Ambler gave a gentle smile and said, “Then, where is the sword?”

Chen Xiaolian was silent for a moment. Then, he retrieved a sword from the system and placed it on the table.

It was none other than the Sword in the Stone, the Sword that chooses the King!

“You brought it back?” Ambler gave a faint smile.

“Of course. How could I leave an item as good as this to King William?”

Chen Xiaolian laughed and said, “Originally, after killing Harold, he had wanted to make it his own. However, there were too many people around, so he could not force the issue. He requested its owners.h.i.+p from me and even said that he would make me a Count. I simply refused, took the sword and ran for it.”

There was a peculiar expression on Ambler's face as he looked at the Sword in the Stone placed upon the table. He said, “… … do you know that you did something amiss?”

“… eh?”

“You violated the storyline.” Ambler shook his head.

“Storyline?!”

…

“This Sword in the Stone is a prop in the system. It is similar to all the weapons and equipment that appeared in the system dungeons. However, it is of a higher cla.s.s and certainly much rarer. Most importantly, it is a special equipment.

“In the hands of an ordinary Player or Awakened, it would be unable to do anything.

“In order to activate the Sword in the Stone, first, complete all the instance dungeons in London to acquire the sword.

“Next, enter the story of the War for the Throne and hand the Sword in the Stone to King William – because in the system's settings, King Arthur was modelled after King William.

“When given the King's courage, it will gain 30 % activation.

“When given the King's blood, it will gain another 30 % in activation.

“When given the enemy King's blood, it will gain another 30 % in activation.

“Here, the sword would be 90 % activated and three complementary skills would be acquired.

“However, according to the storyline, King William will keep the Sword in the Stone while… the game partic.i.p.ants receive other rewards.

“The Sword in the Stone is simply a storyline prop. Generally speaking, it would never fall into the hands of the game partic.i.p.ants.”

“Wait!”

Chen Xiaolian suddenly shouted out, “But if so, how did I manage to get the Sword in the Stone so easily? I simply turned down King William's request and took the sword with me! This, that… that was too easy!

“If it is as you said, that this item would generally not fall into the hands of game partic.i.p.ants… didn't this fall into my hands too easily?”

Chen Xiaolian carefully recalled the matter and said, “Back then… he had decapitated Harold and won the cheers from the army… then… he requested the Sword in the Stone from me. He said that this sword was very sharp and had helped him kill off his enemy. Thus, he wished to have the sword. However, a King had no right to deprive an aristocrat of his property – since he knighted me, that makes me an aristocrat.

“He can only request it from me and not s.n.a.t.c.h it away.

“After I refused his request, he was somewhat unhappy and disappointed. However, he was unable to do anything about it.

“I… took the opportunity to take the sword and leave the army. At any rate, the situation there was so chaotic; no one cared about me leaving at all.

“After that… the system notified me that the instance dungeon had ended and we were teleported out.

“Mm, that was how it went – it was very simple.”

Ambler listened quietly. Then, he suddenly looked directly into Chen Xiaolian's eyes and said, “You would think that it's simple… because…

“You! You are not an ordinary game partic.i.p.ant!”

Those words caused Chen Xiaolian's body to shudder!

…

“In the normal storyline, after all the game partic.i.p.ants on King William's side helped him win the war, they were unable to take the Sword in the Stone away!

“Normally, after King William used the Sword in the Stone to kill Harold, he would request the partic.i.p.ant for the Sword in the Stone.

“At that point in the instance dungeon, some greedy game partic.i.p.ants would be unwilling to hand over the Sword in the Stone – that is only natural.

“However, a notification of restriction will appear at this point in time.”

“Restriction? What restriction?”

“Normal game partic.i.p.ants, be it Players or Awakened ones, would not be able to pick up the Sword in the Stone!

“In other words, even if King William were to place the Sword in the Stone before them, they would be unable to pick it up!

“Then, the system will prompt the game partic.i.p.ant: Special equipment has been given to the storyline character and cannot be taken back.”

Chen Xiaolian was shocked!

“That… that was how it's supposed to go?”

“Yes.” A peculiar look appeared within Ambler's expression and he said, “Normally, that is how things would develop. That is the law of the system.”

“But I…”

Chen Xiaolian recalled what happened back then.

Back then, when he had taken back the Sword in the Stone from King William, he did not feel any difficulty in taking it back. He simply took it with his hand.

There was also no prompt from the system!

“As I have said, it is only possible because it's you.

“Because… you are not an ordinary Awakened!

“Because… you are an existence that the system does not recognize… a BUG!

