Is this really a Game?!

Reign made his way towards the graveyard, which was situated right outside the city, on its west side. Reign had used S Coins in order to create it a long time ago, the graveyard was surrounded by a pure-white metal fence that shone a dim light on the surroundings, contrary to how most graveyards looked, this one didn't have the same gloomy look. The lights made people feel more relaxed when coming here and Reign could already spot 2 players that were here, one was sitting next to a grave while speaking in a low voice while another stood in front of a grave while weeping silently.

He made his way towards the center of the graveyard and found Adam's grave. He sat down next to it as he stared at the rocky walls that surrounded the city, the luminous crystals that were on the ceiling would shine brightly during the day while dimming during the night, creating a similar scene as outside. Watching the ceiling at night would create the illusion that what was above them was the night sky and the stars.

Reign didn't have any words to say, there was no exact motive behind his coming to the graveyard, he just wanted to be alone for a bit and see the grave of the young man he had personally invited to the team. Perhaps if Reign and the others never came up with the idea of training a team under them he would still be alive, perhaps he would have died even earlier underneath the claws of some monster from one of the forests around the town.

Reign spent the following 3 hours in complete silence, the weeps of people that came to the graveyard were his only companion other than his thoughts during this time. He reminisced about the time he had spent with Adam, as brief as it was. Training the young man who would diligently follow his words and give his best to improve together with the others made him peaceful and he felt as if he was doing something good, he wasn't only training them so that they could grow stronger, but so that they could survive and help others as well.

Reign didn't consider himself a hero, he wouldn't blindly throw himself into danger's way simply to help some stranger. If it didn't cost him a lot he was willing to help others, the world had gone to hell, and people needed to look out for one another after all. He wanted the players in the city to be like that, in the beginning, there were a couple of thieves and thugs in the city who believed they were above others.

Society had gone to hell and they believed that if they were stronger than others then they can do whatever they wanted, Reign had no mercy for people like that, he immediately used them as an example of what would happen to others that didn't follow the rules of his territory. He banished them and threw them outside, some were unwilling to leave and wanted to stick close to the warehouse in order to be safer but he personally made sure that they understood that they were not welcome even near his territory.

Some would say that what he did was tyranny but he didn't care, he believed that the law of the jungle truly was the most appropriate in these times, well in his territory he was the king of the jungle and his rules would be followed. His rules were simple, no stealing, forcing other people to do anything they didn't want to do, and no killing. Besides that, people were free to do whatever they wanted to do, he made sure to use the territory function in order to give the elderly and the kids some S Coins every month from the tax so that they could have enough money to eat and live, he didn't expect them to fight like that would be too much.

His efforts paid off, after people saw what he did with criminals the security in the city improved tremendously, thefts would still happen from time to time but the perpetrators would be caught soon after that, Reign made a simple rule for them, go out and fight against monsters, after earning enough S Coins to pay back what was stolen or getting an item of the same value, they would be allowed back inside.

After three hours Reign stood up and took one final look at the grave before turning around and going back to the building. Wolf and the others were training the players when he arrived, after thinking a bit, he decided to join them. The other players were happy to see Reign, their training session went as usual, only that this time the difference was that all 9 of them had a group battle against Wolf and then later against Reign.

The result was the same as always, even with their now larger number they were simply unable to even touch them. Bigger numbers didn't always lead to a stronger them as they had to work on their coordination and they had to get used to fighting alongside one another as well.

Besides doing the group battles the players would have some more technical training, the players that used ranged weapons would train alongside Beast as he gave them pointers on how to improve their accuracy, Reign would teach the sword-wielding players while Wolf and Shadow had one student each that used the same weapons as they did.

Tank was in charge of 2 players who used shields while Laura would usually train alongside them as her close combat skills, although higher than the other players, were still lacking compared to Reign and the others.

All of the players had shown considerable potential and the will to learn which made all of them happy. They had all improved tremendously compared to how they were in the beginning. Sometimes Wolf would split the players into teams of two and have them spar with one another, not only would that light the competitive spirits of the players but it would improve their teamwork as well.

Elijah was working the hardest as he used his javelins and throwing axes to their fullest, one difference with him was that now he also had a spear. After Adam's death, Elijah decided to take his spear and use it in battle, he had already been using the javelins for close combat when needed so he was already a bit used to handling a spear, of course, the difference in length was not something easily overcome.

There was a surprise during the training however, one of the players was training with as much zeal and drive as Elijah, that person was the youngest in the group, Ashley. She was an orphan who would bounce from foster homes, a troublemaker that could never really get along with others, after the game had started she was fortunate enough to stumble upon a chest that gave her a crossbow.

The crossbow was a weapon that was well suited for amateurs as its accuracy and power weren't as dependent on the user as the bow was. Even at the brittle age of 13 Ashley took up the crossbow and started fighting against the monsters, most of the enemies she had faced were of course goblins, anything faster and more powerful was simply too strong for her to fight against.

She wasn't lucky enough to find a safe zone near her, she would live in abandoned apartments that she would block off so that monsters couldn't enter. She lived off the food that she would find in the apartments and that is how she managed to survive for almost a month. Upon learning that a player had conquered a territory she went to check it out as she was nearby, after entering the underground city and learning of all the benefits one would have when living here she decided to stay.

Thanks to the city being connected with the castle there was no food shortage and Ashley was able to eat some hot food after a long time, it was later when the event had started that she fought in the backline using her crossbow and had caught the eye of Beast. Even though a crossbow would make it easier for beginners to fight, to see a small kid like her using it proficiently was still something rare and they all decided to give her the option of joining them.

Ashley rarely got along with others, but during her stay with them she truly enjoyed herself, the training was hard but satisfying and she could feel herself improving each time, the small rivalries that formed in the groups and the competitiveness were all something that drove them to become better.

She was part of Adam's team and she was the only one that saw everything that had happened, something inside of her changed that day after seeing how powerless they were compared to the giant orc, and how he was destroyed in battle by Reign.

…

It was already nighttime and Reign was staring at the ceiling of his room. Tomorrow was the day when they were going to attack the orc base, the third anchor point was located there, guarded by the chieftain and his troops. Reign was a bit worried about tomorrow, he worried that he might lose control again during the battle. His abilities were great and offered a huge power-up for him, but it seemed as if even the smallest emotional outburst would allow the second ability to go out of control.

Other than that, he was worried about the dark copy that stayed in his consciousness, why did it help him so many times?

What was its goal?

Unfortunately, he had no way of finding out the answers to those questions, he was still far too weak, perhaps after leveling up more he might be able to get some answers.