Arcum stood still, his mouth slightly agape after the battle that had just proceeded in front of him.
He scratched his head, before letting out a breathy sigh, trying to get back on track.
"Does that also have a cooldown?" Arcum asked, referring to Mydei also having cooldowns on his abilities, notably his lance. "That seems too strong to not be on cooldown."
Hysilens, at Arcum's question, nodded her head. "12 hours."
"So like Mydei," Arcum connected. "Alright. You can... just go back to Fugue. Bring Stelle with you, I'm going to grab something from the enderman."
Arcum watched as Hysilens walked over to Stelle, speaking with her for a little before they both made their way over the river again.
Stepping into the ring of water, Arcum approached the body of the enderman, laying still on the floor.
"... where are ender pearls?"
There were always debates on what or where ender pearls were for enderman when Arcum played Minecraft back before Irontomb.
Arcum's face soured at the thought of some of the places that it could be found.
"Well, I don't want to find out. I'll just try to find it."
Searching the body of the enderman for a few moments, Arcum soon managed to spot a glimmer of dark-green, grabbing it.
"Ah, there it is," Arcum triumphantly said as he held the ender pearl up to the sky. "One ender pearl."
Arcum opened his inventory, placing the ender pearl inside. As he closed his inventory, he paused for a split second.
"Ah. I forgot my iron armor."
The previous night, Arcum had remembered he stowed his armor inside the chest in his room. Upon waking up, he was more focused on putting the anvil away than grabbing his armor.
"So note to self..." Arcum thought with a tone of annoyance. "Keep armor inside your inventory, not chest."
It was no wonder why Arcum felt so free—it was because he wasn't wearing any armor.
Standing up, Arcum waded through the ring of water and approached the dirt bridge across the river, meeting back up with the group.
"I say we blindfold the Goons!" Stelle said as Arcum got close enough. "We can blindfold four of the five, and have one lead us!"
"That's not a bad idea," Fugue agreed, nodding her head along. "Although I don't think we have anything to blindfold them."
"I can remove their eyes," Hysilens offered, taking out her blades. "It'll be quick."
"I want my eyes!" Goon 3 said.
"You can remove all their eyes, keep mine!" Goon 5 said.
"I say we get rid of nobody's eyes," Goon 1 said.
"Mm... can we just keep walking?" Arcum vocalized with a hint of impatience. "This was a long detour, you know."
With Arcum's suggestion, the group continued their journey, entering through the forest.
Passing a few hundred more blocks, the group exited the forest.
As Arcum stepped out of the forest, his eyes widened as he saw the base ahead of him.
The raiders base was large, massive, even. It had large stone walls, maybe even 150 blocks wide, 25 blocks tall. There was a gate showing the inside of the base.
From what Arcum could see, the inside of the base was like a small town, one you would see from a fantasy world.
It had paved path blocks, with houses made of stone and wood, a large building in the center of the base.
"There's actually no way you built this in two days and nights," Arcum said, turning to look at Goon 1. "Go on, tell me how you did that."
"Well," Goon 1 started. "I did tell you that our leader had a very large yellow humanoid. He used that to get resources with a swing of its weapon."
"He called it the Lightning-Wielding Thunder-Clapping Spirit-Squashing Lord," Goon 4 said. "Or, Lightning-Lord, as a Cloud Knight said."
"And even with resources, you can build that much?" Arcum asked. "Unless you have—"
"Out of everyone we've talked to inside the base," Goon 2 interrupted, causing Arcum to turn to look at him. "We're the only players who've focused in PvP in Minecraft. Everyone else was a builder."
"That makes a lot more sense now."
"You keep saying 'Minecraft,'" Stelle said, looking towards Arcum. "What is that?"
"The adults are talking," Arcum responded in kind. "You can't be a child and listen in on this."
"Gah. Whatever," Stelle said, turning away.
"When we left," Goon 3 said, deciding to add to the conversation. "They were in the middle of building a duel arena."
"Because..?" Fugue asked, looking towards the base. "Why would you need a duel arena?"
"Like I said, the base only had builder players," Goon 2 answered. "So we needed to be able to practice and get better."
