Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 793 - 734: Elves Knights
Doludo’s smiling face was somewhat distorted, yet he continued to smile. As a Druid educator with a thoughtful mind, he clearly understood the absurd consensus that the Dream Players had just facilitated within the pure Moon Crown Council. To deceive their sovereign for the public good, the wise Berserkers could predict that this Moon Crown meeting would be filled with deception and distortion. From the moment the Dream Elves touched the Dream game and became players, their spirits had already begun to tilt towards the side of chaos.
It was like they were suffering from mental pollution, influenced by some twisted existence, the Berserkers could easily discern behaviors remarkably similar to the "Mental Corruption" debuff in the game. Doludo shook his hair, rooting out the conspiracy theories hidden in his heart. The Dream game was plotted by those leaders, Irason and Susanna would surely mean us no harm.
While Doludo was lost in thought, the game’s restrictions had advanced notably, with the Dream Elf players tearing down the flags of the two Dream Elf leaders, glorifying most of the players’ behaviors. Being allowed has its reasons, the Dreamland has its own national conditions.
To a certain degree, their explanations sounded more like treason. Why should our real-life laws govern the virtual ones? We wish to enjoy the freedom of Dreamland. It’s unknown whether Tiffany refrained from showing any dissatisfaction out of respect for the two mothers, but there was no hint of discontent on her face. She simply nodded in agreement with the legitimacy of the players’ actions, consenting not to interfere with the "order" within the Dream game anymore.
Tiffany’s gaze shifted to the other matter, concerning the lack of self-control in gamers and its impact on real-life and societal stability.
"War Druid, General Charles Nightingale. As the surviving commander of that great battle, I, the Dream Elves Queen, express respect and gratitude for your and your predecessors’ sacrifices. Now that you are the chief of the War Druids, our army commander, I am quite surprised. Your soldiers have repeatedly submitted reports about your behavior to me. In their reports, they describe that through engaging in the Dream game, due to your unique professional characteristics, you have become... a Guardian who likes to charge ahead craving to be hit, showing certain masochistic tendencies," Tiffany said, looking at Charles, whose body naturally leaned forward in vigilance. "Are you alright, Charles?"
Elves are long-lived, and most of them have lived through the Dragon Era, also facing directly the mid-era catastrophe, the war between the Dragon Priests and the dragons against the Evil God. The secluded Dreamwood Elves responded to the call of the Green Dragon Priest, becoming one of the main battlefield warriors. With their ample time to sustain life, they also had plenty of time to experience battle trauma, the toxic aftermath of death and injury flowing in their long lives, until Irason created the Emerald Dream, where these surviving warriors could finally sleep peacefully and enjoy the carefree Elven life in reality, basking in the morning dew and sunshine.
Charles Nightingale was the battlefield commander at that time, not yet in control, he had lived through all that, seeing his predecessors sending their kin into that bloody hellfire. From unreceived anger to numbness, the Evil God’s army attacked his troops countless times, death’s door opened before him several times, but he survived because others helped shut that door for him multiple times. Mentors, elder brothers, fellow commanders, and soldiers, numerous troops who trusted him.
[Charles has the best command talent.]
[Charles Nightingale is our most promising commander.]
[Charles! This is the best decision, you are the best choice for our race!]
[Cover the general! You fools! He can bring victory to the queen, we will win!]
Yet it wasn’t so. The Dragon Follower alliance was at a disadvantage from the beginning, and the situation kept deteriorating, retreating continuously. The majesty of the gods left the Elves numb, the wrath of the gods led the Elves to despair. Charles continued to give the Elves hope because they had nothing else but hope, not knowing that this war-hardened general was in deeper despair than them. Compared to the divine servitor armies, Elves were too weak, a gap that no tactics or skills could cover. Fortunately, the military’s losses bought enough time for the Dragon Priest leaders to eventually weaken and seal the Sleeper.
Charles survived, but the nobility of a commander became his nightmare. Saving the general, sacrificing soldiers, was all too normal on the battlefield, but Charles felt he had failed those warriors, his predecessors. He wished to become a vanguard that charges ahead to protect his comrades – he no longer wanted to be protected or to accept sacrifices. No Dream Elf agreed with his approach, for he had become the most outstanding battlefield commander, the chief of the War Druids, expected and watched over. The declarations he issued were seen by others as rare humor from the commander.
