It has been a number of years since the God of War, Weed otherwise known as many things but the most famous to this day as Emperor of the Continent became.....well an Emperor. Since then there has been many new events that have captured the Hearts of the People. The Siege of the Dragons, the Wandering Giants, Birth of the Insects, the First Rebellion and the Twin Moon incident. These events were so big that Weed himself as Emperor could not personally stop them since he had other duties and as a result he has created a new decree that would deal with such things that he had no time for. Namely he took care of the big stuff in secret and let everyone else deal with the 'small' incidents.

With the still rising number of people playing Royal Road reaching a new time record of 10 billion and the declining number of large and small guilds, Weed set up a new system to order and control the new number of players into groups he could use.

Independent Guilds were what they were called. Unlike other guilds they were not actually officially recognised as no one in the Ahreupen Empire besides the Emperor and a select few had any control over them in any shape or form whether it was in buildings or taxes. They only worked for the Empire as a whole to improve it and could act in any way to ensure its safety. But breaking the rules was still no allowed since they were all citizens of the Empire.....but its fine as long as they're not caught.

They were also forbidden to directly attack each other since that would be counter efficient and as a result often worked together instead to put to an end to the terrible events that threaten the newly born Empire. As such, they are often deployed to also deal with injustice around the Empire when they are not stopping a monster invasion or something similar. While they are not recognised by the public and nobles, they are given buildings and support in multiple cities which they use as bases free of charge. The building and support they get are dependent on their achievements in the field whether its repelling monsters or arresting a corrupt noble. Because of this, the residents of the continent don't have a problem with them. They were just considered a bit different from other Guilds who directly rules over them.

Because of this there were many of these Independent Guilds popping up over the place claiming they are the best and scamming people. However Weed was more evil then they thought and the Independent Guilds were given tasks they could not complete themselves which tinned their numbers greatly are they realised what they had to deal with. Those who failed where driven out by the residents and their reputation felled dramatically. This was the risk the came with being an Independent Guild. Not many could deal when their Fame decreased so much when they failed.

Weed has also made it so that it was very hard for several Independent Guilds to each get credit when they worked together. As such many Independent Guilds joined together creating many sub-guilds in them while others disappeared. The Independent Guilds 'Lion of Heart', 'Rising Tiger' and 'Tower Giants' are such guilds, made from a large number of other sub-guilds.

However there are some abnormal guilds that manage not to stick together with other guilds and yet managed to maintain themselves. The 'Geomchi' are widely known as the best swordsmen in the continent and yet rarely had an increase in numbers and yet completed many tasks even the big 3 guilds struggle with. The 'Wise-men' were a support guild that did not directly take part in tasks but helped other guilds with information and in turn they help them giving them the achievements they needed to survive among other help. The 'Poisonous Frogs' dealt in assassinations and other dirty jobs in exchange for achievements as well.

There are some guilds like this in the world that are best not trifled with. But all Independent agree that it for the best that none of them would or ever will oppose or even touch one particular guild.

The Independent Guild known simply as 'Sleeping Sheep' or 'S.S centre'.

They say the Sleeping Sheep will awake to become a Raging Dragon when attacked. This was merely rumours of course and many have taunted this said forbidden guild thinking they could gain some sort of credibility among those who don't like such a guild existing. However all of these foolish Independent Guilds vanish after a while without a trace for some reason and the rumours spread even more of their tales.

But the real reason unknown to many but the larger Independent Guilds and those who searched a bit in the past. Their situation was due to a Independent Guild called 'Ruler Might' that once spanned all over the continent and with numbers that equalled to several armies with countless achievements to back them. One day or rather as usual they decided to 'bully' other smaller guilds which unfortunately also included 'Sleeping Sheep' this time round. They raided the smaller Independent Guilds' bases which was against the rules and took and broke what they wanted. As a result the smaller Independent Guilds took revenge by attacking them instead of cowarding away.

When the Guild 'Ruler Might' realised they were attacked by several smaller Independent Guilds, they sent their entire army to demonstrate their power to the continent and that even the Emperor Weed could not touch them. Weed of course could kill them all by himself since by then he was the strongest player who had one of the highest level and battle-skills and so on, but he needed other means to control the crowd of Independent Guilds he created without him interfering time and time again.

So he simply set the stage and let 3 players of a certain Guild to fight an army of over 10 million by themselves. When the leaders of 'Ruler Might' knew of this, they laughed out loud and insulted their enemies in live televised footage for the world and history to remember. They talked of how they would build a new empire in their name and how everyone would worship them as the absolute power in the continent. But things didn't go as planned for them at all.

In the Beginning of the Battle, a large Dragon appeared and wiped out a large portion of the army by itself with golden radiances splitting the Heavens itself. The leaders of 'Ruler Might' were seen frightened and clueless on what to do when their allies were slaughtered by the millions with the world watching and when the Dragon Disappeared they claimed to have slain it or made it run away. People knew this was a lie and ignored it as they were watching to see what happens next.

With only half their army left, a number of only 5 million which was still one of the greatest forces in the world, they still claimed to have victory in their hands. Then a Warrior of Light appeared wiping out 2 million soldiers at once without a trace leaving a crater where they were. Then the army started panicking again. The leftover 3 million which they claimed was still a powerful force started to run away but they couldn't. It was not due to loyalty or anything as good as that, they were simply trapped as a forest grew inwards to them as big as the battlefield at a quick pace that makes you think that someone was causing this to occur, with Golems appearing out of nowhere and killing anyone that was in it. Thus a forest was born from the Blood of 3 million and was dubbed Ruler's Bane for the future.

Such a power which surpassed even the greatest of heroes. It was a power that rivalled and matched even Gods. It the first time such being revealed themselves to the continent in plain sight.

The world was on fright as such a thing could happen to a guild even more bigger than the Hermes Guild in the past that once almost conquered the continent. The 3 certain players disappeared without a trace, without anyone knowing who they were.

The incident known as the Mystery of Ruler's Bane was talked about for a long time and many have sought to learn the full truth. However the people of the continent and the people of the world knew only two things. The 3 players were sent by Weed and a message from them appeared mysteriously on the day of the battle.

{The Sleeping Sheep awakes to become a Raging Dragon when attacked}

Only one, one Guild had any relation to that message. And so the 'Sleeping Sheep' guild who was once considered a push over guild was feared almost even more than Weed himself.

However with time they were forgotten by the masses and considered a Legend but the other Independent Guilds who sought glory always remembered. Remembered that if they wanted to exist then they would never oppose that guild even if it means death or worse.

This is a story about a certain 6 people that will join this Legendary Guild that stays in the shadows bidding their time to appear once more.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“What are you planning this time Weed?”

“The end of Royal Road.”

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- This is the beginning of the series! Yay, I can finally post this even though I wrote this last year! To the next....prologue!