heal and buff skills. Even though the card's effect will render any magical user ineffective and useless, the wearer will suffer from consuming double the normal rate of mana when using any skills.

**

At the restaurant Albert and Lily decided to eat outdoors. They both sat down at one of the tables that is located near the entrance of the restaurant. While they waited to be served, Albert could over hear people around them talking about the 'War of Emperium'. Albert was curious how the 'War of Emperium worked in this world. Because in the game 'Deaths of the Gods', the 'War of Emperium' is a bloody battle between numerous clans on who gets to keep a castle. Many adventurers would die during the siege of a castle and re-spawn back into the town when ever they would die. But since this world has the law of permanent death, Albert wondered how the 'War of Emperium' would be possible without the loss of any life.

Moments later a waiter came up to them to ask them what they wanted to order.

"Hello my name is Rina, I'll be serving you for today. Are you ready to order?"

"Rina?"

"Huh? Albert?"

"Did you quit being an adventurer?" Albert's brow furrowed.

"Haha. No. Silly, this restaurant is owned by the clan I am in. That's why the restaurant is called 'The Porings'.

"Oh I didn't notice. Lily wanted to try to eat here because the place looked pretty."

"Well thank you Lily. We try our best to maintain the restaurant."

"Uhm who are you?" Lily tilted her head.

"I forgot you were asleep when I met you. My name is Rina, we met at the Adventurer's Guild last night." Rina smiled at Lily.

"So what do you recommend for us Rina?"

"Well our roasted Savage Babes is popular here. Also the roasted Peco Peco is very good."

"We'll take one of each."

"Coming right up! Also Albert, before you leave, I would like to discuss something with you later."

Rina left the table to retrieve Albert and Lily's order. Moments later, she returned with a large platter of roasted Peco Peco and a large bowl of roasted Savage Babes.

"These look great! The scent of the meal alone made me really hungry."

"Let's eat!" Lily smiled lightly and began taking pieces of meat from the large platter and the bowl. Albert did the same thing seconds after Lily had filled her plate. The two began eating happily then thirty minutes later everything on the table was gone.

BURP

"Oh, I feel sleepy now." Lily began to squint her eyes due to being drowsy.

"Would like some desert Lily?"

"I'm fine. I think I'd like to take a nap." Lily slowly closed her eyes then moment later Rina came to pick up the dishes.

"She's sleeping again." Rina commented as she picked up the plates, platter and bowl.

"Yeah I think the food got to her."

After she taking the dishes back to the kitchen, Rina returned to their table to talk to Albert.

"What did you wan't to talk about?" Albert's brow furrowed.

"Well since you're an ally of 'The Porings', I suggested to the leader to invite you guys to the 'War of Emperium' event.'

"About that, I'm curious how the whole event works."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean does any body die from the event?"

"Well from what I know back before the 'Butterfly Effect' was created, many adventurers died during the 'War of Emperium'."

"What's the 'Butterfly Effect'?" Albert raised one of his brows.

"The 'Butterfly Effect' is an automatic spell that effects each castle through out Midgard during the 'War of Emperium'. What is does is that it automatically transport any adventurer out of the castle who's health reaches the three percent mark."

"That's convenient! That spell should work through out Midgard."

"It is convenient, but some one explained to me that since the spell uses up so much mana it can only be activated during the 'War of Emperium' event."

"That makes sense. But was there ever an accident where the spell didn't work and adventurers died accidentally?"

"There was but I heard that it happened more than a century ago. Since then, they made sure that the spell worked properly. Also as a back up, Just in case the spell didn't work there's an item called Butterfly ring. The ring automatically teleports the adventurer back into the last town when the adventurer's health reaches three percent."

"Wow! That's such a convenient Item, I've never heard of it. If such Item exist every adventurer should have one to prevent themselves from dying."

"Well the problem with the ring is that it's only given to adventurers during the 'War of Emperium' by the Royal Wizards. Also the ring is only a once time use. Once the adventurer who wears it reaches the three percent mark, then automatically transported to the last town that they came from, the ring disappears."

"Can the Item be bought?"

"It can actually, but its pretty expensive. Many new adventurer in clans who receive the ring would prefer not to participate in the 'War of Emperium' because each ring cost roughly about ten thousand gold coins. But to prevent the hoarding of the Butterfly rings, the Royal Wizard modified the rings so that it can only work with in the castles."

"Huh that sounds interesting. By the way what the purpose of the 'War of Emperium'?"

"To gain prestige for your clan of course!"

"Really. . . . How does the prestige system work?"

"Well from what I know each day that the clan owns the castle, it generates five prestige. Clans through out Midgard are ranked by how much prestige that they have. You can earn prestige for your clan by how much damage you can deal to the opposing clans. I think the prestige you gain is equal to the damage that you deal to the opposing clans. So if you join us you might gain some prestige for your clan and it may boost the ranking of your clan."

"But other than ranking, what does prestige do for the clan?"

"Hmmm well every time the 'War of Emperium' ends a treasure chest appears in the castle vault. The content of the treasure chest depends on the clan's prestige. Also having a higher ranking clan helps when getting quests from the Adventurer's Guild. The higher your ranking, the more gold the Adventurer's Guild will offer your clan."

"This event sound fun and since it will help my clan to rise up in rank, as well as assist the Poring clan in defending their castle, then we accept."

"Great! We will be traveling to Payon the day after tomorrow. I suggest that you get ready before then."

"Wait, why Payon?"

"That's the location of our castle."

"Oh okay.

"Thank you for inviting us."

"No problem! Well i'll be going now it seems there are a lot of customers coming in. So they'll be needing my help. I'll meet the two of you at the south gate the day after tomorrow."

Rina got up and returned to waiting the people that had just sat down on the other tables. Albert looked at Lily who had been sleeping through out the conversation.

"I guess I'll have to explain everything to her later."

Albert gave a big sigh as he began to lightly shake Lily.

"Lily, time to wake up. We're going to go shopping for equipment now."

"Uh? Okay. Five more minutes."

Lily turned to the side and continued to sleep.

**