Thus, when the Defender Knight was pledging allegiance to Queen Dreya and then facing a meteor shower the next moment, Charles felt genuine joy. That was the future he longed for, his desired goal. The noble Knight Commander led the legion, always at the forefront because thick skin and high defense were capricious.
"A general who doesn’t want to be a soldier is not a good general!" Charles Nightingale immediately converted to a Defender, disbanded the War Druid Army’s troops, and with friends formed a squad, willingly becoming the front-row tank to take hits. That’s right, that’s the force, that’s the feeling, it doesn’t hurt! It doesn’t hurt! It doesn’t hurt at all! Because of his overinvestment in the Defender role play, in the army’s daily training, he also picked up some small problems of leading from the front, the general suited in heavy armor mingled with the Bear Monsters transformed by the Claw Druids, the troupe of bumbling bears giving their leader odd looks.
In the front row of the Druid Army, the transformed Bear Monsters retained the savagery of the beast, especially in injured battles, where the blood would surge, and disobeying commands out of frenzy was a possibility. A commander should not join the front-row beasts; this was common sense for the Elf Army. And so the aberrant Charles was not only corrected but was also questioned by the new transforming Druids, who deemed him unprofessional. Such complaints, forwarded through the tightly controlled institution of the Elders’ Council, eventually found their way to Tiffany.
Tiffany was quite polite in her tone to this esteemed elder.
"Do I need to hire a mental doctor for you, General Charles?" Tiffany also knew of the general’s old habit of courting death and felt that tough measures were necessary since the soothing of the Dream Druid was too mild.
"No, Your Majesty!" Charles certainly would not accept the suggestion. He knelt on one knee and gave the proper Dreya knight’s salute to the queen. The robust general looked up with his chest out and his eyes sharp, the fierce demeanor of a seasoned battlefield veteran evident, "My recent anomalies were merely tests of the new tactics I’ve learned..." That was not quite true, as Charles was simply used to deflecting damage.
"Through experiences in the dream game, I’ve discovered better tactics that could help reduce our army’s casualties." The right of voice is decided by the fist, and Charles successfully piqued the queen’s interest with his words. She nodded gently, signaling the cunning commander to continue.
"Defender Knights! The profession I experienced—we can simulate and nurture our own Defender Knights within our army! As long as more Elf brethren become Defender Knights!" Charles laid his cards on the table, he not only had no plans to change but also intended to lure more Elves to fall for his profession and join in the fun. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
"Defender Knights possess the most outstanding cooperative abilities. Individually, they are merely Heavy Cavalry Knights with some unique features, but when we have a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand of them, we will become a mobile mountain, an indestructible wall!"
Tiffany pondered thoughtfully and agreed to Charles’s proposal, "I trust your judgment, General Charles, and I’ll approve your request to formally establish the composition of Defenders in the army, leaving it to your Elders’ Council to tinker with as you wish. General Charles, I trust you understand your own importance, so please refrain from such reckless actions in the future. If the supreme commander were to be killed by stray arrows before the start of a campaign, we would truly be in tears." Still, Tiffany had no plans to enlist Charles into the vanguard unit, such as the Defenders.
"Your Majesty, I request to lead the Defender unit because..." Charles’s expression was haughty, fitting of a general, "because I am the most skilled Defender Knight player in the Dreamland, no Elf! Not a single Elf understands the Defender better than I do! Only I am most suited to lead them as their commander!"
Choose, my queen! The Defenders can only reach their full potential at the very front of the battlefield, serving as the vanguard; and as the strongest Defender in the dream game, the ideal army must include me as well. It was unlikely that his subordinates would sacrifice themselves to protect their general as before. Owing to the unique talents of a Defender, their leaders are destined to lead the charge, serving as both the sharpest lance and the sturdiest shield, with the riskiest position being the commander; by the time soldiers realize a fatal crisis is at hand, the commander would have been trampled by hooves well over a dozen times.
The far-sighted queen weighed the pros and cons.
"General Charles, you’ll receive a hundred-man experimental knight regiment, and if I don’t see the results you’ve promised before next year’s Moon Crown Council, I will have Kylo Servblade take you to receive mental treatment."
Charles smiled and bowed.
"Your generosity is as broad as the Dreya’s blossoms, my queen."
Tiffany tilted her head.
"What is that?"
Charles replied naturally.
"It’s a blessing taught to me by the first knight of the Defender, seemingly the highest form of praise within Dreya."
"That sounds nice; then, I shall gladly accept it, my knight, my general."