“Because you are a BUG… thus, you were not restricted by the law of the system!”

“… … …”

…

After quite some time, Chen Xiaolian exhaled deeply and cast a complicated gaze at Ambler.

Ambler pointed at the empty teacup before him and asked, “Another cup? The tea is going to get cold.”

Chen Xiaolian silently picked up the pot of tea and filled his cup. Then, he gulped it down.

“What about you?”

Chen Xiaolian abruptly raised his head and looked intently at Ambler. He said, “All those things, how did you know about it?”

“… … …” Ambler was silent.

Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath and continued, “You said it before, as long as I complete this instance dungeon, you will be willing to wait here for me for a day. You would be willing to meet with me and talk it through with me to answer some of my questions!

“If so, is this not the time for me to be asking questions?”

Ambler revealed nothing and simply took a sip of tea.

“The first question… who are you?”

“Ambler,” answered Ambler with a smile. “That's my name. Of course, I also have another name. There may be more who knows me by that name. That name is: Mr San (Umbrella).”

Mr San.

Chen Xiaolian recited the name several times to ingrain it into his mind.

“Then what about Bai Qi? Why do I get this feeling that… you two know each other?”

Ambler smiled, “We know each other. What is weird about it?”

“But…” Chen Xiaolian's eyes were wide open as he said, “But Bai Qi is a man from ancient times! The era in which he lived in is over 2,000 years ago! You… when did you get to know him?

“According to this world's setting, after his death, Bai Qi had been sealed within the Mausoleum of Qin s.h.i.+huang!”

Ambler gently sighed and said, “What if I tell you, I knew Bai Qi since… 279 BC?”

Chen Xiaolian froze!

279… BC?!

That predated even Bai Qi's infamous Battle of Changping!

He stared at Mr San with wide opened eyes…

“You, you mean to say… you… you lived… lived for over 2,000 years?!”

Chen Xiaolian suddenly slapped down on the table before him. He stood up and stared at Mr San. “How is that possible? Could it be that instance dungeons had begun since then? 2,000 years ago? But how can you live for over 2,000 years?”

“Time is just a concept,” said Mr San. He shook his head and said in a light and clear voice, “Relatively speaking, this world is one that the Development Team had created. All of it. If so, this thing called time in our world is also just a concept created within our world.

“Take your entrance into an instance dungeon for example. Although you were inside the instance dungeon for a few days, when you came out, you find that only a blink of an eye had pa.s.sed in the outside world… these are possible.

“Thus, time is only an abstract concept.”

Chen Xiaolian did his best to digest Mr San's words.

“That is why the beginning point of this game may be much earlier than what you have imagined!

“I am indeed someone from that era. Using this concept of time, within this game, I can be considered as a predecessor of your predecessors.

“However… even I cannot say that I am the first game partic.i.p.ant.

“Even before I was born, this game had already been in existence.

“Perhaps many of the legends are in fact part of the game.

“From your Eastern point of view, the stories of Pangu's creation of the world, Nuwa patching up the Heavens, Kua Fu chasing the sun, the battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou, the List of the G.o.ds from the King of Zhou…

“Perhaps, these legends were simply the storyline for the earliest game partic.i.p.ants, the Players and Awakened ones.

“And I can also confidently tell you this… I have a very long span of life.

“I… have indeed lived for over 2,000 years.”

Plop!

Chen Xiaolian fell back onto the chair.

He was in a daze.

Before this, Chen Xiaolian had made some speculations about when this game had begun… he had a vague guess that this game could have begun very early on…

However, now there was a real life person standing in front of him and telling him about it while proving it.

He felt somewhat… shocked.

“This type of longevity is not that surprising.”

Mr San said coolly, “We are people with enhanced bodies. Following the law of this world, the stronger our bodies, the longer our lifespan becomes. The attributes that we enhanced are Physique, Endurance and Agility. Under the laws of this world, enhancing these attributes would mean strengthening our flesh, the vitality of our cells, our metabolic rate, cell reproduction capacity, healing capacity, rate of oxidation and etc….

“Naturally, our lifespan would be extended.

“In fact… if I have to guess, your present body have reached [B] cla.s.s in quality. Thus, your lifespan would be at least twice that of an ordinary person. In other words, as long as no accidents occur and you can keep surviving through instance dungeons, then following the law of this world, it would not be an issue for your present body attributes to allow you to live up to 200 years.”

“For you to have lived up to 2,000 years, what cla.s.s are you at?” Chen Xiaolian looked at Mr San with an expression of shock. “[A] cla.s.s? Or…”

“[S] cla.s.s?!”