"Will they let us in?" Arcum asked. "We technically ARE holding you hostage."
"They attacked you first," Fugue said. "Stelle and I are also here, the general can trust us."
"Okay," Arcum responded. "Let's go then."
Moving across the plains that their base was situated in, the group stopped at the entrance, where guards wearing full iron armor halted them.
"Halt," Guard 1 said. "What do you need?"
"Hi!" Stelle said, moving to the front of the group to converse with the guards. "We need to talk to Jing Yuan, your leader?"
"And why should we let you in?" Guard 2 asked, gesturing to the goons that were all tied up. "You all have bound our comrades."
"They attacked us first," Arcum clarified, moving to stand beside Stelle. "We won't cause trouble. We just want to talk."
The guards looked at each other, before looking back at the group. "Cause no trouble," they said simultaneously as they allowed the group to enter.
"Easier than I thought," Arcum thought with glee. "Maybe this will be a nice, easy trip."
Inside the base, there were many people moving around. It was surprising, given that they were not many near where Arcum first spawned.
It was either they got a lucky spawn, or Arcum got an unlucky spawn—either way, it didn't matter now.
"Our leader should be in the main building that we built for him," Goon 1 said, his head gesturing towards the large building in the center of the base. "You could probably go in."
"What about the healer?" Arcum asked. "Where are they?"
Arcum turned to look at the group. "We should try to see them first before we go see the general."
"She doesn't let anyone visit her," Goon 2 spoke up. "She decided to only help treat major wounds, as the people here, and I quote, 'get on her nerves.'"
"She always looks so serene though," Goon 3 said. "So I forgive her!"
"Simp," Goon 4 said. "You've only seen her once. You're the reason why she's so annoyed by people visiting her."
"Hey!" Goon 3 retorted. "While that may be true, I believe it was love at first sight!"
"Only extremely injured people, hm?" Arcum noted, keeping it in the back of his mind. "I'll keep that info."
"Oh? Is that Stelle and Miss Fugue?"
Arcum turned to look at the person who addressed his two comrades.
He looked like a knight, just like the Mara-Struck Soldier that he had killed in the cave, just a night ago. He just lacked the growing plants on him.
"A Cloud Knight," Stelle said, waving her hand at the soldier before pointing to the building in the center. "Hi. Is Jing Yuan in that building?"
The Cloud Knight nodded. "Yes, he is. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you both. He's currently in the middle of something, so you should wait a little."
He turned to look at Arcum and Hysilens. "Are these your friends?"
"They are," Stelle responded, nodding. "But if we're going to have to wait, we can just explore."
"Ah," The Cloud Knight responded. "Then, would you all like to help us train some others while you're waiting? They're all good at building, but they lack combat capabilities."
"I can't really fight," Fugue said. "But I'd be glad to come and watch."
Stelle turned to Arcum and Hysilens. "Do you want to help?"
"Sure," Arcum said, his mind already working with some ideas. "Hysilens?"
"I'll watch," Hysilens said. "I won't spar, but I'll give pointers."
"That's great!" The Cloud Knight said. "Then follow me. After this, I think you can visit General Jing Yuan. He should be done by then."
"What do you want us to do about these people?" Fugue asked, gesturing to the goons still on the lead.
"Hm," the Cloud Knight responded, looking towards the goons. "Leave them here, I can get some others to question them."
The group nodded, watching as the Cloud Knight gestured for them to follow, guiding them through the buildings.
Fugue let the lead go, the goons sitting down on the ground, waiting for someone to pick them up, their faces a bit uneasy with the punishment they would receive.
Arcum followed from behind the group, paying attention to the surroundings.
Most of the buildings were made of matierals that could be mined easily with his pickaxe and axe, while the buildings weren't too tall.
If needed, he could always dig down, dig into buildings, or build upward to escape if anything bad happened.
"Keep some blocks close," Arcum whispered to Fugue, who walked in front of him. "In case something bad happens, we can build up and escape. Whisper to the others."
Fugue nodded, moving closer to the others to let them know of Arcum's suggestion.
Entering a clearing, Arcum could see a large area cleared out. Cobblestone floors, with small oak fences surrounding the area.
Armor stands were standing around the area near the walls, with some people inside, swinging at each other with stone or wooden swords.
"Don't worry if you get injured," the Cloud Knight said as the group stopped in front of the entrance to the arena. "A few scratches won't be too bad."
Fugue and Hysilens stayed outside of the arena as Arcum and Stelle followed the Cloud Knight inside.
"You all!" The Cloud Knight called out, gaining the attention of those training inside. "We have some people helping you practice combat, so feel free to ask them to spar!"
Arcum watched as they all looked at each other, discussing among themselves, presumably to see who would want to fight.
However, his focus was more on their weapons, focusing on finding someone who had a larger build than others, with a stone sword.
"If I can get someone who's large and has a stone sword," Arcum reasoned, looking around. "I can feign a huge injury. Then, I'll be forced to be taken to the healer."
"I'll fight you!"
Stelle announced abruptly, breaking Arcum's concentration. She pointed towards a player with a wooden sword.
"Then, I'll fight you," Arcum said, gesturing to the largest person he could see with a stone sword. "Just so you know, I'm not the strongest."
The rest of the people inside looked at the two selected, before they resumed their own practice, moving into pairs to practice their own combat.
Stelle moved off to the side to spar with her own selected opponent, while Arcum mirrored her, moving to the opposite side.
"Think you can go easy?" Arcum asked, pulling out his iron sword. "You might hurt me. I'm not the strongest."
He lied as naturally as he breathed, planning to injure himself by slipping up his sword to cut himself up more than usual.
"No way," the large man responded, holding his sword tighter. "I always give my 100%."
"That's a good motto," Arcum responded. "You'd be a force to be reckoned with if you get good at combat."
Arcum took off his coat and scarf, putting it off to the side. "Once I put this down, we can start."
He threw the coat and scarf off to the side, close to where Fugue and Hysilens stood on the outside of the arena. "Someone pick that up for me later."
As soon as the coat and scarf touched the floor, the larger man charged at Arcum, swinging his blade at his arm.
His instincts screamed at him to leap backwards, but Arcum forced himself to stand still, raising his arm instead to take the slash.
The stone sword cut through his turtleneck's sleeve, cutting into his skin.
"Tch," Arcum responded, swinging his own sword back in retaliation half-heartedly.
The man pulled his sword back, parrying Arcum's sword swing with some effort, before redoubling, jumping upward and swinging downward at Arcum.
"It's so hard to lose convincingly..." Arcum thought as he jumped to the side, rushing forward to swing at the man when he landed.
"I lose!"
Arcum heard someone yell out, and a lightbulb flickered on over his head.
Acting distracted, he turned his head as he charged the larger man to look at where the voice came from.
The younger man who Stelle was sparring with was on the floor, his hand on his head as she stood above him.
"Hey!"
Arcum heard Hysilens call out from outside. "Why are you looking away?!"
Suddenly, Arcum felt something warm from his chest.
Looking back, Arcum saw the man who had plunged his stone sword into Arcum's side.
"Oh crap," the larger man responded, immediately pulling out the sword and dropping it, looking at the wound. "I didn't expect you to get distracted... crap."
"... heh." Arcum thought. "Time to act."
He still had a golden apple in his inventory, so his life wasn't nearly at risk. It was merely a stab wound.
It hurt like hell, but it was fine. All for finding the healer—the true identity, so that Arcum could find out whether or not they were someone Stelle knew.
It was extremely narrow-minded of him to assume that Stelle knows everybody, but it was the best that Arcum could think of.
Arcum forced himself to cough violently, falling down to his knees dramatically.
He willed himself to make his face look worse than it actually was, coughing violently yet again, trying to sell his own injury.
Without warning, he closed his eyes and feigned fainting.
"... this was so unrealistic," Arcum thought, cringing at his own performance. "I hope this works, because I'm making myself look like a stick. Is this worth my entire reputation? Probably not!"
"Don't worry."
Arcum heard the Cloud Knight reassure everyone, before he felt someone start to lift him up.
"I'll take him to Lingsha."